I got 4A*1A for A levels AMA

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Hi I just completed my AS in the same subjects and will take all 5 to A2. I also intend to study medicine. What was your interview experience at Imperial and UCL like? What are you tips for medical interviews and personal statements? Also, what were your UKCAT and BMAT scores?

Hey dude hope your AS results were great! My interview at IC and UCL was awful... because they never gave me one :tongue:

I did alright in BMAT section 1 and 2 but unfortunately I mucked up and section 3 couldn't meet the cutoff. Section 1 5.1, section 2 6.3 but then the section 3 shocker was 2A :frown:

UKCAT was 2740 not too bad i guess...

I dont have much general interview or personal statement tips... just be honest and be yourself. Dont make up anything and its ok that you don't have an answer.

Reply 81

thedylanman

Original post by BlueIsTheNewRed

Hey dude hope your AS results were great! My interview at IC and UCL was awful... because they never gave me one :tongue:

I did alright in BMAT section 1 and 2 but unfortunately I mucked up and section 3 couldn't meet the cutoff. Section 1 5.1, section 2 6.3 but then the section 3 shocker was 2A :frown:

UKCAT was 2740 not too bad i guess...

I dont have much general interview or personal statement tips... just be honest and be yourself. Dont make up anything and its ok that you don't have an answer.

Fair enough. So what would the section 3 cut off be?

Reply 82

username1518841

Original post by thedylanman

Fair enough. So what would the section 3 cut off be?

I think it might have been 2.5A or 3A, dont really remember... too long ago
but you should check their website

Reply 83

thedylanman

Original post by BlueIsTheNewRed

I think it might have been 2.5A or 3A, dont really remember... too long ago
but you should check their website

Ah will do. GL anyway with uni. How do you feel about freshers'?

Reply 84

username1518841

Original post by thedylanman

Ah will do. GL anyway with uni. How do you feel about freshers'?

Thanks, good luck to you too! Try not to be lazy in A2 tho thats probably why I couldn't A* chemistry :tongue:

I am still on the fence about freshers as most of it is just drinking and clubbing, but im definitely going to st georges ones, just maybe not the other london ones

Reply 85

CASĒ

Original post by Dalek1099

What were your UMS marks?I did 4 A Levels(triple Maths and Physics)+an AS(Geography)+STEP over my two years at College I got 3A*s and an A(remarking Physics as I was one mark off an A*) and an A in the AS and I got 133 in STEP Mathematics I-III.I achieved 598/600 in Maths and 587/600 in Further Maths.Well done for being a STEM master and doing 5 STEM subjects and doing lots of Maths too but its a shame you couldn't have squeezed in a third Maths A Level.

What University are you going to and what course will you study?I passed the interview for Cambridge but failed the offer due to STEP so I will do Maths at Durham University.

Why are you wasting money on a remark, it doesn't affect your future at all..

Reply 86

Cherry82

Congrats, I must commend your humility. At first when I had viewed the title, I was like oh here we go lol. But after I had read through the post, though what you have done is incredible, you seem very down to Earth and humble about everything. I've always looked up to people with these qualities :smile:

Also thanks for the tips you had shared, I was reading some of them and it had opened my eyes a bit to how to approach A levels.

I'm wanting to self teach three but I'm thinking maybe this is a bad decision. I didn't do so well at AS level also but I can't stand the school I am at, at the moment. It's not that I am entirely blaming them but so much happened this year, it's why I just said I'll self teach some modules and get a tutor if I get really stuck. I feel that before, self teaching would have been tremendously difficult compared to now where there is a lot more online. It's just finding more resources that is my main problem and feeling secure that I can do it rather than being negative...

Reply 87

caroline brady

Original post by BlueIsTheNewRed

Exactly the one I was talking about. And very nice how you picked it up how they edited her out. Coincidence? I think not. :biggrin:

Here's my much anticipated view on the system :colondollar:

I found out about the 'guesstimating' of grades just recently, infact just before results day. I do think an issue but its quite understandable when there are millions of papers circulating around, its inevitable for some to be lost. There are plenty of passing around and the more its handled, the more likely it gets lost... hell even schools 'misplace' or sends them out incorrectly, not just the exam board itself. I could also see how schools may be able to take advantage of it, but atleast I think they take mock exam results into consideration when guesstimating.

I had no idea about these scandals until you brought them up but I reckon this would only affect a small portion of the students. At least thats what I hope :biggrin:

You might not know about ISAs (I think its investigative skills assessment? never liked it anyways :tongue:

), they are usually worth 20% of science subjects (both gcse and gce) and it involves doing experiments and answering an exam paper in lesson in 'exam conditions' but in classrooms. From personal experience, plenty of schools cheat as these experiments and question paper are sent there beforehand and so teachers would look through it and cater to them and teach the best answers possible. That may sound very wrong but at the same time it's kinda inevitable; most things on it is very word specific, not in actual syllabus specifications and they are not allowed to tell you what you did wrong (usually 2 retakes allowed). So there is literally no way to improve unless you have a good teacher teaching good science.

And for grade inflation, I believe its due to competition between exam boards. They were created to compete and make things harder but then it turns out making exams easier means more schools would opt in and hence $$$. But then for some reason, younger kids would go onto complaining how exams are getting more and more difficult every year.

Having studying in Uk for 4 years now, I don't think these scandals have affected us much (apart from those ISAs). Out of curiosity what other exams have you say? I wouldn't say that A level is a piece of cake, but neither is it a walk in the park.

When I was in the Canadian education system (which I believe is very similar to American except SATs, please correct me if I'm wrong) I find the lack of public exams very worrying. To me, it seems that there is no way for you to compare yourself to anyone else who is not from the same school. And that means that universities will not have a standardised evaluation (SATs aside) for students, which seems unfair for those in harsh schools, it was also partly why I left for UK.

Let me know what you think :biggrin:

heya! i reckon you've watched the video too? it tells you everything you need to know about the state of schools in UK in general, the quality of teaching and also the discipline level of most students.

Well BBC had to trim that segment away. The truth really hurts huh :h:

I know more than 50 seniors in my international school who did the IB or whom previously sat for other difficult set of exams from the advanced countries like China, Norway, Singapore. They did really badly. So when our school became a Cambridge partner it was really a blessing in disguise? The international exams by Cambridge were much much easier and all of them are either in Oxbridge or the London colleges right now. We recently had an alumni gathering where seniors returned to our school to give talks etc. This was the reason why I did away with the IB and signed up for the CIE exams.

When I was in the IB programme, we had a subject called Theory of Knowledge. We were taught about the various problems that plagued United Kingdom. They include :

corruption in the police force
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jan/30/police-forces-ordered-review-2000-cases-alleged-corruption

1000 patients die every month and continue to die in the hospitals due to botched operations/abusive caregivers/doctors with dubious qualifications from foreign countries or locally trained doctors who weren't properly trained.
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-31226148

ineffectiveness of the police force and social services in many scandals but the one that comes to mind was one where 1400 young white girls in Rotherham were sexually groomed, kidnapped, raped and in many cases even murdered by a group of Pakistani muslim men for 16 long years from 1997 to 2013 and the police and social services stood by idle
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-28939089

Parliamentary ministers were embroiled in expenses scandal i.e. claiming more money for unnecessary expenses, often cheating the taxpayer's of their money.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1248648/MP-expenses-Shaming-389-greedy-politicians-went-far.html

I could really go on and I think I've made my point :wink:

I understand that you're planning to do medicine at uni? well many of my seniors wrote about the problems in UK's medical profession in their personal statements. In the interviews, we were told that the interviewers were shocked and amazed by my seniors' awareness of these problems given that most of my seniors are not even British citizens.

You might want to do a google on all the problems that plaque the medical profession in UK and see if you can weave a common theme in your personal statement? I don't see how that may hinder your PS. if anything, these details make your PS stand out given that many of the medical students will probably recycle the same old line in their PS i.e. 'I want to save lives' :u:

I am not at all bothered about the UK or her problems or whether the country is going to be in further decline etc. I'm focused on sitting for the easier British A levels and then going to a UK uni to get my degree.

Reply 88

username1518841

Original post by caroline brady

hiya I watched it too and I think its more or less on point regarding the state of British education. Its really too relaxed from a young age and there really isn't enough motivation for kids to learn, by the time its important, its too late for them.

Soo you're saying people who didn't do well in IB and other difficult exams came to your school and then did CIE exams and performed really well? IMO IB is more difficult as you cannot specialise in a certain area like science, and not everyone is able to handle Language subjects. I thought individual subjects at A2 level is comparable to higher at IB? I don't know anyone whos really done both :tongue:

And regarding those you know who got into OxBridge and London unis, I don't actually think its that hard ad you only need to have 90+ ums at AS to have a chance and typical 'high' offers are A*AA (highest I've seen is A*A*A*).

Now that you've mentioned Theory of Knowledge, I think its a great idea. Sometimes people get too focused on study that they become less aware of whats going on around them and across the world.

And thanks for your advice about PS but I've already made it to med school and starting in a couple of weeks! :biggrin:

BTW the UK is introducing new A levels and GCSEs after the reform and I think it might be an actual improvement over what we had, albeit harder, due to the linear nature of the programme.

Reply 89

username1518841

Original post by CASĒ

Why are you wasting money on a remark, it doesn't affect your future at all..

When theres a decent chance to go from an A to an A* its kind of worth it. Afterall its a difference between another A*... plus if it went up I don't think we have to pay :tongue:

Reply 90

username1518841

Original post by Cherry82

Congrats, I must commend your humility. At first when I had viewed the title, I was like oh here we go lol.

I'm wanting to self teach three but I'm thinking maybe this is a bad decision. I didn't do so well at AS level also but I can't stand the school I am at, at the moment. It's not that I am entirely blaming them but so much happened this year, it's why I just said I'll self teach some modules and get a tutor if I get really stuck. I feel that before, self teaching would have been tremendously difficult compared to now where there is a lot more online. It's just finding more resources that is my main problem and feeling secure that I can do it rather than being negative...

Thanks! I started this hoping I could actually help some people because when I did my GCSEs I didn't get much help. Given the right help I think I could have done better so thats what I was kinda hoping I could do for people.

So let me get this straight, you've done AS and now at A2 and want to retake modules you haven't done well in? Or do you want to self teach 3 AS? I think it really depends on how much free time you have and what subjects. I could only tell you about sciences and maths ones :colondollar:

Reply 91

caroline brady

Original post by BlueIsTheNewRed

Soo you're saying people who didn't do well in IB and other difficult exams came to your school and then did CIE exams and performed really well? IMO IB is more difficult as you cannot specialise in a certain area like science, and not everyone is able to handle Language subjects. I thought individual subjects at A2 level is comparable to higher at IB? I don't know anyone whos really done both :tongue:

And regarding those you know who got into OxBridge and London unis, I don't actually think its that hard ad you only need to have 90+ ums at AS to have a chance and typical 'high' offers are A*AA (highest I've seen is A*A*A*).

BTW the UK is introducing new A levels and GCSEs after the reform and I think it might be an actual improvement over what we had, albeit harder, due to the linear nature of the programme.

yes. many of my seniors who fared terribly in the IB programme crossed over to the fast track British A levels which they completed in one year. I was on the IB programme myself and tbh I was struggling and looking back I'm really happy that I attended the alumni session cos I went home straight after and researched on the British A levels. I downloaded past year papers, examiner reports and the specifications and I was shocked by the difference in difficulty level as compared to the IB programme.

This forum has helped me tremendously as well. So if I do succeed in getting into a top UK uni, I'll have to say that my seniors and some teachers, my research skills, this forum and the fact that the British education system is easy along with its bizarre happenings such as estimating grades due to losing exam papers and all the other scandals are indeed my benefactors.

My seniors and some of the teachers have drummed it into us that we should only aim for Oxbridge, the London colleges or Durham, Bristol, Warwick, Nottingham and to a small extent Birmingham. But of course this does not apply to medicine.

and our international school often has all these representatives from the unis I've mentioned above and some others, coming down to give us talks and seminars and on the spot evaluation of our grades (which is why i feel that the Personal Statement aspect of the UCAS is just a phoney) and enticing offers such as a waiver of the UCAS application fee if we register through their designated student recruitment agency :eek:

Pardon me for bursting your bubble but the changes to the A levels do not apply to us British or international students studying outside of United Kingdom :biggrin:

Reply 92

username1518841

Original post by caroline brady

and our international school often has all these representatives from the unis I've mentioned above and some others, coming down to give us talks and seminars and on the spot evaluation of our grades (which is why i feel that the Personal Statement aspect of the UCAS is just a phoney) and enticing offers such as a waiver of the UCAS application fee if we register through their designated student recruitment agency :eek:

Pardon me for bursting your bubble but the changes to the A levels do not apply to us British or international students studying outside of United Kingdom :biggrin:

I guess i'll take your words for it :tongue:

but just out of curiosity, what subjects did you do for IB and which A level subjects are you comparing them to?

The way your school tells you where to apply sounds really Asian to me :colondollar:

almost as if you suddenly have Asian parents telling you what to do! But I guess it doesn't hurt as its probably for the best.

I've met those representatives too and its hilarious that they offered to waive the ucas fees :colone:

But I have to agree with you on the PS as I think most courses might not even look at them (except really competitive or professional courses)

I didn't know that the a level changes didnt apply outside uk, but i'd love to hear your thoughts on it :smile:

Reply 93

caroline brady

Original post by BlueIsTheNewRed

I didn't know that the a level changes didnt apply outside uk, but i'd love to hear your thoughts on it :smile:

http://www.cie.org.uk/programmes-and-qualifications/cambridge-advanced/cambridge-international-as-and-a-levels/uk-changes/

Reply 94

CASĒ

Original post by BlueIsTheNewRed

When theres a decent chance to go from an A to an A* its kind of worth it. Afterall its a difference between another A*... plus if it went up I don't think we have to pay :tongue:

Yeah but he's going to university... And he's already got what, 3 A*s?

Reply 95

username1518841

Original post by CASĒ

Yeah but he's going to university... And he's already got what, 3 A*s?

Another A* makes it even better, atleast it'll make me happier if I went from 4A* to 5 A*s(I messed up chem too badly for a remark to do any good :tongue:

) but I'd totally go for a remark if I were him

Reply 96

Cherry82

Original post by BlueIsTheNewRed

I see, but your GCSE grades were still good in my opinion :smile:

Lol yea, I've just completed AS and I am mean't to be entering A2 next week but my grades are very poor so I doubt I can continue at my sixth form college. I can't to be frank. But I'd like to continue and resit those AS papers while still taking those A2 exams in the summer. It would mean 10 exams in the summer, luckily they've delayed the exam period to provide more time due to the reformed AS levels settling in. So though it's not much, I have like 7 days/week extra than previous years before my exams.
I was thinking If I'll be in charge of my hours and how I can manage them,it could be an advantage as I can go at my own pace and set my focus accordingly but because there are so many disadvantages as expenses and not having a teacher to guide you daily, I don't know if it's a bad idea. A teacher of mine said these days students don't even need teachers due to Youtube and other resources but I don't know. I may just repeat AS level.

Reply 97

SamuelSingleton

Original post by BlueIsTheNewRed

well done, congrats to you too! i heard psychology was a massive pain in the ass! and hows sociology?

well luckily i did psychology A2 last year so my exam was okay aha but yeah I've heard psychology this year was just awful

sociology is pretty easy, like psychology there's so many case studies to learn but once you understand the basic perspectives it's easy to apply them to any question and pick up most of the marks - the exam was really simple and you pick up 2 marks for each point and then another 2 for each evaluative point. Plus grade boundaries are always low on it, they never really move so it's 51/90 for an A pretty much every year :biggrin:

Reply 98

username1518841

Original post by Cherry82

I was thinking If I'll be in charge of my hours and how I can manage them,it could be an advantage as I can go at my own pace and set my focus accordingly but because there are so many disadvantages as expenses and not having a teacher to guide you daily, I don't know if it's a bad idea. A teacher of mine said these days students don't even need teachers due to Youtube and other resources but I don't know. I may just repeat AS level.

Best of luck to you then! Keep yourself motivated and pace yourself and take advantage of any resources you could get your hands on(that includes your mates :wink:

)

Reply 99