[update] First test done for medicine.

Today I completed the first test for the MD. It was a multiple choice test with 60 questions in total. I think that I went reasonably well, although there were 1/4 of the questions that I wasn't that sure of the answer to. Nevertheless, it should be a comfortable pass. I'm not that sure if it will be an H1 though; I guess it depends on how many of those I was unsure of that I got right. We'll see.

It was only worth 5% so that isn't very much. Majoring in pharmacology helped, as 10 questions were directly assessing it, and a few more questions were from other subjects but were also covered in the pharmacology major. There were other things that I had learned from my biomed core subjects which helped reduce the workload for the MD.

In any case, it's good to get the first test out of the way. And it's also good that I seem to be learning the material well without struggling that much.

사랑비 (Love Rain; Korean Drama)

I have recently been watching the Korean Drama called 사랑비 (Love Rain). One of the main characters is acted by Im Yoona (임윤아) who is one of the members of Girls' Generation (소녀시대). She also happens to be my favorite member.

The story starts in the 1970s where two people meet each other at uni, but unfortunately one of them has to go to the army and another one gets TB. At that time, South Korea would have been a developing country (unlike today), and so the girl (김윤희/Kim Yoonhee) who had TB went to America with her grandma to try to get treatment. It seems like they lost contact unfortunately (although she eventually recovered) and they don't see each other for many years. Meanwhile, they have their own families, but their respective children somehow bump into each other and the plot continues.

As a coincidence, we were learning a bit about TB this week as part of Respiratory block. Yoonhee would have been quite unlucky to get TB, because symptoms appear in about 10% of all people infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis over their lifetime. 10% is still quite a considerable percentage, but that means that 90% of people infected can live without any symptoms from TB.

[update] First dissection session, first test for MD

The past Thursday, I had my first ever dissection session for human anatomy. It was nice to have the privilege of being able to dissect cadavers, where people have agreed to donate their bodies to allow medical students to understand anatomy well. I handled it OK psychologically, as did others in my group that I could see.

That said, everyone in the Melbourne MD program had to have done anatomy before anyway as a prerequisite, and so almost everyone would have had experience with prosections anyway (and so they should feel pretty comfortable with dead human specimens by now); with dissecting being the next step.

Next week, there is the first test for the Foundations in Biomedical Science subject. It's worth 5% of the year long subject, so it's not that much. But I should still prepare for it. Right now, I am most confident in pharmacology (my major subject in biomedicine) and biostatistics (which I think is very logical, and doesn't require as much time to remember everything unlike most other subjects).

Friday 13th: Lucky and unlucky numbers

Today is a "Friday the 13th". In some western cultures, this is an unlucky day.

The concept of lucky and unlucky days, and lucky and unlucky numbers, is quite funny. It's something that is often based on superstition. In western culture, it seems like the unlucky number is 13, but in East Asian culture, the number is 4.

There's even a whole Wikipedia article about what they call "tetraphobia"; fear of the number 4. Basically, the word for number 4 (四) sounds very similar (or identical) to the word for death (死) in many dialects of Chinese and various other languages like Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese which have incorporated those Chinese words into their vocabulary (like English has incorporated many French and Latin words into its vocabulary). So the number 4 can be associated with death.

When doing things for other people in these cultures, it's good to know about the unlucky numbers so that you don't inadvertently offend them. However, thinking logically, it is quite implausible for the number 4 itself to be intrinsically unlucky just because of its pronunciation.

I remember bringing 4 water bottles into last year's GAMSAT. It seemed like the right number to last me throughout the whole day; not too little to be dehydrated but not too much to need to go to the toilet too often during the exam. At home, when I thought of bringing 4 water bottles, had a passing thought of ironically bringing an "unlucky" number of water bottles into an exam which could decide whether or not I would enter medicine. But it seems like I got through it well still. That said, my pen saying "Monash University Arts" on it did run out while I was planning my essay (probably more related to the amount of ink there was there originally than bringing in 4 water bottles), but I had some spare pens anyway.

But during the Melbourne interview, I was a bit nervous when we had to choose which interviewing station to start off with. Even though I knew it was just a superstition, I made a conscious decision not to start off at station number 4, even though I had the option to. Now that I look back on it though, it seems like a strange thing to have done. I did like the interviewer I had first up though, who I also had for my last station due to Melbourne's interview format, so it seems to have worked out well. It's unlikely to have been anything to do with the number 4 though. Incidentally, the person who did start off with station 4 did make it into the course.

And now in Medicine, for this semester my CSL and PCP (Principles of Clinical Practice) group numbers all contain a 4 in them. When I received my allocation, I was quite amused with the allocation of two "unlucky" numbers. But then again, it is just superstition, so it's nothing to be worried about.

Science and Medicine

The hard sciences of chemistry, physics and especially human biology have traditionally been a large part of medical courses. It had been known that sufficient understanding of human biology was required to be able to treat patients in a satisfactory manner. However, due to criticisms that medical courses in the past focused too much on the science and not enough on the softer aspects such as communication, ethics and population health, there has been a trend towards adding more of these aspects of medicine into medical courses at the expense of science.

Some doctors now comment that certain medical courses do not teach enough science, putting too much emphasis on the other components. I wouldn't be too surprised if that was true in some universities. I hoped that Melbourne got the balance right though.

So far though, a quarter of the way into first year, I don't feel that they have overemphasized the aspects other than sciences in our course. In our subject of Foundations in Biomedical Science (we don't have separate ethics subjects or population or personal development subjects; the other two subjects for first year are Principles of Clinical Practice 1 and Student Conference 1), the vast majority of our lectures are about biomedical science as the name suggests.

There are a few lectures of population health. One type of "population health" lecture is about evidence based medicine (EBM), encompassing a limited amount of biostatistics and some things about appraising studies, which would be quite important in medicine in terms of keeping up to date with current best practice. We don't actually learn that much about how to calculate the statistics too, unlike in first year biomed. I think EBM definitely has a place in the course.

The other type of population health lecture is about social determinants of health, including global health. We also haven't had many of these lectures so far either, so I don't feel that it has been overemphasized in the course at Melbourne.

Surprisingly, we have only had one ethics lecture so far, which was more of an introduction, in foundation week. Maybe they couldn't cram everything into the one preclinical year, so they decided to mainly give us the foundations in science to learn, and delayed the teaching of other things until later in the course. But in any case, I am pleasantly surprised that Melbourne hasn't seemed to have overemphasized the non-bioscience aspects of the course from what I have experienced so far. Then again, Melbourne does seem to have a reputation of being somewhat "old-school" in that regard, and that does seem to be the case to me.

[update] Midsemester break, sem 1 2012

Right now, we have the midsemester break of semester 1, 2012. This means that about a quarter of first year has been completed.

This break is an opportunity to catch up on rest, and also to revise any material from class.

The first test for first year medicine at Melbourne will be in the second week after the break, worth 5% of Foundations of Biomedical Science, covering the foundation, cardiovascular, and respiratory blocks.

Spot the Drosophila

While I was out shopping today, I was reminded of something that I do when I go to the fruit section of a supermarket or store. Whenever I'm in the fruit section, I always look out for Drosophila. For those of you who might not know, Drosophila melanogaster is a model organism for genetics experiments. They use these insects for genetics experiments for reasons including that they have short generation times, make lots of offspring, don't cost much to maintain and allegedly have not much capacity for thought (so little or no ethics approval is needed for experiments). Due to evolution and organisms on earth descending from a common ancestor, many genes in humans and other animals are also found in Drosophila, but not all.

There's many species of Drosophila and the random fruit flies in the store are unlikely to be the same species as the one used in experiments. However, sometimes I find one which has that bright red eye which looks like it can be, but I'm not an expert so I don't know for sure. Anyway, here's a photo of a Drosophila that I took last year from a fruit and vegetable store. This one's probably not D. melanogaster though.

Oh and these binomial names reminds me of my first prac submission for first year biology. I didn't underline any of my species names (in typing you're supposed to italicize and in writing you should underline). So I got deducted a few marks. Now if I go to a walking track and the person who made the signs forgot to italicize (like when I went to Queensland at the start of this year), I really notice it.

[update] First anatomy prac session for medicine

Today I had my first anatomy prac for medicine. It's been about one and a half years since my last anatomy prac in biomed, since I didn't major in anatomy. I was looking forward to it again; feeling the tough arteries spring back and poking at lungs.

When I heard that it was going to be "self directed" (or words to that meaning), I thought: "not again". But it was OK if you listened to demonstrators whenever they said something. Sometimes the demonstrators would teach beyond what questions were asked, and you could even feel as if it was a normal tutorial without thinking it was self directed.

The interesting part about today was seeing an anatomical variation on a specimen. I noticed that the arch of aorta of one of the specimens ran to the right of the trachea instead of to the left. It was good to see for myself, because in anatomy we usually just learn the case in the "majority" of people.

We don't seem to have many anatomy pracs in Melbourne, or lectures for that matter. Then again, we were all required to do a subject of anatomy before entering medicine at Melbourne as a prerequisite, so we all had to do about 44 hours of anatomy before entering to start with (according to the anatomy second year subject for Bachelor of Science handbook link from Melbourne).

Anyway, it seems like I'll be having a dissection prac in 3 weeks; after the midsemester break. I'm looking forward to it. I didn't do any dissections before in anatomy, since I didn't do my major in it and at Melbourne you don't get to dissect in the second year anatomy subject.

Number tricks: multiplying and dividing by 10

The GAMSAT this year happened yesterday. If you did the GAMSAT yesterday, I hope that you went well.

While I was helping someone with some GAMSAT questions for practice this year, without a calculator, I was reminded of some number tricks which can sometimes help. When calculators are available they aren't really required, but without calculators, the tricks can be helpful. You won't always be able to use tricks in calculations, but when you can, they can save time.

The trick I'll be discussing is multiplying and dividing by multiples of 10. Essentially, this simply involves moving the decimal point. It is sometimes useful if you are dealing with decimal multiplications or divisions.

Example 1:

300*0.04

Just divide the 300 by 100 (ie move the decimal point 2 to the left for 300) and multiply the 0.04 by 100 (ie move the decimal point 2 to the right for 0.04). Then the product becomes easier.

=3*4=12

Example 2:

0.0075/0.00015

Multiply the numerator and denominator by 100000 (ie move the decimal point for both 5 spaces to the right).

=750/15=50


Tricks like these can sometimes cut out time for decimal calculations.

[update] Blood Pressure measurements with the Finometer device

As I said on my last post, the University of Melbourne was doing a study about blood pressure and how polymorphisms in a gene for a sodium channel affects it. We had another prac today, for the follow-up since some of us were allocated to take sodium tablets for two weeks (and everyone else did more measurements even without taking the tablets too).

I got the results from three weeks ago of the readings of a "Finometer" before and after taking GTN (glyceryl trinitrate, aka nitroglycerin; used for treatment in angina, which dilates blood vessels), and before, during and after standing up from lying down. The Finometer measured a lot of different things (and calculated others using algorithms) in real time; including blood pressure (systolic and diastolic), heart rate, stroke volume, cardiac output and total peripheral resistance.

I was somewhat surprised at how much the blood pressure dropped when I stood up. Without the GTN, straight after standing up, the lowest systolic measured for me was 54 mmHg and for diastolic it was 34 mmHg, even though I am relatively young so the reflexes should not be too bad. After taking GTN, straight after standing up, the lowest systolic measured was 37 mmHg and lowest diastolic was as low as 18 mmHg! I never expected that my blood pressure would ever be that low, but now I know.

The professor/demonstrator then told me that now I should be able to understand why a lot of old people faint when they take GTN and try to stand up. For some reason, I might have felt a little dizzy, but even when my blood pressure was as low as 37/18 I still didn't feel like I was about to faint. Strange. Maybe because it was only for a few seconds.

[update] Urine collection day.

If anyone wants to know, today is the day that I am doing a 24 hour urine collection. At UniMelb, there are people who are running a study determining the effects of the polymorphisms of a sodium channel gene on blood pressure. All the first year medical students were invited to take part in the study to aid in the research of the professors at the university.

Of course, what the uni gets out of it is about 300 more students to get data points out of, without needing to pay financial reimbursement. They need large data sets for determining the effects of certain genes, especially if they do not have a large impact on blood pressure.

For the students, they made it an opportunity for us to learn how to measure blood pressure by auscultation. I think I can do it reasonably comfortably now. It's a lot easier in a quiet room than a prac room where everyone is talking though.

It was also marketed as an opportunity for us to get involved with research, since the University of Melbourne is a highly research intensive university, and because the MD had a focus on research; having a semester dedicated to it.

Finally, they told us that it was good to experience doing a 24 hour urine collection so we know how patients feel when we tell them to do it later on, and so we can explain it better. Meanwhile, my collection bottle seems to be filling at too high of a rate, so maybe I should reduce my water intake for the rest of the day. I don't want to have to carry two urine containers to uni!

Selective Entry Accelerated Learning Programs

When I was in grade six, along with about 100 people, I sat a test to get into the accelerated learning program at a high school. I got in, and a quarter of the test takers would later form an accelerated class at our school.

At my high school, the structure was such that we did year 8 maths (and some covered year 7 and a bit of year 8 of other core subjects like English and science) in year 7, year 9 maths in year 8 (covering the rest of year 8 science and year 9 science, and up to year 9 English), skipping year 9 and doing almost the same things as all the other year 10 classes in year 10 if we decided to stay on at the school and not go to Melbourne High School (MHS) or Mac.Robertson Girls' High School (MacRob) for example.

From then, we had the opportunity to do "two year VCE" if we wanted to, to finish high school a year earlier, or "three year VCE" if we wanted to use up a year "saved" to try to get a better mark in VCE. I took up the "two year VCE" option, like a lot of my peers, and subsequently successfully completed VCE, completed Biomedicine in the usual time, and I'm now in medicine.

However, after my year level went straight to year 10 and skipped year 9, the school decided to change the arrangements of the accelerated program for future year levels. Instead of skipping year 9, you did mainly year 10 core subjects in year 9. In "year 10", students were required to take up year 11 English, History and Mathematical Methods (mid-level VCE maths). Due to the inflexibility of the subjects possible for electives, it effectively forced people to undergo "three year VCE", with the first year being year 10.

To be honest, I was quite baffled with their change in policy at the school. I personally did not feel that there was much wrong with the old "two year VCE" after acceleration system. What was so wrong about people leaving school one year early, when they were entirely capable of doing so and able to study at university? Surely going to university would be more effective use of their time than staying back at school for another year.

The stated reason from the school seemed to be due to concerns about the maturity about the students leaving. There was concern that the people undergoing two year VCE after being in the accelerated learning program would not be mature enough to go to university because they were one year younger. While this is a point which may be true for some people, I don't think it is a good reason to keep everyone back. Myself and many others who have done "two year VCE" after being part of the accelerated program have managed to successfully complete a bachelor degree within the normal time frame. (In hindsight, maybe I could have skipped two years too, seeing that my GAMSAT score in 2010 was still clearly enough for UQ medicine for a CSP place for 2011 entry, or 2012 entry for that matter, without an interview.) Furthermore, for those who may not be ready for university that early, they still did have the option of "three year VCE" to use up their "saved" year.

Furthermore, being unable to skip a year anymore at my high school (which has a lower SES on average) removes one of the advantages of staying on at the school. Before, the advantage of staying on meant that you got to skip straight from "year 8" to year 10 and finish a year earlier, which you couldn't do if you went to MHS or MacRob for example. Now though, that option does not exist, so there is less of a reason to stay on at the school and not move to MHS or MacRob.

Sometimes I wonder if the school had another motive for changing the system. Was it to try to lift up the proportion of 40+ (top 9%) study scores in their statistics? I'm not sure if it was a reason, but if it was, then it was not really to the benefit of the students who could have started their bachelor degree a year earlier.

[update] Last public transport concession day tomorrow.

Tomorrow will be the last day I am eligible for public transport concession fares. This is because the card entitling the fares expires on the last day of February, in the year after the issue of the card. Since I was a local student and Biomedicine was an undergraduate course last year, I was eligible. However, since the MD is defined as a masters by coursework degree, it is not eligible for public transport concession travel.

Above is the situation of public transport concession travel in different states, from the CAPA website. Only New South Wales and Victoria deny public transport concession travel to postgraduate and international students. All other states and territories allow them to have concession fares, like local undergraduate students. It's a situation I hope will change in the future in Victoria.

As I said before on my blog, I've listed links to an online petition from CAPA on my links page or on the right of the screen. We can also try sending messages to our local state MP or the Transport Minister in Victoria to advocate for change. Concession fares would enable postgraduate students to spend less time working, worrying and struggling to make ends meet, and therefore be able to focus more on their studies or research.

Gillard 71, Rudd 31

Yesterday, the leadership spill of the ALP occurred. The result was a very comfortable win by Julia Gillard, 71 votes to Kevin Rudd's 31 votes.

This vote highlights the differences in the sentiments in the Labor caucus, the majority of whom prefer Julia Gillard over Kevin Rudd, and the general Australian public, the majority of whom prefer Kevin Rudd over Julia Gillard. It therefore retains this rather strange situation where neither of the major parties is led by a member of parliament in either party who is most preferred (Kevin Rudd from the ALP or Malcolm Turnbull for Liberal), and where the disapproval rate for both the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader is above their approval rates.

It seems like Kevin Rudd's style of leadership internally and method of working when he was Prime Minister not liked by a lot of the Labor MPs. It's been a while since then though, and it is an open question on whether or not he would make the same mistakes if he was the PM again.

From here on in, Julia Gillard's victory was so strong in this vote that there does not seem like a high chance of a re-challenge. However, if the public sentiment does not improve leading up to the next election, then I think the ALP might think about it again. Alternatively, it might take them losing the next election before they get shocked into taking action. We'll see.

Kevin Rudd resigns as Foreign Minister. Julia Gillard calls for caucus vote for Federal Labor leader.

It's been quite a turbulent few days in national politics. Kevin Rudd was away overseas carrying out his duties as the Foreign Minister, when Simon Crean started the criticism of him as being not a team player. From that, it escalated until 22 February Australian time, when Kevin Rudd announced his resignation as Foreign Minister, saying that it would not be good to continue, as there did not seem to be strong support from the Prime Minister (Julia Gillard), as the Prime Minister did not repudiate any of the attacks on him.

As it stands, the majority of the ministers who have spoken up are in support of the current prime minster. However, Kevin Rudd appears to have the public backing of ministers Martin Ferguson, Chris Bowen and Kim Carr. Of course, it's hard to know where everyone else who didn't comment publicly stands.

As for the public on the other hand, for the past year or so, all the polling seems to suggest that Kevin Rudd is preferred by most people over Julia Gillard as the Prime Minister (and Malcolm Turnbull seems to be preferred over the current opposition leader of Tony Abbott, but that's an aside). Interestingly, I've also noticed that Kevin Rudd has a lot more followers on Twitter than Julia Gillard at the moment. At the time of writing, Kevin Rudd has 1068860 followers, which is more than five times of Julia Gillard's 185968 followers.

This number seems to be inflated very recently however; I suspect due to the recent events. When I checked towards the end of last year, Kevin Rudd had roughly double the followers of Julia Gillard. Either way, having more followers seems to suggest to me that Kevin Rudd might have more people who approve of him on the internet, which is consistent with the news polls. The other possibility of Australians having a very keen interest in Foreign Affairs compared to the Prime Ministership seems unlikely. If anything, under usual circumstances, you would think that more people would be interested in a Prime Minister than a Foreign Minister.

Anyway, it seems like if Kevin Rudd will challenge (which was not said specifically but seems likely from what he has been saying in the media), then we should know the outcome of the caucus vote next Monday. Julia Gillard says that if she loses, then she will retire to the back bench and not challenge again. Kevin Rudd is currently on a plane back to Brisbane and will arrive tomorrow morning. It will be an interesting few days ahead.

GEMSAS 2011 Participant Survey released + GEMSAS 2012 applications open 30 April 2012.

From the GEMSAS website and the Facebook page of the MDHS faculty at the University of Melbourne, there was a link to an online survey for people who applied through GEMSAS in 2011 for 2012 entry into medical school. The survey can be found here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=21tUD5dqvdZtYfDzwTauVA%3D%3D

Let them know if you can suggest any improvements.

I notice also on the GEMSAS website that the applications for medical school for 2013 entry will open on 30 April, 2012. It's interesting for them to set a date of opening, because it was never done in the past with either GMAC or the first iteration of GEMSAS for 2012 entry. This opening date is slightly earlier than it was in previous years when it was about one week into May. However, unless they also release GAMSAT results earlier, letting people apply to GEMSAS earlier probably won't be something that affects most people unless they did the GAMSAT last year and not this year so they only have that score to use (and if that score was OK).

[update] Foundation week is over.

Today marks the end of foundation week for UniMelb medicine. After today, there will be a lot more to learn again.

During foundation week, there were a few interesting experiences to be had. The clinical visit was somewhat interesting to see the doctor interaction with patients, but since I just started medicine, I didn't get to do much.

Some of the rest of the week I didn't find as interesting though, although they were things you'd sort of expect to find during uni orientations about support services and all that. We had to fill in a form for feedback on the foundation week, but although I didn't find certain parts of it interesting, I didn't think that I should make too much comment about it, because those parts would still seem "necessary" for orientation. I really don't know how they can present certain things in a more interesting way either.

So as a result, the comments on my feedback form probably weren't that helpful. I didn't even write my main comments in English. And if they did decide to translate it, it wouldn't be relevant to orientation week at all.

Written:

지금은 소녀시대! 앞으로도 소녀시대! 영원히 소녀시대!

(Right now it's SNSD! From now on it's SNSD! SNSD forever!)

순리에 맞춰 사는 것 넌 길들여져 버렸니? 괜찮니?
암담한 세상이 그댈 주눅들게 만드니? 괜찮니?

(Lyrics from The Boys-SNSD:
Living according to reason Have you gone soft? Are you okay?
Has this gloomy world intimidated you? Are you okay?

Credits: soshified taengbear & minigiglo for lyric translation)

Anyway, I think next week will probably be more interesting. Back to learning more biosciences again! There will also be a dinner next week celebrating 150 years of teaching Medicine at the University of Melbourne; the oldest medical school in Australia.

[update] First day of medical school

Today was my first day doing Medicine at Melbourne Medical School. It was quite a new experience with the medical course, because the format of material given is not the same as undergrad. I had an experience with CSL (case supported learning) today too, which was interesting.

There were quite a few indemnity insurance companies also which were represented today, and I joined one of them because it was free for students. I hope I never need to rely on them though, but mistakes do happen in medicine.

It was nice to see some of the same faces in medicine as from Biomedicine at Melbourne, as well as a considerable number of new faces. This is probably the first time that I've known so many people in my next stage of study studying the same course as me, because not many people from my primary school went to my secondary college, and not many people from my secondary college went to my uni, and only one other person in my year went into the same course as me. The majority or plurality of people from my secondary college who went to uni went to Monash.

There were quite a few lectures today about housekeeping issues. Some of it was interesting, and some less so. Maybe it would be more interesting or engaging if I didn't have to spend all that time learning this professionalism or "what makes a good doctor" stuff to say during the interviews.

What I liked about today was the commitment that the coordinators of CSL at Melbourne seemed to give about upholding a high standard for the basic science given, so that we know what is happening within the patient at a deep level. Because we only have one preclinical year at Melbourne, I was wondering if they would cut out a lot of the stuff. By looking at the notes of the curriculum development before today, it seems like they tried not to cut out stuff, by making anatomy, physiology and biochemistry prerequisites, and integrating some of the remaining biological science teaching to be taught in clinical years, but it still seems like a major task fitting a lot of things that most other graduate entry medical courses fit in two years in just one year.

I hope they've done it well. It would be a shame if Melbourne stopped their long tradition of upholding a rigorous treatment of their medical course and basic sciences, which they started from the beginning of their medical program's existence 150 years ago with a five year undergraduate program instead of a four year undergraduate program which was predominant at the time, and with Melbourne graduates having the highest first sitting pass rates of the Basic Sciences Examination of the RACS (Royal Australasian College of Surgeons) as recently as the mid-2000s.

(For the record, during this period, USyd had the lowest pass rate in that exam due in a large part to their low emphasis of anatomy in their original graduate entry medical program, although this was recently resolved with a trebling of hours devoted to learning gross anatomy after their review in 2007.)

Anyway, I will be having my first clinical visit tomorrow. I'm lucky that my clinical visit for tomorrow isn't too far away, given that some people have clinical visits some distance away at the other side of the city to where they live.

GAMSAT 2012 registrations close today 5 pm AEDT.

As a reminder for anyone who was planning to do the GAMSAT and leaving it until late to register, you have to apply today by 5 pm Australian Eastern Daylight saving Time to avoid any late fees. http://gamsat.acer.edu.au/gamsat-australia

After that, you can apply until 10 February at 5 pm AEST according to the website, provided that you also pay an extra $100 in late fees. I find it interesting that they say 5.00pm AEST (Australian Eastern Standard Time) instead of AEDT for late applications. I wonder if it is a mistake on the GAMSAT website. That said, if you want to apply for the GAMSAT, you should complete it no later than 5 pm AEDT today to avoid any late fees anyway.

All the best for your preparation if you are planning to sit the GAMSAT.


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If you're interested, then follow this link to order your preview package: http://prepgenie.com/free-preview-copy/

[update] Extra trip to Melbourne.

Today I went into the City of Melbourne, to go to uni. I live about one hour away from uni by public transport. I thought we started today, since the original timetable showed that. But they actually changed it to next week, and I didn't read it carefully, so I came today. I wonder why they want to start it later though; our preclinical year is already only one year rather than two, and yet we start medicine three weeks later than UQ which has two preclinical years. I realize that we have done prerequisites though.

So I wasted a bit of money for traveling expenses by buying a myki pass for a week where I wouldn't actually need to travel. Ah well. At least it was on concession still, so it wasn't too much money. My concession card from biomed expires at the end of February, and "Masters by coursework" students in Victoria, including Melbourne MD students, don't get concession travel; as I discussed earlier in this blog. Nor do any international students. I really hope this will change in the future, to be in line with most other states, where postgraduate and international students are eligible for concession public transport travel.

Anyway. I still got a few things done today. I handed in a few forms in at the Student Centre and got a new student card. I didn't get a new photo though. I didn't feel there was anything wrong with my photo at 17 years of age.

Then I checked out some graffiti artwork of Girls' Generation (소녀시대) member, Jessica (제시카). I read about it online, and it was in Hosier Lane, Melbourne:

It's good to see their influence in Melbourne. I hope they come to Melbourne one day for a concert.

I also bought the workbooks for the Melbourne MD year 1, included with a folder. The folder is quite fancy, although it wasn't that cheap at $40.30.

I also walked through Chinatown today and went to the front of Parliament House just to look at the building. The Brisbane Chinatown is more fancy, with a fancy mall pavement. It might be a bit wider than Melbourne's one, but not as long. Melbourne's one is different among the Chinatowns that I have been to around the world in that cars can drive through. It's harder for pedestrians that way if you want to cross from one side to another.

Anyway, it seems like I will be starting for real next week. A few days left of a break which I didn't really plan for. If I knew that we started next week, I would have enrolled in an intensive course for Chinese at UniMelb's Confucius Institute which ran from January 9th – February 5th, 2012, because as I have commented on this blog a few times, I always thought it was good to learn Chinese, but it wasn't a very urgent thing to do. Ah well, I'll see how things are next year. If I did attend the short course this year, I wouldn't have been able to go to Queensland though.

Money: The universal gift

The holiday season which just passed has reminded me of another issue which affects our lives. During Christmas, birthdays and other times, it is common to give gifts to people. On the other hand, for the Lunar New Year, at least in Chinese culture, it is common to give red pockets filled with money.

Sometimes the gifts received during birthdays and at Christmas time, while given warmheartedly, are not used by the recipient. On the other hand, if the recipient received money to the market value of the gifts, then they could go and buy something else that they really want. In this way, practically, money is usually the best "materialistic" gift. People would either be indifferent to receiving money over something which they were going to buy anyway (apart from the time and effort spent to buy it), but they would prefer money over something they would not have bought normally at the current prices. This is something I learned formally in Intermediate Microeconomics, although it's not something you need to study to know.

Of course, there are some exceptions. For instance, if the recipient of the gift does want something which the buyer has better access to, for instance being a member of an exclusive club or if they already go on an overseas trip to some country which has a particular gift at a cheaper price (or if it's the only place they sell something), then the gift itself would be better than the money used to buy it. But for most things, this is not the case.

It's funny how in birthday or Christmas celebrations it is sometimes seen as being lazy or unthoughtful to just give money. But practically, it can often be the best gift.

E10 unleaded: What to fill your rental car with just before returning it.

Our family doesn't fill up with petrol containing ethanol, even in our newest car which clearly indicates that it can withstand using E10 unleaded (10% ethanol). When the price difference is only a few cents per liter, it is not cost effective in terms of cents per kilometer, since ethanol has a lower energy density than normal petrol.

Credit: Wikipedia; Scott Dial http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Energy_density.svg

I recently went on a trip to Queensland though, and our family rented a car. Because the car had a label on the fuel intake saying it could use E20, I thought that maybe we should fill up with E10 with the last fill up just before returning the car, because it is a bit cheaper (in Australia, there aren't petrol stations which sell more than 10% ethanol mixed in). We didn't end up doing that though, since the petrol station we went to last didn't have E10 petrol.


Thinking about ethanol petrol also reminded me of another issue which I haven't talked about on this blog. Using ethanol is renewable unlike the stuff from crude oil. It is almost carbon neutral, and environmentally conscious people may deliberately choose E10 because of this, despite the lower mileage.

However, that is only one side of the story. When you look below the surface, with the current technology, using ethanol is not that great. I'm not talking about your car not coping; if it's a new one with the sticker on it, using ethanol up to the limit recommended should be fine. I'm talking about where the ethanol comes from.

Right now, a lot of the ethanol comes from fermentation of food products such as wheat. If more ethanol is used for running cars, this means there will be less food available, if agricultural production is not stepped up. Increasing demands for ethanol for fuel have caused flow on increases in prices of wheat, and have worsened food shortages around the world. There have been some experiments on converting waste products from plantations into ethanol using techniques such as genetic engineering of bacteria, but so far their use is not widespread.


In the future though, what will cars run on? It seems like electric vehicles are getting better and better, with advancements in battery technology happening all the time. Right now though, electric cars don't seem to have as much range as petrol cars, so they are inconvenient for long trips. Of course, using electricity won't be carbon neutral or sustainable in the long term if coal is used to generate the electricity. Solar electricity technology seems to be improving all the time though, so hopefully in the future it can make up a lot of our electricity needs together with wind without too much cost. Nuclear electricity seems OK for the countries which already have the infrastructure, although when things go wrong, the consequences can be quite hard to deal with.

[update] MD conditional offer turned into firm offer.

A few days ago, my MD conditional offer was turned into a firm offer, and I was notified through email. It was something I expected to happen, since my GPA after 3 years was almost identical to just after semester 1 of third year (decrease by 0.01 points under the way I think they calculate it), but confirmation is always good.

My Working With Children Check card also came by mail recently, which is good.

Right now, I'm up in Queensland. I'm planning to check out a few medical schools (UQ, Griffith, Bond) among other things. I'm actually in UQ Ipswich right now to see what all the fuss is about. There's plants inside the library haha.


Meanwhile, in admissions related news, GEMSAS seems to have released a few more offers within the past few days.

PrepGenie offers a GAMSAT Free Preview Package

Since late December last year, I have been involved in PrepGenie. Right now, they are offering a free preview package, containing one GAMSAT full length practice test, one sectional test in Humanities (75 Questions), one sectional test in Chemistry (40 questions), and one sectional test in Biology (40 questions). You just have to pay $25 to cover printing and shipping costs.

If you're interested, then follow this link to order your preview package: http://prepgenie.com/free-preview-copy/

I have been notified that they will send the test papers within 48 hours of receiving the payment for printing and shipping, and there will be 50 of these packages available.


EDIT to add: They will start to ship packages out on Monday.

Indicative interview cutoffs for GEMSAS unis have been released

I'm not sure how long this has been around, but I only noticed just now. GEMSAS has published the indicative scores for 2012 entry for some unis but not others.

It seems like for Melbourne, for those successful in getting an interview, the average GPA was 6.6 and GAMSAT (presumably Melbourne equal section weighted) was 65. For Monash, the cutoff (GPA hurdle 5.0) was 65 GAMSAT for urban applicants and 59 for rural. For comparison, the 2011 entry cutoff scores are here and 2010 entry cutoff are here.

It seems like UWA, Monash and both UNDS and UNDF have risen in GAMSAT cutoff (Monash) or average GPA and GAMSAT (UWA, UNDS and UNDF). Other unis haven't seem to have published averages for both years. This increase in scores has also been noted on the Paging Dr Forum, together with increases for other unis too.

There are a few possible factors in the increase. One is the GEMSAS system itself meaning relatively strong applicants did not fall through the cracks; where they would have been eligible for interview at preference 2 if they put it first in the past (for example Monash), but may not have gotten an interview after being passed on.

Another factor (especially for Melbourne, Monash and Deakin) is that there were a lot more Melbourne Biomedicine students graduating this year than last year. The number is approximately 367 this year and about 215 last year. There were also more science students at Melbourne graduating this year than last year. This increase in demand for places at Melbourne in particular without a corresponding increase in places at Melbourne, and also an increased demand for Monash and Deakin (in Victoria) as a flow on effect and a bit less so in other unis interstate, has driven up scores.

For Flinders in particular, it has been noted that provisional entry people who will enter in 2012 (prior to this there were no provisional entry people entering Flinders) has driven up scores there, due to reduced supply available to non-provisionals.


In the past, it was said that graduate entry medicine had a lot less competition than undergraduate entry medicine. I remember being told during year 11 or 12 that if I didn't get into undergraduate medicine (which I didn't), then graduate entry had a much higher success rate. Perhaps with Melbourne, an arguably prestigious uni, switching to graduate entry only (Melbourne model), and UWA following, more and more people will be persuaded to try for graduate entry medicine after initially not getting into undergraduate medicine, rather than giving up. Also it seems like more and more people know of the graduate entry path. Maybe there will be a time in the future when the success rate of graduate entry will diminish to be similar to undergraduate entry.

Christmas break

Today is Christmas Day. Around this time, the MDHS of Melbourne, who have worked hard to give offers to all the 335 people who got into MD plus topping up rejections, are also on a break. If anyone's missed it, from the facebook page of MDHS of Melbourne, this post says that if you don't have your enrollment pack yet, it will be sent next year. The deadline for enrollment is 5 February 2012, so there is plenty of time.

I hope everyone is having a safe and enjoyable Christmas break.

[update] Biomedicine degree conferred!

Today, I officially graduated with the Bachelor of Biomedicine. It was quite a formal occasion. After all the opening speeches, first the doctorate graduates got their degrees, then one master graduate, then the bachelor degrees. Interestingly though, the honors graduates got their degrees after the other bachelor degree graduates.

Since it was my first time graduating, it was quite an experience. It was interesting wearing those clothes, and taking photos from professional photographers and others with friends.

It looks like I'll probably be back there again in another four years, with a medical degree. But there will be a lot of work before that.

GEMSAS first round of top up offers released

Some of the first top up offers (ie second round offers) have started to be released. From the twitter account of Lyndal Parker-Newlyn, Associate Professor of Medical Education at the University of Wollongong (who also posts on Paging Dr), it seems like Wollongong has made 5 top up offers. Other unis should also send them out soon. Good luck if you're waiting for one.

UQ admission irregularity

Recently it has been in the news that a relative of Vice Chancellor Paul Greenfield was accepted into a program without satisfying the same requirements of other applicants. On the 9th of December, UQ released a memorandum detailing the offers of undergraduate-entry MBBS applicants (which I read from Paging Dr), and it included talk of the irregularity. http://www.uq.edu.au/about/planning-docs/2011-mbbs-program-admissions/

Regarding the irregularity itself, it seems like the Vice Chancellor and his deputy have both paid the price and stood down. Then there is debate on whether the relative who was given the irregular offer should keep their place or not. Personally, I don't have a very strong view on this.

In that memorandum, there was also noticeably a mention of people with Vice Chancellor scholarships (by achieving an ATAR of 99.95; the highest possible rank) who did not do well on the UMAT but still got irregular offers. This has never been the official policy of UQ to give such offers in such circumstances, but it should be noted that this is very similar to what is done in Melbourne (needing 99.90 and above) and USyd (needing 99.95). The main difference between Melb and USyd compared to UQ is just that UQ didn't interview for this, but UQ doesn't interview anyone except ATSI applicants anyway. It does raise eyebrows when UQ does things not in their official policy though, and it seems like they won't be doing such a thing next year. I think they could be justified if they made giving medicine places to people with Vice Chancellor scholarships regardless of UMAT official policy though.

This raises another issue. Is using UMAT a good system to select applicants? I personally do not think so, and so far the evidence seems to suggest that UMAT doesn't predict medical school performance well at all, although others have criticized the study because it possibly has "ceiling effects" there. I don't think that UMAT is any better than still using academic achievement (ATAR) even at the high levels, although I have some issues with English being compulsory primary 4 in ATAR calculations in Victoria and NSW (but not some other states; in some it is not even compulsory in year 12), without Math being compulsory at all in some states (including VIC and NSW), let alone primary 4.

Similar criticisms are sometimes applied to the GAMSAT, and I don't think the GAMSAT is as optimal as it can be either, however it does test science unlike UMAT, and that section has some modest predictive value. The MCAT in North America seems to have more solid evidence behind it though, so perhaps if we modify the GAMSAT to be more of that style then it can probably predict medical school performance better. However, it will probably also disadvantage non-science background students, so if unis here think that that type of diversity is important, then such a change in the test probably can't happen. I think a standardized test like the MCAT or GAMSAT with some science is justified in selecting med school applicants for graduate entry, especially because for GPA there hardly any scaling for differentiating between subjects which are easier or harder to score highly in, between different unis and within them.

On the other hand, for ATAR, at least in most states, there is scaling to take into account differences in difficulty between subjects, and in most cases standardized exams for most of the marks going towards a subject. So there is less need for a standardized test including a science section; it would seem to just duplicate whatever assessment is done at school, especially if chemistry is a prerequisite (as it is in some unis for medicine including Monash but not all. Funnily, biology is not a required prerequisite anywhere in Australia for undergraduate entry, and I didn't do year 12 level bio in high school, but that's a discussion for another day).

It has been argued that ATAR discriminates against people of lower socioeconomic status. This may be true, but it is also true that UMAT preparation courses are expensive, and it is hard for people of low socioeconomic status to afford those too. I think if we want to get people of low socioeconomic status into medicine and other uni courses, then we should have some sort of affirmative action instead of using some dubious selection tools which may add more noise into the selection process and being not very useful predictors.

[update] Biomed graduation eligibility confirmed.

This evening, I received the email that I am confirmed to be eligible to graduate on 20 December. Well, it's as expected, but it's always good to have the confirmation. I felt it was possible but unlikely that they might have stuffed up my graduation, because the study plan it's not 100% accurate according to the new breadth subject rules (up until 2010 under the Melbourne Model, you needed 6 breadth subjects for biomed at Melbourne including at least one at third year level, but from this year you are allowed to do 4-6, and there is no need to do one at third year level), and if some admin person was silly they might have thought I didn't complete my degree correctly according to the rules.

Anyway, it's good to see that such a mistake on the admin side has not happened. I'm yet to receive confirmation of turning the MD conditional offer into a firm offer though.

UQ makes further adjustments to cutoffs displayed on website

Again from the Paging Dr forum, I was notified that UQ made further adjustments to the cutoffs displayed on the website. http://www2.som.uq.edu.au/SOM/FUTURESTUDENTS/MBBS/ADMISSIONS/DOMESTICSTUDENTS/Pages/DomesticStudents.aspx

The non-rural cutoffs displayed have reverted to what was shown just after UQ's initial offer round (73 CSP, 66* BMP). However, the rural cutoffs have stayed the same as just after the post-interview (of other unis) round for BMP; 64*. The CSP cutoff for rurals has decreased even more to 71.

I really don't know how to analyze this now. It would appear that the first revision of the website just after the post-interview GEMSAS round of offers (UQ's first top up round) was incorrect. But now because of that, I have doubts that the initial scores posted just after UQ's main round of offers were correct. I could analyze assuming that the initial scores posted were correct, then the first revision was incorrect and these scores now were correct, but that would be pure speculation.

Unlike the earlier two score lists though, this score list displays rural students having a lower requirement than non-rural students. Since this is the case usually, I guess this list is more plausible.

GEMSAS second round offers: 12-14 December

Just in case anyone's missed it, I've read from the Paging Dr Forum that the GEMSAS "first round of top-up offers" is expected on 12-14 December. This is shown in the GEMSAS website too, which is listed under my "official websites" links.

Good luck for second round offers if you haven't received one yet. It seems like some people have declined GEMSAS offers for USyd (and also the other way around), and there has been two-way declining between med and dent too.

Exam day (poem)

I get off at Parliament today,
Not MC* like for uni,
Today's more important than usual;
The test of our ability.

All the hard work is remembered as
I walk up the longer escalator**,
Lactic acid building up in my legs,
But I press on; I will rest later.

I finally reach the end and walk,
I hear the Myki*** reader beep,
Then go outside, and see more stairs,
Two steps at a time, I leap.

The street ahead is different today,
The RACS on the left I pass,
"Will I join them in the future?"
Is something I always ask.

The sun is very bright today
As I head to the REB****,
Then I see my classmates there
Revising under a tree.

I later put away my bag
in some storage facility.
Invigilator calls us in;
The crowd goes in quickly.

Inside there, I'm on my own
I try to work efficiently,
After two hours, the deed is done,
And I leave the facility.

A few weeks pass then I will know,
Whether to cry or jump in glee.
N, P, or H2B
H2A, H1, or H3*****?



Yes, it's the first poem I have written on this blog. Not very high quality though, but there it is.

*Melbourne Central railway station; closest railway station to UniMelb
**Parliament station escalators are longer than ones in Melbourne Central.
***Electronic ticketing system (smart card) used in Melbourne public transport.
****Royal Exhibition Building, where a lot of UniMelb exams are held; closest to Parliament railway station.
*****Melbourne Grading System  (alternate link; original link may be broken. Bands for each grade also shown in GEMSAS guide for GPA calculation)

[update] Final biomed semester results

Today, all my results for semester two were unofficially released through the Study Plan. (Note: in Melbourne, results are released when finalized, rather than on one specific day, and they are often out through the Study Plan a day earlier than the "results service" page. This year, all results should be released by 9 December. Also, for Melbourne students, a tip to note if you don't want to keep clicking on the Study Plan to check if a result is up and let it take its time to load, the results being put up on the study plan coincides with the subject coming off the list on the portal home page or admin tab, so you only need to check when a subject disappears off the enrolled subject list).

Anyway, I got two H1 and one H2A. I expected more than that H2A to be honest (it was a bare H2A too; 75), but ah well. Essays are subjective I guess. It probably doesn't help that I write in pencil for all of them either, where they don't specify what to use, and my handwriting being not that neat. I think I'll try using pen next year. It probably also didn't help that I was a bit lazy revising throughout the semester, an excuse being the interviews, but then again I only had three subjects this semester. So I have finished my biomed with a weighted GPA of 6.79, and an unweighted GPA of 6.75, on the GEMSA scale.

It seems like I have passed well, and barring administrative errors, I should be eligible to graduate. I just ordered the rental for the academic gown today. I think my performance in this semester should be enough to satisfy the "maintain current academic standard" criteria for turning the conditional MD offer into a firm offer, so I'll be waiting for that in a week or two probably.

UQ (lower preference) issue appears to be resolved + GEMSAS critique

On the paging dr forum, a member (naskies) posted that UQ has updated the cut off scores for domestic students for 2012 entry. Whereas it was previously 73 for CSP and 66* for BMP, it now displays as 72 for CSP and 64* for BMP.

From that, I think two things can explain this:

The first (less likely) reason is that maybe UQ reserved some places for offers in the offer round after the GEMSAS offers in case people were not successful in higher preferenced universities and got passed onto UQ by the computer.

The second (I think more likely) reason is that enough people who received places from both USyd (who pulled out of the GEMSAS consortium) and UQ declined their UQ offer for USyd, so this was more than enough to compensate for the number of people who got passed onto UQ from higher preferenced unis and above UQ's initial cutoff score.

Either way, the issue of not getting a place from UQ as a lower preference, even if your GAMSAT would have met the cutoff if you preferenced them first, now seems to have disappeared. This is a good outcome.


I feel that the GEMSAS system is a definite improvement over the old system. There are two possible improvements though, which I see some others have noted too.

One of them is if you can fine tune the preference list so you can put a CSP from a lower preferenced uni higher than a BMP for a higher preferenced university, for example; especially a CSP or BMP from one lower preferenced uni above a FFP from a higher up one on the preference list. I know someone who had the scores for a UQ CSP but got a FFP at Melbourne.

The second one is that if someone (person A) pulls out of their offer at a given university, someone else (person B) should be able to take it, regardless of whether or not they already have a place at a lower preferenced university. Although it would be more hassle for the unis, it's not really fair for an applicant who had a lower combined score (person C) to get a place at that particular university just because he didn't already have a place, ahead of someone (person B) who happened to be offered a place at another university lower on their preference list. People should be able to receive second round offers higher up than their initial one if they are eligible and competitive, like they do in VTAC, UAC, TISC etc.


There's also another argument about how interviews are not entirely the same everywhere, so perhaps the whole thing about standardizing interview scores might be frowned upon, although if we want to get around this, then we have to let everyone go and sit interviews at all unis they preference and have competitive scores before interviews for. So it depends on what people think the balance between inconvenience and cost, compared to having the "right interview format", should be.

GPA... GAMSAT... Interview...: One year on

It's been one year since I made my first post on my blog, back in 24 November 2010. And it has really been quite an interesting year since then.

At the end of last year, I visited Malaysia and Singapore, as noted a few blog posts back. This was my first visit ever to Asia, and Malaysia was the first developing country that I have ever visited. It was an interesting experience to have.

After that holiday and about half a month break, I started uni again for my final year of biomed; earlier than most other people because I enrolled in a summer semester of linear algebra. I decided to do this because I felt it might be beneficial to have a lighter workload in semester two so I could prepare for the Melbourne interview if necessary. The subject wasn't that intense, and it still felt like a break (technically it was a half workload too anyway; you can usually take up to two subjects in summer).

After that came the start of the standard Semester 1. A full load this semester, like most other uni semesters. Within the semester, there was the GAMSAT. I already sat it last year and did reasonably well, but I wanted to improve my score if possible still. After sitting it and waiting almost eight weeks for results, I was pleased that I improved on my old results, from 77 overall (70 Melbourne) to 83 overall (77 Melbourne); while maintaining a 100 in the science section. Waiting for those results took most of the semester.

Meanwhile, it was known that USyd was conducting interviews during the midyear break. Because it was before the Melbourne interview, I felt it would be good to have a go and have a practice. It would also have been a good backup if I didn't get into Melbourne. It was also my first time visiting Sydney in over ten years. However, I didn't prepare enough before the interview, and I didn't get a CSP offer at USyd.

Anyway, so there was Semester 2, with a lighter workload due to taking Linear Algebra in summer. I got a Melbourne interview, as I thought I would, and this time I did a lot more preparation. I felt more confident out of the interview, and after six to seven weeks of waiting for GEMSAS, I received my MD CSP provisional offer from Melbourne. Then I finished all my exams for biomed, and this is where things stand today; waiting for exam results for semester two.

During this one year since I started this blog, I've noticed that the number of blog views have increased over time. In November and December 2010, there were hardly any hits. In January 2011, the number of hits went up noticeably to 150, and stayed around there for a while. There was a noticeable spike at May when the GAMSAT results were released, and it's stayed around that mark until this month where views rose dramatically due to the GEMSAS offers being released and the suspense leading up to it, with @deakinblog publishing a few links to some of my posts. I expect the view count to ease off next month though, since there is not going to be anything as big as the GEMSAS offers then, or any time soon.

I'd like to thank all the readers of my blog for their interest in what I have to say, especially those who have posted constructive comments which have led to good discussions about any issues I have raised. I hope you all continue to enjoy reading my blog into the future.

[update] Biomed exams over!

Today I finished my final exam for biomed. As noted before, this was a 100% essay exam. Well not completely, because I did draw quite a few diagrams, but it was an extended response exam. I felt I did reasonably well, but spent quite significant time drawing up some of my diagrams (and sometimes perhaps going into more detail than necessary when explaining drug mechanisms), and had to rush at the end. No paracetamol question there though, if you were wondering.

So for Melbourne, results should come out by 9 December this year; about two weeks. Meanwhile, it's break time, and complete some immunizations and do paperwork for medicine.

Acetaminophen/paracetamol mechanism discovered!

The science journal Nature has just published a study demonstrating the mechanism of action of paracetamol. This is of interest to people of a pharmacology background, like myself, since we are always told in lectures that the mechanism has not been described.


http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v2/n11/full/ncomms1559.html

It seems like there is activation of TRPA1 channels by some of the metabolites of paracetamol, which causes a reduction of voltage-gated calcium and sodium currents in primary sensory neurons.

I wonder if I can incorporate it into an essay question in tomorrow's exam; a pharmacology exam. It's unlikely that they'll ask a question specifically about paracetamol though.

[update] One more exam for biomed

In the past week, I completed two of my three exams this semester. The coming Thursday, I have my final exam for biomed.

The past two exams I think went reasonably well, despite being 100% essay type questions (the biomed compulsory subject this semester had about 50% of the questions being knowledge of pharmacology, so that was good for grades for me due to my major, but not really good for learning new things). The next exam will be 100% essay questions too. I wonder why the pharmacology department likes essay type questions for third year subjects, while the second year pharmacology subject had 50% essays, 50% multiple choice.

Anyway, I'm about half way going through the lecture notes now for this last subject, and when I'm finished with that, I'll start doing some past exams. This subject, along with the other subjects this semester, thankfully has full past exams released.

But my hand gets sore around exam time when I have to write all these essays. Typing, or coloring in MC bubbles, is a lot easier.

A tale of two interviews

If you read my older posts, you would know that I failed the USyd interview quite badly. Even with my GAMSAT score of 83, my interview score was 84/180, so even if I applied to BMP I wouldn't get in. However, I did get into Melbourne, even though I was disadvantaged due to the Melbourne weighting of GAMSAT sections (down to 77) and my GPA was not perfect (about 6.8; unlike USyd, GPA is not just a hurdle at Melbourne). I got a CSP non-bonded place, and in the clinical allocation I wanted.

There were quite a few different reasons for the different outcome:

1. Because the Melbourne interview is weighted less, so maybe I needed less score in Melbourne to get a CSP, but my ranking before interview would have been better in USyd due to the normal GAMSAT weighting and not using GPA to rank.

2. For the USyd one, my preparation effort mainly was one week of going in an interview practice group and working out answers to all questions. However, I had no practice in actually answering them face to face, and because I booked an interview on the first Monday, I had no time to memorize the answers. For Melbourne, I started in a group (often with just one other person, but sometimes a few people) and worked out answers throughout most of the semester before the interview. I had time to memorize all the answers we came up with, and 100% of the questions for Melbourne this year in the interview were repeats. I recited some of my answers in front of the mirror to try to make it more fluent. I had real talking practice during the week just before the interviews. I also had practice with Des O'Neill (I decided that $150 wasn't too much compared to missing out on Melbourne, although I don't know whether it added that much really compared to memorizing answers for Melbourne and practicing with friends, because Melbourne didn't change questions).

3. I'm not sure how much this helped, but before the Melbourne interview in the semester, I made special effort to give people eye contact when I was talking to them, even if normally I wouldn't bother. I also decided to try to increase my attention span by staying awake more than normal during lectures, and looking at lecturer's eyes during lectures just for practice to get used to it (I don't try to fall asleep during lectures, but sometimes I'm a bit tired).

4. I was more serious in general for Melbourne. I went on a road trip with 2 other family members to USyd and booked on the first day when I had a choice, even though I knew it probably wouldn't help my performance, since it was a practice round (although I would take a USyd CSP if I got that and didn't get any other offers). We booked some cheap hotel in Sydney, which actually stuffed up our accommodation and it was very stressful, especially because we didn't really arrive early in Sydney in the first place.

5. As with all interviews, there was luck involved. In USyd, the first few interviewers didn't shake my hand, and while I didn't really know why, I was nervous for the first few stations. Then one shook my hand, and I was much more at ease at that station, and then I thought the others not shaking my hand contributed to my nervousness. A few interviewers were antagonistic. There was also a "personal station" in USyd which not everyone got but I got, and I didn't prepare for it for USyd. In contrast, in Melbourne, all my interviewers I had were very friendly and the one who I had twice seemed to agree with everything I said.

So that's a list of reasons why I got into Melbourne in an unbonded CSP but not USyd first round.

[update] Melbourne offer! CSP Metro 1!

This evening, I received my provisional offer from the University of Melbourne! It was a CSP Metro 1 too; the best possible outcome for me.

Monash, Deakin, UWA and Griffith have also sent out offers today, as well as GEMSAS sending out an "e-mail of death" (or coma as the new vocabulary is).

Anyway, this is good for me. I'm happy with the outcome. I will write another post this evening detailing more about my experience with the interviews and the admissions process.

I hope those who applied and are reading this got offers. If not, I wish you all the best for the next round of offers, or in trying again next year if you're still determined to get into medicine.

[update] GEMSAS simulation round 19 becomes main round offer list!

Just tonight, all the unis from GEMSAS agreed with the results of the 19th simulation round of the GEMSAS. The University of Wollongong has released all their offers tonight, and successful applicants from some other unis can expect to receive them tomorrow.

It's nice to see that they can stick to their deadline. Hopefully the process can be sped up next year with a code already in place.

I'll be waiting for tomorrow in anticipation. I wonder if I got into Melbourne. We shall see soon enough!


On another note, for the first half of this month, I've received page views greater than the total for any other month in my blog's history. After some investigation looking at my blog stats, it seems like @deakinblog on twitter posted a link to my previous post about the 17th GEMSAS simulation, and as a result I've been receiving a lot of hits through that. Apart from that, I've received the usual results through Paging Dr which have increased recently due to the imminent release of GEMSAS offers.

Anyway, to all the people who are seeing this blog for the first time, welcome. I hope to provide good reading for you into the future.

[update] 17 GEMSAS simulations later...

... and it seems like most schools are happy with the offer list, but one school is still not 100% satisfied with the list of people they were suggested to offer to by GEMSAS. Ah well, now we should hope for a release of offers soon after the weekend.

Technically, they are still not "late", since they specified that offers will be released 9-16 November. However, this is quite late compared to last year's offers for a few unis including Melbourne. That said, this year is the first year with the new computer matching system of GEMSAS, so they are starting almost from scratch. I hoped they would get offers out earlier though.

Anyway. It seems like tomorrow will be that K-Pop festival in Sydney, which I said I wouldn't attend because of my exams (and to answer a question in the comments, it seems like SNSD will arrive in Sydney before the GEMSAS offers comes out). Interestingly, it seems like tickets are still available for VIP standing, silver seating and bronze seating options, while allocation is exhausted for VIP seating and gold seating. It's interesting because in Korea, the seat allocation of SNSD's first concert in the first Asia tour sold in 3 minutes. More recently, for SNSD's second Asia tour, in Singapore the tickets for their scheduled concert sold out within four hours so they decided to hold a second concert the next day. As it happens, I was in Singapore last year (during the Australian summer holidays), exactly one year before the schedule date of this concert there this year.

Maybe it's because there isn't as much Asian population percent here compared to Singapore. The other reason might be that the distances here are quite far, compared to Singapore or Korea. Australia is a big country and Melbourne and Sydney, the two biggest cities, are quite far apart (about 900 km), so it's not very convenient to travel from one city to another, especially without a high speed rail network. It's even further from Brisbane (the next biggest) to Sydney. It's also an inconvenient time for people going to school or university, since it is right during the exam period for a lot of unis and VCE exams, or during the school term of earlier years. So perhaps that contributes to lower demand too.

In any case, with respect to exam preparation, I did a past exam paper today for one of my subjects, then I cleared up a few gaps in my knowledge that were found. I'll probably do one or two tomorrow. Despite the GEMSAS uncertainty, life goes on...

[update] Melbourne offers in 2-8 days...

The University of Melbourne MDHS on their facebook page just released a notice:

To all our MD applicants, a quick update on selection. We are still on track for offers to be issued between the 9 and 16 November, but we can confirm that it will definitely not be tomorrow.

For any MD applicants wondering about the process over the next few days, all the universities are reviewing the lists generated by GEMSAS to ensure there are no errors. Once every university is happy, each one will start creating offers. Unfortunately, Melbourne may take a day or two longer than other universities as we also have to allocate students to clinical zones prior to sending out offers, and this can take some time due to the number of students we take into the course. Once the clinical zones have been finalised we will compile it all into an offer letter, and offers will be emailed out, with hard copy letters following shortly after.

For the DDS applicants, offers will also be released in the same time period.

We’ll be keeping you updated throughout the process so you have some idea of where we’re at. Best of luck to all of you!

So with that in mind, and MD offers not being tomorrow because of clinical allocations and the number of students, it means the Melbourne offer emails will probably be in 2-8 days.

If it's like the international students' situation though, those studying at UniMelb at the time seemed to get notification of being accepted into MD or DDS through the student portal before getting the email. So it might be good to check the portal too.

No more calculators in GAMSAT...

It seems like there's no more calculators allowed in the GAMSAT anymore! That's quite a change. http://gamsat.acer.edu.au/sit/prohibited-items/

This brings the GAMSAT more in line with the MCAT; MCAT doesn't allow calculators. It also means that what I've said in my blog earlier about figuring out stuff on the calculator for logs can't be done; they either have to give you easy numbers, or they have to give you options in multiple choice which are spaced apart enough so that only one of them is plausible.

(ie, from my previous example, if you can use non-calculator methods to narrow down to a certain range, even though you can't figure out things to a few decimal points without tables or memorizing values. For instance, we can still say that 1/10 of a substance is left somewhere between 3 half lives (1/2^3=1/8) and before 4 half lives (1/2^4=1/16) because 1/8>1/10>1/16 and work from there, without knowing what the decimals are after the 3).

It also means that the whole e^loge type decay formula which I don't memorize is pretty useless now, without a calculator or log tables, because the only advantage it used to confer is not needing to memorize as many log laws (apart from the most fundamental one; a^x=y means logay=x. One of my friends said his tutor called this the "sock rule" because if you draw a bubble looking like a sock around a and x in the log form, the orientation is just like a^x with x as the power, and a as the base. Then y, which is outside of the sock, is on the other side of the = sign). And now you can't be expected to calculate things accurately in decay anyway, unless it's a "good number" (ie, whole number of half lives).

I think actually they already space the numbers far apart enough in multiple choice for these types of questions so you don't need to figure it out accurately, but I preferred to figure them out exactly anyway for these types of problems sometimes.

I wonder how much the format of questions will change because of this ban on calculators. Maybe there doesn't actually need to be any change, but it will increase constraints on time. In any case, I do think it'd be good for med students to be able to do more basic sums and multiplication without calculators.

Oh! - 소녀시대

It's five more days until the start of the expected period of GEMSAS offers! Because of that, I will share with you a song:

Oh! - 소녀시대

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGbwL8kSpEk

Why? In Sino-Korean numbers*, 오/五/o means five. So sometimes the number five reminds me of this song.

There is also sort of a cheer-leading concept in the song. SNSD will cheer for you until the results come out.

5-12 days now... Ah! Now 5-12 reminds me of the 5-12-13 Pythagorean triad too.


*In Korean, there's 2 main sets of numerals; native Korean and Sino-Korean.

[update] GEMSAS offers in one week? or two weeks?

After almost five weeks since Melbourne interviews, we're almost there now! GEMSAS offers are expected in 9-16 November, which is in 7-14 days; 1-2 weeks!

I hope that I will receive a CSP offer from Melbourne. This is what all the effort was put in for. Melbourne is my first preference and UQ is my second. If UQ was my first preference, then I should not have bothered to repeat the GAMSAT (although a few people in my biomed cohort sometimes enjoy talking about and comparing marks including GAMSAT and I don't mind joining in too). I also would not need to do all this interview preparation, or apply to USyd for any backup or interview preparation.

There would also be less pressure on grades, and although I now feel that I should study well in the core subjects regardless, because it will be beneficial for medicine in the future. However, if I applied to a GPA hurdle uni as first preference, maybe I could dedicate my breadth subjects to subjects I always thought were good to learn like Chinese rather than playing it safe with my strengths. It would probably not be possible to use a "science GPA" in Australia like they sometimes do in the US though, even if it's a better predictor of med school achievement than normal GPA or non-science GPA, because in Australia not everyone does science subjects in their degree.

Anyway. I've started revising some lecture notes now, in preparation for the exams. The exams, as I said before, will be after the first round offers for GEMSAS... hopefully I get the good news before them.

sin(x+y) does not equal sin(x)+sin(y)

Following on from my physics talk about vector quantities, it reminded me of what my Real Analysis (second year math subject) lecturer told our class during a lecture. I already knew it, but it does seem to be a mistake some people make. I paraphrase slightly:

f(x+y) does not always equal f(x)+f(y). An example is, sin(x+y) does not equal sin(x)+sin(y). Some people sometimes write it on exams, and it's not correct. Actually, sin(x+y)=sin(x)cos(y)+sin(y)cos(x).

[note: the angle expansion formula is not required for the GAMSAT, so don't worry about memorizing it if you aren't doing math subjects or subjects which require significant math, but you should know that sin(x)+sin(y) doesn't equal sin(x+y), in case you have to solve some algebra and think you've found a neat shortcut which doesn't exist]

I think some people get confused because a(b+c)=ab+ac, so they think sin(x+y)=sin(x)+sin(y), but it's not like that. a(b+c) means a times (b+c), but sin(x+y) doesn't mean sin times (x+y).

How does this relate to the GAMSAT? I think sometimes you might have to manipulate logs in certain questions. No, I don't mean logs you find from trees, even if I say "natural log". I mean logarithms. In radioactive decay or other types of decay with half-lives, you might need logarithms to find out stuff. The "log" also pops up in the decibel formula. There's a whole set of log laws, which can be thought of as the reverse of exponent laws.

In particular, loga(x)+loga(y)=loga(x*y), provided that x and y are positive, and a is positive (which is required for the logarithm to exist). Don't think that loga(x)+loga(y)=loga(x+y), because it's not.

Also, loga(x^n)=n*loga(x) is a law you might need.

Anyway, perhaps I'll finish with an example. Simple one, but one with bad numbers, so you can't guess whole numbers easily.


"A radioactive compound initially is 1000 grams. After 60 hours, there is 100 g of the original compound remaining. What is the half life?"

Actually, before I'll begin, I'll mention that there is some weird formula for calculating this type of stuff with a e^(logex) type thing in it which I haven't bothered to memorize. The advantage is that you don't have to remember your log laws when using it, but the disadvantage is that it's not that easy to remember. Personally, I like to remember the formula more logically, even if it means I have to remember the log laws to solve something on the calculator.

Basically, after every half life, the amount of original compound remaining is halved. So after one half life there's half remaining, and after the second half life there's 1/2 * 1/2=(1/2)^2=1/4 remaining; after the next one it's 1/4*1/2=(1/2)^3 remaining. See the pattern? But in the question, we have 1/10 remaining, and 10 is not a multiple of 2, so we can't exactly just work it out the easy way.

Anyway, from the discussion above (there's more rigorous ways to prove it though, but for our purposes an illustration is OK), the proportion remaining of the original compound is (1/2)^n, where n=number of half lives.

Then to convert that into an actual amount, multiply by the original amount.

So, N=N0(1/2)^n, where N=amount remaining, N0=initial amount of compound. To me, knowing this formula is simpler than memorizing a whole formula with e^loge etc. However, to use it backwards you need to know your log laws, unlike the other way where you don't need to know so much.

Anyway, back to the question.

N=1000, N0=100.

100=1000(1/2)^n
1/10=(1/2)^n

now if you use this formula, this is where we get logs into play. Take the log of both sides (it doesn't matter which base, but your calculator has two logs; base 10 (the button "log") or base e (the button "ln"), so it has to be one of these. It would be simpler if there was a log base 2 for this particular question, but it doesn't exist on your calculator. So if we don't have a log base 2 on the calculator, we need a work-around.

log (1/10)=log (1/2)^n

Now use the log law: loga(x)^n=n*loga(x) on the RHS of the equation:

log (1/10)=n*log (1/2)
n=log(1/10)/log(1/2) (put this onto your calculator)
=3.3219

Now this is the number of half lives. We wanted to know the half life. Now, we know from the question that the time taken was 60 hours, so:

60 hours=3.3219 half lives

What's one half life? Divide 60 by 3.3219.

Answer is 18.06

So half life is 18 hours. That is the answer.

As I said before, there's another formula which is more complex to remember that some people use for it, but which means you don't need to know your log laws. Personally, because I do remember my log laws, I find this way simpler because I don't really have to remember a more complex formula for exponential decay involving half lives.

Hope this helps. I don't really plan to turn this blog into a GAMSAT blog, but I might still mention a few things here and there.

November: The month of GEMSAS offers! (and exams)

It's November now. This is the month of the GEMSAS offers for the main round. So in 8-15 days (9-16 November), applicants to GEMSAS will know if they got a first round offer or not.

It also happens to be Melbourne Cup Day today; a public holiday in Melbourne. However, I don't really take too much interest in the Melbourne Cup.

Anyway, after the offers, my first exam is on the 17th. I've been reading some of my Pharmacology textbook, and might start revising lecture notes soon. My last exam is on the 24th.

Well, all in all, it seems like it will be an interesting month ahead.

Physics review: Vector quantities

OK... I decided to write up something for any potential GAMSAT sitters reading this site.

Quite commonly when someone begins learning physics, and doing problems, they sub numbers into formulas to get the answer. Yes, that's what you're supposed to do for numerical answers to get the solution, although sometimes there may be a few steps involved rather than just one step.

However, a common elementary mistake is to forget about directions. When we are dealing with vector quantities, we must keep in mind not only the magnitude, but also the direction. Otherwise, your answers will come out weird. Just as an illustration, if I'm facing south and initially travelling south at 3 m/s then turn around and travelling north at 6 m/s, it's different from if I was initially travelling north at 3 m/s and just sped up to 6 m/s. In the first instance, my change in velocity was 9 m/s north (i.e. 6-(-3), or 6+3), but in the second instance it was only 3 m/s north (i.e. 6-3).

In two or three dimensions, there are a few ways to approach vector problems. You can draw vectors and add them "head to tail", etc, and/or separate into orthogonal components and deal with each component separately. For one dimension, the main thing required is just to assign one direction as positive and label the signs of all variables accordingly (ie, opposite direction means that the variable's value is negative).

I'll just finish with an example now. Perhaps I'll just use the same example as I started off with.

"A person was travelling south at 3 m/s initially. He slows down, then turns around and then runs north, reaching 6 m/s. He does all this in 3 seconds. What is his average acceleration?"

Well, in this case, I'll assign north to be positive.

His initial velocity is south 3 m/s, and since north is positive, south is the opposite direction and is negative. So u=-3 m/s. (u=initial velocity)

He is finally travelling north, which was assigned as positive. So v=+6 m/s.

"Time" is 3 seconds; t=3 s (time is actually a scalar quantity, so usually it should be positive)

Anyway, so a=(v-u)/t=(+6-(-3))/3
=9/3
=3 m/s²

Since this is positive, and we assigned north as positive, this means that the acceleration's direction is north. Technically the acceleration needs both a magnitude and a direction; so just saying it's 3 m/s² isn't enough. Anyway, so from that, acceleration is 3 m/s² north.


Now, actually it still works if we assigned south as positive; you don't have to worry about which direction to assign as positive in two directions too much, although it's good to choose one where you don't have too many negatives, since it makes things easier.

Anyway, if I assigned south as positive instead (just to be different),

initial velocity=u=3 m/s south=+3 m/s (since south is positive)
final velocity=v=6 m/s north=-6 m/s (since north is opposite to south, where south is positive)

time=3 s

a=(v-u)/t
=(-6-3)/3
=-3 m/s²

However, since south is positive, and the answer is negative, that means acceleration is 3 m/s² north (ie, since south is positive, north is negative in this instance; and we have a negative answer). Same as before, 3 m/s² north, as long as you interpret the sign correctly by the constraints you gave initially.

A common mistake might be to just use magnitudes; forgetting that directions are important. Doing this:
u=3 m/s
v=6 m/s
t=3 s

a=(v-u)/t=(6-3)/3=1 m/s²; different from the correct answer of 3 m/s² north!

Plugging in magnitudes without thinking about directions only gives the correct answer usually when the direction is unchanged; ie if the person was initially going 3 m/s north and accelerated to 6 m/s north, or initially 3 m/s south and accelerated to 6 m/s south in 3 seconds, then the acceleration's magnitude would be 1 m/s². Not for the question given above though!

So... when doing physics and plugging numbers into formulas, remember to take into account directions! In 1D, this means assigning a positive direction, and figuring out whether a value takes a positive or negative sign, before solving the algebra for the answer. Otherwise, if you've got a few quantities in different directions, your answer is probably going to turn out wrong.