Barts and the London Applicants 2011

Oh and one more thing to add - end of year OSCEs are quite annoying. They don't let you examine the patient in one go like you'd expect. You get stopped quite often and asked some seriously hard questions about why you're doing what you're doing/any thing related to the anatomy and physiology of the particular test you're doing. So don't just go in having memorised a role play and say I'm looking for blah blah blah, know exactly why you are looking for and why! They'll ask you question after question until you crack (or run out of questions to get asked) and then have to carry on with your physical exam and finish it in the time allocated to that station. And right after you come out thinking you've messed up a station, you have the EMQ questions to answer after each station - some were quite basic, others a little more tricky. Thing about the OSCEs is that you know how you've done at the end either through the examiner who'll probably smile/congratulate you subtly or by you peeking at the score sheet they have in front of them - they're shading in grades literally as you do stuff - you do something wrong and see them shade in 'fail' and vice versa if you do something very well ('excellent') or decent enough ('pass').

As you can tell, OSCEs were my least favourite exam last year. Thought it'd be one of the stronger ones before I went in, but then crumbled under the pressure. :emo:

Reply 381

Medicz

9

Original post by Narik

We needed one too.

I was there yesterday :biggrin:

Lovely to see how that building is so nice and everything around it is so sh**

Reply 382

Beska

21

Original post by Medicz

I was there yesterday :biggrin:

Lovely to see how that building is so nice and everything around it is so sh**

You withdrew from Imperial? Your face is gonna be red if you come out with a decent score. :mmm:

Reply 383

Medicz

9

Original post by Beska

You withdrew from Imperial? Your face is gonna be red if you come out with a decent score. :mmm:

Lol, ive got a rope if that happens :wink:

Reply 384

RollerBall

20

Original post by Medicz

I was there yesterday :biggrin:

Lovely to see how that building is so nice and everything around it is so sh**

It's hidden away behind the London :wink:

Reply 385

duskflower

6

I haven't got an acknowledgement from Barts for medicine yet. I rang them a while ago and they said not to worry as they haven't even started processing the applications yet. Anyone else not got an acknowledgement from them?

Reply 386

FFCrusader

12

Original post by Medicine Man

Oh and one more thing to add - end of year OSCEs are quite annoying. They don't let you examine the patient in one go like you'd expect. You get stopped quite often and asked some seriously hard questions about why you're doing what you're doing/any thing related to the anatomy and physiology of the particular test you're doing. So don't just go in having memorised a role play and say I'm looking for blah blah blah, know exactly why you are looking for and why! They'll ask you question after question until you crack (or run out of questions to get asked) and then have to carry on with your physical exam and finish it in the time allocated to that station. And right after you come out thinking you've messed up a station, you have the EMQ questions to answer after each station - some were quite basic, others a little more tricky. Thing about the OSCEs is that you know how you've done at the end either through the examiner who'll probably smile/congratulate you subtly or by you peeking at the score sheet they have in front of them - they're shading in grades literally as you do stuff - you do something wrong and see them shade in 'fail' and vice versa if you do something very well ('excellent') or decent enough ('pass').

As you can tell, OSCEs were my least favourite exam last year. Thought it'd be one of the stronger ones before I went in, but then crumbled under the pressure. :emo:

It wasn't that bad :p:

Just because you told an actor he/she had heart failure when we've only been learning about normal patients :teehee:

Edit: If you guys just go to your clinical skills sessions and actually practice a bit, you'll do absolutely fine, to be honest if you do that and listen a bit in the lectures given to you you'll do absolutely fine. It is insanely hard to fail the OCSEs if you get all the easy marks for things such as washing your hands before and after patient contact, and just be nice and considerate to the patient in general. The EMQs that come with it, you will most likely cover the content in lectures anyways, so if you've revised for your paper Bi and Bii you'll be fine with that since OCSEs is after them :p:

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 387

Medicine Man

16

Original post by FFCrusader

It wasn't that bad :p:

Just because you told an actor he/she had heart failure when we've only been learning about normal patients :teehee:

Edit: If you guys just go to your clinical skills sessions and actually practice a bit, you'll do absolutely fine, to be honest if you do that and listen a bit in the lectures given to you you'll do absolutely fine. It is insanely hard to fail the OCSEs if you get all the easy marks for things such as washing your hands before and after patient contact, and just be nice and considerate to the patient in general. The EMQs that come with it, you will most likely cover the content in lectures anyways, so if you've revised for your paper Bi and Bii you'll be fine with that since OCSEs is after them :p:

They were for me - that said, I'm a little pessimistic when it comes to exams and tend to remember all the horrible bits anyway. Totally didn't expect to have the examiners stopping you after each bit asking you questions though - threw me off a little bit each time. All the practice I'd done at home etc. involved me just running through the whole thing without really being stopped, so it was a little bit of a :redface:

moment when it happened at my first station - i thought i'd done something wong. Its kinda difficult to fail the OSCEs, true (especially seeing as something like half the marks are for washing hands and introduction etc.), but tbh its generally a little bit more tricky trying to hit the higher marks in the OSCEs I found as opposed to doing alright in the other exams.

Clinical sessions were helpful. As was Dr Yeatman's OSCE document which is somewhere on blackboard I think. Just read that, and practice at home on a pillow (or a willing sibling/mate/non medic) and thats more than fine. Oh and also, don't tell a pretend patient who you've incorrectly noted has a raised JVP, that she's got right sided heart failure like I did, and then later proceed to chuckle at yourself mid-exam when you realise your mistake. But then again, I did that and still did pretty well in that paper anyway which just goes to show how much you can do wrong and still pass OSCEs in first year.

Reply 388

Medicine Man

16

Original post by Medicz

Lol, ive got a rope if that happens :wink:

You blates withdrew because you knew you'd want to end up at a better institution anyway...somewhere like, erm....BARTS! :yes:

Reply 389

Medicz

9

Original post by Medicine Man

You blates withdrew because you knew you'd want to end up at a better institution anyway...somewhere like, erm....BARTS! :yes:

Yup, i live around 20-30minutes away from Barts :biggrin:

25 Bus home everyday. Id like that :biggrin:

Screw imperial.

Reply 390

digitalis

17

Preclinical OSCEs are just ****ing stupid. What is the point? All you do is rote learn a set of movements without actually knowing what you are looking for. I didn't know what a ****ing dupuytrens was until end of third year. Or the old favourite, looking for conjunctiva pallor or scleral icterus...you just haven't seen enough patients to be able to recognise it even if it was staring you in the face in the actor!

Reply 391

Medicine Man

16

Original post by Medicz

Yup, i live around 20-30minutes away from Barts :biggrin:

25 Bus home everyday. Id like that :biggrin:

Screw imperial.

That's quite useful - takes me ~25/30 mins to get to uni too if I manage to catch the uber useful overground train from my place and it's no trouble for me. People live in Bow etc and still take about 20 mins to get in anyway.

And digi, I totally agree with the OSCE comment. I sorta know what some of the signs we look for are indicative of, but tbh apart from seeing really over-the-top pictures in books etc. I wouldn't really have an clue as to what these would look like in reality. That said, it does get you used to the terminology and the signs you should be looking for when you hit the wards which is a good thing IMO.

Reply 392

Medicine Man

16

Random question, but how many applicants on here visited Barts on any one of the open days?

Reply 393

Beska

21

Original post by Medicine Man

Random question, but how many applicants on here visited Barts on any one of the open days?

I didn't, was on holiday. I am thinking of doing the self-tour thing, is it worth it?

Reply 394

Penguinsaysquack

16

Original post by Medicine Man

Random question, but how many applicants on here visited Barts on any one of the open days?

I didn't get a chance to :/
But have done the virtual tour thing on the website and plan on visiting the site if I get invited to interview.. don't know if there's a tour before the interview starts?

Reply 395

haleem

11

Original post by Medicine Man

Random question, but how many applicants on here visited Barts on any one of the open days?

My friend is doing Bio at QMUL, but I think he has one lecture(I think) a week at Barts. So ill probably just visit him at uni one day lol

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 396

Medicine Man

16

I wouldn't really know to either of the questions. I saw Barts for the first time at my interview. Was just wondering if I bumped into any of you guys then as I was giving tours that day!

Reply 397

Medicine Man

16

Smart plan haleem! Didn't know other students used our campus. Very ignorant of me tbh. :redface:

Reply 398

haleem

11

Original post by Medicine Man

I wouldn't really know to either of the questions. I saw Barts for the first time at my interview. Was just wondering if I bumped into any of you guys then as I was giving tours that day!