Otago HSFY chat - archive

[patkirtan]

Oh wow, good on that person in your hall. I'm sure a lot more people will be able to up their gpa this semester because everyone seems a lot more onto things now. Maori is quite a good paper to take, I heard. Have you finished your essay?

lol, a few of my friends had the same problem. Yes, I agree, focus on uni grades.......... (n). I should probably go back to studying for epi, URGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good luck guys for the test if I don't come on before then.

Yeah, he's awesome... i hope he gets into Med ^^

Yeah, i can't study for epi... =/

Yeah i finished my Essay, it's 1080 words. But they allow 10 percent excess in essays without any penalties.

 

[the_international]

hey to those that sat HSFY last year
how many marks was the final worth for HEAL192? 150 ? like in 2008?
also was your exam format a mix of MCQ and short answers like in 2008?
the 2008 paper seems like a big change from the 2007

 

[greenglacier]

hey to those that sat HSFY last year
how many marks was the final worth for HEAL192? 150 ? like in 2008?
also was your exam format a mix of MCQ and short answers like in 2008?
the 2008 paper seems like a big change from the 2007

Yeah, it was 150 marks - 16 MCQs (2 marks each), 4 true/false (1 mark each), and 114 marks of short answer questions. The short answer questions were spread over 5 sections:

Section 1 (47 marks) - this section was a real mix and although it definitely didn't cover all the lectures in the course, it felt like those lectures that did feature had been randomly selected.

Sections 2 - 4 (51 marks in total) - each of these sections was focussed around a study: you were told a bit about the study (maybe half a page of text), and then there were a few questions that required you to apply stuff from the course to that study.

Section 5 (16 marks) - this consisted of one question about the public health model that was released 2 weeks before the exam (so we all knew what it was beforehand and had prepared answers to it).

Compared to the 2008 exam there was a much greater focus on actual epidemiology rather than public health, and this reflects a change in the course - in 2008 they did all the epidemiology stuff (measures of association, study designs, bias/confounding/chance, causation, etc...) first and had all of this assessed in the mid-semester exam - the trade-off was that the final exam was very much focussed on public health stuff.

I would say that the 2009 exam was like a mix between the 2008 exam and the 2005-2007 exams in terms of focus and type of question.


Anyway, I hope all you HSFYers were happy with your marks for the recent HUBS and epi tests!

 

[the_international]

Yeah, it was 150 marks - 16 MCQs (2 marks each), 4 true/false (1 mark each), and 114 marks of short answer questions. The short answer questions were spread over 5 sections:

Section 1 (47 marks) - this section was a real mix and although it definitely didn't cover all the lectures in the course, it felt like those lectures that did feature had been randomly selected.

Sections 2 - 4 (51 marks in total) - each of these sections was focussed around a study: you were told a bit about the study (maybe half a page of text), and then there were a few questions that required you to apply stuff from the course to that study.

Section 5 (16 marks) - this consisted of one question about the public health model that was released 2 weeks before the exam (so we all knew what it was beforehand and had prepared answers to it).

Compared to the 2008 exam there was a much greater focus on actual epidemiology rather than public health, and this reflects a change in the course - in 2008 they did all the epidemiology stuff (measures of association, study designs, bias/confounding/chance, causation, etc...) first and had all of this assessed in the mid-semester exam - the trade-off was that the final exam was very much focussed on public health stuff.

I would say that the 2009 exam was like a mix between the 2008 exam and the 2005-2007 exams in terms of focus and type of question.


Anyway, I hope all you HSFYers were happy with your marks for the recent HUBS and epi tests!

cheers greenglacier
just wondering did you guys get told your averages last year for the epi midsem? we havent got told any averages yet anyway..

also the test was quite different i felt from last years mid sem, it was more concept that fact memorisation (like last year you had to know some specific stuff like NZDep variables, this year theyd give you some background info for some Q's) also there was alot of calculations so im assuming our final will be based on mainly the public health portion too

 

[patkirtan]

cheers greenglacier
just wondering did you guys get told your averages last year for the epi midsem? we havent got told any averages yet anyway..

also the test was quite different i felt from last years mid sem, it was more concept that fact memorisation (like last year you had to know some specific stuff like NZDep variables, this year theyd give you some background info for some Q's) also there was alot of calculations so im assuming our final will be based on mainly the public health portion too

The Epi test is getting easier in my opinion, it was certainly way easier than last years terms test. Most people in my hall only got 1-4 questions wrong. I was kinda hoping this test would spread out the competition =/

Our Epi tutor said this year 20% out of the 60% for our finals will be just calculations, maybe that's why it was full of calculations this practice test.

 

[greenglacier]

The Epi test is getting easier in my opinion, it was certainly way easier than last years terms test. Most people in my hall only got 1-4 questions wrong. I was kinda hoping this test would spread out the competition =/

Our Epi tutor said this year 20% out of the 60% for our finals will be just calculations, maybe that's why it was full of calculations this practice test.

It's a bit of a shame that the test is getting easier, but to be fair, the mark distribution for the 1st test last year was pretty good - heaps of people got above 70% (it's just very few got above 90%). Last year heaps of people got the prevention questions wrong and it sounds like they've decided to remove the prevention lecture from the course as a result, so that would have been a strong contributor to any change in difficulty (it's a recurring theme in the epi paper - if students have difficultly with a topic they remove it from the paper). Anyway, I wouldn't rest easy - I don't know the averages but I very strongly suspect that they dropped throughout the course (i.e. average in 2nd test lower than 1st and average in final lower than in 2nd test), so there could quite easily still be a lot of separation to come in this paper.

 

[patkirtan]

It's a bit of a shame that the test is getting easier, but to be fair, the mark distribution for the 1st test last year was pretty good - heaps of people got above 70% (it's just very few got above 90%). Last year heaps of people got the prevention questions wrong and it sounds like they've decided to remove the prevention lecture from the course as a result, so that would have been a strong contributor to any change in difficulty (it's a recurring theme in the epi paper - if students have difficultly with a topic they remove it from the paper). Anyway, I wouldn't rest easy - I don't know the averages but I very strongly suspect that they dropped throughout the course (i.e. average in 2nd test lower than 1st and average in final lower than in 2nd test), so there could quite easily still be a lot of separation to come in this paper.

When my sister did Epidemiology, it was the first year it was introduced and she said that it was a crazy paper. A lot of people failed the mid semester exams [including straight A students] and in the finals they had to scale everyones marks A LOT. But this was almost 6 years ago.

I know that around 15 people are doing Epidemiology from my hall and i already know 4 people who got 90+ percent for this terms test.

 

[skyglow1]

Ah too bad the test is getting easier. You guys should hope for an insanely difficult final to give you an opportunity to pull ahead!

 

[the_international]

When my sister did Epidemiology, it was the first year it was introduced and she said that it was a crazy paper. A lot of people failed the mid semester exams [including straight A students] and in the finals they had to scale everyones marks A LOT. But this was almost 6 years ago.

I know that around 15 people are doing Epidemiology from my hall and i already know 4 people who got 90+ percent for this terms test.

wow are only 15 people still doing HSFY?? how many dropped out from your hall?

i bet the next terms test will be alot harder as others have indicated.. the department seems pretty tricky aswell.. who knows maybe now they might make it even harder

 

[patkirtan]

wow are only 15 people still doing HSFY?? how many dropped out from your hall?

i bet the next terms test will be alot harder as others have indicated.. the department seems pretty tricky aswell.. who knows maybe now they might make it even harder

My hall is pretty small. We only have 160 people to begin with. 15 is a rough number, i'm probably forgetting a few people. But from the people i see from lectures and our hall tutorials, i'd say theres only a handful of people doing Health Science.

I think about 40 something people were doing Health Science at the beginning of the year, the rest were doing Health Science related courses.

Ah too bad the test is getting easier. You guys should hope for an insanely difficult final to give you an opportunity to pull ahead!

Lol, grades look crap if everyone else gets the same thing.... so frustrating.

 

[greenglacier]

Just remember you still have to be fully tested on the proper epidemiology component of the course and that's where the average student tends to perform poorly. HEAL192 remains possibly the only place in HSFY when you are genuinely tested on your ability to demonstrate understanding of material through application to new situations.

 

[patkirtan]

Just remember you still have to be fully tested on the proper epidemiology component of the course and that's where the average student tends to perform poorly. HEAL192 remains possibly the only place in HSFY when you are genuinely tested on your ability to demonstrate understanding of material through application to new situations.

Yeah, we've barely scratched the surface. Still got Bioc, Epi 2, Hubs 2. Not that it matters, from last semester i've realized the best way to spread out from competition is to do well in the finals. :wacko:

I just realized I only have 2 months left 'til Health Science is OVER !!!! (yy)

25/26 days 'til UMAT (n)

 

[the_international]

So. What type of lab questions do they actually ask in the BIOC midsem?
I've heard that they only test calculation based questions from lab, is this true? What about all the other things we get taught in labs (theory wise)?

 

[greenglacier]

So. What type of lab questions do they actually ask in the BIOC midsem?
I've heard that they only test calculation based questions from lab, is this true? What about all the other things we get taught in labs (theory wise)?

Nah, they ask on everything, including theory. Last year the 5 questions covered:

1 - working out what volume the numbers on a pipette display correspond to.
2 - underlying theory behind spectrophotometry
3 - working out how much albumin was in a sample that had been diluted, using a standard curve
4 - predicting the pattern of gel electrophoresis for 4 proteins, given their pI values and the pH of the gel
5 - working out V0 given data from an enzyme assay

A couple of the GLM questions were essentially lab questions as well.

If you want some practice, look at the past final exams (there are heaps - BIOC192 used to be called BIOC111, so if you search for that you can find exams going back to 2001) and do the lab questions in those - not MCQ, but cover the same material, and you'll need to be to do them soon enough anyway!

 

[the_international]

Wow, cheers greenglacier had no idea they asked that kind of stuff from the lab, hopefully you just saved me from getting 5 questions wrong!
So I assume they ask 10 Q based on lab and GLM total? not more I assume?

 

[patkirtan]

Yay!!!

Yay, I just submitted my online application for all my professional courses.
I clicked YES for everything!!!
Just gotta deliver my First Aid Certificate and Criminal Declaration form this afternoon and I'm done =)

C'mon UMAT :cry:

[OFFTOPIC]Oh the new Ipods look good =)[/OFFTOPIC]

 

[skyglow1]

Lab questions in the BIOC midterm? That's a crappy timesink :/ Not long till finals now

 

[patkirtan]

Omg, there is about 1 and 1/2 months left 'til HUBS exam. =(
Everyone's grades this year are super high. I wonder what the cutoff will be like, although I haven't experience 'post-umat result phase yet'. It might dramatically motivate/demotivate some student?

 

[ChickenPie]

I don't think grades are higher. The averages for some tests have been higher, but then again just as many have been lower.

 

[patkirtan]

I don't think grades are higher. The averages for some tests have been higher, but then again just as many have been lower.

You reckon? hmm interesting.
I really wanna see how it all turns out at the end of this month.
Would be interesting to see what the cutoff is this year.
Is anyone else finding Bioc hard to memorize... there's so much :wacko: