All 3 entries tagged Housemates

First year exams!

It’s hard to believe that in around six weeks, we’ve finished the first of our five blocks of learning for Phase I and had our first exam (I passed!). We’ve covered a huge amount in that time: anatomy and physiology of the gastrointestinal system, basic pharmacology, and of course we’ve covered a lot in terms of clinical skills. We’ve had the opportunity to practice clinical histories, perform general, abdominal and thyroid exams on each other which is a lot more helpful than just reading about the procedures. It does feel a little bizarre that we won’t cover this stuff again specifically until our final exams at the end of the year, but you just have to make sure you stay on top of revising the topics throughout the next two terms.

My biggest surprise so far is that I’ve quite enjoyed learning anatomy. At the start I thought this would be an area I really struggled with, but it’s been taught really well across lectures and on Friday’s in the Surgical Training Centre at UHCW. Sitting down as a group with housemates to go through the content has been the biggest help; if you’re just sat reading an anatomy textbook it can be pretty difficult to motivate yourself so the best thing to do is to surround yourself with as many people and resources as possible!

One thing that feels a bit daunting is that we now start Block 2 completely from scratch. By Week 5 I was starting to feel pretty comfortable with the body system we were covering, but now you go back to square one to study the new systems from the beginning. It’s a comfort that I passed the formative so I must be doing okay, but I do miss the comfort that I had at the end of the last block. I suppose we’ll never be in a state of complete comfort as medics so it’s probably good preparation for the future!

Matt

Megan Earle : 12 Nov 2015 08:34 |  Tags: Exams Housemates Matt Mbchb Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

The House Hunt

Well exams are finally over and the summer can now begin – well, at least until results day! It has been a crazy few weeks or even months to be honest. Revision has been all that anyone has been talking about, or indeed doing. I went a five solid days without ever leaving the house (except to take the bins out). It feels so good to now do whatever I want – and not having just a trip to Sainsbury’s as my ‘revision reward’.

However, there is still one task that needs to be completed: THE HOUSE HUNT. I don’t remember ever having much trouble finding a house on my last degree but there definitely are more things that need to be considered this time around.

First of all you need to decide where you want to live – Leamington Spa or Coventry being the main choices. This year there has been quite a large group of people living in both locations. I chose to live in Coventry this year, and am happy to stay in the area. Most of us who have chosen Coventry as our home have been living in an area called Earlsdon. It is pretty close to the university, about a 15 minute cycle ride or car journey (traffic depending, it can be double if you get stuck at the traffic lights). It also has a great high street with a good selection of shops, and even a May Day Festival. However, not everyone is happy with Coventry and a lot of people also opt for Leamington. I can definitely see the appeal – it is generally much nicer and cleaner, and saves you the expensive taxi fare on a night out if you haven’t got to get back to campus or Coventry. But the houses are also more expensive, and you need to consider the longer journey into university during rush hour in the mornings.

It isn’t just getting into university though; you also need to think about getting to the different hospitals. This year we were at UHCW every Friday. From where I am at the moment you could just about make it in 20 minutes, but again that was very traffic dependent. A lot of people from Earlsdon and nearby areas also cycled in. I only decided I was brave enough for this once on our last day, but it was actually a pretty good cycle. However, for my clinical skills I was based at Warwick – and for community placements I was based in Nuneaton and George Eliot. Therefore, wherever you live you can probably expect a bit of a journey to somewhere. It is just working out what you would prefer and planning things like car shares.

That is something you definitely notice about people being graduates – a lot more people have cars with spaces to fill. And, if not, buses run from Leamington to Coventry via campus, and others to UHCW, so you can always get to where you want to be.

Deciding between my friends where we are going to live next year has been difficult – some people wanted to be closer to Coventry for the train station, some wanted to be in Leamington for the night life, and others just wanted a better house! In the end we have looked in both places, and in other areas around Coventry. We still haven’t found anywhere yet but hopefully we will soon, and then we can tick that final task off the list!

Rachel :)

Sarah Hill : 24 Jun 2014 11:05 |  Tags: Accommodation Coventry Housemates Houses Leamington Location Rachel |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Preparing for the MB ChB

Congratulations to all of you who have recently received your offers to study at Warwick. Before I got mine I remember anxiously scrolling through the student room desperately waiting to find out when I’d be receiving my offer, or most probably my rejection. Anyway, the wait is over and you can finally relax! Whether you’re working or still studying you can finally look forward to starting your medical career in September, which you’ve no doubt been working extremely hard towards for quite some time. Before getting here it’s tempting to think that there’s loads of work to do and things to sort out and whilst there may be some truth in that, I think it’s really important to enjoy the summer - you’ve worked hard, it paid off, you deserve it!

Here are some tips to make the “Big Move” a little bit easier.

• Go to the house hunting day - MedSoc will organise a day where next year’s students can come to Warwick for an informal “getting to know each other” day. This is your opportunity to find a group that you fit with. Granted, you probably won’t get to know each other’s deepest secrets or be taking anyone home to meet your parents after one day (or you might but I’d probably advise against it), but you can get a good idea of what people are like and whether you could see yourselves getting along for the next year. Choosing housemates is really important, particularly if you are going to live with fellow medics. Having the same timetable will mean that you will be spending A LOT of time together and that might mean little problems that wouldn’t have been an issue in another life become the most unbearable thing you’ve ever had to deal with. Facebook is a wonderful way to have a chat with someone and a little Facebook stalk never hurt anyone.

• Don’t buy textbooks before you get here - It’s tempting to buy loads of stuff you might think you need before you get here in an effort to hit the ground running but it’s better to leave it a while until you’ve identified what kind of textbooks you learn best from. I have a huge, expensive physiology textbook that I still don’t understand a word of so it’s serving its purpose as an effective doorstop at the moment. If I’d taken the time to have a look at books from the library I might have saved myself some valuable beer money.
• Buy a fresher’s pass/band - Definitely indulge in the first week. It’s so important to get to know your coursemates, your housemates in particular, and to have a bit of fun. You’ve probably been working super hard for the past few years and you’ve a lot of hard work coming up so enjoy fresher’s week to the full. Remember fresher’s week when you were 18 (you might not if it was particularly indulgent)? How lucky are we to get to do it twice!
• Be humble, ask for help and just admit if you don’t know - we already know you’re amazing. You’re here and you’ve already got some stellar academic credentials under your belt, but then so have all of your classmates, and you’ve still got a long road ahead. You can learn something from everyone whether it’s lecturers, fellow students, doctors, nurses or even your patients. If you’re like me you’ll spend the first semester not knowing anything about anything and that’s OK, for a while! The patients that you meet will be nice to you and are only talking to you because they want to. It’s not compulsory for ill people to have the same conversation over and over again with various groups of nervous medical students. Listen to them and enjoy it, they’re more often than not an expert in their condition and it might just make all the pieces fit together for you.
• Finally and most importantly, I think, is to remember to do it your own way. Everyone will approach things differently. It’s really easy to get bogged down with thinking about how much more work other people are doing or how much better their learning style is. Before exams, when you’re laid in bed and the fear descends over you try not to forget how far you’ve come and how much you’ve achieved already. You’ll do it again. You’ll make it.

Amy

Sarah Hill : 14 Apr 2014 14:47 |  Tags: Amy Classmates Freshers Housemates Mbchb Medsoc Student Textbooks Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem