do i need chem for med (1 Viewer)

idk123233

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Do I need chemistry for medicine in new south wales, i really don't wanna do chemistry. I know little to nothing about chemistry. I've tried researching perquisites for universities to get into med but couldn't find much info (probably cuz i suck at researching). so can i get into medicine without doing chem in y11 and y12?
 

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You might as well do it given you'll have to learn it during med to learn the concepts anyways
 

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Do I need chemistry for medicine in new south wales, i really don't wanna do chemistry. I know little to nothing about chemistry. I've tried researching perquisites for universities to get into med but couldn't find much info (probably cuz i suck at researching). so can i get into medicine without doing chem in y11 and y12?
why do you not want to do chemistry if you want to do med?
 

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why do you not want to do chemistry if you want to do med?
good point. Chemistry is undoubtedly a huge factor in the medical field, is it like just the other components in the course the stuff you dont like orr..?
 

idk123233

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why do you not want to do chemistry if you want to do med?
i'm not good at it nor do i have enjoy it.Ihave picked biology as i enjoy it and tend get good marks in it, however with chem i don't.
 

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Not really, Biology and anatomy are the main components of med. But many med students never do bio or anatomy. The stuff in med can be learnt through the course as it's designed to.

On top of that UNSW and USYD have this thing where they don't show your employee your marks. So all you have to do is pass the courses not get maximum grades. They do this to create a positive learning environment because the practical component is just as important as theory
Thank you for your reply, the subjects i have picked are: adv math, adv english, biology, business studies, pdhpe and legal studies
 

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Not really, Biology and anatomy are the main components of med. But many med students never do bio or anatomy. The stuff in med can be learnt through the course as it's designed to.

On top of that UNSW and USYD have this thing where they don't show your employee your marks. So all you have to do is pass the courses not get maximum grades. They do this to create a positive learning environment because the practical component is just as important as theory
But Biology/anatomy is more something you would memorise- which can easily be apprehended. Chemistry needs foundations that you need to apply frequently, especially in the context of medicine. It's not just anatomy- take, for example, pharmacology. In other words - all doctors prescribe pharmacological therapy (drugs). In order to understand the impact of drugs on the body, as well as how they treat the disease, you first will need to have a steady grasp of a very comprehensive knowledge of chemistry, this means you're going to be exploring interactions on drugs in the body- on its own a very complex system and also comes with its own range of chemical reactions and processes. Processes that even the slightest alteration using medicinal intervention can lead to someone dead in the hands of their doctors. With this in mind, it should be strongly considered by the student to do chemistry.

If you're genuinely passionate about medicine, you'll do the courses necessary despite the difficulty and hard work you'll need to put in.
It's not always about school. In a matter of 6 yrs you're out of high school, and when uni arrives, eventually you'll be behind other students and ultimately, you're gonna regret not doing chemistry in the first place.

Also, if someone is just merely 'passing' exams and the person is gonna take advantage of the UNSW and USYD thing where they dont show marks, is that really placing yourself in a good position? Literally, doing lazy shit over a course that defines your future career? I understand that people need to rest and relax, but doing this constantly duly because you didn't want to do a subject that would allow you to be much more prepared for that course is honestly pathetic.

Please note, No hate or anything. Just giving my 2 cents on this.
 

nathanzhou1234

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Do I need chemistry for medicine in new south wales, i really don't wanna do chemistry. I know little to nothing about chemistry. I've tried researching perquisites for universities to get into med but couldn't find much info (probably cuz i suck at researching). so can i get into medicine without doing chem in y11 and y12?
Generally no, but it helps a lot. The only prereqs are at least advanced maths for usyd I believe
 

idk123233

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Generally no, but it helps a lot. The only prereqs are at least advanced maths for usyd I believe
thank you for ur reply, the subjects ive picked r: adv math, adv eng, bio, legal, pdhpe and business studies
are these subjects good?
 

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thank you for ur reply, the subjects ive picked r: adv math, adv eng, bio, legal, pdhpe and business studies
are these subjects good?
Bio is OK, but if you do legal, PDHPE, or Business you pretty much have to state rank to get a substantial ATAR because the scaling is really bad. Eng Adv is good but for Maths I'd recommend at least X1. Ultimately tho, pick the subjects that you like
 

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Many people get 99.95 ATAR without math or just math standard. As long you do can do well in the subject
u sure about the math standard? has anyone checked if anyone who does math standard gets .95 on the uac sheet
 

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Bio is OK, but if you do legal, PDHPE, or Business you pretty much have to state rank to get a substantial ATAR because the scaling is really bad. Eng Adv is good but for Maths I'd recommend at least X1. Ultimately tho, pick the subjects that you like
This dude summed it up so damn perfectly.
 

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I use to think the same when I was a high school student. But now Iโ€™m in uni and Iโ€™m best mates with med students, so I know all about the course.

So as a science major, we need to make a big distinction between HSC exam science and university science. University doesnโ€™t require you to solve extremely complex exam questions as thatโ€™s arbitrary and irrelevant to your career which requires much more practically and application of theory, rather than trying to solve difficult exam questions. The whole reason why the HSC has these is to select a few number of students to get into a course. Where as uni focuses on learning and application in the work force.

As someone who did both HSC bio chem and investigating science. Iโ€™m telling you it barely helps at all. The uni content is so broad that the things you learn in school only cover a small surface of content. Because thereโ€™s no need to solve difficult exam questions, you can learn the content very fast as you only focuses on learning the content rather than applying it in exam scenarios.

I know many PhD graduates who canโ€™t solve HSC exam questions, because they simply donโ€™t need to for their career. And again the passing exam initiative was made so donโ€™t feel like they should only focus on the exam. But rather actual learn and apply themselves in practical fields of medicine. So they can become good doctors.
I get what you're tryna say, but hear me out though;
Consider oxidative stress, a complication mechanism for Diabetes Mellitus.
Hyperglycemia promotes the formation of reactive oxygen species such as superoxide. ROS can react with DNA and proteins, thereby causing cellular damage.
- Medical students are assumed to know what disparate environmental agents such as acrolein, carbon monoxide, paraquat, Cd2+, and Zn2+ are and their distinctive qualities, know how oxidation works, etc. This is not knowledge taught at a yr 10 level, which will therefore hinder the student's ability as he/she will not have reviewed much of that content as opposed to the more prepared chemistry students. Also, we should also consider that different courses have different content and different emphasis on preemptive school content knowledge.

Additionally, it's not just for the basis of being able to understand the theory, students will in one point in their career need to use chemistry in emergency cases. For example, take that a particular medicine required for a patient was not available (say that it was too urgent to retrieve or medicine was accidentally expired and was not reordered due to system error in their system), the doctor will have to use his pharmacology skills and chemistry skills to formulate an alternative. In cases such as these, doctors who readily have done chemistry in their schooling years (or reviewed the content during university to a high standard; ie at the point where the student will not hail mary all tests in order to 'pass') will have a much higher chance of saving the patient rather than one who did legal studies or English E2 with the thought that that's somehow going to help them during their future careers lmfao. 'Oh why yes sir I have a B6 in Legal studies, so i can administer you with a death certificate of the person who died in the hands of my responsibility as that's the only thing I've gained from doing the subject' (all jokes guys don't take it srs).
 

MissKrabappel

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Do I need chemistry for medicine in new south wales, i really don't wanna do chemistry. I know little to nothing about chemistry. I've tried researching perquisites for universities to get into med but couldn't find much info (probably cuz i suck at researching). so can i get into medicine without doing chem in y11 and y12?
An individualโ€™s knowledge of chemistry is significantly beneficial as theyโ€™re able to predict the effects/interactions of a prescribed pharmaceutical drug on a patients health. Chemistry also assists medical based professionals as it is able to be used to detect and make an effect diagnosis. You should select your subjects that correspond with your personal interests and strengths, doing this will have a significantly better outcome in terms of academic results. Some medicine schools donโ€™t require chemistry as a prerequisite, I had a friend who did humanities and is studying medicine. The choice is yours but I do suggest you scope around the options and just have a look to see your interests.

hope This helps
 

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An individualโ€™s knowledge of chemistry is significantly beneficial as theyโ€™re able to predict the effects/interactions of a prescribed pharmaceutical drug on a patients health. Chemistry also assists medical based professionals as it is able to be used to detect and make an effect diagnosis. You should select your subjects that correspond with your personal interests and strengths, doing this will have a significantly better outcome in terms of academic results. Some medicine schools donโ€™t require chemistry as a prerequisite, I had a friend who did humanities and is studying medicine. The choice is yours but I do suggest you scope around the options and just have a look to see your interests.

hope This helps
Thank you.
 

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if you dont like chem and people seem to think you need chem for med then perhaps you shouldn't do med? there's plenty of other careers to aim for (plus OP is only going into yr11, you got ages to work out what you'll do later)
 

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My take as a med student now, is that chem is a prereq for a lot of interstate unis so if u want to increase your chance as much as possible then it will be essential to take chemistry into your HSC. But if u are only looking at NSW unis, then yea take literally anything you like and you think you can get a very high atar with. Keep in mind tho out of the 4 med schools in NSW only 2 will take atar into account namely UNSW and USYD, whereas WSU and JMP only use ATAR as a threshold (meaning if u get over a certain ATAR it will no longer be considered) so your interview and ucat becomes much more important for WSU and JMP. Nevertheless just aim for 99.95, 99th percentile, and a fantastic interview.
 

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