any questions?

[milly]

hey guys!

haven't used this forum in quite a while so i apologise for opening a new thread!

Im a med student at peninsula (the plymouth branch!) and was wondering if any of you guys had any questions about life at Peninsula and the course etc etc...

Again, I realise the WHOLE point of this website is to do just that, but I just thought i'd tell you all that you can feel free to pm me if you have any questions, whether it be to do with pending interviews, offers, general questions etc...no problem at all

hope this helps!

milly
xxx

[feluda_uk]

acctually i was curious about how the holidays were set out. could ya give us a clue? or even better tell us haha

[milly]

sure!

ok well, you start in mid september and the next holiday you have after that is for Xmas which starts at around the 15th and ends around the 8th of Jan.

After that its Easter which we have coming up from approx the 23th of March to 16th April

The Summer term usually begins in the first week of June until the beginning of September.

This may not sound like so much, but do remember that during the week, you will find that you have a day or too off, or a day where you will only have one lecture or something. Its a pretty relaxedc course in comparison to others if u ask me. Also, we have things called SSU's where you write a paper or something (and you have three weeks to do it in). That means that you get a bit of time off to do those as well. We get 2/3 SSU's per year depending on what year you are in...

hope this helps!

milly

[Fonzie]

sure!

ok well, you start in mid september and the next holiday you have after that is for Xmas which starts at around the 15th and ends around the 8th of Jan.

After that its Easter which we have coming up from approx the 23th of March to 16th April

The Summer term usually begins in the first week of June until the beginning of September.

This may not sound like so much, but do remember that during the week, you will find that you have a day or too off, or a day where you will only have one lecture or something. Its a pretty relaxedc course in comparison to others if u ask me. Also, we have things called SSU's where you write a paper or something (and you have three weeks to do it in). That means that you get a bit of time off to do those as well. We get 2/3 SSU's per year depending on what year you are in...

hope this helps!

milly

Do you mean to say that we don't get summer holidays at PMS?

[sarah_waggy]

Any idea when we will get stuff through about accomodation?
And when you get allocated to a campus and when you can put a preference with an uber brill *sarcasm* reason?

[milly]

hey guys...
sorry if i was a bit unclear, i meant summer holidays not summer term! so yes, of course you get summer holidays! best time for surfing! he he

you should get you accomodation information nearer your exam time. You can pick a hall depending on whether you have been allocated to exeter or plymouth. I believe you can write to them in advance to request a campus with a very valid reason


milly
x

[Fonzie]

What would be considered a valid reason?

Would for instance say certain sports clubs only at one univeristy and not the other be a valid reason?

[milly]

Hhhm, im not sure about that one i'm afraid. It might not be because as far as I know, the guys who for example want to play rugby (it might be anoher sport, but i'm not sure) here or something have to travel to exeter and stuff...

Alot of the Irish students requested to be in Exeter as the airport in Exeter has flights to N.Ireland whereas they dont from Plymouth airport. Having said this, there have been students who have requested to be put in a certain campus for such reasons who have been refused. I think the med school would prefer not to do too much chopping and changing of campuses but like I said, if you have a very valid excuse (e.g you already own a house in Plymouth and thus dont want to be placed in Exeter), then by all means contact the uni and make arrangements

[iceman_jondoe]

so how many exams do we have and how often? would you recommend staying in halls or in yoru own flat. and how many lectures do you have a week exactly? lol sorry for the man many questions!!

[milly]

hi iceman!

ok, well with regards to halls or your own flat... they both have their own pros and cons really, to be honest, halls (unless you apply for really crappy ones) will turn out to be slightly more expensive than a shared house. But personally, I recommend halls for the first year. It allows you to mingle with everyone and be part of the social crowd. Its a lot easier to be in a community living environment such as halls for the first year until you get your bearings and come to grips with living in a new city.

A for lectures, it depends, particularly as lectures often get cancelled! But on average a first year med student at PMS can expect to have around 5 lectures a week. One on monday and tuesday, one on wednesday and two on friday is what it has been for this years cohort I believe. Do remember that we have a portal network which we very lovingly call "emily". The lectures (or "plenaries" as we like to call them!) are all recorded and streamed on emily so that if you miss them (due to illness etc), you can always watch them on your laptop at home.

As for exams... we have a multiple choice exam called the AMK (applied medical knowledge) exam. The first one is in november and is a practice so the grade does not count. The second one is in January and the third is in mid April. You also have a final AMK in May which is used to assess all you have learnt throughout the year.

Do remember that you also have "clinical competencies" which assess your clinical skills (e.g, how to take a blood pressure/ how to carry out an obstetrics exam/ basic life support etc). There are around five of these throughout the year.

This is the general structure but you will of course be given a lot more information on all of these when you arrive...

hope this helps

milly