From intercalation to final year

[m3a07]

Hey gang,

I'm not looking for advice as such, but would like to here from ppl who have completed their final year after after doing an intercalation year. To anyone who did this, how did you find it? Was it hard to recover the information you feel you lost during your intercalation year? Was it tough to get used to being back on the wards? Did you regret doing your intercalation at the end of it?

I myself have just done a intercalated degree in Manc and will regretfully have to return back to medicine and am dead nervous at the prospect. I enjoyed the intercalation but don't know what final year has in store.

Any responses will be most appreciated.

Thanx

[clc26]

maybe you will get a better response if you post in a more suitable thread i.e. current medical students.

althought i am not a final year, I have done an iBSc and have been back into medicine nearly one year (start final year in sept).

i found getting back into medicine ok tbh. i started back in psychiatry for 7 weeks which eased me in i guess.
in terms of the material i covered before leaving, it was pretty easy to gain that knowledge again as once i have finished a rotation i forget a lot anyway so it didnt matter that i took a year out cos i would have forgotten stuff anyway. you learn it all much easier 2nd time around when you revise.

but, in terms of examinations etc, yeh i was abit rusty, but again its just practice.

regarding my exams, most ppl who failed were iBSc students, so obviously it does have soem detrimental effect..............

you should be ok if you work hard though. i passed but didnt do as well as previous exams have gone.

[Arg240]

In response to your concern I thought Id offer the benefit of my own experience.

I intercalated the year before final year and like you was a little apprehensive about losing the skills and knowledge needed to pass finals, especially at Birmingham where our first set of finals are only three months into the year.

You can take reassurance from the fact that although it did take a little while for me to reacclimatise to the wards I was happy with my level of knowledge etc by the time it came to exams. and I certainly didnt/dont regret intercalating!