HSFY Blog

UCAT: The UCAT is an aptitude test that is designed to test for skills that are important for any health professional but are not tested in the core HSFY curriculum. It replaces the UMAT and comprises of 5 subtests, all carried out on a computer and generally multiple choice. At the University of Otago, it is used as an additional tool to help select those who gain entry into professional programs. It was used as a threshold for medicine and dentistry with the latter being a higher threshold (a minimum score needed to be achieved in certain sections for your application to be considered). In Australia, it is a tool that is very important in whether or not you gain entry into medical school because it is not a threshold and contributes significantly to your application. I am not sure how the test is used at the University of Auckland or other institutions. At Otago at least there seemed to be less of an emphasis on the UCAT than in previous years due to the new formatting where yo...

NCEA exams (and Cambridge/IB) have finished now and I think it’s perfect time to write about what you I recommend you do in your summer. In this blog I’ll be writing about stuff to do in the summer, the last points will be HSFY focused but overall will be applicable to all school leavers. I think it’s important to relax, take time for yourself, do things that you enjoy. After spending countless hours in the library (or not!) throughout the exam period you’ve deserved some time to relax and just chill out. There are many things that people do, take a road trip, surround yourself with friends and family, take some time to exercise or read. Your brain has been filled with so much knowledge and content from year 13 and now you can let that all go. Your high school friends are people that you should take some time to hang out with, after all these are the people that you’ve been surrounding yourself with for the last 5 years; maintaining these relationships even if you all are going do...

In this blog I will be giving a brief recap of the CELS 191 and CHEM 191 first semester papers. In each paper I will touch on the content, the labs, how the paper related to NCEA and high school, study techniques that I used and my overall opinion of the paper. CELS 191: Content: This paper can be split up into 4 main blocks you could say: 1)      Cell Structure and Diversity:  -         Three domains of life, endosymbiosis. -         Carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and nucleic acids and their roles and functions in the cell. -         Plasma membrane and transportation mechanisms, membrane proteins. -         Endomembrane system, bulk transport processes, lysosomes. -         Cytoskeleton structure and function, cell junctions and extracellular matrix. - ...

First-Year Residential Hall Experience In this blog, I am going to go over my first-year experience living in a hall (Arana). This is purely my opinion and is probably very subjective and is not how all students feel. I remember when I was halfway through year 13 and I was considering Otago as an option for university. This meant I had to make a decision based on my living condition. There are two main options open to students that choose to move away from home in their first year, you can either flat or you can move into a hall of residence. I chose the hall lifestyle purely based on my wants and needs.  I wanted to be independent but not entirely independent and this is where I thought a hall would be the perfect transition year. I wanted to get out and meet new people, I wanted to make new friends and being in a structured social environment like a hall was perfect for me. I have heard stories of some of those who have flatted in their first year and completely love...