Auckland OLY1 chat - archive

[camwells]

[MENTION=13623]starshifter[/MENTION],

Just from memory, I don't think BHSc allows you to apply for Optom, as the Physics paper in Biomed is essential for applying into Optometry. It could pay to check this with the university though, as I could have my facts wrong...

 

[chococroissant]

Bachelor of Optometry (BOptom)*- The University of Auckland

[MENTION=13623]starshifter[/MENTION], this link may help.

[MENTION=13507]camwells[/MENTION], you've got your facts right

 

[dlehddud]

Hi guys,

Does anyone have any suggestions or does anyone mind putting up what they did for the general education paper for OLY 1 biomed at Auckland??

 

[plm8123]

I did PHIL105G (and I was in biomed), and I recommend it! It's an excellent paper for learning new thinking skills - analysing and evaluating arguments, reasoning, critical thinking. The lectures are interesting and often entertaining, and it's quite popular among other biomed students.

Alternatively, many of my peers chose to do the ECON gen ed paper, which is probably the most popular one - easier to obtain an A+ (to raise overall GPA and obtain an interview offer).

 

[ChocolateSunshine]

[MENTION=13230]plm8123[/MENTION] could you please answer my questions too? Also does 'UoA MBCHB II' mean you did biomed last year and got into med?

 

[Quirino]

Hi guys! This is my first time posting and i am new to this forum. I have just read this thread and the one from 2011. I feel very lucky to have found a forum like this.

I am studying OLY1 BSc Biomed this year. Does anyone have any advice regarding enrolling for courses/papers/[correct terminology for what i mean]?
In particular I guess things like whether it is better to have labs scheduled on monday and tuesday afternoons or to spread them out through the week, like on monday and thursday or if it even makes a difference at all? Any advice on things not to do when it comes to enrolling? Or maybe stories about how you made your timetable in OLY1 semester 1 and how you found it?

And can someone also please give me a general idea how labs and tutorials work? I am in the same lectures as all my friends doing OLY1 biomed (i think because we only have one lecture class to choose from each subject). Should I change/encourage my friends to change to the labs/tutorials i am in? are they all taught by the same people/are they pretty much the same? will it be advantageous/more fun/easier to learn if I am in the same labs/tutorials as some close friends, or is this a case of 'depends on what kind of person you are/how you learn etc'??

I have asked a lot of questions and I hope the people reading this do not find this tedious or a trying task. But hey, you don't have to be bothered answering I guess.

Any replies would be very much appreciated though!

Welcome to MSO! With regards to your questions, I think that it would be best if you decided for yourself what would be the best timetable for you. Everyone has a different method of studying (some prefer to do it in the evening, some in the morning) and circumstances (where you live/ transport etc) so pick your labs according to how it would best suit you. I personally had my labs in the morning, went to the afternoon lectures and studied in the evening

I think no matter how 'convenient' you try to make your timetable, it won't make much of a difference in the end since everyone has to eventually do the same things and spend the same amount of time learning it. So as I said before, it just comes down to how you arrange it to benefit yourself

Labs and tutorials are very simple. Labs are simply (very boring) 3 hour sessions of practical work either in the morning or afternoon. You have 1 lab for each paper every fortnight. The content of the labs are fairly simple and if you're relatively intelligent i.e. enough to get into biomed, you should be fine- although sometimes you do get labs which are quite long so you may not finish. I wouldn't suggest pairing up with friends if you are easily distracted, but on the other hand if you have a friend you know is hard working then feel free to buddy up. Tutorials are (as I remember) only for POPLHLTH, PHYSICS and a few gened papers. They're 2 hour study sessions to supplement/ support your lectures and you work with about 30 people solving questions etc etc. The material in the tutorials are examinable but whether to tutorials themselves are worth anything depends entirely on which course you're doing

dlehddud- I did ECON 151G and agree that it is one of the easiest general education papers you can take. You have 2 lectures per week and no tutorials plus you're given recordings for all the lectures. I chose it because I had never done it before and I thought it would be fun- which it was. But the best thing about it was that it required far less study than my other papers and I still came out with an A

Do a gened paper you think you'll enjoy. I didn't choose ECON because I knew it was easy, but if you're looking to boost your GPA then I would suggest you take it. PHIL apparently is ok too

 

[dlehddud]

thanks [MENTION=5072]Quirino[/MENTION] and [MENTION=13230]plm8123[/MENTION]

 

[plm8123]

[MENTION=13610]ChocolateSunshine[/MENTION]: Yep, I did biomed last year and will be starting med school this year. [MENTION=5072]Quirino[/MENTION] has written an excellent answer which I agree with. I would recommend that you avoid having labs on Mondays (for odd weeks) or Fridays (for even weeks), though - Mondays because the lab demonstrators (who have done the course before, and the same lab, but may be a bit rusty) may be "relearning" the lab; Fridays because by the last lab session, equipment that gets broken may have accumulated to a noticeable level. I've only noticed this once or twice though, so it's not a big issue.

Do spread the labs over the odd/even weeks, it's easier to handle than having one week really leisurely and the next one hectic and tiring.

[MENTION=9949]dlehddud[/MENTION]: Craccum (the uni magazine) did an article last year comparing gen ed courses - it mentioned PHIL105G as an "Easy A" paper, but a difficult "A+" paper, which I found was the case (I got A for that paper). It also mentioned that ECON had a high A to A+ grade boundary due to many capable students choosing it, hence skewing the mark distribution...

 

[ChocolateSunshine]

Thank you! [MENTION=5072]Quirino[/MENTION]
Another question: are all the various labs/lectures at different times but of the same subject/paper/[still don't know the right word] taught by the same lecturers/teachers?

 

[plm8123]

[MENTION=13610]ChocolateSunshine[/MENTION]: Yes, last year the morning and afternoon streams (for lectures) had the same lecturers.

However, labs are taught by several lab tutors on different days, but you'll (usually) have the same lab tutor for your enrolled time slot.

 

[4everAlone]

You guys keep talking about taking an easy gen-ed to 'boost' your gpa. Your gen-ed actually has no relevance to the gpa the medschool uses though...as long as your OVERALL gpa is higher than a 6 then everything is done on CORE gpa. So in all honesty your gen-ed counts for bugger all - unless you're struggling to get an overall gpa above 6 which would be a bit of a worry...

I can second [MENTION=13230]plm8123[/MENTION] though, phil105g was pretty sweet. Easy as too, you can miss half the lectures and every tutorial and still do well...plus some of the stuff is pretty interesting!

 

[Jig]

Hey Chocolatesunshine-
In semester 1 I had my labs all on consecutive days in the same week- I found this wasn’t really the best for me as I’d come home really tired from lectures+ labs and wouldn’t manage to recap everything from the day with the time I had left. The same thing would happen the next day and by the following day I’d have a large list of things to do.
In semester 2 I decided to put my labs/tutorials on alternating days- this was good as it gave me a day in between to make up for not studying as much the day before.

Mind you this is only my opinion- differant people will be suited to differant things- you may find you are the type of person who likes getting through things in 1 go and might find doing your labs one after the other better?

Also I know I maybe shouldn’t be saying this but try not to enrol in the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] stream for labs. Then you can ask your friends to fill you in a bit as to what they test you on in the labs as they’ll have done it by then.

Don’t worry too much about labs- I found them to be really fun- best part of biomed year 1!

 

[Jig]

Hi dlehddud-

I did youthwork as my gen-ed - It sounds a bit odd but its actually really interesting.
Theres only 1 lecture a week- no tutorials. There was also only 1 internal which is due after the midsemester break.
I didnt go to all the lectures and did the readings at last minute but still scraped an A (and I suck at essay writting) so I def recommend it!

 

[Satmo]

I second Jig. Youthwork is a great paper - I found that the one lecture per week gave me more time to study for other papers (i.e. MEDSCI) and they give (well, they gave them to me in 2009 but this could have changed) you the topics for the exam so if you study, you're away laughing.

 

[ChocolateSunshine]

[MENTION=13230]plm8123[/MENTION] : are there some lab tutors that you would be lucky or unlucky to get? Or does who your lab tutor is not make much of a difference when it comes to learning/doing the lab?

[MENTION=11580]Jig[/MENTION] : for my semester 1 timetable, I have all my labs on Mondays and Tuesdays because I thought it would be nice to have a week that got gradually easier towards the end. So I guess that means I am probably in the first stream for labs as well as having labs on consecutive days. Yay. Did you really find it so hard/that bad though? 3 of the 4 core papers are in semester 1, and you got into med school, so you must have had a killer gap despite being run ragged? I think I am someone who is better suited to getting this done in one go.

@everyone : can someone please summarise exactly what happens during labs? Are they anything like science practicals we have at school? what exactly do they 'test' you on? During practicals we had at school there was also a lot of mucking around and playing with equipment before a mad rush of copying answers/filling out sheets etc at the end so we have something to hand in. Does lab work contribute to your grade at the end of the semester?

Lastly, how dedicated/how much of your life do you have to give to uni/study during first year biomed to get a good gpa (ideally aim for 9.0)? I already sat umat last year, so i won't need to do that this year. But I want to get an idea of how many hours I can work my part time job (if at all), and also whether I will have time/energy to put into my relationships?

Thanks a lot to everyone who has replied. I really appreciate it!

 

[ChocolateSunshine]

I just thought of another question, forgive me for having so many questions please I am just really excited about this year and want to get things right (make as few mistakes) as I can.

I am someone who learns best in the morning, and as the day progresses I become less focused and learn less efficiently, at school I pretty much learnt nothing in last period everyday. So are labs or lectures more demanding on your attention? Would it be better to have my lectures all in the morning with labs in the afternoon (2~5pm), or to have the labs in the mornings and lectures in the afternoon?
I currently have my lectures scheduled for the morning, so I do not even know if I can change/there are any available places in the other streams.

I know that it may seems like I just tack on a sentence or two of thanks and appreciation at the end of my posts (this one and the previous one), but I would like to say that they are very sincere. I gain a lot of insight of the year to come from replies on this thread and for that I am truly really grateful for everyone's efforts.

 

[italianopalo]

A fair amount of commitment is required I guess, how much effort you specifically need to put in depends on your study habits/strategies. I personally got regular 7-8 hr sleep (the odd <5 hr too but no all nighters), went to town with friends occasionally, did road cycling training and had enough time to go over lectures and summarise lec guide and textbook notes. Basically if you can manage your time well and reduce time spent mucking about/procrastinating, you should be able to have a comfortable study/work/social/etc balance.

 

[bobby190]

are there some lab tutors that you would be lucky or unlucky to get? Or does who your lab tutor is not make much of a difference when it comes to learning/doing the lab?

Hey I know this wasnt addressed at me but I cant imagine labs being hugely different so here, I think in a lab there are always multiple lab tutors and you are bound to find a good one. They alone do not affect your study much as you can alwasy ask your partner, teaching fellows, lecturers or most likely who ever is heading the lab, they are pretty much obliged to answer and help you figure out the answer and make you understand.

@everyone : can someone please summarise exactly what happens during labs? Are they anything like science practicals we have at school? what exactly do they 'test' you on? During practicals we had at school there was also a lot of mucking around and playing with equipment before a mad rush of copying answers/filling out sheets etc at the end so we have something to hand in. Does lab work contribute to your grade at the end of the semester?

In otago: 1st year labs are highly organised and labs will walk you thru activities. "science practicals" from school based on my experience was much much more lax this is much more intense and make sure to keep you busy so you must work fast. No more playing around and squeezing hydrochloric acid into powerpoint plugs and blowign them up like at school if you want to get all the work done. I must say hardly people finish labs. A lot of people copy each other. Non recommended protip-> split lab into 2 with your lab partner and do each half then copy and have time to socialise. You may be lucky if the paper puts up answers after labs. How much lab contributes to mark and how early you finish depends on the paper itself

Lastly, how dedicated/how much of your life do you have to give to uni/study during first year biomed to get a good gpa (ideally aim for 9.0)? I already sat umat last year, so i won't need to do that this year. But I want to get an idea of how many hours I can work my part time job (if at all), and also whether I will have time/energy to put into my relationships?

Good work sitting umat early. Depends on the person how much you study, you could be some genius and work moderately hard. You could be average and work intensly hard, so its possible for a lot of people BUT not all people or even most people especially a competitive course and especially a 9.0. Dont work part time period. you dont want to regret missing out or just missing out because of extra curricular commitments. If you need money Id say get a loan or prepare to do postgrad entry. Besides even if you did well working it will be hard to think how much better you could have done.

Hmm relationship depends on how much time you invest in studying and more so what kind of partner they are. Also Im sure if you got the right kinda partner you can help each other study and breaking will be really destressing. Generally the golden rule was not to get into a relationship but its easier said than done. If your partner is not doing hsci or is not studying as hard as you it will be strained.

Its hard and much more demanding than year 13. But having said that I have been told you will be able to not touch a book on the weekends if you study REALLY HARD during all the weekdays. and its true so long as you dont have a test on say monday. Also remember to have fun its important for you, your social life and your studies aswell. play hard study hard.

 

[Nogeat]

For those who had an afternoon timetable (1-5pm 4 hours straight of lectures), was it hard to concentrate on the lectures, especially near the end?

 

[plm8123]

[MENTION=13610]ChocolateSunshine[/MENTION]: No, from my experience, all of the lab tutors are competent, and it won't really make much of a difference in terms of learning the lab. However, you do get tutors who provide "hints" about how to answer the assignment sheet (at the end of each lab, you usually hand in an assignment sheet answering various questions about the lab work) and some who don't.

About what actually happens in labs at uni:
Your lab work does count towards your final grade. The assessment isn't actually on your lab work, but on the answers you provide to questions on an assignment sheet based on your practical. There are labs which take an hour and a half out of the 3 hour time slot, and ones which you may even go overtime on - it's a good idea to make friends with everyone in your group/bench so you can share or compare data.

About 9.0 GPAs:
Aim for 9.0 GPA for your core subjects, as these count the most for getting in to medicine. Your other 4 subjects also matter, but only for obtaining an interview. The key to doing well is to study efficiently rather than spending too much time on study and neglecting your other commitments. Take some time after the lecture to understand the material rather than rote learn it. Schedule your time and plan in advance how you are going to study the material, and when you are studying, remove anything that may distract you (phone, computer, TV, etc...). After your allocated study time, do anything but study - relax, or work on your hobbies and interests, and your other commitments. As a full time student, you should consider your study as a full time job: 40 hours a week is just about the right amount to do - that's how much I aimed for last year.

[MENTION=8492]bobby190[/MENTION] has some great advice which I agree with.