WHAT’S IT LIKE TO STUDY MEDICINE?

Read the article below and choose from the sentences A-G the one which fits each gap (1-6). There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use.

Medicine isn’t quite like other degrees. I spent the first three years studying and attending lectures on anatomy, cell biology and pathology (what happens when the body goes wrong). I found when I got to medical school that I was required to memorise far more than I had had to at secondary school and put in far longer hours, especially around exam time.

As well as the lessons and lectures, I had individual weekly classes with my tutor, who also gave me work to do. [ 1 ] These classes soon became a high point in my week. We used to spend the hour discussing such things as the properties of different medicines or the topic of an essay whose title was Doctors can learn more medicine from treating patients than from studying textbooks. Do you agree? [ 2 ]

In my final year, I studied for an extra degree in Physiological Sciences. I was also able to pursue areas of interest, which in my case included neuroscience, and take supplementary modules in the history of medicine and pharmacology. Most universities now expect you to do some academic research as well. However, I felt incredibly lucky that I had the opportunity to work in laboratories where I rubbed shoulders with Nobel Prize winners. [ 3 ]

As a clinical student, in other words as a student in a hospital, my timetable changed dramatically. I was expected to dress smartly, as I spent every day with patients as a functioning part of a medical team. [ 4 ] These included surgery, medicine, dermatology, neurology and many more.

I moved to a London hospital for my clinical training, and had some very memorable experiences, such as delivering my first baby and visiting a prison psychiatric ward. [ 5 ] I was permitted to walk into any ward or any operating theatre and observe, learn, ask questions and speak to patients, whereas practising doctors are all rushed off their feet. Students can often take time to really investigate a patient's condition more deeply, and may even be able to inform the doctors and nurses of some very important detail that has been overlooked and which might lead to the patient being misdiagnosed. [ 6 ] Everyone teaches each other at whatever level, and now I also help secondary-school students who are preparing entrance exams for the top medical schools.

Medicine is a very time-intensive degree. However, being thrown in at the deep end of some of the most challenging situations I have ever been in, and having to deal with patients from all areas of life, continues to inspire me and satisfy me on a daily basis.

A  And on other occasions we used to just play chess.

B  Now, as a working doctor, who is experienced to do certain jobs by certain times, I appreciate that while I

     while I was studying medicine, I had the opportunity to do many things I would not have time for now.

C  On average, four weeks was spent rotating around each of different specialties across the three weeks.

D  The culture within medicine is that each team member’s input is respected, and the team itself is hugely

     valued.

E  And although I was expected to work extremely hard, most of the work was enjoyable.

F  These well-known people would always be more than happy to answer questions in the corridor, or reply

     to an email that requested more information about their subject.

G  This usually consisted of writing an essay on a topic related to my studies.

Cambridge University Press, 2015

GRADUATE JOBS: ADVICE FROM AN EXPERT

You are going to read an article for graduates joining the job market. For questions 1-10, choose the sections (A- D). The sections may be chosen more than once.

A. You should be very conscious of your digital footprint and remember that nothing can ever really be deleted and this includes social media profiles as well as forums and websites. Although it helps if you activate the privacy settings on your social media accounts and control who you allow to see your account, the most foolproof solution is to behave well and treat these networks with a healthy respect. You might not be able to fully prevent some things from showing on search engines, but you can make the most of what shows up first by using public professional networking sites to build a much more professional footprint which you can then add to by getting mentioned for extra-curricular activity. In the job market this can be gold dust, so find opportunities to comment on blogs and articles, provide quotes for journalists and guest blog on things you’re interested in or know a lot about.

B. By all means apply for vacancies on big job boards, but the major drawback is that if you’ve seen a vacancy, so has everybody else. If you've had no joy applying for positions this way, it may well be more productive to start hunting for less visible vacancies instead, because when you do find one, the competition will be a fraction of what you’re up against for widely advertised positions. It’s important to realise that different job-hunting methods work for different industries. If you’re answering ads for junior jobs in media, applying blind is unlikely to reap rewards, but building a network of contacts will. On the other hand, for public-sector jobs all the talking in the world won’t get you through the door: you’ll have to apply through official channels like everybody else. If you’ve only targeted big companies, broaden your search to smaller outfits. They’ll have tighter recruitment budgets and won’t be advertising vacancies or hiring stands at recruitment fairs, so find out how they do recruit and see which small companies are thriving.

C. Strictly speaking, in some countries unpaid internships are illegal which means it's illegal for your employer not to pay you and for you to work for free, as you’re both undermining the national minimum wage law. The problem is that in some countries this law isn’t being enforced, so employers are free to exploit graduates who can afford to work for less than the minimum wage and exclude those who can’t. Because many graduates are desperate for experience, the result is that most internships now pay nothing, even when interns are effectively doing a proper job and working long hours with a wide range of activities for months at a time. Until things change, you’ll have to decide for yourself whether an unpaid internship is a good investment. This will depend on the calibre of the company and what you’ll be doing while you’re there. As there is no guarantee of a paid job at the end of it, you must keep applying for roles elsewhere before your internship ends.

D. It’s normal to feel low just after graduation. For some graduates, it’s because the energy they needed is still flowing but now has no outlet, so they feel anxious. For others, it’s because they’ve realised how much effort they’ve expended, and they feel exhausted. Whatever the reason, pay attention to the words you use. Graduation represents an ending, it’s true, but it also represents new beginnings and it’s more energising to think in those terms. Instead of saying, "I need to start my career,” you should break the task ahead into smaller steps and frame each step in a way that allows you to measure progress. So, for example, instead of expecting to "sort myself out”, ask yourself to “prepare my CV”, “find two referees", and “register with an employment agency”. Put these goals in chronological order and focus on each one in turn until you have achieved it. In the long run you might easily conclude that the most treasured aspect of your university experience wasn’t your academic education or any careers advice, but rather the friends you made, so you should make it a priority to stay in touch with those who mattered most to you during your university career.

In which section does the writer

 1   advise graduates to continue job-hunting while already working?

 2   explain why some graduates accept a certain type of employment opportunity?

 3   make a suggestion for graduates whose job hunting has so far been unsuccessful?

 4   mention a variety of ways of obtaining employment?

 5   suggest how graduates can create a good impression?

 6   mention the need to maintain relationships?

 7   recommend a way of thinking positively?

 8   explain why some jobs may have fewer applicants?

 9   warn graduates that some information may be difficult to hide?

10  describe an employment opportunity he disapproves of?

Cambridge University Press, 2015