Access to Science, anyone?!

Jami, Jami! You've already helped me before, and here you are again!

I didn't know you were on science, though.

Cut long story short, when I was interviewed, I was told we would be in the "Health and Social Care" pathway. Then, in induction day, I was giving my forms in and the lady that was collecting them say "Oh, for OT and Physiotherapy it's the Science pathway". I am still undecided about what I want to do but it has to be something like OT, Physio or if I choose another career, which I doubt, it will still be related to health (and so, sciences).

Anyway,my timetable (the one I was giving early on induction, before handing the forms) is like this:
- Monday- English (am) and Study Skills (pm)
- Wednesday- Tutorial (am) and Maths (pm)
- Friday- Science (am) and Sociology (pm)

Well, sociology? Is this part of the science pathway? And what's "tutorial"?!

Then, it says "science", does that mean I'll have several sciences one after another or will I have just one science?

Thanks again.

Well firstly don't panic. When I started this access course there was a bit of shuffling around of students in the first couple of weeks, students who realised that they didn't need certain subjects for their chosen career disappeared and students who did need them turned up. Once you've done your first week you'll hopefully know if you are doing the right subjects and who to talk to about changing things.

Our tutorial and study skills are lumped together (because our tutor teaches study skills) so I don't really know what the difference is. They seem to cover the mandatory units that are required by all access courses (as far as I know). We have assignments in IT (how to use Word), how to plan our time, how to revise etc. While they seem to be a pain in the backside they are fairly straightforward and will bump your credits up. Plus, our tutor talks to us about how to apply to university/write a personal statement/interview etc.

I think in my college the ones who are wanting to go into certain health areas are doing something like psychology/sociology. It would cover the 'social care' part of the Health and Social Care course. It sounds like you've got the Health and Social Care timetable, maybe the science pathway timetable would have biology and chemistry/physics instead of sociology.

I don't know how your science will be organised. My course has an extremely high science content compared to other courses I looked at and it is divided up into specific subjects ie chemistry, biology etc. It might be that your course will do a selection of units from different sciences but have lumped them together all under the name of science.

When you have your first tutorial you will probably be given a sheet that outlines your course and breaks the subjects into units and credits, for example we are doing seven units in biology all worth 3 credits each. Most of us in our group are all applying for the same course and all need to do all of the credits but there are a couple applying for different courses who don't need so many credits and so they won't cover all of the units. If you want to see what mine looks like pm me your email address.

I know you have plenty of time before you have to apply to university but do some research now. Look at courses and find out what they expect you to have from your access course because you don't want to find out too late that you don't have enough credits in a particular subject. But I'm sure once you get there your tutors will have experience of students who want to do OT or Physiotherapy and they'll know what the universities will expect you to have and they'll tell you which lessons you need to go to.

Jami, Jami! You've already helped me before, and here you are again!

I didn't know you were on science, though.

Cut long story short, when I was interviewed, I was told we would be in the "Health and Social Care" pathway. Then, in induction day, I was giving my forms in and the lady that was collecting them say "Oh, for OT and Physiotherapy it's the Science pathway". I am still undecided about what I want to do but it has to be something like OT, Physio or if I choose another career, which I doubt, it will still be related to health (and so, sciences).

Anyway,my timetable (the one I was giving early on induction, before handing the forms) is like this:
- Monday- English (am) and Study Skills (pm)
- Wednesday- Tutorial (am) and Maths (pm)
- Friday- Science (am) and Sociology (pm)

Well, sociology? Is this part of the science pathway? And what's "tutorial"?!

Then, it says "science", does that mean I'll have several sciences one after another or will I have just one science?

Thanks again.

If the science is anything like mine you will study a wide range of different science areas jmfc like us we did a few weeks on cells,cell structure and what was in a cell and did various practicals then we moved onto the next unit which was about the digestive system and its gastrointestinal tract and also covered diet, and now we moved onto the cardiovascular system and did loads of work on that

Sounds like we are doing the same biology units! We did cells first, then nutrition (still waiting for my final grade for that) and are being assessed on heart/circulation after Christmas.

sorry to hijack your thread jmfc i am also doing health however i also have science 3 times a week plus a class on Psychology and Sociology .A tutorial is usually a one to one or sometimes it can be a group tutorial where u discuss things about the course or what you finding differcult with the course with a lecturer jmfc.

If the science is anything like mine you will study a wide range of different science areas jmfc like us we did a few weeks on cells,cell structure and what was in a cell and did various practicals then we moved onto the next unit which was about the digestive system and its gastrointestinal tract and also covered diet, and now we moved onto the cardiovascular system and did loads of work on that

Each individual unit jmfc is about between 6 weeks in length it really depends how much your college and class will cover in that particular time scale,as we have 3 lessions a week of between 1 hour and then 2 hour sessions on one particular topic area we cover enough to pass the assignment as long as we attend all the practical as well as written aspects of it .

Firstly, your Science pathway doesn't look very 'sciencey' - just one morning per week. Sociology isn't really scientific enough to be considered a science. In fact, I'm doing more science than you on my Access to Health programme

That said, I wouldn't worry about it too much. If in doubt, contact the universities you are going to apply to, or check their websites, for details on the Access qualifications they would like you to take.

Hi.

What do you mean by "I have science three times a week"? Do you mean three hours our three "mornings"?

Thanks so much for your answer!

I'm enjoying the science and my first couple of grades have been good. We're having an exam on heart/circulation, I don't suppose you'd email me your assignment on that subject? The questions, not the answers lol, just because the more practice I get at answering questions the better.

Thankfully I'm not doing any subjects that require essay writing. I know we'll be writing one next year which is going to be quite a big piece of work but most of our units are assignments, tests, assessments (being watched doing a lab), scientific write-ups and exams.

And you want to go to mental health nursing, am I right?

Well, that's what a call a science based course. LMO. A whole afternoon just for sociology doesn't sound very sciencey at all.. Perhaps this timetable I was given is for the health and social care pathway?

I suppose that health and social care would be great for occupational therapy or nursing, but science is even better, right? And I'm affraid for physiotherapy, for instance, it would definitely be better to study the science.

But I guess they put people in the right pathway, anyway. I am realy confused. Let's wait and see, that's the only thing to do, now...

Oh, but I've just remembered something! At induction day we were all the in the same room and the teacher asked if there was anyone there wanting to be a teacher or nurse, and some people raised their hands. So, the teacher had no idea what any of us wanted to do, and we all were given the same timetable.
Perhaps the hours are the same to anybody but the subjects change according to the pathway? I don't think a primary teacher and a nurse would be in the same pathway. And God knows what everybody else wants do in Uni. He just asked that to advise that people wanting to pursue those careers should try to get experience...


Well, thanks a lot.

Have yourself a Merry Christmas!

Gosh sorry wizardtop I didn't mean to give the impression that I was after an unfair advantage, I really wasn't. Our exams are written by our teachers so it's extremely unlikely that your assignment questions are the same as my exam questions would be. I have been practicing the past A'level papers online to get the hang of the different ways that the same information can be asked. I now understand everything I'm meant to (have used the books that the teachers write for us as well as an A'level book) and am just practicing answering questions in timed conditions and thought that you might have different questions to the ones I've been practicing if that makes sense. Sorry for the misunderstanding but I'm certainly not after cheating.

Gosh sorry wizardtop I didn't mean to give the impression that I was after an unfair advantage, I really wasn't. Our exams are written by our teachers so it's extremely unlikely that your assignment questions are the same as my exam questions would be. I have been practicing the past A'level papers online to get the hang of the different ways that the same information can be asked. I now understand everything I'm meant to (have used the books that the teachers write for us as well as an A'level book) and am just practicing answering questions in timed conditions and thought that you might have different questions to the ones I've been practicing if that makes sense. Sorry for the misunderstanding but I'm certainly not after cheating.