Hey,
So my bf goes to Aston uni and studies Human Biology (4 year course).
Before he got there he was so excited due to the ranking of the uni and the general good rep it gets if mentioned in public, and so was genuinely excited to start the course.
He worked really hard during sixth form, literally doing 5-6 hours of revision everyday as well as going into sixth form from 9-3. He got ABB in biology, history and another science A-level (I cant remember which one but they were all OCR boards) but anyway this was the entry requirements at the time.
He started in October and since then he's really put me off firming this uni (I'm applying for a similar course - cell and molecular biology) and making me think about adjusting in august.
1.
BTEC students: He says despite the entry requirements he looked at online when he was applying, the majority of people on his course actually got in with extended BTEC's at DDM or whatever. And moans that because of their background, they hold the class up asking basic questions learnt in A-level.
2.
People cheating on tests: He has 9 modules and for each he mentions there are 'quizzes?' or something like that associated which he's had to complete. Some total 30-40% of the grade for the module, so they're pretty important. He moans that although they're meant to be done individually, one person normally just chain-mails the answers to their group of friends, which if that's true, I guess is pretty unfair.
3.
Exam structure: His exams are either MCQ/essay-based, neither of which are exactly what you would expect after doing A-level sciences. So with MCQ, someone knowing nothing can walk in and get 100% and with the essay-based questions, it's more of a format you'd expect in an English exam? Despite doing history, he's says he was much better at the short 4-5 mark Q's you'd find on an A-level biology/chemistry paper anyway, so it's more difficult although he might get more marks if the paper was structured differently.
So he complains about these sort of things, and I was just wondering, particularly of any other students on this course, if he's right or just exaggerating?
I received offers from Aston, UoB, Manchester, and Liverpool, and I'm predicted AAB. I was going to firm Aston to bring the requirements down, but I'm not having second thoughts about even putting it as my insurance.
Any help/advice would be appreciated