#ukcat

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.

Life Update & Exciting News  & a HUGE THANK YOU✨

(^photos of me in Germany at the most beautiful place I’ve ever visited - Schloss Neuschwanstein) 

Heyo! *big virtual hug* Soooo I officially graduated last year (sending everybody in the class of 2020 vibes and wishing you guys all the best - especially with the current situation). But the moment I finished exams, the grind wasn’t over. It’s been a dream of mine, since I was young to become a doctor and enter medical school. 👩🏻‍⚕️🏥‎‍⚕️

So straight after I put my pen down for my German exam, off began the journey of me driving and travelling to medical schools all across my country to do interviews. Despite the work of preparation, extreme nerves and competition, I’m so grateful to have a chance to not only meet and visit some of the coolest medical schools, learn more about what it takes to be a doctor, but I also got to visit the most beautiful places I didn’t even know existed in my nation. But once the road trip was over - I flew back home at 2am, to receive my final year results at 7am. (so you best believe I did not sleep)

BUT 7am that day I received really good news, my effort paid off and the best of all - I received the best marks for German. I legit started crying and screaming from excitement. I couldn’t have done it without this tumblr - so THANK YOU for always sharing your German content with me, fixing up on my errors and reaching out to me, when I asked for help. I never thought or realised how cool the STUDYBLR, LANGBLR and tumblr community is on here! 

About two weeks after receiving that happy news, I received an offer at my dream medical school. So here I am, as a survivor of high school, exams, tears, intense stress & anxiety, to thank you and also to let everyone know that I’m officially on the way to be a doctor. 

I’m sorry if this all comes across as a major flex, I’m just so excited & immensely grateful for your support. For anyone that is going through high school, learning German for high school or is currently on their way to medical school, my DMs and question box is always open to help you with anything you need. 

My learning journey doesn’t stop there. There is still so much I want to learn and practice with Germany and also I have a whole medical school journey in front of me before I actually become a doctor and I’m so excited. It would be my dream to one day work in Germany. If any of you guys are in medical school, please comment or reach out to me - I’d love to get your tips. So here’s an official announcement that my tumblr will have both normal study notes from medical school, whilst still being a langblr. 

(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.

So sorry, I know this took a while, but I've been so busy the past few weeks, just moving into uni and settling in and all that.

Personally, for UKCAT, I pretty much just used medify. I literally just did as much of that as I could possibly do within the time I'd booked the test. I also used UKCAT ninja from time to time but only the free version of it. Oh, and like a couple of days before the real thing, I went and did their mock tests.

That's pretty much all I did but depending on how you learn, there's a lot of different resources out there you can use. For example, courses, get into medical school books, free online resources, etc.

22 - 07 - 19

it’s summer and all i’ve done is revise for the UCAT. big whoop whoop