Questions about medicine

angr

Hey all! I hope you are all of you are happy to see the HPAT well behind you and I hope ye are happy with your mock results!!

I'm a current medical student and help out at some of the open days. It seems to me A LOT of people have questions about the course and how to get there so i thought I might get on to Boards and try and help answer any burning questions on you minds!

All the best!

seanob43

Hey,
Thanks so much for doing this. I guess the question that I'm most curious about is how much free time do you have? I get solid results but that's mainly due to the amount of effort I put in. Would someone like me find Medicine impossible due to time restraints?

angr

No worries at all! This is a question we get asked a lot!!

Medicine is a lot of work, there is no getting away from that. However you do have time to do other things than study!! I'm heavily involved with sports, and compete at a good number of competitions a year. I have time to train, compete, and still have time to catch up with friends. Ideally i would love a bit more free time, however you don't lose your social life when you get into medicine!!

To do this however you do have to find time to study maybe a bit later at night than you may normally would for the LC. You get very good at balancing things and using your time efficiently. I'm in my second last year at the moment so the work load is getting more intense, but to be honest I love the course and the study is pretty interesting. Better than having to study all the random subjects you don't like in the LC. :P

I hope this helps! Any more questions don't hesitate to fire them here

emma123456

Hi thanks for making this post, really helpful of you! Just wondering how you felt after your hpat, were you confident you did well, feel it was ok, or it went terrible? I think I'm the second one, I feel it went ok, my timing was good for the most part and I got most q's done but looking back at my answers I can remember a lot that I guessed and now I feel like I answered so many wrong (I know I shouldn't torture myself like this).

angr

emma123456 wrote: »

Hi thanks for making this post, really helpful of you! Just wondering how you felt after your hpat, were you confident you did well, feel it was ok, or it went terrible? I think I'm the second one, I feel it went ok, my timing was good for the most part and I got most q's done but looking back at my answers I can remember a lot that I guessed and now I feel like I answered so many wrong (I know I shouldn't torture myself like this).

No worries at all The Hpat...... where do i begin!! I repeated my LC so i had 2 runs at the HPAT 1st time it felt ok and i did pretty well. Second time i thought i had done really well! Thought everything went to plan however i ended up getting one point less the second time!!

From my experience and from talking to other med students theres no way to know how it went! Generally the results seem to be seperate from everyones expectations and i dont feel anyone can tell what points they are going to get. From what i have heard this years HPAT was quite tough. Which may be a good thing!! Its generally better if a lot of people found it tough, rather than finding it easy. The reason behind this is because they "bell curve" the results.

I wont explain bell curving in too much detail (google explains it way better!!) Basically they want the grades to be similar across each year so they adjust the points accordingly. I.e. if everyone found it tough they more than likely will bring the majority of peoples marks up. And vice verse if a lot found it easy.

To summarise/TLDR: its very difficult to know how it went! Keep the head down for the LCand besg of luck!

LauraKc

Thanks for this thread! Im just wondering what do you study each year and what are your favourite/least favourite subjects?

lostsheep120

Thanks for this, can you tell me what science subjects are required and how does the course compare with Veterinary medicine if you know?

angr

LauraKc wrote: »

Thanks for this thread! Im just wondering what do you study each year and what are your favourite/least favourite subjects?

No worries! Good question! (There is a bit of inter college variability)
Premed (optional in some colleges): Biology, chemistry, physics, Basic medicine/ anatomy
1st Year:(Semester 1): Anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology, professionalism
1st Year: (Semester 2): Cardiology physiology, respiratory physiology, Gastrointestinal physiology, renal physiology, professionalism
2nd Year: (semester 1): Neurology, Ethics, Genetics, endocrinology , Molecular medicine
2nd Year: (semester 2): Pathology 1, Reproduction and development, Professionalism, Drugs and disease
3rd year: (semester 1): Pathology 2, Global health and disease, professionalism
3rd year: (semester 2) [First semester fully in the hospital]: Cardiology, respiratory, general medicine, general surgery, gastrointestinal medicine,
4th year: (semester 1 & 2): Paediatrics, General practice, psychiatry, obstetrics, gynaecology,
5th year: Semester 1: (Basically the same as 3rd year semester 2, but more advanced)
5th year: Semester 2: Specialities: Orthopaedics, renal, neurology, oncology.

Favourite subjects so far..... probably cardiology, paediatrics, and general medicine.

I hope this is helpful!

angr

lostsheep120 wrote: »

Thanks for this, can you tell me what science subjects are required and how does the course compare with Veterinary medicine if you know?

Subject requirements vary between colleges. Most require at least 2 science subjects. If you have three in some colleges you can skip premed (But premed is really good for adjusting to college life!!)

To be honest I am not sure how it compares with veterinary medicine. Both are health science subjects, so I imagine they are both very similar (except one group of patients bark and growl!! :P ).

emma123456

Hi just wondering if you know if premed is in Galway only? I'd love to do it, would be a nice year after the leaving cert but as it stands I'm reconsidering galway cause of the commute. Also, is medicine (and other college courses for that matter) like a continuos assessment system? How often are your exams?

Beca19

emma123456 wrote: »

Hi just wondering if you know if premed is in Galway only? I'd love to do it, would be a nice year after the leaving cert but as it stands I'm reconsidering galway cause of the commute. Also, is medicine (and other college courses for that matter) like a continuos assessment system? How often are your exams?

UCD do premed and I think RSCI too

angr

emma123456 wrote: »

Hi just wondering if you know if premed is in Galway only? I'd love to do it, would be a nice year after the leaving cert but as it stands I'm reconsidering galway cause of the commute. Also, is medicine (and other college courses for that matter) like a continuos assessment system? How often are your exams?

Beca19 wrote: »

UCD do premed and I think RSCI too

Yep! As far as i'm aware ucd and RCSI do premed

I did premed. To be honest i didn't want to at the beginning, but after doing the year it was one of the best decisions I made! Great break from the LC and great way to start college!!

Galway is a great college and produces some great doctors! I don't know where your from but Galway in general has some great transport to most of the major cities and surrounding areas. Its a fantastic student town, and the campus is very central to both the city and the hospital.

As for exams the majority of the exams are at Christmas and Summer. Christmas exams assess the first semester subjects, and the summer exams assess the second semester subjects. Unfortunately there isn't a huge amount of continuous assessment. (on average i think its around 10-15% of some modules) Which is a shame, but there are a good few practical exams in the older years (OSCE's) which hold a good few marks

lcguy

Hey,
First I think this is a great idea and thanks for doing this.

Just wanted to ask your (and anyone elses) opinion on the commitment of becoming a doctor.
I know it is a vital and gratifying job, but how do you feel about the amount of time you will have to put in away from your friends and family? I don't mind hard work, but I don't want to turn around in thirty or forty years time regretting not having enjoyed my life while I had the chance. Obviously I could just not do medicine, but there is very little else I have considered doing and I know i would enjoy it.
Thanks in advance.

Seanf999

Great thread! nice to talk to someone 'on the inside'

My questions more so regarding the LC then college life.
Do people actually get in on points between 480 and 550? Or is more so 550 and above who get in?

I'm currently in 5th trying to pull my socks up in a hope of studying medicine

Bazinga_N

Hey, thanks for this great thread! It's really good of you to help out and offer some advice!

I was just curious as to how you prepared for the HPAT? I'm in 5th year now and I've looked into the HPAT a bit but I'm not sure where to begin with studying it. Right now, I feel like I'll do well enough in my Leaving Cert, but I'm worried my HPAT might let me down! :eek: How do you recommend one should prepare for it, to maximise their results?