I did biomed in 2018 and also tutor biomed
1. Since this a biomedical degree, a lot of the papers are based on biology. BIOSCI 101, 106 and 107, as well as MEDSCI 142, are heavily biology based. Even PHYSICS 160 and CHEM 110 try to integrate biology as well to provide context and relevance.
2. The exams will either be multi-choice (107, 106, 101), short answer (POPLHLTH 111, MEDSCI 142) or a mixture of both (CHEM 110, PHYSICS 160). There are tests for each paper (one for POPLHLTH 111, CHEM 110, 107, 106 and 101, two for MEDSCI 142 and PHYSICS 160) which I believe are all multi-choice, but make up less of your overall grade than exams. CHEM 110 now requires you to write an assignment (essay) on Science in the Media. I found them very different to high school as they test you purely on knowledge (exception once again is MEDSCI 142 where the concepts are important!) so memorisation, as poor as it sounds, is the way to go in my opinion. Understanding definitely helps solidify all the facts though and is also important in POPLHLTH 111 where the information is a lot more 'fluffy' (conceptual and more humanities rather than science-based). PHYSCIS 160 also has some more concept-based questions and content. If you are not wanting to apply to medicine, I believe you can opt out of POPLHLTH 111 and take a different one.
If you are wanting to do biomedical engineering, I think the first year engineering pathway is the best route to choose. It is more physics and maths based and you only take one biochemical paper I believe. You will take the relevant first year biomed papers in your second year of engineering if you choose and get into the biomedical engineering speciality, so wouldn't have to take the biomed papers that aren't required (unless you are interested of course, then definitely don't rule out doing biomed first year!)
3. Everyone has personal preferences over which papers they prefer or find difficult, so I'll give you a little run through on what is difficult about each paper. The knowledge and many of the concepts themselves are not too difficult to pick up on, the difficulty in first year lies mostly in the amount of content you have to learn. Personally, I found CHEM 110 more difficult because I didn't enjoy it as much, so you may also want to take that into consideration.
BIOSCI 107 - there are many facts you have to learn which can seem redundant (eg. the diameter/length of a certain protein) which do get tested. The sheer amount of content in this paper is the main difficulty.
CHEM 110 - People find the labs a little difficult due to the time constraints and some of the marks being based of the quality of the product you produce
POPLHLTH 111 - I've picked up a pattern from the students I tutor for this one - it seems like a conceptual paper but sometimes the way the questions are written are deliberately designed to trip you up a little, so people often don't memorise this paper enough and I've got many friends who have missed out on an A+ by 0.5 marks or something in the final exam.
BIOSCI 101 - a non-core paper for med therefore many people don't put a lot of effort in until right til the very end (the 24 hour cram is real), but if you do well in the mid sem test then it's a bit easier come exam time. Personally, I found it a little dry so that was even less of an incentive to study for it.
BIOSCI 106 - There are some lecturers that are much less interesting than others so I was far less motivated to show up to lectures and study. Lots of molecular biology going on here, so if you're into chemistry this may be more interesting for you. I found the metabolism and lipids sections difficult because they were dry, had a non-interesting lecturer and had many molecules to memorise which sound similar. Once again, a non core paper so I did not spend as much time studying for this paper.
PHYSCIS 160 - Optics and waves was difficult because of the new lecturer. The physics workshops were not very relevant and I have a strong dislike for physics so found it rather boring. The lab reports were frustrating and you can get marked down easily, but if you talk to the lab demonstrators (filter out the good from the bad in your lab) they can point you in the right direction.
MEDSCI 142 is a brilliant paper and the most similar to medicine itself so requires a combination of memorisation and conceptual understanding. People tend to find the cardiovascular system difficult because there is a lot of content, more difficult concepts and the physiology lecturer's teaching style didn't vibe with me. The respiratory system was probably the most difficult due to the lecturer once again; however, he seems to have retired so it may be easier to understand the concepts if you have a different lecturer.