Firstly, huge congratulations to everyone who has just received their A-Level results and is starting university in September! This has been a crazy year and I can’t imagine how you must have been feeling whilst waiting for results. I really hope everybody is pleased with the outcome and however things turned out, you should be so proud of yourself!
Throughout school and sixth form, I’d always had the goal of going to university and I just focused on one thing at a time: GCSEs, A-Levels, work experience, volunteering, extra-curriculars etc. Even though I always had the plan to go to university, it was only after Results Day that it actually hit me that I was going to be moving away from home, meeting so many new people and transitioning into a new way of learning and a whole new lifestyle. I often get questions about how uni differs from sixth form, how I changed my revision methods and coped with being away from home so I thought I’d share some of my tips here! I study Medicine but I think a lot of these points could be applied to any course at any university 😊
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UCAT season is coming around again so I thought I’d do a blog post with some of my tips and resources as I remember what a daunting experience this was!
I have recently discovered a UCAT resource called MedEntry (@medentryucat_uk on Instagram) that I’m going to talk about throughout this post and they have very kindly given me a discount code to share with my followers. Although there are lots of good free UCAT resources available online, UCAT preparation was something that I was willing to spend money on because I knew that so much was riding on this exam. This is definitely a resource that I would use if I was taking the UCAT again and I highly recommend it! Reflecting on 2nd year
I had such a great time during my 2nd year of uni – I had amazing times with friends, strengthened current friendships and made new ones, worked more productively than I felt I have in previous years, gained more experience from some clinical placements, and made some great memories. Everything was going so well until the reality of the coronavirus pandemic hit, and then before I knew it I was back home and 2nd year was pretty much done! I thought I’d post a bit of a reflection on this year of university, both for myself to look back on in the future and for anyone who will be going/applying to university this year 😊 This time last year, I was struggling with what to take to university. I travelled there on the train with suitcases so I had to pack pretty carefully but I still wanted to have everything I needed. These are just some items that I think are quite important and/or handy and might be easy to forget!
In terms of packing everything else, I think it’s useful to make a list and organise things into categories (bedding, room décor, clothes, shoes, work, kitchen utensils, toiletries etc) to make it easier for yourself. UCAT tips
The UKCAT (or UCAT as it is now called!) can be such a scary thought for aspiring medical students – it’s likely to be different to any exam you have ever done before, and many unviersities put such a strong weighting on it. If you are planning to do the UCAT this year or in the future, I hope some of these tips will be helpful for you. Of course, everyone is different and prefers different methods but this is just based from my personal experience! How to stay on top of your work at university
In my first year at university, there was a lot of work and it can be easy to fall behind if you don’t have strategies to help yourself keep up. In my first semester, I felt like I was still trying to find my feet and I hadn’t really chosen set revision methods and ways to plan my work, so it was harder to keep up! From January onwards, I felt a lot more organised and had a set method of writing notes and revising for exams (we had exams every 6 weeks), so I thought I’d share some tips 😊 My first year at medical school I’ve just finished my first year at medical school and I can’t believe how fast its gone! I’m writing this 2 days after my final exam and I’m heading back home in a week (sorry for the delay in the upload- I’m now back home!). Exam season was stressful but I have enjoyed the whole year so much and I’m feeling pretty sad to be leaving so soon! I love being at home but all of my friends from uni live super far away so I’m going to miss it a lot! I thought I’d just make a post to summarise my first year at university for anyone who is interested, and also for me to look back on further down the line! I have just finished my first semester at medical school! It’s so crazy to think that this time last year I had just had my interview and was super worried if I was going to get an offer or not, and a year on so much has changed! Sometimes I just have to take a step back and think how grateful I am that I’m studying my dream course at an amazing university, it still seems surreal sometimes!
I’ve had an amazing first semester at medical school and I’m excited for the next 5 years! I’m loving my course and I’m so happy that I’ve made such great friends. So far, I’ve only done one hospital placement but I’m super excited to do more hospital and GP placements from January onwards 😊 I’m going to split up this blog post into different sections because I know that different people will be interested in different things- I’ll also share some tips for anyone who is currently at university or who is hopefully going next year. I do have a separate blog post focused on applying to medicine (in a Q&A style), so if you are currently in the process of applying, maybe that will be useful for you! I’m applying to medical school but only have a few weeks of volunteering, do you think that’s enough?
I’d say medical schools expect you to have experience in a hospital setting, but also something that shows commitment i.e. has been done for a long period of time. If you feel you have got everything out of your volunteering that you wanted, then I’d say a few weeks is enough. But if you can stick at it for a few months, then it would be a good example to show your commitment. All my friends who were successful applicants in medicine/dentistry did have at least 6 months of volunteering in a caring environment, so if you can find something that you enjoy doing then this would be great for your application! Personally, I did mine in a rest home for 8 months, I went once a week for 3 hours and I enjoyed going! I spoke a lot about it in my personal statement and at interview so I’m glad that I found that opportunity. Many rest homes/other caring environments won’t advertise for volunteers, but if you phone them up and ask to speak to a manager, it is likely they will be more than happy to take you on. Today is the 15th of August 2018, which means that tomorrow is A-Level Results Day.
For those of you who don't know, I have completed my A-Levels in Biology, Chemistry and Maths and I need AAA to meet my offer to study medicine. There's no other course I would do instead so I have been so nervous in the lead up to results day. I hadn't planned to make this post today but I thought it would benefit me to sit down at my desk (which is completely empty as I'm moving house on Saturday!), and write this post. I hope this can help some of you who are waiting for A-Level, GCSE, or any other results in the next few weeks. Here are some things for us all to think about: |
AuthorI am a 19 year old aspiring doctor and I am currently studying at medical school, after completing my A-Levels in Biology, Chemistry and Maths. I created this blog to share my study tips and techniques and advice on applying to university, as well as some health and lifestyle posts, too. I hope you find them useful! Jasmine x Archives
August 2020
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