PHYS20009: Research Based Physiology

Written reports of up to 1000 words each due during the semester (20%);
Class participation during the semester (5%);
Effective PRS participation and contributions (5%),
A research-project and written report of up to 2000 words due during semester (30%);
Ongoing assessment of e-Learning activities(10%);
A 2-hour written examination in the examination period (30%)

Overall, not a bad subject but definitely not the greatest subject I have taken to date. I picked this subject in pursuit of a physiology major and also because everyone has said that a H1 is easily attainable/in the bag.

I'll start off with the lectures - to be brutally honest the only reason I went was for the PRS marks (5%). This was a pain in the ass cause I live pretty far away from uni and it doesn't help with not being able to drive and having to rely on public transport. You need at least 75% attendance and attendance is not taken in 1st week. So if you do the math you have 11 lectures where attendance is recorded so you need 11X0.75 ==> 8.25 Lectures --> 9 lectures to get the 5%.
Lectures were mind-numbingly boring. They were spent talking about
-pre-practical material (just a very cursory analysis of the concepts)
-post-practical material (review of some of the results expected in the practicals)
-the 30% thermoregulation assignment (title/intro, methods, results, discussion/conclusion/abstract) <--- 1 lecture each from week 5-9 or something.
Lecture content wasn't heavy but a tip for the thermoregulation assignment would be to start early, hand in the drafts and follow word for word what Deanne says in the lectures. I got complacent and just relied on intuition and messed up the introduction (failed - got an N grade) LOOOOOOOOOL.

I personally found the 4 practicals extremely fun You got to see a snapshot of how the equipment works and actually apply the concepts you learn. It's also a great way to make new friends etc since you're allocated into a group (alphabetical order though). You get to find the blood pressure of your group/yourself, find out respiratory parameters, look at physiological (CV/Resp) responses to exercise (static vs. dynamic) and also look at the physiological changes to muscle contraction.

Workshops were good fun as well, we often finished early and you need to submit an online assessment with the group. These tasks contribute to 10% of the grade so try to work well as a team.

Another 5% of the grade comes from participation/contributions in the workshop/practical sessions. So definitely don't be the one in the squad who just mopes around and hopes everyone will answer and contribute and just scab off other peoples work. You learn a lot more from contributing and finding out where your strengths/weaknesses in your understanding of the content lie.

Many people will tell you that the assignment is great because it relieves a lot of pressure come exam time. I personally object to this because the RBP exam was on the first or second day of the exam period and we didn't get the marks for the assignment until a week or two after the exam. As a result, there was no good way of predicting how well you had to do on the exam to do relatively well etc. I found the assignment to be extremely time consuming and I'm glad I at least passed the assignment overall.

Another thing I personally disliked was how the practical marks were not given in percentages but instead as grades. I didn't like this because grades give little indication of how well/bad you may have done. I.e. H1 = 80-100 and P=50-64. Something that could be improved would be to provide an actual percentage mark so the students know how well/bad they may be doing.

With regards to the exam - I found the exam very fair. Make sure you do them as they are MANY repeat questions. This is what saved me somewhat in the end since I messed everything else up.

EDIT: A massive pro of this subject is Deanne's impeccable ability to promptly answer emails. I constantly emailed her questions etc even letting her know about Medical certificates since I was sick for one of the pracs and she responded very quickly.

PM me for any questions.

Yes, with screen capture.

Dr Deanne Skelly.

Yes, from 2009-2012.

3.5 Out of 5

Nothing. An electronic copy of the PHYS20009 book is provided but you are expected to print it out and bring it to your practical/workshop sessions.

1X1hr lecture per week, 5X3hr practicals, 6X2hr workshops.

2014, Sem 2.

Written reports of up to 1000 words each due during the semester (20%);
Class participation during the semester (5%);
Effective PRS participation and contributions (5%);
A research-project and written report of up to 2000 words due during semester (30%);
Ongoing assessment of e-Learning activities(10%);
A 2-hour written examination in the examination period (30%)

This subject is a Pre-requisite for the Physiology Major and a quota subject aswell. I recommend it be to taken after doing Human phys as it makes everything easier in terms of understanding the content (although many people take it concurrently). All lectures have to be attended as they count to your final grade (PRS). Same with the pracs and workshops (attendance is marked). Some of the pracs were enjoyable and fun whereas some of them are kind of simple and tedious (the no. of people in the group compared to the number of tasks to complete weren't taken into account for some pracs, sometimes you were left standing around because there was not much to do). Workshops are more laid-back and much simpler therefore them being 2 hours only. Getting a H1 in this subject is purely determinant among the work completed throughout the course of the semester. So if you’re already comfortably doing well then you don’t even have to do well in the exam to get a H1. However, the reason I gave it a 3.75/5 is because of the research essay and how time-consuming the subject was throughout. If you’re good at writing them then you’ll do fine. Even though there are drafts to be submitted (I highly recommend submitting all the drafts and getting the feedback as your demonstrator will be marking your final paper). I struggled with them and my overall before the exam was really low. Additionally don't only rely on the feedback for the essay as some information can be misleading, in that case ask the lecturer (Deanne was very helpful!) I had to ace the exam in order to get a H1. The exam is very similar to past papers. The questions repeat and will become obvious once you begin past papers.

Although the content of this subject was relatively simple and easy, it was very time consuming in the second half the semester (compared to my other subjects). There’s a lot of little assessments throughout the semester like pre-pracs, prac reports, draft submission ect which I didn’t like as I’m not used to those type of subjects. I guess the good thing was most of the work was done during the semester and which left exam time free so you had time to study for your other subjects. Overall a decent subject which could be relaxing for most people.

Yes, with screen capture

Deanne Skelly

Yes, from 2009

3.75/5

Didn’t buy a textbook, didn’t needed it (however same textbook as human phys)

1 x 2-3hr Workshop/Practical & 1 x 1hr Lecture

2013, Sem 2

H1

Written reports of up to 1500 words each due during the semester (20%); Class participation during the semester (5%); Effective PRS participation and contributions (5%), A research-project and written report of up to 2000 words due during semester (30%); Ongoing assessment of e-Learning activities(10%), A 2-hour written examination in the examination period (30%)

This subject is a Pre-requisite for the Physiology Major. It is also a relatively easy subject to get a H1. All lectures and workshops should be attended since 10% of the overall mark will count towards 'rocking-up'. I recommend doing it co-currently with Human Physiology if you want a pretty chillax semester, as there is a complete overlap between the content in PHYS20008 and Research. E-Learning activities comprise of Pre-Practical Questions, Post-Practical Questions and Collaborative Exercises submitted during workshops. Charles Sevigny is the best demonstrator as he is pretty laid back and always happy to give everyone full marks. Getting a H1 in this subject is purely determinant among the work completed throughout the course of the semester. It is important that you strive to attain closeto to full marks for all assessments before heading into the exam. The Lecturer Arianne Dantas even admits to it as having a high prevalence of H1's. Practicals are relatively straight forwards and any queries are usually ironed out the week following the practical in the Post Practical Lecture. The research assignment I admit was extremely time consuming. In order to have a good idea of what the demonstrators are looking for when marking your research paper it is integral that you complete and submit all drafts (not assessed) (Intro Draft, Method Draft, Results Draft, Discussion Draft and a Full Draft). So technically, since i submitted all my drafts it took about 3/4 of the semester to complete the assignment. Doing a bit at a time will ensure that your work is of a high standard and that you're not cramming it in during the last week. Once this is all out of the way most people who are on top of their work should be on 60/100 in terms of their overall score. Which means no study is necessary for the end of year exam as you need only a 50%-66% to get a H1. You will notice that the exam is just a regurge of previous exam questions so this shouldn't be a problem.

Yes but without screen capture

Arianne Dantas & Charles Sevigny

4 of the most recent past exams will be mounted on the LMS with only one set of answers released

4/5

Silverthorn, D.U., Human Physiology: An Integrated Approach 5th Ed., 2010 - Pearson (Same as that needed for Human Physiology PHYS20008 (not necessary))

1 x 2-3hr Workshop/Practical & 1 x 1hr Lecture

2011 Semester 1

H1 (87%)