 Hey everyone, I hope you're all well. Welcome back to my channel. If you're new here, my name is Sappy and Today's video I thought I would talk to you guys about a subject that I get asked about all the time Not only on my YouTube, but I get so many messages on Instagram and through my direct messages And I literally try and reply to all of you and I literally have like three in my DM from today I'm trying to get to But the topic is medical school So if that is something that you guys would be interested in and if you want to see more videos about my life as a medical student Then please give this video a thumbs up and subscribe to me down below So that I know to make more videos to do with this topic But I do get a lot of questions about medical school in general So I thought that I would just give you guys an overview So first off I thought I'd let you guys know if you don't already know I'm a fourth year medical student and I study medicine in a university in London I don't say the name of my university and when people write it in the comments I do delete it just for privacy reasons if you've not if you're new to my channel You probably won't have seen but I've had a stalker incident before so I just prefer for like Safety reasons obviously not everyone is gonna be like as wonderful and kind and just curious I remember like all my favorite YouTubers I always wanted to know like what you need to go to just out of curiosity But unfortunately there are some people who are just not as nice with that information And so if it's okay with you guys, which I hope it is I'm just gonna say that I go to uni in London Which is where I'm from anyway, so I'm yeah going to uni my home city. So some stats as well I'm 22 I took a gap here I got four A's and a B at a level So I got an A in biology chemistry economics Persian language, which was my second language and A B in maths. I did five A levels I did have an offer in like straight from A levels to uni the Birmingham uni But it was a star AA and I missed my offer and for me it felt like the world was over. I was like How can I have not gone into uni like everything that I'd wanted educationally in life I literally just worked for and got to it So I was really shocked that I didn't get in but it all worked out for the best in my opinion God always has a plan a plan greater than you could ever imagine and I'm at a uni that I absolutely love in a city that I love living in So yeah, but if you guys want more details about applying application process Then I will link my video in the description of applying to medical school But I thought I'd just give you those facts and figures. So I'm currently 22 years old I Don't know if I really said that I'm 22 years old But I'll just include that in case I hadn't and to give you guys a background So I think I'll start off by telling you guys what to expect When you first get into medical school in first year in first year in my university at least it's pretty much mostly lecture-based So we had something like nine to five lectures and we'd have like an hour or two for lunch break and Wednesdays were half day, but you would be in Monday to Friday and I would I would say about 16 hours minimum you would have of lectures and And you would have to go over these in your own time as well because you literally sit in the lecture And you hear something for the first time and it's quite a difficult concept And then you need to go over it yourself teach it to yourself and everything like that So the 16 hours or 20 hours was just literally class time like it wasn't even I'm pretty sure it's more than 16 hours I don't know why I'm saying 16 but like I'm in fourth year now I can't remember the exact but I do remember I had pretty much nine to five days every day except Wednesday You've got long hours where you're in uni hearing things for the first time And then you're expected to go Afterwards to the library or go home and study these things and if you don't study them Then you just you won't pass like you're not gonna learn something from hearing in a lecture It's kind of the same as in school where you hear something for the first time in the classroom And then you go home and you do homework on it and you learn so it's it's a similar concept along with So hours of lectures that we had we also had an hour and a half a week of communication skills So that would be how to take a history from patients so when patients first come in asking them properly What it is it's brought them in the symptoms and what we can do to help and all the relevant questions You'd be surprised how every single specialty has its own way of asking Questions and you're expected to know how to ask these questions and there's like 300 page books about how you should be Aren't asking questions. So Yeah, obviously we'd spend an hour and a half or week on communication skills and you'd cover really interesting topics so for example speaking communicating with patients with hearing difficulties with Sites difficulties and whether they be partially blind or fully blind And also people with learning difficulties Literally a whole spectrum of things angry patients patients who need a translator Anything that you guys can imagine Not anything but like a lot of the big topics or Difficult scenarios that a doctor could be in that you guys could imagine or we pretty much discuss in communication skills and practice on each other or on simulated patients So that's like actors who come in and pretend to be patients and give you feedback. So we practice that and We basically try and better our skills and then we also had an hour and a half of a week of clinical skills So clinical skills is basically Clinical stuff that we doctors physically do so whether that be Listening to your heart listening to your lungs examining your brain setting can canulars and setting catheters Taking bloods giving injections. I learned how to give injections in first year Like there's a lot of things that you learn in first year So all the things that I mentioned now all the tools that I mentioned now Not all of them were covered in first year But most of them were covered in our first year communication and clinical skills So that was a really good thing about my uni. I know that not all you needs do communication and clinical skills until about third year So, yeah, my uni was quite good in that sense And you can research every single uni and see how their core structure is and see how you like but I think early Experience is the best in the first and second year. We also had something called early years clinical experience So what that meant was we had three weeks overall across the first two years where we would go on to the wards for one week at a time And just experience what it's like to be on the ward So we would basically be shadowing a nurse, but it's just to get you familiar to it And so that you're not kind of blindsided it by it or Shocked by the whole system when you first go in properly in third year So that was pretty much the layout of first year and I started at the end of September And first year ended in the end of June So it was quite long all my friends went on some holiday about 11th of May And I went on summer holiday on like the 30th of June So I remember it was quite like long for me, but then we had a long summer anyway So it was fine for the way that the exams were set out We had a mock exam in the end of our first semester So if any of you guys are unfamiliar with how you need work most unis have two semesters a year So whereas in British school system you have three terms You have two semesters your first semester is from September to February And your second semester is from February till whenever your summer is and when I say February I mean like the first of February so end of January start of February So they basically split your year in half at the end of semester one. We had to sit the Mock exam paper. So this was a mock written exam And by written we don't actually write we have something called SBAs So single best answers. So it's multiple choice You have five answers, but believe it or not I thought when I heard multiple choice I was like, yes, like this is amazing. How can you do badly in a multiple choice you guys? It is more difficult than if I was to write something down because if you had a doubt in your mind When you come to write it down like no one's given you a second answer to think about but a multiple choice They have given you five answers where you're thinking hmm. It actually could be three of these So they really baffle you like I once saw this meme and it showed like identical twins And it was like a medical school multiple choice questions be like and then I was identical twins obviously I don't know why I found that so right But that is literally what it's like guys. It is really difficult obviously if you study hard and you have your knowledge you'll be able to make the right decisions, but it is Not it's like the answers are not just one of them is correct It's like which one is the most correct And they'll give you like five treatments that are all correct But it'll be like what's the best treatment for a cough then you've got to pick the best one out of all of the correct treatments So yeah, it is really difficult That wasn't a realistic question. By the way, our questions are much harder than what's the treatment for a cough the papers split seventy five percent basic clinical science and 25% was CPH PPD which is basically all to do with like sociology Like to do with law ethics Statistics and all of the other stuff to do with medicine that isn't just to do with science basically And if you failed that other 25% of the module like you would fail overall So you had to be good at everything like you couldn't just be good at science and not be good at ethics or not be good At law because being a doctor is balanced and I see that all the time There are people even in my uni I would say where they have amazing knowledge, but cannot communicate For anything like they really cannot get that knowledge across They can't build a trust with the patient and if the patient doesn't trust you then you're not going to get anywhere You're not going to convince them that for example, they need this life-saving treatment that this without the surgery They have like a 99% chance of complications afterwards You're not going to convince them if you can't build that relationship with them There's no point just having that knowledge and not being able to tell someone to trust you with that knowledge that you've gained So that's why it's really important to you know be an all-rounder So you have to know your ethical stuff. You need to know your statistics You need to know like your communication skills. You need to know your clinical skills You need to be an all-rounder as as a medical student. That's what they really test the end of the second semester So the end of the first year You then sit an exam that actually counts towards your medical degree so the first one and in semester one was literally just a mock and Semester two you actually sit something that counts towards your degree and it's literally the same layout 75% papers to do with basic Sciences and clinical sciences and the 25% is to do with population health, etc You also alongside this have to do an ospey. So this is like an anatomy exam I forgot to mention by the way that in anatomy in first year You also have anatomy classes where you go down to dissecting room and that is basically like a room full of Dead bodies that have been donated by people for medical education And these bodies have been already dissected in our university and every week We would have like an hour and a half of looking at these bodies and learning the anatomy of them Which is so important for your Knowledge like you need to visualize where things are and if something happens here Then it's gonna happen there kind of thing so anatomy is really important I feel like we don't I personally I can't speak for everyone But I have spoken to friends we feel the same way is you don't really realize the significance of how important your anatomy classes are until you are actually on the wards and stuff and you're trying to make sense of things for example the spreading of cancer So it is really important So you do get tested on this anatomy at the end of the second semester That's what that's the way my uni was And it was literally you would go around the dissecting room Which is the room where all the bodies are and there would be a pin like a very thin pin Placed in like a part of the body and you would again have to tick from a multiple choice box which one The body part was you have a Two questions that are short answer questions So there are five marks each and they're basically like if you've done RE GCSE It's pretty much like RE GCSE or sociology where you write about five facts about anything that they any topic But they could ask you to do with ethics or law or population health and Statistics and stuff like that. So for example, they could ask you about what Laws there are currently for abortion. So those are the kind of questions you get asked My experience from first year is definitely that it was a big difference to how A-levels are You not only are expected to work by yourself But the way that you study changes completely in my opinion to A-levels Some people have disagreed and obviously this is just a personal Account of how I've experienced medical school But for me first year was a lot to do with adjusting and in the first semester I didn't do as well as I wanted to because I was still trying to figure out how I should be studying and what I should Be studying you'll get like a ton of information and some of it's actually not relevant to Like what you're gonna need as a doctor and you have to try and think what am I gonna need as a doctor? So for example Memorizing the name of the guy who created the vaccine is not gonna help you as a doctor Memorizing what is in that vaccine and who could be allergic to it and how we administer it is what is important as a doctor And it's hard to get our heads around especially if you are at the level where you're going into medical school You're usually bright enough that you've sat down and you've learned to study everything So you would want to know just out of curiosity You feel uncomfortable not memorizing the name of the guy who found the vaccine and what year and why he did it And what science was behind it But you're gonna realize that you have so much knowledge that you like to learn that you really cannot spend that time like trying to memorize like Everything you have to prioritize in your brain another thing that I realized in my first year of medical school is how friendly everyone is you're gonna make a lot of friends and You have to be open to it And you can't go in worrying that you're not gonna make friends because everyone is feeling the same way as you Everyone just wants to you know like me as many people they can and be themselves There's no such thing in my opinion as like a weird person Like I don't know any weird people in my year because I feel like everyone just is Comfortable to be who they are no one judges and I feel like that across like other unions as well I've visited my friends at other unions, and I feel like they all have the same You know thoughts in their head in terms of like fitting in Obviously if you do feel like you have problems there are people who will support you and guide you but from what I've seen There's people are much more accepting because when you go to uni you're usually older and more mature and you're over the whole Sad bullying stuff that people used to do, you know, I was bullied when I was at school And I don't know if I've ever mentioned this in any of my videos, but I have been bullied before and it sucks And I feel like you know when you go to uni You don't need to worry about that because Everyone wants there's there's different kind of people from all walks of life You're not at a school from your local area where everyone feels they need to act a certain way or off from a certain background or You know whatever no one's judging so you will make friends very very easily I've rarely found someone who's lonely in my uni and I talked to a lot of people I talked to Everyone I think if you are from my uni and you're from my year you've either spoken to me or You know we're gonna speak in the future and hopefully we'll hit it off like I have with everyone else now the thing I learned in first year was that you know There's so many things that you can get involved with that is not just to do with your degree So you need to have a lot of societies. They have a lot of clubs They do a lot of sports and if you've ever felt like you came from a school I was blessed that my school did had a lot of activities and extracurricular stuff But if you came from a school that didn't when you go to uni You'll see there's so many opportunities for you to join in and activities and clubs and stuff that you want to do and It is so important for your sanity to keep a work-life balance, which is probably my fourth point You have to do something for you alongside studying medicine because studying medicine is tough Everyone is gonna tell you oh my god. It's so amazing that you study this. It's so like oh my god It's so tough. I can't imagine doing it. Oh my god. Are you studying that many hours? Doesn't not drive you crazy. How come you're not on summer holiday? Why is your Christmas break ten days? Like you are gonna just get it over and over and over Eventually if you give in and you start believing what everyone says that you know you're being overworked Then you're gonna start feeling depressed. So you're gonna need to do something for you Separately and you can't let studying take over your life I've seen people on the extreme where all they do is study and I've seen people on the other end of the spectrum Where all they do is party and you're not gonna You're not gonna go ahead with that the people who all they did was study. They didn't interact with people enough They didn't work on their own health and happiness enough to be able to communicate and build a relationship with patients and prove themselves as You know doctors to be and then the people who party too much did not have the knowledge to become doctors So, you know, you have to find a balance for yourself. So yeah, you'll go to your parties on the weekend Do your sport on a Wednesday afternoon Find your friends. Don't be scared to take a night off if you're tired. I would my kind of thing going up to exams Was like the last two months to exam and yes It takes you a minimum of two months to revise for these exams if you started a month to the exam You're probably not gonna pass like there's a lot of knowledge So the two months going up to exams I would basically start off Revising eight hours a day and then cut almost when you're about a month away from the exams You're up to about 12 hours a day. So you up it and watch every time So after those 12 hours, it would literally go back to my area and my friends would pick me up We would go for dinner. This would be like 10 30 at night If I've already eaten then we'd go until wherever they were whether they were a she-sha whether they were like Chilling at someone's house. I didn't care I would go and I would sit with them for an hour and a half until about 11 30 And then I would come home and I'll be in bed knocked out by 12 And then I would literally be up again at like 5 36 a.m. To restart the cycle And that's the only thing that kept me sane because I knew that at the end of the night I had something to look forward to and I kind of took that into my second year Because I gave myself stuff stuff to look forward to during the week So I signed up to the gym and if you guys have watched my weight loss video You'll know that it was after my first year of uni that I gained a lot of weight that I decided to go to the gym and Give myself time, you know, I think I used to go three times to five times a week I would literally just go for an hour and it felt like the best break from uni and from Revision and from all the work and all the stress and you would let it all out So find something you're passionate about it could literally be like one night a week You like watching movies with your friends or you want to go around to someone's house and just chat or chill and do Nothing and that's your vibe. But you know, you have to find a balance for yourself I'm not saying don't study like I said I would study for 12 hours, but then I would take that break that was like just a couple of hours And it was enough for me to feel ready to repeat this all over again If you don't take a break you really gonna burn out and then you'll do nothing for a bit And then you'll be like, oh my god, my exam is next week and I've done nothing for like two weeks So you don't want that to happen and yeah I think that those are the main things I've took away from my first year of uni So I really wanted to discuss every single year of uni with you But I realized that this video is gonna be really really long So I'm just gonna keep it to a first year of uni review But if you liked this video and you'd like to know anything else to do with the first year of uni Please let me know in the comments down below If you want me to do a video to do with the second year of uni my review my experience etc Then please give this video a thumbs up and subscribe to me so that I know that you guys want to see more to do with this content And I will definitely make it for you guys because I love helping out as many people as I can I like I said I do get comment in my YouTube description box and I get messages in my Instagram DMs and my DMs I can't like sometimes they're really hard to see because DMs you get a lot of like people just saying hey And that's literally it or whatever so sometimes you don't really go through everything to see so if I missed your message I'm really sorry, but I tried to reply to all of them, but you know try and drop me a comment I always read my YouTube comments, and I'll be more able to see it to respond But I like to help as many people as I can because I feel like medicine is an incredible Profession if you want to get into it and they feel like sometimes we don't get all the info that we want before we get Into it. We don't know just how difficult it is or how many hours it is So I feel like in that sense I want to inform you as much as I can thank you guys so much for watching I hope you enjoyed this video, and I will see you in my next one Bye