Is Group Study Really Effective?

While some students enjoy the solitude and independence of studying alone, many others benefit from the motivation and support group studying offers to crack those tough medical school interview questions. Group study can be effective since some students might have a better grasp on some topics, while others might be adept at other topics. This way the students can help each other and even show one another how to prepare for UCAT in a result-oriented way, quiz each other on UCAT interview questions and so on. Read on to find how group study could be useful.

Advantages of Group Study

Study groups work as an excellent means to fill the gaps in understanding. Here are a few other benefits of collective studying.

1.     Since each individual in the group has unique talents and viewpoints, it becomes a great learning opportunity for all the members. This way, each one can benefit from the knowledge others might have. This can be helpful while solving tough UCAT tests.

2.     Group study could also be a great solution to procrastination. Study groups meet up regularly and at specific times, so there’s no chance of postponing a lesson. When alone, chances are that you get distracted by your phone or just simply feeling lazy.

3.     Studying in a group is a great way to avoid monotony and make UCAT preparation courses a fun activity. Studying alone, without interacting with anyone for hours, can drain your energy. But, being a part of the group makes learning enjoyable and more effective.

4.     When you sit down to study in a group, you find different ways to improve your learning abilities and also sharpen your skills. Each individual has a unique study technique and you come to terms with different learning methods. You are free to incorporate any one of them that works for you.

5.     A big group, working towards the same goal, can be a great support system in times of distress. Joining a study group is a good way to get some motivation and support from fellow students who are also aspiring to crack the UCAT questions.

6.     If you are someone who grasps information solely by listening, study groups can work wonders. Studying with a few others promotes discussion and reading out the concepts aloud for everyone to hear could help you.

Apart from studying with peers, you can also enroll yourself in reputed institutes like ICanMed for professional help from experienced mentors on UCAT prep and medical school interview questions.

Ways to Calm Your Mind Before Your Medical School Interview

Are you stressed about answering the med school interview questions? Anxiety can affect even the best of us, but it's not all bad. Some degree of anxiety can actually work as motivation, giving you the required push and keeping you on your toes. But if the level of nervousness rises, it could impact your memory and have a negative impact on your medical school interview performance.

Here are some way to calm your mind and ease the stress.

1.    Note Down Your Thoughts

Writing down thoughts or any worrying questions asked in the medical school interview can help ease your mind. It is one of the most therapeutic things you can do to lower your anxiety. Putting down your thoughts on paper helps you revisit them at a later time. Also, it changes your thought pattern from chaotic to organised. You can also choose to record them in a digital format to get the pressure off your mind.

2.    Practice Cognitive Distancing

You can control your mind’s pessimistic tendencies by finding positive alternative scenarios. This is known as cognitive distancing. It is based on the concept that our mind worries about things that it feels are true, even if they are not. Remember that the worst-case scenario isn’t the only possibility.

3.    Try Breathing Exercises

When you’re feeling anxious, your breathing becomes shallow and rapid. To counter this, breathe in for 4 seconds, hold for 2 seconds, and then breathe out for 4 seconds. Slow and mindful breathing activates the hypothalamus to send neurohormones that inhibit the stress hormones and lead to a relaxation response.

This will relieve any anxiety through the physiological effect of the hypothalamus on the nervous system, allowing you to practice the medical school interview questions in a better way.

4.    Chant a Mantra

Mantra is a word or a phrase that you can repeat to calm yourself. It can be something like, “Everything will be okay,” or “I’ve got this,” or any other phrase that speaks to you. Research shows that chanting mantras reduces the activity in the part of the brain that is responsible for self-judgement. This is the same part of the brain makes you worry about the future and fret over the past.

Just repeat your mantra and focus your thoughts on it. If you find yourself getting distracted, return to the mantra. This will go a long way in helping you deal with the medical interview questions.

5.    Mind Your Diet

Make sure you eat a balanced diet in the weeks leading up to your UCAT interview. Some foods that can help reduce anxiety are salmon, yogurt, bananas, oats, green tea, dark chocolate and chamomile tea.

Although these techniques can help you to relax, what will clinch the deal is preparing for UCAT medical school interview under the guidance of a reputed institute like ICanMed, which will help you prepare for the med school interview questions in a systematic way

Medical School Interview: Questions on Background & Motivation

Among the various questions you will be asked in your medical school interview, many are meant to find out how serious you are about the medical profession and whether you are fully aware of what it entails.

Here are the 3 most common medical school interview questions on background and motivation.

1.    Why Do You Wish to Go to Medical School?

This is among the most common questions asked in medical school interviews. And, it is best to have your answer prepared beforehand. For this, you need a thorough understanding of what it means to be a medical student and then a doctor. Focus equally on passion and pragmatism in your answer. Make your response is detailed but avoid rambling. Show your desire to engage with and help people by including examples from personal experience. Explain why the combination of medical science and human interaction appeals deeply to you.

2.    What Would You Do If You Couldn’t Get a Place in a Med School This Year?

By asking this question, the interviewer is trying to determine how committed you are to a career in medicine. So, simply answering, “I know I will get in,” would make you sound arrogant and would be almost as bad as suggesting that you would try something else. Tell the interviewer what it means to you to get in and that you will not give up, try harder for next year and, in the meantime, look for a job or volunteer work in a related field to gain more healthcare experience. This will show that you’re a positive person who is capable of turning misfortune into an advantage.

3.    Which Aspects of a Doctor’s Professional Life Appeal to You?

Your answer could be along the lines of:

·       You find helping people in need rewarding and wish to make a real difference in their lives.

·       You find patient care, disease management and the accompanying medical research intellectually stimulating.

·       You believe that a doctor’s job is multi-faceted and presents exciting challenges.

·       You enjoy problem-solving and teamwork.

·       Healthcare professionals get a diverse range of opportunities.

Strengthen your answer by including first-hand experiences that can back what you say. Also, don’t forget to mention that you are aware of the stress and emotional difficulties you’ll have to face, but believe that these are outweighed by the positives.

The key is to ensure thorough preparation not just for the entrance exam but also for the interview. Joining an experienced coaching institute, like ICanMed,  that provides excellent training courses for medical school interviews could prove beneficial.

Medical School Interview: Tips on Reducing with Exam Stress

Research shows that most students suffer from exam stress. While some degree of stress can drive us to work harder, when the level rises, it could lead to negative consequences like depression, anxiety and low self-esteem. While the medical school interview preparation can be quite exhausting, students should take care of their mental and physical health during this time to ensure that they perform well in the exam.
Here are some tips on dealing with exam stress.

1. Eat Healthy and Exercise
One of the most important things that students ignore during exams is to stay fit and healthy. Eating light and healthy food and drinking lots of water and fresh juices will energise you and also save a lot of energy that would otherwise go into digesting junk and fried foods. Regular exercise is a great way to lower stress since it leads to the release of endorphins, which is the feel-good hormone. This will also help you to study for long hours.

2. Avoid Distractions
Keeping aside your smartphone and limiting the time you spend on social media might not seem important, but it will save you a lot of time that you can then invest in your medical interview training. Moreover, discussing your exam anxiety with your friends and chatting with them for hours might not help you at all. Each time the phone rings, it will distract you from your studies.

3. Learn to Manage Your Time
If you prioritise your time, divide up the topics and practice medical school interview questions, you will automatically feel confident. Make a timetable, include your nap and break times, and stick to this schedule. You will notice that sticking to your timetable will help you cover your syllabus on time and will definitely reduce exam stress.

4. Take Breaks
Preparing for the questions asked in the medical school interview is very important. However, studying for long hours without a break will only tire your eyes and your brain. Take 10-15 minutes to break after every two hours or so. Listen to some soothing music, meditate or do something that you love.

5. Get Proper Sleep
Research has proven that sound sleep is crucial for the healthy functioning of our body and mind. When you study for long hours and don’t sleep properly, stress levels automatically increase. Keeping to a sleep routine and taking a short power-nap in the afternoon will help you reduce exam stress.
Make sure you also enrol in a trusted medical school interview course, like that offered by iCanMed, where you can get help from experts who have vast experience in training students to crack the UCAT exam.

Choosing Medicine Speciality Based On Your Personality Type

Compassion, emotional stability, good communication skills and patience are the most common traits of physicians. Service to the patient in an organised and scientific manner is the core value and guiding principle of medical practitioners. However, the medical profession has its own stresses and different specialisations require a different set of skills and personality traits.
The questions asked in medical school interviews often revolve around how the applicant will behave in tough situations.

Myers-Briggs Personality Test (MBTI)

A self-report questionnaire, based on Carl Jung’s theory of psychological type, the Myers-Briggs Personality Test (MBTI) helps you identify your perception of the world and of people. It also helps you determine how well you know yourself and can make decisions when required.

Personality can be divided into four types, according to the MBTI, which are:

1. Extraversion (E) vs. Introversion (I): where do you focus your attention?
2. Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F): How is your decision-making ability?
3. Sensing (S) vs. Intuition (N): How well do you take information?
4. Judging (J) vs. Perceiving (P): How do you deal with the environment?

According to the MBTI, people can be sorted into one of 16 different personality types. Based on your answers to the questionnaire, you will be assigned a combination of four letters that depict your personality type.
Elements of the MBTI are used in medical school interviews to better understand the candidate’s personality. The way you answer the med school interview questions can help you present your personality in the best light and create a personal brand.

Personality Type & Medical Speciality

The Myers-Briggs Personality Test can be easily used to determine what kind of medical specialty will suit your personality type too. For instance, anyone who received “Introverted–Sensing–Thinking–Judging (ISTJ)” in their test results, are more suited for Dermatology, Obstetrics-gynaecology, Family practice, Urology and Orthopaedic Surgery. On the other hand, those with Introverted–Sensing–Feeling–Judging (ISFJ) on the test might be better at Anaesthesiology, Ophthalmology, General practice, Family practice and Paediatrics.

There are 14 more combinations that can be created from the MBTI, which can help you determine whether your personality is suited for a particular specialization.
The med school interview serves a similar purpose, checking for your social skills. The question asked in the medical school interview also allows the interviewer to know if you will be able to connect with patients and other doctors in highly complex social environments.

Medicine Interview Preparation: How to Make a Good Impression

Have you started your medicine interview preparation? There are typically two rounds of medical school interviews that you’d need to clear – the MMI interview round and Panel interview. The multiple mini interviews (MMI) aim at accessing how you manage your time and remain calm in stressful situations. On the other hand, panel interviews access your skills and traits. Here are ways in which you can prepare for different types of medical school interview questions and make a good impression.

Make an amazing first impression

The first impression is crucial, as interviewers tend to begin accessing you right from the second you walk in through the door. Your interaction begins even before they’ve started asking you med school interview questions. What you wear and your body language are very important, as they convey a great deal about your personality. So, your medicine interview preparation must include deciding what you wish to wear and should involve practicing to stand straight and appear confident. Work on your handshake, as it should be firm, and practice maintaining eye contact while taking. All these seemingly trivial things contribute immensely to creating your first impression.

How to answer questions during the med school interview

The way you communicate is as important as the answers you provide for various medical interview questions. Remain calm and smile softly while answering the panel. Make sure you speak clearly and put across your views politely, even when you don’t agree with the interviewers. Modulate your voice, as a monotonous tone makes your answer sound boring. It’s okay to move your hands when proving answers to medical questions. However, avoid moving them too much, as this is often interpreted as lack of confidence. Be candid with your answers and avoid trying to project a false image about yourself. Remember, even with the best medicine interview preparation, there might be some unexpected questions. And, if you’re being sincere and candid, you’d be more comfortable while answering. 

How to leave after your interview is finished

Small gestures make you stand out of the crowd. Thank the interviewers when the interview is over. Make sure you smile before leaving the room, as this can create a good impression right before the panel members give you their scores. 

When you answer medical questions, remember that your composure matters immensely. You may consider online medical school training programs to answer med school interview questions and for tips to exude confidence.