GAMSAT IS OVER! (For now...)

It's been far too long since I've written anything on here; and I apologise for that.

It's just, you see, I've been a little busy with all the GAMSAT malarky. But it's over now! And I feel a bit strange... Relieved yet worried. 

I sat GAMSAT at Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield. It's really near the train station; so my walk (which made me feel like a dead woman walking...) was relatively quick. My admission ticket said to be there for 8:15, and like the Square that I am, I got there at 8:14.

The queue to the Sports Hall was MASSIVE. I was quite surprised that there were so many people sitting the exam. The Sports Hall was full; and they had to put people in two separate meeting rooms in addition to this.

The Sports Hall at Ponds Forge

One thing I learned very quickly is that there's a lot of bureaucracy surrounding the exam. Lots of talking about rules etc. You also (and I didn't know this before) have to keep your admission ticket and ID on your desk throughout the exam.

And you get a rather nice stamp on your hand; which reads: 'Inspected'. Nice. It took thoroughly washing my hands sporadically throughout the day and having a bath before bed to just about get rid of it.

'Inspected'

I can't really tell you that much about the content of the exam because we were kind of sworn to secrecy... I can tell you though, that I had questions about medical ethics and organic chemistry in abundance.

As you probably already know, the exam is split into three different parts:

Section I - Reasoning in the Humanities and Social Sciences,

Section II - Written Communication,

Section III - Reasoning in the Biological and Physical Sciences.


Section I is an hour and a half, Section II an hour (You have to write two essays in that time frame) and Section III is a whopping three hours long!

You get an hour's lunch break between Sections II and III; and, like me, most people chose to go outside and get a little fresh air. In fact, one poor lady had what looked like a panic attack outside the doors because of the sheer strain of the exam.

This is not the aforementioned poor lady...

I was fine during Section I - which leads me to think I did quite badly. Usually the better I think I performed in an exam; the worse my grade ends up being.

I'll admit that I panicked quite a bit during Section II - I prepared for this section in the wrong way. I read lots of newspapers; books relating to Social Sciences and the like; but I didn't practice the writing side of things enough. So, my mind went a bit blank and I started to panic; but I recovered and rambled on about a load of rubbish; which also leads me to presume that I won't do all that well...

Section III on the other hand ended up being a bit of guesswork in parts. I did what Griffiths' GAMSAT Review suggests and guessed 'C' (apparently, there's ever so slightly more chance of guessing correctly if you choose the answer that's 'C'). There were things I recognized and a lot of things that threw me a little. I'm not holding my breath.

At the end of the day, all I did was my best. I was so nervous about Section III that I did consider scarpering during the lunch break; but I would have been so disappointed with myself if I had. It's not my style to abandon things before I succeed; I'm too stubborn like that.

Results are out at the 'end of November'. Oh I love how elusive ACER are.

Best Friend Dilemma.

The clue's in the title really.

I've known my best friend for ten and a half years. I thought that we'd be friends until we were bitter old ladies, sat next to each other in a Nursing Home knitting away and putting the world to rights. However, that's not really the case any more.

For the past few months she's been constantly ignoring me, making excuses not to see me and just generally not being a very good friend.

She spent the majority of last year unemployed after leaving college. I tried to support her then and she pushed me away. I knew she was struggling but she just didn't want my help. I was doing my finals and she was trying to occupy herself by applying for an endless stream of jobs. She got there in the end and has been working full time for the past few months.

She's an incredibly difficult person to know and to get through to. She won't listen and when she really needs a friend, she pushes everyone except close family members away.

I'm the only person that she's regularly in touch with from school. She's disowned the rest of our mutual friends. She says that she can't be bothered with them because they've made no effort with her. They have, she just didn't realise... Or care.

I'm not going to lie, these past few months have been really tough. I've felt so down for such a prolonged period of time and the only people who've consistently been there for me are my parents.

When I think about how little she's supported me, my initial thought is that I'm just being selfish for expecting her support. She just doesn't realise how other people feel and she's definitely unreceptive to the emotions of others. I feel cruel for even saying that. I haven't seen her properly since last year. I didn't even get a Christmas card. She got a Christmas card and presents before Christmas from me. 

She texted me a few weeks ago to tell me that she was ill. I texted her the next day asking if she was feeling better. She ignored me. So after three days I began to get a little worried. I popped round to see how she was (bearing in mind she lives two minutes walk away from my house), and she couldn't wait to get rid of me. She didn't invite me in and blamed me for her dog wetting itself with excitement because I'd turned up unannounced.

I know our friendship has never been a conventional one, but I do at least expect to get a reply to a text within a week. Something that frequently doesn't happen. I'm losing patience with her. 

I honestly don't know what to do. In my heart of hearts, I feel like our friendship is nothing but a chore to her. I'm a burden to her like I am to many others. And best friends shouldn't make you feel like that, should they?

I can't help who I am and how I am. I can't change to a great extent to fit the needs and wants of other people. And to be honest, if being an unemployed loser for the past ten months has taught me anything, it's that I need to stop trying to please others and focus on making myself happier.

What do I do? Accept that she probably just doesn't want to be friends? Keep on fighting a futile battle? Get on with life and focus on other friends? I honestly don't know. Ten years of friendship would go down the toilet if I were to just walk away; but it's as though she doesn't want me in her life anyway.

We're both only children and there's sometimes a battle of wills when it comes to who's going to get their own way. When we were younger, I never used to give in, but nowadays, she tends to get her way. She deliberately makes me feel bad when there's a threat that she's not going to get her own way. For example, on my birthday a couple of years ago, the two of us went to London. I wanted to go on the London Eye because it's something I hadn't done before. She, however, didn't want to because she'd been on it once before with a relative. She said to me: 

"We can go on it if you really want to, but I really don't want to. If you do though, I suppose I'll go along with it..."

What can I say to that? "Yes I'll force you onto the London Eye against your own will and consequently never hear the end of it..." So, no, I gave in and we didn't go on it. She got her way and I've still never been on the London Eye... 

Recently if I've asked if she's free on a certain day, she'll just ignore my messages. So now I don't generally broach the subject of meeting up. I invited her out for drinks with some other friends over the weekend; she declined my offer.  It's just easier to leave her alone than it is to be ignored or rejected.

I asked her yesterday when she might be next free. She's ignored me. She's been on Facebook today, but she hasn't replied to my message; because I'm evidently a hindrance to her...

It makes me feel like I'm being needy. I'm not though, am I? For wanting the girl who's supposed to be my best friend to just reply to my messages every now and again?

I couldn't resist.

Apologies for this incredibly boring, self-deprecating and insecure post, but it's quite cathartic to write it all out... 
It's really just been a huge excuse for me to use an array of cute pictures. Sorry...

University of Leicester Open Day!

Well, I went to the University of Leicester last month...

And you may have seen my tweet about how pointless it was... If only I'd have known that before actually getting there! Would've saved me a wasted journey!


The presentation on Medicine itself was in incredibly high demand! There were only two talks: one at 2pm and one at 3pm. I thought it would be better to go for the earlier talk, but ended up queuing for half an hour before the talk started, in a massive crowd of people (all of whom looked younger and far more intelligent than myself), to be told when we all got in to the talk, that there basically wasn't much point in me bothering to apply there - I'd be far, far better off taking GAMSAT and applying to either St. George's or Nottingham...


Basically the reason that it was so pointless was because they're bringing in a new system (at least I think it's new) where they'll be point scoring potential candidates on their previous academic qualifications i.e. GCSEs and A-Levels, as well as their degree classification...
Which means I've got NO chance!


I already knew it was a long shot because of the year long paid work experience requirement, but still, I thought it was at least worth a look!


I must admit that I was particularly reluctant to like the city of Leicester - back in the day when I was browsing Universities for my first degree, I went for an open day at Leicester's other University, De Montfort, and wasn't that impressed. And also knowing that a 'kind of' ex had moved to the city made me even more reluctant to go there! But I have to say that when I got to the area that the University of Leicester was in, I was a lot more impressed than when I went to DMU (which is on the other side of the city)!


Everything about the University is nice, the people seemed relatively friendly, and certainly welcoming. The Uni was neat and looked shiny and new (although the same can't really be said for the Medical School building - which apparently is going to be replaced by a newer and shinier building in the near future). See the shoddy picture below for a glimpse at the Med School building...

This is also another shoddy picture of the Medical School from the side (at least I think it's the Medical School - but don't hold me to that!)

I don't really think there's anything else that I can say about it - It certainly doesn't look like I'll be applying to study there, but that's not to say that I don't like the University, because I do.


Oh, and one of the taglines of the University, which you will be utterly bombarded with if you go and visit is:
"Elite, without being elitist". 
Trust me, you will see it absolutely everywhere! It's been drilled in to me now!


I would recommend that people check it out, of course! You can't take my word on which Medical School to study at!


Next time I'll be telling you all about Keele University!


Thanks for reading! xx

Newcastle University Open Day!

Last Saturday I went to the Newcastle University open day!

I was feeling pretty tired, because of early starts taking their toll on me, but had to drag myself out of bed to leave home for 8am. 

6am starts really don't agree with me...

After a rushed half hour journey to the train station, we (Daddy Bee and I) got to the platform for the train to Newcastle. We boarded the train when it arrived, in full knowledge that it was going to be one heck of a long journey.

Nearly three hours passed of being sat on a noisy train, on seats with barely any leg room and across from an American lady who kept on staring at us. After the tiring but picturesque train journey was over, we hastily made our way to the Metro station. We eventually arrived at the University, after a short Metro journey, but over two hours after the open day had commenced. So I knew that it was unlikely I'd get tickets for any of the Medicine talks. 

Geordieland

We rushed over to the building where Medical School talk tickets were being handed out -  the King's Gate Building of the University - to be told the inevitable, they'd all gone. 

Tickets for all three talks had gone in an hour. 

So, I didn't get into any of the Medicine talks. I still had a wander up to the Medical School regardless and caught a glimpse of the exterior, which looked impressive to me!

Newcastle University's Medical School

We also went to the Information Fair, and got talking to the loveliest female security guard ever! I was talking to her for about five minutes, but I could've honestly stood there all day listening to her talking with the best accent ever. 

I absolutely loved the city of Newcastle, even though I didn't get to see very much of it. After all, two hours isn't a lot of time to explore anywhere. 

They have a noodle bar in Haymarket Metro Station. Which is a bit of a clincher for a noodle addict such as myself...

I'm thinking about going again, later this year, perhaps. But travelling the day before and staying overnight, so that I don't miss out again!

My poor attempt at getting a decent picture of the King's Gate Building

Luckily, Newcastle University sent me a recorded version of the presentation yesterday.

So if you, like me, couldn't get into one of the Medicine talks - Or even if you couldn't make it to Newcastle altogether, you can watch the presentation here:

https://lectopia.ncl.ac.uk/lectopia/lectopia.lasso?ut=15865&id=11112

A little bit more about GAMSAT, anyone?

So, seeing as I haven't got a lot else to do, I thought I'd tell you a little bit more about GAMSAT.

I'll do it in a list-y type thing, so it's easier to read:

GAMSAT stands for: Graduate Australian Medical Schools Admissions Test.

Yes, I know I'm from England, and not Australia, but it's also used over here too!

It's used by the following Universities for entry to their four year Graduate Entry courses:

1. St. George's, 
2. University of Nottingham, 
3. Keele,
4. Swansea.

It's an entrance exam used by the above Universities to see if their Graduate Medical applicants are up to scratch.

It's also used by Peninsula for entry to their five year course.

Whereas King's College London, Newcastle and Leicester all require you to take the UKCAT test.

There are three different parts to the five hour test, which are:

1. Humanities and Social Sciences,
2. Written Communication,
3. The Science-y bit.

Basically the information that I've received on the level of science required for the exam is quite conflicting. 

I've been told, by someone who has actually taken the test, that it's best if you revise up to first year undergraduate level Biology and Chemistry, and also A-Level Physics.

I've read, however, that AS Level in all of the sciences are adequate enough to get you through the test, even if you aren't from a science background.

Apparently, there's a lot of organic chemistry featured within the exam.

So get revising that kids!

The science part of the exam is double-weighted, so it's quite important!

The date of the test this year is Friday 16th September.

There are lots of Universities that allow graduates to study Medicine, but as I'm not from a science background (having done no science since GCSE) I thought I'd focus on the courses that are more relevant to people like me ('arty' people). 

Sorry if all of the above is of no use to you! 

And also apologies if I've got certain bits and bobs wrong, I'm no expert on GAMSAT!

Next time I'll be telling you all about my recent trip to St. George's! So...

Until then!

xx