• Question: do you have to have neat handwriting to be a doctor?? my uncle works for ceedd, and he tests medicine (not sure what for) is that a hard job and what factors do you have to take into account to carry out an experiment? x

    Asked by tiny to Damien, Rachael, Simon, Suzi, Tim on 16 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Suzi Gage

      Suzi Gage answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      Hi @tiny
      Ooh, 3 questions in one!!
      You don’t need REALLY neat handwriting, these days prescriptions are done on computer, so that’s not a problem.
      However, most degrees are awarded based on exam results, so if the examiner can’t read your writing they can’t give you a good mark, so you might not qualify. My writing is fairly messy, but legible enough to be readable in exams! Phew!

      I’ve not worked testing medicine, but I imagine it’s a job where you need to work hard, but it sounds like it would be fun though. Is it something you’d be interested in doing?

      When you carry out an experiment there’s lots of things you need to think about. You need to be sure what you’re doing can answer the question, and that you’ve made allowances for other things that might interfere with the relationship you’re interested in. Then you need to work out how many people (if you’re testing people) you’ll need to make a reliable sample, and what kind of statistics will be the best way to compare your results. There’s even more things, but this is already a pretty long answer 🙂

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