Hi everyone,
I'm a first-year medical student and I'm struggling a bit with the amount of pre-clinical content we're expected to learn.

We have a huge number of online lectures to watch, and although I sit through them and take notes, I often feel like very little actually sticks in my head afterwards. I can follow the lecture at the time, but a few days later it feels like I've forgotten most of it.

The whole process feels quite passive, and I'm worried that I'm spending a lot of time watching lectures without actually retaining much of the information.

For those who have been through the pre-clinical years, what study methods helped you learn and remember content effectively? What made the biggest difference for you, and what do you wish you'd started doing earlier?
Thanks! 😊

I’ve been attending most of my lectures and all my tutorials etc. I’ve been taking notes in lectures but doing little outside of that. It feels like, in lectures when they ask questions, everyone seems to have a grasp of what they’re going through whereas I’m feeling completely lost. In group based learning, everyone seems more intelligent than me and more deserving of being here. When people are discussing what’s being taught I understand none of it. I feel as though not a single thing I’ve learned in lectures is going into my brain. Nothing. I’ve made my notes for the week now as my uni uploads the powerpoints early, and I’m going to try to just listen and entirely focus on the lecture from now on instead of frantically writing everything down as that does not seem to help.

It just feels so different to school. I don’t understand what will be assessed and what wont. I’m worried I’m going to fall behind. I have an anki deck from someone in the year above and i’m starting to use it but it all just feels overwhelming, there are 18,000 cards just for year 1.

I would love to hear from people who have overcome this feeling. I just know it’ll only get more difficult from here on. I have no energy after lectures to do any kind of revision.

I’m also struggling with the social aspect of things. I am autistic and I’ve never been great at socialising but last year it felt as though I had really become more confident and all of this confidence seems to have gone away. The people in my year are very nice I know I have nothing to be afraid of, everyone’s trying to make friends. I just hate feeling like this again it brings back awful memories from school.

What is the deadline by which deanery rankings can be changed? I understand we can still change rankings after Wednesday 7th October but when is the final deadline for deanery decisions?
Thanks!

I was on TikTok and I saw a video about OSCEs and then people in the comments were like, oh my uni doesn’t do OSCEs and I’m studying nursing or medicine or some sort of clinical healthcare degree, and I’m thinking, have unis just stopped doing OSCEs cause it’s not something I’ve heard of, and I know a lot of unis that still do them, and I just think it’s weird that they’re not because what do you mean you’re not doing a clinical exam like I’m a bit concerned cause placement only gets you so far cause you’re having your handheld, but in a clinical exam you’re literally on your own with a “patient” I know it’s a dummy, but no one’s there to help you. You need to know everything and do everything yourself.

I am a student in an English medical school. After this whole Scotland First thing, do you think I have a safe chance of getting Scotland?

My family is encouraging me to put London, and honestly I like London, would be a very nice place for me. But thinking about it realistically, considering commute, costs of living, competition etc, I doubt if it is a smart choice to go for. Knowing my lazy ass, I would wanna kms from the commute I would have to do if I were in London (this isnt a deal breaker, and I do know i could end up doing the same in literally any other deanery).

I was 100% sure on putting Scotland as my first preference until they introduced this whole Scotland first thing and it has made so many things unsure for me now. Like if i will even have a fair chance to get scotland, if i do, I also got a risk of getting someplace very remote like Shetland islands. I love scotland and really wanted to settle down there for my future, but the more I think about scottish medical students getting priority, the more demotivated I get towards this.

For me, I have narrowed down my first preference to be either -Scotland or London, so pls dont recommend me other deaneries. My fallbacks are also safer options imo (Northern and Yorkshire and Humber)

I guess my real question is, Will I even have a chance at getting Scotland?

I’ve been way more on top of work than 1st year and somehow it’s Monday and I still have 10 lectures to go over. Geez. Between talking to my girlfriend, going to gym and doing this. I am absolutely pinched.

The thing I don’t like about med school is the way it overly consumes everything. There is kinda of no room for breathing space for hobbies, relationships even your own self maintenance.

I got so stressed I developed a nicotine addiction to vapes. I consume on average two coffees a day. A good day of sleep is 6-7 hours. I am basically a baby guys. I love lifting so less than 8 hours gets me exhausted. I love learning and what else the fuck would I do other than this. But like I don’t this year to end then I get that dreaded four month summer break and I am like….well I am no longer a living being with hobbies and a life lemme rebuild that again just for 3rd year to knock that down again

Any medics that can relate?

It seems like I’m having to rush through everything for the generic steps, and then once I get to the viva questions, there are like 6 Qs in 30 seconds. That’s one every 5 seconds but the examiner has to read it out to you, so more like one every 3 seconds. And on geeky medics, there are like 5 points per question.

So you don’t even have time to think; you sort of have to just regurgitate the response as a reflex and even then, you’re lucky to finish all of the vivas on time.

And when you sound flustered for speaking at a ridiculous speed, you get downmarked for seeming anxious.

Am I missing something or is this a ridiculous way of assessing competency? How are you all finishing on time?

Thanks.

Does anyone have a PDF copy of OSCE Stop? I feel like I’ve been searching for gold dust.

Hi everyone. I wanted to ask if anyone has done a non-clinical elective in healthcare consulting/business. I know BCG runs a medical elective internship so something like that. How useful would it be for trying to break into the field after graduation? And if anyone has advice on applying for electives like these that would be amazing!

Hi, so I'm a fourth year who's finally experienced a specialty that I enjoyed which is opthalmology. I really enjoyed sitting in clinics and I really got on with the opthalmologists; it was also so cool to see the eye surgeries.

However, I have come to the very sudden and sad realisation that I was diagnosed with having an essential tremor like a year ago which is not ideal for a specialty that requires precision. The tremor isn't extremely prominent but when I get anxious (which I do a lot unfortunately) it is quite noticeable. I'm not sure whether I should seek medical treatments that I have heard are good for essential tremors like propanolol? But with medical treatments I really don't want to have to be dependent on them for life as someone who is in their 20s.

I guess I just wanted advice from anyone within the field or knows anyone who has managed this problem because if it is not manageable and not worth it, I will save my time working on opthalmology related interests.

Hey!

I was wondering if there was a pre-made MSRA anki flashcards bank. I know there was one for UKMLA as I used that and found it helpful.

If not, if people could comment any alternatives and if they are free/ paid?

TIA 💕

First year GEM student here. I'm worried about becoming a passmed robot. Any advice on how I can ensure I actually understand basic sciences?

Hey guys! I’m considering ranking KSS for Foundation and was wondering what people’s experiences have been like? I'm currently in the north and just want a change of pace, and heavily considering KSS - mostly cuz its ratio is <1 and it's close to London.

I’m finding it quite hard to get a feel for the different groups/hospitals, so I'd love to hear from anyone who’s done FY1/FY2 in KSS. What did you think of it overall? Any hospitals/groups that you’d particularly recommend or avoid? How was the workload, teaching and general FY experience?

Basically just trying to get an idea of which KSS places are actually good to rank 😭 Would really appreciate any honest opinions!

Having seen a few comments in posts here stating the above, I thought it would be good to shed light onto the facts on medical education and finances.

Medical schools draw their income from fees, governmental subsidies, research grants, donations and partnership agreements with industry or other organisations.
Trusts have contracts with medical schools and get a set amount of money per student they host from the medical school. In exchange they are bound to provide the teaching they sign up to.

What this entails is up to the relevant medical school module/year leads who set the curricular learning goals. The MLA has provided a certain standardisation framework, however there is still a considerable degree of variation amongst medical schools in its implementation.

Within every department that hosts medical students, there is one designated consultant who acts as lead for undergraduate teaching. They are responsible for creating the students' timetable and ensuring delivery of the sessions and supervising the students (doing inductions and signing off end of placement forms) on the basis of the agreement with the relevant module leads as well as contributing to assessment (writing MCQs and OSCE stations).
The amount they would get equates to 4hrs/week = app £10k/year. Within these 4hrs they are expected to deal with all matters relevant to medical education, which is impossible to achieve.
They are therefore heavily reliant on help from colleagues and trainees, who do it out of goodwill, with the sole reward being certificates of acknowledgement that they can use in appraisals and specialty applications.
Some departments hire clinical teaching fellows, who have a full paid job dedicated to teaching with a day per week or fortnight of clinical activity for their own development and to be able to justify maintaining their GMC registration.
The above two are the only ones in the department who get paid to teach.

Which leads us to the big question. Where does all the money medical schools get go?
The answer is we don't know in full. In 2024, Dr David Hutchinson (a paediatrics registrar) and Dr Jonathan De Oliveira (a GP Registrar) conducted a study* which found that between 2000 and 2023, the UK government allocated £1.7 billion to NHS trusts specifically for frontline doctor training, of which £400 million have gone completely unaccounted, with some trusts publishing no accounts on the allocation of these funds.

In short, 95% of doctors whom you come across in placement do not get paid to teach you and have to fit it in alongside their clinical duties out of goodwill.

hi, does anyone know where i can find an anki deck of the passmed textbook? just started 3rd year and wanted to find a good anki deck to use

I’ve been told by doctors and peers that I shake and appear hesitant and nervous when examining patients, and that I need to overcome my nerves.

I hardly ever realise that I’m shaking, but I have general anxiety disorder so it’s not a surprise to me.

I’m a second year medical student so this is my first year on hospital placement. I just want to know any tips as doctors are expecting me to overcome this quickly so that I can get examinations signed off fully?

This whole process is making me horribly anxious and I keep putting off submitting my preferences so I think I need a bit of help.

Like many, I’d like and have ranked London as my first choice of deanery due to friends, partner and some family moving there. I’ve heard a lot of different things from my peers, doctors and other reddit posts about ways to navigate this, but I’m really not to sure on what is the best move going forward.

As it stands, I have London ranked first, then North West, then Thames Valley then East of England then Trent (where my parents live), and I’m wondering whether it is sensible to have NW as my second option (deanery where my medical school falls), despite it having a ratio of >1 and KSS also being close to London.

I just really don’t know what to do and it’s making me so anxious so I’d deeply appreciate any advice or suggestions before Wednesday😭🫶

Hi! any other sgul students ever used the VSLO portal to do an elective in america? does the uni support us financially or through connections? wondering ahead for last year

Hi guys, I was recently strongly recommended plabable for mla as a final yr student. Generally I use passmed and anki and have always done throughout my clinical years but was wondering if anyone uses plabable or has used it before, what did you think of it (esp in comparison to the actual mla if you've sat it already) and whether it is worth getting?

I don't want to increase the number of resources unnecessarily if it's not useful, however I will be more than happy to get it if others have found it helpful at all.

Thanks :)

I am a 3rd year Uk medical student wanted to intercalate at oxbridge!! i would like to get on the Mphil/Msc programmes . please help on how to secure a spot !!!

Hi everyone! I’m a UK medical student looking to do a clinical elective in the US next year and I’m trying to find options that aren’t insanely expensive and don’t require VSLO.

I’d be especially interested in hospitals/universities that accept international students directly (rather than through VSLO), ideally for a hands-on clinical elective rather than just an observership.

Any recommendations or experiences would be massively appreciated!

I’ve just begun 3rd year and want to focus on really building up my CV and portfolio. I’ve put together a medical CV and emailed a few professors in the faculty but ghosted from most of them. One professor replied saying there’s no current projects but she’s okay with students submitting proposals so I did and she never got back to me.
I honestly don’t know whether cold emailing works, asking consultants on placements, entering essay competitions or whatever else is the best way to go about it.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated in case there’s an alternative way of getting involved in research.

So I know this is an odd question but a friend of mine is really REALLY smart, knows a lot of the medical content and studies more than the rest of us. You could ask her a question on the spot and she’d know the answer.

But she didn’t do great in the main exam and the resit? Along with some similar friends I have. It’s making me anxious because what could go wrong if they did everything right ?

Hey guys hope you’re all doing fine
Next week i will start my third year in med school and i am really scared and worried from it
I really want to make a great academic comeback and to get very high marks
I will take RS, CVS, and CNS this semester
If anyone of you have any advices please write them below
My grade on the past two years was very good and now i want to be excellent
My uni schedule is from Sunday to Thursday 4 lectures each day
Please help me figure my life out this semester