UKCAT. Here in Malaysia.

I think this is about time those courageous A level or IB students who dream of continuing their medicine/dentistry studies in UK. Now, if you are still wandering around searching for what UKCAT is all about, please, DON'T STOP. TRY HARDER. DO LOTS OF PRACTICES. READ INSTRUCTIONS. DO A LOT OF PRACTICES. wait. I've said that but I really can't stress enough how important practices are. Try finding for online sources or even better buy practice questions if you have the resources. The questions are set to put you in a stressful situation.(medic=stress? lol) Not over the top stressful you feel like bursting, falling or etc but the time given to answer some of the parts is just nonsense(for me at least) especially for those who never tried the questions within the time constraint.

As you might have known, UKCAT stands for United Kingdom Clinical Aptitude Test. If you want more info about the test, try their official website.  http://www.ukcat.ac.uk/registration The cost is still £100 and you need to register yourself before 19 September for this year (2014). I took my UKCAT in 2012 at the University of Sheffield's office. Make sure to book early because the places are limited or you'll end up taking ukcat at Singapore or Indonesia. Your UKCAT mark is very, extremely, remarkably, terribly IMPORTANT for your application. When all other applicants have that all great results, what makes you stand out is your UKCAT mark and of course, your personal statement.

I went to the office by ktm>lrt>taxi from Nilai. Alhamdulillah we (Ardilla and me) made it. The test was as expected, increasing in difficulties and (I regretted it now) for the abstract reasoning I was too carried away trying to figure the pattern and didn't manage to answer all of the question. #note:even if you didn't know the answer, just pick one. At least you have a chance of getting the right answer rather than a 100% wrong because you leave it blank. This site has awesome tips and tricks, try and have a look at it. http://graduatemedicineapplicant.wordpress.com/ukcat/

Last but not least, you'll get your results a few minute after you've finished your test. So, brace yourself. Whatever happen just don't give up and hope for the best. :)

Medical student interviews at NUMed and Perdana University

I'm writing this post so that it might help future interviewees facing their interviews and because those universities never asked me to not do so. So, cheers!

If you're reading this post now, my best guess would be that you're going to be interviewed for a place as a medical student in one of the universities. So, all the best and I hope you'll get a spot there.

Now, for the interview process. First I was 'invited' for an interview at NUMed, Johor. I lived in Negeri Sembilan so the journey wasn't that long. It took us (my parents and I) about 2.5 hours to get there. The first impression for the Iskandar Malaysia was... hmmm.... quite disappointed. The area near the university was still under major constructions so all that I could see was lorries, half-finished buildings and lots of empty space but, BUT, Legoland was just 5-minute-drive so all was forgiven.

Arrived there at 10.30am (an hour early, pffttt) and waited(alone)at the reception area I guess. My parents waited for me at their cafeteria which I forgot to visit after the interview. They have an interview for every half an hour so before me, there was another interviewee. We didn't really speak because it's not long before he was called into the room(at a blocked area so I can't see the room). While waiting and staring and waiting for my turn, there was this lady, she went to the other side of the area and start yelling "Why is this not signed!!?? blah blah yadayada" . Can you imagine what's crossing on my mind that time. I was like all nervous, did she just yelled at the boy who've gone first, what did he do, and all sorts of questions. I didn't know what it's all about then and I still haven't got a clue now. Not long after that, that boy or guy(this is weird) came out of the room, smiling. Fuhhhh. I guess it's not him that were yelled at.

Then, I was called for the interview. There was a male lecturer and the admission officer. There were common questions asked like introduce yourself, why medic, hobby, etc. Then they start asking about what do you know about NUMed(thank god I read about them last night) and I said that their syllabus was quite interesting because they did not separate the clinical and pre-clinical phase but integrated both during all 5 years of studies. Then they asked "Why is that interesting?". I'm not writing my answer here, so start thinking! :) Then the must-have questions; ethical questions. If my memory serves me right, one of the questions was about an elderly man who had stage-4 cancer and based on past cases, he would have approximately 2 weeks to live. His family were waiting outside but the old man asked you (me) to keep it secret. Leaving his room, his son/daughter (can't remember) asked about his father's illness. What would you do? HINT: Read about doctor-patient confidentiality ethic. After a few follow up questions, they stopped and asked if I have any questions to ask. Usually I won't have any question but for NUMed, I wanted to know about their student support services. Then I was dismissed.

The interview was more like a relaxed conversation rather than just questions being thrown in your face. The interviewer was even making jokes, so relax and just do some digging about medicine which I suppose you've already done that when you made the decision to be a medical doctor.

And... for Perdana University, it would be in another post because this one is has been far too long of an essay.

To be continued...

Meeting a dentist and a dental specialist

       I am truly grateful to Allah for the chance that had been presented on me today. My dear aunt who knows I am still half hearted in my decision for my degree offered me to meet with a dental specialist (in oral and maxillofacial surgery to be specific) and he (while meeting him) offered me to meet the general dentist, who is very very kind next door who is an alumna of the Manchester University (my dream university)!!!! I really couldn't thank both of them enough for the time they spared for me and the invaluable advices they gave me.

       The specialist was kind enough to spend some time with me and shared his opinions of both fields and as commercial answer( I think ) he answered both field is almost the same in terms of studying and you need an excellent (perfect I say) results to enter these fields. But he did mentioned that there are too many medical doctors but less increase in market(if you understand what that mean) and what that is more important is that we should do our degrees in fields that we are truly interested (and have acceptable skills) in. He also did remind me to not be too caught up in thinking which profession suits myself most as sometimes things might not turn up as we expect them to be. (Absolutely right). Not to mention that he commented that our local universities have lower quality dental programme than overseas programme(UK).

      Now that we have heard a specialist opinion let's hear from a general dentist's views. The first question I asked, are you going to specialised in any of the dental specialities and she said with no doubt(seriously) No. Then the obvious question, why? She said that she is truly happy and satisfied with her profession now and she prefer to see a variety kind of patients rather than just one type of patients. She has been in the field for 16 years now (but she looked really young) and have her own clinic. Then another question popped up, how about her life as a dentistry student and she happily(again) said that she had a great life as a student and she had just realised how good her lecturers are because when she went to seminars lately they are bringing up the methods that she had been studying and practising for 16 years. 16 years!

      That is why both of them said that continuing my degree overseas (UK) in the recognised universities of course is much better because of the quality of the lecturers and the technologies. Nonetheless we shouldn't give up our field (even it seems almost impossible to get in) and we can still continue our degree locally. Last but not least, a food for thought, if it takes 16 years for the knowledge to come to Malaysia and known to dentists, what is exactly the students are learning??

Till then, Assalamualaikum