Whether you’re going into Year 13 or just starting sixth form, it can be tricky to navigate revision and manage your workload. In this week’s newsletter, I’m including some tips that I used to help me when starting sixth form and getting through it to help me stay ahead!

Pre-reading

This is definitely one of the most underrated yet impactful techniques you should be including in your study schedule. Pre-reading is when you begin to review and learn content before you have actually learnt it in your lesson. This is highly beneficial as a process called priming occurs. Exposing yourself to the content before covering it in your lesson forces your brain to begin questioning and understanding the content, as you have repeated exposure to it. As a result, when you learn the content in lessons, your brain is much more easily able to understand and grasp these concepts due to prior exposure. So do you need to spend hours learning before your lesson? No, you just need to expose your brain to some of the content before the actual lesson. And this can be done in less than 10 minutes. Just skim-read your textbook pages, watch a video or review your lesson slides. The aim of pre-reading is not to completely learn the content. Instead, the aim is to gently introduce and expose yourself to the content, so your brain is primed for more learning!

Having good notes

It is important to have a solid studying system and note-taking method to help you stay on top of content. To help you work smarter instead of working harder, here is my active recall format of making notes. This is the note-taking technique which transformed my grades. If you make hand-written notes split your page vertically, and in the left column, phrase your subheading as a question. Then, in the column next to it, write the content. If you make digital notes, you can do the same structure, or you can design flashcards automatically using websites such as Notion and Quizlet. This small change creates a powerful mental shift, as writing your subheading as a question subconsciously triggers active recall. Your notes stop being a passive read-through and instead become a built-in quiz. You can purchase my notes template to start making your notes in this format. And if you study A-level psychology, you can get my A* A-level psychology notes written in an active recall format and possible essay questions, so you can revise effectively!

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Managing UCAT with sixth form

Studying for your UCAT is already stressful enough. Then add school on top of it. If you're in the situation of studying for your UCAT whilst in school, it can be difficult to keep up with both and still perform well. For anyone in this situation, here is my advice on how you can structure your days. During the day whilst in school, aim to complete as much of your work as you can. Make all your notes, your revision resources and do your practice questions in your lessons. If you still have any work left over use your frees for this. However, if you can do most of your work in lessons, then use your frees for UCAT questions and reflection too. Then at home focus solely on UCAT preparation by doing your mock exams and reflections. This is definitely difficult to manage, so remember to take regular breaks and keep up with hobbies to give you are break from studying!

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In a previous newsletter edition, I released a UCAT university guide. It is a guide designed to help you make a strategic application to medicine, even if you weren’t happy with your score. If you missed the edition or just want to review it again, you can check it out here, using the link below, so you can get ahead and start deciding which universities to apply to. However, it is important to remember that this is a general guide. The change in the UCAT, specifically the removal of abstract reasoning, can impact UCAT thresholds. Additionally, the change of the personal statement structure could make universities change the emphasis placed on it. It is essential to look at your academic, extracurricular and widening participation profile holistically and research in detail tailored to your personal profile.

UCAT University Guide 2025

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For this week’s interview insight, I’m recommending the book Being Mortal by Atul Gawande. Below, I have included a summary of the book, so you are able to talk about it in an insightful way. However, if you have the opportunity to read this book, I highly recommend it!

Atul Gawande is an American surgeon and writer. In the book, Atul Gawande recounts different experiences he has had with patients and how they have to confront the reality that they are dying. He states that dying has become so medical, and often medicine and the way someone’s life ends in a hospital can do more harm than good. In medicine, death is seen as the enemy and the function of medicine is often seen to fight death, but death is inevitable for everyone, and it is important to know when to continue fighting for a patient’s life or when to accept and help a patient make the right decisions in how they want to end their life. The book explores the importance of allowing someone who is ageing or who has a terminal illness to maintain their independence and continue doing the things that are most important to them, which means having the hard conversations and understanding that prolonging life may not necessarily improve life. Doctors need to be able to have the hard discussions, as medicine is about dealing with humans as they are. Having the hard conversations means the right decisions can be made for each individual in how they want to end their life. The questions of what a patient’s goals are, what they value most in their life, and what trade-offs they are or are not willing to make should not be things bound to one speciality (palliative care) but should be asked by all physicians when their patient has a serious condition. It is important to allow a patient to have some dignity with death and for them to feel at peace with the way their life is ending.

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I am giving you free access to my UCAT notes, which are filled with tips, strategies and confidence-boosting tips, to help support you on your UCAT journey.

Being able to do well in the UCAT isn’t just about practice — it’s about strategy. As one of the UCAT tutors at MedX, we use neuroscience-backed techniques to help you prep smarter and score higher. Join our UCAT webinar running this Sunday, for only £1, to gain expert insight and proven methods that actually work. There are limited spaces, so don’t miss out. Sign up via the link below.

📸Here are the links to each of my social media pages, so make sure you follow! In all, I detail the advice and tips you need to help make your application to medicine so much easier! If you ever need any help, feel free to reach out to me at loveleenj241@gmail.com