BMAT Past Paper Worked Solutions E-Book

Somil Desai

• Herausgeber: RAR Medical Services Ltd
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

“Sometimes knowing the answer isn’t enough- you need to know how and why it’s correct.”


Whilst doing past papers is great practice- it’s important that you understand how to tackle each question quickly + accurately.
Published by the UKs Leading Medical Admissions Company, this is the only book devoted to helping you solve past BMAT questions.  Written for the 2019 Entry, it contains detailed explanations for every question from 2003 – 2017 as well as comprehensive essay plans for section 3. These solutions contain valuable insight on how to approach difficult questions and also walk you through the most efficient methods for rapidly getting the correct answer.
Filled with examples of time saving techniques and score boosting strategies, this is a MUST-BUY for anyone using past papers as part of their BMAT preparation.
For more BMAT resources, check out www.uniadmissions.co.uk/bmat

Leseprobe

Copyright © 2017 UniAdmissions. All rights reserved.

ISBN 978-0-9932311-4-8No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information retrieval system without prior written permission of the publisher. This publication may not be used in conjunction with or to support any commercial undertaking without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published by RAR Medical Services [e-mail]: 0208 068 0438

BMAT is a registered trademark of Cambridge Assessment, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this book. The authors and publisher are not affiliated with BMAT or Cambridge Assessment. The answers and explanations given in this book are purely the opinions of the authors rather than an official set of answers.

The information offered in this book is purely advisory and any advice given should be taken within this context. As such, the publishers and authors accept no liability whatsoever for the outcome of any applicant’s BMAT performance, the outcome of any university applications or for any other loss. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions of any kind. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of information contained herein. This does not affect your statutory rights.

Table of Contents

The Basics

2003

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

2004

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

2005

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

2006

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

2007

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

2008

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

2009

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

2010

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

2011

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

2012

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

2013

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

2014

2015

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

2016

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

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About the Authors

Somil is currently studying Accelerated Medicine at Worcester College, Oxford and hopes to one day become a Psychiatrist. Previously, Somil studied Natural Sciences at St John’s College, Cambridge where he came top of the year in his final exams.

Between his 2 degrees, Somil spent a year tutoring approximately 30 students GCSE and A Level Maths and Science, and helped several students with their Oxbridge and medical school application. Of note, he has assisted several of his tutees in exceeding their expected BMAT score.

Somil has been part of the UniAdmissions team since 2014 and has thoroughly enjoyed his work with them. In his spare time, Somil enjoys running and playing tennis.

Rohan is the Director of Operations at UniAdmissions and is responsible for its technical and commercial arms. He graduated from Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and is a fully qualified doctor. Over the last five years, he has tutored hundreds of successful Oxbridge and Medical applicants. He has also authored ten books on admissions tests and interviews.

Rohan has taught physiology to undergraduates and interviewed medical school applicants for Cambridge. He has published research on bone physiology and writes education articles for the Independent and Huffington Post. In his spare time, Rohan enjoys playing the piano and table tennis.

THE BASICS

What are BMAT Past Papers?

Thousands of students take the BMAT exam in November each year. These exam papers are then released online to help future students prepare for the exam. Before 2013, these papers were not publically available meaning that students had to rely on the specimen papers and other resources for practice. However, since their release in 2013, BMAT past papers have become an invaluable resource in any student’s preparation.

Where can I get BMAT Past Papers?

This book does not include BMAT past paper questions because it would be over 1,000 pages long if it did! However, BMAT past papers for the last 10 years are available for free from the official BMAT website. To save you the hassle of downloading lots of files, we’ve put them all into one easy-to-access folder for you at www.uniadmissions.co.uk/bmat-past-papers.

At the time of publication, the 2017 paper has not been released so this book only contains answers for 2003 – 2016. An updated version will be made available once the 2017 paper is released. The 2014 past paper worked solutions are also available at the link above.

How should I use BMAT Past Papers?

BMAT Past papers are one the best ways to prepare for the BMAT. Careful use of them can dramatically boost your scores in a short period of time. The way you use them will depend on your learning style and how much time you have until the exam date but here are some general pointers:

4-6 weeks of preparation is usually sufficient for most students.Students generally improve in section 2 more quickly than section 1 so if you have limited time, focus on section 2.The BMAT syllabus changed in 2009 so if you find seemingly strange questions in the earlier papers, ensure you check to see if the topic is still on the specification.Similarly, there is little point doing essays before 2009 as they are significantly different in style. We’ve included plans for them in this book for completeness in any case.

How should I prepare for the BMAT?

Although this is a cliché, the best way to prepare for the exam is to start early – ideally by September at the latest. If you’re organised, you can follow the schema below:

This paradigm allows you to minimise gaps in your knowledge before you start practicing with BMAT style questions in a textbook. In general, aim to get a textbook that has lots of practice questions e.g. The Ultimate BMAT Guide (www.uniadmissions.co.uk/bmat-book) – this allows you to rapidly identify any weaknesses that you might have e.g. Newtonian mechanics, simultaneous equations etc. You can get a free copy of The Ultimate BMAT Guide for free online (see the back of this book for more details).

Finally, it’s then time to move onto past papers. The number of BMAT papers you can do will depend on the time you have available but you should try to do at least 2009 – 2016 once.

If you have time, do 2003- 2008 once (ignore section 3). If you find that you’ve exhausted all BMAT resources and have time left, go through the 2009 – 2016 papers again. Practice really does make perfect!

How should I use this book?

This book is designed to accelerate your learning from BMAT past papers. Avoid the urge to have this book open alongside a past paper you’re seeing for the first time. The BMAT is difficult because of the intense time pressure it puts you under – the best way of replicating this is by doing past papers under strict exam conditions (no half measures!). Don’t start out by doing past papers (see previous page) as this ‘wastes’ papers.

Once you’ve finished, take a break and then mark your answers. Then, review the questions that you got wrong followed by ones which you found tough/spent too much time on. This is the best way to learn and with practice, you should find yourself steadily improving. You should keep a track of your scores on the next page so you can track your progress.

Scoring Tables

Use these to keep a record of your scores – you can then easily see which paper you should attempt next (always the one with the lowest score).

Extra Practice

If you’re blessed with a good memory, you might remember the answers to certain questions in the past papers – making it less useful to repeat them again. If you want to tackle extra mock papers which are fully up-to-date then check out www.uniadmissions.co.uk/bmat-practice-papers for 4 x full mock papers with worked solutions.

These are normally £60 but as thanks for purchasing this book, you can get them for £40 instead. Just enter “BMATWS20” at checkout.

 

Section 3

Explain what you think the author means by the term ‘ethical market’.

The article gives the following definition for an ethical market: “The market would be confined to a self governing geopolitical area—for example, the UK or Australia. Vendors could sell into the system, from which their family members would stand a chance of benefiting. Only citizens from that area could sell and receive organs. There would be only one purchaser, an agency like the National Health Service (NHS) or Medicare, which would buy all organs and distribute according to some fair conception of medical priority. There would be no direct sales or purchases, no exploitation of low income countries and their populations.”Consider the difference of this kind of market operating in a private and public healthcare setting.If the sale of organs became commonplace, a black market may rise. We do not know how each individual will respond to the removal of the organ and sale of organs may lead to manipulation of certain people in society.The author does make a good argument for the legalisation of organs - there is a huge transplant problem and this would provide motivation for more to donate. Furthermore, there is the consideration of patient autonomy, and the money obtained may be worth more than the lost organ.Another relevant point that you may know about is that organ donation levels increase significantly with ‘opt out’ system rather than an ‘opt in’ system, which all countries could be encouraged to adopt to deal with the shortage of supply.

A little learning is a dangerous thing (Alexander Pope)

Alexander Pope suggests that learning is dangerous when it is incomplete. He implies that it is safer to know nothing, than to know a little and form the misconception that you are an expert on the subject.Suggest some examples of when a little learning may be a dangerous thing. Examples include a first year medical student wanting to perform an operation after reading about it; a pilot wanting to take-off after doing a flight simulation; self-diagnosis on the internet after reading a little about an illness; etc. Knowing nothing about a particular subject means somebody is unlikely to talk/act on this subject, whereas knowing a little may give somebody the misguided confidence to believe they are an expert.However, it is unrealistic to expect everyone to either know everything or nothing about a subject and sometimes it is still useful to know a little about a subject. Examples: basic first aid or CPR knowledge can save a life; even if you do not understand the exact mechanisms of what is going on: knowing the signs of stroke (even if you don’t know what it actually is); understanding the rudimentary symptoms of someone with a disease or mental illness so you can assist them and understand their behaviour; etcA conclusion somewhere in the middle of these two extreme arguments is probably wise: whether a little learning is dangerous or not depends on the particular scenario. Usually it is useful and safe when applied to straightforward day-to-day tasks. However, in order to ensure it is not dangerous in, for example, medical cases, one must acknowledge their own limitations and ensure they know that they are not experts on a subject despite some low-level learning.

It is ridiculous to treat the living body as a mechanism.

The statement suggests that it is a huge over-generalisation to regard the body as purely a succession of mechanisms.The 11 physiological systems (can you name them?!) within the body can often be considered mechanistically for doctors. The systems operate in a largely similar way for everyone and thus students can learn about each system in a general manner, and thus the pathology and pharmacology associated with each. (Give a more specific example)However, people are all individual with distinct features and personalities and we must be treated as such. The human experience of the same disease by different people is always unique, and the medical treatment may also have to vary between individuals. Some phenomena such as cognition and emotion cannot yet be explained mechanistically.We should not disregard considering the body mechanistically when used in a rigorous scientific context but we should also not only look at the body in this way. Mechanisms are interlinked in networks and the word ‘mechanism’ suggests a purely objective approach, whereas subjectivity is also key when considering anything relating to the human body, especially for doctors working holistically.Ultimately, the body is a complex, coordinated collection of a vast number of inter-related mechanisms, some of which we do not yet understand and varying between people, instead of being one ordinary, single mechanism that can be generalised for all.

Our belief in any particular natural law cannot have a safer basis than our unsuccessful critical attempts to refute it.

Popper argues that the best way to support a theory is to refute false hypotheses, and that this offers more substantiation than directly finding positive evidence supporting a theory. Indeed, if we cannot find evidence disproving a theory, this suggests that it is more likely to be true.However, scientists do often aim to prove a law by attempting to provide evidence for it, as opposed to evidence against it, and this arguably a better method. Falsification alone does not necessarily identify the truthfulness of a proposition. (If you are not sure about this, research the notion of a scientific idea being both ‘necessary’ AND ‘sufficient’ to be considered correct.)