OLY1 for Medicine at Auckland Uni: 4 core papers

 So if you're doing OLY1, you should know that while you do 8 papers throughout the year, there are 4 common papers which are the grades that actually count towards your 60% weighted medical selection. 

They are: Poplhlth111, Biosci107, Chem110 and Medsci142 

Most people do poplhlth, biosci and Chem in sem 1 and medsci in sem 2. 

1. Poplhlth: this is broken down into 4 topics. You learn about trends, incidences and prevalences of disease and specificity and sensitivity of tests. This is assessed with 2 tests and 1 exam. Test 1 examines topic 1, test 2 examines topic 2 and 3, and the exam examines everything. You also have fortnightly tutorials that are marked by attendance. 

2. Chem: for those of you who did Cambridge, you're at a much greater advantage since you'll already know most of the content. If you did NCEA you'll be at a slight disadvantage, but if you put in the work, you can do well. This is also assessed with 2 tests and 1 exam - similar to poplhlth. Fortnightly labs are also assessed, but are based on a rating from 1-5 which is moderated with other tutors grading. 

3. Biosci: this is cellular bio. There are 7 topics, the first 3 are assessed in the test (usually just before the mid-semester break) and the last 4 are as sessed in the exam. Both are weighted similar so make sure you do your study! You also have fortnightly labs which are assessed and are typically easy marks so do the prelabs, focus during the labs and ask questions to do well in the lab questions. 

4. Medsci: an intro to human bio and the systems, it's most student's favourite. The content is a lot more and while it's difficult, I found it the most interesting and enjoyable. It has 2 tests and an exam. It also has fortnightly labs but these work a little different. You get marks for in-lab tests so make sure to do pre-reading! 10 MCQs, 2%. BUT, you also get assessed on labs in the tests so don't completely neglect them, unlike for the other labs. 

So that's my brief outline of the 4 core papers which are the ones you should pay more attention to if you're considering med. It's fine to get do really well in these but have your non-cores lacking since your average GPA will still be high enough to get you an interview. Hope this makes sense and ask away if you want more clarification! 

-Diana