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today's session, we'll focus on right these questions. The role of these questions in the CSF, the application strategies for writing them and then doctor will also provide some examples of her own questions and how she approached them. So what are white space questions? Essentially, the mini personal statement. It's your chance to showcase your achievements. Um, why you think you're a good candidate for this position? The aim of the questions is to secure an interview. So each of these changes and it differs with each January. But you get a set of points from your application, and then you get some points from your interview, and then they'll combine them and see how you score and appropriately offer you, um, position approximately. They're about 225 words that this can very, uh, and the number of questions vary from each region. Last year, these were not required by all regions, but I do believe this has changed for this year and I'll go over that in a second. So finding the information you go on, the UK Foundation Program website, previously known as Academic Foundation, is now known as Specialized foundation program. There are two sets of documents are important for you. So the first that is this one which is gives you the information for 2022 interviews will basically give you a list of all the Dean Aries How many programs available the type of programs they offer. And, uh, I believe this year So far, all the interviews are being held online. This can change if covitz sort of improves. But at the moment, they're all online, starting from about beginning November, ranging till December beginning, John. The thing is that the Web link for each of these, um, units of application is provided, and those will be really useful when you're writing your questions as well as when you're preparing for interviews. Uh, So, for example, last year some people took an initiative and researched not only what the program they like but potential supervisors and e mailed them. And that's something they spoke about in the interview, which showed that they were pretty proactive and really interested in the program. And this is the second document that's important for you, which is basically the white space questions. Last year, each of the injury had their own unique set of questions and different number of questions. But this year it seems like there are 56 questions, a mandatory for everyone. So the first one that finally traded your career goals your specific reasons for applying how this program will help you. Uh, this is where it's great to look at your donor is website what they can offer. You make it as personalized as you can towards them. So is there a particular sort of research center that you're interested in? Maybe you've already worked with them before. Maybe it's a particular specialty that they will offer. For example, specialties like neuro surgery or transplants or hematology bigger centers are not available everywhere in the country. So maybe they are specific to you, and that would help you achievements and experience as a second set that's mandatory for all. So essentially, they want you to describe one clinical and one non clinical achievement and how this will help you in this program while we're going to discuss different strategies later. One tip for this is just sort of to have two sheets of paper and one of them right, your non clinical achievements, one of them right, clinical and then see, you know later on how many sort of skills you can pull out from each and which one would give you the best chances of, you know, showcasing your best self in that question program interests. So there are three programs you can apply to research, education and teaching and leadership and management. Um, you can only apply to a maximum of two foundation schools. The number of programs you apply to within them is up to you. If they do offer all three programs, you can rank or three. If you are only interested in certain research and education, you can just choose those. Uh, I would say that only apply for the programs you are interested in because you will be spending a substantial amount of time, uh, most likely an F two, and you want to spend it in some an area that interests you and help you develop your career in the future. The next set of questions are specific to which program you're applying to. Can we go through different strategies and how to approach these? And then these are the other two questions that mandatory. So one's about team working and one's just general about team working. So I would say, give different examples in each of these questions. So, for example, earlier, if you're giving an example in your non clinical treatment and you sort of touched on teamwork, So when you come to this question, give another example. Uh, this way you can showcase different areas of the different experiences you've had and how each of them have contributed. It also shows the people that you know, you've multitask, and you've been able to organize your time well and reach this point. Okay? I'm going to hand over to doctors. And now, And if you have any questions, just pop them in the chart and make your cancer in them. Everyone, thank you for joining us. Um, so I just put together some of the tips that I found useful when I was writing my white space news. Can you hear me now? I still can't hear you. Can you hear me now? Oh. Mm. I still can't hear you. Well, everybody else can. Sorry. Okay. They can hear you, I guess. All right. So some of the times that I found useful when I was applying for AFB so the first thing to do is find out which programs you want to apply and what questions they want you to answer. So it's very important that you read the questions early. I think they're already on the website and make sure you look at the scenery that you want to apply to and look at their questions. Because the question that the Byetta has mentioned, I think they're more generic, and they might vary with different diener ease. So the other thing is, you try to design your answers based on the rotation that you want, and I'll talk more about it as we go through the rest of the slides. And there's something called an academic compendium that I found useful. So it goes through, um, briefly go through the list of things that they would expect you to do as an S f B. So if you pick up some buzz words which are listed here on the table and try to incorporate those into your questions, um, I also read the person specification, so they will tell you exactly what they'd like you to do if you were going to do the S F. P post. So go through that and try to align your goals with what they're offering you as an s SP. Um, I would say that start writing as soon as possible at least two weeks in advance because you will read it and reread it and change it a lot. Before you're happy to submit your final version, you'll get others to read it as well, and they might have some suggestions. So it's good if you write something and then see how you find it and you have a chance to change it a couple of times before you submit it, so I'm not able to move to the next slide. Okay, um, the other thing is to make a mind map of all the skills and the roles that you've had in the last 5 to 6 years of medical school. So you know what you can put down in different answers. So, for example, if a role is going, if a question is going to ask about your leadership role, if you have a list of things in mind that you can already talk about, so it's good if you put them all together and then when you're doing your answers, you can pick and choose what skills you would like to list. Um, yeah, a really useful a couple of framework that you can use to design how you want to answer your questions. One of them is known as the star format. Some of you might have heard of it already. So this is particularly useful in questions that I ask you to give an example about a skill such as the leadership skills or team working skill. So you choose your situation and state exactly what your role was and what skills you have used in order to fulfill this role. Also, talk about how you can apply these skills that you have used and how you can use them and apply it into your as an S f p. So that would be your result. And then a bit of reflection about why you enjoyed this role and how you see yourself in this role in the future as an sfp. So everything that you do try to incorporate it into why you should be an S f be why your skills are really important. You're essentially selling yourself for the post. Another format is the camp format. So this is useful. Um, when When you're describing why you've chosen an AFP as SFP program, so to align with your goals. So what are your clinical goals? What do you see yourself doing in the future in terms of, um, once you become a consultant, or do you want to do? Are you more interested in research? Are you more interested in a certain type of surgery and why this specific role? This specific job is important for you, So try to align that. So give a clinical reason an academic one, if you can a management reason. So if you're doing a leadership AFP, then talk about why. Why this one would be important for you. And also you can also talk about your personal reasons. So I'll go through one of the examples and state why I've chosen this specific beanery. Why, Um, that would be important. So if you go to the next slide So one of the, uh the very common questions is why this SSB um so you have three options. You have your leadership teaching or research once, so make sure you research what the post is before you, Um, state this answer because it might vary with which generally you're applying to. So, for example, for me, my top choice in my delivery was a rotation with T e N o. And, um, if I wanted to become a t e n o surgeon that perfectly alliance with my goals, and that would be the post for me. So you you can mention that that's your personal reason for it and your academic reasons as well. And let's say your greenery has a specialist center like a cardiothoracic center, so you can talk about that as well. And ST, um, that that's your personal and academic reason for choosing this specific AFB. Um, talk about the skills that you will gain and how you will be able to apply this long term into your career. So if it's a teaching one, then the skills that you will gain in education or the research skills that you'll gain and try to try to specify what kind of skills you would gain in research itself in teaching itself And then the last thing is, why do you Why do you need this sfp? Why can't you just do a normal foundation program. How does that make a difference to your career goals? Getting an AFP versus a normal foundation program. So for me, I chose an education one. So the reason was that I want to go on to a PG 13 and then do a diploma medical education, and I want to eventually do become an academic, uh, consultant. So maybe a surgeon and on the side also be a professor or teach so that aligns with my goals. So, um, the most important thing to do is make sure when you when you say that, Okay, I have Good. I'm a good teacher. You also back it up with your past experience. You can't blatantly just ate something because they don't know you. And the the answers are a way that they get to know you. So you need to talk about your experience is what you're good at. So in a way, your boasting about yourself and that's okay, this is exactly what the questions are asking you. So if you say I'm a good teacher, talk about what skills you use as a teacher that make you really good. So you're able to explain concepts in really simple terms. You're very patient. You have a certain approach that people really like. And then you can talk about the positive feedback that you've received from students. Um, the other thing is to status, good time management skills. It's one of those buzzwords good time management skills. But then back it up that, um, I had a leadership role in medical school, and at the same time, I was also able to achieve my achieve a merit or something along side so that you were able to manage your time and and split your work in two different roles. Similarly, it goes for I've gained research skills. Specify what research skills you have. So you're able to analyze data really well. You have knowledge of patient randomization. You have knowledge of a certain systematic review, and then you're able to do those things, so specify exactly what you have. Um, so the other question is, describe your teaching achievement or experience. So this is more personally for me because I applied for an education one. I found it useful to use the star format and then say what exactly my role was as a teacher. What exactly did I do? So I thought for three months, four months every week and the skills that I used, like I've stated earlier, What did I achieved from it? So I learned that I've enjoyed teaching, which is why I'm applying for an educational sfp. Because I want to go down that path and be a teacher at the same time as a clinician and then also talk about any challenges that you've had. And what skills did you use to overcome that? So you could say that you had good organizational skills which helped manage your time, because it is quite demanding to do do your everyday placement and then go on and teach someone for an hour or two. You have to prepare for the sessions during the week so you can talk about all of that. So, um, same was for, um, describe. So one of the questions that they can ask you is describe a research proposal. So if you're planning for a research program, they might ask you if you already have any ideas for what you want to achieve as an S f B. So again you can use the post handbook, see what skills they are looking for. And you can mention those, uh, you can mention why you want to do a certain research proposal and how it aligns with your career goals, like I said before, and also describe how you'll be able to do a certain research program. So let's say, um, you want to do a systematic review, but you you don't want to do it alone. You'd like to do it with four other people. So you you need to stay, that you would do the meetings and specify people their roles and use certain skills to make sure that everybody, you're able to complete your systematic review on time. So you need to go into details about what you would like to do. The challenge is that you only have 2 25 words, which is why, if you start writing early, um, possibly the first time you write, you might have 500 words. You can cut it down and narrow it down if you have enough time before the application deadline. So this is one of the questions that I have had for east of England education, AFP, so there are two parts to this question One is why am I applying to an AFP? The other one is why an educational AFB? Why not a leadership one or a research one? So I just highlighted to, uh some of the main points that I've used here. So I said that I'll be able to develop competencies of academic doctor, which means I'll be able to act as a clinician, a teacher, scholar and a leader. And then I've matched it with my previous experience, past experience of teaching in medical school and the skills that I've gained in teaching. I've also backed it up with an example here. So um sorry. Um so the other thing is, um I've talked about my future goals, So I want to do academic clinical fellowship after I finish my PG certain education as an AFP the in east of England, there's a cardiothoracic center. So I said that I'm interested in cardio thoracic surgery and this by applying to east of England, I'm able to match that gold. So I've also said exactly why this this AFP not in some other scenery but but why this scenery? So the bits and green matches with the delivery so try. That would be my personal reason for it then. I've talked about my long term goals, what I want to achieve as a clinician in the future, let's say 10 years down the line and then how I've already started. So here I backed it up with an example about my own skills and experiences. I've talked about why I want a PG said how it will turn me into a success, successful medical educator and I think this bit here about teaching strategies and curriculum design. This is something I got from the post handbook. So they've mentioned about the skills that we will be using as an AFP, So those would be some of the buzz words that you can get by reading the person specification. The next example is about what steps would you take to optimize the benefits of an AFP post from the start of your training. So that's one part of the question. The second part is what challenges do you foresee. So they're trying to make sure that you understand that you are spending your time between being a clinician and also being, um, an academic and you realize that there might be challenges to it, that you're up to it after you get this post, they want to make sure that you have the skills for it. So here I've talked about the fact that I'll start preparing early. So, like, never mentioned earlier, Uh, some people contacted some supervisors already. So you can talk about that here as well. If you'd like that, you've already contacted someone. You already have a project in mind, which massively changes your timeline. You'll be able to start everything early and finish everything on time. So again, buzzword would be designing a teaching program and discussing things with the team involving others. Then I said to answer the second part of the question. I have stated that some of the challenges would be splitting my time. And then I backed it up to say that I have good time management skills, and I'm able to say that because I've had this different roles as a medical student, aside from being a medical student, and then what did I gain from those roles? So organizational skills, task prioritization, forward planning and then being able to understand that I do have limitations and then I'm able to still plan my day accordingly. So, um, the last part here is about concerns about being an AFP, so splitting my time not being, um it might be difficult to tackle both educational and clinical goals, but then I've also stated how I'll be able to tackle it. So to say that I have, I'm committed to learning and professional development, so it will ensure that I'm I stay on the path to complete my goals. I hope that makes sense. Just let me know if you guys have any questions about it. So important things to remember is you don't write anything that you cannot already back up. So let's say if I said I was a part of a team in medical school, let's say a society, then make sure that you know you're able to back it up if they ask you for a certificate or a letter that states that you're that you have been part of it. If you say you started a teaching program, uh, make sure that someone is able to provide you a letter that says that you have started it and your role was X Y, and said avoid any generic statements. So to say that I'm a good teacher, you wouldn't leave it at that. You need to make sure that you back it up with something and, yeah, so avoid listing achievements. Make sure you back them up with your skills and how this is going to help you in the future as an S f b. So in summary, read the question really carefully. If it says give an example, make sure you only give one example. You only have 2 25 words. So focus on just one thing. On the other hand, if this, uh, they give a clinical and a non clinical example make sure you give both and not leave it just to a clinical example. Um, so start writing now, if you can and, um, ask others to read it. Ask previous if you know any FPs, ask them to read it because they know what kind of answers the scenery is looking for. Ask a friend to read it. Who might not be applying because they'll have a different perspective to the whole thing. Um, check your grandma. That is one of the easiest things to, uh, make a mistake so make sure everything looks correct. The sentences are right and research the job really well. So for today. Make sure you go through the rest of the person specification and the academic compendium, if you can.