The Entrance Exam will be delivered at Bangor University using the Medicine School Council Assessment Alliance (MSCAA) platform. Candidates will undertake a multi-mini interview, followed by the exam.
The Entrance Exam will be mapped against the learning outcomes of Year 1 and will be standard set with faculty lecturers, with the addition of the most appropriate statistical method to set the pass mark as decided by the Standard-setting Group and psychometrician.
Who is the Entrance Exam for?
Applicants from graduates of degree programmes relevant to medical studies, including Dental graduates, who meet the specified admissions criteria and are successfully shortlisted will be invited to take the Entrance Exam and interview.
Please note the Entrance Exam does not apply to applicants coming from our recognised feeder streams.
Areas that the 2025 Entry GEM medicine examination will be based on:
- Respiratory system, anatomy and the physiology of breathing, in health and disease (asthma, COPD, etc.).
- Upper gastrointestinal system and function in physiology and pathology (Ulceration, bacterial infections such as Helicobacter pylori).
- Musculoskeletal system anatomy, function, injury and response to trauma, i.e. wound healing as well as bone repair.
- Cardiovascular system, function (muscles and movement), disease, ischemic heart disease, arrhythmias, and congestive heart failure.
- Cognitive health, brain structure, function, blood supply and age-related cognitive decline.
- Genitourinary system and male and female reproduction, contraceptives, pregnancy, and inheritance disorders (down syndrome etc.).
- Numeracy and statistics (dosing calculations, half-life, calculation of rations and interpretation of p values and error types).
- Genetics, understanding of the interplay between amino acid code and protein formation, modes of inheritance and family tree interpretation.
- Poisoning / adverse drug reactions (presentation of common overdoses such as aspirin etc.).
- Enzyme structure and function, kinetics 1st and 2nd order, terms such as binding affinity and maximum velocity and calculating these.
- Digestion is the process of the breakdown of carbohydrates, proteins and fats, which enzymes are involved in this and what conditions are needed.
- Nutrition, macro and micronutrients, the function of vitamins and cofactors, which foods contain these, and what are the associated symptoms of vitamin deficiency.
- Physiological outcomes of Infection, recognition of immune cells and the role of immune cells in preventing infection and in developing immunity.
- Pain, what is the pain pathway, how is sensory information from say the finger transmitted, what are the pain fibres and what information they convey, and the action of analgesic drugs to dampen pain.
- Microanatomy of the skin, muscle, and adipose tissue, being able to identify key tissue structures, different cell types as well as the biological function of these systems.
- Cartilage structure and function, identification of different components of cartilage and collagen as well as identifying where in the body different isoforms of these matrixes can be found and what their function is.
- Cellular function and processes, what are the vital processes that ensure cells can respond to homeostatic change, and how do bacteria and viruses affect these systems?
- Receptor function, the various classes of receptors such as G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), ligand-gated ion channels, tyrosine kinase receptors as well as enzymes and how might a ligand/ drugs affect these receptors.
- Liver function, anatomy, innovation, and blood supply.
- Interpretation of medical imaging, interpretation of MRI, CT-scan, and X-ray to identify gross body structures from these images, as well as common abnormalities that are seen in the clinic such as a broken bone etc.
- Neurotransmission, understanding key signalling systems such as serotonin, dopamine, and acetylcholine well as others, the biological importance of these signalling systems and what physiological processes they control.
- Kidney anatomy structure and function, the role of the kidney in physiology and how this function can be disrupted in disease or conditions such as kidney damage.
- Actions of drugs, how do commonly prescribed medications work, what is the mechanism of action.
- Second messenger systems, how signals are carried from one side of the cell membrane to the other, such as transmission of a signal through a G protein-coupled receptors and what messengers are utilised such as cAMP.
- Acid-base balance, understanding of this in health and disease, including conditions such as acidosis and alkalosis.
- Professionalism, questions that will test a potential scenario and what a medical student would do in that scenario.