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BMAT Section 2 - Everything you need to know · BMAT Tips series

2017-06-22 · Long video (solo, talking head or whiteboard) · Ali · recording, 4:15 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Medicine and his doctor years · mode: Explanation and tutorial · tags: Aimed at students, His own products discussed

Ali explains BMAT Section 2 (27 questions in 30 minutes across biology, chemistry, physics and maths at GCSE standard), urges ruthless timing (guess and move on after a minute) and says he would prepare by teaching himself the science from the official Assumed Knowledge Guide, then practising questions and timed past papers.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Welcome back to the BMAT Tips series: shorter, bite-sized videos

  • ★ After feedback that his BMAT Section 1 video was a little too long, Ali splits BMAT Section 2 into several shorter videos. — 00:00:00 · BMAT (admissions)

00:00:26 — Overview of Section 2: content, standard and the Assumed Knowledge Guide

  • ★★ BMAT Section 2 has 27 questions and lasts 30 minutes, about one minute per question. — 00:00:26 · BMAT (admissions)
  • ★★ BMAT Section 2 is an even split of biology, chemistry, physics and maths, with biology the easiest and maths probably the hardest. (hedged) — 00:00:26 · BMAT (admissions)
  • ★★ BMAT Section 2 is set at GCSE or O-level standard, but its questions can be taken from any exam board, not only the one a student has done. — 00:00:26 · BMAT (admissions)
  • ★★ When Ali prepared for the BMAT about six or seven years earlier, he bought CGP revision guides from all the exam boards and ripped out the pages relevant to BMAT questions. — 00:00:56 · CGP, BMAT (admissions)
  • ★★ There is now an official BMAT Section 2 Assumed Knowledge Guide, freely available online. — 00:00:56 · Section 2 Assumed Knowledge Guide
  • ★★ Ali says he will make another video on how to make the most of the BMAT Section 2 Assumed Knowledge Guide. — 00:00:56 · Section 2 Assumed Knowledge Guide

00:01:25 — Timing: about one minute per question, guess and move on

  • ★★ The timing of BMAT Section 2 is really tough: about one minute per question is generally not enough, so keeping to time is very important. — 00:01:25 · BMAT (admissions)
  • ★★★ 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 · BMAT (admissions)
  • ★★ Every year SixMed's courses tell students how important Section 2 timing is, and every year students email to say they ran out of time and left five questions blank. — 00:01:25 · 6med, BMAT (admissions)
  • ★★★ 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 · BMAT (admissions)

00:02:10 — How he would prepare for Section 2 if taking the BMAT this year

  • ★★ To teach himself the BMAT Section 2 science, Ali would use the official Assumed Knowledge Guide and a Section 2 syllabus of topics asked in past papers, prioritising those topics and covering the rest of the guide if time allowed. — 00:02:24 · Section 2 Assumed Knowledge Guide, BMAT (admissions)
  • ★★ After learning the science, Ali would do lots of practice questions on BMAT Ninja, a website he made with the past 15 years of BMAT Section 2 papers and questions written by Oxbridge medical students. — 00:02:53 · BMAT Ninja (website, bmat.ninja), BMAT (admissions)
  • ★★★ 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 · BMAT (admissions), BMAT Ninja (website, bmat.ninja)

00:03:51 — Summary and the coming subject videos

  • ★★ Ali says videos on BMAT Section 2 physics, biology, chemistry and maths are coming very soon, with specific advice and timing tips for each. — 00:03:51 · BMAT (admissions)

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Mentioned

Central: BMAT (admissions) · Section 2 Assumed Knowledge Guide

Also: 6med · BMAT Ninja (website, bmat.ninja) · CGP · University of Cambridge

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