GAMSAT UK

St George’s, University of London

Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery MBBS4 (Graduate Stream)

The MBBS4 is a four year medical degree course open to graduates in any discipline.

Course outline
St George’s was the first to introduce this course in 2000 in response to the need to train more doctors in the UK. The course widens access to allow people other than traditional A Level school-leavers with science qualifications to qualify as a doctor.

2008 will see the introduction of a revised curriculum for the 4 year route at St George’s. The course remains tailored for graduates, but will be more integrated with MBBS5, our course for school leavers.

Methods of teaching
As a graduate student you will have the same amount of practical clinical teaching and experience as your colleagues on the five year programme, but your course will be structured around Problem Based Learning (PBL). In PBL you will be presented weekly with scenarios (real patient case histories) which you will explore with a tutor.

By covering the knowledge base needed to understand different aspects of the problem, you will gradually acquire all the knowledge needed for the practice of medicine. Small groups of students learn together in their own ‘base room’ with a designated tutor who is available to meet regularly with the group and guide their studies. We believe that St George’s is an ideal setting for this type of programme, with adjacent bioscience and clinical departments with an extensive patient base, excellent IT and library facilities and well-equipped Clinical Skills laboratories and several state-of-the-art lecture theatres.

Structure of the course
Four main themes underpin the course and feature throughout the four years

• Basic and Clinical Sciences

• Community and Population Health

• Patient and Doctor

Personal and Professional Development

Teaching is based around six modules

• Life Control

• Life Cycle

• Life Maintenance

• Life Protection

• Life Structure

• Life Support

In addition students will have the opportunity to study a range of Special Study Modules (SSMs) to study a subject of their own choosing. Students on the MBBS4 course can expect to gain clinical experience from the outset of the course from GP visits in the first week to completing their first full time attachment in year two.

Clinical attachments will take place in a range of hospital and community settings to ensure that students receive a broadly based education, up to two-thirds of clinical training will take place away from the main Tooting site. The intranet at St George’s will provide students with key resources, regardless of where they are studying. The third and fourth years of the programme are integrated with the penultimate and final years of MBBS5.

St George’s has a strong network system, and computer suites containing 120 open access PCs. The ‘base rooms’ of each PBL group are also connected to the network.

Methods of assessment
The emphasis will be on regular assessments with detailed feedback throughout. The format of the assessment will include short answer questions, extended matching questions, mini-cases (assessments based on reason around a clinical scenario) and OSCEs (Objective Structured Clinical Examinations). The final examinations are taken in Year four and are the same as the finals for students on the MBBS5 course.

Entry requirements

· Have or be predicted to gain at least a 2.2 honours degree or a higher degree (eg MSc, MPhil or PhD) in any discipline. Those with a non-UK degree should refer to our website

· Be classed as a Home student (which includes nationals of EU countries). International students are currently not accepted. This is due to a government quota on the number of international students studying medicine in the UK

· Work experience in a medical or health related field and able to demonstrate a broad awareness of the scope of medicine

· Sitting and gaining a satisfactory score in the entrance exam GAMSAT (Graduate Australian Medical School Admission Test)

· Applicants must have satisfactory health and police screening including screen for HIV, Hepatitis B and C

Please note there is no upper age limit on this course nor are there any GCSE or A level subject or grade requirements.

You may apply if you are in the final year of a degree course, but will be offered a place only on condition of obtaining a good degree classification.

Admission to MBBS4 (Graduate Stream) will be in three stages:

1. Application through UCAS www.ucas.com Applications should be made by 15 October.

• UCAS code A101

• Institution code name SGEO

• Institution code S49

2. Application for GAMSAT (please note you will need to complete a separate application form available from UCAS). Applicants will need to sit GAMSAT on 19 September 2008 for 2009 entry.

3. GAMSAT is a professionally designed and marked written entrance test based upon that developed for Australian graduate-entry medical schools. GAMSAT will be used to select candidates for interview. This tests knowledge, reasoning skills and communication across a range of disciplines.

4. Those performing well in GAMSAT will be invited for interview. We will interview approximately 2.5 candidates for each place.

Interviews

Interviews will take place in January. It is a structured interview of 40 minutes and will usually be conducted by a panel of three, usually to include a medical student. The qualities to be assessed at interview include interest in and motivation for a career in medicine, a long-term interest in medicine (including work experience undertaken) and personal attitudes.

Offers
Offers will be made at the beginning of February.

Places
Places available in 2008: 98

Places available in 2009: 112

There is further information on the MBBS4 in our Information booklet, which you can download from the website http://www.sgul.ac.uk/students/undergraduate/medicine/mbbs-gep.cfm

Contact details

MBBS Admissions Officer
Tel: +44 (0)20 8725 5201
Fax: +44 (0)20 8725 0841
Email: gep@sgul.ac.uk
Website: http://www.sgul.ac.uk