For those out there who have done PHRM20001 or PATH20001, how was it? I'm tossing up between these two and I can't seem to make a definitive decision. For the PATH20001 CAL tasks/tests, were they difficult at all? Were the 2 MSTs difficult? Which one did you guys find more enjoyable? (assuming you guys have taken both but if not I'd be very grateful for your opinions!)
Here are my reviews of the pharmcology subject:
PHRM20001 -
Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & RatingsThere are some other reviews on both of the subjects as well, but personally, I think PHRM20001 is the best subject I've ever taken so far. I know a bunch of people (myself included) that only took this subject to fill in a blank space in our timetable, and were intending to major in physiology or human structure and function, but after completing it we all switched to the pharmacology major.
Pathology was okay, but it was really 'messy'. It requires the sort of rote learning that isn't easily linked. A lot of the time you have to memorise a bunch of symptoms, pathways and causes of diseases without understanding why an underlying condition leads to a particular clinical presentation, so it's hard to properly appreciate and fully understand what you're learning. But it's a pretty easy subject to do well in if you get over that, it's just that studying it is super annoying imo, and a lot of my mates feel the same way.
I studied a lot more for Pathology and got a slightly worse score. The CALs are pretty easy to do well in as well, since you have time to google anything you don't know.
The biggest difference between pharmacology and pathology is that pharm uses a lot more applied learning. You need to understand basic concepts and pathways then learn how to manipulate them, so as a result you don't need to spend as much time studying it. In pathology, however, you can just memorise every little detail and spew it out on the exam, and that will be good enough if you put in enough time.