-
Welcome to MSO!
We are an online community for current and prospective medical, dental and allied health students and early career professionals from Australia and New Zealand.Please read: About MSO | Annual Welcome and Important Information | MSO Rules
Quick Links To Forums
Tests/Interviews: UCAT | GAMSAT | Interviews Entrance Discussion: Graduate Medicine | Undergraduate Medicine | Dentistry -
Please consider registering on MSO. Benefits of registering are:
- Able to post and participate in the forum
- After 10 posts: Private Message Other Users
- After 25 posts: Access to the Chatbox
- After 100 posts: Custom user titles and Ad-free experience
If you would like to get involved with MSO or have ideas, suggestions, comments, criticisms or other feedback please Contact Us
Otago HSFY chat - archive
- Thread starter jeavey
- Start date
- Status
Maiden_NewZealand
Member
Yeah I hope I make some good friends.
You and Skyglow will have to tell me when you guys get into med
. You guys would prob be too excited to pop online on xmas eve just to tell us lol...I'd be screamin the house down like I'd won that 30mil lotto a couple of months ago 
.
Anyway a quick question to you both, did you find the textbooks helped much? Do you get video streams of your lectures and notes? What are the lecturers like?
You and Skyglow will have to tell me when you guys get into med
. You guys would prob be too excited to pop online on xmas eve just to tell us lol...I'd be screamin the house down like I'd won that 30mil lotto a couple of months ago .Anyway a quick question to you both, did you find the textbooks helped much? Do you get video streams of your lectures and notes? What are the lecturers like?
Hmm textbooks (note that this is just my view):
Video streams of only a few lectures, usually integration lectures at the end of each block for hubs. Otherwise no. But for most papers you get audio mp3 downloadable clips.
Lecturers:mYou'll get a large number of lecturers, each having different paces and styles of teaching, so you might like some but hate others.
- Hubs191+192: very helpful. Goes beyond what you need to know often but the diagrams are clear and simplified so it makes learning easier. A few mistakes-like any textbook- but they're pointed out by the lecturer.
- Cels: again very helpful
- Chem: the material is too in depth at times but the questions at the end of each chapter are good for practice. The guy who wrote this is actually one of our lecturers.
- Bioc: spent over $100 and didn't even look at it >_>
- Epidemiology: very helpful. The first half of epi pretty much comes out of this book. It's much better than the lecturers.
Video streams of only a few lectures, usually integration lectures at the end of each block for hubs. Otherwise no. But for most papers you get audio mp3 downloadable clips.
Lecturers:mYou'll get a large number of lecturers, each having different paces and styles of teaching, so you might like some but hate others.
Last edited:
Hey Arutha Yes hope to see us both in med next year! *fingers crossed*
Ya in the UMAT department I got dominated by nearly everyone haha. Otago's cohort seems to be pretty above average in terms of UMAT marks.
LOL so true haha.
Ok to answer Maiden's questions:
Textbooks (also just my opinion
and also depends on your approach towards the papers)
CELS191 - Used it a decent amount. My idea for this paper was to learn everything in the lectures really well then just absorb as much as I could in terms of further detail from the textbook, and it worked!
CHEM191 - Didn't really need it (CIE chem for the win lol) or liked it. I opened it a few times then it collected dust after that. It looked like there were some good questions in there and the lecturers release answers for those questions too so it can be helpful.
PHSI191 - Everyone hates this textbook but for me it was sorta ok. Again didn't really need to use it.
HUBS191 + 192 - I used it mainly to clarify really minior details that I wasn't sure of.
BIOC192 - Was all motivated start of semester 2 to attempt my CELS191 strategy and learn things further in detail, then got lazy and gave up. I studied only from the lectures and that was enough.
HEAL192 - Oh god I'd be so lost without this book haha. Most useful one by far. Has really good explanations for all the concepts that the lecturers more often than not cannot explain well :/
Oh and also when you start health sci they'll be all like DO YOUR PREREADING OR YOU DIE (prereading is just certain pages they expect you to do read from the textbook before lectures). Well since everyone is so motivated for the first week, most people do complete the prereading. About after a month pretty much everyone has stopped doing that haha. It's annoying and I completely gave up trying to do it after about a week in. Basically just pay really close attention in lectures lol cause the lectures have everything. That said, to survive first half of HEAL192 I had to preread like mad to keep up with what was going on in lectures.
I was so eager to get the textbooks asap and everything and more than half of them just ended up sitting on the floor whole year so yeah don't get overly excited. That can be detrimental too if you spend your time studying things from the textbook that just simply won't be tested.
Video and audio:
CELS191 - Audio for all lectures
PHSI191 - I think there was audio...
CHEM191 - none
HUBS191 + 192 - Audio for all lectures + a couple of video lectures
BIOC192 - no audio
HEAL192 - no audio
Regarding the lecturers, the only thing that stood out for me was HEAL192, in my opinion, being below the standard of the papers. Just try and pay close attention. Sit at the front if you need to lol.
Yes hope to see us both in med next year! *fingers crossed*Ya in the UMAT department I got dominated by nearly everyone haha. Otago's cohort seems to be pretty above average in terms of UMAT marks.
LOL so true haha.
Ok to answer Maiden's questions:
Textbooks (also just my opinion
and also depends on your approach towards the papers)CELS191 - Used it a decent amount. My idea for this paper was to learn everything in the lectures really well then just absorb as much as I could in terms of further detail from the textbook, and it worked!
CHEM191 - Didn't really need it (CIE chem for the win lol) or liked it. I opened it a few times then it collected dust after that. It looked like there were some good questions in there and the lecturers release answers for those questions too so it can be helpful.
PHSI191 - Everyone hates this textbook but for me it was sorta ok. Again didn't really need to use it.
HUBS191 + 192 - I used it mainly to clarify really minior details that I wasn't sure of.
BIOC192 - Was all motivated start of semester 2 to attempt my CELS191 strategy and learn things further in detail, then got lazy and gave up. I studied only from the lectures and that was enough.
HEAL192 - Oh god I'd be so lost without this book haha. Most useful one by far. Has really good explanations for all the concepts that the lecturers more often than not cannot explain well :/
Oh and also when you start health sci they'll be all like DO YOUR PREREADING OR YOU DIE (prereading is just certain pages they expect you to do read from the textbook before lectures). Well since everyone is so motivated for the first week, most people do complete the prereading. About after a month pretty much everyone has stopped doing that haha. It's annoying and I completely gave up trying to do it after about a week in. Basically just pay really close attention in lectures lol cause the lectures have everything. That said, to survive first half of HEAL192 I had to preread like mad to keep up with what was going on in lectures.
I was so eager to get the textbooks asap and everything and more than half of them just ended up sitting on the floor whole year so yeah don't get overly excited. That can be detrimental too if you spend your time studying things from the textbook that just simply won't be tested.
Video and audio:
CELS191 - Audio for all lectures
PHSI191 - I think there was audio...
CHEM191 - none
HUBS191 + 192 - Audio for all lectures + a couple of video lectures
BIOC192 - no audio
HEAL192 - no audio
Regarding the lecturers, the only thing that stood out for me was HEAL192, in my opinion, being below the standard of the papers. Just try and pay close attention. Sit at the front if you need to lol.
Last edited:
hi
for the cheatsheet in phsi191, can we have absolutely anything written on it? is it A4 and can we use both sides?
are there any dissetions in the labs? to we get to encounter a cadaver?
out of st margs and carrington or any other resedential college ,which has the most academic success of students getting into med? im going to st margs next year and hope that it improves my chances of getting into med
and what is the maximum number of HSFY students that can enter med?
many thanks to skyglow and arutha for answering our questions, good luck on you both for next year
for the cheatsheet in phsi191, can we have absolutely anything written on it? is it A4 and can we use both sides?
are there any dissetions in the labs? to we get to encounter a cadaver?
out of st margs and carrington or any other resedential college ,which has the most academic success of students getting into med? im going to st margs next year and hope that it improves my chances of getting into med
and what is the maximum number of HSFY students that can enter med?
many thanks to skyglow and arutha for answering our questions, good luck on you both for next year
Last edited:
Hello taddy
for the cheatsheet in phsi191, can we have absolutely anything written on it? is it A4 and can we use both sides?
Absolutely anything; you're allowed to draw pictures, glue stuff on it but you can't have multiple layers on a single spot-you get in trouble for that.
are there any dissetions in the labs? to we get to encounter a cadaver?
I'm sure there is the odd occurrence of dissension within the labs
but I really think you mean dissection! Yes, there are in the hubs labs but they're animal parts like deer knee joint. You will see prosections of cavader limbs/organs that you're usually not allowed to handle but you'll never see a full cadaver.
out of st margs and carrington or any other resedential college ,which has the most academic success of students getting into med? im going to st margs next year and hope that it improves my chances of getting into med
many thanks to skyglow and arutha for answering our questions, good luck on you both for next year
Cheers ^^. Only two weeks before I find out >_<.
for the cheatsheet in phsi191, can we have absolutely anything written on it? is it A4 and can we use both sides?
Absolutely anything; you're allowed to draw pictures, glue stuff on it but you can't have multiple layers on a single spot-you get in trouble for that.
are there any dissetions in the labs? to we get to encounter a cadaver?
I'm sure there is the odd occurrence of dissension within the labs
but I really think you mean dissection! Yes, there are in the hubs labs but they're animal parts like deer knee joint. You will see prosections of cavader limbs/organs that you're usually not allowed to handle but you'll never see a full cadaver.out of st margs and carrington or any other resedential college ,which has the most academic success of students getting into med? im going to st margs next year and hope that it improves my chances of getting into med
many thanks to skyglow and arutha for answering our questions, good luck on you both for next year
Cheers ^^. Only two weeks before I find out >_<.
Last edited:
Yeah it's pretty close aye
The cheatsheet is basically you're not allowed to have things hanging off like a flap of paper or anything. The fact that they give you a cheatsheet and all the formulas should alert you to the fact that PHSI191 is a course based entirely on concepts and solving questions, and NOT on rote learning.
I was also interested in which college had the most med students each year. If you think about it though, the college you are at probably doesn't make as much of a difference as you think. It's not that St margs/Carrington are way beyond the other colleges in terms of study environment/support so the students do better, is that the type of students who are more likely to get into med are attracted to these colleges, so make sure you don't get mucked up in your cause and effect! I initially wanted to get into St Margs (first preference), didn't get in, then got into Aquinas (third preference), and I'm pretty happy with my marks, so don't fret too much if you don't into St Margs/Carrington.
And yeah don't feel like you need to go tutorials. I didn't go to any of them offered at my college except for the ones that had practise questions because as arutha said, if you can use the hour more wisely than do so. Tutorials are often for students who are struggling and so the content is quite basic.
This year the number of non-sepecial category HSFY students who will get into med is 150. 20 spots are allocated for rural and Maori categories each.
The cheatsheet is basically you're not allowed to have things hanging off like a flap of paper or anything. The fact that they give you a cheatsheet and all the formulas should alert you to the fact that PHSI191 is a course based entirely on concepts and solving questions, and NOT on rote learning.
I was also interested in which college had the most med students each year. If you think about it though, the college you are at probably doesn't make as much of a difference as you think. It's not that St margs/Carrington are way beyond the other colleges in terms of study environment/support so the students do better, is that the type of students who are more likely to get into med are attracted to these colleges, so make sure you don't get mucked up in your cause and effect! I initially wanted to get into St Margs (first preference), didn't get in, then got into Aquinas (third preference), and I'm pretty happy with my marks, so don't fret too much if you don't into St Margs/Carrington.
And yeah don't feel like you need to go tutorials. I didn't go to any of them offered at my college except for the ones that had practise questions because as arutha said, if you can use the hour more wisely than do so. Tutorials are often for students who are struggling and so the content is quite basic.
This year the number of non-sepecial category HSFY students who will get into med is 150. 20 spots are allocated for rural and Maori categories each.
Last edited:
Flaps! That's the word I was looking for lol!Yeah it's pretty close aye
The cheatsheet is basically you're not allowed to have things hanging off like a flap of paper or anything. The fact that they give you a cheatsheet and all the formulas should alert you to the fact that PHSI191 is a course based entirely on concepts and solving questions, and NOT on wrote learning.
Last edited:
Blackboard will take over your life. Laptops are very useful at uni. ^_^
It is where your course feeds you all that you need: lecture slides; audio, if there are any; self-directed learning material; a discussion board where you can communicate with other students and teaching fellows -everything!
Any assessments that you take online will also occur here.
It is where your course feeds you all that you need: lecture slides; audio, if there are any; self-directed learning material; a discussion board where you can communicate with other students and teaching fellows -everything!
Any assessments that you take online will also occur here.
Last edited:
I nearly got a heart attack when I checked my gmail and there was an email from the admissions office...but it was only to say that my application is being processed haha. We might get our offers/rejections for the courses a few days before teh 23rd too. The very lattest they'll send the email is on the 23rd but I know a 2nd year physio from my college who got theirs a coupled ays earlier than that, so it could be really close now
Lol a first-hand stress response. It will either be the worst or the best Christmas ever, how cruel 
Also the fact that at least a couple hundred med-hopefuls who had put in a ton of effort into the course and will not get is arutha sad thought (sorry I couldn't resist! xD).
Also the fact that at least a couple hundred med-hopefuls who had put in a ton of effort into the course and will not get is arutha sad thought (sorry I couldn't resist! xD).I knew it was going to be so bad that it would turn out funny lol. Throughout the year I was thinking about the answer to that question, and tried to base my guesses on the distribution of marks in each paper and how that relates to the 70% cutoff for each paper.
Our HEAL192 class was something like just over a thousand if I remember from the feedback forms we were given which had the class size on them, so thats an upper limit (we started with about 1550 from the CHEM191 feedback forms). To narrow it further, in our HEAL192 mid semester test there was exactly 300 people who got 70% or higher. I would bet that they had to scale up the marks in the end though because that seems like too few people to be eligible to apply for med, so maybe a maximum of 500 got 70% overall in that paper or higher.
Then we have something like the CELS191 paper where one of the staff for that paper said the final average was 57% for the paper (raw average of 52% then everyone put up by 5%). That paper would've eliminated quite a few students cause of the 70% cutoff. Maybe there were only 450 max who got 70% or higher in both HEAL and CELS.
Apparently CHEM and PHSI were also big hitters in terms of people not making the 70% cutoff. Again this is only by word of mouth but a friend of a friend got a very good UMAT, did well in all the papers except got a C in chem so is not eligible to try for med. If we put all the papers together and I had to make a guess, I'd say somewhere between 300 and 400 students managed 70% or higher in every paper and were eligible to try for med.
Our HEAL192 class was something like just over a thousand if I remember from the feedback forms we were given which had the class size on them, so thats an upper limit (we started with about 1550 from the CHEM191 feedback forms). To narrow it further, in our HEAL192 mid semester test there was exactly 300 people who got 70% or higher. I would bet that they had to scale up the marks in the end though because that seems like too few people to be eligible to apply for med, so maybe a maximum of 500 got 70% overall in that paper or higher.
Then we have something like the CELS191 paper where one of the staff for that paper said the final average was 57% for the paper (raw average of 52% then everyone put up by 5%). That paper would've eliminated quite a few students cause of the 70% cutoff. Maybe there were only 450 max who got 70% or higher in both HEAL and CELS.
Apparently CHEM and PHSI were also big hitters in terms of people not making the 70% cutoff. Again this is only by word of mouth but a friend of a friend got a very good UMAT, did well in all the papers except got a C in chem so is not eligible to try for med. If we put all the papers together and I had to make a guess, I'd say somewhere between 300 and 400 students managed 70% or higher in every paper and were eligible to try for med.
Last edited:
I was listening to one of the HEAL tutors and she said that HEAL was originally in the first semester but so many people failed it because it's an applied science and health sci students don't really know how to approach anything other than rote-learning and because the university workload was just such a big shock to health sci freshers so they changed it to second semester. Not sure how much it helped though lol.
and because the university workload was just such a big shock to health sci freshers so they changed it to second semester. Not sure how much it helped though lol.
Last edited:
Haha that's an interesting story. I guess some of the first half is concepts...but it still felt to me like most of the course was massive rote-learning, which was basically my preparation for the final. It was nice to only have 3 papers in the second semester so that each day had only 1 or 2 hours of lectures, but I got lazy in the second semester so it felt like I had the same workload as first semester. Most of the guys in my college including myself were wondering how on earth we mananged to sit through so many lectures in first semester lol.
Yeah I found most people lost motivation quickly in the second semester, even though alot of people were really motivated coming back from the intersemester break. It's so important to keep yourself motivated through goals or whatever works for you.
Eco was a pretty popular choice for the 4th paper. Ideally you should do well in all the standard HSFY papers and not need to take a 4th paper. Having only 3 papers in the second semester is quite nice, and taking a 4th paper may be detrimental to your marks in the 3 standard papers in second semester because it takes up some of your time.
Eco was a pretty popular choice for the 4th paper. Ideally you should do well in all the standard HSFY papers and not need to take a 4th paper. Having only 3 papers in the second semester is quite nice, and taking a 4th paper may be detrimental to your marks in the 3 standard papers in second semester because it takes up some of your time.
- Status