r/medicalschooluk

I know this isn’t a new thing, I just need to rant somewhere. Hope that’s ok.

I’m nearly finished medical school. I’ve never liked theatre environments but I’m really trying to get to grips with them before I’m a surgical FY1.

I did the legwork yesterday of finding a willing surgeon, reading up on the cases, asking to join for watching the patients signing consent forms etc.

My male (same level) medical student colleague turns up as well this morning, piggybacking on the opportunity. Sure, that’s fine, it’s no loss to me, I thought.

From that point on, though, none of the surgeons (male) apart from the female ST1 talked to me or included me at all. I couldn’t see during the operations (there was no stool either), my male colleague was asked to scrub and I wasn’t, and it was like I was turning invisible.

The icing on the cake was when the consultant surgeon turned up with coffee for everyone, including my colleague, but forgot me (low key the biggest sin in this all).

What baffled me was when they let the male medical student do a small part of the procedure instead of the female core surg trainee who had never done it and was there to learn. I was furious on her behalf, never mind mine.

I know it’s not that big a deal but stuff like this makes me want to cry. Please tell me your stories too.

Just as the title says .
Also 2 things
what things should I look out for in my first payslip?
How much is the london weighing ?

My non-med friends think placement is like Grey's Anatomy, but my actual reality is getting ignored by the consultant and being too scared to sit in the nurses' chairs.
What is your absolute most humbling, awkward, or soul-crushing moment on the wards or in theatre? Let’s hear the trauma.

Basically I’m on a retake and I’m doing ok (passed OSCEs) but if I don’t get the grade I need in the last exam (AKT/MLA style) then I will fail the year again meaning (as far as I’m aware) that I will be kicked out.

Just wondering what my options are if things don’t go my way. Obviously I’m keeping my fingers crossed and revising but I want to have an idea of what might happen.

Is there any universities which accept students who didn’t complete it (could definitely use personal circumstances as a reason it didn’t work out)? Or has anyone been able to just go back to the start? I’d happily start back in first year and do it all again if that’s what it takes.

FYI I’m in y3 so won’t even get a certificate degree if things go badly 🥲

TW: >!suicidal ideation + past suicide attempts!<

Marking this NSFW as it delves into some darker mental health stuff.

I know that with repeating a year, you're supposed to grind and get your foot in the door in your first year, as an international student. I knew that my friends from last year might not be as open to hanging out or be busy with their lives, but I didn't think it would happen like this.

To note, I do have ME, and I'm neurodivergent (ADHD + BPD) with PDD (on medications for all), which makes going to class a challenge, but it's still doable. I don't think I want to make friends with this new cohort, even though we're one term into it. Plus, what's the point if they're going to either leave or judge for repeating a year? No one has tbh, if anything, they've been supportive of it since it was because of physical and mental health reasons. There's this person from my old cohort last year who was also repeating, and this person told me, "Usually repeating a year will weed out who actually cares and who doesn't gaf, even if they used to be your best friends, they can just up and leave."

I do have other people alongside me who are repeating, but none of them I'm "buddy-buddy" with, more like good acquaintances. I can't go back to my old sport because of ME; however, I do try to be nice to the people in my new cohort as best as I can. Recently (~1 week ago), I thought that my old friends from first year (last year) would wish me for my birthday, since we were so close, but they didn't really do anything, minus the one friend who is in touch with me, who I am immensely grateful for. I know I don't really have anyone else to blame but myself in terms of this loneliness, as I don't go out as much as I used to. However, I can't help but think of just how draining it is to start over from scratch, considering how important friendships are as a support system (I do have friends from back home and non-medical friends, which help TREMENDOUSLY).

Therapy's helping in a way, and I try my best to make an effort to mingle with this cohort, but everyone's either in a group of some kind or is friends with one another and beyond the "hi's" in a hallway, no one really cares? It's understandable that in a field as cutthroat as medicine, you're bound to come across people who are like that, but why? It did gear into the suicidal category these past few weeks (I have been suicidal in the past, attempting twice), as not only my birthday, but other times cemented that people actually don't care about me as much as I cared about them or that people aren't genuine sometimes.

With the way things are going, uni societies aren't much help either. I've tried. It's the same shtick, and no one really mingles within it, no matter how hard I've tried. It's made actually enjoying medicine a bit more mundane (since I've done the content already last year), and it's not even the content, which imo is what's helpful and not something that bothers me.

I just miss hanging out with some friends to study, or sleeping over a week before a final because we stayed up studying together or having some company over so that chores don't feel like climbing Everest.

Apologies for the ramble, just trying to get some thoughts out without lashing out at myself or others.

TLDR: repeating first year (sadly) came with losing past friends, feeling really lonely in this new cohort because of it and not sure what I can do to help it, even with ongoing therapy and medications, and it's led to a downward spiral.

exam is tomorrow but i wont lie i relaxed too much and don't want to repeat the same mistakes. i think i suffered most from the lack of accountability, not having a study partner or study buddy and just like, 'cruising' along a bit this semester. I did have periods of really intense revsion but i think i just like pushed myself too hard for too long (for like over 2 months) and just sort of adopted a kind of blaise attitide. im just looking forward to friday haha. i just disappointed myself really because i have the aptitude but i just couldnt muscle up like an extra day or two of studying. so now my brain is blank and ill probably not do as well as i can. my main points are where can i find an accountibility partner and how do i correct the kind of dog-tiredness i get towards the end of exam season. its even worse that i passed jan with a good grade lol

Medical student / early FY perspective: everyone says “pick a pathway early” but the official pages are scattered and person specs change.

Trying to understand:

- when people commit to IMT vs surgical run-through vs ACCS

- whether an intercalated year actually changes anything for academic routes

- how much of FY1/FY2 is just keeping options open vs actively building one specialty's evidence

Not asking which specialty is best - more how you **planned** the route without overcommitting in year 1.

What would you tell your FY1 self with hindsight?

Hi guys. I'm a 4th year med student (6 year degree) and just started clinical years. I did one of the synapse mocks and got 30 percent which has thrown me off a bit (I haven't done derm or opthalmology yet). For those who have done the synapse mocks, should I be worried with my exam coming up in a month

We have heard your concerns about medical school expansion, we have heard stories of 8 students on ward round and sitting on the floors in lectures, that's why we have launched our campaign to pause medical school expansion.

But we need your help to prove to the government and key stakeholders, that this is a problem. That is why we have launched our reporting portal.

Have there been too many students at bedside teaching or on a ward round? Have you been turned away from a clinical area? Has your teaching been cancelled? If so, tell us about your experience.

Report your experience today via this link.

I would love anyone who has any good advice on this topic to please leave some please.

So, my university does these ukmla style exams, 4 times a year. We are put on satisfactory initially. If we pass, we stay there, if we fail it drops to borderline and then again to unsatisfactory. I passed PT1, but failed PT2 and 3. Unfortunately that puts me on a must pass for pt4. Now, ill be honest I didnt take these progress tests seriously, the one I studied for the most I got the highest score in (37%). My recent one pt3, I got 31%. Now, the final 4th one is on June the 5th.

For context im a 2nd year medical student. I heard many other unis have a similar system, im at cardiff.

Now, I did about 30 questions of each of the "big 5" which I fully understand is no where near enough. Now im obviously trying to up the quantity much more. I have taken advice from many and the main thing they tell me is just to spam questions and get pattern recognition. Obviously this is something ive always avoided and ive always been one to meticulously understand a topic before learning the medical/management side. However as I dont exactly have time on my side this isn't going to be possible. The pass mark for the final one is 41% I believe.

Now, when I do questions, I feel as if I see so many diseases/conditions that I have no clue about. Passmed also doesnt exactly explain these conditions well either, its just the identification and management that it does well.

My main question is, do I just prioritise volume and try to just understand from reading? I see alot of other medics in my uni do this. However for example some questions will want me to identify if a said disease is urgent or moderate ect. It'll be like aged 50 or older plus one of the 5 symptoms.... ect. I just dont see how people read that and go oh ok, and remember it. My pre clinical knowledge on alot of these also isn't great but again I dont exactly have much time.

There is that little green box of info that passmed gives once you answer but I feel it has too little info? Or just focusing on the green box is enough?

I can also dm my feedback for the last one (they dont give us the qs after) if anyone wants.

I was thinking of making ankis on the stuff I get wrong, but idk.

I also heard kcl students do this. If you are in a uni thay does this, please share advice. If you know someone that is, please tag them.

Please lmk.

Thanks

hi guys, second year medical student here literally just trying to survive medical school one exam at a time.

I was wondering if anyone would be willing to discuss tips or experiences about how to get published. It seems like something everyone around me has somehow been able to do and I don't even know where to start.

My lecturers aren't doing any research and all the clinicians on placement seem to have this vendetta against medical students and one even scoffed when I asked??

So yeah, literally any help will be greatly appreciated

After step2 i literally had no motivation to study and now stressed about UKMLA but can't bring myself to study...

My med school doesn’t provide much would be really greater to anyone who could share🥺🥺

Hello, I was just wondering which mocks people found most similar to the actual AKT exam? I am aware of Passmed, Quesmed and the official MSC mocks. Please let me know what you guys think!

Hello guys so my summer holiday started about a week and a half ago, and I haven’t done anything at all (except for sleeping and playing video games lol). I’m just wondering if there’s something that’s valuable I can do over this summer cuz it’s quite a long summer like 3 months, thanks!!

Been crying all afternoon so hopefully somebody can help with this. I have my first osce exams in a months time. I've practised as much as possible on placement, but im currently on an online-only block of placement so not going into a hospital daily to practise. I've really tried but struggled to make friends with medics on my course for a variety of reasons so i dont have friends i can practise with. Everyone i do know are already in practise groups and dont seem interested in letting me join them, leaving me stuck and with nobody to practise with, so what do i do?

Any advice would be appreciated - i really dont want to fail because i have no friends 😭

I know that PassMed is tried and tested, and still regarded as the gold standard. However, I really struggle to stand it.

At least half of the questions on there belong to one of the following:

• Too niche
• Too unrealistic
• Not something you would do as F1
• Poorly written
• Purely buzzword question

I have developed the habit of going straight to the comment section to see if this question was challenged by other users. Some most commonly seen comments are:

• "It can also be X because of Y" and then someone points out that Z was not given in the stem or W is specifically mentioned
• "I see X I click Y"
• A mnemonic like CNDUISHCNIUEWRNG to remember the complications of a rare genetic disease that affects less than 0.01% of the population
• "Surely you would do X and Y first to rule out Z before doing W"
• "Wouldn't the patient also show symptoms X and Y?"
• "Why is X the right answer", then someone says because the patient has symptom Y (seen in like 5% of all cases), then another person argues this patient is 22 (the disease usually seen in above 50), then something pointing out the obs doesn't fit, then someone says sometimes the obs are normal
• "Yea you would definitely diagnose this condition and start this specialist treatment as an FY1 on the ward or in GP" or "I've never heard of something diagnosing X or prescribing Y lol"

The majority of questions just do not resemble the questions that come up in my med school's AKT. Real exams test the most common stuff while half of PassMed is genetic condition, autoimmune disease, rare cancer, complications with 0.1% likelihood etc.

Of course there are good questions, but considering there are more than 10k questions and each major specialty has like 600 questions on average, it's really difficult to filter out the good ones and make use of them. Even if one has time to finish all 10k questions, half of the time will be wasted on the poor quality stuff.

Hi everyone,

I’m a UK Year 2 medical student who unfortunately has to repeat the academic year due to OSCE performance, and I wanted some realistic advice from people who have been through something similar or improved significantly after struggling clinically.

What’s frustrating is that my misses were often extremely small margins (0.4–0.8 marks), and looking back, many of my station failures came down to procedural sequencing, small execution/safety mistakes, missing steps under pressure, or poor exam technique rather than completely lacking knowledge.

For example:

• forgetting small sterile technique steps,
• not verbalising findings clearly enough,
• poor structure during examination stations,
• pacing/stress affecting execution,
• inconsistencies across stations.

What confuses me is that:

• in first term, I thought communication was my weak point,
• but in second term, communication improved a lot,
• and instead I became weaker in physical examination/procedural execution.

My written/theory exams were actually okay despite not studying in the most sustainable way, which makes me think my issue is more performance/execution-based rather than pure intelligence or knowledge.

I also received a late ADHD diagnosis this year, and I’m trying to understand how much that may have contributed to:

• inconsistency,
• rushed mistakes,
• sequencing issues,
• attention lapses,
• burnout,
• and poor long-term consolidation.

I’ve been offered the opportunity to repeat the year, and I genuinely want to use this properly rather than just “survive” it.

So I wanted to ask:

• If you repeated a year or massively improved your OSCEs, what changed things for you?
• How did you train examination/procedural fluency?
• How did you stop making “small but costly” mistakes?
• Did ADHD/anxiety/executive dysfunction affect your OSCEs?
• What helped you become clinically consistent instead of inconsistent?
• What would you do differently if you got an extra year?

I’m trying to approach this realistically and rebuild properly rather than spiral emotionally over the repeat.

Any honest advice would genuinely mean a lot.