Foundation to science course NUIG

knock83

Hi all
Anyone else applying to gain a place on this course?
I am applying for a health science course in 2013 and the foundation to science and engineering course seems to be a good prep course to undertake.

Anyone studied it before? Any info regarding workload, intensity, lecturers, exams, continuous assessments?

How many saturdays do you have to do? Saturdays just for lab work in GMIT?

Any tips or info would be much appreciated

wiger toods

knock83 wrote: »

Hi all
Anyone else applying to gain a place on this course?
I am applying for a health science course in 2013 and the foundation to science and engineering course seems to be a good prep course to undertake.
Anyone studied it before? Any info regarding workload, intensity, lecturers, exams, continuous assessments? How many saturdays do you have to do? Saturdays just for lab work in GMIT?
Any tips or info would be much appreciated

Hey knock 83,
I've applied for this course too. Didn't get in this yr, prob better off as i was settling for arts and really didnt want to get an+arts+degree.+First+love+being+those+courses+below+but+the+math+modules+associated+with+them+frightened+the+life+outa+me+so+anyway+I'm+doing+this+in+the+hope+I+can+basically+walk+in+the+door+next+year+to+EOS/Marine+science,+prob+EOS.+However,+I'm+still+wondering+about+the+math+on+this+course?+Did+honours+in+junior,+grade+c,+pass+in+the+leaving,+grade+E.+Not+my+best+subject+tbh

wiger toods

Could a mod or someone please explain to me why '+' symbols keep coming up in my posts. It's wearing thin at this stage. I'm using boards through my android if that makes a difference. Thank you

knock83

Hey
I am in the same boat with maths. I also did pass for leaving and got a C, worst subject also. I suppose if we keep the head down for the year
hopefully we'll do ok. I kinda have to get all distinctions in the course, so will have to keep on top from the get go.
Do you know if we get called for an interview or anything?

r3nu4l

wiger toods wrote: »

Could a mod or someone please explain to me why '+' symbols keep coming up in my posts. It's wearing thin at this stage. I'm using boards through my android if that makes a difference. Thank you

I've asked the tech guys to look at this but as they get a lot of requests it would be a good idea to post your problem here and link to this thread as an example.

You should probably state what Android device you are using (make and model) and what flavour Android you are using (jellybean, ice-cream sandwich etc).

wiger toods

No idea about an interview knock. Your right though, will just have to knuckle down and get it done. I'm trying to think positive regards maths and start it with a clean slate.

wiger toods

Hopefully some lovely boardsie will come along and put us at ease about the course, afterall how hard can it be?

the keen edge

I'm a current undergrad having done the Eng/Sci foundation course at NUIG a few years ago.

Assuming the course structure remains the same next time round, here's what to expect;

I'd place the syllabus taught somewhere just below what is taught in 1st Eng/Sci in the college; As a class we used passed 1st Eng/Sci papers as examples of questions.
The maths may seem pretty intense, and the pace of teaching fast to someone out of education for a while. Having said that it totally doable with a little bit of effort put in.

1st year undergrad math is another step up, but again completely doable.
Most 1st undergrad students have difficulty with the Calculus module of the 1st maths syllabus and to this end the foundation course is invaluable at introducing the concepts and rules of differentiation and integration.

I myself am probably in the minority of students that actually enjoys maths which helps alot when study is required; however I firmly believe any student can pass any module taught in the Uni if they really want to.
At the very least this may require knuckling down to some directed study; but in all honesty if you're put of by this academia isn't for you.

Science- Every Thursday 7pm to 9pm.
Science is divided into the three main branches of science. The syllabus is not in depth at all here. It is interesting though and you will get to attend four lab sessions over in GMIT as well. Some of the teaching for the Science subjects has been poor in all honesty. We've had a few proper lecturers and a few Phd students who had little, if any, teaching experience. However as I said earlier the course content is quite limited, so you are not so reliant on the quality of teaching.

Overall I had a excellent experience on the course. If like myself you have been out of a classroom for a couple of years, the course is great at getting you back in to the swing of things, classroom wise. I wouldn't fancy starting in to a degree course next Spetember, not having done it.

Hope this helps you.

knock83

Hey The Keen Edge
Thanks so much for your post, it helps alot.
What course are you doing at the moment? In NUIG?

tribesman78

I done this course 2 years ago. I was out of formal education for over 10 years and never done a leaving cert. As mentioned above the course is possible to do but you will need to put in a bit of work. I found it helpfull to getting back into education and the Maths was intense for me but i managed fairly well and have to say the maths tutor i had(Paul) i thought was excelent. Worth doing if you are starting back to education from a long time out.

smiley1237

im currently doing this course too and to be honest im wondering how im going to pass the maths. its quite difficult to say the least. the biology is grand and there are no problems there, actually i love going in for it but i cant seem to get a grip on the maths. im in neil humphries class and he is going at some pace. am i the only one finding the math tough going? also, what is the other teacher like? dr. john(cant think of his last name). anyone in that class? is he any good?

Rickwellwood

I'm in neils class too and he's tearing along at some pace alright. Having had a look, he's covered most of the material of 12 chapters out of a total of 36 in the Foundation Maths (Croft & Davidson available in the library) in the past 6 weeks of classes. :eek:

I'm finding it tough too I've been out of formal education a while. What I find helps is doing the worked examples in the book then trying the exercises also in the book.

I think he said he'd spend a session going over sample exam type questions which is what we need but I'm not 100% sure. It would help if he could and also if he could give us some sample questions or should we be looking at previous Leaving Cert question papers.

Hope this helps

As for the biology......... wow the course is immense.

MikeMichael

A lot of college I found was being ability to teach yourself. You only really learn when you sit down and spend hours and hours getting heavily into a textbook, following every word and example. There are no shortcuts unfortunately.

smiley1237

Rickwellwood wrote: »

I'm in neils class too and he's tearing along at some pace alright. Having had a look, he's covered most of the material of 12 chapters out of a total of 36 in the Foundation Maths (Croft & Davidson available in the library) in the past 6 weeks of classes. :eek:

I'm finding it tough too I've been out of formal education a while. What I find helps is doing the worked examples in the book then trying the exercises also in the book.

I think he said he'd spend a session going over sample exam type questions which is what we need but I'm not 100% sure. It would help if he could and also if he could give us some sample questions or should we be looking at previous Leaving Cert question papers.

Hope this helps

As for the biology......... wow the course is immense.

Hey buddy who are you? Who are you? :P yeah, your right. He's a bit mental with the pace of things alright but he has that cool brown leather cap to make up for it :P I'm loving the biology and I'll be sad to see it go but theres some amount of content to get into the head. Physics and chem starting soon!!!! :0