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Auckland OLY1 chat - archive

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Clearly i need to update my information, my bad guys

I think an increase beyond ~200 students would be detremental to the class overall. Its nice when you know (nearly) everyone in your class and lecturers can (for the most part) recognise you outside of the lecture theatres. I just think a large cohort brings you back to the days of OLY1
 
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It's a saying that means something really out of the ordinary, totally unexpected. It doesn't always have to be bad, but I meant it as being weird and not good! Like, "I want to be a doctor because God has told me it's the sole plan and purpose of my existence"!!!!!
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Haha, okay. Thanks.

By the way, is it okay to take UMAT once (in first year Biomed/ Health Science) instead of twice (in Yr 13 and first year)? Or is that kind of risky?
 
g.walker said:
I think an increase beyond ~200 students would be detremental to the class overall. Its nice when you know (nearly) everyone in your class and lecturers can (for the most part) recognise you outside of the lecture theatres. I just think a large cohort brings you back to the days of OLY1
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That was my sentiment over the Otago increases, but it hasn't turned out too badly. We're divided into 4 streams, and I know everyone in my stream well enough, and there's still plenty of small group tutorial work. It would be nice to have a class smaller than 200, but it really is getting necessary to increase med school places, given that prior to this current surge they only increased once (in 2003) in the last 25 years.
 
Hello everyone! I've been lurking around here for a while and I thought I'd finally come out and say hi :) I'm a first year biomed student at Auckland.

Yesterday I was talking to a couple of second years who did biomed last year and they said that to get A+ they needed at least 85%. But this year according to the various course books for example biosci107 and biosci101 it states that we need at least 90% to get an A+. My friends said that the university probably raised the threshold for the A+ grade because maybe our tests/exams are easier then previous years. Do you guys think that this is the case? And does this mean that a lot less people will get a really high GPA of say 8.5 to 9 since the threshold has been raised? I'm really concerned, that 5% extra room for error would have really taken some of the pressure off to get that high gpa we all so desperately want. But yeah I know theres not much I can do about this change, except of course continuing to work hard and aiming to do as well as I possibly can!
 
Mozzarella - The grade thresholds in the coursebook are university wide grade ranges. They are purely for indicate purposes.
The way it works is once the final exam has been marked, the final scores (as a percent) are calculated for all the students in that paper. Then, the course co-ordinator ranks all the students (based on %) and sets the various thresholds so that the final grades conform to a certain distribution.

(it is worth pointing out that the threshold selected is then scrutinized by a departmental sub-committee to ensure that an appropriate number of students receive every grade)

My source? I've been at UoA for 5 years, during my 4th year (honours) I was marking some papers.
 
govpop said:
Aren't the final boundaries usually within 1-2% of the indicated ones though?
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That's what I thought..

Plus its all relative and you're ranked against each other so I can't see how that would affect who actually gets into med anyway...
 
Don't worry Mozzarella, as 4everalone said, it won't affect your chances of getting in med as it's all relative to the rest of the people in your class. I say try and aim for about 85%, and you'll probably get an A+

Good luck for the year :)
 
Hello!
3 questions...


1) Possible to have a part time job and maintain a good GPA (8-9) while doing first year Health Science/ Biomed? - did anybody do this & get into med?

2) Say there are 750 people in OLY 1. How many people out of that 750 are there because they want a Science/ Health Science degree (as in they are not aiming for med)?

3) Heard a few stories about people sabotaging each other's chances at getting into med through first year Biomed/ Health Science by destroying other people's notes and such.. True/False? Seems a little over the top.

Thanks ! :)
 
I think I honestly stuffed up my chances based on how I did in my tests last week. Poplhlth and Chem went ok, but 107 was a disaster. I know AU says GPA of 6 is minimum but in reality isnt it something like 8.5-8.75 because so many people get 9? Is it possible to get in with a GPA of 8 or it very unlikely?
 
ad92 said:
I think I honestly stuffed up my chances based on how I did in my tests last week. Poplhlth and Chem went ok, but 107 was a disaster. I know AU says GPA of 6 is minimum but in reality isnt it something like 8.5-8.75 because so many people get 9? Is it possible to get in with a GPA of 8 or it very unlikely?
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Core GPA of 8 is very much doable
 
1) yes definately, a lot of people think that u have to study 24/7 in first year but thats really not the case. You have got to do other things you enjoy, and if u feel that u really want a part time job then go for it, plus i think u learn a lot of life skills from working and extra money is always good :D

2) I dont think it really matters how many there are lol just gota make sure u keep up ur own GPA. How i thought about it last year was like about 1000 OY1, 600 apply, 300 interviews, 200 in.

3) Year they say that every year, I havnt actually seen it happen but i have heard from other students, dont worry too much about it, just remember to keep your books in ur bag when ur not using them.
 
Kikii said:
3) Heard a few stories about people sabotaging each other's chances at getting into med through first year Biomed/ Health Science by destroying other people's notes and such.. True/False? Seems a little over the top.
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I really dont think theres much you can do to sabotauge someone else in first year. In my days, a few students lost their medsci142 books (apparently they were taken/stolen) a week or so before the exam namely due to (dare i say it) carelessness on the student's part i.e leaving your uniquely identifyable medsci book out in the open unattended. TBH i dont really think it was even sabotauge as much as it was seeking a more resourcefull medsci coursebook, as tends to be the case with med hopefuls who make really neat notes
 
*sigh* I hope your right. Im guessing chances are pretty slim though with a GPA of 8 in your 4 core papers.. Thanks anyway. Just gotta keep trying :)
 
At the of end of the day the tests don't actually matter that much. What matters the most is how you perform in the final exam since they are usually worth 50-60% of the mark!

Just do your best and aim to get as high as you can
 
shmvitt said:
Well chem was good - A+ YAY but poplhlth wasn't very good... only a B+..... how would a B+ set me up for the rest of poplhlth?
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It gets much easier from here on in...our test 2 average was 84% iirc. But it really comes down to the exam more than anything!
 
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