LJMU Firmed for Pharmacy!
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Original post by DanCar
I have too! 
I cant wait 
has anyone got accomadation yet??
I cant wait has anyone got accomadation yet??I applied for AP on Monday, waiting to hear back now. What about you?
Original post by amazon123456789
how is the workload in the first year? and how do u get assessed?
It's definitely the most intense course at JMU that I've seen so far, your workload is varied, it seems to peak quite a lot around November and again around March (just before end of semesters). There six modules in your first year, chemistry, biology, pharmaceutics, microbiology, pharmacy practice and key skills.
Most of the science-y topics (chem, bio, pharmaceutics and micro) are about 75% exam, 25% coursework, the coursework is normally just assessed labwork and lab reports, nothing difficult.
The Pharmacy practice module is where you learn to dispense, so there is a written exam worth about 50% and a practical exam worth about 50% where you get six Rx's and have to dispense them without making serious errors.
Key skills is a waste of your time, no exam and just based on getting a folder of work together
The interesting thing is that on most courses at LJMU you have to only get 40% overall to pass. In pharmacy you need to not only get 40% overall but both your coursework and exams must be more than 30%. (so lets say you get 100% in your Pharmacy Practice written exam, you would think "hah, I've already got half the marks this year, I've passed!" but sadly that isn't the case, you have to get more than 30% in your practical exam, too! Fail that and you fail the module!)
Original post by Chilledice
It's definitely the most intense course at JMU that I've seen so far, your workload is varied, it seems to peak quite a lot around November and again around March (just before end of semesters). There six modules in your first year, chemistry, biology, pharmaceutics, microbiology, pharmacy practice and key skills.
Most of the science-y topics (chem, bio, pharmaceutics and micro) are about 75% exam, 25% coursework, the coursework is normally just assessed labwork and lab reports, nothing difficult.
The Pharmacy practice module is where you learn to dispense, so there is a written exam worth about 50% and a practical exam worth about 50% where you get six Rx's and have to dispense them without making serious errors.
Key skills is a waste of your time, no exam and just based on getting a folder of work together
The interesting thing is that on most courses at LJMU you have to only get 40% overall to pass. In pharmacy you need to not only get 40% overall but both your coursework and exams must be more than 30%. (so lets say you get 100% in your Pharmacy Practice written exam, you would think "hah, I've already got half the marks this year, I've passed!" but sadly that isn't the case, you have to get more than 30% in your practical exam, too! Fail that and you fail the module!)
Most of the science-y topics (chem, bio, pharmaceutics and micro) are about 75% exam, 25% coursework, the coursework is normally just assessed labwork and lab reports, nothing difficult.
The Pharmacy practice module is where you learn to dispense, so there is a written exam worth about 50% and a practical exam worth about 50% where you get six Rx's and have to dispense them without making serious errors.
Key skills is a waste of your time, no exam and just based on getting a folder of work together
The interesting thing is that on most courses at LJMU you have to only get 40% overall to pass. In pharmacy you need to not only get 40% overall but both your coursework and exams must be more than 30%. (so lets say you get 100% in your Pharmacy Practice written exam, you would think "hah, I've already got half the marks this year, I've passed!" but sadly that isn't the case, you have to get more than 30% in your practical exam, too! Fail that and you fail the module!)
ah kool thanks for that. that seems really difficult. in the interview a 3rd year student hu was showin us around was sayin that pharmacy is so easy and that you dont have to do work and you pass the year and that it is really easy to pass. but obvs she was rong.
how do the exams b like? do they tell u wat to revise or is it just revise everything? and do they give u helpful hints on wats coming up wen its exam time? and is it like you do a module like chem and then do a test that counts towards your grade and then move on. or is it all at the end of the year? all your exams. or do u have some in january as well?
also are they any books that we have to buy. thaat are neccessary?
and also do thy gve u lots of handouts that you hve to bring wiv u to classes? or can u jus turn up wiv a notepad?
thnks
Original post by Chilledice
It's definitely the most intense course at JMU that I've seen so far, your workload is varied, it seems to peak quite a lot around November and again around March (just before end of semesters). There six modules in your first year, chemistry, biology, pharmaceutics, microbiology, pharmacy practice and key skills.
Most of the science-y topics (chem, bio, pharmaceutics and micro) are about 75% exam, 25% coursework, the coursework is normally just assessed labwork and lab reports, nothing difficult.
The Pharmacy practice module is where you learn to dispense, so there is a written exam worth about 50% and a practical exam worth about 50% where you get six Rx's and have to dispense them without making serious errors.
Key skills is a waste of your time, no exam and just based on getting a folder of work together
The interesting thing is that on most courses at LJMU you have to only get 40% overall to pass. In pharmacy you need to not only get 40% overall but both your coursework and exams must be more than 30%. (so lets say you get 100% in your Pharmacy Practice written exam, you would think "hah, I've already got half the marks this year, I've passed!" but sadly that isn't the case, you have to get more than 30% in your practical exam, too! Fail that and you fail the module!)
Most of the science-y topics (chem, bio, pharmaceutics and micro) are about 75% exam, 25% coursework, the coursework is normally just assessed labwork and lab reports, nothing difficult.
The Pharmacy practice module is where you learn to dispense, so there is a written exam worth about 50% and a practical exam worth about 50% where you get six Rx's and have to dispense them without making serious errors.
Key skills is a waste of your time, no exam and just based on getting a folder of work together
The interesting thing is that on most courses at LJMU you have to only get 40% overall to pass. In pharmacy you need to not only get 40% overall but both your coursework and exams must be more than 30%. (so lets say you get 100% in your Pharmacy Practice written exam, you would think "hah, I've already got half the marks this year, I've passed!" but sadly that isn't the case, you have to get more than 30% in your practical exam, too! Fail that and you fail the module!)
Woah nice advice
How hard would you say first yeqr actually is, content wise?
Books, which dya recommend? :P I've seen the list on the site but they're so expensive!
In terms of exams, will the lecturers actually tell you what is on the exam and you pretty much learn everything you need to pass? Or is It more of he "LEARN EVERYTHING" kind of thing?
Thanks again, really appreciate your inputs!
PS would you say first year is hard?
At other unis people have been saying its just a recap of Alevel 
Original post by amazon123456789
ah kool thanks for that. that seems really difficult. in the interview a 3rd year student hu was showin us around was sayin that pharmacy is so easy and that you dont have to do work and you pass the year and that it is really easy to pass. but obvs she was rong.
The content they teach you is fairly simple, there's just a fair amount of it!
how do the exams b like? do they tell u wat to revise or is it just revise everything? and do they give u helpful hints on wats coming up wen its exam time? and is it like you do a module like chem and then do a test that counts towards your grade and then move on. or is it all at the end of the year? all your exams. or do u have some in january as well?
There is a small exam for all modules at the end of semester one, it is worth a very small %age of your total coursework mark (apart from microbiology, which you only have in the second semester so can't have an exam in it) and your large exams in April/May, you'll have a workshop for each module where a lecturer will go over the details of anything you don't understand and *sometimes* give you pointers, some teachers will not say a word on what to revise, others will give massive glaring hints, it just depends. You are taught all modules all the way through the year (apart from as noted above) and finish teaching in March!
also are they any books that we have to buy. thaat are neccessary?
and also do thy gve u lots of handouts that you hve to bring wiv u to classes? or can u jus turn up wiv a notepad?
thnks
The content they teach you is fairly simple, there's just a fair amount of it!
how do the exams b like? do they tell u wat to revise or is it just revise everything? and do they give u helpful hints on wats coming up wen its exam time? and is it like you do a module like chem and then do a test that counts towards your grade and then move on. or is it all at the end of the year? all your exams. or do u have some in january as well?
There is a small exam for all modules at the end of semester one, it is worth a very small %age of your total coursework mark (apart from microbiology, which you only have in the second semester so can't have an exam in it) and your large exams in April/May, you'll have a workshop for each module where a lecturer will go over the details of anything you don't understand and *sometimes* give you pointers, some teachers will not say a word on what to revise, others will give massive glaring hints, it just depends. You are taught all modules all the way through the year (apart from as noted above) and finish teaching in March!
also are they any books that we have to buy. thaat are neccessary?
and also do thy gve u lots of handouts that you hve to bring wiv u to classes? or can u jus turn up wiv a notepad?
thnks
About books: See below
about notes; this is something that annoys me, all lecturers put their lecture slides on the university intranet at some point. However about 1/4 of lecturers only put partial notes on there. Their recommendation is to print of their powerpoint slides (about six slides a page does it) and then add notes as you go along. This is useless to me, I hate revising like that and so generally bring in my laptop to lectures, save the powerpoint they're using and edit it as they lecture! For the rest of the lectures, yeh, you can do with just a notepad as long as you remember who's lecture you're taking notes for
Original post by Doctor.
Woah nice advice
No point giving it if it's not useful
How hard would you say first yeqr actually is, content wise?
(I have A levels in human bio, chemistry and maths) the chemistry is fairly simple, they're just trying to get you to be at about 'grade A' A-level standard with some extra pharmacy-related stuff added on, the biology is very simple, the key skills could be done by a toddler. The only tricky bits are Pharmacy Practice and Pharmaceutics, this is stuff you will have never done before if you've just come from school, it's not hard it's just a fair amount of stuff. i.e how long can a prescription be held by someone before you're not allowed to dispense it, how to check for drug interactions, boring stuff like that. Overall? Not really hard, if you've got the grades to get in, you're not gonna fail this for lack of intellegence. OH! Almost forgot microbio (my revision hasn't got that far yet
) it's an easy introduction into the world of the yeast, fungi and bacteria, it's simple enough if slightly dry.
Books, which dya recommend? :P I've seen the list on the site but they're so expensive!
I foolishly bought everything on the booklist (almost) and regret it. So I'll give you a rundown of the ones I've bought, score out of ten for usefulness.
Rang and Dale's Pharmacology; OH GOD WHAT WAS I DOING, Basically a £30 doorstop. I hear rumours it's good in third year 1/10
Pharmaceutical Practice (Winfield, Rees & Smith): See above
Dale and Appelbe's Pharmacy Law and Ethics: Eh.. It's been used but only to check some stuff for PP but I know people who have passed PP without it, is more useful in later years 3/10
Medical Dictionary: I'm a human biology nerd and have wikipedia, I don't need this book. (note, this has saved friends lives in dispensing practicals, when lecturers have asked them what angina is and they didn't know, this helped them) 4/10
Aulton's Pharmaceutics: It's boring, massive and ugly, but surprisingly easy to read and actually very good at teaching topics that you need to know. It's also useful from day one to year four of pharmaceutics. 7/10
BNF: In real life; not so useful. In JMU-land; your bible, you will eat, sleep and breath BNF. You get sold these by the uni in your first couple of weeks for about £5, if you can pick one up for cheaper, do, if not, just buy one from the uni. You cannot pass even the first year withot this book. 10/10
Extra; I got my hands on a 5th edition "textbook of biochemistry with clinical correlations" (Devlin) and it is *amazing* at explaining biochemistry. It's the best textbook I own and the first one I go to in confusion, best part? The 6th edition was released recently so you can get this for less than £10, a strong recommendation from me here. 9/10
In terms of exams, will the lecturers actually tell you what is on the exam and you pretty much learn everything you need to pass? Or is It more of he "LEARN EVERYTHING" kind of thing?
Like I said earlier, you'll have workshops where your lecturers will give some advice. In biology I've had a lecturer say "just learn everything, sorry" whereas I've had another lecturer say to me "hey, do you know the life cycle of worms? Learn that" just depends on who your lecturer is
Thanks again, really appreciate your inputs!
PS would you say first year is hard? At other unis people have been saying its just a recap of Alevel
No point giving it if it's not useful
How hard would you say first yeqr actually is, content wise?
(I have A levels in human bio, chemistry and maths) the chemistry is fairly simple, they're just trying to get you to be at about 'grade A' A-level standard with some extra pharmacy-related stuff added on, the biology is very simple, the key skills could be done by a toddler. The only tricky bits are Pharmacy Practice and Pharmaceutics, this is stuff you will have never done before if you've just come from school, it's not hard it's just a fair amount of stuff. i.e how long can a prescription be held by someone before you're not allowed to dispense it, how to check for drug interactions, boring stuff like that. Overall? Not really hard, if you've got the grades to get in, you're not gonna fail this for lack of intellegence. OH! Almost forgot microbio (my revision hasn't got that far yet
) it's an easy introduction into the world of the yeast, fungi and bacteria, it's simple enough if slightly dry.Books, which dya recommend? :P I've seen the list on the site but they're so expensive!
I foolishly bought everything on the booklist (almost) and regret it. So I'll give you a rundown of the ones I've bought, score out of ten for usefulness.
Rang and Dale's Pharmacology; OH GOD WHAT WAS I DOING, Basically a £30 doorstop. I hear rumours it's good in third year 1/10
Pharmaceutical Practice (Winfield, Rees & Smith): See above
Dale and Appelbe's Pharmacy Law and Ethics: Eh.. It's been used but only to check some stuff for PP but I know people who have passed PP without it, is more useful in later years 3/10
Medical Dictionary: I'm a human biology nerd and have wikipedia, I don't need this book. (note, this has saved friends lives in dispensing practicals, when lecturers have asked them what angina is and they didn't know, this helped them) 4/10
Aulton's Pharmaceutics: It's boring, massive and ugly, but surprisingly easy to read and actually very good at teaching topics that you need to know. It's also useful from day one to year four of pharmaceutics. 7/10
BNF: In real life; not so useful. In JMU-land; your bible, you will eat, sleep and breath BNF. You get sold these by the uni in your first couple of weeks for about £5, if you can pick one up for cheaper, do, if not, just buy one from the uni. You cannot pass even the first year withot this book. 10/10
Extra; I got my hands on a 5th edition "textbook of biochemistry with clinical correlations" (Devlin) and it is *amazing* at explaining biochemistry. It's the best textbook I own and the first one I go to in confusion, best part? The 6th edition was released recently so you can get this for less than £10, a strong recommendation from me here. 9/10
In terms of exams, will the lecturers actually tell you what is on the exam and you pretty much learn everything you need to pass? Or is It more of he "LEARN EVERYTHING" kind of thing?
Like I said earlier, you'll have workshops where your lecturers will give some advice. In biology I've had a lecturer say "just learn everything, sorry" whereas I've had another lecturer say to me "hey, do you know the life cycle of worms? Learn that
" just depends on who your lecturer isThanks again, really appreciate your inputs!
PS would you say first year is hard?
At other unis people have been saying its just a recap of Alevel Yeh, all the uni's have (almost) the same course thanks to the GPhC, so JMU is gonna be the same. It's definitely not an A-level recap in all respects, just in some. To give an example, the revision notes infront of me now have the methods of powder mixing and the types of equivalent diameters in powders (something you do not do in A-level) as well as how to calculate pH (something you do do in A-level).
EDIT: On the topic of books, you'll be told that all books for your course are in the library, and this is true but getting a hold of them when you want them is a task that only a book ninja could achieve; even more so around exam time. If you reserve them in advance it can be alright, but if you think you need a resource it's going to be hard to get a hold of!
(edited 12 years ago)
Original post by tresemme
I applied for AP on Monday, waiting to hear back now. What about you?
I applied for MaryBone 2, just waiting to hear back! It's so hard to decide where's the best place to live lol!
Original post by Chilledice
About books: See below
about notes; this is something that annoys me, all lecturers put their lecture slides on the university intranet at some point. However about 1/4 of lecturers only put partial notes on there. Their recommendation is to print of their powerpoint slides (about six slides a page does it) and then add notes as you go along. This is useless to me, I hate revising like that and so generally bring in my laptop to lectures, save the powerpoint they're using and edit it as they lecture! For the rest of the lectures, yeh, you can do with just a notepad as long as you remember who's lecture you're taking notes for
Yeh, all the uni's have (almost) the same course thanks to the GPhC, so JMU is gonna be the same. It's definitely not an A-level recap in all respects, just in some. To give an example, the revision notes infront of me now have the methods of powder mixing and the types of equivalent diameters in powders (something you do not do in A-level) as well as how to calculate pH (something you do do in A-level).
EDIT: On the topic of books, you'll be told that all books for your course are in the library, and this is true but getting a hold of them when you want them is a task that only a book ninja could achieve; even more so around exam time. If you reserve them in advance it can be alright, but if you think you need a resource it's going to be hard to get a hold of!
about notes; this is something that annoys me, all lecturers put their lecture slides on the university intranet at some point. However about 1/4 of lecturers only put partial notes on there. Their recommendation is to print of their powerpoint slides (about six slides a page does it) and then add notes as you go along. This is useless to me, I hate revising like that and so generally bring in my laptop to lectures, save the powerpoint they're using and edit it as they lecture! For the rest of the lectures, yeh, you can do with just a notepad as long as you remember who's lecture you're taking notes for
Yeh, all the uni's have (almost) the same course thanks to the GPhC, so JMU is gonna be the same. It's definitely not an A-level recap in all respects, just in some. To give an example, the revision notes infront of me now have the methods of powder mixing and the types of equivalent diameters in powders (something you do not do in A-level) as well as how to calculate pH (something you do do in A-level).
EDIT: On the topic of books, you'll be told that all books for your course are in the library, and this is true but getting a hold of them when you want them is a task that only a book ninja could achieve; even more so around exam time. If you reserve them in advance it can be alright, but if you think you need a resource it's going to be hard to get a hold of!
ah kool thanks for that. thats been really helpful. so jus basically depends on wheather ure lecturer is a douche or not.
also are the modules taught one afta each other or are the mixed. lke one week ul b learing chem and then nxt bio and then come bk to chem?
Original post by amazon123456789
ah kool thanks for that. thats been really helpful. so jus basically depends on wheather ure lecturer is a douche or not.
also are the modules taught one afta each other or are the mixed. lke one week ul b learing chem and then nxt bio and then come bk to chem?
also are the modules taught one afta each other or are the mixed. lke one week ul b learing chem and then nxt bio and then come bk to chem?
Your modules are all mixed, so you'll have the same timetable every week. To give an example, last semester I had pharm. practice lecture monday morning with a pharmaceutics lecture in the afternoon, then bio chem and pharmaceutics on tuesday, a chem lab on wednesday, biology lab and microbiology lecture thursday and then pharmacy practice practical on friday.
Note; that was made up, but it explains my point, it's all just the same five-day schedule on loop. OH! And you generally wont get days off when doing pharmacy. It's (almost) the only course at JMU that doesn't get a day off.. hahahahaha...
Original post by Chilledice
Your modules are all mixed, so you'll have the same timetable every week. To give an example, last semester I had pharm. practice lecture monday morning with a pharmaceutics lecture in the afternoon, then bio chem and pharmaceutics on tuesday, a chem lab on wednesday, biology lab and microbiology lecture thursday and then pharmacy practice practical on friday.
Note; that was made up, but it explains my point, it's all just the same five-day schedule on loop. OH! And you generally wont get days off when doing pharmacy. It's (almost) the only course at JMU that doesn't get a day off.. hahahahaha...
Note; that was made up, but it explains my point, it's all just the same five-day schedule on loop. OH! And you generally wont get days off when doing pharmacy. It's (almost) the only course at JMU that doesn't get a day off.. hahahahaha...
lol yh thy were tellin us its full day at interview
so is it just all 6 modules every week thruout the year. same timetable every week?.
like in college?
Original post by amazon123456789
lol yh thy were tellin us its full day at interview
so is it just all 6 modules every week thruout the year. same timetable every week?.
like in college?
so is it just all 6 modules every week thruout the year. same timetable every week?.
like in college?
Yep, it's going to be a lot like your college timetable. You'll have 5 modules in first semester then pick up microbiology in your second semester (after christmas) to make it six.
ChilledIce, like I said earlier I've already done two years and we did pharmacology in second year, for this module and anything to do with therapeutics; Rang and Dale Pharmacology is an absolute must.
That was the only book I purchased after stupidly buying generic chemistry, biology and physiology ones that a Pearson rep came into Uni to sell to us.
That was the only book I purchased after stupidly buying generic chemistry, biology and physiology ones that a Pearson rep came into Uni to sell to us.
Just seen a few posts asking about where classes etc will take place and accom - so thought I would clarify.
Lab classes and dispensing classes take place in the James Parsons Building of the Byrom Street complex (i.e. where you will have been taken on a tour when you visited). The workshops also take place within this building.
Most of the lectures will take place at the Byrom Street complex, either in the james parsons building, the Cherie Booth building at the front, or the Peter Jost builing out the back. A few of your lectures may take place in the library's lecture theatre or in the Marybone lecture theatre across the road from this.
Accomodation wise - Atlantic Point is the closes but once you've walked to the main road and dealt with all the trafic lights the time taken is very similar to Victoria Halls and Marybone.
Lab classes and dispensing classes take place in the James Parsons Building of the Byrom Street complex (i.e. where you will have been taken on a tour when you visited). The workshops also take place within this building.
Most of the lectures will take place at the Byrom Street complex, either in the james parsons building, the Cherie Booth building at the front, or the Peter Jost builing out the back. A few of your lectures may take place in the library's lecture theatre or in the Marybone lecture theatre across the road from this.
Accomodation wise - Atlantic Point is the closes but once you've walked to the main road and dealt with all the trafic lights the time taken is very similar to Victoria Halls and Marybone.
Original post by shayz93
did anyone get offered an alternative course????
Quite a few people I know have been offered the Chemistry course as an alternative.
What have you been offered?
Original post by Doctor.
Quite a few people I know have been offered the Chemistry course as an alternative.
What have you been offered?
What have you been offered?
ACAPS... just cause i failed the admissions test by 3 marks which was a load of dumb questions, just wandering if its hard to transfer to pharmacy or if its worth it if anyone can knows?? cause ive got offers from uh dmu and sunderland
Original post by shayz93
did anyone get offered an alternative course????
Quite a few people I know have been offered the Chemistry course as an alternative.
What have you been offered?
Original post by Doctor.
Quite a few people I know have been offered the Chemistry course as an alternative.
What have you been offered?
What have you been offered?
ACAPS... just cause i failed the admissions test by 3 marks which was a load of dumb questions, just wandering if its hard to transfer to pharmacy or if its worth it if anyone knows?? cause ive got offers from uh dmu and sunderland
Original post by shayz93
ACAPS... just cause i failed the admissions test by 3 marks which was a load of dumb questions, just wandering if its hard to transfer to pharmacy or if its worth it if anyone knows?? cause ive got offers from uh dmu and sunderland
ACAPS = Applied Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences. The first year of this course is virtually identical to the MPharm first year, except the MPharm cohort do a pharmacy practice module.
At the moment you need to get at least 60% overall in first year ACAPS to transfer to MPharm. However, getting 60% doesn't guarantee this and you will be in competition with everyone else who gets above 60% and wants to transfer to MPharm. Also, around half of those who transfer do not graduate from the MPharm course for one reason or another.
If I were you, and you actually really really want to do pharmacy, I would either:
1) Go to a university that has offered me entry onto the MPharm degree
2) if you really want to go to LJMU find out what parts you missed out in the interview and try again next year.
Original post by DanCar
I have too! I cant wait has anyone got accomadation yet??
I cant wait has anyone got accomadation yet??I started the application process and then blew my earnings
so I gotta wait till May before I can put a deposit down. That's if they haven't released my room to someone else by now Quick Reply
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