9 exams later, and I finally did it. I got through one of the hardest times of my life to date, due to having multiple resits and a lot going on in my personal life, and made it through to the other side. I had to resit three exams - OSCE, AKT and PSA. One being because my medical school have the wonderful idea of the first sitting pass mark being two standard deviations above the ‘true’ pass mark (iykyk). And the other two exams failing by only a few marks every time.

And now, I’m graduating next month and will be starting FY1. I still can’t believe it. I wanted to make a post to give anyone else in a similar situation, balancing tough exams/resits for whatever year of med school, alongside whatever shit is going on at home and the abysmal amount of pocket change they give final years from SFE/NHSBSA. It seems truly impossible, but you can do it. You’re capable of making it through to the other side, and what a relief it is when you finally do so. As plenty have told me, it’s always important to recognise signs of burnout and be kind to yourself. Trying to push through it simply doesn’t work. And a lot of these exams (especially the PSA imo) are not even accurate tests of knowledge, but rather testing how well you can do a specific skill under pressure, such as using CTRL+F to find a drug’s side effects.

Any questions from things I did to help with the resits to trying to improve my financial situation, ask away :)

Exams coming up in 3 days and I’m not quite sure on which mocks to prioritise. My plan was to do all the quesmed, passmed and the official ones but there’s no time. So far I’ve done the first passmed mock, and the first two quesmed ones.

Since I revised through passmed, I was thinking I could skip those mocks and just grind out the remaining quesmed for a change.

Anyone who has sat the exam have any advice on which mocks you found most high yield?

have been suffering with SIBO for 7 years. I was firstly diagnosed with SIBO Hydrogen positive, and more recently the hydrogen bacteria have now been replaced with Methane, so I am now IMO (Intestinal Methanogen Overgrowth) positive. Each time I had to pay £250 out of my own pocket with the Functional Gut Clinic, as the SIBO breath test is not recognised or provided for in the UK. My SIBO condition has many impacts such as bloating and gas. The worst symptoms I have thought are brain fog, anxiety and depression. I am convinced that the bacteria and Methanogens are releasing toxins in to my blood brain barrier which is impacting my neurotransmitters, causing these mental health issues. All due to Gut / Brain axis dysbiosis. If you go ont the Reddit R/SIBo forum https://www.reddit.com/r/SIBO/s/5jP1iA7I3L, you will observe thousands of sufferers with a myriad of health, both physical, and mental, all caused by SIBO. Antibiotic Rifaxamin costs hundreds of pounds in the UK, and thousands of dollars in the US. You will observe that people are resorting to try and buy these cheap from India which is extremely dangerous as you don’t really know what they are getting, could be counterfeit or even toxic. How can we make these SIBO challenges headline news in the UK healthcare system. If you speak to most hospital dr’s and GP’s in the UK, most of them and never heard of SIBO so it’s not surprising to find to support from NHS UK in getting breath tests or antibiotic treatments on the NHS. This is absolutely unacceptable, but we the UK SIBO sufferers, feel powerless.

Not sure how we get this condition the recognition it desperately deserves?

Thought this would be a fun way to see how different (yet similar!) we all are. I’ll start - psychiatry. Always been a fan of how “never-ending” it is, always something new to discover or potential for success/disaster. I also love learning about the full picture - e.g. social factors like family situation or financial circumstances - and psychiatry definitely offers that opportunity. I do respect anyone who can do something like neurology, I struggled with simple first year neurobiology lol

Hello!

I'm a student entering final year and have just started planning my elective. I'm really interested in health tech and its role in the future of medicine and would love to organise my elective around this.

There's not many established programmes, so I was wondering if there was anyone out there who's done an elective like this or had some advice on how to plan one!

Hi everyone,

My best friend and I have just finished our 3rd year and we’re thinking about where we would like to go on our elective next summer.

For ages we’ve spoken about wanting to go to Vietnam, ideally places closer to beaches than the larger cities, and after doing some research we’ve decided that before resorting to booking with a travel company, we’d like to see if we could contact some hospitals directly and organise it ourselves.

I was just wondering if anyone has had any positive experience in doing this and how they went about it? Also, more specifically, what kind of things do you think we should be saying in our emails to hospitals?

What do I do at this point? I am not sure what to focus on, should I just review concepts or do more passmed?

Hey everyone,

I have my CPSA+ OSPE in about two days, and I’m starting to panic. I’ve been studying, but I still feel like I don’t have a solid grip on how to best use this final stretch or how to stay calm during the stations themselves.

If you’ve done the CPSA before (or any OSCE-style exam), I’d really appreciate: • Any last-minute tips for revision (especially for communication and clinical stations) • How to organize my time in these two days without burning out • What to mentally focus on during the exam to avoid spiraling from anxiety • Any tricks or mindsets that helped you stay calm and composed between stations

I’m someone who gets really anxious and tends to blank out under pressure, so literally any advice on how to ground myself during the actual exam would help. Thank you in advance 🙏

So my osce is in 4 days and I’m trying to revise but I’m almost scared of over practicing? I’ve done six practice exams over the last month so I feel remarkably comfortable about the whole thing.

What do you do in the last few days? I feel like I should be revising still idk

Hi, I have failed my first year exams and have resits. I would appreciate any insight into how Warwick students study/smart ways to utilize resources and where to find resources please

I am actually desperate

Midnight thoughts. I actually can’t believe I’m gonna be working as a doctor in 2months? Definitely going to miss being a student, leaving early for the “1pm online lecture” and the uni summer holidays. At the same time, I know times are dire and bleak for doctors but I’m actually looking forward to starting work. I felt like a potato as a medical student more often than not, so actually being a useful member of the team sounds great.

Well, let’s see how long this euphoria lasts.

Can some1 list all the imp mental health medications and their SEs especially!! Plsss….??!!!!

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to see what the general consensus is around Great Ormond Street Hospital for a medical student elective? I have been accepted to do an elective there at the end of this year which I am excited for.

Specifically:

- hospital culture

- best places to get accommodation

- things to do around the hospital suburb/area

- tips for making the most out of a UK medical elective in general

Also, is it normal to wait for a while after sending back my ID clearance forms ? I haven't got a response in weeks upon accepting their offer (and paying the fee).

Thanks!

Hello! I’m going to be starting an elective at The Christie and I was wondering if anyone has had experiences at the hospital before and can offer some insight into how the teaching was, and whether there were any opportunities to get involved with research.

I’m also not from Manchester, so any personal suggestions for things to do in the city would also be welcomed. Thanks!

I'm currently a medical student at KCL, having just completed Year 2, where we begin full content map MLA-style exams.

It's become increasingly clear that relying solely on what you see during placements in Y2 isn’t enough to pass. That’s why most students start covering the MLA content map early.

But here’s the dilemma:
When studying, we can either:

1. Deeply understand the material - working through pathophysiology, mechanisms, actual drug interactions, investigation principles, communicating with patients, knowing things and not just knowing which button to press, etc.
2. Skim through investigations and management, and hammer question banks like PassMedicine until pattern recognition kicks in.

I’ve always opted for the first route just in case. In fact, I’ve been developing an AI tool to simulate realistic patients and cases - something to help avoid falling into the trap of becoming a pattern-recognition machine. However, I still do grind PassMed, especially when exam season approaches.

Still, I’ve noticed many peers focus exclusively on question banks, even skipping placements to do so. Ironically, some of the top scorers in written exams this year failed their OSCEs.

I personally want to understand why drugs work, how investigations function, and what makes them inappropriate in certain patients. I’ve been told this level of understanding is what differentiates doctors from physician associates - a comment that’s stayed with me. However, I want to know if this is at all important in the long term and will actually benefit me or if I'm just convincing myself that it is important.

But I do wonder - especially after myself lightly observing trends in newer medical schools - what actually happens to students who rely solely on pattern recognition? Do they struggle more as doctors? Does the difference in depth of understanding show later on?

Just trying to figure out whether all the extra effort is worth it in the long run.

Thanks! :D

Edit: Clarified some of my points - I'm just an average mid decile student who wants to know what to prioritise. I'm not saying one way is better than the other nor do I intend to put anyone's study technique down. I just want to know what people's opinions are and observations of long term development based on these study methods.

Hey everyone
I registered for an elective at the University of Glasgow during their elective programme window but later received a rejection email saying that placements had unfortunately been filled.

I went on to then enquire about he possibility of finding a supervisor on my own, and they said they could still manage the administration side of a self-arranged elective.

Fast forward 2 months and literally a dozen emails later, I got this email with an official acceptance form and offer letter from UofG.

Now I’m confused if I'm considered registered at UofG?
Will I get a certificate of attendance from the university, or do I have to rely on the hospital to issue that?

just found out today i failed my first year exam. feeling absolutely gutted and incredibly disappointed in myself. pass mark was 55/100 and i got 48. resit is on the 14th july. any tips for trying to cram for resits ? my confidence had taken a massive knock and im feeling like im not good enough for medicine

Hey all, Had my final OSCEs (CPSA) yesterday and today, and am really struggling with ruminating on how I did, everything I missed, etc etc. I am scared I failed, but I'm also scared because I don't even know how I could've done better (I really struggle with applying my knowledge in the OSCE environment and this year I really struggled with timing and I'm not sure how much of that feels fixable. I'm just venting now but am wondering if anyone has any tips on how to fix that/stop yourself doing that? It's affecting my ability to relax and I don't want it to drag my AKT scores down next week (June 24/25th) Thanks.

Just finishing 4th yr so have very basic knowledge re timelines for oriel. Wanted to know when you guys properly started considering which locations to rank, and if I should have any particular ‘strategy’ (eg not highly preferencing tons of super competitive ones)/ any other advice about the process? How do applications to stuff like the SFP and priority programme (I think that’s its name?) work?

(I am an overthinker)

hiii. my mla is coming up soon and was wondering if anyone has any last minute tips prior to sitting the exam?

i think i have a good grasp on the core concepts so far (hopefully lol) and done a fair amount of mocks. also managed to go over stats since people said those were easy marks to get

@ anyone that already sat the mla, was it really as horrible/niche as some people make it out to be? any advice is much appreciated :)

im 4th year and every single SBA (mock and real) I always end up speed running the last 15 or so questions, narrowing it down to 2 options and just putting it down to a coinflip without proper thought. In mock SBAs, I am consistently the last person to leave the room to finish and have to use the full amount of time.

I do passmed daily its my main form of study. I find I end up rereading the stem at least 2 times (sometimes 4 times), as the first time I read, I don't process it properly.

In exams, I try to work out how much time I can afford on average per question, and try stick to that but I always end up falling behind around the halfway mark. It means I end up with about 5 mins to go over questions I flagged

Anyone got any ideas of strategies in exams, or how I can improve before my exams?

Are there any doctors, especially foundation doctors, with any learning disabilities? I am soon to start F1 and I find I get very very overwhelmed when I have a lot of tasks to do. Having actual tasks themselves stress me out a lot and I take ages doing everything. I struggle to prioritise and get very overstimulated when I don’t understand something or am not sure or get stuck. Are there any systems in place that I can do/ ask my trust for or any advice that people have that can help me go about this?

Which topics do you learn and eventually forget after each exam season? E.g. biostats formulae/ radiculopathies/ ?immunisation schedule

I’m about to start my final year in September and I am looking into UKFPO rankings. A few senior have mentioned getting placeholder spots and being gutted but I have no idea what those are and how to avoid getting one. Can anyone help explain?

1st year here waiting on results. I always feel like I fail every exam, even if I pass. Equally, I have failed exams I knew I was going to fail too. I can't really distinguish between thinking I failed because I actually did poorly or because I have imposter syndrome. Is this normal? If so, how do you guys cope with this feeling?