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The imposing Senate House where graduations take place at Cambridge

I have always had a soft spot 对 ... 有感情 for the University of Cambridge, but until I came to England, studying there seemed like a dream far away. Then, in 2001, I went to Manchester High School for Girls to study A-levels in order to study Medicine. All of a sudden, Cambridge was no more than a few hours away by train and somehow, seemed more accessible 容易接触到，容易进入.

A year flew past. With generous help from friends and teachers at my school, both my English and confidence improved, and in October 2002 I submitted my UCAS (University and College Application Service) form 提交了大学入学申请表, applying to New Hall College in Cambridge to study Medicine.

A few weeks later I was taking the MVAT exam that was compulsory 必修的，义务的 for all applicants of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine 医学和兽医. It was 3 hours long and packed with 充斥着 objective 客观 questions testing analytical, 分析 arithmetic 算术 and logical thinking 逻辑思维 skills, and two essays.

The exam itself has since been transformed and adopted by other subjects and universities but this type of aptitude test 潜力测试 is designed to identify individuals with the potential 潜力 to achieve more 实现更多 than they have in school. The objective questions were fun but the essay questions were more thought-provoking, such as "why don’t plants have brains?".

It wasn’t long afterwards that I received a letter that invited me to attend an interview at Cambridge. Most of the interviewees travelled down the night before, and there were many applicants walking around looking nervous and excited. There were student volunteers there to talk to us and try to help us to relax, but the air was filled with anxiety.

According to the timetable I was given, I had 3 interviews on Monday, an hour apart. The college has tried very hard to help us to relax in between by having even more student volunteers around and providing us with tea and biscuits. The first one was a 'general' interview with an amiable lady doctor, who went through 仔细检查 my personal statement 个人介绍 and asked about my various work experience and my opinions on the Chinese and British health care systems respectively.

My second interview was with a young doctor who had chosen the career of academic medicine. He picked on 特意挑出 my experience in resuscitation 急救 and asked me to think logically (on the spot! 当场) through why the doctors did the tests they did. He also noticed my interest in acupuncture 针灸 and asked me to design a hypothetical 假想的，假设的 controlled trial 对照试验 to show its efficacy 功效. I was asked numerous questions and although I did not know many of the answers beforehand, I certainly felt that I came up with some educated guesses and he was clearly encouraging me.

The last interview was with the Director of Studies, a senior professor. He conducted the interview as if it were a teaching session and asked me questions as he talked about a topic that I have never learnt about before. Again, educated guesses and bold but logical deductions 大胆的有逻辑性的推断 were encouraged and I came out feeling like I had actually learned something.

At the end of December, I received a conditional offer 有条件录取通知 (depending on my A-level result) from New Hall to study Medicine. Looking back, I feel that I was extremely lucky to have the support of my friends and my school. My friends helped me enormously with my English by correcting me tirelessly and were always happy to answer my questions.

My school has always encouraged me to think freely and proactively 自由和超前的思维. They helped me to realise that Cambridge is not scary at all; it is full of people just like you and me.

Your Comments 你的评论

Dear Wei Cope,
Nice to meet you. It is the first time I write to you. I'm very enjoy reading your essay about your life in Cambridge University. You must be a very very hardworking student that you can study in Cambridge. Can you advise me some study ways such as learning english & chemicials in your school life in China or England? Tks & rgds
Lydia, Hong Kong

Wei Replies

Thank you for your e-mail. I'm happy to tell you how I studied English and Chemistry, however different methods will work for different people so it's very important that you try to find out the ways that work best for you!

For English, I found watching films without subtitles very helpful, as well as reading novels. I have watched some films over and over again and each time I'd understand a little bit more. For novels, I started with children's books as they're generally easy to understand and then moved up to fiction.

If I came across a word that I don't understand - and I still do this now - I would not look it up in the dictionary straight away unless I couldn't understand the sentence without it, I'd try and work out the possible meanings in the context and then, if it appeared later in the chapter again, I might look it up to confirm that I did get it right.

Also, if you have a translation of an English novel, read the translation and try to translate them back to English and then compare your translation to the original English text and try to work out how the differences come about. The best way of learning is through usage - talk to people in English and ask them to correct you.

For Chemistry, I find trying to understand a topic is very important. At school level the explanations may not be sufficient so you might need to ask your teachers for help or read around the subject - use the internet for help! There are a lot of things that have to be memorised in chemistry but if you can try to find patterns in them it helps a lot. Calculations are another hurdle but I found practice helps a lot.

Good luck with your study and hope this helps.

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