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Auckland OLY1 chat - archive

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I'm not sure if I'm allowed to advertise like this, but I have all the textbooks for first year biomed I'm trying to sell as a set. Very good condition, if you're interested send me a PM.
 
Thanks.

By the way, is NCEA a good indicator of how well you will do at uni? And you know how in NCEA you can sometimes make a little mistake or leave out something which can pull down your overall grade.. is it the same for uni tests/exams etc?

And also, what kind of things do you have to put in the MH03 form? And what exactly is a MH03 form and what is it used for?
 
is NCEA a good indicator of how well you will do at uni? And you know how in NCEA you can sometimes make a little mistake or leave out something which can pull down your overall grade.. is it the same for uni tests/exams etc?

Auckland did a study a while back where they found that NCEA was a very good indicator of performance in first year. They found that half of the variation in first year marks could be explained by NCEA results... the other half could not. In other words, you can get a reasonable approximation from NCEA, but ultimately other factors (such as your study habits during first year) are equally important.

Little mistakes have a bigger impact in uni exams because every lost mark reduces your final mark in an assessment - unlike NCEA where they could often overlook it if you got an achieved question wrong (provided you still did well overall).


EDIT: A copy of the study (for anyone interested) is freely available here: https://web.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/fms/...om secondary school performance 26-02-08.pdf
 
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Auckland did a study a while back where they found that NCEA was a very good indicator of performance in first year. They found that half of the variation in first year marks could be explained by NCEA results... the other half could not. In other words, you can get a reasonable approximation from NCEA, but ultimately other factors (such as your study habits during first year) are equally important.

Little mistakes have a bigger impact in uni exams because every lost mark reduces your final mark in an assessment - unlike NCEA where they could often overlook it if you got an achieved question wrong (provided you still did well overall).


EDIT: A copy of the study (for anyone interested) is freely available here: https://web.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/fms/...om secondary school performance 26-02-08.pdf

I have said time and time again, for the sole purpose of getting into medicine for AUCKLAND (I acknowledge that OTAGO may be different), Cambridge is by far more beneficial than NCEA. I don't doubt that NCEA if more useful in other areas where there is much less cramming than OLY1 in Auckland. This is also the widespread view between my whole medical school class of which 50% or so would have been from NCEA high schools. The background in knowledge is a major benefit when it is a high stakes first year environment.

Now having said that, it doesn't matter what system you come from as long as you are willing to put in the hard work. As I said, half my class were NCEA students but they are all brilliant. Think of it this way, how well you do at high school doesn't matter at all once you get into university. You essentially start with clean record which you try to improve yourself.
 
That is NOT what I was saying, lordgarlic. The matter of which system prepares you better for OLY1 is another issue entirely - in fact I agree that, given the larger amount of content covered, CIE is better preparation for first year (at Auckland and Otago). I was merely quoting a well-conducted study at AUCKLAND that found that NCEA was a good predictor of success during first year (which is the question that was being asked).
 
That is NOT what I was saying, lordgarlic. The matter of which system prepares you better for OLY1 is another issue entirely - in fact I agree that, given the larger amount of content covered, CIE is better preparation for first year (at Auckland and Otago). I was merely quoting a well-conducted study at AUCKLAND that found that NCEA was a good predictor of success during first year (which is the question that was being asked).


My answer was purely in the context of medical entry as I alluded to since this forum is about getting into Medicine.

I wasn't disputing your study at all ....
 
Thanks people for your answers.

Is it really hard to get As and A+s in Biomed first year? What are the tests and exams like? Short-answer, long answer, multi-choice?
 
Thanks people for your answers.

Is it really hard to get As and A+s in Biomed first year? What are the tests and exams like? Short-answer, long answer, multi-choice?

tests are mainly half multi-choice, half short answer. Some mid-semester tests are purely multi choice, and chem110 is purely short answer. The poplhlth111 exam has a long answer section as the main component, and so does physics (but physics is mainly a lot of smaller questions rolled up into one big one- its a bit misleading to really call it long answer).
 
to the older med students, how many people actually do the BMedSc(Hons) from your class?
is there a real advantage of doing it? or can it be compensated by actually working in the hospital for a year?
 
AUCKLAND UNIVERSITY MED PAPER Q’S
Level of difficulty
Do we need a tape recorder for lectures
Do we have to buy all the prescribed and recommended books for
Do we need to do all the readings for

Papers:
POPHLTH111
MEDSCI142
BIOSCI107

Thanks!
 
Well, that's good to know cos I don't really want to do Stats..

So,
1. In terms of HOW MUCH you learn in Cambridge compared to NCEA, Cambridge is the better one to prepare you for a large workload in first year Biomed.. But is Cambridge a better preparation for first year Biomed in terms of WHAT you actually learn?
But yeah, I guess in the end it doesn't matter as long as you put in the hard work..

Also,
2. If I did just alright/slightly above average in NCEA Biology Level 2 could I still do well in the biology aspects of first year Biomed, what do you think?

And,
3. How does somebody pass or fail the interview to get into med? What could you say to fail the interview I'm just kinda wondering..
 
Well, that's good to know cos I don't really want to do Stats..

So,
1. In terms of HOW MUCH you learn in Cambridge compared to NCEA, Cambridge is the better one to prepare you for a large workload in first year Biomed.. But is Cambridge a better preparation for first year Biomed in terms of WHAT you actually learn?
But yeah, I guess in the end it doesn't matter as long as you put in the hard work..

Also,
2. If I did just alright/slightly above average in NCEA Biology Level 2 could I still do well in the biology aspects of first year Biomed, what do you think?

And,
3. How does somebody pass or fail the interview to get into med? What could you say to fail the interview I'm just kinda wondering..

1. Well for the core papers from what I've heard cambridge covers a lot more content than NCEA. This is just from what my friends that did cambridge say, they already knew a lot of 107 and 110, and had done some 142 as well. I did NCEA and can say that we did none of 107 or 142 in level 3, but we had done a little 110 (I can't remember how much cos I couldn't remember any level 3 chem anyway!)

2. I don't see why not. Just put in the work =)

3. The interview is not pass/fail, you are scored out of 10 with people who get a 2/10 being automatically removed from selection and people with 10/10 getting in regardless of umat/gpa. We got told to get 2/10 you pretty much had to be a psychopath. The process is each interviewer gives you a score out of 5, then the scores are added together to give you a score out of 10.
 
AUCKLAND UNIVERSITY MED PAPER Q’S
Level of difficulty

Do we need a tape recorder for lectures
Do we have to buy all the prescribed and recommended books for
Do we need to do all the readings for

Papers:
POPHLTH111
MEDSCI142
BIOSCI107
HLTHPSYC122

Thanks!

1st yr textbooks:
Have you used any of these? Which ones should I buy
Thanks for the (future) advice!

For POPLHLTH:
WEBB ET AL: Essential Epidemiology (Rec/ HIghly Rec)
COGGON ET AL: Epidemiology for Uninitiated (Rec)
BONITA ET AL: Basic Epidemiology(Rec)

For BIOSCI107:
TORTORA & DERRICKSON: Principles of Anatomy & Physiology (Pres)
CAMPBELL & REECE: Biology 9th edition with Mastering Biology (Rec)
 
AUCKLAND UNIVERSITY MED PAPER Q’S
Level of difficulty
Do we need a tape recorder for lectures

Do we have to buy all the prescribed and recommended books for
Do we need to do all the readings for

Papers:
POPHLTH111
MEDSCI142
BIOSCI107
HLTHPSYC122

Thanks!
 
AUCKLAND UNIVERSITY MED PAPER Q’S
Level of difficulty

Do we need a tape recorder for lectures
Do we have to buy all the prescribed and recommended books for
Do we need to do all the readings for

Papers:
POPHLTH111
MEDSCI142
BIOSCI107
HLTHPSYC122

Thanks!

1st yr textbooks:
Have you used any of these? Which ones should I buy
Thanks for the (future) advice!

For POPLHLTH:
WEBB ET AL: Essential Epidemiology (Rec/ HIghly Rec)
COGGON ET AL: Epidemiology for Uninitiated (Rec)
BONITA ET AL: Basic Epidemiology(Rec)

For BIOSCI107:
TORTORA & DERRICKSON: Principles of Anatomy & Physiology (Pres)
CAMPBELL & REECE: Biology 9th edition with Mastering Biology (Rec)

No I didn't use one
No I hardly used my textbooks at all
Nope I didn't do any readings other than things for labs or if I didn't understand something

Don't buy any poplhlth 111 textbooks I didn't even open mine
Get Tortora for 107 and 142 though. Don't bother with Campbell unless you're doing bio 101

Also, please stop double posting and spamming
 
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