Hello
Hi, I recently turned 15, and I am just beginning Year 10. I truly believe I have a strong passion for medicine, and it's not one of those 'I have thought this since I was born' passions, in fact it's one of those, 'I gave the idea a thought almost a year ago' and since then I have been attempting to research and, essentially, find out as much about both the course and the requirements to go along with it as physically possible. However there seems to be a big 'gap', in terms of content, when it comes to finding out about how to actually accomplish this?
Anyway, what advice could you give me, from experience, to help me shape my GCSE, sixth form, university plan, all in order to achieve the ultimate goal of studying in medicine? Please, advise me on absolutely anything, that you may have regretted / wished you had approached differently and any advice on how to reach my goal would be gladly appreciated.
Anyway, what advice could you give me, from experience, to help me shape my GCSE, sixth form, university plan, all in order to achieve the ultimate goal of studying in medicine? Please, advise me on absolutely anything, that you may have regretted / wished you had approached differently and any advice on how to reach my goal would be gladly appreciated.
(edited 8 years ago)
Read through all of this.
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Medicine
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Medicine
Original post by Kholmes1
Hi. Depending on the uni you want to go to I would work hard at your gcses. Especially at the sciences. Alevels you need to defiantly do biology. Then Chemistry and maybe something like maths or physics. But that doesnt matter that much. But just work hard and good luck.
Thanks a lot!
Original post by liam__
Beat you to it
, the reason I asked this question here is because a lot of the content on that forum, while useful, does not seem to be specifically tailored to those in my circumstance, but nevertheless, thanks for the nice gesture.
basically
i'm in year 13
i wanted to do Medicine 'all my life' but that recently changed to Pharmacy because i realised i was more interested in drugs and how they interact with the body rather than diagnosing people and prescribing them drugs but this was like 3 months ago so up until then i wanted to do Medicine and researched the hell out of it so i think i'm in a pretty good place to advise you so PAY ATTENTION YOUNG JEDI
let's start off with your GCSEs
okay tip number one
TAKE YOUR COURSEWORK SERIOUSLY
i can't stress this enough because if you get an A* (or 9 whatever this new system is) then it will pull your grade up! so you can afford to slip up a bit in the exam but if it's a C or D it will mAJORLY pull you down!
tip number two
the night before school, look at your timetable and lessons. take your textbook and quickly read over what you're gonna do in lesson. nothing major just basically read it - and take a paper and a pen and write down ANYTHING and EVERYTHING you don't understand after reading those pages. then go to sleep or do whatever. This should take what like 10 minutes? less?
tip number three
BreakFAST. now i'm kind of a hypocrite cos i don't have breakfast myself and i rarely had it in my life but it's SO BLOODY IMPORTANT OKAY. If you're like me and food makes you feel sick in the morning then just a glass of milk and a breakfast bar or something ANYTHING. cereal is bae so just eat that haha.
tip number four
LISTEN in lessons okay. LISTEN. don't frantically copy powerpoints or write notes because you're not gonna look at them after anyway so what's the point. LISTEN to what the teacher is saying. ASK questions until they want to explode. Even if it's something like how to spell a word - don't care what anyone else thinks. ASK IT. Don't walk out of that room unless you UNDERSTAND (not know) everything that was just taught to you.
tip number five
then go home, and review what you have just done. this is where you make notes. NO, not your textbook. Open up your specification. You probably know this but i didn't so i'm gonna say it anyway. There are examboards and each one has a specification ONLINE. This is basically a checklist of everything you need to know in bullet points! it is LIFE. Find your examboard and find your specification. Then - basically get an exercise book or notebook, and make notes answering every specification point. Use the internet, use your book, use other people's notes that they put online and make your own notes and write them down. Do this for every 'topic' that you learn on that day. These are your neat, organised notes that are all colour coded. They'll come in handy later. - doing this i got 9 A*s in all my science exams (in triple science AQA when the examboard was changed 6 months before the exams
- but then ended up with a lot of Bs and Cs cos all time was spent on science ahaha)
tip number six
study timetable. "oh but i can't stick to timetables" SHUT UP! Your school has a class timetable and you follow that fine! discipline yourself, set alarms. Make sure to have sunday off or something and loads of BREAKS. BREAKS BETWEEN 1 HOUR SESSIONS. have an hour and then half an hour break then an hour etc. "i can study for 6 hours straight" NO YOU CANT OKAY NO. breaks are important BUT DON'T OVERDO IT. when the alarm goes off your break is FINISHEd okay?
tip number seven
when the weekend comes, get those neat notes you made, get your coloured A4 paper and flash cards and make mind maps and posters and flash cards basically summing them up. Since you're just copying the information and you've got it right there in your notes this shouldn't take too long either. then do your homework. Have sunday off to do whatever you want.
tip number 8
highlighting is bull****
tip number 9
Memorise model answers. Examboards ask the same thing every year, just reworded so memorise the answer then regurgitate it in the exam
tip number 10
since you're still in year 10 - you have time. Find work experience. Ask your aunt to ask her friend's cousin's uncle who is friends with a doctor to hook you up. Anything - volunteering looks REALLY good. Volunteer in the health care section. It doesn't have to be much, something like playing chess with elderly patients in a hospice every sunday afternoon or something. Help out with parents evening. Help out with open evening. Join all the clubs, get a black belt in Taekwondo DO STUFF cos it will come in handy when you apply to uni, and you won't get much of a chance in year 12.
tip number 11
past papers - all day everyday
This should get your GCSE phase sorted, onto A levels!
You're doing the new system so all your exams are gonna be at the end of the 2 years... sorry brah
tip number 1
take chemistry and biology and then whatever else you want. I'm not sure for your year if they want Maths or Physics or something (could be a rumour) but as far as i know the unis only want CHEMISTRY. They say BIOLOGY is preferred and most of them want it ATLEAST to AS so definitely take that. The rest CURRENTLY say they would PREFER a third science subject but that's optional. If you're into Maths - great do it. Physics without maths will definitely be a challenge - i tried and got a C at AS! dropped it off with that **** haha never again! but yeah why would you put yourself through more than is needed? just do Chemistry, Biology, Geography and Sociology or something (that's what i would've done if I could go back in time)
I took biology, chemistry, physics and computing at AS (nearly died 0/10 do not recommend got BBCC and now trying to pull it up to AAA pray for my existence)
tip number 2
before you start year 12 make sure you brush up on your GCSE knowledge and read a bit ahead in the syllabus - buy the books read through them make some notes etc. Nothing vigorous just yet haha but get prepared. Also sign up for tuition. I don't care if you got 20 A*s at GCSE get ****ing tuition okay for EVERYTHING. If your parents can't afford it get a part time job (didn't have one- can't advise on that) and pay for it okay GET TUITION. Because if your teachers are **** (like mine are/were) then you have other teachers that you can basically pick! and it's tailored to your needs! HEAVEN!
tip number 3
stress yourself out too much and you'll burn out. Make sure you have those sundays off so you can go out - you can watch TV and catch up on all the YouTube videos and TV episodes you've missed during the week. leading on to tip 4
tip number 4
no TSR during the week. No TV during the week. No YouTube during the week. 1 hour a day if you must but NO LONGER. It makes the hours go by like minutes- wastes time and definitely won't help your grade. it can wait til the weekend. On sundays you can watch EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING you want.
tip number 5
Eat healthy - sweets junk food all that **** won't help you - save it for Sunday. Once a week you can eat junk food til you vomit idgaf - but every other day you eat them fruits and veggies - you take them supplements, you LOOK AFTER YOURSELF AND YOUR DIET understood? good
tip number 6
read around your subject. my teachers said this to me like everyday i had no idea wtf they were saying i was like are you drunk what even does that mean? but basically it means just listening to a podcast weekly, or watching documentaries, or going to university taster courses or reading books all about medicine. Won't take much time to do and it'll come in handy when you're interviewer's asking you why you wanna do medicine and how you've demonstrated your interest in that subject.
tip number 7
stay on top of your stuff. PAST PAPERS ARE LIFE OKAY? there's no way you'll pass anything without past papers. there's no better way to identify your weaknesses. In March you'll forget what you did in january so if you do a past paper a day you'll make sure you've got EVERYTHING down ALL the time so that if (God forbid) the examboards like SURPRISE GUYS THE EXAM IS ACTUALLY TOMORROW you'll be fine haha
tip number 8
enjoy yourself. don't stress out about it too much because there are a million and 1 other routes into medicine other than this one so if you don't get the grades it's okay. There's medicine abroad, there's graduate entry, there's undergraduate entry after graduation but it'll be fine there are plenty of people who did **** in their GCSEs and Alevels, dropped out and then at 26 they were like no we wanna be doctors and are now in medical school so never lose hope don't ever feel down! if you keep thinking I WANT to be a doctor, i HOPE i'll be a doctor, i WISH i could be a doctor it will never happen. You have to be like I WILL be a doctor, i have GOT this - all i need to do is get my results sheet.
if i remember more tips i'll add to it but that's all i got at the moment. Good luck future doctor! Where there's a will there's a way!
EDIT: WHOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA this post is long sorry haha
i'm in year 13
i wanted to do Medicine 'all my life' but that recently changed to Pharmacy because i realised i was more interested in drugs and how they interact with the body rather than diagnosing people and prescribing them drugs but this was like 3 months ago so up until then i wanted to do Medicine and researched the hell out of it so i think i'm in a pretty good place to advise you so PAY ATTENTION YOUNG JEDI
let's start off with your GCSEs
okay tip number one
TAKE YOUR COURSEWORK SERIOUSLY
i can't stress this enough because if you get an A* (or 9 whatever this new system is) then it will pull your grade up! so you can afford to slip up a bit in the exam but if it's a C or D it will mAJORLY pull you down!
tip number two
the night before school, look at your timetable and lessons. take your textbook and quickly read over what you're gonna do in lesson. nothing major just basically read it - and take a paper and a pen and write down ANYTHING and EVERYTHING you don't understand after reading those pages. then go to sleep or do whatever. This should take what like 10 minutes? less?
tip number three
BreakFAST. now i'm kind of a hypocrite cos i don't have breakfast myself and i rarely had it in my life but it's SO BLOODY IMPORTANT OKAY. If you're like me and food makes you feel sick in the morning then just a glass of milk and a breakfast bar or something ANYTHING. cereal is bae so just eat that haha.
tip number four
LISTEN in lessons okay. LISTEN. don't frantically copy powerpoints or write notes because you're not gonna look at them after anyway so what's the point. LISTEN to what the teacher is saying. ASK questions until they want to explode. Even if it's something like how to spell a word - don't care what anyone else thinks. ASK IT. Don't walk out of that room unless you UNDERSTAND (not know) everything that was just taught to you.
tip number five
then go home, and review what you have just done. this is where you make notes. NO, not your textbook. Open up your specification. You probably know this but i didn't so i'm gonna say it anyway. There are examboards and each one has a specification ONLINE. This is basically a checklist of everything you need to know in bullet points! it is LIFE. Find your examboard and find your specification. Then - basically get an exercise book or notebook, and make notes answering every specification point. Use the internet, use your book, use other people's notes that they put online and make your own notes and write them down. Do this for every 'topic' that you learn on that day. These are your neat, organised notes that are all colour coded. They'll come in handy later. - doing this i got 9 A*s in all my science exams (in triple science AQA when the examboard was changed 6 months before the exams
- but then ended up with a lot of Bs and Cs cos all time was spent on science ahaha)tip number six
study timetable. "oh but i can't stick to timetables" SHUT UP! Your school has a class timetable and you follow that fine! discipline yourself, set alarms. Make sure to have sunday off or something and loads of BREAKS. BREAKS BETWEEN 1 HOUR SESSIONS. have an hour and then half an hour break then an hour etc. "i can study for 6 hours straight" NO YOU CANT OKAY NO. breaks are important BUT DON'T OVERDO IT. when the alarm goes off your break is FINISHEd okay?
tip number seven
when the weekend comes, get those neat notes you made, get your coloured A4 paper and flash cards and make mind maps and posters and flash cards basically summing them up. Since you're just copying the information and you've got it right there in your notes this shouldn't take too long either. then do your homework. Have sunday off to do whatever you want.
tip number 8
highlighting is bull****
tip number 9
Memorise model answers. Examboards ask the same thing every year, just reworded so memorise the answer then regurgitate it in the exam
tip number 10
since you're still in year 10 - you have time. Find work experience. Ask your aunt to ask her friend's cousin's uncle who is friends with a doctor to hook you up. Anything - volunteering looks REALLY good. Volunteer in the health care section. It doesn't have to be much, something like playing chess with elderly patients in a hospice every sunday afternoon or something. Help out with parents evening. Help out with open evening. Join all the clubs, get a black belt in Taekwondo DO STUFF cos it will come in handy when you apply to uni, and you won't get much of a chance in year 12.
tip number 11
past papers - all day everyday
This should get your GCSE phase sorted, onto A levels!
You're doing the new system so all your exams are gonna be at the end of the 2 years... sorry brah
tip number 1
take chemistry and biology and then whatever else you want. I'm not sure for your year if they want Maths or Physics or something (could be a rumour) but as far as i know the unis only want CHEMISTRY. They say BIOLOGY is preferred and most of them want it ATLEAST to AS so definitely take that. The rest CURRENTLY say they would PREFER a third science subject but that's optional. If you're into Maths - great do it. Physics without maths will definitely be a challenge - i tried and got a C at AS! dropped it off with that **** haha never again! but yeah why would you put yourself through more than is needed? just do Chemistry, Biology, Geography and Sociology or something (that's what i would've done if I could go back in time)
I took biology, chemistry, physics and computing at AS (nearly died 0/10 do not recommend got BBCC and now trying to pull it up to AAA pray for my existence)
tip number 2
before you start year 12 make sure you brush up on your GCSE knowledge and read a bit ahead in the syllabus - buy the books read through them make some notes etc. Nothing vigorous just yet haha but get prepared. Also sign up for tuition. I don't care if you got 20 A*s at GCSE get ****ing tuition okay for EVERYTHING. If your parents can't afford it get a part time job (didn't have one- can't advise on that) and pay for it okay GET TUITION. Because if your teachers are **** (like mine are/were) then you have other teachers that you can basically pick! and it's tailored to your needs! HEAVEN!
tip number 3
stress yourself out too much and you'll burn out. Make sure you have those sundays off so you can go out - you can watch TV and catch up on all the YouTube videos and TV episodes you've missed during the week. leading on to tip 4
tip number 4
no TSR during the week. No TV during the week. No YouTube during the week. 1 hour a day if you must but NO LONGER. It makes the hours go by like minutes- wastes time and definitely won't help your grade. it can wait til the weekend. On sundays you can watch EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING you want.
tip number 5
Eat healthy - sweets junk food all that **** won't help you - save it for Sunday. Once a week you can eat junk food til you vomit idgaf - but every other day you eat them fruits and veggies - you take them supplements, you LOOK AFTER YOURSELF AND YOUR DIET understood? good
tip number 6
read around your subject. my teachers said this to me like everyday i had no idea wtf they were saying i was like are you drunk what even does that mean? but basically it means just listening to a podcast weekly, or watching documentaries, or going to university taster courses or reading books all about medicine. Won't take much time to do and it'll come in handy when you're interviewer's asking you why you wanna do medicine and how you've demonstrated your interest in that subject.
tip number 7
stay on top of your stuff. PAST PAPERS ARE LIFE OKAY? there's no way you'll pass anything without past papers. there's no better way to identify your weaknesses. In March you'll forget what you did in january so if you do a past paper a day you'll make sure you've got EVERYTHING down ALL the time so that if (God forbid) the examboards like SURPRISE GUYS THE EXAM IS ACTUALLY TOMORROW you'll be fine haha
tip number 8
enjoy yourself. don't stress out about it too much because there are a million and 1 other routes into medicine other than this one so if you don't get the grades it's okay. There's medicine abroad, there's graduate entry, there's undergraduate entry after graduation but it'll be fine there are plenty of people who did **** in their GCSEs and Alevels, dropped out and then at 26 they were like no we wanna be doctors and are now in medical school so never lose hope don't ever feel down! if you keep thinking I WANT to be a doctor, i HOPE i'll be a doctor, i WISH i could be a doctor it will never happen. You have to be like I WILL be a doctor, i have GOT this - all i need to do is get my results sheet.
if i remember more tips i'll add to it but that's all i got at the moment. Good luck future doctor! Where there's a will there's a way!
EDIT: WHOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA this post is long sorry haha
Original post by Just_A_Guy
Beat you to it, the reason I asked this question here is because a lot of the content on that forum, while useful, does not seem to be specifically tailored to those in my circumstance, but nevertheless, thanks for the nice gesture.
Beat you to it
, the reason I asked this question here is because a lot of the content on that forum, while useful, does not seem to be specifically tailored to those in my circumstance, but nevertheless, thanks for the nice gesture.Did you even click the link? I linked you to the wiki page, not the forum. While lots of the stuff on there isn't relevant, much of it is, and it answers all of your questions.
Original post by z33
EDIT: WHOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA this post is long sorry haha
EDIT: WHOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA this post is long sorry haha
That was quite honestly, one of the most useful pieces of information I have ever encountered all at once. I read through it thoroughly, and I truly appreciate the sheer amount of effort that doing so must have been to provide, to a complete stranger like me!
Thank you very much, that was very very very, useful.
Original post by Just_A_Guy
That was quite honestly, one of the most useful pieces of information I have ever encountered all at once. I read through it thoroughly, and I truly appreciate the sheer amount of effort that doing so must have been to provide, to a complete stranger like me!
Thank you very much, that was very very very, useful.
Thank you very much, that was very very very, useful.
Awhhh no problem and thank you! Always happy to help people not fall into little traps! I would've appreciated advice like that when I was your age so I'm gonna be the one to give it
I'm glad you appreciate it!
yeah it took quite a while haha and horrible grammar sorry but i just wanted to cover everything so didn't bother proofreading. Good luck and if you need help/ advice don't hesitate to message me
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