Otago HSFY chat - archive

[SASOL]

I think they were short answer, can't remember though. There were maybe 5 questions? Unsure on that aswell sorry!

Labs - Yes, most stuff in lectures is covered in labs but some stuff covered in labs isn't covered in lectures. This goes for HUBS, BIOC and a wee bit of CELS I think. However, this stuff is usually assessed elsewhere in GLM's or exit tests. Usually you will have covered the lab material already in lectures, but it's possible you will be introduced to the lecture material in a lab if you have it before the relevant lecture, which sometimes makes the exit tests a little harder.

CHEM exit tests - BEWARE! These are hell if you aren't prepared. I had no idea what was going on in my first lab, and when it came to the test I had forgotten all the reactions we did during the lab. So PAY ATTENTION to everything in the labs! You do 6 exit tests, one for each lab and they take your best 5 to calculate your percentage out of a maximum of 15%. So you want to get 5 100% results on these to get the full 15%. This is vital. I screwed up my first test just because I didn't get how they worked lol. Generally the lab demonstrator hints at what will be in the test.

First topic covered in CHEM is thermodynamics and equilibrium/aqueous, so enthalpy, acid/base, titrations etc. Not much new stuff is introduced if you have done NCEA L2 and 3, I assume this is the same for CIE. Entropy and stuff to do with calorimetry I think is the only new thing I came across and it wasn't hard to understand. They cover 2 months info of NCEA in about one lecture of CHEM, so make sure you know your excellence level stuff from NCEA and you will be fine. Questions from the first topic are generally the hardest in the CHEM exams if they are worth quite a few marks.

Oops just read your last sentence. Yes you will be disadvantaged, as they whizz through aqueous and it's generally expected you know this already. However, they offer weekly help sessions for CHEM I think.

Feel free to ask more, and I know the others on here will be more than happy to give you info(y)

 

[HealthSci]

future healthscis,
don't freak out too much about the course
if you're smart and capable, you'll do well.
like i say, people who will get into med, will get into med,
and people who won't, won't.

 

[SASOL]

future healthscis,
don't freak out too much about the course
if you're smart and capable, you'll do well.
like i say, people who will get into med, will get into med,
and people who won't, won't.

Lol thats not neccesarily true. There are things you can do to improve your chances slightly, and then theres things you can do to stuff them up. But yeah I guess most of what you said is true.

 

[Deleted member 4350]

people who will get into med, will get into med,
and people who won't, won't.

Words of wisdom right there

 

[SASOL]

It's only natural to have questions and doubts as a new HSFY student, heck I worried about a lot of silly little things myself. Even now I have similar questions about med, and I know at the end of the year I'll be saying to myself 'why the heck did I worry about that for!?' It's very easy to say things in hindsight lol. Saying what will be will be doesn't really answer the newbies questions! Sure I chuckle away to myself when someone is stressing over the english test, but its because I had the exact same questions and it was great having my questions answered by those who have gone before. Tips and tricks are always handy. I would have loved to have been told before my first CHEM exit test that we were going to be tested on the lab content and that it actually mattered. Little things like that can make all the difference I reckon.

Lol anyway sorry for that rant about nothing, but yeah, just saying.

 

[skyglow1]

future healthscis,
don't freak out too much about the course
if you're smart and capable, you'll do well.
like i say, people who will get into med, will get into med,
and people who won't, won't.

There is a lot of truth in this. However, it is natural for students to have many worries and questions about (arguably) the most important year of their life academic wise so far.

About the CHEM lab exit tests, it sounds like they included questions that were much harder than those in my year, because I didn't have any problem with them at all. You shouldn't have any problems with them if you understand the lecture material well, and if you pay attention in the chem lab. Heck, if you're REALLY paranoid about those tests, I guess you could pretend to do the practical the whole lab, and instead focus on being 100% ok with the lab material in preparation for the test, but your lab partner might not be very happy with you!

 

[greenglacier]

Truth be told, the only really hard thing I remember about the first chem exit test was that you were expected to have memorised all the solubility rules (and they weren't covered in lectures), and that the question on them was also fairly difficult. Thankfully I'd gotten a bit of a heads up from the people with a lab the day before me, so learnt them that night. Everything else was just lecture material, though there was a question that many people would have found difficult in the final exam (let alone two weeks into the paper). Later exits tests did focus far more on the actual lab though.

I think the thing about the chem exit tests is not that they are that difficult in themselves, but that, making the natural comparison to the lab marks for the other papers, they aren't free marks and are actually worth quite a lot. Oh, and you probably do need to hope that your lab demonstrator isn't completely stingy in the marking (I've heard a couple of horror stories there).

healthsci offers some good advice. The whole crux of medical admissions is of course achieving the (almost unachievable) goal that all students accepted will become "better" doctors than all students rejected, and I think Otago does pretty well here. Certainly there don't tend to be any huge upsets when the offers for medicine come out, and the "measurement error" only really prevents the achievement of that goal in the borderline students.

But yes, I think there would be very few exceptions to the rule that if you are clearly capable of getting into med, then you will, and if you are borderline then you will with enough work. HSFY is a fair enough system for this to hold true. I don't know if this would work for anyone reading this, but something that kept me motivated to do well in HSFY was that I knew that I had the ability to get into med, therefore not getting into med would be not performing to my full ability and hence letting myself down.

 

[skyglow1]

Truth be told, the only really hard thing I remember about the first chem exit test was that you were expected to have memorised all the solubility rules (and they weren't covered in lectures), and that the question on them was also fairly difficult. Thankfully I'd gotten a bit of a heads up from the people with a lab the day before me, so learnt them that night.

Oooh I remember that question! I learnt the solubility rules in the lab because I was paranoid about the first exit test so rushed the practical and concentrated on reading the lab book.

 

[lambchops]

Congrats everyone!

vvvvv: Your hard work and determination over the years has paid off. Savour the moment

 

[A-pie]

hey do you guys remember if the mid-semester one exams were before or after the April holidays. Is this the same every year?

 

[SASOL]

Im pretty sure we had to remember some of the reactants, but me not knowing this meant I screwed up lol

The first HUBS test and CELS mid semester test were before the mid semester break. PHSI, CHEM and 2nd HUBS test were after mid semester break. I think PHSI and CHEM were in the same week. Not sure if it's the same every year though

 

[greenglacier]

SASOL is right (though the PHSI and CHEM tests were seperated by a week and a half, rather than being in the same week).

However, the dates of the mid-semester exams vary by year. Bearing in mind that the mid-semester break for semester 1 is a week earlier this year than it was last year I wouldn't be surprised if the only test you have before the break is the first HUBS terms test.

 

[Runaway]

Congrats to everyone that has made it in! Must be awesome. Just wondering, could anyone who got in via grad entry give an indication of what sort of GPA they needed to make it in off the waiting list?

Cheers

 

[g.walker]

[offtopic]you know dentistry is quite the profession itself. It's practically surgery mixed with check ups. It definately seems to be (in my opinion) more family-friendly, as the hours not so patient oriented. Frankly if it was offered here at Auckland it would've been my second option without a doubt, I still like it actually[/offtopic]

 

[gtr8]

My flatmate had a 7.8 gpa and got an offer. From personal experience you shouldnt aim for the cut off mark try and get a 9.0 gpa this year. Goodluck with your studies hope everything goes well for you.

 

[Runaway]

Thanks grt8. Yeah, I'm definitely aiming for the 9.0GPA-would be nice! Just also want to get a bit of an indication of what was required this year.

 

[gtr8]

Keep in mind that cut off varies year to year Im pretty sure it was lower last year. I think that for graduates 8-8.5 would be safe for otago.

 

[Public Liability]

I think we had the CELS mid semester test shortly after the first HUBS term test, right?

I remember our tutor warning us not to focus soooo much on the 5% per cent HUBS test (as people were, probably freaking out as it was the first HSFY test in the year) and focus really on the 20% CELS one.

Does anyone remember the averages for those tests? I think HUBS was 17/25 and CELS 60-something %

 

[greenglacier]

I think we had the CELS mid semester test shortly after the first HUBS term test, right?

I remember our tutor warning us not to focus soooo much on the 5% per cent HUBS test (as people were, probably freaking out as it was the first HSFY test in the year) and focus really on the 20% CELS one.

Does anyone remember the averages for those tests? I think HUBS was 17/25 and CELS 60-something %

CELS mid-semester was at the end of the 5th week of the semester (a week after the HUBS test). This year that would place it in the mid-semester break, so I suspect it will be instead placed after the break.

The average for the 1st HUBS test was 19.25/25 (77%), moving down to 17.1 mean/18 median / 24 for the 2nd test, and down again to 17 then 15 / 25 for the 1st and 2nd HUBS192 tests respectively.

The average for the CELS mid-semester exam was 22.5/35 (64%).

 

[HealthSci]

Cels

i remember losing 5% in the mid sem but still got 93 overall for CELS
i wasn't used to the exam style so i bailed the mid sem
anyway,
can't wait till med orientation