Otago HSFY chat - archive

[frootloop]

A friend of a friend who got 99% in PHSI191 kindly shared a cheat sheet he compiled throughout the semester with my friend (who subsequently scored 100%) and I have a copy saved on my laptop which I will upload when I get home later tonight. It is basically a summary of the course into 2 A4 pages.

Sounds like my cheat-sheet lol, just ALL THE PHYSICS .

 

[greenglacier]

Just a word of caution - I'd advise against using someone elses cheatsheet as your own. (As a general reference throughout the course, fine, but not as the sheet you take into the exam).

I found that designing and creating my own cheatsheet was the most effective PHSI191 revision I did.

 

[skyglow1]

At the same time, do not feel compelled to cram the whole course onto your cheat sheet. You see these people meticulously writing in tiny font onto their cheat sheet, who knows how long that took. I think after the mid-semester test you guys will understand the cheat-sheet's importance/non-importance.

And please do not be sucked into thinking that being armed with an excellent cheat sheet can somehow get you a higher mark in the exam. If you don't personally understand all the stuff in the PHSI paper then writing it done in tiny font on a piece of paper will not help you at crunch time.

TLDR: A highly detailed cheat sheet is not a requirement or prerequisite to getting 100 in physics. And it's not guaranteed to confer benefit. As with anything, weigh up the cost in terms of time spent on that activity versus potential benefits.

 

[Deleted member 4350]

I think using a ready-made cheat sheet throughout the semester for quick reference will benefit you more than making your own because you would be far more spatially oriented to the material than if you had made one yourself last minute; and secondly, you could have dedicated that time to doing past exam questions, working on your weak areas etc, rather than tediously sifting through hundreds of slides and drainingly filtering out a heap of useless material from the lectures.

fyi: the numerical questions can be solved by simple plug and chug which will become second nature after attempting multiple questions, but conceptual questions require a more thorough understanding of the material. So my approach is more suited for questions that don't require a great deal of thinking, but rather knowing which equations to use, so if you're looking for the 95+ mark do try to understand the implications of the equations, not just robotically applying them which is what I (for the most part) did.

 

[greenglacier]

I reckon the best way to get "spatially oriented" to a cheat sheet is to make it yourself. Plus preparing one ensures you do a good amount of revision on all aspects of the course - past questions don't cover all contingencies re. what they might ask in the actual exam.

 

[Voldemort]

This may help: What I did was went through all my slides, made sure I understood and knew all of them, then recalled and anything I had trouble recalling I put on my cheatsheet. Also, anything I learned during my practise questions I also put on my sheet.

 

[Cathay]

I sat down at the end of the semester, went through all the slides and the textbook before any revision, and anything that surprised me or anything I don't remember or anything I remembered wrong goes on the sheet, which is done in Publisher, with big headings for each module (because there wasn't much content under them), and a different shade of gray in the background of each different bit.

 

[Profiterole]

Anyone know what happens in the first chem lab (i.e what exit tests are done?)

 

[Cathay]

Anyone know what happens in the first chem lab (i.e what exit tests are done?)

You'll do an experiment and then have the exit test at the end. If you know what you're doing in the lab, the exit tests are practically easy.

 

[Sam]

Anyone know what happens in the first chem lab (i.e what exit tests are done?)

Precipitation reactions, simple stuff.

 

[Voldemort]

Exit test is written, not practical. Worth 3%, but if you do all 6 Bestchoice assignments before the lab, you can discount your worst lab.

 

[Deleted member 4350]

The PHSI cheat sheet, as promised.

View attachment PhysicsCheatSheet.doc

I've also uploaded it to mediafire in case you can't open the attachment:

https://www.mediafire.com/?vpv9h3ry9z2n2vw

 

[Nimbus2000]

I was just ummm looking at the discussion boards ( the blackboard ones), people seem to be going into extreme detail, and asking extremely intelligent questions :/ are they just wasting their time, or should I also be pouring over 50 gazillion textbooks and web sites like the others on the bb discussion board seem to b doing? :$

 

[Sam]

The PHSI cheat sheet, as promised.

View attachment 616

I've also uploaded it to mediafire in case you can't open the attachment:

PhysicsCheatSheet.doc

Thanks a lot, attachment worked just fine Appreciate it.

I was just ummm looking at the discussion boards ( the blackboard ones), people seem to be going into extreme detail, and asking extremely intelligent questions :/ are they just wasting their time, or should I also be pouring over 50 gazillion textbooks and web sites like the others on the bb discussion board seem to b doing?

They're wasting their time, if you look at the exams the actual questions are so easy it's ridiculous. I was worrying about all this Energy stuff, but I just looked at the examples of the previous exams (from the library website) and the questions are so simple. It's really just basic plug in numbers to the formula type of thing.

 

[Deleted member 4350]

Thanks a lot, attachment worked just fine Appreciate it.



They're wasting their time, if you look at the exams the actual questions are so easy it's ridiculous. I was worrying about all this Energy stuff, but I just looked at the examples of the previous exams (from the library website) and the questions are so simple. It's really just basic plug in numbers to the formula type of thing.

No probs. And don't be afraid to share it around with your close friends (but no one else, or else they'll have an advantage over you )

 

[Sam]

No probs. And don't be afraid to share it around with your close friends (but no one else, or else they'll have an advantage over you )

I would never want that Gotta win!

 

[frootloop]

No probs. And don't be afraid to share it around with your close friends (but no one else, or else they'll have an advantage over you )

No one else. Nobody except every single person who reads MSO

 

[Deleted member 4350]

No one else. Nobody except every single person who reads MSO

We're all close friends here, aren't we?

 

[hermafish]

Woah there is a lot on that cheat sheet!! thank you for sharing

 

[Cathay]

I was just ummm looking at the discussion boards ( the blackboard ones), people seem to be going into extreme detail, and asking extremely intelligent questions :/ are they just wasting their time, or should I also be pouring over 50 gazillion textbooks and web sites like the others on the bb discussion board seem to b doing? :$

If you can honestly say that you know the stuff on the lecture slides for all lectures up to today, and continue to be always up to date for the whole semester, then you're doing better than >90% of all health scis. Remember it's the volume of content, and how hard it is to catch up once you're behind, that trips people up.

Your goal in HSFY is to get into med/dent/whatever, but this doesn't mean you have to jump on all the little details - it just means you should aim to know all of the important things they lecture you about. In first semester, I only did about half a week of prereadings, hardly touched the textbooks, never bothered reading further about...anything, and still got 96% average between the four papers.

I'm not saying you shouldn't read further - it's good to gain a deeper understanding and know more about the topic, but if your goal is to get into med/dent/whatever, then you shouldn't let that pursuit of knowledge (which, again, is good for things beyond HSFY) get in the way of knowing your basics (i.e. what they teach in lectures) really well, which is what counts at the end of the semester.

EDIT: I guess what I'm trying to say is yes, those people with the extreme detail and the 'extremely intelligent questions' are wasting their time, as far as getting higher marks in HSFY is concerned.