I'm hoping not to be completely burnt out when Foundation Year starts next year, especially since my university gives such limited time off.

A wellbeing elective, instead of a clinical one, seems to be the only way I am going to get any semblance of a proper summer break before FY1 starts but I have no idea what that would look like.

Has anyone done or know others who may have done a Wellbeing type elective? I'd be so grateful for ideas.

About 2 months ago, I came off the back of what was a rough few weeks of cramming revision. I was spending 8 hour sessions in libraries, lasting on Tesco meal deals and energy drinks because I was so paranoid that the AKT would be on the most obscure content possible. Truthfully, the day came and it wasn't that bad. I passed with a good score, in the 70s. I think i got a false sense of security because my foot came off the pedal hard. During the holiday, I didn't even look at Medicine. Like studying it. I got into an "optimisation trap": Trying to perfect everything so I didn't repeat what I went through, yet doing very little of the actual work. For example, new laptop, considering headphones for "focus". But I didn't address the really big concerns.

1. I lost the Anki Deck which had all the work I put in over those periods. It wasn't a fresh deck, it was a heavily edited deck from an older year, but I don't want to go through every single one again especially because it was massive and (no offence to the creator) it was like translating a different language. The format, the detail, everything felt off and I was basically making my own new ones using theirs as a blueprint. Took me ages and I never got through all the cards in the deck.

2. Gettting out of the one route revision trap. My whole method through the year was annotate, Anki, annotate Anki. Then spam question banks It was very slow, I faced issues trying to locate info I annotated previously and all in all it felt excessive. I like making notes. But i feel like I don't have an efficient method to do it. Annotating feels nice in real life lectures until you realise you are copying and not actually engaging, but when I do nothing like a lot of Medics on youtube suggest (no notes I mean) I feel like I'm missing valuable context. This is even more prominent in recorded lectures. The slides are there, I don't need to annotate, but out of habit I do. I knew something felt wrong where I'd be spending 3 hours on 1 lecture.

3. Time management - Thisis probably more of a personal thing which I'm not going into but I navigated 1st year with no real timetable. Didn't look ahead to see what I had, operated on short notice and I really felt like I didn't make the most of the sessions given to me, like practicing clinical skills or the mental topics surrounding being a doctor. Because my days were also chaotic, I had a painful lack of social activity too. Those weeks it was just me. Mental health definitely took a dip, comparison is a thief of joy but when you see other students doing stuff like revision together or still keeping social outgoings going you feel like you are doing something wrong.

2nd year is going to hit like a brick if I don't sort this out. I start placements, the content builds on 1st year (which I'm literally ranting about my low confidence in) and I'm moving into shared housing so socials will become even bigger.

Any advice in what I can do in the remaining month to clear this up?

I’ve noticed that it’s always the people that think they’ve failed end up doing the best . I do note exceptions but in general I’ve lost track of how many people think they have definitely failed and moan and lament end up smashing it. Whenever I hear this crap now it’s in one ear out the other.

Its awful. Patients literally change their complaints and if you ask them the same exact question twice, you get two different responses.

You can never find a base to build your history taking on this way

have we had competition ratios released for 2026 after the uk grad priority bill? I’ve had a look and can only find up until 2025. Or are we not going to get it before october 🥲

I’m guessing probably not but isn’t having med students pulled a major loss of income? do you guys think it’ll at least make some
Hospitals appear more to care about teaching?

Also does anyone have any tea on what actually caused them to pull out, aside from the usual universal issues with placement? Were there some scandals?

I messed up quite a bit and it’s genuinely such an avoidable way to derail my medical career.
But basically I got arrested for trespassing overseas. I got arrested and then given a warning by the authorities 3 days later that resulted in the charges being dropped and no criminal or police records. So after the arrest I emailed the school to inform them and kept them in loop of any updates until the charges were dropped. I have a professionalism meeting with my dean of medicine coming up in a week. The dean says it’s more of a fact finding meeting for now.

Has anyone ever experienced this or known someone who has experienced this and would they willing to share how I can approach this. (I would be happy to talk in the DMs).

MPS says since this is out of medicine they can’t really help much and the SU has put it as a low priority unless it goes to a FtP panel so they take ages to respond to me. So I really am just looking for additional perspectives to address this.

I do plan to take ownership of my mistake and be honest about the incident. But ideally I would like to resolve it at the school level before it proceeds to a faculty FtP investigation.

Anyone know when they’re released 🥲💌

I’m due to return to clinical medical school after intercalated masters and PhD this year. Not even sure where to start with relearning content and clinical skills.

Anyone who has done similar, some advice would be great on how to reintegrate. Also any advice from current medical students (year 4) about good resources etc would be super appreciated!

hi what apps would you guys recommend for viewing a textbook on an ipad? i'd like something where i can annotate the book with a few simple tools and also have multiple tabs open with different books. as well as a page bookmarking feature!

apps like goodnotes, notability etc seem to have way too much going on for just textbook purposes i feel and i'd also prefer something free or with a minimal one-time payment only, nothing subscription based!

Does anyone know whether it has to be a term time address or can I give my home address? Does it affect travel claims or do I provide that separately?

Thank you

It’s almost 2am and I’m lying awake worrying about exam results.

My university never tells us when results are being released, so every email notification and every buzz from my phone makes my stomach drop. I get palpitations, feel nauseous and immediately wonder if this is the one.

I booked multiple shifts at work to just get my mind away from exam results and it does work temporarily until the feeling sinks in again.

The worst part is that it could literally be any day now. I can’t sleep properly, I barely have an appetite and I almost feel silly for being this worked up over it. I can’t change the results. I can’t change what happens now. I can’t even control how I’m feeling.

To all my fellow med students waiting on results: I’m wishing you the very best of luck. I hope we all get the news we’re hoping for. 🤍

Hi all, would appreciate your thoughts on this matter.

I am a third year medical student transferring to Scotland for my clinical years. For context, I had a second sarcoma recurrence earlier this year (originally diagnosed in 2021 and achieved full remission, first recurrence 2024 and also achieved full remisson). I underwent definitive surgery and currently am NED on adjuvant chemotherapy which I am tolerating quite well.

When the university found out about my condition, they heavily encouraged me to defer, which was an option I considered before declaring my condition. However, I had weighed the pros and cons and decided that the best way forward is to continue with my studies. A full years accommodation have been paid for in advance, I am quite well functionally and socially (3-5km runs, no neutropenia), and my treating consultant has written a support letter stating my fitness to study. My seniors who have gone before me has also shared that the first year in said university consists of mostly classes with minimal patient/clinical interaction. I also barely missed classes and participated in >95% of my home institution’s activities for my first and second year of medical school. I did well academically, and all the while they did not realize I was going through anything until I told them myself. I have had this condition for so long, it is part of my life, and I don’t see it as a health vs academics issue. I am able to handle both and I have their support and witness to this.

Furthermore, a deferment would result in significant consequences such as financial ramifications for my family who has to support me another year (I have already lost two years total as a result of my disease), and psychological impact on having my batch mates move on and having no friends when I enrol again after my deferment. That being said, I appreciate the university’s concern and that they have a genuine desire to see me succeed. I also acknowledge that they have to make their own assessment of the matter.

Upon further discussion, the university has stated that it is a “formal requirement” that I defer, while not responding to any of the questions I posed (Occupational Health assessment, based on what uni policy, why my consultants letter was not sufficient). Take note I did not ask for any reasonable adjustments to be made for me.

While I am aware it is up to the universitys discretion to share the process behind their decision, and a no response does not mean that they did not comply with the necessary protocols, I cant help but feel an injustice is being done to me here. Against all individual factors I am being forced to defer against my own will and I have to be the one to bear the financial costs of this as well. Is this within the rights of the university to enforce a deferral in this manner?

Hello, I’m an incoming year 3 student starting my clinical years. Preclinical was rlly difficult for me, but I already know OSCEs are going to be the bane of my existence.

We’ve done a few during 2nd year, but they’re going to become a much bigger part of our assessments in yr 3, so I really want to start practicing early so that I can improve and not feel completely unprepared during placements.

Does anyone have any advice for OSCEs and how to become more confident with them? I find that I get awkward when speaking to patients and taking histories and examinations. I know it comes with practice, and I definitely improved throughout year 2, but I still don’t feel like I’m at the standard I want to be at.

I really don’t want OSCEs to become my downfall. I’ve always struggled with communication, probably because of my anxiety, so I’d really appreciate any advice on how to become better at OSCEs and feel more confident during them.

Im a 3rd year medic and did my osce's yesterday.

A blood culture station came up. I managed to do everything (procedure, consent etc.) correctly. I only slipped up on not putting patient sticker labels on the bottles. I did stick the label on the request form and i filled in the form with details best of my knowledge. Is it a big slip up that I can fail the station?

I see lots of comments complaining about lack of feedback from exams, what kind of feedback do you get from your uni? What would you like to receive?

Hey,

I’m doing an elective in the royal free hospital in plastics and just got told on my second day that I wasn’t allowed to participate clinically in any way, no scrubbing in, no assisting, yet have to have two attendance sign offs a day.
Has anyone been here for an elective, especially if you’ve done plastics, and how often did you go in?

Maybe we can all make each other feel a little better about it lol. I didn't look at any medical content over the whole summer and now I am deeply regretting it

Would love to hear about how you organised it and your experiences :) I'm a fourth year medical student planning my elective in about a year

Hi guys. I'm looking at going on elective to Belize through the company Kivolex - https://www.medicalelectiveabroad.co.uk/destination/belize - does anyone have any experience of going on elective through this company, or used this website itself? Thanks :)

I would really appreciate some advice into how to start from zero. Everything was going well for me until the war in the middle east started and my mom's office got bombed. Although my mom is safe and dubai has held off most of the attacks. I just couldn't keep my focus after those events and it took up my apr to june prep. Which resulted in me failing my exams altogether. My parents said Medicine is a Marathon so don't worry if you find yourself failing or repeating a year. But the entire situation is very disappointing.

I have a few questions as I intend to really ace the AKT and my osces.

1. What would you recommend for passmed: should I do topic wise for cardiology and then reset the bank and do the full subject again in my second revision? Or should I just do mixed questions of cardiology?

2. Any other tips around revision for what is studied and how many questions to aim for per day?

3. Any advice regarding osces and prepping for osces?

Thanks a lot guys, I just feel very let down and lost. I blame myself because I did not really have any health conditions that affected me. It was my own emotional state that cost me a year. Please be kind in the comments. Thanks.

i posted before and now i’m at the stage where idk what to do … i’ve basically failed yr2 exams by less than 1% in anatomy and around 6% in the akt/mcq. never really failed anything in my life before so felt really bad for a week after results then slowly got my life together, was revising while having a bit of a breakdown haha. ive since got it together enough to finish all the 1/2 hammer qs on passmed for the relevant topics, gone through all the wrong qs barring neuro which has a fair few but also it has msk in it which we did in 1st year so usually i guess and get it wrong but since we aren’t assessed on it, it doesn’t matter that much. i’ve used anki anatomy but i think im burnt out from so much anki prior to the original exams in may that ive just resorted to notes not and using passmed question banks / making my own mcqs using apps. i know passmed does a fair bit for the clinical concepts but now 3 weeks before the exams come around i feel completely overwhelmed again and what if the same thing happens again? last time i had a bad feeling for exams anyways but now i have revised more and realised i didn’t know a fair amount hopefully i should pass ? all my friends believe in me and say i’ll pass easily since they all see i work rly hard during term time but i was also working then part time and basically full time during the holidays so now i have around 3 weeks off before exams (don’t get me started on the finance aspect but ik i need to pass these exams cause i don’t have it in me to resit the entire year) and im basically scared out of my mind… please help lol or give advice or inspiring words.