Lambeth College Access to Medicine assessment day and what shocks were in place lol

Yeah it is, I hope I get in too, just failed my driving practical test yesterday so I need this to make me feel on the up and up again lol

anyone get offers from c&i or lambeth yet?

I attended the assessment day on 10/02/11 and at first it seemed that their were at least 100 people from all age groups lined up across the wall of the main entrance. The people seated at the reception area confirm your name and course and provide a sticker and room number.

10 mins later we were all called in well those looking to study Access to Medicine/Dentistry and Medical Sciences and split again into those studying different access courses.

We were then taken to a biology room, split into two groups as it was a large group and told we would have from 5:10pm to 7:00pm for two assessments, the maths and the literacy as you may already know. I can tell you now that everyone was in shock in the room when they saw how difficult the maths was, I myself am not brilliant and I knew it would be better for me to start on the literacy test first.

The first question was "choose a topic of your choice and write an essay on it" they provided two pages of lined paper in the booklet to do so, The woman came round the tables whilst we were getting on with this and she was suprised to see I had started my literacy test, turns out I was meant to do the maths first but she said it was okay. The next piece of the English assessment was on HPV (virus) taken from Cancer Research UK, we were asked to answer questions relevant to the text.

I then turned to my maths and it was at first basic questions, 283.34 - 323.45 = x etc etc then it started to get harder and not at all basic. There was a sub section called Maths applied to Medical practice and the question were getting much more harder. They wanted the ratio of ml and mg of two drugs however the wording is quite hard to understand and I have decent A-levels in English. the maths was out of 20 marks, and the applied to medicine was out of 10 or 20 can't remember.

I did notice that when the woman called out that it was time to start on the literacy (remember I went the other way round lol) she took everyones maths and was marking this.

At the end of the test the head of Science and another lady were very blunt in saying that the Maths was particulary poor amongst the group, the highest mark being 15 (i hadn't yet had mine marked so I dont know) and that it was unlikley that anyone would be called in for medicine as you need from 18 - 20 in the maths. She said everyone should look towards other professions in Medical Science - Nursing, etc and I will tell you now people were upset one guy gave the reason for poor marks to not having time to recap on things as being adults we have not done such things in a long time.

The woman at the front merely aknowledged this and asked for feedback, I gather this to be unprofessional as they should have done this prior to giving out the assessments.

So everyone started to leave the room when I came across someone I spoke to earlier, I asked him what he wrote for his essay in the literacy exam and he said "smoking, what did you do?" I replied with my own one, he had an odd expression on his face and said "the essay was on the board everyone did the same one" !!!!!!****!!!!!! I ran up and spoke to the young girl at the front, she was assisting the main woman and told her that for my literacy test I wrote my own essay, she was laffing and I couldn't help but not join in lol!
Apparently it was okay as they were testing our essay writing skills and the marker would be the other woman as she was an A-level English teacher in the sixth form. She asked me what I wrote my piece on and it was "does social status affect educational attainment" (I got B for sociology lol!) so I knew I did a good piece she said it was fine and would be interested in reading it.

Well at least I stood out and haven't yet been told I will not gain entry as they haven't yet marked my paper. We have to wait 2-3 weeks for our results and if you havent passed you will being given 5 choices , progression diploma level 1, 2 , access to nursing ect ect just not Medicine or Dentistry.

I hope I did well and that they call me in for an interview, I read on several other posts of how people went to Lambeth with no assessments or interviews, I rekon it was a load of *******s, Just waiting on City & Islington College now.

I attended the assessment day on 10/02/11 and at first it seemed that their were at least 100 people from all age groups lined up across the wall of the main entrance. The people seated at the reception area confirm your name and course and provide a sticker and room number.

10 mins later we were all called in well those looking to study Access to Medicine/Dentistry and Medical Sciences and split again into those studying different access courses.

We were then taken to a biology room, split into two groups as it was a large group and told we would have from 5:10pm to 7:00pm for two assessments, the maths and the literacy as you may already know. I can tell you now that everyone was in shock in the room when they saw how difficult the maths was, I myself am not brilliant and I knew it would be better for me to start on the literacy test first.

The first question was "choose a topic of your choice and write an essay on it" they provided two pages of lined paper in the booklet to do so, The woman came round the tables whilst we were getting on with this and she was suprised to see I had started my literacy test, turns out I was meant to do the maths first but she said it was okay. The next piece of the English assessment was on HPV (virus) taken from Cancer Research UK, we were asked to answer questions relevant to the text.

I then turned to my maths and it was at first basic questions, 283.34 - 323.45 = x etc etc then it started to get harder and not at all basic. There was a sub section called Maths applied to Medical practice and the question were getting much more harder. They wanted the ratio of ml and mg of two drugs however the wording is quite hard to understand and I have decent A-levels in English. the maths was out of 20 marks, and the applied to medicine was out of 10 or 20 can't remember.

I did notice that when the woman called out that it was time to start on the literacy (remember I went the other way round lol) she took everyones maths and was marking this.

At the end of the test the head of Science and another lady were very blunt in saying that the Maths was particulary poor amongst the group, the highest mark being 15 (i hadn't yet had mine marked so I dont know) and that it was unlikley that anyone would be called in for medicine as you need from 18 - 20 in the maths. She said everyone should look towards other professions in Medical Science - Nursing, etc and I will tell you now people were upset one guy gave the reason for poor marks to not having time to recap on things as being adults we have not done such things in a long time.

The woman at the front merely aknowledged this and asked for feedback, I gather this to be unprofessional as they should have done this prior to giving out the assessments.

So everyone started to leave the room when I came across someone I spoke to earlier, I asked him what he wrote for his essay in the literacy exam and he said "smoking, what did you do?" I replied with my own one, he had an odd expression on his face and said "the essay was on the board everyone did the same one" !!!!!!****!!!!!! I ran up and spoke to the young girl at the front, she was assisting the main woman and told her that for my literacy test I wrote my own essay, she was laffing and I couldn't help but not join in lol!
Apparently it was okay as they were testing our essay writing skills and the marker would be the other woman as she was an A-level English teacher in the sixth form. She asked me what I wrote my piece on and it was "does social status affect educational attainment" (I got B for sociology lol!) so I knew I did a good piece she said it was fine and would be interested in reading it.

Well at least I stood out and haven't yet been told I will not gain entry as they haven't yet marked my paper. We have to wait 2-3 weeks for our results and if you havent passed you will being given 5 choices , progression diploma level 1, 2 , access to nursing ect ect just not Medicine or Dentistry.

I hope I did well and that they call me in for an interview, I read on several other posts of how people went to Lambeth with no assessments or interviews, I rekon it was a load of *******s, Just waiting on City & Islington College now.

can u please tell me the assesment what was like Lambeth College Access to Medicine.
anyone remember the qustions ? please tell me about easy what choise they give u ?

x

southampton uni accepts access course from both colleges aswell.

its clear that alot of universities accept the qualification but how many access students do they take every year?
that is the real question.

Shamzmix thanks for posting about your experience. I'm glad now that I didn't go to the Assessment session, I actually withdrew from Lambeth, Manchester, City &Islington and Sussex Downs because I already got accepted to College of West Anglia a2m (my personal preference, nothing against the others).

I realise Lambeth want to accept only people who can get into Med school after, but as adults who have generally been away from Maths and assessments for some time, how can they expect you to answer drip rates & complex equations etc? No wonder everyone was pissed off, and I hope you all left feedback saying how off-putting it was...because given the chance to re-learn you'd all ace that test.

The whole point of Access is to refresh your academics, and prepare as adults from varying academic backgrounds to get into your chosen subject. Shouldn't be expected to know it all already!

If I'm honest in London especially with the two colleges I applied to, Lambeth and City & Islington it is all about statistics, they will not gamble with anyone they think might not make it and I believe that is a incorrect way of thinking, that just takes away their mission statements on their adults prospectuses on theirs sites. The assessment is vigorous for obvious reasons where the potential applicant needs to be able to handle the course content however outright rejection like the way many of those around me had was a bit piss taking.

For example I went to my assessment for City & Islington college in their access to medicine and the woman stressed that it is the colleges decision after seeing you UKCAT results to accept you for applying to Medicine after your course and their decision is final and is non-negotiable and that if you were to apply as a private applicant through UCAS the college will not accept that and support your application.

I just hope I did well enough to get in, it's good to hear you got into the right college for you and too be honest I would have applied for that very same course however I have family commitments and sometimes its not worth giving up so much for something that I could have potentially done closer to home. Your's is the only access course UCL accept for their entry on to medicine so I hopefully you get in!

Thanks Shamzmix, I'm really happy about it, but that was without assessment etc, was just interview, check of experience and academics...I got offered the place during the interview, which happened to quite a few people, but did not happen to others. At COWA they deliberately accept more people than necessary to run the course, because many drop out unable to handle the pressure. They warn you how intense it is, and that even with distinctions in all subjects you won't get into Med without previous good grades and experience. So despite getting in easily...I don't expect the course to be easy, and the competition, even during the course apparently is intense too.

I understand why Access courses only want to accept people who are viable to Med school afterward, but I think it's good that us adults from varying backgrounds have the opportunity to re-learn some things. It's such a great opportunity. With your family commitments of course you can't be expected to go far away, and good on you staying true to your family =) I wish you all the best of luck with Lambeth and your other choices, and I'm sure your results will be excellent.

Thanks and wow, no assessments lol pretty shocked at that to be honest as it is probably "thee" best for it's access to medicine course, let me know how the course content is when you start, it's great their giving people a chance and I'm sure you will do excellent at your time there.