Otago HSFY chat - archive

[SeeKay]

Oh that's a lot shorter than I expected lol I thought Uni lectures would be a longer longer.Thanks kaixian.

 

[miss_universe]

Oh that's a lot shorter than I expected lol I thought Uni lectures would be a longer longer.Thanks kaixian.

Usually you have a few in a row though. No less draining than class I think

 

[Cathay]

Usually you have a few in a row though. No less draining than class I think

That first point's somewhat debatable... Even in first semester there'd only be 3-4 lectures a day, and you'd have to either be lucky or stream-jump to get stuff done in one quick burst. If you're unlucky you'll be like me, ending up with a scattershot of a timetable: 8am HUBS, 11am CELS, 1pm CHEM, and 5pm PHSI. Of course, there are also labs, which are 3 hours long, so a health sci's day isn't as simple as 4 hours of sitting in lectures...

For SeeKay's information, a lot of people actually prefer to have all their lectures in a row, to be done for the day relatively quickly. Concentrating for the entire lecture and taking notes, and immediately "asking for seconds" (plunge into another lecture) is something you'll get better at as you go.

But I will admit that it is fairly taxing, because...

Oh that's a lot shorter than I expected lol I thought Uni lectures would be a longer longer.Thanks kaixian.

In a way, it is longer, in terms of the amount of material you'll learn from each lecture. It's a bit like taking maybe 3-4 high school lessons' worth of material and cramming it into 50 minutes of a lecturer showing you a powerpoint presentation and talking at you non-stop. So, whereas at high school if you're good you might be able to pick up exactly what a lesson is about just by being there, at university you'll definitely need to go back over the material to get it into your head.

In essence, university is about learning much, much more material in much less "contact time" (the amount of time you have someone teaching you stuff), leaving the actual learning for you to do in your own time.

 

[SeeKay]

Yeah I'd prefer to have lectures in a row since they are pretty short.

In regards to the contact time, I'm already used to it because teachers in my school are lazy and leaves majority of the work for the students to learn themselves - lol I guess they have done a nice job preparing me for next year.

 

[greenglacier]

Yeah I'd prefer to have lectures in a row since they are pretty short.

See if you're still thinking that next year

I've always found 3 lectures in a row to be a killer. 4 is nothing short of ghastly...

 

[miss_universe]

See if you're still thinking that next year

I've always found 3 lectures in a row to be a killer. 4 is nothing short of ghastly...

I agree, I think the best is 2 lectures, 1 hour break and 2 lectures (if you had 4 in a day lets say)
ALso I really dont mind big breaks (having a 4 hour break or so between lectures), I find its really helps to get into of the material study-wise.

...but really my post is useless as its all personal opinion. The story is, short breaks but not too many are great, some people like long ones, but 4 in a row it like being slapped in the face..repeatedly.

 

[SeeKay]

Lol ok then. I'll take your advices on board

2 lectures and a break sounds good to me - it's how my high school was structured like and I think it's a good balance between work and rest

 

[miss_universe]

Yep try for that, but in reality, its hard to get a timetable like what you want. Just aim to get your lectures close together.
That means getting in early when enrollment starts.

 

[Cathay]

Yep try for that, but in reality, its hard to get a timetable like what you want. Just aim to get your lectures close together.
That means getting in early when enrollment starts.

Erm... I don't know if getting in early makes any difference - we don't choose our timetables, and the computer program that automatically allocates each of us to a time slot doesn't run until the Thursday or Friday before semester starts, so I'm not sure if getting in early makes a difference at all. I doubt the order of enrolment has any significance, either. I'd say there's more chance involved than anything.

Either way, within the first 3 weeks of lectures, people will start getting lazy and not going to lectures, and stream-jumping would come to an equilibrium as people manage to find their own rhythm in terms of what lectures they go to, and you'll figure everything out.

 

[poutine]

Yep try for that, but in reality, its hard to get a timetable like what you want. Just aim to get your lectures close together.
That means getting in early when enrollment starts.

Just wondering, can enrolment for HSFY and timetable scheduling be done online? Or is this something you have to actually do in person? Also, when does scheduling/enrolment become available?

 

[miss_universe]

Ok well then.o do anything and sit and hope. And [MENTION=11137]poutine[/MENTION], you might wanna ask cathay for an answer.

 

[Cathay]

Just wondering, can enrolment for HSFY and timetable scheduling be done online? Or is this something you have to actually do in person? Also, when does scheduling/enrolment become available?

Enrolment starts with online registration, which you can do right now (go to https://www.otago.ac.nz/ and click the Online Registration 2012 button at the bottom), after you've registered online, they'll send you an email asking for various documents as necessary. Once they have all the documents you'll be able to set your PIMS (Personal Information Management System) password and log into PIMS to check your information. Now you're set for the moment. (But it's a good time to apply for and sort out documents for student loan and allowance right about now, too, so you might want to do that.)

Just after New Years, they'll send you an email with a link to a confirmation thing that asks if you're definitely going to Otago, and once you click yes (or confirm otherwise, by mail or something, but it's a lot easier to just click yes) your online registration will then be complete. Then in mid-January you'll receive an invoice for tuition fees, but if you're intending to pay it by student loan you can ignore it (but don't forget to apply for the student loan if you haven't already), by about 19th of January you'll receive your course approval form and a HSFY information booklet. That's the second stage.

The final stage will be done next year, at course approval, Friday 17th February for surnames in the first half of the alphabet, Monday 20th February for second half, and Tuesday 21st for anyone who haven't done it by then. This is one you have to do in person on campus in Dunedin, and this is also about the time you should check in to your colleges.

At some stage late January or early February your PIMS will say "Student Loan Contract: Finalised" to indicate that Otago has liased with StudyLink and have confirmed your enrolment and your student loan is all set to go.

As for scheduling, as I've said above, other than choosing your papers (and you don't even get to do that because you'll be a health sci), there's not much you can do. On Friday 24th of February in the afternoon you will find your personal timetable on PIMS under Study Timetable, and everything else is done for you by a computer.

Do note, however, that lectures are optional - they may emphasise that you should go to the right stream, but that's just to avoid overcrowding at popular times and people who are scheduled into that stream who can't make other streams due to labs may end up not being able to attend the particular lecture at all. Other than the administrative encouragement to go to the right stream, no one cares if you go to lectures, or if you go to the right stream, so eventually later in the semester you may be able to get away with turning up to one that suits you, but I shouldn't say that because I'm supposed to tell you to go to the right stream

Labs, however, are compulsory, and you are expected to turn up to the scheduled lab, unless you get an official stream change. Missing labs may result in loss of grades, and, if unexplained/unable to be justified, may result in failing terms - that is, you will not be allowed to sit the final exam and will officially fail the paper.

 

[Hari]

Hey Guys,

First off, good luck with your exams/attempt at med entry!

Now in terms of books, would you say that all of them were useful? I have heard some people did not even use their text books so I was wondering if you guys could advice me on books to avoid. On the topic of books, do we really have to get the essential textbooks? Because there is this app called inkling which has textbooks which are generally cheaper and optimized for the ipad, I was thinking if i could use that instead of purchasing physical textbooks it would be a space, and money saver (i plan to keep my text books). My only issue atm is that the only books they have which are being used by HSFY is the Biology text, though they may update their line by the time I go to Otago. Do you reckon its worth getting other textbooks eg Chemistry or Biochemistry texts?Those books are from well regarded publishers, they may just vary in terms of content.

Lastly, would you guys know if taking the UMAT twice is still acceptable? And if they count your highest score still? I ask because I am taking a gap year to experience life/New Zealand before I do HSFY.

Thanks and All the best with your exams!

 

[SeeKay]

@Hari

Regarding the textbook issue, there was a large paragraph about it in the 'HSFY advice from mso members' thread.

Textbooks

HUBS: sure there are some things tested from the textbook, but really the number of marks you gain is miniscule compared to the amount of effort you would need to put in. Why not spend those hours reading the textbook on something more useful like nailing the lecture material for CELS or CHEM 100%?

CHEM: may be useful to help understanding of some concepts, but really you shouldn't run into too many problems about concepts, and if you do just borrow someone elses textbook.

CELS: no need to learn anything from the textbook, just know every of every lecture perfectly (of course you wouldn't learn things like when the first microscope was made etc. etc.)

PHSI: because the textbook is written by the university now, it is way better. It was a different horrible textbook beforehand. If physics is your weak point then definitely get this book. It has a lot of questions in it too which are good practice.

HEAL: the textbook I found helpful when I did HSFY. Not so sure about how helpful it is anymore. I would be more inclined to borrow this book off someone else.

BIOC: no, everything you need is on the lecture slides.


-Skyglow
To add to this, the textbooks are, essentially, useless (in my own opinion, and in the opinion of most people I've talked to), so I'd say HUBS is the only one you 'need' (and even then that's debatable), but to be honest you're better to wait till a few weeks into semester one to decide if you need the books or not.
'Other' books: Just thought I'd add that some companies (which shall remain nameless...) sell books that supposedly give you all the extra information you need to ace HSFY. These are utter rubbish. The departments themselves say that many of these books contain errors, and trust me when I say that time, not the number of resources, will be your problem in HSFY. All the resources you need *will* be given to you. (And YES, that does mean that using a past student's notes will probably not benefit you in the slightest, you are *much* better off to write your own. You'll remember the content better, and note-taking is a skill you need to learn at university, and for your future career).

Hope this helped!

 

[studyinghardatm]

hi i am new here and i've been reading through the HSFY threads and i just want to say thanks everyone for putting such effort into those guides because they are REALLY helpful!! It seems like HSFY will consist on a lot of memorizing, i was wondering if trying those memory programs will help me next year and what do you consider efficient studying? I have also been listening to motivation tapes, is that a good idea?
I was thinking about sitting near the front of the lecture so i could set up a camera using my phone to record the lecturer, would that be a good idea? Or should i just use a voice recorder? I am planning to listen or watch them repeatedly maybe even before sleep. It'll be cool if everyone could share their way of studying for HSFY. Cheers

 

[Hari]

I was gna say that I literally just read that, but you beat me to it. Thanks though, I may decide to purchase a few textbooks for some self study next year, but I wont go with the Uni text books.

Thanks for the info!

Now about the UMAT?

 

[skyglow1]

Oh that quote looks like I wrote the paragraph at the bottom haha. I think someone else wrote that and I wrote the stuff above, because I definitely don't think HUBS is essential. My advice would be to not get any of the textbooks. Wait until you start HSFY. You will not be disadvantaged by not having the textbooks when HSFY start.

And yeah it should be the higher of the two scores for UMAT.

 

[Eye]

hi i am new here and i've been reading through the HSFY threads and i just want to say thanks everyone for putting such effort into those guides because they are REALLY helpful!! It seems like HSFY will consist on a lot of memorizing, i was wondering if trying those memory programs will help me next year and what do you consider efficient studying? I have also been listening to motivation tapes, is that a good idea?
I was thinking about sitting near the front of the lecture so i could set up a camera using my phone to record the lecturer, would that be a good idea? Or should i just use a voice recorder? I am planning to listen or watch them repeatedly maybe even before sleep. It'll be cool if everyone could share their way of studying for HSFY. Cheers

Do whatever works best for you. Just don't be too much of a gunner.

 

[Hari]

Apparently you could download the lectures anyway so you prolly wont need to do that.

As for the brain games, I tried them (Lumosity and many more) they dont seem to really work, but that is just my personal opinion! If you can find a free one by all means go for it!

As for those motivational tapes etc, if you feel it helps you by all means use them. I use hypnosis apps on my ipod mainly for sleep (but i got the exam prep anxiety thing because it puts me to sleep anyway) if it helps you feel better, you should get it! I know it works miracles on me (helps with the insomnia).

@ skyglow
Thanks Sky! I actually may only get 2 books, the PHSI one just so I can slowly improve my physics knowledge over my gap year. Trust me I do need to do this because I know if I don't I will struggle with PHSI, and probably I would have to get the Chem book, just because I have a few gaps. But I won't get the prescribed text just because its not as nice as some other texts which are much cheaper.

As for HUBS and etc, my classmate who is in med in the Philippines gave me his copy of Netters and I forgot the other one (Though I have no plans of filling my gap year with over gunning study). Mainly I just need to focus on PHSI and CHEM

And take my UMAT too!

Next year is gna be growing up and experiencing the real world year for me! Just so I don't turn into those over excited I MUST GET INTO MED HSFY'ers who sit at the front, go to every tutorial, harass the professors and not reach med anyway

 

[Hari]

Sorry didnt know how to delete the double post