To whom it may concern

Let me begin by stating this: we as the collective class MBBCh IV are tired. One only needs to spend time
amongst my peers and the class reps to understand their sheer frustration and anger against UUME and
the current system.

These are some of my frustrations and concerns:

1. Subminimums

The mere notion of subminimums is a poorly thought out concept. Subminimum place students at an
extreme disadvantage. Take for example, the subminimum for pharmacology. In our Endocrine exams,
we barely had questions on pharmacology, versus the large number of questions we had in the GIT
paper. This means that certain subminimums are tested in certain papers and therefore they do not have
an equal weight in each paper.

Surely, this problem could not have been missed when we were forced to sign our handbooks in the
beginning of the year (after being told that our marks will be withheld otherwise). The sheer volume of
students that will be disadvantaged because of this is enormous. We have already passed subjects like
anatomy and physiology previously through sweat and tears.

Apart from this, students have different strengths- some students perform better clinically while others
have better on-paper recall. We are not guinea pigs for the department.

2. Time to engage with Neurology

There has not been enough time to engage sufficiently with neurology. In previous years, neurology had
been taught over 11 and 9 week periods.

Cramming Neurology into 6 weeks places students under extreme stress does not make us better
doctors. It does not give us enough time to adequately engage with the content and therefore makes us
incompetent in the long term. We have not had the time to consolidate the work we have done in
neurology.

3. Lack of notes/slides
There has been an ongoing problem throughout the year where notes were never sufficient and slides
were not uploaded till weeks later. Please understand that this hinders our studying and interferes with
our study plan.

3. Time to study for integrated

We currently have less than two weeks to study for the integrated exam. We have been studying since
the start of the year. Majority of the work needs refreshing with sufficient time regardless.

4. Time to study for Osce

This component counts for 40% of our year mark. Let me be fair by commending clinical skills this year
which were absolutely excellent!

However we will be forced to have to cut osce studying down in order to pass integrated. Further
disadvantage.

5. Leaked memos.

It is highly concerning that students are in possession of memos especially the rumour circulating
between students of some possessing memos before the paper. There is no trust between UUME and
students. It is imperative that questions get answered soon. How did the memo leak?

6. Elective in 4th year

This was unnecessary. Unfortunately many students have made expensive arrangements and it cannot
be scrapped for those that have.

7. Marking system

None of us truly understand the marking system. We have just accepted this after superfluous jargon has
been thrown our way multiple times. For example we just accepted that our musculoskeletal marks went
down 3% - not understanding why or
Subminimums

1. No longer implement subminimums.

2. Increase time to engage with Neurology

3. For future GEMP 2, print sufficient notes and upload slides before the lecture, possibly at the start of
the block in a pack form.

4. Cancel Integrated. Distribute the 20% equally amongst other blocks.

5. Cancellation of integrated will increase time to study for Osce. We will be clinically competent for next
year.

6. Explain the marking system to us in a way that's understandable.

7. Answer student questions timeously and respectfully in an attempt to restore student-faculty

relationship

I hope my voice, like the voice of many other students will not be swept aside and my concerns be taken
into account.

[Please sign off with your name, surname and student number]