Medicine degree tutors for your course and goals

The GMC’s Outcomes for graduates sets the knowledge, skills and behaviours expected of new UK medical graduates. Your medical school turns these into its own curriculum and assessments. Choose support using your current module and learning objectives, rather than assuming that every course teaches the same topics in the same year.

A useful starting point is the task you cannot yet complete confidently. These are possible lesson priorities to discuss with a tutor:

Critical appraisal is part of medicine-degree learning. This fictional exercise uses two groups followed for the same one-year period, measuring the same event: 10 people in a group of 100 have the event, compared with 5 in another group of 100. These are invented teaching figures, not results from a treatment trial.

The common mistake: “The risk falls by 50 percentage points.” That confuses a relative change with an absolute difference.

Work through it: the risks are 10% and 5%. Subtract them to get an absolute reduction of 5 percentage points. Then divide the reduction by the starting risk: 5 ÷ 10 = 0.5, or a 50% relative reduction. Cochrane’s guidance on effect measures explains the distinction between these measures.

A clearer response: “Over one year, the event occurs in 10 out of 100 people in one group and 5 out of 100 in the other: five fewer people per 100. The relative reduction is 50%.” Keeping the denominator and period clear follows NICE’s risk-communication guidance.

The next degree-level step is to question what the figures leave out. What was the study design? How uncertain is the estimate? Do the participants and setting fit the clinical question? The arithmetic alone cannot establish a reliable treatment benefit. In a lesson, calculation and explanation can be checked separately, so the next practice task addresses the actual difficulty.

Knowing a fact and communicating it clearly are different tasks. In this constructed role-play, a simulated patient says, “You said the risk is halved. Does that mean I am certain to avoid the problem?” The student replies, “It is a 50% relative reduction. Do you understand?”

That response repeats the statistic and invites a yes-or-no answer, without resolving the person’s concern. A more useful response, using the fictional figures above, is: “It does not mean the event is impossible. Over one year, it happened to 5 out of 100 people in one group, compared with 10 out of 100 in the other.”

Then check the explanation: “I want to make sure I have explained the numbers clearly. What do they mean to you?” This is teach-back: inviting someone to explain their understanding in their own words. NICE recommends checking understanding as information is shared. If the simulated patient still interprets the result as certainty, return to the five events per 100 and explain again in smaller steps.

For follow-up practice, use a different approved course scenario. Identify the person’s concern, explain one point and respond to what they say back. Improvement means addressing a misunderstanding accurately, rather than simply delivering a memorised script. This rehearses one communication skill; it is not a complete clinical station or a marking scheme.

The Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA) includes two different types of assessment. The applied knowledge test (AKT) tests applied clinical knowledge in writing. The clinical and professional skills assessment (CPSA) assesses performance and is set and delivered by UK medical schools. Your school may use terms such as OSCE for practical assessments; use its guidance to identify the exact task.

For MLA preparation, work from the current GMC content map and your medical school’s materials. The Medical Schools Council’s student handbook identifies free official AKT practice resources and explains that private courses are not necessary. One-to-one tuition is an optional way to get individual explanation and feedback alongside that preparation.

Read the tutor’s stated experience, then discuss the particular help you need. Experience preparing applicants for medical-school interviews does not by itself establish experience teaching enrolled medical students. For a specialist module or assessment, establish that fit before arranging lessons.

Latimer tutors offer a free introductory meeting to discuss goals, teaching approach and arrangements. Use it to decide whether the proposed support matches your need; it is not normally a full teaching lesson.

Bring a permitted course question, your own attempted answer and any feedback. Use fictional cases or approved teaching materials, and keep real patient records and identifiable placement details out of shared lesson files. GMC guidance on information used in education explains why removing a name alone may not protect confidentiality.

A plan to agree with the tutor could follow these steps:

Latimer’s service is online-first, with one-to-one lessons. Microsoft Teams is the default meeting platform, and you and the tutor can agree another option. In-person lessons require an individual arrangement.

Each tutor sets their own hourly rate, shown on their profile. Lessons are billed on a pay-as-you-go basis. Compare the rate with the particular work you want help with and agree the scope of the next lesson before booking. There is no fee to submit a matching request.

The free introduction gives you space to discuss your course requirements and how you would work together before paid lessons begin. For the service process and billing details, read how Latimer tuition works.