HSFY 2019

[academedical]

do you think a 90-94% average would have a chance of entry into med considering ranking is based on gpa this year? or should we really be aiming for a 95% or above

No one knows the answer to that; you should just be aiming as high as possible!

 

[Cathay]

do you think a 90-94% average would have a chance of entry into med considering ranking is based on gpa this year? or should we really be aiming for a 95% or above

The traditional advice for HSFY is always "don't aim for a number, just do your best, don't settle for less". Aim to get every mark you can. Not because you need it (i.e. don't stress out too much if it's like 90-94%) but because you wanna present the best version of yourself. It's competitive, not threshold based.

 

[mojito]

Do you think that with the decreased content this year, the exams have been made a little harder just in terms of a few more 'abstract' questions?

 

[Dean0206]

Hi, I had a question about how summer school works with papers like chemistry and physics, are they taught when offers for med are being sent out?

 

[Cathay]

Hi, I had a question about how summer school works with papers like chemistry and physics, are they taught when offers for med are being sent out?

According to the Otago website's Summer School page, summer school 2020 runs from 6th January 2020 to 14th February 2020, with exams running 15 Feb to 20 Feb. This will be after the main round of offers for med is usually sent out - typically late December.

May I ask why? (I have follow up comments, depending on what it is you're seeking to achieve with summer school.)

 

[Dean0206]

According to the Otago website's Summer School page, summer school 2020 runs from 6th January 2020 to 14th February 2020, with exams running 15 Feb to 20 Feb. This will be after the main round of offers for med is usually sent out - typically late December.

May I ask why? (I have follow up comments, depending on what it is you're seeking to achieve with summer school.)

I was just wondering if it was still possible to get into medicine if I had to take summer school for one these paper for a better grade cause chemistry isn’t my Strongest area.

 

[Cathay]

I was just wondering if it was still possible to get into medicine if I had to take summer school for one these paper for a better grade cause chemistry isn’t my Strongest area.

I'm not sure actually - I certainly haven't heard of this as a thing you could do, and you'll certainly need to talk to the Health Sciences Admissions Office about whether you could do that, before you do it.

I see the CHEM exam is in about 7.5 hours, so I would strongly recommend getting some sleep (EDIT: that is to say, go to bed right now!) regardless of where you're at with studying for it. You'll need as much sleep as you can get right now to perform in the exam.

Worry about the results and what to do with it after the results come out.

EDIT: for those of you that appreciate the irony of me telling someone to go to bed while I'm up at 2am, please note that I got my 8 hours of sleep from 5pm to 1am due to starting work at 3am.

 

[academedical]

I was just wondering if it was still possible to get into medicine if I had to take summer school for one these paper for a better grade cause chemistry isn’t my Strongest area.

The summer school exams are during the week that med school starts - so summer school results won't be released in time to put you on the waitlist.
Edit: also remember you need to hit 70% in your 7 core papers to be eligible for med. If you're only worried about a lot chem score, you can always take an 8th paper next semester.

 

[kneesweaksphage]

Super just failed chem...probably by about 15-25~marks. Was fun stalking all this time, i'd like to thank my cat, my pinboard, and the 13 past chem papers I studied and went though. Went in shooting for 100, and I've failed out entirely.

Good luck with PHSI everyone. I spent loads of time and on a tutor for it and finally have been getting (practice) grades I'm happy with, and it's all gone down the drain with chem. Watch me get a fat A in it to go with my fat F in chem...My last hurra.

See you later guys and gals, i'm going to go be lie in bed until i can't put off choosing second sem papers anymore. Or deciding to drop out entirely. How do you come back from this?<me. I am the clown.

 

[rustyedges]

Super just failed chem...probably by about 15-25~marks. Was fun stalking all this time, i'd like to thank my cat, my pinboard, and the 13 past chem papers I studied and went though. Went in shooting for 100, and I've failed out entirely.

Good luck with PHSI everyone. I spent loads of time and on a tutor for it and finally have been getting (practice) grades I'm happy with, and it's all gone down the drain with chem. Watch me get a fat A in it to go with my fat F in chem...My last hurra.

See you later guys and gals, i'm going to go be lie in bed until i can't put off choosing second sem papers anymore. Or deciding to drop out entirely. How do you come back from this?<me. I am the clown.

Hey there,

It sucks to feel like you wont get the marks you wanted/deserved. It sounds like you put a lot of work into chem, but the fact is you can't know how well you did until you get the final results back. May as well give it your all for PHSI, wait for all your results to come back then reassess from there.

 

[Cathay]

Super just failed chem...probably by about 15-25~marks. Was fun stalking all this time, i'd like to thank my cat, my pinboard, and the 13 past chem papers I studied and went though. Went in shooting for 100, and I've failed out entirely.

Good luck with PHSI everyone. I spent loads of time and on a tutor for it and finally have been getting (practice) grades I'm happy with, and it's all gone down the drain with chem. Watch me get a fat A in it to go with my fat F in chem...My last hurra.

See you later guys and gals, i'm going to go be lie in bed until i can't put off choosing second sem papers anymore. Or deciding to drop out entirely. How do you come back from this?<me. I am the clown.

Sorry to hear chem hasn't gone the way you'd hoped. But I'd like to echo rusty's comment that you may as well give PHSI all you've got.

I'd say right now just focus on getting as high a mark in PHSI as you can. If you did in fact pass CHEM (especially if you got 70+ which makes you still eligible for med) you'll really regret not giving PHSI your best shot.

Once you've done all the exams THEN you can think about things like options going forward. But even then, just think in terms of options, don't do anything rash until the finalized results come out for first semester papers.

Official timeline is results finalized by 1st of July, and second semester starts 8th of July; furthermore you can add 2nd semester papers until 12th of July, and delete 2nd semester papers until 26 July. This means you will have time to make course changes etc after the results come out - so definitely don't make any changes until the results come out.

 

[janetori123]

Hi,

I know that we should be aiming as high as possible - as it is competitive, but I am just wondering if realistically if anyone has an idea of what this percentage will be like? Is it likely to be 93% vs 96% average for example? Kind of stressing in terms of just how high we are expected to achieve and some guidance would be helpful.

Thanks!

PS. is HSFY results scaled? Thanks

 

[rustyedges]

Hi,

I know that we should be aiming as high as possible - as it is competitive, but I am just wondering if realistically if anyone has an idea of what this percentage will be like? Is it likely to be 93% vs 96% average for example? Kind of stressing in terms of just how high we are expected to achieve and some guidance would be helpful.

Thanks!

PS. is HSFY results scaled? Thanks

Hard to give an exact number, but generally if you get a high ucat score then about 90%+ is sufficient, or else it's typically 94%+ for direct entry. Obviously we can't guarantee anything, and it could be subject to variation depending on how ucat goes.

I don't think hsfy papers are scaled, although it doesn't matter since it's not your absolute score that matters, just where you are relative to everyone else.

 

[Fili]

Hard to give an exact number, but generally if you get a high ucat score then about 90%+ is sufficient, or else it's typically 94%+ for direct entry. Obviously we can't guarantee anything, and it could be subject to variation depending on how ucat goes.

I don't think hsfy papers are scaled, although it doesn't matter since it's not your absolute score that matters, just where you are relative to everyone else.

UCAT is threshold for HSFY this year onwards I think ... + they made the HSFY content easier aka by reducing a lot of content so it's pretty much all grades now, apart for maybe, the interview component for dent entry.

 

[rustyedges]

Oh of course, my mistake. With that in mind it will be impossible to say really. Just got to be in that top 200 or so

 

[academedical]

Hi,

I know that we should be aiming as high as possible - as it is competitive, but I am just wondering if realistically if anyone has an idea of what this percentage will be like? Is it likely to be 93% vs 96% average for example? Kind of stressing in terms of just how high we are expected to achieve and some guidance would be helpful.

Thanks!

PS. is HSFY results scaled? Thanks

Because the system is new this year, no-one will be able to give you a number. Easier said than done, but try not to worry about it; just do your best because there's nothing else you can do at this stage.

 

[Gemma]

Because the system is new this year, no-one will be able to give you a number. Easier said than done, but try not to worry about it; just do your best because there's nothing else you can do at this stage.

Will these changes affect the post-grad category, say in a few years when others are applying for their 2nd or 3rd time, if health sci is easier so the new competitors have better first year grades compared to people who did it before the change?

 

[Fili]

Will these changes affect the post-grad category, say in a few years when others are applying for their 2nd or 3rd time, if health sci is easier so the new competitors have better first year grades compared to people who did it before the change?

Since 100 level papers are not weighted as much as 200 and 300 level papers, it that aspect, not /that/ much.
Regardless, the new system just means a GPA free-for-all, so students that don't get into the course they want and do a BSc will probably still be capable of getting really good GPAs. Likewise, because the new system for grad entry is weighted towards higher level papers instead of by years as it is atm then it'll just be a test of who can do the best and have the most 200 and 300 level papers done during their degree.

(Imho they should have interviews if they're going to use UCAT as just threshold + increase graduate entry intake - rather than just getting into professional courses based solely on grades but I am a 3rd year so there's a strong desire for these things ...)

 

[Cathay]

Will these changes affect the post-grad category, say in a few years when others are applying for their 2nd or 3rd time, if health sci is easier so the new competitors have better first year grades compared to people who did it before the change?

There are changes in 2020 (for entry from 2021 onwards) to the graduate entry category as well, in terms of the calculation of GPA. Details at second half of this page.

Since the new scoring strongly favours 200 and 300-level papers, and any small change in the prevailing HSFY numerical grades may not amount to substantial change in terms of actual grade (i.e. 88 as opposed to 86 will not cause a jump from A to A+), I wouldn't think it would have that much of an impact, certainly not compared to the impact of the new scoring system (which means no more grade-boosting using lower-level papers).

 

[Gemma]

Since 100 level papers are not weighted as much as 200 and 300 level papers, it that aspect, not /that/ much.
Regardless, the new system just means a GPA free-for-all, so students that don't get into the course they want and do a BSc will probably still be capable of getting really good GPAs. Likewise, because the new system for grad entry is weighted towards higher level papers instead of by years as it is atm then it'll just be a test of who can do the best and have the most 200 and 300 level papers done during their degree.

(Imho they should have interviews if they're going to use UCAT as just threshold + increase graduate entry intake - rather than just getting into professional courses based solely on grades but I am a 3rd year so there's a strong desire for these things ...)

Totally agree! Im in 3rd year too but extended my degree to 4 years so I can fit in more 200 + 300 level papers All the best!