Starting medicine without leaving cert chemistry.. bad?

justniamh

i'm starting medicine in nui galway next month. did physics and biology for the leaving cert but not chemistry. is that gonna make a big difference? doing premed so i'm sure that'll help.. anyone know if it'd be hard to catch up ?

thesituation51

Im a med student in UCD, did bio n chem for LC, but no physics so I was worried going in - but premed will teach you everything you need to know (and then some!) The only tough bit is biochemistry, and it's probably a good idea to get a book for that when you start it (different people like different books so have a flick through a few!). Investing in Chemistry Live, the LC book, could help you as well!

thesituation51

also, congrats and good luck!

theowen

thesituation51 wrote: »

Im a med student in UCD, did bio n chem for LC, but no physics so I was worried going in - but premed will teach you everything you need to know (and then some!) The only tough bit is biochemistry, and it's probably a good idea to get a book for that when you start it (different people like different books so have a flick through a few!). Investing in Chemistry Live, the LC book, could help you as well!

Surely there's no physics in med?

yerayeah

theowen wrote: »

Surely there's no physics in med?

There's more than you'd imagine, but not enough that not doing physics in the LC would be any hindrance to you. A good share of cardio and resp physiology is basically physics, I didn't do physics for the leaving but didn't really find any of that stuff hard to understand.

theowen

yerayeah wrote: »

There's more than you'd imagine, but not enough that not doing physics in the LC would be any hindrance to you. A good share of cardio and resp physiology is basically physics, I didn't do physics for the leaving but didn't really find any of that stuff hard to understand.

Ouch, still annoying. I was always terrible at physics. I remember junior cert science, getting As in the biol and chem parts and then C/Ds in physics...

justniamh

thesituation51 wrote: »

Im a med student in UCD, did bio n chem for LC, but no physics so I was worried going in - but premed will teach you everything you need to know (and then some!) The only tough bit is biochemistry, and it's probably a good idea to get a book for that when you start it (different people like different books so have a flick through a few!). Investing in Chemistry Live, the LC book, could help you as well!

alright thanks yeah i've already heard some bad stuff about biochemistry on here haha.. yeah i'm gonna see if i can dig up my sisters old chemistry book and i can just study that.. prob shuda started earlier but still in shock i got in haha. thanks

QueenOfLeon

justniamh wrote: »

alright thanks yeah i've already heard some bad stuff about biochemistry on here haha.. yeah i'm gonna see if i can dig up my sisters old chemistry book and i can just study that.. prob shuda started earlier but still in shock i got in haha. thanks

Biochemistry in premed is part of the biology course, some of the stuff is similiar to leaving cert (proteins, carbs, cell structure, osmosis) with just more detail. The chemistry course is similiar enough to leaving cert and most people found it manageable when they hadn't done it before

etymon

QueenOfLeon wrote: »

Biochemistry in premed is part of the biology course, some of the stuff is similiar to leaving cert (proteins, carbs, cell structure, osmosis) with just more detail. The chemistry course is similiar enough to leaving cert and most people found it manageable when they hadn't done it before

thank God for that! Have a major fear re: Biochem

QueenOfLeon

etymon wrote: »

thank God for that! Have a major fear re: Biochem

I know...its the module I'm dreading most for this year (first med). It probably sounds creepier than it is :P The small part we did in premed (half a semester) was ok though

Vorsprung

theowen wrote: »

Surely there's no physics in med?

Loads of physics. Especially respiratory physiology - it's all physics. Pain in the arse really!

Carsinian Thau

QueenOfLeon wrote: »

I know...its the module I'm dreading most for this year (first med). It probably sounds creepier than it is :P The small part we did in premed (half a semester) was ok though

I dreaded it too but really, in the end, it wasn't quite as bad as I thought.

You're in NUIG aren't you? If so, that means you'll probably have Dr. Lynn O'Connor lecturing you for most of the Biochem module. She's really very good actually (and very funny too! ) so you'll do fine if you follow the guidance she gives you.

QueenOfLeon

Carsinian Thau wrote: »

I dreaded it too but really, in the end, it wasn't quite as bad as I thought.

You're in NUIG aren't you? If so, that means you'll probably have Dr. Lynn O'Connor lecturing you for most of the Biochem module. She's really very good actually (and very funny too! ) so you'll do fine if you follow the guidance she gives you.

Yup, I am Thanks!

A Neurotic

Vorsprung wrote: »

Loads of physics. Especially respiratory physiology - it's all physics. Pain in the arse really!

I wouldn't say Leaving Cert physics would be necessary to get to grips with it though, resp. physiology was understandable enough without it for me anyway!