Month: July 2020

What should we do this summer?

After one of the craziest academic years of all time, it is finally the summer holidays. I actually can’t believe I’ve finished year 12- it’s certainly been a very enriching year and I have had so many awesome opportunities and a chance to develop lots of skills outside academia. Since school is finally out (although I haven’t set foot in school since March…), I thought I’d consider the question: what should we be doing this summer to get ready for our medical applications? I am going to talk you through my plans in a bid to give you a bit of inspiration if you’re stuck but please remember that ultimately you can choose what you do this summer. Also, these are just plans so may be a little optimistic!

Other than relaxing of course so I don’t burn out, I have a few main goals for the summer. The first is to revise for and do well in my UCAT. This is going to involve lots of practice questions every day as well as some honing my technique. If you want to read more about my UCAT experience, I made a blog post all about it so have a read of that. Another goal of mine is to revise the content I covered in my A levels this year so I feel fairly confident for year 13. I’ve always been someone who likes to revise little and often, learning as I go, so this approach has helped me in previous years. I also plan on going to more webinars, lectures and other online events to help strengthen my personal statement and have more things to talk about at interview where necessary (also these events are generally just super interesting to go to!). All in all, that makes for a pretty busy summer so how am I making sure that everything gets done?

Quite simply, I am using a weekly planner and have spent some time separating all my tasks out onto each day of the summer. I honestly don’t know where I’d be without my weekly and daily planner- they are literally the holy grail for staying productive! First, I went through and made note of any events I had planned, such as summer school, a holiday and any other random days out I’d planned in advance. This stopped me putting revision days in those slots where I clearly couldn’t study or be productive all day. I also added in any online events I’d signed up to. I have some online lectures planned (Nottingham University is currently hosting a great lecture series if you want a place to start and UCL have started one too) as well as a few webinars and Instagram lives that I want to go to. It’s important to me to jot these things down otherwise I will forget which would be a real shame. I am also a tutor, so I wrote down all my shifts too to help stop me planning to do too much work on some days. Next, it was time to plan the actual work I want to get done this summer. This included my UCAT preparation, school work and anything else I want to read up on or do. I tried to make my plans as specific as possible so instead of just writing UCAT (because I knew already I wanted to prepare for that), I would write UCAT practice paper or question bank or specific videos. This really helps me to focus my time and allows me to be much more efficient. I have done a similar thing with my school work and planned further reading, writing the specific chapter I want to study as well as the study method and the specific topic I want to read around rather than just ‘biology revision’ and ‘further reading’. I have tried to make my plans as realistic as possible too, but I guess I’ll find out how realistic they are when I attempt to follow them. I have also mostly left the weekends blank (except for UCAT) to give me time to switch off and do other things. This also allows me more flexibility to move tasks around if something comes up.

Whilst this summer is a great opportunity for us to work on our medicine application, I think it’s equally important that we find time to relax and do other things besides work in the holidays. Medical schools also value well rounded applicants so our hobbies shouldn’t be pushed aside. I can definitely fall into the trap for feeling guilty when I’m not being productive too but am trying my best to combat this fear of doing nothing. This summer is definitely going to involve lots of playing the guitar, doing yoga, seeing friends (safely of course) and just chilling out (aka netflix). I don’t want to go into year 13 exhausted already, but refreshed and ready.

Ultimately, you can choose how much or little you want to do this summer (although UCAT prep is advisable!) but I definitely think it’s worth some consideration. At least roughly planning our time can really help us to achieve our goals and use our time effectively. I’m going to link some of the events I’m planning on attending below and I’d love to hear about your plans too. Have an amazing summer!

You’ve got this!

Written by Aimear Wolstenholme (student who has engaged with Medsimple programmes)

Follow us on instagram (@medsimplehq) and make sure you subscribe to our mailing list on: www.medsimple.co.uk

How social media and networking is aiding my medical application and how it can help yours too

So until lockdown, I have mostly used the powers of google and email to find and secure opportunities to aid my medical application and build a healthy CV. To be honest with you, that has been brilliant and my CV and medical application were looking healthy with volunteering, work experience and other opportunities lined up. Then covid happened and I’m honestly so glad (from an opportunities perspective, not the intense suffering and loss felt by so many) that it did. Here’s why.

Has anyone ever told you it’s not what you know but who you know? Well I’ve been told that and as someone with zero medics in the family (or even friends), this seemed a tad unfair. I didn’t consider for a long time that I had any control (or at least very little) over who I knew so the whole process of gaining work experience and opportunities seemed very unfair. To be honest it is easier for some than others to gain work experience but we have more control than we think.

I first properly heard about the idea of networking last summer at a brilliant free event called ‘Empowered by Vee’ in Oxford which is going virtual this year. I had heard about Linkedin before but honestly thought it was just a platform to promote your business and I didn’t have a business so why on earth would I be interested? That day I set up a Linkedin page and hardly used it until lockdown. I have really reaped the benefits ever since I started connecting with people, sharing what I was doing and using the platform to find amazing opportunities which I don’t think I would have found without Linkedin. For example, the opportunity to write on this blog came about through Linkedin and it’s one of many awesome opportunities that I’ve had (and you can  secure too!).

So you may be wondering how to start building your own network and finding these opportunities yourself. There are two main things that you need to do. The first is to start sending out connection requests- lots of them! Make these relevant to the career and industry you’re interested in. I searched for medical students, doctors, aspiring medics and people involved in health as an industry. Eventually, Linkedin will start recommending related people to you so it takes a lot less effort to connect with people. Connections don’t appear by magic so you have to seek them out yourself, especially in the beginning. The next step is to update your profile regularly by posting and adding your experiences to it. As well as this, check your feed regularly and engage with posts and opportunities. If you see someone doing something that you’d like to do, either look it up or ask them about it. Scrolling through Linkedin is one of the only times that I don’t feel guilty for scrolling through social media so it’s a win win!

One thing I’ve been really surprised about is how nice people are on Linkedin. (Some people are a bit too nice so watch out for that- I have been asked for my phone number a few times which I won’t give out online). I often get messages offering to answer any questions I might have or offering opportunities. Private messages is where I find a big chunk of opportunities and I would say to really engage with this. Through talking to really lovely professionals and students, I have been able to have some of my questions answered and also secure some brilliant experiences. The amazing thing about Linkedin is that the more you put in, the more you get out so we really do have control over who we know. It might seem a bit slow at the start but stick with it to really unlock the power of networking.

So what have been my takeaways from the past year? I would say my biggest tip is to put yourself out there. When I have left my comfort zone (both in real life and online), some amazing things have happened. For example, I had a great conversation with someone from a CCG on a GP placement and he offered me work experience. I asked for his email and took him on the opportunity despite how nerve wracking it felt at the time. As a result, I had an amazing work experience placement in February which has helped me a lot since. So leave your comfort zone because if you don’t ask, you don’t get. Finally, know that you can seek out opportunities no matter what background you come from. Having to seek out my own opportunities has made me more resilient and more self-motivated. Not every experience works out (look at covid for example) but I am then so much happier when things do.

You’ve got this!

Written by Aimear Wolstenholme (student who has engaged with Medsimple programmes)

Follow us on instagram (@medsimplehq) and make sure you subscribe to our mailing list on: www.medsimple.co.uk

UCAT 2020. Forget covid. I think for us aspiring medics this has certainly been the topic of the week. Before you read any further, if you’re applying to medicine in October, have you signed up for the UCAT yet? If not, please go and do it right now. I literally booked mine 1 hour after booking opened and places were already very limited. It was really surprising!

I think there are so many questions surrounding the UCAT this year, starting with the obvious: where should we take it? Literally right up until I booked my test, I was adamant I was doing it at home. Living with a clinically extremely vulnerable person made this option feel way less stressful. Going outside seems a little scary right now so as you can imagine sitting in a test centre seemed incredibly daunting, social distancing or no social distancing. I even bought a whiteboard. I was that committed. But when I went to check my laptop things fell apart. Long story short, it didn’t like the tech very much and I didn’t like the thought of everything going wrong and me being able to do nothing about it. So in the end I took a complete U-turn and am now sitting my test at a test centre an hour away. (The closest ones on the dates I wanted had already sold out- please make sure you have booked your test!)

The next big question is when do I sit the UCAT. I can’t give you an answer to this but the general consensus seems to be to do it before September. We don’t need any more added stress in our lives. UCAT themselves favour the idea of sitting the test as early as possible but I guess that depends on how prepared you are. If you haven’t started your prep yet, I would say this isn’t going to be the smartest option. The good news is that you can postpone the test if you don’t feel prepared enough but, so places aren’t wasted, it’s more considerate not to do this or to at least only do it once or twice. I know that it feels better to get a test over and done with although it’s reassuring to know that if I’m really not prepared in time, all isn’t lost. Personally I have decided to take mine near the end of August, which gives me most of summer to prepare. It’s recommended that you leave 4-6 weeks to prepare but the sooner you start preparing the better.

So I guess the most important question is how do we prepare. I’d like to point out that the UCAT isn’t an IQ test, but an aptitude test so revision and practice really does help. There are plenty of free and paid resources out there to help with prep. (If you check out @wearemedics on Instagram, they have shared lots of great resources). My own approach so far and also going forward uses a mixture of free and paid resources. I am also trying to simulate how the test will be to make my revision as effective as it can be (so online not with books). I was fortunate enough to be able to get Medify’s question bank which has been great so far. You don’t have to choose that one of course. Medsimple are launching their own online UCAT course, and plenty of companies are running interactive courses and webinars too.

If you want a chance at winning access to Medsimple’s UCAT online learning platform with 65+ video tutorials and access to Medsimple’s UCAT question bank then have a look at the competition on Instagram. Winners will be announced this Friday (10/7/20). Keep your eyes peeled (and if you want, comment things you’ve found down below so we can all help each other) for free webinars and resources because they are honestly great.

Blog: https://medsimple.co.uk/ucat-competition/

I have been to a few of Meducator’s webinars which have been useful. I also think learning how to answer the questions as well as techniques to aid speed is really important too. This is where guidebooks and youtube videos come in really handy. I personally love Kharma Medic’s playlist on youtube all about the UCAT exam. It’s definitely worth a watch. We can’t forget UCAT’s own website either which has a goldmine of resources! They have tonnes of questions and tutorials to check out and it’s all free!

But what if I haven’t started preparing yet? Honestly, it’s ok. We still have time. I have been struggling to fit in UCAT practice despite being in lockdown so you’re not alone. But I am trying to make it a priority in my day now and slowly ramp up the practice. You’re not alone. None of us are perfect and we will all likely have days where we don’t do as much as we wanted if anything at all. We just have to pick ourselves up and move on. I would say if you haven’t started preparing, now is at least the time to compile your resources and make some sort of plan. Find out what successful candidates did and figure out how you want to approach this to get the best score possible.

We will all get through this. Remember that your mental health is a priority throughout all of this and that you’re not the only one who is finding this a bit difficult.

I’d love to hear from you. When and where are you taking your UCAT? How are you preparing for it?

Hope you’re staying safe and well. You’ve got this!

Written by Aimear Wolstenholme (student who has engaged with Medsimple programmes)

Follow us on instagram (@medsimplehq) and make sure you subscribe to our mailing list on: www.medsimple.co.uk

Calling all aspiring medical students

To celebrate the upcoming launch of our new UCAT platform we have launched a competition!

2 aspiring medics will win full access to our UCAT learning platform till the end of the 2020 UCAT cycle.

Our UCAT online e-learning platform launches mid-July and you will be able to:

• Watch 65+ video explanations
• Access our question bank
• Learn at your own pace

How to enter:
1. Follow us on instagram @medsimplehq
2. Subscribe to our mailing list – www.medsimple.co.uk
3. Tag 2 people in the instagram comments
4. Comment under our ‘Important UCAT annoucement’ instagram post your favourite show