Welcome to the Cambridge Widening Access to Medicine Society monthly newsletter 😊. We hope you're having a good start to the summer term and hope that revision for any upcoming exams is going well. In this month's newsletter, we will be exploring how blood returns from the feet to the heart against gravity and how skin cells rejuvenate, busting the myth that people who study Cambridge at medicine want to go into research and talking about Physics and Maths Tutor which will be a splendid resource to aid you in revision for any upcoming exams. Food for Thought: an example interview question How does blood get back from your feet to your heart?
This question requires you to use your knowledge from A-Level biology on blood and the circulatory system, to come up with an educated guess on how this might come about. Matilda, one of our co-presidents, guides us through how you might answer the question here. Myth-buster Myth: People who study Medicine at Cambridge are better suited to being research scientists than doctors.
The Cambridge medicine course is unlike many other universities, in that it is still split into the traditional pre-clinical and clinical halves; this means the first half of the course is quite dominated by learning medical science, with clinical placements largely kept to the second half of the course. The early heavy scientific focus has led to the myth that the Cambridge medicine course is better suited to students who want a career in research rather than being a practising doctor and that those who do want to become doctors would be less prepared for this.
While it is true that the primary scientific focus of the first half of the course would definitely help to prepare you for a career in medical research or other scientific careers within medicine, this same focus simultaneously helps to prepare students for a career as a doctor, which remains the central focus of the course. The traditional split of the course importantly allows you to build a strong foundation in the knowledge necessary to make the most out of clinical placements in the later years, and there are also clinical placements in the first half of the course, although fewer than in the clinical half. Paired with this, a key part of the pre-clinical course is also learning about the social and ethical context of health, through which you learn about the broader issues related to medicine, and how social and ethical factors are involved in disease treatment – this has personally been one of my favourite parts! Altogether, the traditional split of the Cambridge medicine course means you can focus on developing a strong foundation in medical knowledge which would certainly help in a career in research, but doesn’t at all detract from the main focus of the course, which is preparing students to be excellent doctors. Behind the Headlines Hermione, our webmaster, shares her thoughts on a super interesting article about how old cells reprogramme to gain youthful function here. Link of the Month One of our outreach officers, Yasmin, shares how helpful and crucial 'Physics and Maths Tutor' was when aiding her with her A-levels. Physics and Maths Tutor https://www.physicsandmathstutor.com/
Physics and maths tutor is an amazing website that is incredibly useful for revising maths, physics, biology, chemistry and a few other subjects at A level(and GCSE) There are notes for each topic(for each exam board too!) And what I find the most useful, are exam questions organised by topic. This meant I could test myself before the end of topic tests/mock exams and get the best possible mark. It also meant that I could focus on areas that I struggled with most without having to filter through whole exam papers. The single best resource for revising sciences at A-level! And it's all free :).
That's the end of the newsletter this month and if you have any questions, then as ever, please just email us at access@clinsoc.co.uk!
Hope you have a great break!
Love,
CamWAMS 2022 Committee
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