Duke Elder Award

[msdogar]

Hi, I am new here. I was wondering if anyone could advise me on how to prepare for the duke elder award. Books, websites? How long should one prepare for?


Also, I will start 3rd year next year. Would it be advisable to do it in third year or should one wait till the 4th/final year to attempt the award.

Many thanks

[karnesh]

The Duke Elder can be taken as many times as you want while you are an undergraduate, as far as I am aware. If you take it this year, you have other opportunities to score higher in the next few years. While it looks nice having taken it on paper, the only major impact is if you have either scored highly, or won a prize for your score. So if Ophthalmology is what you want to do, I'd recommend putting in a good amount of work.

As for books, general ophth books are a good start to learn the basics. You need a decent grasp of basic physiology / pharmacology / anatomy with an ophthalmic slant. While there are books out there that do this, they tend to be more for the old MRCOphth or new FRCOphth, and you may find these too high a level.

As for how long, it depends on how long you feel it takes you to learn things.

[msdogar]

Thank a lot for your reply. Yes I am seriously considering ophthalmology.
Is it just a matter of as much ophthalmology as you can learn or is there an official syllabus that one should stick to when preparing for it. Is any book better than the other?

Thanks again

[Loser_kid]

Hi all;

Just bumping this thread in the hope that someone can answer msdogar's previous questions. I have the same thoughts myself.

Thanks