EPQ question ideas

Hello ! I’m in year 12 and pursuing medicine . Initially I thought EPQs were not beneficial for medicine ,veterinarian science and dentistry however I learnt through more research that it can be.
So I just needed a question relating to medical surgery .
So I came up with this idea:
Artefact: a 3D medical model of anatomical representation of internal organs in the medical world. (Which can be removed and studied)
Question(+ 1000 word ) : “How do these models aid in medical education, surgical training, and patient understanding, and what advancements can be made in refining these models for enhanced accuracy and educational efficacy?"

I’m not sure if this is a good idea so it would be great if anyone has any other ideas or suggestions.

Hi
I wanted to ask what you find beneficial about doing an EPQ as i am under the impression they aren't that useful.

If you have time and capacity they can be useful as some med schools will give alternate (and sometimes slightly reduced) offers if you have an A at EPQ. If you cannot commit to get an A then you may find your time better served focusing on your A levels, although research can be handy to talk about in your PS or may give you good reflection for interview.

OP, the point about grades stands. If you can find the marking schemes (if they exist) for EPQs I would have a look at that and see what gets the points for a high grade. Can you get those components out of your question/research. A good example of this might be, do they give high marks to primary or secondary research and statistical analysis? How would you fit that with your question?

I didn't do one so don't know, but sometimes it's good to think about something from both ends !

Hi,
Can I ask what medical schools those are?
I only know one that does that and if you dont mind me asking are you a medical student.

Hi
I wanted to ask what you find beneficial about doing an EPQ as i am under the impression they aren't that useful.

Very few university for medicine might offer a lower a-level grades if you have an A in your EPQ eg. Keele university school of medicine offer A**AA or AAA + EPQ with an A

Very few university for medicine might offer a lower a-level grades if you have an A in your EPQ eg. Keele university school of medicine offer A**AA or AAA + EPQ with an A

Yeah I did an epq for computer science and loved it a lot more than my actual a levels so it served to be a really good supercurricular for my personal statement. Achieved an a* so I got the reduced offer for 2 of my unis

Congrats! 🥳 What are you doing now ?I did computer science for GCSE and it was my favourite subject at the time I kinda regret not taking it for a 4th A-level.

Thanks! I'm doing physics maths and comp sci but yeah I mean it's only useful if you're doing comp sci at uni otherwise no point. For medicine the combo is maths bio and chem I think so yeah you will be fine anyway

Very few university for medicine might offer a lower a-level grades if you have an A in your EPQ eg. Keele university school of medicine offer A**AA or AAA + EPQ with an A

Yeah I did an epq for computer science and loved it a lot more than my actual a levels so it served to be a really good supercurricular for my personal statement. Achieved an a* so I got the reduced offer for 2 of my unis

What universities gave you reduced offers?? I applied for Computer Science for 2024 entry to Cambridge(rejection), Imperial (offer), Durham (waiting still), Edinburgh (Offer) and Manchester (Offer).

Even though the likelihood is low, I hope to get a reduced offer from Durham (My GCSEs: 9999999988 with the 8s in English Lit and RS and my A level grades (predicted): 5 A*s in Maths, Further Maths, Computer Science and Chemistry and EPQ as it will then mean that I have an actual insurance choice rather than having to pick from 3 universities with higher conditions.

The Imperial offer is A*AAA, which isn't bad, but also comes with a STEP condition which is the worrying part.

The Durham standard offer is A*AA which I'm hoping will be reduced given that I am well above the requirements...

I got a reduced offer from Sheffield and Cardiff but Durham doesn't give reduced offers based on the epq so It is unlikely they will give you a reduced offer on that front. Maybe if your contextual they might lower it. It's tough because your imperial offer is great apart from step which is always a gamble but I know a mate who flopped his step 2 but still got in. Realistically tho if your predictions are accurate, you can defo get the standard Durham offer of a*aa but afaik they don't really reduce offers and they do mention that they do not make offers based on epq so unfortunately I don't think they will make a difference for your application. Good luck however and some great offers. Well done!

Ah ok...thank you for letting me know! Yes it's astonishing how many people get into Imperial without meeting the STEP requirement. I believe the figures for last year were somewhere in the region of 60% of people getting in not meeting the requirements for STEP.

Having to do two admissions tests and an interview for one institution is rather annoying because just when I think I am done with admissions tests altogether and I can focus on A levels (I did the TMUA and the Imperial test for Computing applicants, which applicants call the "MAT" but then it just gets confusing with the admissions test for Maths), I have to do another one, but if it means that it will benefit me for the future, I gotta do it...

At our interview, they test our problem solving and Maths skills in addition to some of the stuff we mentioned in our personal statement. I am envious of all of those individuals who are free from having to do any admissions tests.

Thank you for your kind words! Which university are you studying at currently?

yeah the admissions tests scare me as well and exactly, suffer now to reap the rewards later. interviews are tough fs, a couple of my mates had their cambridge interviews and the questions they got asked broke my brain lol. and nw man these times are tough and we're in it together.

oh im not at uni yet, i did my epq last year which is why i already got my grade. however, im most likely going to firm sheffield, as its decently high ranking, and it has the placement year which i wanted a lot and overall, i just like the vibe of the uni and accomodation etc. i want uni to feel like home and for me although i live in the south and go to a private school in surrey, sheffield just felt so nice when i visited and although there looked to be some rough areas, they were not close by to the uni so it should be fine.

im currently procrastinating my revision as well rn by making some sort of web scraper application, but anything to escape the horrors of a level physics lmao.

Yeah, it feels like I dodged a bullet with avoiding A level Physics even though it would have made more sense with my A levels but at the same time, I took a hit myself with A level Chemistry. In fact, I would go so far as to say that it's my hardest A level.

On top of that, I got my Computing NEA and my EPQ, which I am trying to finish ASAP so I can focus completely on A levels and STEP prep. I need to start A level revision. I did an A level Maths paper and found it really easy but we still got loads of stuff to cover in school which is making me worry....

yeah trust, although i know a guy who does physics and chem and applied for computer science and he finds both of them equally horrible.

yeah the computing nea makes me wanna kms and i am spending wayyy too much time for not a lot of extra marks and hopefully i can get the main development part and documentation done by february. good luck on the epq tho, i found it fun and did it quite quickly but its different for everyone. and yeah content wise, my school is not that bad. weve done all of the computing course, and have year 2 stats and mech left of maths and 3 more topics left of edexcel physics. but i totally understand you man. it seems like were always revising or learning but its all gonna end in june and we can relax and have fun until uni. although uni isnt as stressful as a levels so it shouldnt be too bad.