When most students start med school, one thing they all realise once they get down to it is just how much reflection is involved. You may reflect on what you have done in the past few years to add to your potential career in medicine in your personal statement and UCAS application, but this is a skill that you never stop exercising after this moment! You will be asked to reflect on your work experience in your interviews, on your previous cases in MDT meetings, and on your individual ability during clinical appraisals. As a medical student your school will make sure you hone this technique through allowing you to reflect on moments such as your placements or your first experience of having a conversation with a patient and even things like your first experience of a body in a dissection room.  So as you can see, you’ll need this skill throughout your career but you are expected to reflect exceptionally even before you enter medical school. Being able to reflect in your Personal Statement and interviews is something we have highlighted to everyone for the past year through Medapply's free webinars and the MMI Crash Course we recently did.  But what is reflection? And how to you do it if you’ve barely ever done it before..?  Reflection is less about narrating what you have seen during your process of applying to med school, but more about critically analysing what skills you learnt from the Work Experience or Volunteering you may have done. You need to provide your own personal insight into every single experience that you talk about. If you went on WE and saw a doctor being nice and compassionate to a patient, explain exactly what the doctor did to make the patient feel calm, and why having this calming quality is important if you are a doctor. You could then go on to say, for example, how you developed and used this skill of compassion that you saw to calm down another patient at another time. This perfectly encapsulates reflection. You have shown that you can learn new things, that you have what it takes to interact with the people around you and can think on your feet when you need to. Displaying your personal development is vital! You need to show that you know what it takes to be a doctor and how you are learning and developing these qualities yourself. To do this, you can usually just pick a quality, explain where you learnt it from, and then show how you further developed this skill on your own. It's simple when you know what you are doing!😉 It can be hard getting some in person experience at the moment, so make sure to check out our other forum posts on applying for medicine during a pandemic. If you have any more questions, you can ask them below, and we'll get back to you very soon :)

The UCAT is a test of endurance and consistency. You need to build multiple skills simultaneously in the space of a few weeks to get an all rounded mark. The natural inquisition most clinicians share means that we all inevitably get to the point where we are asking ourselves "What really is the point of all these random sections?". Below is a quick low-down of every UCAT section and how they apply to what you will be doing as a future clinician. VR This section tests your ability to pick out relevant points quickly, by answering questions from a long text that you will be given. It relates to your future tasks as a clinician, for example skimming through long and complicated patient histories, and picking out key points to provide a viable diagnosis. DM This is a very broad topic, made up of a range of questions including some basic maths, problem solving, and picking apart written arguments. In the real world, the critical thinking and efficiency you use in this section will be used in a number of capacities for example when a patient suddenly deteriorates and it will be up to you to figure out why. You may also have to figure out and reshuffle treatment plans under short notice with minimal information so having good analytical skills is crucial. QR This section contains some basic problem solving questions, with some more complex data handling. This section asks you maths questions at the GCSE level, but under very strict timings. In future you may have to make calculations such as patient doses, or finding the right concentration of medication needed for treatment. AR This is the hardest section for many students, as it is something new nearly no one has seen before. You will need to identify patterns and sequences through visual cues, your spatial reasoning and pattern recognition will be tested on. This section is still quite relevant to being a clinician. As a doctor or dentist it will be your job to find a pattern in symptoms. You will have to look at how symptoms fit together and potentially even repeat over time to come to an eventual diagnosis. SJT This final section is more straightforward, you will be faced with some ethical scenarios and be asked how appropriate or important certain follow up actions are. As a student and then a doctor, you will need to prioritise tasks all the time; from life or death situations to much smaller details. Showing that you can do this from early on is important! The UCAT will be one of the first tests you do as an upcoming clinician, and it will certainly not be the last.😛 Now you've quenched your brief burst of curiosity, you can go back to practising to get the mark you deserve! Feel free to ask anymore questions you have on the exam below, we promise we'll respond quickly ;)

We recently ran our first set of (free!) webinars about making the perfect Medical and Dentistry Personal Statements with over 150 people attending. In our Q&A sessions at the end, we realised that a lot of our questions were along the lines of: "What if they ask me about __insert scary PS reference__ because I've referred to it in my Personal Statement?". People were unsure how much detail to go into in their Personal Statement and how follow up questions might be asked in the eventual panel interview. Throughout the course of the webinars, we realised that it was the more personal questions about yourself and these questions about your Personal Statement that students were most anxious about. We have covered how you could approach some of the more unnerving questions here... Should you tailor your PS to specific groups of Universities? Each university has different marking criteria when looking at personal statements, and some may not consider it at all until after your interview. Tailoring your Personal Statement towards a certain university because it is your top choice may put off other universities from considering you. For some universities such as Cambridge, you will be able to add your own personalised information in your SAQ. Be sure to add your tailored information here. If you are worried about not having your PS tailored to your 5th choice, don't worry! Most universities will understand this as soon as they see your Statement, and use your grades and relevant information to make their decision. You can also email your 5th choice university and ask if you can send a further PS related to your final option. How much detail should I go into about a summer school/lecture/talk I attended? Lectures and talks or summer school you may have got into involve a large amount of content, and you may be unsure how much of your Personal Statement to dedicate to these. Be aware you will have a lot to fit into your PS! Try to pick up on one thing that you heard or saw that peaked your interest. It may have changed the way you think about the medical profession or led to you doing some further research (e.g you did a school magazine article/essay/EPQ on what you learn about) The piece of science you pick up on should be one that you can reflect on critically, and be prepared to be asked about it in interview. What are your strengths? This is a common question, usually paired with 'What are your greatest weaknesses?'. It is very easy to get bogged down in listing everything your are good at, or to freeze and not know what to say. To come across not too arrogant or too modest sounds like an impossible balance yet, it can be done. Be a minimalist. You only need to mention 2-3 points. BACK UP YOUR POINTS! Giving examples and explaining why you might be a (e.g.) compassionate person will sound less pretentious than listing. As with all things predictable, make sure to prepare what you can for them. A little effort will go a long way 😎

Getting work experience for most medical students in the summer is usually a priority. This summer, most work experience arranged for is likely to be unfortunately cancelled. Most medics will be in the same situation and thankfully, medical schools understand this, and have changed their expectations of you. The first think you should do is check the university websites for Covid-19 specific information. Most of you will already have done this, so your next step should be to enhance the volunteering you have already done. Volunteering is not the same as working in a clinical setting shadowing a professional, yet showing that you have compassion and can extend your care outside the medical profession is often more sought after by universities than a short week long Work Experience placement. You need to show your motivation for helping people and a drive for reaching out and taking part in social opportunities around your community. When it comes to volunteering, anything and everything works! Make sure you remember to explain what you learnt and how you developed your skills when you have the chance to talk about your volunteering opportunities. Places you should call or email to volunteer at currently could include: Your local library Helping out in your local area as a Covid volunteer Working once a week at a pharmacy Leafleting at your nearest hospital Working as an official Hospital Volunteer at a hospital Check out @Vacha Fadia's post on resources for doing Work Experience during Covid-19 for more ideas. Volunteering can include ANYTHING! If you helped tutor a younger student to success at GCSEs, this is as practical as any other experiences you may have had. You need to use your initiative and show how your experiences have shaped you into a better future doctor. The smallest things can be the best adventures. 😜 Feel free to ask any questions you have and continue the conversation below!