At the beggining the course is quite intense. They want to throw you into the deep end to get a feel for what university is like - a lot of independent learning. Lecturers and tutors won't chase you up for coursework or tell you to revise. According to them its down to you to be responsible and organised enough to sort your own education out. First year is a step up from A levels with subjects such as Physiology, Biochemistry, (very little anatomy), Organic Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Calculations..
Second year is when things are put into context.. first year is unfortunately just learning science.