UHS DES Entrance Exam study plan

Rank the ten highest-yield Medicine topics - cardiology, endocrinology, respiratory, gastroenterology, nephrology, hematology, neurology, rheumatology, infectious disease, oncology - by exam frequency and rate your confidence 1–5 on each.

Explain aloud, without notes and in under five minutes each, the pathophysiology of heart failure, acute coronary syndrome, and diabetic ketoacidosis.

Contrast nephrotic versus nephritic syndrome, and obstructive versus restrictive lung disease, in two written comparison tables of at least eight discriminators each.

Describe cellular adaptations, reversible versus irreversible cell injury, and the four mechanisms of apoptosis from memory, then verify each point against a standard pathology text.

Answer 50 mixed Medicine and Pathology MCQs under timed conditions and log every error with the concept it tested.

Reproduce the brachial plexus on a blank page, labelling roots, trunks, divisions, cords, terminal branches, and the two most commonly injured cords.

State the boundaries, contents, and clinical relations of the inguinal canal, femoral triangle, and carotid sheath, then verify each from memory against a text.

Trace cranial nerves III, VII, and XII from nucleus to target, and describe the deficit produced by a lesion at two named points along each nerve.

Write the operative steps, indications, and five named complications for open appendicectomy, inguinal hernia repair, and thyroidectomy.

Answer 50 Anatomy and Surgery MCQs and score your three blank-page diagrams against a reference, marking every omitted structure.

Explain the cardiac cycle against the pressure–volume loop, and show how preload, afterload, contractility, and heart rate each alter stroke volume and cardiac output.

Describe the countercurrent multiplier and exchanger, and the tubular actions of ADH, aldosterone, and atrial natriuretic peptide at their receptors.

List the rate-limiting enzyme, regulated step, and hormonal control for glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, the TCA cycle, and glycogen synthesis and breakdown.

Interpret three arterial blood gas results (metabolic acidosis, respiratory alkalosis, and a mixed picture) using the compensation formulas and the anion gap.

Answer 50 Physiology and Biochemistry MCQs and tag each error as either a knowledge gap or a recall slip.

Build a drug table giving mechanism, one key adverse effect, and one contraindication for the autonomic, antimicrobial, cardiovascular, and analgesic classes most likely to be tested.

State the mechanism and signature toxicity for aminoglycosides, vancomycin, isoniazid, rifampicin, and paracetamol, with the antidote or monitoring step for each.

Distinguish bactericidal from bacteriostatic action, and explain penicillin-binding protein alteration, extended-spectrum beta-lactamase production, and efflux as resistance mechanisms.

Match ten common pathogens - including Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Salmonella typhi, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis - to their culture media, colony appearance, and one confirmatory test.

Answer 50 Pharmacology and Microbiology MCQs and rewrite every wrong answer as a one-line correct fact.

Apply the ABCDE primary survey to five written scenarios and state the immediate time-critical intervention for tension pneumothorax, cardiac tamponade, anaphylaxis, and status epilepticus.

Calculate Glasgow Coma Scale, qSOFA, and shock index for six paper cases, and state the disposition (ward, high-dependency unit, or intensive care) each score implies.

List the indications for mechanical ventilation, the common modes, and four complications with the preventive measure for each.

Compute incidence, prevalence, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value from three two-by-two tables, and state how rising prevalence changes predictive value.

Describe the levels of prevention with one local example each, and outline the cold chain and the current childhood immunisation schedule.

Convert each item on your Week 1 Medicine checklist into four vignette-style MCQs, answer them, and justify the correct option in one line.

Link ten pathological processes - such as caseous necrosis, coagulative necrosis, dystrophic calcification, and amyloid deposition - to the clinical or radiological picture each produces.

Explain the pathological basis of four common clinical syndromes: nephrotic syndrome, cirrhosis with portal hypertension, lobar pneumonia, and iron-deficiency anaemia.

Run a 30-minute spaced-recall session for Physiology, Biochemistry, Pharmacology, and Microbiology, and re-answer every previously logged error from those domains.

Sit a 100-question cumulative Medicine and Pathology test under timed conditions.

Complete two timed 50-question sectional papers, one Anatomy and one Surgery, allowing 60 seconds per question.

Re-draw the brachial plexus, inguinal canal, and femoral triangle in under eight minutes each and compare them against your Week 2 versions.

Recite the operative steps of five index procedures - appendicectomy, hernia repair, thyroidectomy, cholecystectomy, and wound debridement - naming one critical safety step for each.

Explain the anatomy underlying five surgical complications, including recurrent laryngeal nerve injury, strangulation of a femoral hernia, and saphenous nerve damage.

Re-attempt every Anatomy and Surgery MCQ missed in Weeks 2 and 6 and record whether the second attempt was correct.

Sit two full-length timed mock papers covering all ten domains under exam conditions, replicating the timing and breaks of test day.

Review every mock error and classify it as a knowledge gap, a misread, or a guess, then convert each knowledge gap into a flashcard.

Re-drill your three weakest subtopics from the Week 6 accuracy table until you answer 15 consecutive questions correctly in each.

Recite the emergency algorithms, drug-toxicity pairs, and biostatistics formulas from memory in a 45-minute rapid-fire session.

Assemble a single-page formula and fact sheet for a final review the morning before the exam.