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Becoming a Doctor

The route into medicine from CSEC and CAPE sciences or A-levels to medical school, internship, licensing, a chosen specialty and the first senior years, organised as 50 practical projects.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Then open the Marketplace in the app, search for Becoming a Doctor, and click Install. It goes into your own files, and works offline from then on.

What it installs.

1

Pillar

1

Area

50

Projects

199

Starter tasks

🧰 Professions & Trades

Becoming a Doctor

The route to medicine: science subjects, medical school applications, the degree, internship, licensing, choosing a specialty and early career.

  1. Testing your reasons for choosing medicine
  2. Science subject choices at CSEC, CAPE and A-level
  3. Mapping your route into medicine
  4. Work shadowing in a hospital or clinic
  5. Admissions test preparation
  6. Medical school funding plan
  7. Shortlisting medical schools and checking recognition
  8. Medical school personal statement
  9. Medical school application submission
  10. Volunteering in a care setting
  11. Weekly study plan for medical school
  12. Daily spaced repetition flashcards
  13. Clinical logbook of cases and procedures
  14. Monthly reflective practice entries
  15. Mentor meetings through training
  16. Money check during medical training
  17. Monthly journal club reading
  18. Continuing professional development record
  19. Registration and licence renewal calendar
  20. Recovery routine for nights and long shifts
  21. Anatomy and physiology foundation plan
  22. History taking and examination practice for OSCEs
  23. Safe prescribing skills
  24. Critical appraisal and evidence-based medicine
  25. Communication and breaking bad news
  26. Medical ethics, consent and confidentiality
  27. Student research project or clinical audit
  28. Clinical reasoning and differential diagnosis practice
  29. Accepting a medical school offer
  30. Medical elective placement
  31. Ranking internship or foundation posts
  32. Choosing a specialty
  33. Medical indemnity and professional cover
  34. Choosing where to do postgraduate training
  35. Medical school interview day
  36. Final-year examinations and clinical finals
  37. National licensing examination sitting
  38. Graduation and provisional registration paperwork
  39. First week as an intern
  40. Residency or specialty training application
  41. Supporting a teenager who wants to study medicine
  42. Graduate-entry and career-changer route into medicine
  43. International medical graduate licensing pathway
  44. Scholarship bond and district or rural posting
  45. Training less than full time with caring responsibilities
  46. Moving country or island for medical school
  47. Postgraduate membership and board examinations
  48. Setting up locum or private practice work
  49. Teaching and supervising medical students and juniors
  50. Preparing for a consultant or attending post

Where it starts.

Each project arrives with its purpose, milestones and first tasks written out. Here is how the first three read.

Testing your reasons for choosing medicine

Wanting to help people, liking biology or being told you are clever enough are common starting points, but none of them on its own carries someone through six or more years of study and long nights on call.

First tasks

  • Write down every reason you want to study medicine in 20 minutes
  • Ask a doctor you know, or one through school, for a 20-minute conversation
  • Compare medicine with two related health careers on training length and daily work
  • Record your decision and the reasons behind it

Science subject choices at CSEC, CAPE and A-level

Medical schools set minimum subjects and grades, and a choice made at fourteen can quietly close the door at seventeen. Most schools expect Chemistry and Biology at an advanced level (CAPE Units 1 and 2, A-level or an equivalent), with Physics or Mathematics often recommended and English required at CSEC or GCSE.

First tasks

  • List four medical schools you might realistically apply to
  • Copy each school's subject and grade requirements into one table
  • Check your planned CSEC or GCSE subjects against the table
  • Confirm your CAPE units or A-levels include Chemistry and Biology
  • Ask your form teacher or guidance counsellor to check the subject plan

Mapping your route into medicine

There is no single road into medicine. In the Caribbean and the UK most students enter a five or six year MBBS straight from CAPE or A-levels, in the US and Canada they first complete a bachelor's degree and then a four year MD, and graduate-entry and foundation-year routes exist in several countries.

First tasks

  • Read how medical training is structured in your home country
  • Read the same for one country you might study or work in
  • Draw your preferred route as a timeline with years and exams
  • Mark two fallback routes on the same page

Make it yours.

Install Becoming a Doctor, then tell Aurum the date you're aiming for. It checks whether the plan fits the weeks you actually have.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Blueprints are general information to help you organise your own work. They are not medical, financial, legal or other professional advice. See the Terms.