Are supplemented levels accepted in med schools in the UK?

[Sadikshya]

Hi guys,

I am in a huge dilemma. I am currently doing my first year of IB in Denmark and I have an aspiration to study medicine in the UK. I am currently taking the following subjects:

- Biology HL

- English A Lang & Lit. HL

- Danish B HL

- History SL

- Chemistry SL

- Math Studies SL

I know that in Danish universities, it is perfectly okay to take gap years and supplement a level in one of your subjects to get into the university you want to. I have come to learn that Chemistry HL is quite important to get into a med school in the UK. However, I feel that I will not be able to pass with acceptable points in the IB if I take Chem HL. My plan was to take a gap year, go from Chem SL to Chem HL and then finally apply when I am ready and an eligible candidate. So I was wondering if the medical schools in the UK are open to accepting students who have taken a gap year to supplement their subject level in order to be an appropriate candidate to apply for the course or if I will have to start hunting for other medical schools in Europe

[Sandwich]

I would suggest contacting the medical schools you are interested in and asking the admissions departments directly as I think this would vary by medical school. Some of them may have dim views of 're-sit' exams and only count the grades from your first sitting, but I'm not 100% sure as doing HL separately a year later is a tactic I've never heard of.

The safest thing would be just to do HL Chemistry now. Part of the reason they want HL Chemistry is because they know it's challenging and difficult to score highly in as part of the diploma - medical school is also going to be challenging, so if you can do one, the logic is you should be more likely to be able to do the other. It follows that if you're not able to cope with doing HL Chemistry as part of the IB, you may then not cope with the demands of what you're asked to learn at medical school.