Year 1 Semester 2 Modules

This post is to recap my semester 2 modules. I really enjoyed my second semester, and I am so glad that I've now completed my first year! Although not what I expected my first year of university to be like, I did find it enjoyable, overall. I didn't have as much lab time as I'd hoped, and I haven't really met any coursemates, but it's not been too bad. I am looking forward to next semester!

For now though, I'll give you some information on my first semester's modules, but in particularly my second semester.

4104 - Introduction to Biomedical Science 🔬

I really enjoyed this module, I think because of the variation in content and assessments. This unit focused on the work of biomedical scientists, such as the diseases they can help diagnose, how they do this, and the procedures in different NHS laboratories. I found this extremely interesting, because this is what I want to do in the future - work in an NHS lab - so I was glad that we were able to cover this.

Content

Some content I learnt included:

• COPD
• Alzheimer's Disease
• Cardiovascular Disease
• Diabetes
• Epidemiology & Surveillance - I really enjoyed this!
• Food & Nutrition
• Influenza
• Tuberculosis
• Cancer

And those are only the topics I could remember off the top of my head! The content is a lot, but for me, it didn't seem difficult or too much, because I really have an interest in this side of biomedical science. 

Workshops

We had 4 workshops in total, and these were all to do with the different laboratories within the NHS. This was probably my favourite part of the module, because it gave me insight into what I'll hopefully be doing in the future! I was able to see the different diagnostic methods, the procedures, and how to differentiate different samples and tissues.

The laboratories we worked on were:

1. Haematology - my favourite of them all!
2. Clinical Chemistry
3. Microbiology
4. Histopathology

It was really fun - if you want, I can send over an example of my work book, or you can visit my Instagram page - I'm sure I have a photo somewhere in my highlights! DM me on Instagram (@astudentofbms) or contact me on email if you want to see the booklets.

Assessments 📝

In terms of assessment, I only had two: an essay, and an exam on the workshops we had.

Exam - 40%

My exam was worth 40% of the module, and was based on a disease set by my personal tutor. The disease I had to research was 'Study of Disease: Cerebrovascular Disease and Ischemic Stroke'.

In this essay, I had to write an introduction on the disease, how it's caused, it's clinical presentations and symptoms, how to diagnose it, and treatment options. I do really enjoy writing essays and doing research, but it was so hard to find information on this topic! I do enjoy a challenge though, and I ended up doing well on the essay. 

Workshop Exam - 60%

The workshop exam was worth 60% of my module, so I knew I had to put a bit more effort into it than the essay. For this assessment, we were given 24 hours to complete an online, document consisting of 6 questions on the procedures we'd learnt in the workshops. This has probably been my favourite assignment yet! (Am I supposed to like assignments?! 😁) 

The questions were based on stuff we'd done in the workshops, so for example, there were questions such as; 

• 'Is this blood result normal? Compare it with the reference ranges provided'.
• 'These are the symptoms. What is the likely cause of disease?'
• 'How should request forms be written?'
• 'What other tests can be done?'
• 'Why is this treatment not working for the patient?'

I really liked the exam, because you also kind of felt like a doctor, as you had to interpret results and think of treatments, and causes of the disease. It was so interesting! It actually makes you realise how much information you have stored in your brain. I'd come across a question and not have a clue how to answer it, and then my brain would just go; 'Well, if this is that, and that is this, then it should be that'. I'd just be like - 'where did that information come from??'.

4105 - Anatomy, Physiology and Genetics 🧠🦴

Not my favourite module, I'll admit. Well, actually, if there wasn't any genetics (or just not as much as we had!) then it would have been up there with my favourite modules. I love learning about anatomy, so that part was exciting, and I felt engaged with that part. The exams weren't too bad either!

Content

As far as content goes, it was actually really interesting - except for genetics! I just cannot get my head around genetics and there's just so much content to learn. We would have 3 hour lectures on genetics every week - too much for me!! There were some aspects of it that were interesting, such as population genetics, but the rest I don't even remember, because I was just not interested - sorry!

With anatomy and physiology though, I really enjoyed this. I absolutely love learning about the human body and the different systems and organs - this is my favourite part of the 'medical' side of my degree!

Some of the systems we studied include:

• Cardiovascular System
• Renal System
• Musculoskeletal System
• Digestive System
• Respiratory System

Assessments 📝

Practical Coursework - 50%

Probably my least favourite assessment of the year. This was a piece of coursework - ALL on genetics! Although I was dreading it and I didn't understand most of it, I actually did pretty good (94%!!) I was surprised at this, but glad. Although, I did have access to all my notes and everything, so really I should have had 100%. But, because I'm so disinterested in the subject, 94% is more than enough for me!

MCQ Exam - 50%

This exam was OK. Not the best, but I felt that I knew most of it. Again though, it was online and open book, so I had access to all my study notes. The exam itself wasn't bad, because it was a 50 question MCQ. This narrowed down the answers for me and so I wasn't that nervous about it. This had a lot of genetics in it, but the questions weren't too challenging.

4106 - Microbiology 🧫

This module wasn't a bad module, it just wasn't one of my favourites. I think if we would have been able to go to the labs and do the experiments we were supposed to do, I would have enjoyed it a lot more. Of course, due to COVID, we weren't able to do this, so the experiments we would have done in the lab were all online. This could have been good, but they were just videos of people reading the lab books we'd been given. No videos of the practicals being done, just a blank screen and someone reading out - word for word - exactly what I had in front of me. Not the most engaging experience! Overall though, this module was OK. The content was pretty interesting.

Content

So, as I've touched on in the paragraph above, we had lectures on actual content, and then lectures on the practicals.

Lectures and topics we covered included:

• Medical Microbiology
• Environmental Microbiology
• Intro to Virology
• Intro to Bacteria
• Microbial Growth - I hated this!
• Kinetics - I hated this even more!!

Then, some of the practicals we were meant to have, were:

• Spread Plates
• Streak Plates
• Miles Misra
• Dilutions
• Soil Populations

These sounded really interested and I was gutted that I wasn't able to do them. Hopefully next year!

Assessments 📝

Practical Assessment - 50%

This was a 20 multiple-choice question exam (not too bad) on the techniques we were meant to do in the lab. It was a nice assessment, and we had our textbooks for this one as well, so it wasn't too challenging. The questions just included how to do the techniques, and how to do some calculations.

MCQ Exam - 50%

This exam was slightly longer than the Anatomy one, with 70 MCQs needed to be answered. Like all the others though, this was open book. Due to that fact, I didn't find the exam too challenging. If I didn't have access to my study notes though, I think I might have struggled. I definitely put more effort into studying Anatomy, Physiology & Genetics, just because I enjoy that content more, so it's made me realise that I need to use my study time wiser next time.

My Favourite Module?

Introduction to Biomedical Science.

Just because I loved the content so much - especially the workshops! The assessments were nice as well, like I said, I like writing essays. 😊

My Least Favourite Module?

Anatomy, Physiology & Genetics.

I'm sorry, but in my opinion, genetics let the module down. Of course, I know how important genetics is and it's a fundamental part of biology, but it's just not for me. The lectures were a bit boring and the content just didn't make sense to me. I'm glad it's over and done with. Without the genetics, who knows? Maybe it could have been my favourite module of this semester. There was just too much genetics for me though; way too much. 🙈

Number of Practical Sessions?

0 - but this is at no fault of the university. COVID and government guidelines made this impossible, so I had no lab sessions for this semester. This was really disappointing, especially as microbiology is full of practicals, and the techniques we should have learnt are fundamental in the development of our course. However, hopefully there will be practical sessions next semester, and I can start to learn more about the lab aspect of my course. 🧫

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- Lucy 👩‍🔬🧪📚