Pre-med Physics....help?

me2gud4u

AHHHHH We're all freaking out and the moment as many of us have not a clue what is going on ....torque what!?We are all lost in the lectures yet the lecturer (Mercer) talks as though we are all mathmaticians......So many of us did not do physics for the leaving cert and we really don't see the relevance of this physics to medicine....even though they try and justify with with a guest lecturer on random topics such as surgery robotics every now and again.

What is the secret to passing this module---some study groups have been formed to tackle the questions but the problems are woegously difficult.
Are there any med students out there who went through the same torture but passed?
All success stories- greatly welcomed!
Csn you fail physics but pass with compensation or something-how does that work>


And finally, WOW timmmmmmmmmmmoshenko is a legend!
(gave an entire lecture in sunglasses the other day!)

tywy

I'll sell you the leaving cert physics book and the rapid revision book for €15.

That should do ya!

seraphimvc

physic is everywhere IMAO

quote from Albert's...

Vorsprung

5 years ago I said the same thing.

Get yourself a LC physics book, the brother uses "Real World Physics", think thats what I had and it was good. There's a college level book which appropriately enough is called "Physics", think it was green/greeny-blue. Anyway I used that and it was grand. Get it in the library, or someone in 1st med or above might sell it to you for cheap.

If you're still stuck, maybe go to Tony Scott if he's still around, he lectured us back in the day. Top guy. Think I got a 1st in physics in premed, but had LC physics to lean on too.

And finally, WOW timmmmmmmmmmmoshenko is a legend!
(gave an entire lecture in sunglasses the other day!)

Ah Timeshenko....our class Superleague Team (the famous Football Utd FC) was supposed to be called the Timeshenko All-Stars in his honour, but the guy who was registering us forgot the name, and gave FUFC instead, which had been a pisstake name.

Stepherunie

Tony Scott retired in 2004 - we had him for two weeks than another lecturer took over. I think Dr. Mercer teaches it now.

Is that still taught to first radiography too??? If so they have had a lot of problems with that module since my year - we had over a 50% failure rate in it and I don't think it really improved over the last while.

Go with what everyone else says - check out the LC physics book and the physics book that's recommended. If Mercer is still teaching it watch out for random symbols appearing half way down the page. For a lot of the basic concepts just pick up random basic physics books from the library - they tend to be great for explaining things better than the recommended text which is more med orientated.

On the plus side I know they've worked hard to make sure that there are proper tutorials and things now, also go to your labs - the lab books are great.

Also the physics in the second semester is taught by Dr. Breslin who's lovely and that course is really nice I have to say - I really enjoyed that one.

woop

what module is it? just outta interest

Breezer

First of all Mercer is a twat, as are most of the lecturers you get in premed. And Breslin, who you'll have next year, while being very nice, would probably put it up to Bannigan in a, ehhhhh, boring, ehhhhhh, contest

Right, now that I've got that off my chest, DON'T PANIC. Everyone freaked at this module when I did it. Only 2 out of class of 120 or so failed. One of those ended up passing by compensation (which you can do if you have over 35% and do well enough in your other modules, can't remember exactly what 'well enough' is but you'll be fine if you look at a book sometime between now and Christmas). The other repeated in First Med and passed no hassle.

Now, books. Going against the grain here, but to be honest I found Leaving Cert Applied Maths was a huge help for Mercer's course. I'd go for 'Fundamental Applied Mathematics' by Oliver Murphy, it explains everything really well. Failing that, I'm sure a Leaving Cert Physics books would do either (didn't actually do Leaving Cert physics but I'm sure it'd be grand).

Mercer's recommended textbooks were good for illustrating his examples minus his many mistakes and references to Sweden and slinkies. They're in the library or if you want your own copy, PM me! Kane and Sternheim will help a lot with Breslin's modules too.

Don't worry, you'll be fine. Enjoy laughing at Mercer and enjoy premed in general because it gets a lot harder very quickly afterwards!

Vorsprung

OP, do you still just do biology up to Christmas?

Stepherunie wrote:

Also the physics in the second semester is taught by Dr. Breslin who's lovely and that course is really nice I have to say - I really enjoyed that one.

Is she the one with the English accent, and also really boring? Can't remember to well so I'll trust you when you say she's nice!

Breezer

bigjimthefirst wrote:

Is she the one with the English accent, and also really boring? Can't remember to well so I'll trust you when you say she's nice!

Yes, yes she is. Lovely person but by God she's boring!

dajaffa

If you or anyone else knows someone who did it last year ask around to try + get your hands on a copy of the end of semester exam. Last year I gave mine from 2 years ago to a few people and a number of the questions with no changes at all came up again.

Try not to worry too much about it. Just do your best to learn off the theory + formulae in the lectures. Most of the questions in the end exam aren't too in-depth so if you just use the right formula you should get it right. Granted it's a very random subject. I repeated the LC with a girl in my physio class. We both got the same grade in the LC but ion the physics I got an A + she passed by compensation! And then in 2nd year we were doing biomechanics + we both goth the same grade again...

Oh actually do try your best to not leave blanks in the exams. I remember we were to have negative marking in our first one but after we did it he changed his mind, and if it's still minus 0.25 negative marking, it's statistically worth your while to just guess if you have 4 or more blanks.

panda100

I really wouldnt panic.It is incredibly easy to pass premed with doing remarkably little work.
Just get your hands on some past papers and you'll see that pretty much the same topics come up each year and just focus on them.

Malmedicine

1st: Week 3 what are you doing freaking out!!!!!! in Pre- Med. For god sake Physics its a drag, its boring it pisses everyone off but in no way is it impossible. Mercer is fine. Jesus I passed it with f*** all work done.

2nd: Listen to the posts here, good advice. Find yourself past exam questions they rarely change and locate someone with the 'Magic Notes' i.e past exam answers for well anything that was on the course. If I remember correctly no one in Stephs class had them apart from her!!!!!! Plus in her day it was a 50% pass rate and no chance of compensation.

3rd: What is up with the Pre Med's this year, talking to 3 or 4 freaking out about exams and GPA's and getting into America? For god sake people your in Pre Med. Wait till res year or Neuro before freaking out!

My advice do enough to pass everything don't ruin college worrying about GPA's until clinical years.

panda100

Malmedicine wrote:

For god sake people your in Pre Med. Wait till res year or Neuro before freaking out!
.

Neuro,prof herlihy......the best is yet to come
Med classes are getting nerdier and nerdier each year!

Breezer

panda100 wrote:

Neuro,prof herlihy......the best is yet to come
Med classes are getting nerdier and nerdier each year!

So by 'neuro' you don't mean Bannigan's neuroscience module? There's worse?

Vorsprung

Breezer wrote:

So by 'neuro' you don't mean Bannigan's neuroscience module? There's worse?

You have no idea.

Enjoy the years of blissful ignorance while you can!

Breezer

I had a feeling you'd say that I think 'enjoy' is a bit of a strong word for anything involving Bannigan though

Malmedicine

Breezer wrote:

I had a feeling you'd say that I think 'enjoy' is a bit of a strong word for anything involving Bannigan though

Teratology I found was really well done and you can see his love for it. Neuro he just seems to be going through the motions!!!!!

Breezer

I avoided that like the plague. As did most people this year, most seemed to go for trauma with Jennifer 'I like to wave my hands around and abbreviate absolutely everything' Thompson

sweet-rasmus

me2gud4u wrote:

WOW timmmmmmmmmmmoshenko is a legend!
(gave an entire lecture in sunglasses the other day!)

he is a great character. i noticed last year that he wore white runners with his flashy grey suit. kept me amused while i ignored quantum mechanics.

anyhow, the physics freaking out; don't worry; it happend to us all. you will survive!

Stepherunie

Breezer wrote:

I avoided that like the plague. As did most people this year, most seemed to go for trauma with Jennifer 'I like to wave my hands around and abbreviate absolutely everything' Thompson

Ah yes, neuro with her was an experience. Her voice is far too lulling too - sleep always beckoned in her lectures.

Breezer

Stepherunie wrote:

Ah yes, neuro with her was an experience.

I'm liking the sounds of this 'neuro' less and less...

Stepherunie

Well I did a slightly different neuro course I'm guessing compared to everyone else. But yes, if it hadn't been for the fact that she was going on maternity leave the year I was doing it we'd all have been dead.

Instead we got to do neuro before Christmas which gave us time to actually get our heads around it before summer exams.