Medicine 2016 entry Update!

Hiiiii! It's been a while! Hope everyone's doing great! Working hard and looking forward to the Xmas break? I know I am! (I do love my exclamation marks don't I). 

Anyways today I decided to fill you in on my application for 2016 entry, unfortunely I did not make it this time around. 

Kings - rejected me obviously because of my UKCAT score 

Birmingham - rejected me because I'm not a graduate YET

and 

Queen Mary (Barts) - rejected me just yesterday because I "did not meet the entry requirements" - this was the best news for me LOL I know you guys probably think WTH!!! But let me explain.

I called Barts today to ask what exactly the requirement was that I did not meet and guess what - no surprise it was the UKCAT! BUT...... I was sooooo close to getting an interview that's what the guy on the line told me. He said that the Cut off for this years Graduate entry medicine was 2331 and if you remember I got 2320 soooo bloody close ahhhhh (I would have been pissed off if I got 2330 and got rejected aha) but 2320 makes me feel like if I put in more effort and work into my UKCAT for 2017 entry, hopefully I can land myself an interview (inshallah - God willing).

Anyways how are your applications going so far? Congrats to everyone who has landed an interview and especially those who have gotten offers already!!! 

I know I've been MIA this year on my blog but third year has just been so difficult for me to settle in - although I have uni for 2 days only :/ so it's really weird I feel like I go almost everyday (and trust me I don't).

Not promising anything but I will TRY my best to document my third year to the best of my ability from now on - as the wait and looking at UCAS constantly has ended for me.

Good luck with your work and application and I wish you happy holidays!!! 

It's done !

I can't believe I just sent off my application for medicine!!!! 

I know it's going to be a LONG wait but hopefully I'll get sucked into my uni work so much that I forget to check my track ^_^ if that's possible! 

Anyways now that my application is gone , I feel good, somewhat excited! 

I applied for: 

Queen Mary university

Kings college university

Birmingham university 

I was initially going to only apply to queen Mary & Kings but I decided to add Birmingham since it never had a entrance test, to be honest I didn't even check their requirements because I don't plan to go there. 

I'll keep you guys posted. Next post will definitely be about 3rd year modules & deadlines! 

Being Predicted A First Class Honour

My tutor/lecturer has finally written my reference for medicine & submitted it to UCAS. Which means now I can finally send off my application. 

I emailed the teacher, thanking him & asked him what he predicted me, to which he replied, "1st .. No pressure!" 

I'm glad he predicted me a first class, even though I'm not 100% sure - I think it might strengthen my application & possibly get me an interview somewhere. 

Will be sending my application off either tonight or tomorrow! Inshallah 

Deadline is so closeeeee!!! Arghhhhhh 

Good luck to everyone applying! May the odds be ever in your favour (inshallah)! 

Third year of Biomedical Science- week 1

I was planning on posting on here for a while but it just didn't happen. I'm back at uni and finished first week. I literally only go in 2 days a week (crazy but nice). 

The first day was awesome - I actually understood and learnt something whereas the last day I didn't learn a WORD! I literally went to lecture and seminar and didn't write any notes as I wasn't understanding. This actually used to happen to me last year in Microbiology  & immunology, I would go to lesson, learn nothing and leave it at that. But this time I have learnt from my mistake last year, so everyday I have started to go over what we did in lectures & seminars. I  go over the lecture slides and make up my own questions for each point and write the answer, I do this on paper or a book first. I then type it all up, which helps me remember some of it. 

So far I have catched up on most of week 1 work excluding 1 seminar which I will be doing today (hopefully) or before Friday. 

Finally got a job! So I'm happy (nothing related to biomed). 

Still not sure what my dissertation is on, just waiting for a reply from my chosen tutor. (Inshallah) 

I don't know if I've mentioned before but I have been volunteering at a hospital since April and just recently quit (6 months worth of work experience). I enjoyed the experience but it's a little nerve racking going up to patients to ask them for feedback for 6 months!!! It does get a little boring too. 

I think if I don't get into medicine this year - I will apply for medicine next year and to add to my hospital experience I will start trying to get some experience EARLY! Especially shadowing doctors. 

I will make a separate post on my modules this year and will also be including my assignment deadlines etc but I have a really good feeling about this year! Inshallah it all goes well and I get my first class.

Can you guys believe I still don't have a reference for my medicine application. Before you jump at me, I did tell the teacher a YEAR ago and reminded him once I got my second year results. I also continuously have been reminding him during the summer and just this week did he reply. So I'm waiting for that and then I can send off my application. 

That's all for today! Hope your first term is going well for you all.

Stay positive ! 

Change of attitude: Dragons Den

I've pretty much neglected this blog for one of many reasons, I lost belief in myself to actually study medicine. 

Ever since I did my UKCAT, I'm not even going to lie, I lost all hope COMPLETELY. I said I was going to apply with NO HOPE and probably reapply next year BUT today I realised I'm setting myself up for failure and I shouldn't. 

I was watching dragons den today and started wondering "how did these millionaires actually become millionaires". I went onto trusty old Google and googled "how to become a millionaire?". I didn't do it to actually become one (although that would be awesome) but I just wondered what people wrote about become millionaires. 

I read a couple of articles until I read something which made me think about my medicine application. 

"Your beliefs affect your actions -- and your actions affect your outcomes". 

How did I reach this point. I've got a quote on my wall which says "believe you can and you will, believe you can't and you won't" and I've always believed this to be true. I'm that person who always said "hey be optimistic, hey don't say that otherwise it will happen". 

I'm glad I read these articles, it's amazing how life works, one minute your watching TV next your researching about something random & find exactly what you needed to put you back on track. 

A quick story. My friend from college applied to study Pharmacy during our A2s. I don't remember the entry requirements but for kings college university, they were pretty high but her only worries were getting the grades. On results day she got an email which said CONGRATULATIONS. She got in and she assumed she must have gotten the grades. She came to college and found out she actually didn't get any of what she was predicted or what she even needed to get into pharmacy at Kings, but she still got in which was amazing!

Moral of the story, although she didn't get what she needed she still got in just like she believed she would. The difference between me and her is, at this moment in time, I believe I can get a 1st class honour in my degree and because I believe I will, hopefully I will. The only issue with me is, the UKCAT. I did terribly but hopefully they consider the rest of my application and not rely on my UKCAT score. 

P.s. I did believe I was going to do awful in my UKCAT score and I did just that. Proves how important believing is. 

So now I'm going to say it,

I BELIEVE I WILL GET INTO MEDICINE THIS YEAR! I WILL PUT IN MY ALL AND HOPE FOR THE BEST! 

Good luck to everyone! 

 

Choices!

Last time I mentioned Three of my options but they have since changed (well one has anyway). 

I am changing Imperial to Cambridge. 

I'm just going to be straight up and honest! I am only planning on going to either kings or queen Mary ... Even if I get a spot at Cambridge I won't be going. 

Which means there's no reason for me to apply there. 

Now I've officially decided. I will only apply to queen Mary/Barts & Kings. 

And when I reapply next year ... I will do the GAMSAT to add St George as an option inshallah.

Pointless post but just thought I should update ! 

I will not be doing an entrance test anymore (was planning on doing the BMAT) but sticking to my LOW UKCAT score of 580. 

I emailed Kings and they replied that the competitive average score was 720 for (A102). 

Go ahead LAUGH! Coz I'm laughing at myself more than you are. 

My plan for the Gap year is to apply for the scientist training program with the NHS and hopefully gain more experience for my next round of applications. 

I am starting my dissertation intro & starting revision for Clinical Biochemistry ... Since we have the SHITTEST teacher next year. 

Btw this is the teacher that I had for the module I got 50% in. Since I don't want the same thing to happen, I have to focus and work on that module quiet a lot (if it's difficult). 

Anyways wish all you GCSE and A-level students got what you hoped for ... If not don't be too sad! It's not the end of the world. 

UKCAT Experience & Results

As I've mentioned my UKCAT is today, specifically at 10:45. Right now (9:29am) i am on the bus to the test centre, apparently according to google maps it should take me 45 minutes to get there. 

I thought I would document pre & post UKCAT. My optimism hasn't increased at all, to the point I've mentally signed myself up for another round of applications next year. But inshallah everything has already been decreed and all I can do is, do my best. 

I hope I won't be late. I don't have internet on my phone therefore won't be able to post this until I get home (not that I'm finished writing) but yeah. 

Just came out of the test! Is it okay to say I told you so to my self? Lol I don't know why I'm acting like the situation is funny tbh. 

I've scored : 

Verbal reasoning : 520

Quantitative reasoning: 630

Abstract reasoning: 620

Decision Analysis: 550

Situational judgment: Band 2 

2320 total, average  580 :(

I've got below average which SUCKS! I know it's stupid but I will still be applying to medicine at Kings & Queen Mary. 

My options are limited & I will most likely not get in but i think it's worth trying since I have nothing to lose anyway. What's the worst that can happen? Rejections ? I'm ready for that! 

I don't think that there's any need to discuss it in more depths since I won't be any help to you, who might be preparing for the UKCAT. 

The only thing I will say is DA 550 WTH! I honestly felt more confident in this section (during revision) than QR. Okay I'm finished ! 

Overall feeling : Alhamdulilah - all praise is due to Allah! 

Hopefully I will do better next year inshallah!!! 

UKCAT soon!

In 18 hours I will have my UKCAT results. My test is Monday morning and honestly I'm not even revising today. Not because I believe I will do extremely well, on the contrary!  I honestly feel like I am going to get something between 400-500 or less than 600, I'm usually very optimistic but also realistic. I don't believe I've grasped the UKCAT as much as I wished to and I also don't want to wait around and feel nervous until I get the test over and done with. I've rescheduled it 3 times and don't want to reschedule it anymore (although I believe at this point it's too late). 

Whatever I get I think I'm still going to apply to study medicine just because I don't believe I have anything to loose. 

Anyway I will be back tomorrow to let you know what the results are for tomorrow inshallah. 

UCAS 2016 GEM entry!

I realised the other day my blog posts are sooooo short! I usually enjoy reading longs ones as they seem very informative. 

Last night, it was Tooooooo tooooo hot, which made me stay up till 5am. I decided to use my time effectively. I looked for the Ucas 2016 entry registration and registered myself.

Today I completed the entire APPLICATION! I know right *crazy*. Anyways I realised today something sad! I obviously already knew but I just didn't have to think about it. My GCSEs and A-levels. I swear when I look at my grades, I feel so silly for being so optimistic about medicine, when in all honestly, my grades don't look like a medicine worthy applicant. I don't want to feel disheartened yet. I feel like I'm nearly there and hopefully their might still be a chance. Anyways there's no point regretting the past! I will continue to wait for the future inshallah it all goes well. 

My choices: 

1st Imperial College London

2nd Kings College London 

3rd Queen Mary University 

At the moment I don't have a 4th choice which is okay I guess since I have till October to worry about that. 

I have sent off my referee info and waiting for reference. 

I'm also still editing my personal statment, which according to my friend makes me sound like a person who wants to take up a charity case LOL, guess I need to work on it ALOT more.

I have really been getting the hang of UKCAT revision! Thank God (Alhamdulilah). I have finished revising for Decision analysis which has to be my FAVOURTE section! I'm currently struggling on master class questions for the Abstract analysis. Not looking forward to revising Quantitative reasoning at allllllll! And feeling Meh! About verbal reasoning. 

Will update you more when there's more progress. 

2nd YEAR RESULTS!

Good news, I have all my results for second year Biomedical Science. 

Firstly I want to say I worked so much harder this year than last year. I am happy with what I got (apart from one module) but everything else was awesome. I am planning on working even HARDER next year and get a first overall (inshallah). 

Here are my 2nd year results: 

Biochemistry: 77% 

Statistics: 72% 

Clinical science: 71% 

Microbiology&immunology: 50% 

Overall percentage: 68%

68% I'm annoyed with that to be honest! I guess microbiology&immunology has really put me down! But oh well! I got myself a 2:1 which was actually 1 mark off a 1st class which really sucks. 

At the end of the day IM HAPPY! And I guess that's what counts, my happiness. I hope the same thing doesn't happen to me next year though inshallah! 

I hope I get a solid 1st class honour for my BSc inshallah. I know I say inshallah too much but i feel like if I don't say it I will end up regretting it. 

Right now I am working on my UKCAT! 

Good news, I have the opportunity to do my lab based dissertation in the summer l. I honestly don't think I would be able to handle all the stress in 3rd year so if I do this now and finish before 3rd year, I would be stress free inshallah and can focus on exams & revision. 

I don't think I have anything else to share. Hope everyone is having an awesome summer! Goodluck with all your results. 

Personal statement!

Good news! I have finished writing my personal statement. Want to know how long it took me? A few hours LOL I don't even know why I am laughing. 

Anyways it took me a few hours which means it isn't the best especially since it's a first draft. I'm going to leave it for a week or so and then look at it again and try make some corrections ... Maybe take things off and add new stuff.

I might be over the word limit but will definitely fix that next time inshallah. 

Last post I said I had to do: 

- write my personal statment 

- revise UKCAT 

- revise BMAT 

Now that personal statement is done I have 2 things left. 

I'll definitely be sharing my second year results with you guys once they have been released inshallah. 

I still haven't bought a BMAT revision book but as soon as i finish revising (or should I say start then finish) I will buy it. 

Starting UKCAT prep today.

Graduate medicine 2016 application

So now I'm done with uni, I need to start working on my application. 

Ucas will be opening after the 2015 applications are done, then I could start on that. In the mean time I have to:

- write my personal statment 

- revise UKCAT 

- revise BMAT 

I'll update you on more once I've done something! 

Exams are OVER!

Exams are over but summer hasn't just yet started for me. I've got one more assignment, the literature review and proposal which is due on Friday! 

After that I am FREEEEE ! 

I don't know if I've already told you guys, but I've started volunteering at a hospital, so work experience is sorted (well kind of). I'm also going to be shadowing a cardiac surgeon at UCL hospital and I cannot wait. 

Straight after Friday's submission I'm going to start UKCAT/BMAT preparation and My personal statement.

Once results are out im going to contact my teacher who agreed to do my reference as long as I get aa 1st in his class, which hopefully I will. 

Hope your exams are going well for anyone who is reading this. 

Exam and results update

So I had my clinical on Tuesday and it went well alhamdulilah! 

But now comes microbiology&immunology tomorrow and I'm shi**** bricks! I'm literally so scared! To the point where I'm mentally preparing to retake the exam  *sigh* I really hope it doesn't get to that inshallah.

Let's end on a good note, results:

Clinical case study (worth 50%) : I got 72 

Critical review don't really know how much it's worth but I just got the result. Back today and I got 77. 

As you can see 70s this year love me, is it bad I'm craving an 80 or above. Nevertheless Alhamdulilah I'm happy! 

Exam season!

So I just had my first exam yesterday! It actually went okay! Not AMAZING but not too bad. 

So biochemistry DONE !!!! 

Clinical science is on Tuesday and microbiology&immunology is on Friday.

Preparations for clinical is going well Alhamdulilah but can you believe I haven't even started revising for my microbiology&immunology exam *sigh* 

Assignments: 

Data analysis 2 - nearly finished due on Wednesday (p.s. Wednesday I'm getting back my clinical science case study result inshallah) 

Iiterature review and proposal due on the 15th of May and I've only done the intro! I'll start to work on that on the 8th inshallah! 

I know no one really reads my blog but I do love to write on here, it's like my brain is clutter free now. 

Anyway GOOD LUCK! To everyone who has exams! 

Miracles do happen!

I know in my last post I was a little (yeah maybe a lot) annoyed about my grade for my data analysis 1. 

But things have changeddddddd! I'm literally so happy! On Wednesday someone told me people's grades were changing, so I went online and checked! I  went from a 64 to a 75. I obviously wish it was higher than that but as long as it's a first I'm happy!

Now all I have to get in the next two assignments is get a minimum 67% each and that would give me a 70% in total (a first). 

Inshallah I'll be aiming for higher than that but yeaaaahhhhhhh I'm happy! ^_^ 

Oh yeah did I tell you guys, NO MORE GROUP WORK! YAY! 

Quick update:

EXAMS

Biochemistry: 1/05/15 

Clinical Science: 5/05/15

Microbiology&immunology: 8/05/15

ASSIGNMNETS: 

Data analysis 2

Literature review and proposal 

The end is NEAR!!! 

Annoyed university student!

I'm literally so annoyed right now. For my data analysis 1 I literally redrafted it 1000000000 times. 

I have spent soooo much time on it but still did crap! 

Results came out today (first result since I started second Year) and I got 64/100 WTF!!! 

Now I have to get 74% in data analysis 2 and proposal. 

I need to re-evaluate my life right now. 

Rant over! 

Graduate entry medicine 2016 entry!

Hello,

Remember how I said I would only apply to two universities, well that's been changed. I will be applying to 3 universities inshallah. 

Kings 

Queen Mary 

Imperial 

I first crossed out imperial because I was planning on only doing the UKCAT but to increase my chances I decided to also do the BMAT as it doesn't require so much work like the GAMSAT! 

Yay! To 3/4 options so far. Don't think I'll be adding anymore but you never know. 

Uni deadlines: Pathetic

I'm so annoyed at my university. 

As I've mentioned numerous times, we haven't had any proper deadlines until 2015 and so far only 2 submission (last month). And this month, wait let's be more specific, next two weeks of March we have 5 submission and one submission first week of April! That's 6 pieces of work within a few weeks. Why did they wait so long to give us assignments! Ahhhhh I'm literally so annoyed. 

I've submitted 4 out of 6, which I'm actually proud of as that only leaves me with 2 pieces of work. I'm finished with one (the other group members are fixing it) and now I'm here, typing away instead of finishing my clinical science case study. 

After April; there are 2 submissions & 3 exams. 

I'm actually looking forward to revising and doing exams, as I think I've finally found my best way of revising (inshallah) all goes well. 

Rant over!  

Biomed group work

Hello,

The group work went really well for the formative one. Submission for the 2 SUMMATIVE work is soon and tomorrow is our group deadline. 

I feel so bossy in the group. I'm honestly the only one who is telling people what to do and also when it should be done by. 

I don't know how the others in the group feel but I can't wait for it to be done and submitted inshallah. 

Pointless post lol 

Yet another successful submission!

Hello, 

I literally just sumbitted my practical worksheets for BMS2113 which is due on the 22nd of March, So I have happy right now lol.

I have 4 more submission left for this month ; lab report, case study for immunology and case study for microbiology and the stats booklet/worksheets. I've done all of the above but waiting for the rest of my group to finish and Send me the completed work. 

I've got the clinical science case study left (which I have started) and also the literature proposal which I think I know what I am doing about it. 

The end of second year is closeeeee! 

Good news! Biochemistry mock!

Hello,

Quick post. If you have been reading my blog you would know from the deadline post at the beginning of the uni year, that today I had a mock exam for Biochemistry. 

I was nervous yet excited (as I revised) to see how the exam would look and the type of questions that might come up. The exam was AMAZING! Not even exaggerating! It was so straight forward. The fact that this was the test was the one the 3rd years have done, literally makes me happy. 

Results: 

The exam was out of 80 marks, I got 58, which is 73% which is a first!!! I never thought I would get this for the real exam let alone a mock. 

I know in the real exam I might to worse but I'm optimistic, as I will work double as much as I did for this one. 

Update (submissions left)*:  

Clinical science 

Practical worksheets 

Data analysis 2 

Literature review and proposal

*revision: doing a bit a week! 

So much happier!

Hello,

As you can tell from the title I'm super happy as I have done most of my work and will officially be starting revision next week inshallah. 

I have done but not submitted:

-microbiology case study 

-immunology case study 

-lab report 

I have to do;

-practical worksheets (3/4 done)

-Data analysis 2 (1/2 done) 

-Clinical science (haven't started) 

-literature review & Proposal (haven't started) 

As you can see I've done most of the work, as it's Friday I'll hopefully by Tuesday (inshallah) be done with data analysis and practical worksheets. I'll also be preparing revision notes on gene therapy and genetic disorders for Wednesday's revision. (P.s. Failing the mock but I ain't bothered). If I get that much done ... For next week I can focus on the clinical science case study and start reading for my proposal. 

Happy post! Enjoy your weekend (if anyone is even reading this) 

The time I thought I failed!

Hello,

Quick funny story that happened to me. For microbiology we had to do some group and submit it with all of our names on it.

When I went to collect the feedback from the lecturer, it ended up being a piece of paper with a point scale of 20. I thought the higher the points the better we did but that wasn't the case. On the paper our overall grade was 3 I thought that was a 3rd. So I went to the group chat and told them hey guys we failed LOL and I was thinking at least it's just formative and not real assessed work. 

Yesterday I asked other groups what they got. One told me they got overall grade of 11 .... That's when I realised the 3 didn't mean a third. 

To sum up the story, we got a 1st class honour as a group and now all we have to do for the three other group work is continue the good work. 

I don't know why I found this story funny but it made me laugh! :P 

Where have I been?

Hello,

I should be sleeping but today I got 2 assignments off my shoulders and submitted them (Critical review for BMS2113 and Data analysis for BIO2003). I feel so much happier! Seriously! 

So it's been what? A whole month and over since I've posted on here. I've honestly been lacking motivation. I haven't been revising and I've got a mock in about 2 weeks (less than that actually) and I'm SCARED! 

Not planning on revising this week as I have a few other assignments I want to get done before I start revision which is stupid as I'm on the verge of failing my exams if I don't get a grip ASAP! 

Work I need to do: 

Microbiology case study 

Immunology case study 

Lab report

Clinical science case study 

Data analysis 2 

 And submitting the formative case study tomorrow. 

P.s. Still haven't started work experience/volunteer work but hopefully by March I should inshallah. Delayed as I had to get the measles injection.