Registered  members with 100+ posts do not see Ads

Flinders Flinders Medicine: Guide to First Year Clinical Science/MD

FlyingAce

Member
Firstly I’d like to congratulate you on receiving a Med offer at the prestigious Flinders Uni. Make sure that you’ve accepted your offer on SATAC before registering a Flinders account.


Enrolment & Choosing a stream:


Flinders gives you the opportunity to study either Health Science or Medical science topics in the first two years of the degree (your clinical science period). Many students from senior years have recommended studying Medical science as the content is more relevant to MD. However, there are still many students who end up doing health science as there are less exams when compared to medical science.

The following link lists the topics you must enrol in for the Health science or Medical science stream:

Bachelor of Clinical Sciences, Doctor of Medicine - Flinders University

For example, Medical science requires you study BIOL1101, BIOL1102, COMS1001, HLTH1003, MDSC1102, MMED1005, CHEM1101 & CHEM1102 or CHEM1201 & CHEM1202.

These are the only topics you will be studying throughout semester 1 and semester 2. I would recommend enrolling in both semesters at the start of the year. I’d also just like to highlight that CHEM1201 & CHEM1202 are considered the ‘easy’ chem topics and are recommended for students who did not complete Year 12 Chemistry. But, even if you’ve done Yr 12 Chem and just want to cruise through uni like me, you can still enrol in it. The content is mainly an extension of Year 12 Biology & Chemistry. COMS1001 and MDSC1102 are relatively easy as its just discussing English and medical research skills, respectively. The only slightly difficult topic is Physiology MMED1005, so it's best to keep up with the lectures.

To enrol in your topics, login to the OKTA portal and click on the ‘student system’ box. There should be a enrolment tab near the top of the page. Once you’ve enrolled, you will also have the chance to create your timetable. There are many timings available for each class, so it's very flexible. Just make sure you leave a 5-10 minute gap between classes as the Flinders campus is huge and it can take a while to walk to some rooms. Just make sure your classes don’t clash.

After enrolling, you should be able to make a Flinders ID card which will be posted to your address. Alternatively, you can go to the Flinders Plaza to create it.


What can I expect in terms of course content and workload?


Some of you might be a bit anxious about maintaining a GPA of 5 for two years. But the topics are extremely easy and no one has averaged below 5 so far. I was able to maintain a GPA of 6.12 in my first year even after missing more than half my practicals and tutorials so I could day drink in the Barossa. There is minimal workload in comparison to Year 12 and most students only go to Uni around 2-3 days per week. I was averaging around 3-5 hours of home study per week. So the number of contact + self study hours are relatively low as there are minimal compulsory classes. The compulsory classes include Bio & Chem Practicals, MDSC1102 workshops/some lectures and COMS1001 workshops. Most lectures are not compulsory and will be uploaded to FLO (Flinders Learning Online).

Most of your marks come from assignments and end of semester exams can vary from 35% to 50% of your semester mark. In first semester the major assignments are the BIOL1101 research project, all MMED1005 assignments, MDSC1005 oral presentation and grant research assignment.


Groups/websites:

Flinders Medical Students Society FMSS (Flinders Medical Students' Society) - keep up with those med events!

Flinders University Surgical Society FUSS (Flinders University Surgical Society - FUSS) - more relevant for MD but some important events throughout the year such as the Scrubcrawl!

Clinsci 1 Facebook Group - the group should be created soon. In the meantime, send me a PM on mso and I’ll add you on fb and invite you when the group has been created. If you can't PM me because you haven't qualified yet, reply to this post or write on my profile and I'll PM you!

Adelaide Medical Students Society AMSS (Adelaide Medical Students' Society - AMSS) - Adelaide uni has a ton of med events that everyone can join in on!

Download the Lost on Campus app which is basically google maps for every Uni campus in Australia. This was my saviour in the first 2 weeks!


Textbooks/other items:

DO NOT purchase any textbooks! All textbook PDFs will be provided in the Clinsci 1 Facebook group. However, you will need a lab coat and a lab notebook which can be purchased from the Flinders co-op store.

Don't be afraid to PM me if you have any questions. Keen to grab a drink with you guys at the Flinders Uni Bar.
 
Last edited:
Firstly I’d like to congratulate you on receiving a Med offer at the prestigious Flinders Uni. Make sure that you’ve accepted your offer on SATAC before registering a Flinders account.


Enrolment & Choosing a stream:


Flinders gives you the opportunity to study either Health Science or Medical science topics in the first two years of the degree (your clinical science period). Many students from senior years have recommended studying Medical science as the content is more relevant to MD. However, there are still many students who end up doing health science as there are less exams when compared to medical science.

The following link lists the topics you must enrol in for the Health science or Medical science stream:

Bachelor of Clinical Sciences, Doctor of Medicine - Flinders University

For example, Medical science requires you study BIOL1101, BIOL1102, COMS1001, HLTH1003, MDSC1102, MMED1005, CHEM1101 & CHEM1102 or CHEM1201 & CHEM1202.

These are the only topics you will be studying throughout semester 1 and semester 2. I would recommend enrolling in both semesters at the start of the year. I’d also just like to highlight that CHEM1201 & CHEM1202 are considered the ‘easy’ chem topics and are recommended for students who did not complete Year 12 Chemistry. But, even if you’ve done Yr 12 Chem and just want to cruise through uni like me, you can still enrol in it. The content is mainly an extension of Year 12 Biology & Chemistry. COMS1001 and MDSC1102 are relatively easy as its just discussing English and medical research skills, respectively. The only slightly difficult topic is Physiology MMED1005, so it's best to keep up with the lectures.

To enrol in your topics, login to the OKTA portal and click on the ‘student system’ box. There should be a enrolment tab near the top of the page. Once you’ve enrolled, you will also have the chance to create your timetable. There are many timings available for each class, so it's very flexible. Just make sure you leave a 5-10 minute gap between classes as the Flinders campus is huge and it can take a while to walk to some rooms. Just make sure your classes don’t clash.

After enrolling, you should be able to make a Flinders ID card which will be posted to your address. Alternatively, you can go to the Flinders Plaza to create it.


What can I expect in terms of course content and workload?


Some of you might be a bit anxious about maintaining a GPA of 5 for two years. But the topics are extremely easy and no one has averaged below 5 so far. I was able to maintain a GPA of 6.12 in my first year even after missing more than half my practicals and tutorials so I could day drink in the Barossa. There is minimal workload in comparison to Year 12 and most students only go to Uni around 2-3 days per week. I was averaging around 3-5 hours of home study per week. So the number of contact + self study hours are relatively low as there are minimal compulsory classes. The compulsory classes include Bio & Chem Practicals, MDSC1102 workshops/some lectures and COMS1001 workshops. Most lectures are not compulsory and will be uploaded to FLO (Flinders Learning Online).

Most of your marks come from assignments and end of semester exams can vary from 35% to 50% of your semester mark. In first semester the major assignments are the BIOL1101 research project, all MMED1005 assignments, MDSC1005 oral presentation and grant research assignment.


Groups/websites:

Flinders Medical Students Society FMSS (Flinders Medical Students' Society) - keep up with those med events!

Flinders University Surgical Society FUSS (Flinders University Surgical Society - FUSS) - more relevant for MD but some important events throughout the year such as the Scrubcrawl!

Clinsci 1 Facebook Group - the group should be created soon. In the meantime, send me a PM on mso and I’ll add you on fb and invite you when the group has been created. If you can't PM me because you haven't qualified yet, reply to this post or write on my profile and I'll PM you!

Adelaide Medical Students Society AMSS (Adelaide Medical Students' Society - AMSS) - Adelaide uni has a ton of med events that everyone can join in on!

Download the Lost on Campus app which is basically google maps for every Uni campus in Australia. This was my saviour in the first 2 weeks!


Textbooks/other items:

DO NOT purchase any textbooks! All textbook PDFs will be provided in the Clinsci 1 Facebook group. However, you will need a lab coat and a lab notebook which can be purchased from the Flinders co-op store.

Don't be afraid to PM me if you have any questions. Keen to grab a drink with you guys at the Flinders Uni Bar.

Hey, I'm not qualified for PMing yet, can you please send me the link for the Class of 2024 Clinsci link please?
 
Can you give me your opinion on whether it's better to attend lectures in person or watch them online? Is there any added advantage of attending them?
 

chinaski

Regular Member
Can you give me your opinion on whether it's better to attend lectures in person or watch them online? Is there any added advantage of attending them?

It's a personal thing - you will need to figure out what works best for your own learning style and competing interests. It's also worth considering your own ability to motivate yourself - some people find it easier to attend in person simply because they lack the discipline required to watch lectures later or to not get distracted at home.
 

Crow

Staff | Junior Doctor
Moderator
Can you give me your opinion on whether it's better to attend lectures in person or watch them online? Is there any added advantage of attending them?
Attend everything at the start, then work out what works best for you. Personally I attend the majority of my lectures in person, and then for the high yield ones (or ones I couldn’t fully keep up with at the time) I rewatch them at home, pausing as I need to. Most people don’t do it this way but it works for me - so as above, find out what works best for you and then run with that.

Sometimes lecturers will draw on a white board or do some other form of demonstration in the live lecture - naturally this can’t be recorded, so there’s a benefit to attending in person.
 

Registered  members with 100+ posts do not see Ads

Attend everything at the start, then work out what works best for you. Personally I attend the majority of my lectures in person, and then for the high yield ones (or ones I couldn’t fully keep up with at the time) I rewatch them at home, pausing as I need to. Most people don’t do it this way but it works for me - so as above, find out what works best for you and then run with that.

Sometimes lecturers will draw on a white board or do some other form of demonstration in the live lecture - naturally this can’t be recorded, so there’s a benefit to attending in person.

Thanks for the advice, I will try and find what works for me.

I think your method is what I would probably do as well.

It's a personal thing - you will need to figure out what works best for your own learning style and competing interests. It's also worth considering your own ability to motivate yourself - some people find it easier to attend in person simply because they lack the discipline required to watch lectures later or to not get distracted at home.

Thankss. I will see how it plays for me.
 

walktest

Member
I was hoping to ask a few questions about the program in Flinders University graduate medicine program from those who are already there. This is my first post here, so if I have posted in the wrong place please forgive me and teach me :)

So I have looked at the QILT surveys for the different graduate medicine programs for the various universities. The comparisons can be done in the Compared website. So my question to current students are based on the surveys that past students have done regarding the program at Flinders. In the Compared website the graduate program falls under Medicine (Postgraduate). The ratings for this are way lower than Flinder's own Medicine (Undergraduate).

The questions I have are about the Medicine (Postgraduate) program, which is the Flinders University graduate medicine program. They are:-

1. How do you find the overall experience in Flinders? In the Medicine (Postgraduate) survey, only 38.3% said they had a positive experience. National average is 70.1%

2. How do you rate the teaching practices? In the Medicine (Postgraduate) survey, only 41.3% rated it positively . National average is 71.7%

3. How do you rate the support services? In the Medicine (Postgraduate) survey, only 46.3% rated it positively. National average is 69.2%

4. One complaint that I read elsewhere was that the rotations may not be very varied. Some students have gone on 20 week rotations to just one department. Another comment said that the rotations are too heavily rural focussed. Rural is good, but variety is better (I thought). Do thess comments have some truth to them?

5. In almost all measured domains, the Medicine (Postgraduate) program scored consistently significantly lower than the national average. So any thoughts on your experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you
 

AdFD

Member
I was hoping to ask a few questions about the program in Flinders University graduate medicine program from those who are already there. This is my first post here, so if I have posted in the wrong place please forgive me and teach me :)

So I have looked at the QILT surveys for the different graduate medicine programs for the various universities. The comparisons can be done in the Compared website. So my question to current students are based on the surveys that past students have done regarding the program at Flinders. In the Compared website the graduate program falls under Medicine (Postgraduate). The ratings for this are way lower than Flinder's own Medicine (Undergraduate).

The questions I have are about the Medicine (Postgraduate) program, which is the Flinders University graduate medicine program. They are:-

1. How do you find the overall experience in Flinders? In the Medicine (Postgraduate) survey, only 38.3% said they had a positive experience. National average is 70.1%

2. How do you rate the teaching practices? In the Medicine (Postgraduate) survey, only 41.3% rated it positively . National average is 71.7%

3. How do you rate the support services? In the Medicine (Postgraduate) survey, only 46.3% rated it positively. National average is 69.2%

4. One complaint that I read elsewhere was that the rotations may not be very varied. Some students have gone on 20 week rotations to just one department. Another comment said that the rotations are too heavily rural focussed. Rural is good, but variety is better (I thought). Do thess comments have some truth to them?

5. In almost all measured domains, the Medicine (Postgraduate) program scored consistently significantly lower than the national average. So any thoughts on your experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you


Sorry if this isn't how/where questions like this are asked, as it's my first time posting. I've got the same question as walktest. I'm an international student who's received a Flinders Offer for their undergrad med program, and I'm still waiting on a yes/no from UAdel (where I also applied and gave an interview). I haven't read a lot of reviews about the quality of teaching/experiences with professors and the faculty etc., except for one extremely scathing review on another website (which explicitly cautioned against attending Flinders). While I haven't heard/read anything particularly negative about the Uni, several overly critical reviews have led me to question my decision to attend, and the ranking statistics, as mentioned by walktest above do not serve as any consolation.

If you're a current Flinders Med student, what is your honest review of the teaching and faculty at the uni?
 
I'd really like to get a jump-start on the first semester courses especially the chem which I've never done before so I can hit the ground running next year. Any possibility I could join the facebook group? or get a link to the books? (can't pm yet)
 

dotwingz

Google Enthusiast
Moderator
It is generally advised against doing 'prestudy' to prepare during the holidays. You dont really know what's important information to learn yet, and plus you should enjoy the holidays you've been given.

Also ontop of that, a quick look on the clinical science course list, all of your chemistry units require completion of CHEM1101 - which looks very much like to me what i learnt in the first half of year 11 level chemistry, and is very achievable for someone with little chemistry knowledge. There is a reason for there being no prereqs and assumed knowledge, its because they teach you that stuff ;)

I suggest you read this
 

walktest

Member
Sorry if this isn't how/where questions like this are asked, as it's my first time posting. I've got the same question as walktest. I'm an international student who's received a Flinders Offer for their undergrad med program, and I'm still waiting on a yes/no from UAdel (where I also applied and gave an interview). I haven't read a lot of reviews about the quality of teaching/experiences with professors and the faculty etc., except for one extremely scathing review on another website (which explicitly cautioned against attending Flinders). While I haven't heard/read anything particularly negative about the Uni, several overly critical reviews have led me to question my decision to attend, and the ranking statistics, as mentioned by walktest above do not serve as any consolation.

If you're a current Flinders Med student, what is your honest review of the teaching and faculty at the uni?

AdFD just wanted to ask you if you learnt anything new or had any new insights?
 
Hello guys just wondering what your year 1 semester 1 looked like???

I had these clasess but these have prerequisites and I have no idea.......
Screenshot 2024-01-13 at 1.30.20 pm.png
 

Registered  members with 100+ posts do not see Ads

Registered  members with 100+ posts do not see Ads

Top