Optimist.

I promise that my apparent laziness was completely intended. I like so totally meant to not write for two weeks. Honestly.

And this is because I have had some fantastic news!

So, my last blog post was a sarcastic little dig at the whiney exam students and I had my Psychology exam left to go. Psychology was fine; it's a bizarre subject where you can kind of 'make it up as you go along'. I'm awful at remembering exam content after I leave the hall, but I do know that most of my (extremely effective ;) revision consisted of YouTube

I can't remember quite how much complaining I've done in these blogs RE: gap year jobs but if you ask Jordan you'll realise I've been pretty stressed about the whole thing.

The cliché medical gap year job tends to involve lots of cleaning out bed pans, sick and dribble - namely Nursing Auxiliary work. But this doesn't have to be the case- lots of roles within the NHS require little more than good GCSE's and enthusiasm, and can provide diverse work, from roles on the wards as Nursing Auxiliaries/Assitants to admin/HR and technician work 'behind the scenes' in a hospital. In addition, Health Care Assistants and Phlebotomists work both in hospitals and general practices and again, require little more than a good standard of education.

If this is the type of thing you're looking for, a good place to start is reading the job descriptions on the NHS careers website before searching for jobs on the NHS job site. They can also set you up a daily email with relevant jobs in your area (this was perfect as it narrowed down roles quickly and efficiently).

Sounds fantastic right? I was thinking I could swan into a job easily, get myself sorted for the year, learn a few clinical skills, brilliant. The main piece of advice I would offer is prepare for some intense competition. Although all jobs are listed with a closing date, they will close as soon as sufficient applications are received - this can be as little as 24 hours. Most roles will specify desirable and essential characteristics. 'Desirable' tends to include healthcare type qualifications and experience in the NHS - without these (like me) I think it can be difficult to secure a job.

But don't let that put you off - Friday I received a letter inviting me for an interview at Cirencester hospital as a Health Care Assistant. Unfortunately, I've had to decline due to other job offers...



NB. This isn't standard NHS uniform.

However, when I spoke to Cardiff University they made it clear that they do not necessarily expect prospective students to take doctor-in-training jobs for their gap year. I.e. a job working in the NHS, whilst showing commitment, is not necessary; many, many different jobs, if written about carefully, can demonstrate a multitude of skills including communication, empathy, understanding and teamwork. 

The way in which you choose to interpret Cardiff's opinion is up to you - personally, I wouldn't feel comfortable working in a shop or office for a year and then claiming it's made me a better clinician. Conversely, I wouldn't want to take a NHS job just to look like the model student. If you are really stuck about what to do, just apply for everything. Your local council website (Swindon's is here) should list job vacancies in your area. Although you'll probably also want to look at more generic job searches, council positions tend to be more focused on health and social care services and may offer some inspiration.

The route I've decided to go down is work involving disabled children, mostly inspired by my voluntary work with The Chalet School. The week before last I was offered a position with the council, working with disabled children and young adults through the holidays as a 'sessional worker' - basically my purpose is to help stimulate and occupy these children through means of play sessions and day visits. And then last week I was lucky enough to be offered a role at a Swindon school as a SEN (Special Needs) Teaching Assistant, with added responsibility of working with autistic children.

I'm extremely excited and hopeful for the new roles; I know they will be challenging, particularly working as a TA in a school with a sixth form- where some students are as old as I am- but I am aware of just how lucky I am to be given this opportunity and anyway, I love a challenge.


*PLUS, I get to wear 'teacher' clothes- like little blouses and cute court shoes and I'm genuinely equally as excited for my new wardrobe; there almost definately will be a 'workwear' blog coming soon!

Complaint.

Long time, no speak! I think I've been very neglecting of this blog during exam period...

So, I've very nearly finished my exams (Psychology is on Tuesday) which feels equal parts exciting and very, very scary. They started last Monday (four exams in four days = headache) after eight weeks of 'proper' revision... and around 24 weeks of ordinary daily revision (that dates back to January 24th, fact-fans; just after Winter exams had finished).

You might have read in the paper/heard on Mock The Week that students have been  complaining  to exam boards for what they feel have been 'unfair' exam papers... I sat two of these papers and thought I'd voice some student opinions for you.

"Getting an A in Biology cause you're secretly a hedgehog" (Joke courtesy of Facebook complainers)

First exam I sat was Biology, which has provoked an 'enormous' Facebook campaign (considering 18,500 people sat the paper I'd consider 5,000 Facebook 'likes' quite impressive!). Essentially, they felt the paper was 'unfair' because it comprised mainly of extended questions on small parts of the spec, most of which were ecology/farming/environment related. Some of the persuasive arguments against the paper included:

Katie Sparks: "Currently revising lettuce eating sharks in preparation for F214"

Picasso Xantho: "im revisin for f214......LOL JK im watchin springwatch!"

Omar 'Rapid' Hussein: "Ladybirds, hedgehogs, sheep and cabbages ruined my chances of uni! "

Jess Cross: "If the people setting this 'paper' were so concerned about ecology, and therefore most likely to be very eco. , the thing i don't get is why they bothered wasting all that paper and ink on a piece of shit (also known as an A2 exam). clearly a pointless and unenvironmentally friendly process."
Which is mostly just an embarrassment for A Level students. Other more intelligent responses included: 

Sam Salih: "I think this needs to be said for all the idiots who keep slagging us off for moaning that the paper was hard....

WE ARE NOT SAYING IT WAS HARD....

we are saying that a syllabus that spans 65+ topics should at least have an exam that tests a good range of these....
...we are saying that giving us an 11 mark question on something that the textbook explicitly says not to learn is ridiculous
we are saying that testing us with vague, badly worded questions on a teeny tiny fraction of the syllabus is unfair
we are saying that focusing on only one module, and the module which most schools don't teach is unfair
we are saying many many things, and I have only listed some of them.....

but WE ARE NOT SAYING IT WAS HARD" from OCR, which to me says 'We're sorry... well, we're not really sorry'.

 

Personally, I think this is a load of rubbish - (if you don't already know) A Levels are taught around a 'specification'; a set of learning outcomes which students are required to understand in order to pass the exam. At no point does the spec say that these outcomes are proportional to exam material i.e. just because something only takes up a small amount of textbook doesn't mean it'll be a tiny question. In fact, it probably won't be, because the point of A Levels is to test your deeper knowledge and understanding of topics. Essentially, the argument 'it was too focused on ecology/it tested small parts of the spec/it was unrepresentative' is completely unfounded.

 

What was asked was undeniably themed around ecology (most of the hate seems directed towards a question concerning the ethics of hedgehog culling; I like the unintentional irony of this) but at the end of the day, it's been done and there's not a great deal that can be achieved by Facebook bitchin'.

 

If you want to see the Facebook campaign you can click here. You can also read the official statement

 

And there's also some pictorial representations of students' frustration in the form of

 

 

this

 

 

and this

 

 

"That awkward moment when OCR invent 'Magic Tang' to ruin your exams" (Again, courtesy of the hilarious Facebookers)

 

Chemistry seems less disliked (2,711 'haters' liked the Facebook page) than Biology but for a more specific reason.

 

Apparently, there's a new chief examiner who loves setting 'applied' questions - all this really means is that the equations and calculations are set in context, often with very little relevance or effect on the final answer.

 

The question that's being hated on was to do with buffer solutions; now the exam board could've said 'Deduce the concentrations of acid and conjugate base required for a buffer solution of pH 3.55'. Boring, but straightforward enough.

 

Instead, the abridged version was something like 'Sweet manufacturers have decided that a pH of 3.55 is responsible for the 'magic tang' in popular sweets. They want to recreate this in their own products to increase custom. Deduce the concentrations of acid and conjugate base required for a buffer solution of pH 3.55. Comment on whether this pH will confirm the sweet manufacturers assumptions of 'magic tang'

 

See the difference? Apart from one extra marking point it's essentially the same question. Okay, the 'comment...' question made no sense to me either (I wrote: because it might not taste nice?, question mark included) but it isn't really a big part of the exam.

 

Regardless, people hate magic tang as much as they hate hedgehogs as Facebook confirmed:

 

Safiina Kauser: "ii fink all previous exam papers wer wiked... i reali am confused to what happend this yr :("

Zara Wafa: "I think the best thing to have done before this exam was revise the ingredients for toxic waste sweets....hmm"

Hannah Farris: "cya later dentistry.. think i may just snort my woes away with a few lines of magic tang.. "

Ocr Wastemans: "im goinn inn.... i would prefer a magic bang, not some magic tang, when i saw lattice enthaply my pen it sang, but seeing the magic tang thang, the paper was left whiter than the ku klux klan." (Okay, that's definately a piss-take but it's still amusing...)

And then there's just a lot of poor banter and racism. Which isn't great.

 

 

But the really ironic thing is there's not a great deal to complaing about when compared to these students who were set an impossible question in their Maths A Level! I've just got my fingers crossed some Medicine applicants don't get their grades due to lack of 'Magic Tang' revision... and then I can have their place :)

 

 

 

Pipe cleaners.

So this week I was thinking what to blog about this year. Ideally, I'd write about Lady Gaga - but I struggled enough making Derren Brown relevant... I suppose I could discuss hermaphrodites.

But instead of wasting revision time YouTubing Gaga's mythical penis I could write a revision blog, therefore killing two birds with one stone. I know that sounds dull but I promise you it won't be- maybe only relevant if you have exams this/next month but it should provide you with a 5 minute distraction and then a kick up the ass to open your books.

One of my pet hates is people who discuss their exam performance and say 'Yeah, but it's easy for you, you're clever!' And I guess if you define 'clever' by exam results I probably am. But it's not like I turn up the exam and go 'Oh well, let's see how I do...' In my opinion there aren't really 'clever' people- sure, some people are naturally gifted, seem to learn quickly or simply enjoy their school subjects. I get that, and I'm sure people will disagree with me, but I think getting good grades is just as much about effort as any kind of 'innate' ability.

I've always been a 'booky' child; more interested in nature documentaries than cBBC. I love learning new information, not everyone does. I'm also lucky enough to have the ability to focus and plan and commit to my studies.

And you're thinking good-for-friggin'-you. But as well as that I put a lot of work into my exams; and if you're struggling with revision it might help to know that somebody else is hating it just as much as you are, begrudging their non-exam friends just as much and snapping just as many pen nibs in revision breakdown-anger as you may be.

Basically, I'm shallow enough to judge myself as compared to other people; and I hope you are to- and this will make you persvere (or step up) your revision and we can wallow in exam success together... she hopes.

Remember those quizzes we had to complete at school, asking whether you can learn the words quickly to a new song and other tripe? And you come out with an assesment of being an 'audio, visual or kinesthetic' learner? As superficial as they sound, I think they hold some truth and can be a good guide for revision - but if you're as meticulous as me you'll want to do a bit of all three...

Reading textbooks can be dull. And useless. I always find I can recite information perfectly but struggle when it comes to applying it to exam questions etc. Over the last two years of college I've become used to what works (and what doesn't) in my exam technique. Reading definately doesn't. Writing notes in your own words is a slight step better but equally tedious. Me? I prefer to write quizzes - questions designed to test basic knowledge but maybe ask in a slightly more inverted, applied way. And then I get my boyfriend, Jordan, to test me over the phone. This probably sounds like super-geek territory but it means revision doesn't have to be confined to the desk and slightly uncomfortable office chair.

For fact-based knowledge (mathematical equations, tables/lists, graphs etc) I prefer to draw up posters. The drawing process can be useful but the really great part is the 'suggestive learning' they provide, where the brain draws in and retains information without actually processing it. What this means is you'll find you can picture specific information written on posters you've had up, despite not spending particularly long staring at it. (See my previous Derren Brown blog for some suggestion clips and you'll get a vague idea). Obviously, simple, bold information is best but it really is a useful tool. I've uploaded some pictures of my bedroom as an example... I think revision-wallpaper really is a step too far...

The 'Biology' wall

Maths revision lives on the  wardrobe door



The scary thing is that this is only half finished...

 I'm aware that this makes me seem a little bit mental, but if it gets you a good grade it doesn't matter right?

Along with all the coloured paper and felt tip pens purchased at Hobbycraft I also had a mad urge to buy sequins, pipe cleaners, felt, glue and god only knows what else. I'm going to be one of those mothers who saves every single yoghurt pot, loo roll or milk carton for 'arts and crafts'. Unsurprisingly Biology concepts are far more easy to model out of pipe cleaners than Maths and so much of my time is spent on pipecleaner models of DNA and sequin nucleotides. Genuinely a fabulous (if time-consuming and expensive) method of understanding tricky concepts, I find it really helps to talk through (preferably to another person, or to yourself... you already seem deluded enough by making cells out of playdough) whatever it is you're making, as well as adding notes and annotations. Here's one of my prettiest efforts

The process of transcription/assembling polypeptides

And that is essentially my magic 'A grade' formula. Along with putting in Christ-only-knows how many hours.

And after all that revision? I take regular breaks watching stuff like this:

Or this:

Or this:

I've had a literal nightmare about that dog. Ask Jordan.