Medicine and his doctor years
Getting into medical school (BMAT, personal statements, interviews, ethics), medical training in the UK, his life as a Cambridge student and junior doctor, his health-science explainers as a doctor, and his decision to leave “Medicine and his doctor years”. General study technique is “Learning and studying” even when shown on a medical subject.
The main topic of 56 sources; one of the topics of 10 more.
Videos
Also touch on it
- 2017-07-26 · We're trying something new... · Medical Students Making an App - Episode 1 · Vlog or day in the life
- 2017-09-26 · Apple picking in the Queen's orchards - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #07 · Vlog or day in the life
- 2018-01-06 · Magic, pizza and SJT - Ali's Vlog #22 · Vlog or day in the life
- 2018-02-14 · Monthly Favourites #1 - Ali Abdaal · Long video (solo, talking head or whiteboard)
- 2018-04-10 · Study with me + My revision method - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #30 · Study with me
- 2018-05-01 · First Live Hangout + Rapid-fire Q&A · Livestream or live hangout
- 2018-05-07 · Live Q&A + Hangout - Bank Holiday vibes - Ali Abdaal, Cambridge medical student · Livestream or live hangout
- 2018-05-14 · Monthly Favourites #4 - Ali Abdaal · Long video (solo, talking head or whiteboard)
- 2018-06-12 · Study with me + The Magic of Categorisation - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #38 · Study with me
- 2020-06-12 · Crushes, Challenges and Irritating Habits - Q&A With My Roommate Molly · Q&A video
Often together
People: Molly Hunt
Works: BMAT (admissions)
Organizations: University of Cambridge · University of Oxford
Concepts: Medicine interview · Personal statement · Assisted suicide · Work experience · Medical ethics
Places: Cambridge · United Kingdom
Events: Charlie Gard case
How do you prepare for a medical school interview? · Ali's final year at Cambridge medical school (2017) · How do you prepare for the BMAT and UKCAT? · Ali promises more videos on the BMAT, interviews and personal statements (2017) · How do you answer medical ethics questions in interviews? · Ali says that because he and his SixMed colleagues graduate next year (2018) and may not have time to run the courses, he is slowly putting the interview course content on YouTube. · Is hospital work experience worth it for medicine applicants? · Ali and Paul give a presentation at the Cambridge International Mental Health Conference (2017)
Key statements
The most important statements (★★★) in the parts on this topic, at most 3 from one source: 118.
- 2017-06-20 · BMAT Section 1 - Everything you need to know · BMAT Tips series — Ali: Preparing for BMAT Section 1 is about strategy and practice, and practice is by far the more important: the best preparation is doing loads of practice questions. — 00:01:27
- 2017-06-22 · BMAT Section 2 - Everything you need to know · BMAT Tips series — recommendation: Ali: In BMAT Section 2, Ali advises guessing and moving on once a question takes more than a minute, and guessing without attempting a question that will clearly take longer. — 00:01:25
- 2017-06-22 · BMAT Section 2 - Everything you need to know · BMAT Tips series — recommendation: Ali: If preparing for BMAT Section 2 this year (2017), Ali would first teach himself all the science he did not already know, especially physics if not taking it at A-level, and would not skip the physics questions. — 00:01:54
- 2017-06-22 · BMAT Section 2 - Everything you need to know · BMAT Tips series — recommendation: Ali: Once confident, Ali would do the last five or six years of real BMAT Section 2 papers under strict 30-minute timing, then check his answers and look at the solutions or ask a teacher or friend where he went wrong. — 00:02:53
- 2017-06-24 · How to prepare for BMAT Section 2 Physics, even if you're not doing it at A-Level · BMAT Tips series — Ali implores BMAT applicants not to neglect the Section 2 physics questions, a mistake he says is surprisingly common. — 00:00:29
- 2017-06-24 · How to prepare for BMAT Section 2 Physics, even if you're not doing it at A-Level · BMAT Tips series — recommendation: Ali: Of the six physics topics in the Assumed Knowledge Guide, Ali suggests learning electricity and energy and force first, as they come up every year, then the next three, which come up most years, leaving "other applications of physics" to the end as it is rarely asked. — 00:01:56
- 2017-06-24 · How to prepare for BMAT Section 2 Physics, even if you're not doing it at A-Level · BMAT Tips series — recommendation: Ali: After lots of practice questions, Ali advises doing the last five years of BMAT Section 2 papers under strict timed conditions: the whole paper in half an hour. — 00:03:41
- 2017-07-04 · How to prepare for BMAT Section 2 Biology · BMAT Tips series — recommendation: Ali advises every BMAT candidate to use the official Section 2 Assumed Knowledge Guide in biology preparation to plug the holes in their knowledge. — 00:00:29
- 2017-07-04 · How to prepare for BMAT Section 2 Biology · BMAT Tips series — recommendation: Ali advises doing BMAT Section 2 biology questions in far less than a minute each, because they are factual recall without the calculations of the physics, chemistry and maths questions. — 00:00:58
- 2017-07-04 · How to prepare for BMAT Section 2 Biology · BMAT Tips series — recommendation: Ali advises against spending much time practising BMAT biology, the easiest of the Section 2 subjects; time is probably better spent on physics, chemistry and maths. (hedged) — 00:01:27
- 2017-07-12 · How to prepare for BMAT Section 2 Chemistry · BMAT Tips series — recommendation: Ali calls bashing through all the chemistry questions on BMAT Ninja, free of charge, by far the easiest way to practise lots of BMAT chemistry. — 00:00:58
- 2017-07-12 · How to prepare for BMAT Section 2 Chemistry · BMAT Tips series — recommendation: Ali: For BMAT candidates who find chemistry hard, such as graduates who last did it long ago, Ali says the best bet is memorising as much of the Assumed Knowledge Guide as possible: there is no shortcut. (hedged) — 00:01:56
- 2017-07-18 · The Children's Surgical Centre (Cambodia) - Cambridge Medial Elective #02 — Ali says the Children's Surgical Centre in Phnom Penh gives consultations and operations to everyone, not just children, completely free of charge. — 00:00:49
- 2017-07-18 · The Children's Surgical Centre (Cambodia) - Cambridge Medial Elective #02 — Ali: Visiting surgeons from abroad come to the Children's Surgical Centre every week or two, mainly to teach local staff, so that local surgeons can do most of the operating and the project is sustainable. (hedged) — 00:02:06
- 2017-07-18 · The Children's Surgical Centre (Cambodia) - Cambridge Medial Elective #02 — Ali: The Children's Surgical Centre is funded largely by individual donations through Watsi, a website that posts every patient's story and the cost of each operation. — 00:02:35
- 2017-07-19 · BMAT Section 2 Chemistry - How to speed up your calculations · BMAT Tips series — recommendation: Ali: For BMAT chemistry calculations Ali advises knowing the formula for everything that could be asked by heart, such as percentage yield, so numbers go straight in. — 00:00:29
- 2017-07-19 · BMAT Section 2 Chemistry - How to speed up your calculations · BMAT Tips series — recommendation: Ali: With one minute per BMAT question, Ali advises understanding moles conceptually and intuitively instead of working through the formula triangle. — 00:00:58
- 2017-07-19 · BMAT Section 2 Chemistry - How to speed up your calculations · BMAT Tips series — recommendation: Ali: The third thing Ali says BMAT candidates need to get good at for Section 2 chemistry is mental maths. — 00:02:55
- 2017-08-10 · BMAT Section 2 Maths - 3 tips to boost your score · BMAT Tips Series — recommendation: Ali: "Fractions are our friends" is the mantra Ali's team has taught on all its BMAT crash courses for the last five years, which he says students have found enormously helpful. — 00:00:29
- 2017-08-10 · BMAT Section 2 Maths - 3 tips to boost your score · BMAT Tips Series — recommendation: Ali: If a BMAT candidate does only one thing before the exam, Ali says improving at fractions will probably give the biggest increase in score. (hedged) — 00:00:58
- 2017-08-10 · BMAT Section 2 Maths - 3 tips to boost your score · BMAT Tips Series — recommendation: Ali: For BMAT mental maths Ali urges candidates to know their times tables at least up to 12 inside out, so sums like 7 times 8 need no thought. — 00:01:57
- 2017-08-30 · BMAT Section 3 Essay - Everything you need to know · BMAT Tips series — recommendation: Ali advises thinking of BMAT Section 3 as writing three or four paragraphs, all the answer box has room for, which he finds more psychologically manageable than writing an essay. — 00:00:58
- 2017-08-30 · BMAT Section 3 Essay - Everything you need to know · BMAT Tips series — Ali understands that most universities use a BMAT Section 3 cutoff of about 2.5C, so a 3C or above is fine. (hedged) — 00:02:22
- 2017-08-30 · BMAT Section 3 Essay - Everything you need to know · BMAT Tips series — Ali says a 3 in BMAT Section 3 comes from simply answering the question; nice language and well-explained points take an essay to 4 or 5. — 00:02:22
- 2017-09-02 · Final year begins - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #01 — Ali starts his final year as a medical student at Cambridge University after five years, with one more year to go before he and his classmates officially become doctors in August 2018. — 00:00:00
- 2017-09-07 (said on 2017-08-28, implied) · Journey to placement - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #02 — Ali: To end the bank holiday weekend, Ali and his fellow students drive to their placement in King's Lynn for the first time. — 00:04:01
- 2017-09-11 · Wilderness Medicine Expedition - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #03 — Ali and fellow Cambridge medical students head to the Yorkshire Dales for a wilderness medicine expedition: a weekend of hiking with medical scenarios along the way. — 00:00:00
- 2017-09-20 · A day on Senior Medicine placement - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #05 — Ali says that for two years medical students were trained to go through the whole history, but in A&E they must get into the mindset of asking only the important questions, because there is no half hour to spend with a patient. — 00:01:47
- 2017-09-23 · How to write a Medicine Personal Statement - 13 tips — recommendation: Jake's number one advice: put nothing in the personal statement you are not prepared to defend; if you say you have read something or done some experience, be ready to talk about it. — 00:04:32
- 2017-09-23 · How to write a Medicine Personal Statement - 13 tips — recommendation: Ali advises making the personal statement flow with connecting phrases that lead the reader through your thinking, for example opening a paragraph with why you arranged work experience, even if that costs a line such as a Duke of Edinburgh bronze award. — 00:07:22
- 2017-09-30 · Cambridge International Mental Health Conference - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #08 — Ali and his fellow students attend and present at the three-day Cambridge International Mental Health Conference, which opens with a drinks reception and dinner in the Great Hall of Clare College. — 00:00:00
- 2017-09-30 · Cambridge International Mental Health Conference - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #08 — Ali writes that he and his fellow students had a great time over the three days of the Cambridge International Mental Health Conference and won second prize for their presentation. — video description
- 2017-10-01 · Applying to Medicine at Oxford or Cambridge - Questions to ask yourself, open days, stereotypes — recommendation: Ali says students who do not fit the private-school white male mould are exactly the people who should apply to Cambridge, because otherwise its diversity will not increase. — 00:06:59
- 2017-10-05 · How to prepare for Medicine Interviews — recommendation: a guest: Another student listed the likely interview questions (why medicine, why this medical school, what you learned on work experience) and answered them in bullet points, since written paragraphs tempt you to learn and recite them. — 00:01:59
- 2017-10-05 · How to prepare for Medicine Interviews — recommendation: a guest: A student says the key to medicine interview preparation is being comfortable and confident: Cambridge and Oxford throw curveballs, and the only preparation is a mindset that lets you think things through and reply concisely. — 00:05:08
- 2017-10-05 · How to prepare for Medicine Interviews — recommendation: a guest: A student advises treating a medicine interview as a conversation in which the interviewer is getting to know you, because medicine is largely communication; being honest then shows in your tone. — 00:11:13
- 2017-10-12 · My first lecture for medical students - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #09 — Ali says his first medical teaching session went quite well: it was really scary to give, but people seemed to enjoy it and rated it excellent throughout on the feedback form. — 00:01:09
- 2017-10-15 · Interview Tips - How to answer "Why Medicine?" — Ali does not like "Why medicine?" as an interview question: interviewers know everyone prepares for it, quite a lot of universities no longer ask it, and that makes it a sort of useless question. — 00:00:37
- 2017-10-15 · Interview Tips - How to answer "Why Medicine?" — recommendation: Ali advises not worrying much about "Why medicine?": treat it like "How was your journey here?", a question to relax you; a cliched answer is fine, and a genuinely specific reason is better if you have one. — 00:01:52
- 2017-10-15 · Interview Tips - How to answer "Why Medicine?" — recommendation: a guest: A student advises making your "Why medicine?" answer true of you: besides the normal reasons everyone gives (liking science, solving problems, teamwork), think what your own reason for applying is. — 00:03:44
- 2017-10-17 · Cambridge Medicine Interview - Experiences of 8 students — a guest: After five years at Cambridge, the student says the interview was much like the small-group supervisions: the supervisor teaches something on a topic, then asks a question about it, in a two-way dialogue. — 00:03:00
- 2017-10-17 · Cambridge Medicine Interview - Experiences of 8 students — a guest: The student kept getting things wrong in a maths interview and was guided to the answer; Cambridge interviewers look for someone who can get things wrong, recover and learn, because they will be your tutors. — 00:04:13
- 2017-10-17 · Cambridge Medicine Interview - Experiences of 8 students — recommendation: a guest: The student advises not being afraid of getting things wrong in a Cambridge science interview: have a go, using first-principles knowledge of basic biology, maths, chemistry and physics to reach an answer. — 00:04:43
- 2017-10-21 · Speaking on Live TV - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #10 — Ali: On a Sunday evening Ali heads to London for a live panel TV show for the UK's Bangladeshi community on medicine and university, invited by a Facebook message that morning as the expert speaker on the BMAT. — 00:00:00
- 2017-10-24 · 6 tips for Medicine MMIs - Multiple Mini Interviews — recommendation: a guest: A student's main MMI advice is to practise speaking aloud with people on any subject: tackle ethics questions with friends and explain odd tasks, such as tying a shoe without hand gestures, to get used to five-minute scenarios. — 00:02:43
- 2017-10-24 · 6 tips for Medicine MMIs - Multiple Mini Interviews — a guest: The student says MMI interviewers do not expect perfection; they want to see someone who copes under pressure, can try their hand at many things and does generally well across the board. — 00:03:13
- 2017-10-28 · Oxbridge Medicine Interview - 15 Tips (Oxford / Cambridge) — recommendation: a guest: A student's biggest tip for the Cambridge medicine interview is to think out loud rather than sit silently on a hard question, since interviewers want to see how you reason, not that you know everything. — 00:00:53
- 2017-10-28 · Oxbridge Medicine Interview - 15 Tips (Oxford / Cambridge) — recommendation: a guest: A student advises revising science and maths for the Oxbridge interview: know the A-level chemistry and biology syllabus and its principles well; complicated concepts are needed only if your personal statement mentions them. — 00:03:53
- 2017-10-28 · Oxbridge Medicine Interview - 15 Tips (Oxford / Cambridge) — recommendation: a guest: A student who found the Cambridge interviews fun says applicants should be passionate about medicine and science, since Oxbridge medicine is a science-heavy course and the interview lets that passion show. — 00:05:20
- 2017-11-08 · Medicine Interview Tips - Talking about Work Experience — recommendation: Ali says there is no right or wrong answer to "What did you learn on your work experience?": books and videos only give ideas and structure, and the correct answer is what is specific to you. — 00:00:21
- 2017-11-08 · Medicine Interview Tips - Talking about Work Experience — recommendation: a guest: Another student says what counts is what you learnt from work experience, not how much you did: think about the transferable skills, such as teamwork, that you saw others use and learnt yourself. — 00:02:57
- 2017-11-08 · Medicine Interview Tips - Talking about Work Experience — recommendation: a guest: The student advises picking up on doctor-patient relations, teamwork, or examples of care that was or was not effective and why, rather than the coolest surgery: it shows more insight than name-dropping operations. — 00:06:12
- 2017-11-11 · Malignant haematology supervision - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #12 — Ali gives a two-hour supervision on malignant haematology (leukaemia, lymphoma and similar) at Emmanuel College, from about five to seven in the evening, and finds it really fun. — 00:01:34
- 2017-11-15 · Medicine Interview Tips - Dealing with Nerves — recommendation: Ali says nervous applicants should prepare a lot, by far best with many mock interviews with friends, family, teachers or doctors, practising standard questions such as their motivation and what makes a good doctor. — 00:00:58
- 2017-11-15 · Medicine Interview Tips - Dealing with Nerves — recommendation: a guest: Another student says that when a medicine interview question puts you on the spot, you should take time to think about it, since you are never penalised for thinking. — 00:03:50
- 2017-11-15 · Medicine Interview Tips - Dealing with Nerves — recommendation: a guest: A student says applicants need not invent something new and exciting for "Why medicine?": saying you like science and want to help people is acceptable. — 00:04:42
- 2017-11-18 · Speaking at a Medical Tech Conference - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #13 — Ali opens his conference talk on making apps: a final-year Cambridge medical student who makes apps and websites on the side, he addresses people familiar with computers who have never coded. — 00:03:48
- 2017-11-21 · Oxbridge Medicine Interview - Q&A — recommendation: Ali says Oxbridge medicine applicants need not learn all their A2 biology and chemistry ahead, since interviews come a few months into year 13, but should know well what they have covered. — 00:00:53
- 2017-11-21 · Oxbridge Medicine Interview - Q&A — Ali says the Oxbridge medicine interview is not really a test of knowledge: if you already know a lot about the lungs, they ask about the kidneys to see how you think and can be taught. — 00:01:43
- 2017-11-21 · Oxbridge Medicine Interview - Q&A — recommendation: Ali's rule of thumb: for anything your personal statement mentions, such as dialysis or diabetes, read its Wikipedia article and be able to talk about it if asked. — 00:04:35
- 2017-11-29 · Medicine Interview Questions - How to answer "Why should we choose you?" — recommendation: Ali answers "Why should we take you?" in two parts: why the medical school's course suits you, then what you can bring to the school, a non-arrogant way of selling yourself. — 00:01:17
- 2017-12-06 · Medicine Interview Questions - How to answer "What's your biggest weakness?" — recommendation: Ali's formula for "What's your biggest weakness?" in medicine interviews: pick something that actually is a weakness for you, then talk about how you are improving on it. — 00:00:29
- 2017-12-06 · Medicine Interview Questions - How to answer "What's your biggest weakness?" — recommendation: a guest: The student advises not selling a strength as a weakness: be open and honest about real weaknesses and say how you will improve them so they do not affect your clinical practice. — 00:02:50
- 2017-12-06 · Medicine Interview Questions - How to answer "What's your biggest weakness?" — recommendation: a guest: A medical student advises being honest about your weakness, but not too honest. — 00:03:42
- 2017-12-09 · A&E Night Shift - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #16 — Ali: A pale, barely conscious woman brought by ambulance went into cardiac arrest in resus; Ali put in a cannula used for fluids, then took a back seat as the resus team took over. — 00:02:44
- 2017-12-09 · A&E Night Shift - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #16 — Ali: As the woman's blood results worsened and she depended on adrenaline, the team decided unanimously that she would probably have permanent brain damage even if revived, and time of death was called. — 00:03:49
- 2017-12-14 · How to answer Medical Ethics interview questions — recommendation: Ali says everyone knows the four principles and that they must apply them, so what distinguishes candidates is what they say while applying them and showing personality: talk engagingly and smile occasionally. — 00:04:23
- 2017-12-14 · How to answer Medical Ethics interview questions — recommendation: Ali says opportunity cost can always be mentioned under justice: even when asked to choose between two transplant patients, consider what the money could do if neither got it. — 00:09:05
- 2017-12-14 · How to answer Medical Ethics interview questions — recommendation: Ali says few candidates think practically about an ethics scenario, so saying what you would actually do as a doctor in that situation earns extra marks. — 00:13:54
- 2017-12-16 · Finals study sesh - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #17 — Ali's Cambridge medical finals are about three weeks away: a multiple-choice paper on the medicine and a short-answer paper of paragraph answers to clinical ethics and law scenarios. — 00:00:00
- 2017-12-21 · Consent, Capacity and Jehovah's Witnesses - Medical Ethics & Law for interviews — Ali says doctors need consent before they operate or do anything to anyone, because otherwise it is assault. — 00:00:29
- 2017-12-21 · Consent, Capacity and Jehovah's Witnesses - Medical Ethics & Law for interviews — a guest: In law, consent is valid only if it is voluntary, informed and competent. — 00:03:43
- 2017-12-21 · Consent, Capacity and Jehovah's Witnesses - Medical Ethics & Law for interviews — a guest: Since the Montgomery case the standard for informing patients has moved from what a reasonable doctor would tell a patient to what a reasonable patient would want to know. — 00:09:07
- 2017-12-23 · Procrastinating before finals - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #19 — Ali: Looking back, Ali thinks doing little work in the days before his finals was fine: after three-plus years of preparing in clinical school, working flat out for the last two or three days would not have made any difference. — 00:00:21
- 2017-12-24 · Finishing finals - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #20 — Ali sits the final written paper of Cambridge medical school: a multiple-choice paper of 125 questions taking about two and a half hours, after which he and his classmates are free. — 00:00:00
- 2017-12-24 · Finishing finals - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #20 — Ali finishes the last written paper of his Cambridge medical finals and is glad it is done, though he found it a really, really hard exam. — 00:01:10
- 2018-01-03 · Preparing for the SJT - Ali's Vlog #21 — Ali says the meeting with the transplant surgeon went really well: the surgeon, who has done a lot with medical companies, gave Ali and Ben many ideas on how to expand their app and make it bigger and better. — 00:02:25
- 2018-01-06 · Magic, pizza and SJT - Ali's Vlog #22 — Ali: After the SJT everyone mills around the Guildhall discussing it, and Ali says pretty much the biggest exam of their medical school career is over. — 00:00:00
- 2018-01-10 · Euthanasia - Medical Ethics and Law at the end of life — a guest: Charlotte and Molly call "passive euthanasia", meaning withdrawing or withholding treatment so that someone dies, an unhelpful term: euthanasia is illegal, while withdrawing treatment in a patient's best interests is good clinical practice. — 00:05:00
- 2018-01-10 · Euthanasia - Medical Ethics and Law at the end of life — a guest: Active euthanasia, passive euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are all illegal in the UK, because intending to end someone's life constitutes murder. — 00:06:10
- 2018-01-10 · Euthanasia - Medical Ethics and Law at the end of life — recommendation: Ali urges applicants never to use the term "passive euthanasia", which is hugely confusing; withdrawing treatment is not the same thing and is good medical practice in some circumstances. — 00:07:06
- 2018-01-17 · Legalising Assisted Suicide? - Medical Ethics and Law — recommendation: Ali says the law on assisted suicide is not very high-yield for medicine interviews: applicants revising should focus on the ethics of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, which interviewers are very likely to ask about. — 00:00:58
- 2018-01-17 · Legalising Assisted Suicide? - Medical Ethics and Law — Ali says the Suicide Act 1961 makes it illegal in the UK to assist anyone's suicide, whether by giving them a pill or by helping them fly to the Dignitas Clinic in Switzerland. — 00:03:33
- 2018-01-17 · Legalising Assisted Suicide? - Medical Ethics and Law — Ali: In response to Debbie Purdy's case, the Director of Public Prosecutions agreed with her and issued guidelines on when people would not be prosecuted for assisting suicide. — 00:08:23
- 2018-01-27 · Charlie Gard - Medical Ethics and Law — Abi 5A9Ae87434: Abi says an American doctor offered Charlie Gard an experimental treatment; his parents wanted to fly him to the US, Great Ormond Street Hospital said this was not in his best interests, and a court battle followed. — 00:00:58
- 2018-01-27 · Charlie Gard - Medical Ethics and Law — Ali says the Charlie Gard case hinged on his best interests: Great Ormond Street Hospital, backed by many experts, held that continued or experimental treatment was not in them, while his parents wanted to give him a chance. — 00:01:58
- 2018-01-27 · Charlie Gard - Medical Ethics and Law — Mr Justice Francis (quoted): Mr Justice Francis wrote that Charlie Gard's parents had accepted his life could not be improved and that the only remaining course was palliative care, letting him die with dignity. — 00:04:05
- 2018-02-14 · Monthly Favourites #1 - Ali Abdaal — recommendation: Ali's new favourite blog is the blog of the Journal of Medical Ethics, a journal published as part of the BMJ, with very accessible articles on current medical-ethics topics. — 00:01:08
- 2018-02-17 · Medicine Application - No offers? — recommendation: Ali says applicants who got a medicine offer but missed its grades should apply again if still interested and work very hard on the grades, since the offer means the rest of the application was already good. — 00:00:58
- 2018-02-17 · Medicine Application - No offers? — recommendation: Ali advises reapplicants to medicine to go through every part of their application with friends who got in and students in the years above, and ask where the weak points were: personal statement, work experience or interviews. — 00:02:33
- 2018-02-17 · Medicine Application - No offers? — recommendation: Ali advises reapplicants to research medical schools in advance and apply tactically: some accept retakes or gap years and some do not, and friends with an average UKCAT score had applied where scores in the 700s were needed. — 00:04:01
- 2018-02-24 · Breaking Bad News / Death & Dying - Cambridge medical student VLOG #25 — recommendation: Ali says the first step in breaking bad news is always to establish the patient's starting point, what they have been told, so that a doctor new to the patient never discusses the next step of a cancer treatment with someone who was never told they had cancer. — 00:01:17
- 2018-02-24 · Breaking Bad News / Death & Dying - Cambridge medical student VLOG #25 — recommendation: Ali advises giving warning shots instead of dropping bad news in one go, starting by taking the patient into a side room, never breaking it in a corridor or on the ward. — 00:01:47
- 2018-02-24 · Breaking Bad News / Death & Dying - Cambridge medical student VLOG #25 — Ali explains that whether to attempt CPR is technically a medical decision a patient cannot demand, yet doctors discuss it, explaining the patient's best interests and weighing patient's and family's views. — 00:05:15
- 2018-03-03 · Lacrosse and A&E - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #26 — Ali says Addenbrooke's A&E is generally swamped and he does not want to add to the A&E crisis: people go to A&E far too much, more should manage their conditions at home, and A&E is for really bad things. — 00:03:18
- 2018-03-14 · What happens after medical school - UK medical training explained — Ali will be assigned to the East Anglia deanery for the Foundation Programme, his first choice because he loves Cambridge, and is now ranking its jobs. — 00:06:50
- 2018-03-14 · What happens after medical school - UK medical training explained — Ali applied for the Academic Foundation Programme but did not get a place. — 00:07:19
- 2018-03-14 · What happens after medical school - UK medical training explained — Ali applied for Academic Foundation Programmes in Essex, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire and in London, was interviewed at both, but scored too low and was put on the reserve list. — 00:07:52
- 2018-03-21 · Q & A - 5,000 Subscribers! — recommendation: Ali advises applying for medicine even with doubts: it is unfair to expect someone of 16 or 17 to know they want to be a doctor for 50 years, and liking the idea of the degree is reason enough. — 00:01:03
- 2018-03-21 · Q & A - 5,000 Subscribers! — recommendation: Ali advises going for head boy or head girl if you have the chance, since it builds links with staff and real skills, but not when the only reason is to help a medicine application. — 00:02:00
- 2018-04-05 · Finding out my Foundation Year Jobs - Quick update — Ali thinks he got one of his top few foundation job choices: his first year at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge and his second at West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds. (hedged) — 00:00:29
- 2018-04-05 · Finding out my Foundation Year Jobs - Quick update — Ali: In his first foundation year at Addenbrooke's Ali will do two general internal medicine rotations, said to be quite tough, then general surgery, so no rest in those 12 months. — 00:00:29
- 2018-04-05 · Finding out my Foundation Year Jobs - Quick update — Ali: In his second foundation year at West Suffolk Hospital Ali will rotate through general psychiatry, obstetrics and gynaecology, which he thinks he wanted, and stroke medicine. — 00:01:16
- 2018-05-01 · First Live Hangout + Rapid-fire Q&A — Ali chose medicine over computer science: he liked coding but thought a computer science degree would turn it into a job, and he wanted it to stay a hobby. — 00:12:37
- 2018-05-01 · First Live Hangout + Rapid-fire Q&A — Ali says SixMed made him a reasonable amount in the past but is declining: the Medic Portal advertises everywhere and has the private schools, new companies charge £20 a course, and at SixMed's size VAT and corporation tax rule such prices out. — 00:22:34
- 2018-05-01 · First Live Hangout + Rapid-fire Q&A — Ali says he does not really care about making money: he is comfortable with what SixMed has made for him and his family, and wants to focus on becoming a good doctor and making YouTube videos that give things away for free. — 00:23:04
- 2018-05-07 · Live Q&A + Hangout - Bank Holiday vibes - Ali Abdaal, Cambridge medical student — recommendation: Ali: To get into medicine, Ali says, get really good grades, by far the biggest single factor: it is not that hard with good grades and really hard without them. — 00:23:44
- 2018-05-07 · Live Q&A + Hangout - Bank Holiday vibes - Ali Abdaal, Cambridge medical student — Ali does not much like Anki: he used it for isolated facts in anatomy and pharmacology but now almost never does, preferring his spreadsheet method, which he thinks is much better. — 00:25:18
- 2018-05-07 · Live Q&A + Hangout - Bank Holiday vibes - Ali Abdaal, Cambridge medical student — Ali watches with a learning mindset: student vlogs are procrastination for him, unlike Peter McKinnon or Casey Neistat, and he almost never watches TV shows, as he learns nothing from them. — 00:26:11
- 2018-05-14 · Monthly Favourites #4 - Ali Abdaal — Ali learned a couple of days before the video that he passed his final-year exams at Cambridge, so he is pretty much officially a doctor. — 00:00:00
- 2018-05-14 · Monthly Favourites #4 - Ali Abdaal — announcement: Ali has submitted his provisional registration to the General Medical Council and, barring calamity, expects to start working as a doctor in Cambridge from 23 July 2018. (hedged) — 00:00:00
- 2018-05-29 · Live Stream - Hangout — recommendation: Ali: With bad grades, Ali tells himself he did his best, or reflects on why he did not, and that grades are not a reflection of him as a person and do not really matter, because no one cares what grades you get. — 00:07:51
- 2018-05-29 · Live Stream - Hangout — recommendation: Ali: Whether to apply to aspirational or safe medical schools depends on whether the aim is medicine or one school: Ali aimed for Cambridge and applied to Cambridge, Imperial, UCL and one more; to become a doctor, safer options make sense. — 00:12:05
- 2018-05-29 · Live Stream - Hangout — recommendation: Ali: For medicine work experience anything helps, Ali says, such as volunteering or shadowing a nurse; for GP experience, just turn up at every GP practice in the area and ask the doctors to let you shadow for a couple of days. — 00:13:04
- 2018-06-08 · A day in med school in the Caribbean - St George's University Grenada · Cambridge medic VLOG #37 — Ali, in Grenada, spends a day at St George's University, a private medical school there, to experience life as a medical student in the Caribbean. — 00:00:00
- 2018-06-08 · A day in med school in the Caribbean - St George's University Grenada · Cambridge medic VLOG #37 — Ali: St George's University students seem to Ali to do clinical work from the start: second-years learn basic sciences in a clinical context, where Cambridge second-years would have done only the sciences. (hedged) — 00:00:45
- 2018-06-12 · Study with me + The Magic of Categorisation - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #38 — Ali: The night before, Ali says the first of his final OSCE exams is the next day: five stations, four of them history taking and one challenging station that will be a mystery; he feels quite relaxed about it. — 00:07:15
- 2020-06-12 (said on 2020-05-27, implied) · Crushes, Challenges and Irritating Habits - Q&A With My Roommate Molly — Ali's least favourite part of being a junior doctor is that it is a full-time job: to take a holiday he has to ask permission from his rota coordinator. — 00:02:36