'What papers should I do at UoO for graduate entry' Chat, Enquiries and Help

[medhopeful!292]

Hi, i did hsfy in 2023 and just applied to do a biomed in 2024. Does anyone known when I will be accepted into the programme and can start adding papers??

Also, Im on the waiting list for med, will my med application be affected if I apply to other programmes while waiting?

Thanks

Can I accept an offer to another programme(e.g. Bsci) with my waitlist offer still remaining valid???

 

[delta47]

Can I accept an offer to another programme(e.g. Bsci) with my waitlist offer still remaining valid???

I’m assuming you can. Based on the wording from med offers, if you are accepted into med you just have to contact AskOtago to sort which program you want to be in if you have accepted offers in other programs. Hope this helps.

 

[medhopeful!292]

Oh I see. Thank you very much for clearing that up for me. BSci it is!(hopefully only for a while tho)

 

[polipou12]

Hey, I took 341, 342, and 303 last year! I found them all to be good papers, and if you want more information on it, just flick a message through

Hey do you mind if you can dm me about 341, 342 I want to do these papers but am a bit intimidated. I don't know how to dm on here sorry.

 

[Sushilover04]

Hey, I took 341, 342, and 303 last year! I found them all to be good papers, and if you want more information on it, just flick a message through

Hey could you please let me know how you found NEUR303 in comparison to PHSL341? I saw you really enjoyed NEUR303 and I'm considering 341 or 303 in 2025 for my Bsi Physiology degree! Would you say 303 is easier/lighter workload?

 

[Sunsetz]

Has anyone done the paci300 level?
I did the 200 level in Sem 1, and it went well and was wondering if it is worth taking it at 300 level

Thanks

Does anyone know if EDUC papers are good to take at 300 level? And how would it be structured or graded?

I did EDUC252 this year, and it was good but required lots of effort.

 

[student112]

Hey do you mind if you can dm me about 341, 342 I want to do these papers but am a bit intimidated. I don't know how to dm on here sorry.

I am thinking of doing 4 out of the 5 PHSL 300 lvl papers (PHSL341, 344, 345, NEUR303, BMSC321) next year. Would anyone be able to rank them from hardest to easiest or if you have done any which would you recommend is the easiest and 100% worth doing and which ones should I stay away from?

thanks

 

[georgeani]

Hi,

I hope everyones year went well I was just writing to ask for some advice on how to structure your third year- how many 300 level papers is best to take? and should I be picking up extra 200 level courses also?
Any advice on anything would be greatly appreciated! (also has anyone taken gene360? i dont think its very 'med advantageous' but i want to keep my options open incase med isn't an option)

Thank you.

 

[Neb5802]

Hi,

I hope everyones year went well I was just writing to ask for some advice on how to structure your third year- how many 300 level papers is best to take? and should I be picking up extra 200 level courses also?
Any advice on anything would be greatly appreciated! (also has anyone taken gene360? i dont think its very 'med advantageous' but i want to keep my options open incase med isn't an option)

Thank you.

Highly recommend that you play around with the weighted GPA excel spreadsheet on this page under graduate category to figure out the number of 300 vs 200 level papers. Personally would say take at least 6x 300 level papers to take advantage of the 1.5 weighting, or take maximum of 7x 300 level papers due to only allowing best 120 points from 300 level to count towards weighted GPA. Your paper choice should also take into account your own interests in the topics. This forum has a lot of information about a lot of different papers which you can also have a look at if you haven't already by using the search function.

I don't know much about GENE courses, but I personally went down the PHSL route as I found it the most interesting for me as well as getting decent grades. That way even if I didn't get into the desired professional programme, I would have been ok with doing further study or work down this route because of the interest. Hope this helps

 

[vimi]

I am thinking of doing 4 out of the 5 PHSL 300 lvl papers (PHSL341, 344, 345, NEUR303, BMSC321) next year. Would anyone be able to rank them from hardest to easiest or if you have done any which would you recommend is the easiest and 100% worth doing and which ones should I stay away from?

thanks

hii!! I got into med this year via grad pathway and I did BSc majoring in Physiology.

in 2025, i did PHSL341, PHSL344, PHSL345 and BMSC321 (so I haven't done NEUR303).

PHSL341 --> I got A+ --> this paper has 3 modules. For PHSL341, the labs are split into three modules. You rank your top three, and then you only do lab work for the one module you get assigned. You don’t do any lab work for the other two modules at all. I chose Module 1 and I feel like that was the best module out of the 3 when I compared it to my friends. In terms of content and exam and tests, Module 1, I found it pretty ok to understand the concept and the exam questions throughout the years is lowkey repetitive. Module 2, Module 2 was definitely the hardest. Me and my friends found it harder to wrap our heads around. Once it clicks it’s fine, but it took more effort compared to the others. Module 3, probably the easiet module out of the 3 to understand. the exam questions was also not too hard.

PHSL345 --> I got A+ --> this paper was my fave phsl paper. VERY GOOD. Module 1 was fine overall. I probably found it slightly harder than the other modules, but it still wasn’t bad at all. Module 2 was very manageable. The exam questions are extremely repetitive every year, and the content itself isn’t too difficult. Module 3 was the easiest module by far. Super easy.

PHSL344 --> I got A+ --> I found Module 1 pretty easy, but I know some of my friends found it hard, so I think it really depends on the individual. For me, the content was easy to understand and follow. the exam questions are repetitive and acc not too hard to answer. Module 2 wasn’t bad, but when I was studying for the exam, I felt like the information across lectures was quite randomly placed. It didn’t really flow like a story, so when answering past exam questions I was sometimes confused about what content I should include. Module 3 was the easiest module. I loved this module. It was easy and actually fun.

BMSC321 --> I got A+ ---> This paper was brand new in our year, but the content came from older papers, so there were still past exam questions available. Module 1 was pretty okay. The exam question for this module is basically the same every year. Module 2 was also not bad. The exam question for this one is literally the same every year, almost word for word. Module 3 had a lot of content, but I found it the easiest to understand. The exam question was fine and somewhat repetitive, but there is quite a bit of content to get through. Module 4 was by far the hardest. All of my friends found it hard as well. The content was very different from what we were used to, which made it harder to understand and answer the exam questions BUT ONCE IT CLICKED it was fine.


ranking easy to hard --> PHSL345 --> PHSL344 --> PHSL341 --> BMSC321

Keep in mind --> Obviously this is just based on my own experience and how I personally found the paper. Different people find different modules easier or harder, so your experience might be totally different depending on what you click with. I wouldn’t really say you should avoid any of these papers. I did get A+ in all of them, so I genuinely think that if you put in the hard work, you can do just as well.

lemme know if you have any other questions !

 

[MEDPLS]

Hi, does anyone know any relatively easy papers in 200 lvl or 300 to take as a 5th paper in a sem to try replace first year papers, thanks,
currently my hsfy grades do have A plus but cause of the weighting it doesnt matter so was wanting to replace them all, so any advice or suggestions would be great

 

[Bosco10-46]

any recommendations for 200 level space fillers, im in my final year (4th) of a bsc majoring in physiology and minor in neuroscience. I picked up the minor in neuroscience this year to gain some extra time and papers to write off some not so good scores across the past few years. currently am set to do pysch111 semester 1 along with spex202 and 209

 

[ppmsn]

Hello, I am stuck choosing between BMSC321 and ANAT335 for sem 2. Does anyone have any advice? My main concern is that BMSC is a new paper (and Joanna Williams is teaching it so I am so discouraged ). Thanks!

 

[MEDPLS]

Hello, I am stuck choosing between BMSC321 and ANAT335 for sem 2. Does anyone have any advice? My main concern is that BMSC is a new paper (and Joanna Williams is teaching it so I am so discouraged ). Thanks!

haha, i am not a fan of joanna either, but ive heard that BMSC321 is not terrible to get an A plus in, but im not sure about ANAT335

its still pretty hard, but i guess it depends what ur strengths are

 

[ppmsn]

its still pretty hard, but i guess it depends what ur strengths are

yeah true true, honestly I'm not too confident in either so I'm just gonna have to thug it out I guess