"Be your best on your worst day."

Nikolai Khutoryanskiy

After two years of enduring the tediousness of remote learning, I unfortunately found myself in the position where I had been rejected from all four of the medical schools that I applied to. I had been put on one waiting list, which gave me a tiny spark of hope, however, this was quickly shut down when the university told me by phone on results day that they had no spaces left. At this point, my mind was lost. The last thing I wanted was to have a gap year. I had no plans for what I was going to do or what jobs to apply for. In addition to this, the thought of having to re-sit the dreaded medical school entrance exam, the UCAT, made me feel sick. I remembered the stress and anxiety I went through in the lead up to the exam last year and did not want to have to go through it again.

I came across Yipiyap when I received a message from my director of Sixth Form at Reading School. He suggested that it might be a worth working as a tutor at Yipiyap during my gap year, as it seemed like a great opportunity for personal development. Initially hesitant, I decided to fill out the application form and within a week, I had received an interview. 

The whole recruitment process was an extremely positive experience. I had an enjoyable discussion with the COO, Catherine, where I had the opportunity to find out more about the aims and ethos of the company and discuss my placement. I found online learning challenging to mentally cope with, so I was pleased to hear that I would be working in-person. I also really appreciated the flexibility offered with my start date being delayed, so I could focus my efforts on preparing for my UCAT exam in early September. 

“Being a Yipiyap tutor has allowed me to develop so many interpersonal skills, such as communication and teaching.”

Despite receiving an offer of employment from Yipiyap, I was contemplating going to university through clearing in order to study an alternative medical-related course. All of my friends were going to university. I truly felt like I was being left behind by everyone else who was moving on in their lives. I decided to turn to someone to seek advice: my swimming coach, Lee. As a National competitive swimmer training 20 hours per week pre-lockdown, I knew that Lee was someone that I could turn to. He was my rock during COVID-19, where he would take the time out of his day to speak to me weekly in order to support my worsening mental health. He was there to support me during every medical school rejection I received and has always been there to help me bounce back from failure. He was more than just a swimming coach, he was my role model, and one of my best friends.

Lee has always believed in me. He kept reminding me of the amazing things that I could achieve if I were to set my mind to it. Because of him, I decided to take a gap year and re-apply for medicine. Hence, I also decided to take a leap of faith and accept my offer of employment with Yipiyap for the 2021/22 academic year.

“Taking a gap year has truly been a blessing in disguise. ”

My first challenge this year was re-sitting my UCAT. I achieved a very commendable score last year, however, preparing for the exam drained me mentally. Unfortunately, scores cannot be carried over if re-applying, hence, I had to re-learn all the content and strategies in order to maximise my score again this year. The UCAT is unpredictable and extremely time-pressured, which is why I felt immensely anxious about resitting. However, preparation became easier, and I quickly managed to remember what I had forgotten. I recall walking into the exam second time round feeling a lot more confident. I had done all the necessary preparation and felt as if I had improved upon my weaknesses (verbal reasoning!). This year, I fortunately managed to improve my score in every subsection, achieving a score in the 94th percentile!

My second challenge was starting my Yipiyap placement at Reading College. I was feeling extremely overwhelmed and nervous, but was quickly greeted by friendly members of staff, who made it easy for me to settle in. I would like to extend a huge thank you to Alia, my in-college mentor, who has supported me in every step of the way throughout this whole academic year.

Initially, it was quite a struggle to get students to ‘buy in’ to the Yipiyap tuition sessions. However, this changed from term to term as they realised the true benefit of the 1:1 support being offered. Ever since, I have had a reliable stream of students who have been regularly attending and have made significant progress in their Maths and English! Being a Yipiyap tutor has allowed me to develop so many interpersonal skills, such as communication and teaching. I have attempted to connect with each student on an individual level, trying to understand what motivates them and also their best way of learning. As a result, my tutoring experience has given me so many iconic stories and memories that I will forever share with friends and family. Moving forward, I am now looking forward to seeing how well my students at Reading College will do this summer within their GCSE resit exams. I’m hopeful that all of their hard work will pay off and that they achieve the grades they need to progress forward.

“One of his key phrases that he would always say was “Be your best on your worst day”, which is a quote that greatly resonates with me. ”

Taking a gap year has truly been a blessing in disguise. It allowed me to reconnect with my competitive swimming, a major aspect of my life that had been diminished due to lockdown. Due to the flexibility offered by Yipiyap, I was able to return to a 20 hour per week training schedule, something that I hadn’t managed to previously do due to my impending A Level exams. The management at Yipiyap have also been extremely supportive of my swimming endeavours, allowing me to take time off for major National competitions. 

Following my return to the competitive side of swimming, I decided to dedicate my training efforts to prepare for the British National Swimming Championships in April. Everything in the lead up to the National Championships was going exceedingly well, I felt ready to race. I trusted the process and believed in all the hard work that I had done. However, one week before the British Championships, everything changed. On March 26th, my swimming coach, Lee, suddenly and unexpectedly passed away from a heart attack. I had only just seen him at training hours before it happened so my mind was in complete shock. I could not contemplate the reality of the situation at the time and was in constant disbelief. Lee was like family to me, so this loss significantly hurt me mentally. This truly has been the hardest challenge that I have ever had to overcome in my life.

A week later, I was expected to perform at the British Championships. I really wanted my coach to be there to support me but knew that this was no longer an option. Nevertheless, I knew that he was watching over me, and that I couldn’t let him down. One of his key phrases that he would always say was “Be your best on your worst day”, which is a quote that greatly resonates with me. It then came as an astounding surprise when I managed to achieve a 2 second personal best in my 100m Breaststroke and had also qualified for the Priority Paris Final (a final dedicated to swimmers 21 and under who are of prime age to be selected for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games).

Upon reflection, I am so glad that I decided to do a gap year. Had I gone straight to university, I would not have achieved the results that I did in my swimming. Also, I would not have spent as much time as I did reconnecting with my swimming team and would not have as many memorable moments with Lee. I am extremely thankful that I can support my swimming club at this difficult time, and be there for my friends, who are feeling the same way that I am. 

I am also very lucky to have achieved an unconditional offer this year to study Medicine at the University of Nottingham. The interviews were extremely tough to prepare for, and I was asked some exceptionally challenging questions, however, I tried to stay positive throughout. I am tremendously excited to embark on this next stage of my academic journey and am ever-so grateful for all of the support and encouragement I have received from Yipiyap thus far.