The Guide

Here, we’ve suggested 5 key steps to follow when approaching your intercalation year. Importantly, begin by looking at past exam questions, choosing your lecture series wisely, creating essay plans and practicing writing essays as much as possible! Be pro-active! Click here for the video.

1.Look at past exam questions. 

This might seem like jumping so far ahead, but honestly it’s the way to go. The intercalation year demands a greater degree of tactical studying compared to previous years. Previously, the tactic was essentially revise everything because everything taught is fair game. If you carry that on for your intercalation year, you’re likely to end up exhausted and probably not do too well in the end of year exams anyway. So to enable you to tactically select and study targeted topics, it’s important to look at past exam papers to get a feel for what type of questions come up frequently and what topics are guaranteed to be tested year on year. 

2.Choose lecture series. 

Once you’ve looked at past exam papers, you’ll have an idea of which lecture series/ topics are going to be “high yield” to commit and study. However, choosing lecture series/topics based on this alone is just a bit boring. So take your interests into account also. Attend all the lecture series initially to get a feel for which topics you enjoy, which lecturers are good and which topics seem straightforward. Once you’ve attended a couple, you’ll have a good idea of which you want to continue with and which you want to sack off. To help with this decision, factor in: a. yield, b. enjoyment and interest, c. lecture material and lecturer quality. 

3.Identify key reading material. 

Unlike previous years, just sticking to the lecture handouts/ slides is not enough. You need to read beyond. But, where to start? Often the lecture handouts have recommended papers at the end, which can be a good starting point. Another good starting point would be to carry out your own search on “scientific search engines” such as PubMed or Google Scholar. I’d recommend picking one good review paper per topic/ lecture series. Review papers essentially look at all the relevant primary research around the topic, critically appraise them and give their own opinions, spin and verdict. Basically, they do your job for you, so just learn one inside out and you’re covered for that topic. And they are also a great resource to find relevant primary research papers. 

4.Create essay plans. 

Once you’ve identified the best fit lecture series and key review papers (and other reading material), it’s time to start creating essay plans. Pick a past exam question and write a detailed essay plan. Make it concise but also sufficiently detailed. Pull in information from lecture materials, review papers and other sources. During the year, create as many essay plans for as many questions as you can. This will help develop your thinking in terms or how to approach a question and how to assimilate your reading into a perceptive response. Remember to hone new skills required of you this year, especially critical appraisal. This is basically your ability to comment on research quality (method, validity, reliability, bias, conclusions etc.) and suggest points of improvement. Don’t be afraid of uncertainty and suggesting your own opinions and theories. Especially at this level, a lot of the research is likely to be “in debate”, with often 2 research groups arguing slightly different sides. This is great for you, as you can debate them in your essay and suggest your own opinion, theory and verdict. Once you’ve got a good “library” of essay plans, start revising from them. Carry out previously discussed evidence based tips for memorisation such as spaced-repetition; more information on this on Ali Abdaal’s channel. 

5.Practice essay questions and organise supervisions. 

Take the initiative during your intercalation year. No one is going to be forcing you to attend lectures, supervisions or do any work at all. This might sound great at first, but actually can be a bit disastrous for those non-independent learners. So try to take the initiative early. Practice writing essays based on essay plans you’ve created, and once you’ve done this, email the lecturer for a supervision. They’ll often ask for you to submit your essay prior to a supervision. In the supervision, the lecturer will provide feedback on your essay and also discuss the lecture material to clear up any doubts. So they are a great opportunity and try to maximise them! Start early and try to do as many as possible. 

Click here for the video.