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Robert Clack 6th Form -part of

the North East Consortium

Applying to Robert Clack Sixth Form

Here at Robert Clack we welcome applications from well motivated and enthusiastic students who wish to join our sixth form. As part of the North East Consortium we are able to offer a large number of courses and have a proven record of success. Our students achieve excellent results and are able to go on to take up places at university, join exciting apprenticeships or take up excellent employment opportunities.

Interested candidates should download a copy of the prospectus and return the application form to Mr J. Course, Head of Sixth Form. We will acknowledge receipt of your application and plan to interview applicants in January 2012. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you for your interest in our school and we look forward to receiving your application.

Mr J. Course

Head of Sixth From

Medical Association at Robert Clack

MARC has been set up to assist students who may be interested in a career in medicine.

Getting into medicine is very difficult and any student wanting to become a doctor should conduct a serious evaluation of their competitiveness of getting selected and how they can improve their chances.

As well as solid academics, students looking to get into medical school will also need to be balanced individuals. Medical schools will also be looking for passion, caring, community interest and future ambition.

MARC is a student self help group, assisted by school staff, Mr Davies and Mr Jarrett.

The aim of MARC is to provide expeditions to hospitals and museums, regular talks by visiting speakers and help with obtaining relevant work experience. MARC also provides key information that all perspective medical students should know.

Currently there are 18 members of MARC including year 12 and 13 students.

Miss Magdalene Cofie is the Chair and Miss Mariam Koronfel is the Secretary of the society.

RCMC Pictured, some of the students during a breakfast meeting

Exploring a Medical Career - Is medicine the right career for you?

Well, does medicine appeal to you, if so why? Do you want a challenging career, a chance to make a difference? Are you interested in science and how the body works?

These are some questions you must honestly answer:

Do I enjoy learning and gaining new understanding?
Do I often dig deeper into a subject than my teacher requires?

Do I understand the value of learning beyond just for getting good grades?

Am I intrigued by the ways medicine can be used to improve life?
Do I care deeply about other people, their problems, and their pain?
Do I enjoy helping people with my skills and knowledge?

If you answered "Yes" to most of these questions, chances are you have the right kind of person for a medical career.

So what can you do now? – Talk to people who know!

Speak to a Doctor; you can start with your family GP. Speak with a medical student and ask them questions. They won’t mind. People love to talk about themselves and often are very willing to give something back to students coming through.

Introduce yourself as a prospective medical student and ask questions like:

Why did you get into medicine?
What’s your speciality? (GP) or what do you want to specialise in? (Med student)
How did you choose your speciality?
How did you prepare before you got into med school?
Would you do it all over again if you had the opportunity to do something else?
What have you sacrificed to become a GP?
What medical school did you go to?
How did you choose your medical school?
Do you have much family time?

If the conversation goes well, you can ask if you can shadow them for a day. What’s better than seeing what they do first hand?

Timeline - Once You Get your Place

It usually takes five years, but it can be six if you take an intercalated degree. In order to complete basic medical education in UK, you must also complete a period of foundation training for two years – known as F1 and F2. European Directive 93/16 stipulates that a student must complete 5,500 hours of study or six years of basic education.

Medical Schools

There are 31 medical schools in Great Britain: 23 in England, 2 in Wales, 1 in Northern Ireland and 4 ½ in Scotland. (The ½ is St Andrews which offers a three year course then turfs its students out to complete their clinical skills elsewhere – usually in Manchester)., St Georges, Queen Mary and Kings), 10 in big cities, 6 new schools plus Oxford and Cambridge.

All the medical schools are governed by the GMC (General Medical Council).

Interviews

Every medical school except Southampton will interview potential applicants. You are advised to look through the prospectuses to get an idea of the success rate of the interviews and to have some idea of what to expect. The majority of interviews take 20 minutes and consist of a panel of two or three comprising a member of the medical school (professor, sub dean etc), a local GP or hospital specialist and a Year 5 student or lay person.

If you are invited for an interview, you are usually in with a chance, so research the sort of topics that you may be asked – in particular, have some opinions on ethical topics. Interviewers usually lean heavily on the personal statement as their source of question so never write anything that you cannot explain or justify. Never tell lies!

Subject Requirements

The vast majority of medical schools require Biology and Chemistry at A level. Manchester and Cardiff do not demand Biology but this can be a big disadvantage as statistics infer that those students without an A level in this subject are twice as likely to drop out and those that stay the course feel that their first year was a nightmare.

Work Experience

The majority of students are finding it increasingly difficult to get work experience in a medical environment unless they have a contact. With the data protection act and patient confidentiality, together with health and safety risks, school students are seen as a liability.

There are however, many opportunities for potential medics, which will count in your favour and enhance your chances of getting an interview. These include any voluntary work in the community (charity shops, hospice visiting, epilepsy centre, working in care homes, Millenium Volunteers). Any experience which shows that you are a good communicator and are an empathetic person will be positive.

Medical applicants also need to be able to demonstrate their ability to work as part of a team (could be a sports team or as a member of the School Council) and show leadership skills (Duke of Edinburgh, World Challenge).

If you do not undertake some sort of work experience, there is no point in applying for medicine.

Medical School Admissions Tests

Graduate entrants to medical schools are a known quantity and are usually looked upon more favourably as they are mature, serious, well qualified and will not sign up for another 4 – 5 study on a whim. The number of graduate entrants is increasing year on year and in some countries (US and Canada) only graduates are taken into medical school. This means that the competition for places is even more cut-throat for school leavers, the vast majority of whom are predicted A grades. In order to try and differentiate these candidates, Universities have introduced admissions tests. These vary according to the institution and need to be researched carefully.

Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool and Queens Belfast are the only medical schools where there is no requirement to sit an admissions test. Admissions tests are mandatory at all other universities.

The two major tests are:

UKCAT: (United Kingdom Clinical Aptitude Test) required by 23 universities

BMAT: (Biomedical Admissions Test) required by 5 Universities.

UKCAT (United Kingdom Clinical Aptitude Test)

This exam must also be taken if applying to a non BMAT University. BMAT and UKCAT do not share student’s results.

This is a test of aptitude and skills. It has no science base and there is no specification from which to learn.

Aims of the test are to:
• Assist universities in choosing applicants
• help identify successful clinicians
• explore the cognitive powers and other attributes which would be valuable in a healthcare professional

All medical schools in the UK require students to have taken this test prior to applying apart from the BMAT universities.

Registration for this test starts on 1st May and closes on 25th September.

Testing starts on 7th July and ends on 9th October.

The time to do it is in the summer before you apply to medical school. It is far better to take this test early rather than later as you will have more choice of venue and date. If you enter too late, you may not get a booking. If you do not take the UKCAT, there is no point in making an application.

Remember also that the results may help your application or make you reconsider.

The test itself is taken at driving test centres, which are dotted around the country. All questions are multiple choice and are randomly selected from huge questions banks. (The chances of two tests in the same centre being the same are negligible!)

Structure of the test

• There are five sections to do in 120 minutes
• The five subtests are all multiple choice and are divided into 2 parts.

Part 1 – cognitive skills
• Verbal reasoning max 900 points
• Numerical skills max 900 points
• Abstract reasoning max 900 points
• Decision analysis max 900 points

Part 2 – non-cognitive analysis (a new part this year).
• No score is given to this part just a couple of statements.

Detail of the subtests

• Verbal reasoning – 11 passages of text and 4 statements associated with each which require a true, false or can’t tell.
• Numerical skills – 10 charts, graphs or tables each with 4 test items and 5 options per question
• Abstract reasoning – looking at patterns. A 16-minute speed test where pairs of shapes (A and B) are presented together with 5 test shapes which have to put into an A or B category. There are 13 of these tests to do.
• Decision analysis - deciphering codes. One scenario is given with 26 test items each of which has 4 or 5 possible responses. This is allocated 30 minutes.
• Non-cognitive skills – a test which is designed to evaluate empathy, conscientiousness, emotional stability, psychological robustness, extroversion and learning techniques.

The results for the UKCAT are given immediately and the mark is sent automatically to all UKCAT universities even those that have not been applied to.

A good score would be to attain 600+ in each of the four sections. Usually marks of 2600 and above will guarantee an interview (as long as candidates fulfil all other criteria.)

There is only one test per year and no re-takes for this test. No commercial preparation has been endorsed by UKCAT but online information and practice scenarios are available from www.ukcat.ac.uk.

BMAT (Biomedical Admissions Test)

This test is used by Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, UCL and the Royal Veterinary College.
It is used to differentiate between the best of the best and acts as a predictive guide as to how a student will perform at degree level.

It is used in conjunction with the results at GCSE and A level, together with the personal information on the UCAS form and an interview. The marks for BMAT run from 1 – 9 and a typical candidate would achieve 5 (very few achieve more than 7).

The grade achieved can be used as a selection criterion for an interview but in certain circumstances, a high score may help if a candidate slips a grade. .The BMAT tests scientific aptitude, understanding and ability to interpret and analyse rather than factual knowledge: it does not assess a person’s fitness to be a doctor.

The test is taken at school in the first week in November (on a Wednesday) and the results are published online during early December. BMAT is a paper and pencil test which has 3 parts all of which are given equal weighting.

A 60 minute test of aptitude and thinking skills (problem solving, data analysis, argument and inferences). There are 35 questions to complete in the allocated time testing skills which are essential to a doctor when making diagnoses.

A 30 minute multiple choice test of scientific knowledge (GCSE level science). There are 27 questions which require a true, false or cannot tell response.

A 30 minute writing test. (This is an essay which has to be handwritten on one side of A4 paper only). The BMAT essay is a test of speed. If a candidate writes more than one side of A4 the second side is ignored and the advice to all students is to write small, legible and fast!

Candidates select one essay title from a choice of three on topics which may be general, medical or of scientific interest. The skills being tested in here are the ability to read formal written English and to follow instructions. Students need to READ the statements and understand what they mean, express a view (which could be to agree, disagree or be undecided) and argue the case for their viewpoint. Examiners will not interpret illegible writing – if they cannot read something it gets ignored.

The essence of the BMAT test is speed. Every question needs to be answered but there are no penalties for incorrect responses.

Further information can be obtained from the website www.bmat.org.uk or from the only official guidebook published by Heinemann at a cost of £14.50.

Oxford University

A 2 day trip to Oxford.... 1 fantastic experience!

6:00am. Barking Station. Six students from year twelve: Paris Rhodes, Fahim Islam, Moses Ayinde, Niamh Grant, Oyin Opeifa and me, Klea Isuf,i and our luggage for a nights stay. It was a very early start to our trip to Oxford and we were all feeling a mixture of nervousness, fatigue but most importantly fervent anticipation of the exciting opportunity to stay overnight at Oxford University. We looked forward to two days of stimulating and educational activities that would give us a slice of what undergraduate study at Oxford University could be like for us upon completion of sixth form.

After hours of travelling we arrived in Oxford on time with a very busy day ahead of us. Firstly, we met Dr. Anna Pitt who specialised in research surrounding dyslexia. She was very informative, providing a lot of information about dyslexia and how she carries out her research. She even showed us how they carry out tests to diagnose dyslexia and we even performed some of the tests on each other. Dr. Pitt’s passion and enthusiasm for her area of work was truly inspiring. By then it was lunchtime, which was spent on one of the University’s beautiful private parks. Subsequently, we took part in an intense session with Dr. Jonathan Tammam whose area of work is nutrition. We were split into two groups both of which were given 45 minutes to review two different university research papers, feedback and answer questions based upon what we have read and understood.

It was an exciting challenge that we were determined to see through successfully. After the 45 minutes we presented our work and were faced with questions from Dr. Tammam, questions that could be encountered during a tutorial at Oxford University. Following such an intense session, we finally got to meet Professor John Stein, a prominent neurologist at Oxford, who had just arrived from Cuba on the same day! He gave us a very fascinating presentation on neurology and diseases such as Parkinson’s and Dystonia.

We marvelled at the videos of how patients with Parkinson’s disease and Dystonia improved upon being treated with Deep Brain Stimulation. It was an exceptional sight and it was safe to say that all of us were looking in absolute awe. After such a meeting with the Professor, the day ended and we were given free time to eat dinner, get settled into our dorms and tour the town centre of Oxford.

The next day required an early start as well and after breakfast we were fresh and ready for another busy day. We met with a third year medical student who explained to us what it was like to study at Oxford, the workload it involved and what the medical course was really like. He was happy to answer any of our questions and even gave us a tour of the extraordinarily beautiful Magdalen College, one of the many colleges at Oxford University. Afterwards, we made our way to The Jon Radcliffe Hospital where we met a doctor of neurology who introduced us to one of his patients with Parkinson’s disease.

We were able to talk to the patient, who even demonstrated some of the problems he encountered as a result of having Parkinson’s disease e.g. freezing completely when he tried to walk forwards. Then the Deep Brain Stimulation was activated and it was truly amazing to see the difference it made; the patient was able to walk without freezing completely and was able to control his balance more effectively. It was, without a doubt, the highlight of the two days. We are always reminded of the amount of effort, time and work becoming a doctor requires but we all agreed that those things were all forgotten when you get to witness a patient progress and get that one step closer to being able to live their life normally despite their condition.

After such an amazing afternoon it was time to reflect on the two days in Oxford just before leaving to go home. I remember all of us saying that we didn’t want to leave because we had had such an enthralling and inspiring experience. We got to see just how challenging yet extremely rewarding going to Oxford could be and has even given us the real confidence to apply to Oxford University with plenty of enthusiasm and hope.

Klea Isufi