Dear reader,
Welcome to the Cambridge Widening Access to Medicine Society monthly newsletter😊. For our first newsletter of the year we have some exam revision tips, opportunities to boost your medical school application and much more!
Food for Thought: an example interview question
'What is hypoxia? How can it come about? What is the body’s response to it?' Keep reading for a suggested approach to this!
Cottrell Essay Prize for Medicine and Veterinary Medicine Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge, is running a essay competition open to all year 12 (or equivalent) students applying for Medicine or Veterinary Medicine. Applicants will submit an essay of between 1,000-1,500 words in response to one of the following titles, which aim to get to the heart of the most important issues affecting Medicine today: 1) What lessons should public health services learn from the Covid-19 pandemic? 2) Should vaccinations be compulsory? 3) The Covid-19 pandemic and climate change demonstrate the importance of the concept of ‘one health’. Do you agree? 4) The Government is planning to modernise the Mental Health Act. How should clinical expertise be balanced with an increased emphasis on service user autonomy and choice?’ (Separate titles for Veterinary Medicine can be found on the website). This would be a great opportunity to explore an issue in Medicine that interests you and develop your academic skills. It would look great on your medical school application! They are offering one £100 first prize and two £50 second place prizes in both Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, as well as an unlimited number of highly commended prizes available. The deadline for submission is 31st May 2021. Full details are here: https://www.lucy.cam.ac.uk/Cottrell-essay-prize. Oxbridge Admissions Assessment Sessions This year, Magdalene College, Cambridge is collaborating with St Peter’s College and Jesus College (University of Oxford) to deliver a series of free webinars focusing on preparing for specific admissions assessments. These sessions are aimed at Year 12 students (or equivalent) attending state schools in the UK, but may be useful for teachers and parents/guardians who are supporting an application. The session on the BioMedical Admissions Test (BMAT) is taking place on 1st June from 5-6pm. Click here for more details and to register:https://www.magd.cam.ac.uk/events/admissions-assessment-sessions Behind the Headlines
Why is India having a Covid-19 surge? Our Co-President Macky has written a great piece about the Covid-19 crisis in India, based on an article from the BMJ. Click the here to read it on our website!
Link of the Month
One of our favourite websites to use for GCSE and A Level revision was Physics & Maths Tutor! Now don’t be discouraged by the name, because the website has so many past papers from chemistry, physics and a few other subjects too! Alongside the past papers, some of the subjects have good revision notes (so you don’t have to make your own) and are specific to each exam board! Not only that, a few of the subjects have areas where the questions are sorted by topic - so if you’re struggling on a specific topic (we're looking at you Mechanics in Physics) you can have all the questions related to that topic collated for you!
As a tip, you can use other exam board’s questions because you want to practice your active recall! So split some of your time amongst your exam board and other exam board’s papers so that you don’t run out of questions too early! Obviously with other exam boards, make sure you give yourself some leniency as some topics are taught differently or require different answers. Happy studying!
Myth buster
‘All medical students do is study.’
Medical students have a reputation for being hardworking and dedicated to their degree. This is true, however there is so much more to medical school than just studying! With 5 or 6 years of university and several more for training, medicine is much more like a marathon than a sprint. Therefore it's crucial to have a good work-life balance to avoid 'burning out'. Our hobbies outside of medicine allow us to relieve stress, meet new people and generally be a more well-rounded individual! The same goes for A levels, GCSEs and any other exams you may be studying for at the moment - whether that’s taking a walk with a friend, listening to music or going to the gym (now that they’re finally open!), it's important to take breaks to do things you enjoy!
Food for thought: an example approach
The purpose of these scientific/medical questions at Cambridge medicine interviews is not to test who knows the most about a random topic - if you knew everything already, what would be the point of medical school? The interviewer wants to see 1) if you fully understand the content you've been taught at A Level and 2) if you can apply this knowledge to reason through a problem and come up with some possible answers. You'll probably know from A level that hypoxia is a condition in which a tissue is deprived of adequate oxygen supply. A good strategy here is to go through the path of oxygen from the air to the body tissues. Any disruption to this pathway will lead to lack of oxygen, e.g.:
lack of oxygen in the air: e.g. at high altitude
impaired gas exchange at the lungs: e.g. due to fibrosis (which increases the thickness of the alveolar walls and prevents expansion of the alveoli)
decrease in RBC oxygen binding: e.g. in anaemia (low RBC count)
inability for the blood to circulate blood around the body: e.g. in heart disease or a circulatory syndrome
inability for cells to use the delivered oxygen: e.g. in cyanide poisoning
Some of the main responses to hypoxia include:
increased heart rate
increased strength of contraction
(remember that cardiac output = heart rate * stroke volume!)
increased ventilation
(and more which you'll learn about in medical school!)
The interviewer could go then challenge you further and take the discussion in different directions, (e.g. about what potential mechanisms could bring about these responses). Again, you aren't expected to know everything - the interviewer is much more interested in whether you can think.
Thanks for reading - we hope you have a great month and GOOD LUCK! Love, The CamWAMS Committee https://www.camwams.co.uk/ https://www.facebook.com/camwams/ https://www.instagram.com/camwams/ https://twitter.com/CambridgeWAMS
If you have any questions then as ever please just email us at access@clinsoc.co.uk
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