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HSFY 2020

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LAW

Member
Does taking A level Cambridge provide a distinct advantage in HSFY? Cos I’d say 40% of HUBS is in AS and A level, 50% of PHSI, 60% of CHEM, 60% of CELS are all Cambridge content from what I’ve seen so far in exam papers.
 

Cathay

🚂Train Driver🚆
Emeritus Staff
Does taking A level Cambridge provide a distinct advantage in HSFY? Cos I’d say 40% of HUBS is in AS and A level, 50% of PHSI, 60% of CHEM, 60% of CELS are all Cambridge content from what I’ve seen so far in exam papers.
In all honesty it shouldn't matter. I could try and calculate the overlap between HSFY and NCEA level 3, but the honest answer is it doesn't matter. For the more concept-heavy CHEM and PHSI the main advantage is from doing year 13 chemistry and physics regardless of which system you do it under. The general rule-of-thumb is that HSFY papers will spoon-feed you without assuming any previous knowledge - previous exposure to CHEM and PHSI only helps you grasp the concepts quicker. For the more rote-learning stuff like HUBS, CELS, and most of BIOC, you will get taught all the content, so you don't need to have already learned it beforehand.

There are also potential downsides to already knowing some of the content - it could make you complacent and get caught out by stuff you didn't already know (POPH for example), and you might carry misconceptions or misunderstandings from previous learning and actually get the wrong answer when the faculty teaches you something different to what you've been taught in the past.

I think my response to this will echo my response to pre-studying: what will help you the most is working out how you study best in the university environment (which you won't be in until HSFY starts - so that's your task in the first 2-3 weeks of HSFY), rather than pre-learning any content.
 

LAW

Member
Do the exam papers ever ask for knowledge on historical views and content? Is it important?

Also is statistical information important in information?
Like say, disease mortality rates
 

Austerus

BMedSc(Hons)
Do the exam papers ever ask for knowledge on historical views and content? Is it important?
By this do you mean past theories? If so then yes, in particular CELS and BIOC. These papers will get you to use the experiments taught in lectures and discuss how they contributed to the current theory (for example chemiosmotic coupling).

Also is statistical information important in information?
Like say, disease mortality rates
Generally, no. POPH in particular throws a LOT of statistics at you, but they don't want you to memorise these at all. All statistics you need to analyse are given to you in the exam. We never had any questions in HUBS about mortality rates etc, and I don't really recall these being taught.
 

Cathay

🚂Train Driver🚆
Emeritus Staff
Do the exam papers ever ask for knowledge on historical views and content? Is it important?
Also is statistical information important in information?
Like say, disease mortality rates
Okay, I'm gonna address both these posts together: No. And I think you're overthinking it.

I do have a disclaimer: that I did HSFY 9 years ago so my memory is a bit blurry. Still, if you're talking about memorising disease mortality rates, then that's a definite no. I don't think "disease mortality rates" would even come up anywhere other than POPH192 - but they're more about concepts; they may get you to define "prevalence", "incidence", or calculate relative risk / risk ratio / rate ratio / odds ratio etc (DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT worry about what those words mean until you actually start POPH in 2nd semester!!) but all the numbers you need will be provided. You don't really learn too much about "diseases" anyway until actual medical school, let alone mortality rates of things (which, even in med school, I don't recall there being questions like "what is the mortality rate of [disease]".) You get certain conditions dropped in to illustrate concepts in things like genetics and biochemistry, but it's really at the level equivalent to a movie trailer, rather than learning about conditions in depth.

I'm not sure what you mean by "historical views", but there's a limited amount of "historic" stuff - limited to things like CELS (germ theory being a prominent example I remember), BIOC, and HEAL. I'm not sure whether all of that is still in there nowadays, but in any case, in HSFY everything you need to know will be taught to you. We refer to HSFY as "spoon-feeding" because all the material is taught to you, and you are not assessed on things not directly taught to you in lectures, labs, and (in POPH's case) tutorials. (Tutorials here mean the timetabled sessions organised and taught by the POPH department, NOT those held by halls of residence or private tutors.)

It sounds to me like you're trying to learn what you think might be HSFY material beforehand. While I can't tell you how to spend your time, I do want to clarify for the sake of others, that such an endeavour is not necessary, and is of debatable benefit. (If you stray beyond the scope of HSFY, then you won't get much benefit at all.)

Basically: if you want to read science stuff to keep your brain active during the summer holidays, go for it; but if you're trying to pre-load HSFY content, I wouldn't bother.
 

lemoncar

Member
Helloo!! I'm currently taking Summer School for Chem191 and was wondering if anyone here had past exam paper answers? On blackboard they only have years 2002-2012. Cheers :)
 

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Is there a chance this person isn't actually doing HSFY and just wants the info?
Hopefully that's the case. When I was at high school and did a university paper, I needed to check that it would not affect my chances of doing health science or getting into medicine.
 

MeepMop

Lurker
heyyooo

Does anyone know what "...have already accepted a competitive or conditional offer to this programme" means?
 
Don't worry guys I'm retaking it. :)
The point is if you are doing a paper that is related or in health science prior to doing health science, then you are not allowed to take health science as you have already done the paper. If you are not doing health science this year or in the future then it should be all goods.
 

lemoncar

Member
The point is if you are doing a paper that is related or in health science prior to doing health science, then you are not allowed to take health science as you have already done the paper. If you are not doing health science this year or in the future then it should be all goods.
I did HSFY in 2019 and I failed Chem191. So I'm retaking it in Summer School. :) Shoulda included this in my original question haha
 

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lemoncar

Member
Hi again guys, does anyone have the CHEM191 previous term tests and answers? Blackboard only has the summer school term tests available for us. Cheers :)
 

Ortospoon

Member
Hi, was just wondering when are you guys gonna start buying textbooks? Or which ones should I say are worth buying?

Also are you gonna buy tickets for O-week because I’m not really the party type.
 

Fili

Dentist 🦷
Moderator
Hi, was just wondering when are you guys gonna start buying textbooks? Or which ones should I say are worth buying?

Also are you gonna buy tickets for O-week because I’m not really the party type.

Imho textbooks are unnecessary given that you can get pdf versions online for free. Pdfs = word search stuff with ease.

I highly recommend at least going to Toga or one event. It helps make friends which are highly recommended for first year since these can be friends you have for life.
 
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