HSFY 2019

[Cathay]

However, if you think those grades are not good enough or have failed any of the papers, I would recommend doing another undergrad degree (3 years minimum) to apply through the post-grad entry to be safe as Otago also take the first-year result into account.

Ambersssdeam I just thought I'd mention that there is a "minimum academic time" requirement - so I would recommend checking with Health Sciences Admissions Office before committing to doing first year all over again.

 

[Verdigris]

if you feel like your first year went really badly, there is a way around that - apply for med through grad entry at auckland. they don't take your first year marks at all

 

[Ambersssdeam]

It's always horrible when you don't get the results you were hoping for. To clarify, do you meaning failing as in less than 50%, or under the 70% threshold for medicine? One will affect the papers you're allowed to take in sem 2.

To be applying for graduate entry, you will need to complete an undergraduate degree in the minimum time allowed, pass the HSFY papers at some point, and have a competitive weighted GPA.

Another thing to think about is what went wrong. If you a hard working student, that's great, but this could be a good opportunity to reevaluate your study methods or exam technique, depending on what you think happened.

I got accepted into neuroscience for semester two but I’m not too sure how that works since I failed the papers for semester one, and I don’t know what papers I’ll be doing next semester..

 

[cookies&cream]

Hi everyone,

I'm an HSFY student aiming for med and my friend advised me to check this website out. I have a question about how to turn around a bad grade to still be able to get into medicine programme.

All my results just came out today and it is as follows:

CELS191: 82
CHEM191: 87
PHSI191: 94
HUBS191: 96

I'm not too confident about my CELS and CHEM grades but is there any way I could still turn this around during SEM 2? Would I still have atleast a fighting chance to apply for med?

 

[Thoughtfyre]

^cookies&cream

Yes, keep going. Your results are fine, and you can take an 8th paper. What went well and not so well for you this sem?

 

[cookies&cream]

Hey Thoughtfyre,

I made the mistake of focusing a lot of the time with HUBS191 because I found it very enjoyable to learn but it came to a cost of neglecting CELS191. I thought CELS191 was purely based on common sense and I did use Anki to try memorise everything. The huge problem that I faced was it took a lot of time to make Anki flashcards so I immediately just focused on answering the learning objectives (this worked for the third module about genomes). But yeah, I am not too sure how difficult biochemistry and population health would be because they're not part of the curriculum.

What optional paper do you suggest me to take? I heard Maori was good at bumping up GPA, is that true? I'm quite worried about POPH192 because I heard that previous students have found it difficult?

 

[rustyedges]

If you are wanting to do five papers to replace two HSFY ones, they wont count the 9th one.

 

[Thoughtfyre]

Hey Thoughtfyre,

I made the mistake of focusing a lot of the time with HUBS191 because I found it very enjoyable to learn but it came to a cost of neglecting CELS191. I thought CELS191 was purely based on common sense and I did use Anki to try memorise everything. The huge problem that I faced was it took a lot of time to make Anki flashcards so I immediately just focused on answering the learning objectives (this worked for the third module about genomes). But yeah, I am not too sure how difficult biochemistry and population health would be because they're not part of the curriculum.

What optional paper do you suggest me to take? I heard Maori was good at bumping up GPA, is that true? I'm quite worried about POPH192 because I heard that previous students have found it difficult?

Yeah CELS191 is also straight rote memorisation honestly. It's good that you can recognise (and realise) what made you do well in some papers and another. If you take that into next sem, and hold yourself responsible for keeping up, there is absolutely no reason why you won't get the grades.

So, if you're asking me I'm not gonna tell you that any paper in particular is difficult. Instead it's about the approach you have to take - in fact for a lot of my classmates, POPH192 (formerly PUBH192), is the easiest paper to cram because it's not so content heavy, it's about understanding. By the same vein, that's why people might talk about chemistry and physics being the hardest papers in Sem 1 - because there are some things you need to get how to do, and not just memorise. (By contrast, if you know what you're doing, these are the papers people can feasibly get '100%' in, whereas papers like HUBS and CELS can be a little more wishywashy.)

What I mean for PUBH is - a lot of the lectures give a concept (this is one way to run an experiment), then a bunch of examples, which you don't need to know at all, they are just to help you get it. Then in an exam, they ask 'if you want to test for this, how do you do it' - and you need to understand the reasons why - not as straightforward rote memorisation. Don't worry about it until you get there. No stress.

I've heard that too about Maori - and my answer is I don't actually know, because I don't really know people's grades and a lot of my friends did STAT115 (which overlaps a little with POPH192, and shouldn't be too difficult if you're ok with statistics at all. A lot of people don't go to any lectures, just 'keep up' with assignments and tests and then cram it all at the end.). If you're looking for a high grade, that could be a good idea if you're ok with that.

 

[toastisgood]

Yeah, I found it much easier to do chem and physics because it's less wishy-washy than hubs and cels (reflected by my grades) but I don't know if my grades for hubs and cels was lower because I honestly didn't know the concept (in terms of my written answers or the mcqs) or I didn't memorise enough details. I'm a bit skeptical about memorising tbh because can you honestly just memorise for hubs and bioc to get you through and get you good marks?

 

[academedical]

Hi I was wondering how many professional programs you can apply for at once? could you potentially apply for all of them?

Technically you can apply for all the professional programmes, but physio and pharmacy will give priority to students who only apply for either physio or pharmacy. I think it's a bit of a safeguard that ensures the people getting into these programmes are truly passionate about it and aren't just going into these programmes because they didn't get into med or dent (disclaimer: I don't know if that is actually the exact purpose, that's just what I understood from my first year).
I don't know if this is still going to be the case this year, but it's how they've done it for a while.

 

[busterrhymes]

I got an 87% average from my top 3 Sem 1 papers... If I got 96% in all four papers next semester (how difficult is this to do?) that would still only bump my average up to 92%. Just wondering from past students whether it's worth putting in a ton of effort for just a small chance at making Med? Thanks

 

[plzhelp]

Hi, I did miserable in one of my first sem papers, I got C+ in physics which is less than the 65% for dent and 70% for med requirements in HSFY, I understand that I can not get in through the undergraduate pathway. Is it possible to still get into med through postgraduate pathway, also if I take the 8th paper would it replace the C+ so hopefully it would boost my gpa?

 

[Fili]

I got an 87% average from my top 3 Sem 1 papers... If I got 96% in all four papers next semester (how difficult is this to do?) that would still only bump my average up to 92%. Just wondering from past students whether it's worth putting in a ton of effort for just a small chance at making Med? Thanks

I'm not in med or anything since I'm a 3rd year BBiomedSc student but imo yes. Even if you don't get into med but then later decide that you want to try again via the graduate pathway then at least you maintain those good grades early on. Idk about other students but learning things the year before somewhat helps as well.

 

[apollos]

I got an 87% average from my top 3 Sem 1 papers... If I got 96% in all four papers next semester (how difficult is this to do?) that would still only bump my average up to 92%. Just wondering from past students whether it's worth putting in a ton of effort for just a small chance at making Med? Thanks

I got in with a 91% average (or thereabout), so there's no harm in continuing to put in the effort -of course, the required entrance grades fluctuate with each year, but I don't really see the point in giving up half-way through - you're not even completely out of the running yet. Also, if you want to go for post-grad entry, it'll make your life easier if you've already got a good starting point. If you really want to do med, then I'd recommend you keep on it.

Hi, I did miserable in one of my first sem papers, I got C+ in physics which is less than the 65% for dent and 70% for med requirements in HSFY, I understand that I can not get in through the undergraduate pathway. Is it possible to still get into med through postgraduate pathway, also if I take the 8th paper would it replace the C+ so hopefully it would boost my gpa?

Yep, it definitely is! Post-2020, they'll look at your best 120 points, so if you can make that up, you can qualify for the post-grad pathway, though there is something about missing the required HSFY paper, but in some cases, you can take a paper that is similar to make that up (e.g. for CHEM191 you can take a summer school paper). You can also ask for course advice from the uni by going to Student Development.

 

[Fili]

Hi, I did miserable in one of my first sem papers, I got C+ in physics which is less than the 65% for dent and 70% for med requirements in HSFY, I understand that I can not get in through the undergraduate pathway. Is it possible to still get into med through postgraduate pathway, also if I take the 8th paper would it replace the C+ so hopefully it would boost my gpa?

Yes it is still possible. Auckland Uni doesn't count the first year in your 3 year degree when applying for med. Likewise, you may surprise yourself on how much you can improve your grades through time.

 

[plzhelp]

Yes it is still possible. Auckland Uni doesn't count the first year in your 3 year degree when applying for med. Likewise, you may surprise yourself on how much you can improve your grades through time.

Is my chances of getting into med in Auckland higher than Otago since I got a C+ in one of the HSFY prescribed papers

 

[Fili]

Is my chances of getting into med in Auckland higher than Otago since I got a C+ in one of the HSFY prescribed papers

Depends on where you stand. One bad paper in HSFY makes such a small impact to your 3 year degree since, if you are applying for Otago med afterwards, they take your best 120 points every year and there is weighting to said years e.g. if you had all A+ in all your papers for a 3 year degree your weighted gpa is 9. Now let's say everything is the same but, of your best 7 im HSFY, one was a C+ which is a gpa of 3. After the calculations and weighting, your weighted GPA for your 3 year degree is 8.9. Aka really not that much of a difference considering that A+ is a 9, and a C+ is a 3 in HSFY relative to Graduate Entry. + You can replace that grade with an 8th paper.

Now, like I said, this depends on your situation. First year doesn't matter when you're applying for Auckland Med provided your average GPA for the 3 years is above 6.0. After that, they rank you on your last 2 years' GPA which has equal weighting. GPA makes up 60%, UCAT makes up 15% and the MMI/Interview makes up 25%, in comparison to Otago's UCAT acting only as a threshold and the rest is purely GPA. Theoretically speaking, you could have a GPA of 6.0 in HSFY, and 2nd and 3rd year both being 9.0 then your weighted GPA in Auckland will be 9.0 whereas it will be 8.5 in Otago.

Tldr: It depends if you think the UCAT and interview can benefit you rather than just purely your GPA.

 

[mr_fanstadic]

If I have A- average, am I still in running via rural entry into med?

 

[rustyedges]

If I have A- average, am I still in running via rural entry into med?

Yes potentially. Essentially we don't know with the UCAT changes, but you might as well give it your best and see what happens.

 

[Chilling]

So the most horrible thing to ever happen to a health science is failing all their semester papers, I would think of myself as a hard working student and I’m gutted that those were the results I got. Any advice on how I could still apply through the graduate category for medicine, would that mean that I have to change my course second semester to something else( Also well done to everyone who got really good grades).

I agree with filifalcon. You should make an appointment with the HSFY Admissions Office I did first year health science in 2015 and had quite a rough time (74% average). I also had no clue as to how degree structures actually worked but these people are definitely who you should talk to. You definitely don't have to change your course but I ended up doing a Bachelor or Science in Mathematics. Doing a different degree first was actually really awesome. I got to meet very different people, experience the university lifestyle and actually just enjoy university in general. Also. I know you said you have failed the first semester papers but please don't think of yourself as a failure. It can be very difficult to shift from high school learning to university learning. You have to find a way that works for you. I would suggest talking to people at the student learning center about this. Good luck with whatever you choose to do