How Did I Get To Where I Am Now?

Hi everyone, I'm Zain and I am a 2nd year medical student studying at the University of Sheffield.

GCSEs

Let me cast your mind back to 2017. The year I got my GCSE results. I was thrilled to know that all of my hard work had paid off and I had got the results I needed for medicine. I did 13 GCSE's and juggling them all took an immense amount of motivation. I knew I wanted to do medicine in around Year 9 and I was aware of how competitive it was, but that only motivated me more.

A-levels

The next 2 years were no walk in the park either. I experienced the difficulty of A-levels just like many other A-level students did. There were times that I completely failed tests and times I passed. However, I was determined to get through them as I knew that I had the potential. One piece of advice I'll give here is to make full use of your teachers! Ask questions, and if you don't understand anything, keep asking questions until you do! At the end of the day, you will only get what you put into it. There were times I had to stay behind after school to clear up any concepts I was struggling with. Your teachers can support you along the way, but you have to push yourself to make the right decisions for you.

UCAT

In year 13, I also started preparing for the UCAT exam which is an exam that you never want to repeat. Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened. I did not score highly enough in the UCAT the first time which meant I had one of two choices: take a gap year and try again, or choose a different degree. Now what's wrong with taking a gap year? Nothing! That is exactly what I did and until this day, I think it is the best decision I ever made. I concentrated on my UCAT more, re-sat it, and scored well! I got my interviews, I prepared for them and the best thing about all of this was that I could dedicate my time to the preparation without having to worry about juggling my A-levels. I got offers for medicine from Sheffield and Manchester and I decided to stay in Sheffield, my hometown.

GAP year

During my gap year, I went on a holiday to Turkey, I got a part time job and above all, I just relaxed! And when it was time for me to start Medical School, I was ready and my mind was fresh. I remember how some people would say that "medicine is too competitive, you won't get in, only the students who go to private schools get in" or "taking a year out was just a waste of time". But after reading my story, I hope I removed all of those stereotypes. I went to a public school, I failed many times, I took a gap year which worked out extremely well for me in the long run, yet here I am in my 2nd year of medicine. So if you want to study medicine, go for it! If you want to take a gap year to just relax, go for it! And if you fail at anything, get up from it because if you give up, you will never know how well you could have done had you given it another chance!