so what courses do you do first year? microbio, anatomy, etc..?
Also, what do you mean "they did a trial thing last semester without one"? Does that mean they didnt have practicals and the only thing tested was theory?
Also how many students fail courses? A very small number or a substantial minority? Do people ever get dismissed for poor academics?
After the midterm (also called continuous assessment over here) yesterday I could see why they're also known as bellringers.
Lots of questions I see
.
We had to write up lab reports/experiences instead of having a spotter exam last semester. Giles (very very good anatomy prof) wanted to see if that would help us more than having a spotter exam. I'm not sure if they're keeping it that way or what. Of course we had practicals. And yes, I feel like anatomy without a spotter exam is a little weird. They favor essays over here, so one of the questions for example was discuss the lumbrical muscles in the hand iirc. You still have to know the location of everything (my least favorites are nerves vs veins vs arteries), cause you can get an MCQ that has 5 options with pick the false statement, and one option will be X nerve is inferior to X vein or something like that. Or more medial/lateral/etc.
We were told people don't fail/leave for academic reasons - it's almost always personal. I was also told by last year's class everyone passed. Take that with a grain of salt. It's unheard of to fail out - I'm completely guessing there might be a couple people that may need to retake an exam or two, but nothing major. I'm also probably not the best person to ask about it as I don't monitor everyone's attendance in what not
, I tend not to go to class.
Keep in mind the grading scale is different here, an A is 70%+ (and they have E's here, in between D/F
). You can check on the UCD website there's the scale there somewhere. I think an E is 30%? and that's considering conditional pass - conditional in the sense your other classes must make up for this grade, so need a certain GPA to have E consider a pass. Just by itself D is passing. Before you rejoice, let me again point out most tests are
essay. I feel like the MCQs are basically grade boosters here, because they can't nitpick you or mark you off for not being mindreaders on what they want you to say. Or having to make posters (for one class) and then class average was a C- or D? (can't remember which) because that's what the graders 'felt' like you deserved. Some people like the essays here (they tend to be Irish) because it gives you wiggle room and you can spew out all the stuff you do know rather than having a right or wrong answer like an MCQ. If you notice class averages are higher though for MCQs, and lower for essays, but my *impression* is you're less likely to fail an essay than an MCQ because they want to help you pass.
Anyways, I could go on forever about how much I dislike the way the grading is done here because it does seem so subjective, but it is possible to get an A. Very very unlikely though for the reasons mentioned above.
Something I didn't realize late into the semester - grades don't matter first two years! That is, it doesn't count towards your class rank at all. Last two years yes. First two years no. Just pass. Maybe grades will make a difference first two years if you're applying to a research position somewhere and they ask you what your grades are, so do your best, but don't sweat the rest. No one gets straight A's over here, not even the super Hermione-like overachievers. That's just the way the system is set up.
This is completely geared towards UCD btw, not sure which school you're headed to. I can't speak for the others.
Edit: First year - general subjects: patient centred practice, molecular basis of life and disease (immuno, biochem, genetics, cancer, inflammation), anatomy (upper and lower limb), elective (
highly recommend social history of irish healthcare. First year - second semester: anatomy (cardioresp), cardioresp pharmacology, microbio, cardioresp physiology, public health, cardioresp path
