Tolu Duckworth (2nd year), Srish Rentala (2nd year)
What does a typical day studying Medicine at Keble look like? (both pre-COVID and post-COVID)
Despite the pandemic, the structure for studying Medicine now is pretty much the same as it was pre-COVID. Being a medic means your days are filled with lectures, practicals and tutorials. The only difference really is that our lectures are now online. Most of our teaching comes from lectures and we can have up to ten of them in a week. Sometimes even more. It may sound like a lot but you quickly get used to it and it does help you improve your time management skills. We also have the odd practical that may involve microscopy or even doing experiments on ourselves. The most memorable practical for me (pre-COVID) involved having ECG electrodes stuck on me and having to hold my breath in a bucket of ice cold water for as long as I could. This was all to measure my heart rate changes, so that was interesting.
Every few days or so, we also have tutorials. In these sessions we discuss a particular topic in detail and may even go over the feedback we received in our essays. Yes, you read that right, for Medicine we have to write essays. Although writing up the essays isn’t the most fun it does give us the opportunity to learn a bit more about a topic that we would’ve otherwise just gone over superficially.
Why do you like studying Medicine at Keble?
Keble is one of the closest, if not the closest, college to the Medical Sciences department. This means I could get away with leaving college five minutes before a lecture and still get there with time to spare. However, there’s more to why I love studying Medicine at Keble than just its proximity to our lecture theatres. Going to Oxford means that alongside lectures you also have discussions with experts within their field. We call them tutorials. Our tutors are really good and help to clarify things we’re unsure of. Plus, they give us insight into research we may not have come across and that really helps when it comes to studying things in our degree. The Keble tutors are supportive on an emotional level too and easy to turn to in case you’re in a time of need. I’m really comfortable with then so if I were to have any concerns I know I could easily reach out to them.
Keble was my absolute favourite college I saw when I visited Oxford on the open day, and at first this was because of how beautiful it is. I never get tired of the view of Liddon Quad, and its location five minutes from the Medical Sciences Teaching Centre is so useful. Since studying here I’ve only grown to love it more. The tutors are absolutely brilliant and lovely, they are so enthusiastic about their subject, and also provide great pastoral support and really care about their students. I really enjoy tutorials with our tutors and the other medics. Keble also does a lot to encourage socialising between the medics, and ultimately that means we have close contact across all year groups. I think medicine at Keble specifically is quite relaxed, as we have 2-3 essays a week, which can be less than some other colleges at times.
Personal statement advice
Showing your passion for Medicine is essential for a good personal statement. This can be done through discussing any books you’ve read, seminars you have attended and work experience you’ve gone through. These are super-curriculars: extracurricular things that are in relation to the subject. It’s important to not just list things though but rather explain what you’ve learnt and your reflections. This is because whoever reads your personal statement wants to know what you’ve gained from your experiences – especially since they’re aware of how difficult it can be to get placements or access to particular schemes. So, if you put something down make sure you say what you’ve learnt from it and how it relates to being a medical student or a doctor. There should be a 80:20 split for super-curriculars to extracurriculars. Also, if you put something in your personal statement make sure that you are comfortable to discuss it because it could be brought up during an interview.
There are some personal statement examples available on the Oxford website, plus I’ve even gone through my own personal statement on my YouTube channel here.
When talking about volunteering and work experience, don’t just list and explain things you did- evaluate the experience. Discuss what you liked/didn’t like and ultimately what you learned from it.
After describing an experience, go on to discuss what you did to developed on it. For example, doing a presentation at school inspired by your work experience and what you learnt.
Mention things you feel comfortable talking about at interviews. If there was a book you didn’t really understand/like, it might be harder to elaborate on it when prompted.
Oxford cares less about extra-curricular activities and more about super-curricular activity- i.e. Things that support and expand your interest in medicine. For example, I wrote less about sports and more about lectures I went to, to show my curiosity beyond my school syllabus.
Show that you have a grounded, realistic view of what becoming a doctor means. They do not want you to have a glorified idea of studying medicine, without appreciating the difficulties that come along with it.
Keep it simple and easy to read- i.e. Short paragraphs, and no unnecessarily complicated words
Admissions test advice
The BioMedical Admissions Test (BMAT) is the admissions test for Medicine. It assess you on your aptitude, scientific knowledge and written communication skills in 3 Sections, respectively. Practice is important for the BMAT as you need to familiarise yourself with the time limits for each section. The time limits are very strict. The BMAT website has quite a few past papers you can work through, which is really helpful. Also, the 2014 paper has worked solutions so you can see how things work. I used ‘The Ultimate BMAT Guide’ textbook for more practice questions as well as TSA papers as they’re very similar to Section 1 of the BMAT. If you still have your GCSE notes then that will help a lot for Section 2 as this is all about your scientific knowledge. Make sure to look at the specification so you know exactly what information you need to learn because even if you don’t take A-Level Physics, you will still be tested on Physics questions.
For the BMAT, my main advice would be to practice everything under timed conditions. You can take time to learn the content and practice questions, but in the actual exam timing is the hardest thing to manage. I used Medify for BMAT practice as it had a feature that allowed to do timed practice questions/past papers, and provided worked solutions. However, if you don’t use Medify you should still be strict with yourself on timing.
Additionally, for the science paper I found it useful to review GCSE content I had forgotten, especially any subjects you’ve dropped since. Ultimately there were some topics I was better at than others, so I found it useful to skip questions I knew would take time in the exam, and come back to them at the end.
I personally felt that it was possible to do ‘too much’ preparation for the BMAT, as I found myself burning out closer to the exam. Ultimately it is an aptitude test, and whilst it is important to familiarise yourself with the content, the format is the same so you don’t need to do absolutely everything. When I reached the actual exam I was quite tired of doing papers, and the thought of another 2 hour was draining. I’d recommend pacing yourself, and doing a little bit every day.
For the essay component, all the past papers are available online so I found it useful to plan all the essays. To do this quickly and efficiently, I practiced writing a concise introduction and definition for each one (as I struggled with this before) and then a quick pros and cons table. I would recommend printing out the actual template paper for the essay section, because it’s a lot shorter than you’d think. I actually practiced writing fully only a few essays.
Interview advice
The most important thing is to think out loud. The tutors know that you are intelligent but they want to know how you use your knowledge to get to a certain solution. They aren’t mind-readers so the only way (and the best way) you can do that is to talk through your methods. It’s important to also know that it’s fine to be unsure about an answer because tutors can use that to help guide you to an answer. They don’t expect you to know all the answers but want to see what you do when you don’t know something. Maybe practise thinking out loud with friends and family through explaining a science topic or something to them.
Don’t be scared, which I know is easier said than done but the tutors are actually lovely. They aren’t there to intimidate you so just take a deep breath before you start your interview and smile. You’ll smash it!
I share further tips in another one of my videos, which you can find here.
Preparation for the interview
Be familiar with your personal statement, and prepared to talk about topics you’ve mentioned. Interviewers may pick something you’ve said and use it to spark a discussion beyond your knowledge, so it’s nice to do some general reading around the subject.
Practice with anyone just talking out loud and articulating your thoughts. Ideally, ask someone you’re not close to (i.e. A teacher, family friend, etc) to practice under more pressure.
Discuss with your teachers what they’ve included in your reference, as interviews can use this as a base to ask more questions
During the interview
The Oxford interview is meant to mimic a tutorial, and the people who interview you will likely be your actual tutors.
Therefore, I think being friendly, nice and getting comfortable talking to the interviewers goes a long way. Smile and be polite for the same reason!
They also want to see that you’re teachable, so take on board new information and adapt the discussion around this. They’re not trying to catch you out, just making sure you can expand on your ideas and defend/adapt it as they offer suggestions.
Think out loud! They want to see your thought process so they can best guide you to reach the answer to questions together. Even if you’re completely lost with a question, start with your basics and build up whilst explaining to them your approach.
Show your enthusiasm and curiosity for medicine. Take on their comments during the interview as an opportunity to learn more.
Ultimately, the interview is a good way to see how you feel about Oxford, as it is an accurate representation of a real tutorial. It can be useful to reflect on how you enjoyed working in a tutorial setting, and if this is the best approach to learning for you.
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