Otago HSFY chat - archive

[frootloop]

A bit like in HUBS when they talked about vascular resistance being inversely proportional to radius to the power of 4, which reminded me of Poiseuille's equation from physics.

[OFFTOPIC]That's because it was... [/OFFTOPIC]

 

[Cathay]

[OFFTOPIC]

That's because it was...

By "reminded me of" I meant more like "sparked my memory of" and "I then proceeded to write down the equation and figured that resistance is 8ηL/πr^4", rather than "resembled the other unrelated equation", lol.
[/OFFTOPIC]

 

[xyz]

That hubs equation is just silly, I didn't expect to be treated like a year 10 in university where they just hide all the variables and call it 'Vascular resistance' especially after learning about it extensively in physics. But in other (worse) news, UMAT was horrifying. I think section 2 killed me.

 

[greenglacier]

Hav and miss_universe are right... to an extent. It's not a bad thing if HEAL is encouraging independent learning, but if it's anything like previous years they may be partially covering up poor teaching quality and rubbish test questions with the excuse that you should be "independently learning and thinking deeply". Don't complain about genuine independent learning, but also don't be afraid to be critical about the course/talk to student reps if you have any issues.

 

[skyglow1]

Wait, why don't they teach us their methods first, and *then* start talking about age-standardisation, racial bias, etc? Rather than 'you don't know what any of this means yet, but it is rather interesting, so have fun!'. But meh, HEAL is surprisingly interesting, and I think not having to bulk rote-learn (and actually think *shocked face*) makes for a nice change.

No bulk rote learn? You wait and see! lol. Hope you all found UMAT alright.

 

[frootloop]

! Butbutbut it seems so good at the moment.... *Holds on to the probably ridiculous hope that HEAL in 2011 wont involve as much rote-learning*.

 

[Cathay]

So I'm assuming that once we get into study designs and all that, all hell breaks loose?

 

[greenglacier]

In my year, one of the questions in the first terms test (relating to the "epidemiology of obesity" lecture) required knowledge of how many grams of sugar there are in a 600mL bottle of coke. Now, they might have fixed up the course since (and it sounds like the terms tests last year were pretty reasonable, if not plain easy), but it never pays to let your guard down with HEAL192.

 

[frootloop]

This year we've been explicitly told that the examples wont be examined, so I'm hoping last year's trend continues. Stupid side-note facts like 'how many grams of sugar in a bottle of coke' are something I'd rather not have to bother learning...

 

[greenglacier]

This year we've been explicitly told that the examples wont be examined

Hmm, that sounds familiar... could it be what they've told the HEAL192 class every year?

Meh, don't want to freak you out (and if it's like last year you should be fine), but if they seem to make a big deal out of an example, it may pay to have a little look at it.

 

[frootloop]

Did they make a big deal over the can of coke? loljk.
Yeah I figured that knowing a few details would be helpful, but they don't really give a lot of guidance in this course, so it's hard to know what to study for. Which would be ok, but MCQ questions (like the terms test) are obviously going to be fairly specific...

 

[xyz]

In my year, one of the questions in the first terms test (relating to the "epidemiology of obesity" lecture) required knowledge of how many grams of sugar there are in a 600mL bottle of coke. Now, they might have fixed up the course since (and it sounds like the terms tests last year were pretty reasonable, if not plain easy), but it never pays to let your guard down with HEAL192.

Wow. I don't see how they could defend that stupid question from the angry HSFY hordes, didn't anyone complain?

 

[greenglacier]

didn't anyone complain?

Someone tried to complain on the blackboard discussion board. They got a fairly angry reply saying that such comments were inappropriate for the board and if further posts of that nature occurred the board would be closed down.

 

[aaa24]

I dont even think we have a discussion board for HEAL this year?

 

[skyglow1]

Yup epidemiology itself is mostly concepts and everything makes sense which is nice, meaning you can work things out rather than have to memorise them. It's also really useful if you're continuing on into a professional course because you will have to read and critically appraise journal articles in your course and once you start working in your profession.

Public health on the other hand is a whole mixture of lectures on various topics given by different lecturers. It's nearly pure rote-learning and it's hard to know what to learn from those lectures. GG mentioned the obesity lecture which is a good example.

Although they say that examples won't be tested, I find it hard to believe that will fill the final exam with only concepts. Certainly the terms tests might only test concepts, but the final exam is usually a good mix of concepts and rote-learned stuff from the public health lectures.

Have a look at the 2008 paper to see a few more of the sort of public health questions they can ask.

 

[aaa24]

Should have taken an 8th paper, lololololol.

 

[brin]

I quite enjoyed UMAT, right up until section 3 - probably at least 1/3 of the questions I couldn't spot a pattern to save my life. Hopefully I guessed a few correct. Sections 1 & 2 were 95% sweet though, I hope.

Get to have a second go next year if I don't like my score anyway, so feeling pretty good.

@fruitloop: You're one of those "OH MY FKING GOD I FAILED oh 97th percentile yay" guys huh.

 

[Cathay]

@fruitloop: You're one of those "OH MY FKING GOD I FAILED oh 97th percentile yay" guys huh.

Meh, I was... kind of.

 

[brin]

I'm just hoping my optimism isn't ill-founded. I really think I actually did S1 / S2 quite well. S3 will be the one where I did hopelessly.. but then hopefully so did everyone else. The guy beside me certainly did, and someone outside was bragging about how he didn't even read the passages for S2..

 

[frootloop]

@fruitloop: You're one of those "OH MY FKING GOD I FAILED oh 97th percentile yay" guys huh.

I wont be complaining if it plays out that way
Although to be honest I think everyone (except demi-Gods and people who over-estimate themselves) walks out of UMAT feeling like it chased them down a dark alley and had it's wicked way with them.