Schols Schols Schols, information and venting thread.

Dr.Reid

I discovered today that our really nice exam may not be on this year despite me having started studying for it.

theowen

Is schols for medicine harder than others or is that balls?

bythewoods

theowen wrote: »

Is schols for medicine harder than others or is that balls?

You have to matriculate to be eligible to even sit it in the first place.

I'm not sure what you need exactly, I know I'm defooo not eligible anyway... upwards of 65%, possibly upwards of 70%, in all your first year exams.

There's a specific topic for the paper each year, last year I *think* it was... Cardiac Infarctions? Maybe.

Quite a lot of people get it, but then again quite a lot of Med students have that extreme determination thing going on, coupled with serious brains.

Someone else'll be able to help you out better, I never really looked into it myself. Not something you have to worry about quite yet anyway.

aas

How do Schols work for TSMs? Do you sit half as many exams as a student doing a single moderatorship, but in both subjects?

Sir Ophiuchus

aas wrote: »

How do Schols work for TSMs? Do you sit half as many exams as a student doing a single moderatorship, but in both subjects?

Yes, that's basically how it goes. In order to get Schols as a TSM, you need an average of a first over your two subjects (the other one has to be a II.1).

PurpleFistMixer

Dr.Reid wrote: »

I discovered today that our really nice exam may not be on this year despite me having started studying for it.

That's why I didn't start studying until the year had started and the schols syllabus was clear.

(Yeah. That's why. Definitely not laziness.)

stesh

tehjimmeh wrote: »

Got CS schols 2 years ago.

The format has changed since semesterisation, and the papers from this year aren't up on the past exam papers site yet, but it's not radically different, and the papers from before then should give some indication of the standard.

You really want to have gotten a first or high 2.1 in first year and you have to be willing to commit to it. It's not something you can just do a little extra work on the side and then show up to exams for. You've also got to be adept at working alone, as it's likely that very few will go for it.

The rewards are well, well worth it though.

And even if you don't get it, I don't think doing the exams would be an altogether futile experience. You have nothing to lose by sitting an exam and it will stand to you.

The change of format is what is most confusing, especially for programming. Did you guys have some sort of practical? That seems to have disappeared now. Also, do CS courses mainly stick to the standard syllabus, or do some prescribe extra topics?

tehjimmeh

stesh wrote: »

The change of format is what is most confusing, especially for programming. Did you guys have some sort of practical? That seems to have disappeared now. Also, do CS courses mainly stick to the standard syllabus, or do some prescribe extra topics?

When I did it there were 5 exams, all 3 hours long. They were Programming, Hardware/Telecomms/Electrotech, Maths, Hardware Practical and Programming Practical.

The Programming Practical wasn't really a practical exam, but rather was a large programming problem you had 3 hours to solve and write up a solution to.

The Hardware Practical, however, really was a practical exam. Tbh, it was a fantastic exam and it's a damn shame that it's gone. You got the requirements for an Algorithmic State Machine and had 3 hours to design it and physically implement it with wires and logic gates. It was always viewed as a difficult exam and there was somewhat of a fear towards it when people spoke of CS schols. It was incredibly satisfying and fun to do, however.

Now there're 4 exams. One is 3 hours long and the rest 2 hours (I think that schol exams can only be a max of 9 hours now). I don't think this makes it easier, however. It seems that there's a lot more time pressure in the exams now, as they're cramming as much from the previous exam format which was 15 hours in total, into 9 hours.

The content of the current exams and how they compare to the previous exams are briefly discussed here and past papers should be easily obtainable from the CS reception in the O'Reilly Building (I can't believe they're not online yet).

darling1

Does anyone know what the pharmacy schols are like??Thanks

Jammyc

So when are the 2010 papers online? I've emailed the exams office and gotten no reply.

Also, does getting 70%+ guarantee schols or does it give the chance of election? Something I've never been sure on.

Craguls

Jammyc wrote: »

So when are the 2010 papers online? I've emailed the exams office and gotten no reply.

Also, does getting 70%+ guarantee schols or does it give the chance of election? Something I've never been sure on.

I'm under the impression that 70%+ gets you the scholarship and upwards from there gives you the chance of being elected as a foundation scholar.

Sir Ophiuchus

Yeah. Seventy and up, you're a Scholar. That's it.

Foundation Scholarship is a fairly minor distinction between people who did ludicrously amazingly well, and people who just did amazingly well.

A Neurotic

Got an email today informing us that the ">65% average over first and second year" requirement for med students to sit schols is no more.

They could have told us that earlier :mad:

I didn't do fantastically (/utterly scraped the pass) in first year, but Schooools...

bythewoods

Yeah, the fact that they opened up the whole Schols-eligibility thing for us was probably necessary. Not enough HPAT babies did well enough to even be eligible in comparison to other years.

Meh. I still won't be sitting them tbh. But it's great news for a lot of people!

almostnever

I'm thinking of going for Schols next year. Will make a great story if I fail epically.

A Neurotic

bythewoods wrote: »

Yeah, the fact that they opened up the whole Schols-eligibility thing for us was probably necessary. Not enough HPAT SEMESTERISATION babies did well enough to even be eligible in comparison to other years.

Meh. I still won't be sitting them tbh. But it's great news for a lot of people!

Dude.

theowen

A Neurotic wrote: »

Got an email today informing us that the ">65% average over first and second year" requirement for med students to sit schols is no more.

They could have told us that earlier :mad:

I didn't do fantastically (/utterly scraped the pass) in first year, but Schooools...

So, you only need 65+ for first year or do you not need 65 at all?

amacachi

Is there a requirement like that for all courses?

Groinshot

amacachi wrote: »

Is there a requirement like that for all courses?

I'm sure you'd have been told by now or in the meetings, if there was.

almostnever

amacachi wrote: »

Is there a requirement like that for all courses?

I think it was just Medicine because traditionally, a lot of Medicine students got it.
Aoibheann will know for sure though.

amacachi

Groinshot wrote: »

I'm sure you'd have been told by now or in the meetings, if there was.

Meetings? :pac:

Aoibheann

almostnever wrote: »

I think it was just Medicine because traditionally, a lot of Medicine students got it.
Aoibheann will know for sure though.

Ah now, I don't know everything.. >.<

I haven't heard of other courses having specific requirements, and to the best of my knowledge Science doesn't have one anyway - TP definitely doesn't, so I doubt it would be fair for Science to, considering we sit pretty much the same physics paper as the physicists do. Craguls should be able to back me up here, I hope!

But as has been said already, you should have heard at some point before now if a specific first year grade was necessary.

Craguls

amacachi wrote: »

Meetings? :pac:

This week and next week. Subjects depending. Lecturers point them out.

Aoibheann wrote: »

Craguls should be able to back me up here, I hope!

Nope, nothing. Granted every department seems to tell you you'd have wanted to have done well in first year to have a decent shot for them.

AFAIK Med students had the rule in previous years because the real challange for them was to matriculate and qualify, as a "reward" they're provided a specific topic for the exams.

amacachi

Craguls wrote: »

This week and next week. Subjects depending. Lecturers point them out.

You doing all the Biology? I'm guessing there'll be 2 seperate Bio ones, I fancy my chances with Geography, just trying to work out if I'm arsed with a full workload. :pac:

Craguls

amacachi wrote: »

You doing all the Biology? I'm guessing there'll be 2 seperate Bio ones, I fancy my chances with Geography, just trying to work out if I'm arsed with a full workload. :pac:

Yeah Molecular (BY1101, BY2201, BY2202, BY2203) and Whole Organism Biology (BY1102, BY2204) anything specific needed is given out on a departmental basis so I can't help with Geography I'm afraid.

Woot for Chemistry being 25% from labs.

gutenberg

This is just a suggestion, but I found that talking to people who had done schols and got it from previous years was hugely helpful. They should be easy enough to track down, though maybe an introductory email might be the best first port of call. Most scholars I know would be happy to talk to people that are thinking of sitting it, just over a coffee or whatever. Can't hurt! They have useful tips for papers, survival strategies etc, though perhaps last year's people might be of most help given that the format has changed?

Sir Ophiuchus

@Gutenberg: Most of those people are in this thread.

PurpleFistMixer

Yeah, if anyone wants to know about TP schols, I can... dispense... advice or something.

gutenberg

Sir Ophiuchus wrote: »

@Gutenberg: Most of those people are in this thread.

This is true, but for any lurkers out there

Aoibheann

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

Yeah, if anyone wants to know about TP schols, I can... dispense... advice or something.

I'm fairly sure you don't want me pestering you even more about TP stuff! :P