#bmat

It can be difficult to know about the range of resources available to you when preparing for the UCAT, so I’ve included some sources that I know about. Please message me/reply with any others that I have missed so I can add them on too!

Question banks: 

Official UCAT

Medify

The Medic Portal

UCAT Ninja

Passmedicine

Kaplan Test Prep

Courses:

The Medic Portal

Kaplan Test Prep

Ali Abdaal’s UCAT online crash course

6med

Books:

Get Into Medical School – 1250 UKCAT Practice Questions, Third Edition | Amazon / WHSmith / Waterstones

Score Higher on the UCAT – 1500 UKCAT Questions | Amazon (6th edition , 5th edition , 4th edition ) / Waterstones 6th edition

Miscellaneous:

The Student Room (search for UCAT threads in the forum)

(Just read the bolded sections for the book titles)

1. “This is Going to Hurt” by Adam Kay (OBGYN turned screenwriter) - essential reading, though some unis won’t like you bringing this up in your personal statement/interview because everyone has read this. Funny, heartbreaking, with an introduction to the hardest parts of medicine and the NHS. Might also be a good read if you’re not sure whether you want to be a doctor or not.

2. “When Breath Becomes Air” by Paul Kalanithi (neurosurgeon in USA) - popular for very good reason. This book recounts Kalanithi’s cancer diagnosis just as he qualifies as a neurosurgeon. Discusses the role of death in medicine and what makes a good doctor. To be honest, I was on the verge of tears throughout.

3. “Your Life in My Hands” by Rachel Clarke (journalist turned emergency medic turned palliative care doctor) - also a look into the hardest parts of medicine and the issues facing the NHS, but less talked about than number one. Another reason I recommend it is because it looks into what it’s like to have a family when you have a medical career, especially as a woman, as some of the male writers gloss over this. Also, discusses what it’s like to be an older/graduate medic.

4. “Fragile Lives” by Stephen Westaby (retired heart surgeon) - a look into surgery and the roles of research in medicine, as Westaby has helped create multiple pieces of tech in his career that have helped with the field. Also, it’s nice to read about someone who’s had a full career in medicine.

5. “With the End in Mind” by Katherine Mannix (Palliative care doctor) - written by one of the most eminent palliative care docs in the UK. A brief look into a less discussed speciality, which will provide an introduction to how we should think about death in medicine.

6. “The Language of Kindness” by Christine Watson (nurse) - a useful look into nursing, which will both show that you’ve researched other careers as well as teach you a lot about the importance of nurses (seriously, nurses are legends). Most importantly, though, emphasises the importance of compassion and empathy in medicine.

7. “Hard Pushed” by Leah Hazard (midwife) - again, a look into other careers which will also be helpful if you’re interested in obs & gynae. Like Clarke, Hazard discusses the strain of a career in healthcare on personal and family lives. Another thing that stuck with me was her account of the role of social care in medicine, when Hazard has to take cake of some of the most vulnerable in society.

8. “Unnatural Causes” by Richard Shepherd (retired pathologist) - like Mannix, discusses a less popular medical speciality and shows that saving lives doesn’t always require a living patient. Another thing Shepherd discusses the effect of his career on his mental health, and the strain doctors can be under mentally.

9. “In Shock” by Rana Awdish (Intensive care doc in USA) - Awdish, like Kalanithi, recounts her transition from doctor to patient when she almost loses her life to pregnancy complications. She reflects on the mistakes doctors made when it came to empathy and the need to improve empathy and communication in medicine.

10. “War Doctor” by David Nott (general and vascular surgeon) - I will be honest, I haven’t read this yet. But I’ve just seen it everywhere, and it’s a look into the importance of volunteering and the variety of paths you can take as a doctor. So, yeah. If you read this, let me know what you think.

11. “’Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas” by Adam Kay (see no. 1) - just a good festive read. Nice and short, too, if you need something quick. Here, Kay recounts the effects of medicine on your personal life as well as adds a story that he left out in his first book that he explains was hugely significant to his medical career and why he left the field.

(This is not a studyblr. I just want to post something that I wrote ages ago and hopefully it will be useful to someone. Though I am happy to answer questions.)

so it’s summer and time for test preparation. Here are my notes for UCAT and BMAT, as someone who’s taken each of them twice.

UKCAT (second time) 3000

BMAT (second time) 7.3, 8.6, 4A

UKCAT preparation (They renamed it UCAT I think. I am not absolutely sure if these notes are still applicable.)

I did all the free practice questions on the official UCKAT guide. Whilst The Medic Portal UKCAT question bank was still free, I finished about 90% of all questions. Overall I think it was a really good source with realistic questions.

The amount of time needed for preparation is really different for everyone. I’d rather start early, try a few problem sets, and plan from there.

Verbal Reasoning: Read the questions first before reading the article. Scanning didn’t work for me as a non-native English speaker, so I just tried my best to read as fast as possible.

Quantitative Reasoning: Familiarise yourself with all the common formulas, and improve your mental arithmetic bit by bit. The official practice questions were generally harder than the ones in the actual test. The numeric keypad was a lifesaver. Again scanning didn’t really work, so I consciously read every word.

Decision Making: There are several types of DM questions, and the only one I struggled with was Evaluating Argument. (It often turned out that my common sense was a bit different to everyone else’s, oh well…) Pick the strongest and most logical argument, even if it sounds ridiculous to you. You might be able to first exclude the arguments with inappropriate assumptions or those irrelevant to the question.

Abstract Reasoning: I have no idea. I wasn’t able to memorise any of those mnemonics, so I just practised a lot to find the ‘sixth sense’.

Situational Judgment Test: Good Medical Practice guide from GMC website is a must read. Here are a few things I jotted down, but of course you can make your own notes after lots of practice.

Very appropriate=addresses at least one aspect of the situation. Appropriate but not ideal=no bad consequences, but not very wise. Inappropriate but not awful=shouldn’t really be done, but no terrible consequences. Very inappropriate=makes the situation worse.

Very important=vital when deciding to do or not to do. Important=useful but not vital. Of minor importance=can be taken into account, but doesn’t really matter if it’s considered right at that moment. Not important=completely irrelevant.

Medical students cannot give any medical advice to patients or family members.

Apologising on someone else’s behalf (when they are indeed wrong) is appropriate but not ideal.

For problems in group work, you should first try to solve locally. You should encourage everyone to contribute. You must not exclude anyone from discussion. Asking for tutor’s advice is appropriate but might not be ideal.

Future grade/assessment is not important at all when you’re considering reporting someone’s behaviour.

You cannot ignore a friend’s inappropriate behaviour or expect the friendship to affect anything professional decision.

It is very appropriate for a medical student/junior doctor to consult a senior doctor.

You should refuse the ‘wrong’ kind of help, but make use of available resources.

You should not appear insensitive even when you cannot provide sth.

You cannot discuss a mistake right in front of a patient.

Other people’s professional opinions are (very) important.

You cannot compromise quality of service.

You cannot blame anyone for anything before gathering enough evidence.

It is important that the patient understands everything and errors are corrected ASAP.

Patient history is important.

People who’re in need of urgent help should be prioritised.

 BMAT preparation

I did every official practice paper at least twice. I also finished the book The Ultimate BMAT Guide 600 Practice Questions, which was very helpful with explained answers and good tips. (If you’re concerned with the cost) I used a very cheap second-hand copy. The main idea is to practise as much as possible, and also to reflect once in a while.

If you’re anxious about the timing, just try to think ‘one question at a time’. I liked to check the time after every single question, but this might not work for other people.

Section 1: The school curriculum in my country doesn’t even mention money exchange. You will need to familiarise yourself with playing cards, public transport timetables, loans, etc. For those data analysis problem sets, I preferred to read the questions first and then scan the article and graphs. I always, always ran out of time, so when there was only two minutes left I would roughly scan the unanswered questions and choose the answers that seemed most sensible, and then I would return to whatever question I was working on.

Section 2: Even if you take biology and chemistry to A-level/IB, there might still be something that you don’t know about, so those sections are worth a thorough check. With the invaluable help of a friend who studied physics in IB, I made sure that I understood all the formulas and when to use them. There were also some miscellaneous things that needed to be memorised.

TL;DR: Make sure you research your choices for the future very carefully and figure out a multitude of ways in which you can get there. Don’t be afraid of not taking the traditional path and stop giving a shit about what other people think of the way you achieve your goal. No one but you knows how hard you work and don’t let any obstacle slow you down.

Hello everyone!

I know I haven’t been very consistent with the 100dop challenge but I’ll be back on it soon! I’ll also try to continue the 30dbts challenge although we’re so far into it now that I’m not sure if there’s any point. Oh well!

I wanted to share with you why I was gone as I’ve recently received some lovely messages from some lovely people saying my blog keeps them motivated, which means a lot, especially when sometimes you feel like your posts go unseen.

The reason I took a step back from Tumblr for a while was that I thought I needed to keep up the good image of an amazing straight-A student or something, even though I promised myself at the beginning I will be 100% honest with how I actually am doing. But here’s the thing - I’m not that. I’m nowhere near perfect when it comes to my studies and I’m not even remotely close to figuring out how I work best and I want to be honest about that because I know that the reason I turned to Tumblr was that I thought this would help me figure out by learning how others do it. Maybe that’s why some of the people that follow me do! However, what I did learn from the majority of the people in this wonderful community is that resilience is powerful. 

Over the last 2 weeks-ish, things haven’t been going so well in terms of my future plans but I’ve managed to find ways out and around it which I thought will keep you motivated to keep going. As some of you may know, to apply to Medicine in the UK you have to sit BMAT and UKCAT tests which test different abilities, mostly not related to your ability to learn or anything like that - they’re like IQ tests but way harder. I’m applying to all BMAT universities, so I only took the BMAT and my score for it wasn’t that good. It wasn’t even close to the normal entry score of a Cambridge applicant and it’s just below UCL and Imperial cut off scores (which I may be able to work around). 

For a while, I thought that was it. I thought I should just stop applying to Medicine. What was the point if I’m not even going to get in? I might as well apply to something I could get in. But nothing else seemed appealing. I actually never wanted to do anything as much as I wanted to do Medicine. I remember in the past I was going to do Law or Journalism because I was too scared of the Maths A-Level, but I had the guts to do it and I’m doing well and I sure as hell wasn’t going to back down now.

I felt like a failure. I felt really stupid. I didn’t feel good enough. 

But if you really want to do something, you’ll get there in the end, even if it’s not in the way you expected/planned. 

I’m now applying to 3 Medicine courses and 2 Biomedical Science courses that do not require the BMAT. If I end up doing Biomed, I’ll continue from there with Graduate Entry Medicine. Nothing and no one is going to stop me from getting where I want to get and that’s the lesson I wanted to teach you all today.

Never, EVER, no matter what, give up on your dreams and your plans. Research what you want to do. Find out as many possible ways to get to where you want to be. Don’t be afraid if it’s not the norm or traditional way of getting there. Don’t worry about what people will think if you get there in some other way that, to them, makes you look like a failure. No one other than you knows how hard you work, how much effort you put into what you want and the fact that you are going for it regardless of the ways you get there shows your true passion and shows you have the strength and grit to keep going and that’s the only fucking thing that matters.