Modules

Please note that the list of modules given here is indicative. This information is published a long time in advance of enrolment and module content and availability is subject to change. Modules that are in use for the current academic year are linked for further information. Where no link is present, further information is not yet available.

Full-time

The MBBS programme comprises five years of undergraduate medicine and one year of BSc study for non-UK-graduate entrants. Each of the MBBS years comprises a series of core modules and clinical placements.

Our Clinical and Professional Practice curriculum runs in each year and is designed to help you to become an outstanding UCL doctor. Student Selected Components are offered at various points, and Year 6 brings the opportunity for you to take an eight-week elective placement at a hospital of your choice in the UK or overseas.

Our curriculum is reviewed regularly to ensure continued alignment with the General Medical Council’s Outcomes for Graduates and high-quality placement experience in the NHS. Our current review means that module titles and placement rotations within individual modules may change to enable us to enhance teaching and learning opportunities. However, the overall structure, aims and objectives will remain.

In Years 1 and 2, you will learn the fundamentals of clinical science through systems-based modules. You will begin to acquire clinical and professional skills and behaviours through weekly half-day Clinical and Professional Practice sessions. You'll gain clinical experience through community visits and patient pathways. You also choose a Student Selected Component to enable you to pursue special interests relating to healthcare and develop a range of generic skills.

In Year 3, the intercalated BSc programmes comprise core and optional modules designed to enable you to study topics in greater depth than during your medical studies and to present the opportunity to become familiar with the research literature, scientific methods and teaching, and current state of thinking in your selected area. Sample programmes are shown below.

In Years 4 and 5, you will integrate your knowledge of the clinical sciences into clinical practice through a series of long placement-based modules, each with extensive clinical practice and workplace-based learning in hospitals and associated community and GP settings.

In Year 4, you will focus on core presentations and the three broad categories of clinical care:

• community-based care
• ward-based care
• emergency care. 

You will continue to develop your Clinical and Professional Skills in weekly half-day teaching and follow a patient pathway.

In Year 5, 'the life cycle', you will encounter patients with medical conditions from birth through to death, continue your Clinical and Professional Practice development within your placements, and follow a patient pathway.

In Year 6, you will complete your preparation for entry into Foundation Year training as a UCL Doctor. This is to be:

• knowledgeable, decisive and practical
• able to work in teams
• aware of patients’ needs
• aware of your own limitations.

Year 6 places professionalism and patient-based student-led learning at its heart. A series of placement-based modules are designed to ensure that you think and act like a doctor, master key practical procedures in real clinical settings, and demonstrate impeccable patient-centred professionalism. You will be encouraged to integrate your prior learning in biomedical and human sciences with all your clinical experience and apply it to patient management. You will continue to maintain a portfolio of workplace-based assessments and required course work.

Modules A and B provide clinical opportunities in all areas of practice (medicine, surgery, specialist practice, emergency care, chronic care, general practice) and an assistantship sharing the work of a named FY1. Opportunities are also provided in obstetrics and gynaecology, child health and mental health, as these specialities are included in the final MLA AKT and CPSA. Clinical and Professional Practice themes and skills are fully integrated into these placements. Module C provides Preparation for Practice and an Elective of your choice.

Across the programme, Clinical and Professional Practice currently includes core learning in Anatomy and Imaging, Clinical Skills and Practical Procedures, Dr as Data Scientist, Pathological Sciences, ‘Use of Medicines, ‘Mental Health, Social Determinants of Health, Ethics and Law and Clinical Communication.

A small number of highly motivated and able students also have the opportunity to obtain a PhD on our MB PhD Programme, in addition to the intercalated BSc and MBBS degrees.

Intercalated BSc

The intercalated BSc (IBSc) year allows you to study an individual subject of your choice in depth and develop your research skills through an extended research project. IBScs are reviewed annually and currently include the following programmes:

• Medical Sciences with Anatomy and Cell and Developmental Biology
• Medical Sciences with Cardiovascular Sciences
• Medical Sciences with Clinical Sciences
• Medical Sciences with Global Health
• Medical Sciences with History & Philosophy of Science & Medicine
• Medical Sciences with Human Genetics & Genomics
• Medical Sciences with Immunology, Infection and Cell Pathology
• Medical Sciences with Mathematics, Computers and Medicine
• Medical Sciences with Medical Anthropology
• Medical Sciences with Medical Physics & Biomedical Engineering
• Medical Sciences with Neuroscience
• Medical Sciences with Oncology
• Medical Sciences with Orthopaedic Science
• Medical Sciences with Paediatrics & Child Health
• Medical Sciences with Pharmacology
• Medical Sciences with Physiology
• Medical Sciences with Physiology & Pharmacology
• Medical Sciences with Policy, Communication & Ethics
• Medical Sciences with Primary Health Care
• Medical Sciences with Psychology
• Medical Sciences with Sports & Exercise Medical Science
• Medical Sciences with Surgical Sciences
• Medical Sciences with Women's Health.

Your learning

A large proportion of your degree is spent learning with, and from, a wide range of healthcare professionals and patients during placements, both centrally at UCL and at our many placement provider sites in and around London.

A variety of teaching and learning methods are used throughout the programme, including small group activities, lectures, self-paced and computer-assisted learning, practical work, patient and community-based learning, and private study.

Anatomy and Imaging form a significant part of early years teaching, and are taught through a combination of dissection, pro-section and computer simulation.

Early patient contact is provided in Years 1 and 2. Years 4-6 are placement-based in NHS Trusts, Community and Primary Care settings.

UCL's MBBS term dates, excluding exam weeks and the compulsory iBSc in year three, extend over 191 weeks with 104 weeks spent in placements.

The taught and placement hours in each year of study (excluding exam weeks) exceeds 5,500 hours in total. This is broken down as follows:

• Year 1: 28.5 weeks of 32 hours (912 hours)
• Year 2: 28.5 weeks of 32 hours (912 hours)
• Year 4: 41 weeks of 32 hours (1,312 hours) with 36 placement weeks
• Year 5: 41 weeks of 32 hours (1,312 hours) with 36 placement weeks
• Year 6: 36 weeks of 32 hours (1,152) with 32 placement weeks.

MBBS students are required to attend all timetabled activities and self-directed or online preparation from 9am-5pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and from 9am-12.50pm on Wednesdays.

Contact hours include small group activities, lectures, self-paced and computer-assisted learning and preparation, practical work, patient and community-based learning, and clinical placements at our NHS partners.

We also recommend that medical students spend at least 10 hours a week in additional study outside the prescribed course to consolidate your learning, extend your background reading, prepare for teaching sessions and prepare for assessments. Medical students are also expected to attend occasional out-of-hours activities during placements, for example on-call and weekend rotas.

Assessment

During the academic year, you will have a variety of assessments including:

• Formative (mock) assessments, to help inform your learning and to familiarise yourself with the assessment procedures.
• Summative exams at the end of each academic year for progression to the next year of the course. These include Applied Knowledge Tests (AKT) and Clinical and Professional Skills Assessments (CPSA), currently in the form of Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE).
• Portfolio requirements including course work, workplace-based assessments, supervised learning events (SLE), module sign-off, practical and clinical procedures sign-off. Satisfactory completion of all portfolio items is a requirement for progression and qualification which may become part of the summative examinations.

You will be assessed using a wide range of methods, including:

• Single-best-answer questions
• Very short answer questions
• Online cases
• Practical examinations
• Clinical examinations
• Workplace-based assessment, and
• A portfolio.

In your final year, you will sit the Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA) in order to qualify.

Accessibility

Details of the accessibility of UCL buildings can be obtained from AccessAble. Further information can also be obtained from the UCL Student Support and Wellbeing Services team.