[pink81]

Hi,

Can any pharmacy student at Medway School of Pharmacy advise me on the time table in the first year. Are there many 9-5, Labs, Presentations and group work.

Thanks

[Trinity.Marsh]

hi i have just finished my first year, your timetable will not be the same every week although lectures usually stay in the same place every week but workshops and labs will move around. you have 2 hours of lectures per module each week. i had Monday 9-1 and Tuesday 9-1 these are done with the whole year. you are split in to smaller groups for labs workshops and seminars. for the first term you one had one hr on wednesday 1-2 this was for maths if you passed the math test at the end of term one then this was dropped so would be free. Thursday and Friday where usually given to labs and work shops some could be half days or 9-5. the time table is pretty full on and you will have a 9-5 most weeks if not two. but the timetable does change each week some times is only sightly others quite a bit. i really enjoyed it even though it was really hard

hope that helped

[FinallyAValidName]

(Original post by Trinity.Marsh)
hi i have just finished my first year, your timetable will not be the same every week although lectures usually stay in the same place every week but workshops and labs will move around. you have 2 hours of lectures per module each week. i had Monday 9-1 and Tuesday 9-1 these are done with the whole year. you are split in to smaller groups for labs workshops and seminars. for the first term you one had one hr on wednesday 1-2 this was for maths if you passed the math test at the end of term one then this was dropped so would be free. Thursday and Friday where usually given to labs and work shops some could be half days or 9-5. the time table is pretty full on and you will have a 9-5 most weeks if not two. but the timetable does change each week some times is only sightly others quite a bit. i really enjoyed it even though it was really hard

hope that helped

Hi Trinity im going Medway aswell i was wondering if you could tell me about the actuall uni experience there, the nightlife the people etc overall enjoymrnt, any tips for a newbie, anything you would have done differently first time around? And finally is it difficult to get a first?
Sorry for all the questions but any info would be much appreciated

[football12345]

(Original post by FinallyAValidName)
Hi Trinity im going Medway aswell i was wondering if you could tell me about the actuall uni experience there, the nightlife the people etc overall enjoymrnt, any tips for a newbie, anything you would have done differently first time around? And finally is it difficult to get a first?
Sorry for all the questions but any info would be much appreciated

uni experience: get to know as many as people as u can at freshers, especially first saturday, so the 15th, atleast half the people u meet will be doing pharmacy. aslong as you know people and not keeping urself to urself, u'll enjoy it.
nightlife: tap n tin every monday, not a normal nightclub, but you will enjoy it more than other places. taxi is like 8 pound, and if u share that with other people
first: dont let the work get ontop of u. make sure u write notes on your lectures each week, and make sure u get decent grades in december exam.

[FinallyAValidName]

(Original post by football12345)
uni experience: get to know as many as people as u can at freshers, especially first saturday, so the 15th, atleast half the people u meet will be doing pharmacy. aslong as you know people and not keeping urself to urself, u'll enjoy it.
nightlife: tap n tin every monday, not a normal nightclub, but you will enjoy it more than other places. taxi is like 8 pound, and if u share that with other people
first: dont let the work get ontop of u. make sure u write notes on your lectures each week, and make sure u get decent grades in december exam.

Awesome thanks for the info bro what do you think of this
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/show....php?t=2090179

[FinallyAValidName]

(Original post by pink81)
Hi,

Can any pharmacy student at Medway School of Pharmacy advise me on the time table in the first year. Are there many 9-5, Labs, Presentations and group work.

Thanks

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/show....php?t=2090179

[Angrystrudel]

(Original post by football12345)
uni experience: get to know as many as people as u can at freshers, especially first saturday, so the 15th, atleast half the people u meet will be doing pharmacy. aslong as you know people and not keeping urself to urself, u'll enjoy it.
nightlife: tap n tin every monday, not a normal nightclub, but you will enjoy it more than other places. taxi is like 8 pound, and if u share that with other people
first: dont let the work get ontop of u. make sure u write notes on your lectures each week, and make sure u get decent grades in december exam.

Don't both with Tap n Tin... rammed. You can barely move and it takes like 30 mins to get to the bar (or just send the girls?). Buttt it's £1 drinks... so we go like once a month or so. Thursday nights at Casino Rooms is better but they are meant to be closing the downstairs bit and turning it into a strip bar (???) so that'll probably turn bad soon.

Anyway, don't bother making notes if you don't want to. Some lecturers just read straight off them. Exceptions? Dr Gibb (is that his name? Sorry... shows how much I listen haha), who does immunology, gives a lot of info which isn't on the lecture notes and Dr Lall leaves gaps in his notes so you need to either a) listen and fill in the gaps or b) wake up every few minutes and copy your friends.

In answer to the OPs questions... first year timetables vary between groups (A-D). You are with everyone for lectures (all 140-150 students) in the Pilkington Open Space (big room which resembles your school's gym during GCSE exam week) and Lecture theatre. But, for your workshops and labs (either in teaching rooms, like a school classroom, or in the labs themselves), you will be with your group (stuck with them all year haha!).
Typical timetable:

Monday: 9-11am: Patient Disease and Drug Action 1 lecture 11-1pm: Medicines Design and Manufacture 1 lecture 1pm-2pm Lunch 2-5pm Patient Disease and Drug Action 2 Workshop
Tuesday: 9-11am: Patient Disease and Drug Action 2 lecture 11-1pm: Pharmacy Practice 1 lecture 1pm-2pm Lunch 2-5pm Medicines Design and Manufacture Lab
Wednesday: 9-12pm Pharmacy Practice Dispensing Lab 12pm-1pm I believe they have Maths practice for an hour these days? 1pm-onwards Afternoon off for sports and activities (universal for all students on campus)
Thursday: 9-11am: Patient Disease and Drug Action 2 lecture 11-1pm: Patient Disease and Drug Action 1 lecture 1pm-2pm Lunch 2-5pm Afternoon off perhaps?
Friday: 9-2pm Morning Off perhaps? 2-4pm Medicines Design and Manufacture 1 lecture

My advice would be to get as many points in the bag before your final exams (coursework, interim assessments!). You'll get a lab report to write up (just one out of all the labs you do that year) for PDDA 1, PDDA 2 and MDM 1 (total of 3 write-ups for the year across all subjects worth 20% of your final grade for each module). Oh, and you'll get a written dispensing exam and maths exam in PP1. Plus, you'll have two interim assessments (Dec/April) worth 10% each for each module.

So, 20% coursework, 20% interim assessments and 60% final exam. Roughly speaking, get 75% ish for your coursework and interim assessments and you've already got 30% of your final mark before your exam. Hence, you only need 66% in this example to still get a first. Don't leave yourself too much to do basically come end of year.

Er... all in all... not the most reputable university but certainly one of the best in my opinion. You'll be surprised how much more you will know compared to pre-reg students who have been to other unis (even year 2/year 3!). Teaching standard is good - it's swings and roundabouts obviously but the majority are very helpful. Biggest tip from me would be to not see 40% as a target... aim to know as much as possible and then, if the worst happens, you still get a 2.1.

First week? Liberty Quays is really great. Enjoy it. Eat loads of dominos (you'll probably see me there haha) and live out of Tesco Express. They're opening a coffee shop too so you can take girls for a sophisticated latte rather than just going to Subway and saying, "fancy a 6" sub?". (Don't take that the wrong way ). Hang around in the kitchen and cook food with ur housemates, watch films together, go to the freshers barbecues etc (again, I'll be there pretending to be a fresher probably so I can get free food). Coopers is good because everyone knows everyone (student pub thing) and they actually have some good nights during freshers week (then turns pretty dire for the rest of the year i'm afraid).

I've just spent like an hour of my sunday afternoon typing this so I'm going to stop now but yeah, you'll like Medway. The area the university is in is frankly awful (Gillingham/Chatham!) but the campus itself is very nice and the facilities are good too (especially the massive library). Last bit of advice? Nandoes is in Chatham Maritime (10 minute walk from the front of uni by the way).

[PriyaBhatti]

(Original post by Angrystrudel)
Don't both with Tap n Tin... rammed. You can barely move and it takes like 30 mins to get to the bar (or just send the girls?). Buttt it's £1 drinks... so we go like once a month or so. Thursday nights at Casino Rooms is better but they are meant to be closing the downstairs bit and turning it into a strip bar (???) so that'll probably turn bad soon.

Anyway, don't bother making notes if you don't want to. Some lecturers just read straight off them. Exceptions? Dr Gibb (is that his name? Sorry... shows how much I listen haha), who does immunology, gives a lot of info which isn't on the lecture notes and Dr Lall leaves gaps in his notes so you need to either a) listen and fill in the gaps or b) wake up every few minutes and copy your friends.

In answer to the OPs questions... first year timetables vary between groups (A-D). You are with everyone for lectures (all 140-150 students) in the Pilkington Open Space (big room which resembles your school's gym during GCSE exam week) and Lecture theatre. But, for your workshops and labs (either in teaching rooms, like a school classroom, or in the labs themselves), you will be with your group (stuck with them all year haha!).
Typical timetable:

Monday: 9-11am: Patient Disease and Drug Action 1 lecture 11-1pm: Medicines Design and Manufacture 1 lecture 1pm-2pm Lunch 2-5pm Patient Disease and Drug Action 2 Workshop
Tuesday: 9-11am: Patient Disease and Drug Action 2 lecture 11-1pm: Pharmacy Practice 1 lecture 1pm-2pm Lunch 2-5pm Medicines Design and Manufacture Lab
Wednesday: 9-12pm Pharmacy Practice Dispensing Lab 12pm-1pm I believe they have Maths practice for an hour these days? 1pm-onwards Afternoon off for sports and activities (universal for all students on campus)
Thursday: 9-11am: Patient Disease and Drug Action 2 lecture 11-1pm: Patient Disease and Drug Action 1 lecture 1pm-2pm Lunch 2-5pm Afternoon off perhaps?
Friday: 9-2pm Morning Off perhaps? 2-4pm Medicines Design and Manufacture 1 lecture

My advice would be to get as many points in the bag before your final exams (coursework, interim assessments!). You'll get a lab report to write up (just one out of all the labs you do that year) for PDDA 1, PDDA 2 and MDM 1 (total of 3 write-ups for the year across all subjects worth 20% of your final grade for each module). Oh, and you'll get a written dispensing exam and maths exam in PP1. Plus, you'll have two interim assessments (Dec/April) worth 10% each for each module.

So, 20% coursework, 20% interim assessments and 60% final exam. Roughly speaking, get 75% ish for your coursework and interim assessments and you've already got 30% of your final mark before your exam. Hence, you only need 66% in this example to still get a first. Don't leave yourself too much to do basically come end of year.

Er... all in all... not the most reputable university but certainly one of the best in my opinion. You'll be surprised how much more you will know compared to pre-reg students who have been to other unis (even year 2/year 3!). Teaching standard is good - it's swings and roundabouts obviously but the majority are very helpful. Biggest tip from me would be to not see 40% as a target... aim to know as much as possible and then, if the worst happens, you still get a 2.1.

First week? Liberty Quays is really great. Enjoy it. Eat loads of dominos (you'll probably see me there haha) and live out of Tesco Express. They're opening a coffee shop too so you can take girls for a sophisticated latte rather than just going to Subway and saying, "fancy a 6" sub?". (Don't take that the wrong way ). Hang around in the kitchen and cook food with ur housemates, watch films together, go to the freshers barbecues etc (again, I'll be there pretending to be a fresher probably so I can get free food). Coopers is good because everyone knows everyone (student pub thing) and they actually have some good nights during freshers week (then turns pretty dire for the rest of the year i'm afraid).

I've just spent like an hour of my sunday afternoon typing this so I'm going to stop now but yeah, you'll like Medway. The area the university is in is frankly awful (Gillingham/Chatham!) but the campus itself is very nice and the facilities are good too (especially the massive library). Last bit of advice? Nandoes is in Chatham Maritime (10 minute walk from the front of uni by the way).

Wow so helpful!! thank you ever so much!!


Are there many societies to join...i know a lot of effort has been put on the night life but what about other societies where you can pick up new hobbies
And what books would you reccomend for the first yr

Thank you !

[Angrystrudel]

(Original post by PriyaBhatti)
Wow so helpful!! thank you ever so much!!


Are there many societies to join...i know a lot of effort has been put on the night life but what about other societies where you can pick up new hobbies
And what books would you reccomend for the first yr

Thank you !

I just re-read what I wrote and I can barely make any sense out of it so I doubt it'll be much help to you guys haha

Anywayyy... societies! In a word.. dunno. Haven't joined any. I know there's sports societies (football is like 20 mins away so I didn't bother joining) but, in terms of learning a new language or whatever, I haven't got a clue. I'm useless There's a societies fair in freshers week though! They ram out the Open Space with stalls and stuff so you'll see everything they have to offer that day. Oh and you get an empty dominos box which you can fill up for free at Dominos if you attend lol (typical I'd remember that!).

Ummm books. You'll use Rang and Dale's Pharmacology (7th edition I think is the most recent) a LOT throughout ur degree. They have loads of copies in the library if you don't fancy forking out £50 for one. Oh, and your BNF (British National Formulary) which you get free at your first dispensary class will be your bible. If you're like me, it will be destroyed after a month because I'm always reading it. MEP (Medicines Ethics and Practice but you'll know these names if you've done work experience already) is very helpful indeed for all the law and rules/regs you need to know. You can download it for free if you join the RPSGB as a student (also free to join and you get a cool but completely pointless card which you can put in your wallet and allow to collect dust) and Mr Lea says it's PP1, PP2 and PP3 all rolled into one book so I would definitely get hold of it.

There's other books too so just go to the library to use them/rent them out. Don't waste your money buying copies unless you genuinely want to start up a collection.

[PriyaBhatti]

(Original post by Angrystrudel)
I just re-read what I wrote and I can barely make any sense out of it so I doubt it'll be much help to you guys haha

Anywayyy... societies! In a word.. dunno. Haven't joined any. I know there's sports societies (football is like 20 mins away so I didn't bother joining) but, in terms of learning a new language or whatever, I haven't got a clue. I'm useless There's a societies fair in freshers week though! They ram out the Open Space with stalls and stuff so you'll see everything they have to offer that day. Oh and you get an empty dominos box which you can fill up for free at Dominos if you attend lol (typical I'd remember that!).

Ummm books. You'll use Rang and Dale's Pharmacology (7th edition I think is the most recent) a LOT throughout ur degree. They have loads of copies in the library if you don't fancy forking out £50 for one. Oh, and your BNF (British National Formulary) which you get free at your first dispensary class will be your bible. If you're like me, it will be destroyed after a month because I'm always reading it. MEP (Medicines Ethics and Practice but you'll know these names if you've done work experience already) is very helpful indeed for all the law and rules/regs you need to know. You can download it for free if you join the RPSGB as a student (also free to join and you get a cool but completely pointless card which you can put in your wallet and allow to collect dust) and Mr Lea says it's PP1, PP2 and PP3 all rolled into one book so I would definitely get hold of it.

There's other books too so just go to the library to use them/rent them out. Don't waste your money buying copies unless you genuinely want to start up a collection.

Haha you are most helpful!! nervous about starting soon.. would you say you enjoy it?

[Angrystrudel]

Yessss. Definitely. It's not a great area and you can't escape that but the university is still good and you will enjoy the course.

[FinallyAValidName]

(Original post by Angrystrudel)
Yessss. Definitely. It's not a great area and you can't escape that but the university is still good and you will enjoy the course.

To the awesome Angrystrudel i have 7 questions which if you would not mind i would be extremely grateful if you answered:

1) Roughly what is the percentage of students that get a first?
2) I heard people are like always having sex in their rooms the en suite ones, true?
3) Is the course interesting or do you not like the lectures and stuff?
4) If you could go back to the first year anything you would do differently?
5) Do you recommend anything in particular to bring when moving in?
6) How did you afford the mad high rent at Liberty Quays
7) Is the first year the best?

Sorry for all the questions its just i wanna squeeze all that wisdom out of you to use for my self. Thanks for all the feedback really appreciate it!

[Angrystrudel]

1. Lol, I actually worked this out on results day out of boredom (yeah, I need to sort my life out...). 12% of graduates left Medway with 1st Class degrees. That's roughly 15-20 students in your year... not a lot

2. Always?! My room must have been an exception then!

3. Yesss. Most of the time, anyway. Although, I'm not a massive fan of the chemistry to be honest (who is?). Year two pharmacokinetics and organic chemistry in year 1 is pretty painstaking. But, the majority of the course is diseases and yeah, it's pretty interesting. Neurology is my favourite topic; depression, pain, bipolar, anxiety, addiction, alzheimer's, Schizophrenia etc.
I should pay a lot more attention than I do during lectures (I will this year I pwomise ). But, like I said before, it depends on the lecturer. If they are just reading off the slides monotonously (is that a word?), then you naturally pay less attention (and more attention to sikipedia). Any hour I spend not concentrating in lectures, I more than make up for in hours spent reading books in the library the night before the exam, honest!

4. Ugh, how many more questions?? 3?? Grr.. Um, first year! If I could go back then I would concentrate more on lectures probably. But, I probably would end up doing the same thing all over again.
Pass first year and make sure you pass it comfortably. Then, make sure you settle into uni - have loadsss of kitchen parties at Liberty Quays, FIFA and COD zombies till the early hours and make sure you discover the link between Champions League tuesdays and Two for Tuesdays at Dominos...
Oh, and make sure you get a good house for year two (by good house, I don't mean an open plan, contemporary living space... I mean make sure you're living with friends - choose carefully haha make sure they're reasonably clean and not stingy).

5. Television and Xbox. Don't worry too much about having a comprehensive kitchen set as your flatmates will all have different bits (unless they all read this post lol and you're left with a wooden spoon and a kettle between you... in which case... ever heard of noodles?). You just need a cool bed set, comfy duvet and pillows (don't let your mum fob you off with a cheap tesco set like mine did - the pillows are thinner than paper). Laptop is pretty much essential these days... and that's it really. Oh, Sky Go if you have Sky at home. GET IT SET UP! You just need your Sky Box number and it's pretty easy (I yoinked it when I went home for Christmas and it's really simple to set up online).

6. Well... everyone is in the same boat I suppose. Just be sensible and don't spend money like water or you'll be in hot water very quickly (see what I did there?!). It was £110 or something when I went and it's now £127?? Jesus... oh well, you get a bigger loan than I do (my sister started a year later than I did and she gets £500 more! How does that work??). Don't worry about money too much... just eat VERY cheaply. Soups, pasta, toast, cereal etc are all really cheap and it frees up money for going out - which will be your biggest expense by a long way. Going out in Chatham might be £15-20 but Rochester will end up being £20-30. If the money still doesn't stretch and you're being careful? Thank god for overdrafts The worst overdraft I've seen is my friend's at £1700... you'll earn it back when you're older, though!

7. Every year is good. I thought year two was more fun as the things you're learning are more interesting as you get through loads of diseases. Also, having your own house is great. But... Liberty Quays and being in your rooms and meeting up in the kitchen... constantly opening the flat door for friends and stuff haha it was just as good. I CANT CHOOOOOOOOOOSE you can't make me.

Last bit of wisdom... Tesco shuts at 11pm but they stop serving alcohol at 10pm (9pm on Sundays and they shut at 10pm). Dunno if that helps? Tripped me up in first year!