Studying Medicine in Alexandria University, Egypt

I've been getting questions about doing medicine in Alexandria University. Well honestly, not many asked me, but this post is just for reference, so if someone asked me again in the future, I could simply just give him this link. Please note this is a post about the university itself only. If you wanted to know about living in Egypt, please wait for another post (if I feel like writing it).

First of all, here's the study plan. What you will learn during your six years here. But please bear in mind this is due to changes. You will learn each module roughly in a month or so, except for several modules where it could be less than a month or about two months - depending on the study load (is this the correct term?)

Year 1
Semester I	Semester II
Introduction to Medical Studies Nutrition and Metabolism Introduction to Medical Sciences	Concepts of Health and Disease Muculoskeletal system Blood, lymph and Immune System Professional development

Year 2
Semester III	Semester IV
Nervous system and special senses Basics of psychological development and behavior Infection and Immunity Student selected component Professional Development	Epidemlology and biostatistics Cardiovascular system Respiratory system Human rights Student selected component Professional Development

Year 3
Semester V	Semester VI
Endocrine System Urinary System Reproductive System Student selected component Professional Development	Gastrointestinal System Pathobiology of selected systems Health care environment and management Student selected component Professional Development

Curriculum Map - Clinical Phase

Year 4
Semester VII	Semester VIII
Medicine I Basic Imaging Laboratory Medicine Surgery I Anesthesia	Obs. Gyn I Pediatrics I Tropical Med Clinical Parasito/ Micro Orthopedic Elective Course

Year 5
Semester IX	Semester X
Obs. Gyn. II Pediatrics II Neurology and Psychiatry Mental Health Care Elective Course	Basic Ear, Nose and Throat Basic Ophthalmology Urosurgery Dermatology Elective Course Elective Course

Year 6
Semester XI	Semester XII
Emergency Med. & Critical Care Family Medicine Principles and Revisiting child health, maternal health, mental health Forensic & Clinical Toxicology Elective	Surgery II Medicine II Pre-Internship Project

Copied and pasted from here.

Since I'm currently only in Year 2, I'll only be writing about pre-clinical years. Please don't ask me about the clinical years.

You will have test at the end of every module and a final semester exam at the end of the semester (well, duh). For end of module test, you will go through a practical exam done in spots and an MCQ test (done in different days). While for final sem exam, you will have MCQ and short essay questions.

In case you didn't know what 'the spots' is, it's something like this: There will be, say, 20 spots (or checkpoints, if you want to), and you need to answer the questions on each spot. You will have roughly 2 minutes to answer the questions, before the invigilator yells 'shift' or 'change'. Then you will need to go to the next spot and the cycle goes on until you've done all the 20 spots. Bear in mind the number of spots will vary according to the module you currently learning. Oh, for each spot, you'll be given a specimen (for anatomy) - lung, arm, leg, etc, depending on what module, or jars (for pathology), or slides (for histology) or graphs (for pharmacology), or pictures, or test tubes etc and the questions will be based on the specimen given.

Are the exams hard?
Personally, I don't think the questions are that hard. They are very direct. It's only difficult for you to answer them if you didn't do enough revision *tskk tskk*.

There will also be assignments. Previously, we need to do an assignment for each module, but now we only need to do one for each sem. You will be in a group of 10, and will be given a topic and a supervising professor. You need to find the materials regarding on the topic given, prepare a written copy and present it in front of the supervising professor and another examining professor. The professors might ask you one or two questions relating to your presentation, but most of the time they just want the presentation to end quickly.


What about the books?
You will need to buy a new 'textbook' for each module. The price will vary, but it won't exceed 100 EGP (if my memory serves me correctly). Here are the books for the modules I've learned so far.

How about the facilities? Professors and labs?
I've never seen other universities' labs, so I can't really compare. But since the current campus (Mowassah campus) is relatively new, the facilities are not bad. The professors are friendly and always willing to help you, so don't be afraid to ask them (one or two of my friends even asked for prescription LOL).

How does the learning process being conducted?
You will have lectures and practical sessions. In lectures, you will sit in a lecture hall with another 100(-ish) students, while in practical sessions, you will be in a group of 40(-ish) students, called 'section'. So those 40(-ish) students are your section-mates.

What else eh?

Oh your weekends are not  on Saturday and Sunday. It might be on Friday and Saturday, or Thursday and Friday, etc etc. Ours are Friday and Saturday. Sometimes (rarely), you'll even have class during the weekend, so you only have one day off.

So that's basically it. I can't think of what else to write, so if you have any questions, just let me know.

Till then.