note to self

STOP COMPARING YOURSELF TO OTHER PEOPLE

keyboard shortcuts

ALT+F for flagging
ALT+E for ending a review
ALT+C for bringing up the calculator
ALT+P for going to the previous question
ALT+N for the next question

verbal reasoning

two main question types:

1. reading comprehension qs (main type)- requires greater depth of reading

2. true/false/cant tell qs (about 2 sets)

Reference point:

by question 22 (halfway through the subset), the timer should be at about 10mins 30secs

Reading comprehension type Qs:

skills:

• critical reading
• inferences (using information to come to a conclusion)

Method:

1. read the statement/question

2. look at the answer responses

3. eliminate and select (difficult questions)

-take the same amount of time on these questions as the true/false ones.
-make a mental note of each part of the text e.i. what each part represents (like mini paragraphs)


Qualifiers:

• "some" means at least one
• "mostly"- may give clue that there are other parts/other ways of something, or a clue that it is more than another part

Useful books:

• "critical thinking-an introduction"

medicine reading list

(taken from medify website)

http://www.medify.co.uk/books

i got medify!

So just bought a two week subscription of medify. I hope it works.

this is the order you are supposed to do things:

1. tutorials
2. practice sets
3. mock tests

Training to keep yourself under the time limit. Simulate the test environment. A good idea I came up with is doing a practice test every day the time of your test and keep yourself timed strictly.

-first focus on getting the questions right before increasing your speed

shit week revision wise

its been a shit week, no revision done.

anyway i was thinking, if i fail this year, then i will appy again next year more wisely. I know where I went wrong this year, I left things too late. 

ill revise maths every day until may 2014

so i will book my ukcat the day it opens- may 2014

i will take my ukcat around june/july 

write and finalise personal statement by august

send of ucas by mid august 2014

at the same time apply for a masters so that you dont have another wasted year if you dont get in again.

maths subjects to revise for (UKCAT)

-ratio and proportion
-metric conversion
-percentages
-area and volume
-pie charts, graphs, kinematics ect

-geometry, Pythagoras theorem



http://vimeo.com/practiceaptitudetests

http://www.euvonal.hu/kulugy/upload/M_47/rek5/88/Numerical%20and%20verbal%20reasoning%20-%20A8.PDF


http://www.scribd.com/doc/83233074/How-to-Master-the-UKCAT


http://www.lboro.ac.uk/media/wwwlboroacuk/content/mlsc/downloads/Numerical%20Reasoning%20Practice%20Test%201.pdf


http://www.practiceaptitudetests.com/numerical-reasoning-tests/


http://www.topemployers.co.uk/graduate-jobs-numeracy-game.html

so i didnt study at all yesterday, but im starting again now. I woke up early (8:20ish) yay :D but i slept early last night. It will pay off sleeping early.

quite nervous for my brothers A level results today

ukcat revision is going really slow and I cant answer the questions in time :(

plan for this month

-wake up at 7am everyday
-have a healthy breakfast
-study for two hours
-break-go for a walk or do some exercise for 30mins-1 hour
-two hours more studying
-break-eat a snack
-study the rest of the day in the same way
-when you have had enough of ukcat study, write your personal statement



Rules:
-put your phone away and don't answer people unless your on your break and can be bothered
-sleep by 11pm
-drink lots of water everyday
-get fresh air everyday
-use the kaplan method for all questions
-dont go out with ANYONE until you finish exams
-maths tuition with y once a week

ukcat TIPS!

-dont miss any easy marks- answer the easy ones first, ALWAYS MARK AN ANSWER before flagging the question
-dont waste time on difficult questions
-dont leave any questions unanswered- when making a guess for each section, be consistent with the letter you pick-this can get you an extra 20%, if you pick the letter randomly you are likely to get less
-when people say you cannot revise for the ukcat they are right in the sense that its not a content based exam, but you can learn and practice the skills that are needed to answer the question types
-understanding the question type will help you find the correct answers quickly
-once you answer a question, MOVE ON!

good ukcat material:

-600q book
-'score higher on the ukcat'
-kaplan course

11/08/13

-I managed to get my little paws on the ukcat kaplan book! :D
-Didnt study at all yesterday or today :(
-I shall start studying now

things to do this year (maybe)

http://www.mencap.org.uk/




friday night skate:
http://www.lfns.co.uk/


rspca:

http://www.rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/volunteer

http://www.battersea.org.uk/get_involved/volunteer_with_us/

http://www.londonwildcaretrust.co.uk/help_volunteer.html#wildlife

advice to my future self if i dont get in this year

-Do the ukcat as early as possible!!
-Submit your application as early as possible
-Do the BMAT and GAMSAT tests so that you have more choices for unis
-Prepare for interview. Any activity that helps you communicate confidently will stand you in good stead at interview. Use BBC Health and NHS Choices to gen up on hot topics and how the NHS ticks, so that you are aware of the issues, even if you don't have answers to solve the problem. Check those sites for new headlines before each interview! Gen up on the 'Four principles' of ethics - a useful starting point if you are asked to give an opinion on an ethical dilemma. Look for podcasts from the BBC series 'Inside the Ethics Committee' for some insights into this aspect of medicine.

why do we have tunnel vision?

The abstract reasoning of the ukcat should be used as punishment in hell. I dont know if there is actually a way of getting good at it, I can hardly find any patterns! :(WAH WAH.

I can see why they have put this section into the ukcat because intelligence is the ability to differentiate. I think as we grow older we are less likely to see the 'whole picture' because of our conditioning. Our vision becomes unidimensional. Children are better at spotting patterns, colours and a wider scope of characteristics than adults. If I had to take a guess why we become like this I would blame it on the media. Its because we see recurring themes in the media- television, news, radio, songs, films ect. When we were kids we were not exposed to these recurring patterns and therefore did not have tunnel vision. This process can be reversed by broadening your attention. Examine everything. Be curious, learn how to work everything around you and understand how it works.

yesterday and today

Yesterday was a bad day revision wise. I did nothing. But I did go to tuition with y. Also I met this interesting guy who I dont know whether to trust or not. Well anyway he is very successful in the business world and he was giving me the following advice:

-dreams are very important and you must never forget your dreams
-You need to be positive otherwise nothing will work out
-The main thing you need to accomplish anything is focus, and he repeatedly told me this
-he said there is no such thing as cant, it just doesn't exist

Medical Choices all depending on my UKCAT score!

with a good ukcat I could apply to :
-barts
-newcastle

with a bad ukcat:
-southampton
-dundee
-leicester (needs one year of paid hospital experience)
-warwick



it all depends on your BLOODY UKCAT!! WORK HARD!!

                   “People shouldn’t dwell on the past. It’s enough to try your best in all that you’re doing now.”

                                                                                      - Aya, “1 Litre of Tears” (Japanese drama)

today

So today I revised only about a solid half hour! I would have been better off going out the whole day and taking my book and revising at starbucks. The rest of the day I spent reading, internet searching, texting, facebook, watching 3 episodes of GOTs and napping. That is really not a good sign of discipine.
I know its boring and ardious but I have to get a good mark on the UKCAT to have any chance of getting into medicine this year. Everything else can wait. EVERYTHING!! NO EXCEPTIONS!!

ukcat tips (taken from getintomedicine)

UKCAT - Practice a little but often! 

The UKCAT is a long exam lasting around 2 hours and there is no end to the amount of practice you could do. However, it is very easy to feel overwhelmed when faced with trying to master each section of the UKCAT. To try to absorb all that information all at once is a difficult task. You may very quickly feel frustrated, distracted and disheartened - none of which is conducive to efficient practice. Therefore experiment with the learning style which is best for you.

Many people find that by doing a little bit of revision, but doing it often is better than trying to sit at their desk for hours and hours. Concentration is not a constant and many find that after an hour of solid work they begin to day dream or otherwise be distracted. By limiting the amount of work you do to around an hour, before taking a short break, you may actually improve your productivity! Break the large task of revising for the UKCAT down into  smaller pieces and smaller goals for each day and concentrate on achieving them. This can reduce the burden of trying to learn it all in one go, and may increase the amount of work you get done each day - which all adds up





-this is very different to the approach I have been taking so far. I have been spending the whole day at my desk and getting maybe only one or two hours of solid work done. Maybe I should take this advice and work little and often rather than tiring myself out and not getting much work done. 

-Its all about organisation- I should work on this. I think I could balance all aspects of my life out perfectly if only I had organisation as a skill!

get into medicine site

more questions to practice the ukcat!
http://www.getintomedicine.co.uk/

work experience abroad

I am currently looking into what I can do in my gap year coming, I want to do something both medically related and fun, oh yeah and life changing. Still looking around, here are some good links:

http://www.volunteeringsolutions.co.uk/group-volunteer-abroad

Hello nobody!

So I have decided to create a blog to keep the mess in my mind untangled. I am hoping to vent on this blog.
Usually people create blogs like this a few years before they actually apply for medicine. But you probably don't know me, I am not the average medical student. I was never the most organised and academic person anywhere. I do need to work on these areas, passion alone may not surpass all other criteria. But dont look back because you are not going that way