Welcome to BioSoc!

Formally known as Dublin University Biological Association, we are the oldest and largest medical student association in the country. This year we are in our 152^nd year and it’s gonna be huge. We’d like to say a massive congratulations on getting here. You did it! I’m sure it wasn’t easy, and the next 5 years aren’t exactly easy either, but we’ll do our best to make it bearable.  

What are we? 

Part cult, part support group, part party planners, our job is basically to remind you (and ourselves) that there is more to life than the library. So, to help you make friends, memories and mistakes a plenty, we organise numerous events throughout the year, such as nights out, trips away, careers night, guest speakers and balls. Cringe as it is, BioSoc really is the beating heart of Trinity Med. When you’re knee deep in neurotransmitters and you can’t tell your ilium from your ileum, BioSoc is the light at the end of the tunnel that keeps you sane.  

Who are we?  

Chairperson: Ben Cahill 

Secretary: Sean Mescal 

Treasurer: Daniel Fitzgerald 

Public Relations Officer: Louise Mulcahy 

Ents Officers: Elva Keane and Eoghan Jerkland 

Ordinary Committee Members: Caoimhe O’Reilly, Daniel Cunningham, Henry Li, Rahul Bhatt 

3rd Year Reps: Anna Sophia Keane and Peter Cummings 

2nd Year Reps: Emily Drennan and Semi Oluborode  

1st Year Reps: TBC (maybe you!) 

Where to find us?

If you’ve gotten your hands on one of these hot-off-the-press guides, then you may have already met some of us, but make sure to tell your friends to join too (we swear this isn’t a pyramid scheme) Make sure to follow us on Instagram (@tcdbiosoc) to stay up to date on all our news and events, check out our website (tcdbiosoc.com) to find out more about the society (sign up online!!) and if you have any questions or need to contact us about anything, you can always find us in our black fleeces or DM our Instagram page or email us at [email protected] We promise we are very approacable and if we can’t help you, we’ll find somebody who can.  

1^st Year Medicine survival guide  

Emily and Semi (our wonderful 2^nd year Reps), are the only ones who have sat the new modules, so here’s their detailed review.  

Modules and Exams  

1. Anatomy One 

Teaching: 

You’ll have two lectures a week which will cover everything you need to know. You’re then expected to be able to identify that week’s content in the dissection theatre (DT). Your first few anatomy lectures might be kind of overwhelming; it’s definitely a new style of learning and the lecture slides aren’t always amazing. By the end of first year, you’ll have looked at everything from the neck down. In semester 1, you’ll do musculoskeletal anatomy (MSK) which just means muscles and bones. Then, in semester 2, you’ll do thorax, abdomen and pelvis (TAP), which is basically just organs. You’ll also do embryology in semester 2. For us, they just uploaded recordings of these lectures to Blackboard some weeks, so look out for those.  

It’s difficult to know what to do in an anatomy lecture because there’s so much information being thrown at you, especially in Sem 1. Some people actively type up everything the lecturer is saying, some people are already making their flashcards, some people annotate the lecture slides on an iPad or OneNote. Find what works for you, but don’t get too disheartened if you spend some anatomy lectures completely lost and confused, most people are probs in the same boat.  

Assessment: 

You’ll be examined in anatomy in two ways – MCQs (multiple choice questions) and spotters. Spotters are practical exams in the DT.  

You’ll have two spotters per semester – one at midterm and one with your end-of-term exams. There’ll be pins / tags in specific structures that you have to identify and answer questions on. These seem very daunting and everyone gets extremely stressy about them, but don’t let the nervous energy get to you too much. Your midterm spotters halfway through each semester will use pictures of the structures instead of the actual donor bodies / bones / organs.  

The MCQ exams at the end of each semester are a nice way to make up marks if spotters aren’t your strong suit. The professors put out sample MCQs on Blackboard every week. Definitely do all of these and revise your answers before exams because they love to reuse them!! 

So, in summary: 

• 2x lectures a week // extra embryology in Sem 2 

• 1x lab a week 

• A lottt of solo learning / studying  

Resources / Tips and Tricks: 

For the lab, you’ll need a Howie style lab coat and goggles. You can buy pretty cheap second-hand lab coats in Fresher’s Week at some point, so don’t jump the gun and spend €50 in the SU shop unless you have to.  

The main anatomy textbooks that I’m aware of are Gray’s Anatomy, Last’s Anatomy, Netter’s Anatomy, and Moore’s Clinically Oriented Anatomy. Don’t try to learn every word of them like you might have in secondary school, these are more for dipping in and out of. Some people buy physical copies, but there’s no need since the professors should upload the PDFs to Blackboard early on or there’ll be floating around on the Magical Medicine Google Drive (the Drive™).  

You’ll find that a lot of people use flashcards/ANKI to study anatomy. They’re handy because of the sheer volume of information you need to learn. If you don’t want to make your own, you can defo find some on the Drive™. Anatomy is the one thing that hasn’t been changed at all in the new course, so any resources you find on the Drive™ from older years are safe to use! 

It’s a good idea to be somewhat prepared for your weekly slot in the DT so you can make the most of your time there. Be familiar with what you covered in lectures that week and try to watch the relevant Acland videos if you have time. Or just listen to them as ASMR – very relaxing.  

The DT is open for independent study throughout the week so check the timetable. Coming up to spotters, it’ll get busy in there with last-minute-cramming, so maybe plan to get in a week or two before the panic sets in if that’s important to you.  

 
2. Fundamentals of Biomedical Science and Cell Function 

Teaching: 

This is a Semester 1 module, and it doesn’t quite last the whole semester. It’s mainly physiology with a bit of pharmacology and biochem sprinkled in at times. You’ll have a good few Fundamentals lectures a week. Most people take notes in some way during lecture, but it’s up to you how you do it. The lecture slides are generally uploaded ahead of time so you can download them to an iPad, OneNote, or whatever. For example, I’d take rough notes on a Google Doc during lecture and transfer the info onto ANKI flashcards later on.  

Beyond lectures, you’ll have a few physiology and biochem labs that count towards your final grade. The labs are easy and you get graded on attendance, so definitely go!! Additionally, problem based learning (PBL) sessions make up part of the module. You’ll have two PBL sessions a week for an hour and a half each. You’re split into groups of 12 ish and assigned a tutor. The tutor gives you a scenario based on some recent Fundamentals lectures and guides your group through a discussion of it. Seems kind of weird, but you’ll get the hang of it easily enough. You might even make some friends 🙂 

Assessment: 

The end-of-term exam after Christmas is worth the majority of your grade. It’s half MCQ, half SAQ (short-answer-questions). You’ll be given a sample paper, so don’t worry.  

You’ll also have a midterm exam based on your PBL sessions. This is all MCQ, no written answers. Trust, the PBL midterm just tests a really broad overview of what you’ll have covered in PBL and doesn’t require nearly as much detail as your end of semester exam. Please don’t overthink the PBL exam too much, once you’ve shown up and paid attention, you’ll be grand.  

There’s also a PBL group assignment that counts towards a tiny bit of your final grade. Basically, you’ll carry out a regular PBL session with your group to produce a document, and then you get graded on it.   

So, in summary … 

• Lectures 

• 2x PBL a week (graded on attendance / participation) 

• Labs (graded on attendance) 

• Midterm PBL exam (MCQ) 

• PBL group assignment 

• Final exam after Christmas (MCQ + SAQ) 

Resources / Tips and Tricks: 

The lecturers will recommend textbooks for their specific lectures. You can source the PDFs online / the Drive™ / the physical library copies. You’ll only be tested on what’s on the slides, but sometimes the textbook explanations can be good for understanding. 

Focus on understanding before you start to memorise. YouTube videos are good (Ninja Nerd, Osmosis etc.) 

Don’t prioritise anatomy at the expense of Fundamentals / BMS1 / BMS2. Plenty of people spend the whole semester stressing over anatomy and then have to cram physiology right before exams. It’s doable for sure, but better to spread it out.  

3. Societies, Systems and People (SSP): 

Teaching: 

This module is split into three parts – behavioural science, family case study, and health policy. It’s taught through a mixture of lectures and tutorials. The tutorial timetables can be confusing so keep an eye on where you’re meant to be and when.  

For your family case study, you and a partner will make three house visits to the family of a newborn baby throughout the year. The point is to track milestones and make observations about the social context of the family, etc. You write everything down in your logbook. Again, sounds really weird and daunting but it can actually be good craic. 

Assessment: 

There are no exams for this module, but you will have a good few assignments that count towards your final grade … 

• Behavioural science essay 

• Family case study logbook  

• Health policy presentation  

• Behavioural science tutorial reflections  

Resources / Tips and Tricks: 

Not much advice for this one except to stay on top of all your assignments when they start piling up in Sem 2.  

4. Biomedical Systems 1 (BMS1) 

Teaching: 

The Biomedical Systems One module starts in mid‑November and runs until the end of Semester 1. It mainly covers the nervous system, neurotransmission, pharmacology and a few smaller topics like meningitis and serotonin. You’ll have around six lectures a week, usually back‑to‑back and early in the morning so make sure you come fuelled up! 

The module is short and sweet which is great, but it also means that it can sneak up on you just before exams, so staying on top of BMS1 is genuinely the best thing you can do. Going to lectures is always a good idea anyway, and especially so for this module! 

Assessment: 

Just like in Fundamentals, the labs and PBL exams make up about ten percent of your final grade, and they are very easy marks, so make sure you go to them. In your final PBL session you’ll also have to do a written case presentation with your group. This is a written report about one of the clinical cases you would have already covered, but you have to go into more depth and do a bit of your own research. It’s a good idea to keep this in mind during PBL sessions so you can decide early which case you want to present. You’re graded on the quality of your write‑up and on your teamwork skills, so preparing properly for PBL sessions is key! 

Resources / Tips and Tricks:

For resources, your lecture slides are the best place to start. Sherwood’s ‘Cells to Systems’ is a classic for physiology and Rang & Dale is great for pharmacology and drug mechanisms. There are definitely online copies of these floating around somewhere on the Drive™. Use the past papers on the website to practise SAQs and do MCQs on the Drive™ to get a feel for the difficulty and style of questions. The written exam is usually half MCQs and half SAQs. 

5. Biomedical Systems 2 (BMS2) 

Teaching: 

BMS1 but double the fun. In BMS2 you cover a lot of different topics and systems, from respiration to the heart, renal (the kidneys), lipids and, of course, more pharmacology, plus some infections too. This module is really well laid out and often lines up with what you’re learning in anatomy – so often you might do the respiratory system in anatomy, then respiratory physiology in BMS2, then later respiratory tract infections and the pharmacology of drugs used to treat respiratory conditions etc etc. This integrated way of learning means you get exposed to the high‑yield content over and over again, so if you see something once and then again somewhere else, highlight it and learn it off. There are so many little details that you don’t want to get lost in the sauce, so keep your focus on the bigger picture and link topics together. It will deepen your understanding and make the whole module feel more manageable. 

BMS2 runs from the beginning of semester two until the beginning of April, and you’ll have PBLs, labs and lectures throughout. 

Assessment: 

The written exam has the same style as BMS1, with MCQs and SAQs, but there are more of both because BMS2 is, again, double the fun and double the work… ahahaha… ha. And just like in BMS1, you can do very well in about fifteen percent of your overall grade simply by showing up for labs and PBL. 

Resources and Tips: 

For resources, the lecture slides are once again your best port of call. Sherwood is great for physiology and Rang & Dale is perfect for pharmacology. Drive™ has copies of these books. Also, might be a good idea to use the Drive™ to practice MCQ and SAQs to get a feel for how questions are asked! 

Ninja Nerd, Dr Matt and Dr Mike, and Medicosis Perfectionalis are brilliant YouTube channels that cover a lot of the topics you’ll be doing in this module and make the content feel way more digestible. 

6. Humanities, Ethics, Law and Professionalism (HELP) 

HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLP. I need a doctor!!!!  Luckily, you’re covering the HELP module as part of your first‑year curriculum 😉 This module is completely different from your science-heavy ones and focuses on the doctor–patient relationship, global ethics, human rights and social justice.  

Your assessment includes an ethics essay based on a topic you’ll be given in semester two, which makes up around sixty percent of your grade. The remaining forty percent is a reflective assignment based on your Student Selected Option (SSO). You’ll also have a pass/fail group presentation in mid‑April based on what you covered in your SSO. An SSO is the closest thing you have to an elective, and it’s a great chance to deepen your medical knowledge or to keep up your non‑medicine hobbies! The modules available usually fall under a few big umbrellas: the humanities, society/health/inequality, history and philosophy, and digital/future healthcare. Choosing something you’re genuinely interested in always goes a long way when it comes time to complete your assignments, and to having fun along the way 🙂 

Definitely know when to prioritise this module, I would prioritise it more when assignments are due, because you will be very busy during the year with all your other modules!  

For resources, Beauchamp and Childress’ ‘Principles of Biomedical Ethics’ is great when you are completing your written ethics assignment, as well as the Irish Medical Council guidelines. Your lectures may also give you some recommended readings for the assignment, so definitely have a look at those too! 

Good Luck! Emily & Semi 

General College Advice 

College exams are a lot different from Leaving Cert/Secondary School exams, so you need to get ready to change your study and exam tactics big time. It’s no longer practical to study almost everything on the syllabus like it was in school, there isn’t even a syllabus for medicine, and so it can be very hard to know what to focus on when you’re studying or even where to start! However, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if you’ve made it this far, you are able for this. Here are a few tips to point you in the right direction.  

• Ask for help: You may be used to being the one who gets asked for help in school, but now you’re the one who’s completely lost and you may be a bit embarrassed about that and afraid to ask for help for fear of looking dumb. Trust me, EVERYONE feels the exact same way at some stage in 1st year, and most of us still feel the same way, we’re just used to it! There is nothing to be ashamed of about asking for help from your classmates, most of the time they’ll be as lost as you. Things will click with different people at different times and some subjects will come easier to certain people than others, so even if you feel helpless with one thing, you’ll probably be able to help people with another thing. It’s important to try and collaborate as much as possible with your classmates. 

• If things start going south, don’t panic: Your first set of exams are obviously going to be daunting, a lot of you have never sat college exams before and you’re not really sure how it’s going to go. Even if you open the paper and you haven’t studied enough topics to write the required number of essays, or you don’t have a clue about most of the MCQs, don’t panic! The beauty of 1st year is that all of your modules are spread out over the two semesters, so even if you fail an exam at Christmas, you can still pass overall at Summer, so make sure to answer as much as you can, draw diagrams and don’t leave any MCQs blank!!! 

• Emergencies: If something happens during exam time e.g. illness, family emergency etc, make sure to get in contact with your college tutor straight away and also your year coordinator as some tutors can take a while to respond. The college is very accommodating to students with valid excuses who are unable to sit their exams, as long as you let them know before your exams begin. 

• Balance: They would have told you all about work-life balance in school and not to get too stressed about exams but failing was never really an issue back then. Now it is, so naturally you are going to be a bit more stressed about these exams. However, balance is still as important now as it was back then. Make time for doing the things you enjoy, try to exercise regularly, and if you ever get too worked up or stressed about exams, take a break, grab a coffee, chat to a friend, and come back to it in a little while because you won’t get anything done if you let yourself get too stressed out. 

What to bring to College 

What To Bring 

• White lab coat (Howie style, google this if you’re not sure what it looks like) – essential (there’ll be a few second-hand ones available at the Freshers stall or they’re available to buy at the SU shop in House 6). Don’t buy a V neck style coat, they won’t allow them in the DT! 

• Laptop/iPad – Not technically essential but might come in handy at some stage during your degree. Lots of electrical outlets do back to school sales around August/September where you might be able to get a good deal on a laptop. Don’t buy Microsoft Office, Trinity gives it to all students for free! 

• Stationery – Again, not essential but can come in handy and will be necessary for those pesky written exams 

• Packed lunch – There are plenty of food places around TBSI, but unless you want to be broke/eat a Tesco meal deal 5 days a week for a year, it wouldn’t hurt to get used to throwing a sandwich and some fruit into your bag before you leave the house. 

What NOT To Bring 

• Surgical sets for dissection – Everything is provided in the DT 

• Ophthalmoscope/otoscope – Unless you are 100% going to be an ENT/Ophthalmologist, you will never need these 

Lockers: If you’re worried about lugging around a filthy lab coat, a load of heavy books or a gym bag, you can get a locker in TBSI to save you the hassle! They’ve changed the booking system since our day so now you don’t even have to queue up outside TBSI before 9 a.m. to get one, you can just do it online! Try to find out when they’re going online though, because you don’t want to end up having to do the pilgrimage to -3 every time you want to grab something. 

Getting Around The Big Smoke 

If you’re just a small-town girl born and raised in *anywhere outside Dublin*, you might find this sprawling metropolis a bit confusing at first. It doesn’t help that no other Trinity students seem to know where any of the places you need to go are. You’ve probably found the TBSI by now, so fair play. The treasure hunt doesn’t end there unfortunately. Med students are based largely in three main sites: Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute (TBSI), St James’ Hospital (SJH) and Tallaght University Hospital (TUH). They’re quite spread out, and you’ll need to travel to even more sites for other projects such as your baby visits, SSO etc. so it is well worth investing in a Student Leap Card as soon as you get to Dublin. If you’re still under 19, you can avail of the wicked cheap Child Leap Card, otherwise you’ll have to get a Student Leap Card, which you can get in the office in House 6/online once you’ve gotten your student card. Leap cards can then be used on Dublin Bus, Luas and DART services, as well as some commuter trains. For the LUAS tap on and off, for the bus just tap on. 

Walking and cycling are also good, cheap, eco-friendly options if you live around town (especially in Trinity Hall), so look into that! 

Directions: 

St James’ Hospital 

• Bus: 123, 13 and 40 all go to James’. The 123 goes through James’ and the other two stop on the street outside. You can hop on each at Dame Street (opposite the front gate to Trinity). 

• Luas: Red line stops at James’. George’s dock is the closest stop to TBSI, Abbey Street is the closest stop to Front Gate of Trinity. 

• Bike/walking: From Front Gate, head up Dame Street, go around Christchurch Cathedral and stay going straight onto Thomas Street and continue onto James Street. The entrance to the hospital is to the left, just as you cross over the Luas tracks. Approx 30 min walk/10 min cycle from Trinity. 

• Car: If you grew up outside the city and always thought that clamping cars was a bit of a myth, think again. It’s difficult to get parking near St James’, it annoys the local residents (understandably) and if you park illegally you will get towed (believe me…). There are a few housing estates in Rialto where it is free to park but these spots are usually gone by 7.30 am so you have to be quick! 

BioSoc Calendar  

Now that you’ve got the basics, it’s time to tell you about the fun stuff! Yes, we are here to help you get settled into Medicine, but organizing social events is also very much in our job description. BioSoc has a very busy social calendar to make sure that you never really get a chance to recover from our last event before you’re getting ready for the next one! Keep an eye on the Instagram page/your email inbox for info popping up for each new event and turn those notifications on! 

September 

Social crawl – the Biosoc calendar usually kicks off with a tour of some favourite student haunts near campus, which is a good way to meet people in your year and get to know your way around Dublin at the same time.  

October 

Med Cup – A reminder to all that we’re not just smart and good-looking, we also dabble in a bit of sport. This is a fun annual tradition that sees each year face off in a soccer tournament to find the champion year of Trinity Med. All are encouraged to come along and show off your fast footwork or support your year, with all proceeds going to the fabulous Med Day!  

Halloween Surf Trip – The annual tradition of waking up and running head-first into the chilly waters of [*LOCATION REDACTED*] is often the first trip away for first years, and one that is a great way to get to know people in your year. Naturally, the nightlife is the real reason that many go on the trip, so stay tuned to find out where we will be hitting the surf this year! 
 

November 

MED DAY – The caps were not a typo, and soon you will see why. You’re going to hear a lot about Med Day before this fateful Friday in November. Some will say it becomes your new Christmas day, while others say the warmth you feel in your heart means you don’t even notice the sub 0 temperatures you’re standing outside in, and they’re absolutely right. Med Day begins long before the sun has even risen, with you carting yourself into TBSI and up to the Red Room to get some free breakfast before descending onto the innocent pedestrians of this fair city, where you will scream and shout until your vocal nodules pop out, gathering all the money you can for Med Day’s fantastic charities. Then in the afternoon you drop your full buckets back to TBSI to be counted while you regroup with your pals at the Pav and share your tales of money-snatching success. The Med Day talent show in the evening is really something to behold (think every X Factor audition compilation you’ve ever watched but 100 times better). As are the Med Day videos – each year group (except you first years, you’re off the hook while you get into the swing of things) films a skit based on the hilarious reality of our medical education that Stephen Spielberg himself would struggle to match. Med Day is really a cornerstone of Trinity med, so definitely not one to miss! 

Medicine Through The Arts – Growing in strength and popularity each year thanks to its fantastic entries and incredible prizes, this is your chance to bring back out your easel/instrument/camera/pen/whatever you enjoyed doing before all your time became consumed with learning what phosphorylates what, and show your peers that art doesn’t just belong in the Arts Building. Do consider entering – if I can’t convince you, the prize list surely can! In 2020 we got a brand new, beautifully crafted perpetual trophy for the winner of Medicine Through The Arts competition, so throw your hat in the ring! 

December 

Christmas Trip – If Med Day is your new Christmas Day, then the Christmas Trip is like… well… a newer, 3-day long Christmas Day. Expect lots of merry mischief and festive fun, and don’t worry, no one will be checking whether you’re naughty or nice…Trust me, the Christmas trip is one of our most highly anticipated events, and the place where many a new friendship has been cemented. Nothing will bond you like having to navigate the public transport of a new city together, doing your makeup on the floor of the hostel trying to get a glimpse of the mirror, and forming inside jokes and fond memories that will stay with you for years to come. All aboard for a wild few days in a TOP SECRET LOCATION…all will be revealed…just make sure you follow us on Instagram 😉 – and don’t be even 5 seconds late for the tickets going on sale! 

February 

Med Ball – This event needs no introduction, one of the most glamorous events of the college calendar that guarantees to sell out. All I’ll say is, make sure you have your card details at the ready and a speedy WiFi connection when tickets go on sale, because you won’t want to miss this. 

Intern Night – Have you ever wondered what joys await you at the bottom of the medical food chain once you graduate? Biosoc hosts an ‘Ask the Interns’ night where we get all the deets from interns across the country (and globe)! While it might seem a long way away from you in first year, it can be cool to get an idea of what’s ahead of you and it’s a very informal chat anyway so definitely bop along! 

March 

Women In Medicine – This event is one of the newer ones and has gained lots of popularity over the last few years. We’ve had female guest speakers from Paediatric Neurosurgeons to Med Influencers join us at this event. Following an inspiring talk about all things women in medicine, we celebrate International Women’s Day in the Atrium with a few cocktails (it would be rude not to…). 

April 

Biosoc AGM – this is where we all gather to reflect on what a successful, incredible, amazing (manifest it) year Biosoc 152 have had and to elect our new committee! Once you see how much fun Biosoc is, you’ll be dying to run for something, so keep an eye out… 

Inaugural Ball – The only time you will see ‘Ball’ and ‘free’ used in the same sentence. That’s right, once a year you get to don your glad rags and come out to support all the smarty pants of med as they collect their prizes for their academic achievements in the previous year. This is preceded by a highly anticipated guest lecture from a leading expert within one of the many medical fields and succeeded by a reception in the Atrium on campus. You’d be crazy to miss this one. 

10 Things I Wish I Knew Starting 1^st Year  

1. Medicine doesn’t start with medicine – Unfortunately, throughout 1st year the only thing that really seems related to medicine is anatomy (which you probably hate), so it can be tough justifying going in to college and studying what effectively feels like general science, but that’s the reality of 1st and 2nd year which are the ‘pre-clinical’ years. As you progress into 2nd year and start to study pharmacology and infection and immunology, things will start to feel a bit more mediciney, and by the time you get to 3rd year, you’ll have so many pathologies to learn that you’ll be gasping for some fatty acid metabolism pathways. So don’t worry if you start to feel like this isn’t the course for you, because in reality 1st year has very little to do with what you’ll be studying for the rest of the course. But please, please learn your anatomy and physiology somewhat well, or else some ortho consultant will break your wrist if you can’t remember the 8 bones it’s made of! 

2. Impostor Syndrome is very real – Yeah, you were the ‘smart’ one in school, but now everyone is the smart one, and they’re way smarter than you, and soon everybody’s going to find out that you’re not good enough to be here!!!!! Right? No. Relax. It happens to most people when they start studying medicine because the content is so challenging and you feel like you must be the only person who is struggling so much. In the future, when your year is more comfortable with each other you will laugh about how hard you thought everything was in 1st year, and it will turn out everyone was on the same page as you, but everyone was too afraid to admit it! So, on your darkest days when you’re convinced that this is way too difficult and you don’t belong here, just remember everyone is in the same boat as you, so don’t get too stressed about it! You have earned your spot here and you belong here. 

3. The soft-click symphony – You’re in a lecture, you’ve zoned out, when suddenly you’re brought back to earth by the click-click-click of everyone furiously typing so you realise the lecturer must have dropped an exam hint! It can take a while to figure out what method of note-taking works best for you, so don’t be afraid to try out a few different ones. Some people like to just airdrop memes listen in lectures and go back to the lecture slides later, some people take handwritten notes, some people print out lecture slides and annotate them, some people take notes on iPads/laptops… the only correct method of note-taking in college is the one that works for you. Personally I like Microsoft OneNote to keep all my notes organised on my laptop, but I didn’t even discover this until 2nd year so don’t worry if it takes you a while to find what clicks (no pun intended). 

4. Study techniques – This one I’m still trying to figure out, and I think that’s the key message here. There are so many study techniques – drawing diagrams, writing notes, typing notes, highlighting books, scrunching up notes and throwing them on the floor in frustration… Some techniques will work better for certain topics or exams so keep switching it up until something sticks. Don’t be afraid to ask other people in your year or the year above how they went about studying for a specific exam. They might have resources you had no idea about! Also, there are so many different study locations available to you in college. From the PAC rats (lol) among you who prefer to study on -2 of TBSI, to the more lofty notions of the window seat on Ussher 4, don’t be afraid to check out all the glorious study spots Trinity has to offer. Remember the key is to do what works for you! 

5. What is the ‘Drive™’ – The sooner you figure out this mystery the better. If, like me, you’d never heard of Google Drive before coming to college, it’s basically a file sharing platform that we use to share notes between students in our year and students in the years above and below. Your S2S mentors should set you up with the drives from their year, if not just remind them to at the start of the semester! If you find a drive/folder/file that is particularly useful, you can click ‘Add to My Drive’ to keep a copy yourself. Try to keep your drive relatively clean, because the drive is basically all you use in the run up to exams so you don’t want to be wasting time trying to find something (but if you are looking for something particular, you can also use the search bar at the top). If you 
   click into the drives from the years above you, you’ll find heaps of useful resources, notes, tips and tricks to get you through the year. HOWEVER, they have changed the course for you poor souls so double check that the resources you’re looking at are still relevant. 
    

6. Clubs and societies – 2 words: Get. Involved. 1st year is all about signing up to as many clubs and societies as possible at the Freshers fair and pushing yourself to try to go to at least one event held by each! Try not to worry about falling behind with study by going and trying out different societies, you need to be able to enjoy yourself in college without being consumed by the fear of failing. Also, after 2nd year you’ll be totally based in the hospitals so it can be harder to get involved with societies at that stage. 1st year really is your best time to go and try things and see what you enjoy. If you come out the other end of 1st year having done little other than study 24/7, you’re gonna be kicking yourself! 

7. Biosoc events – In our totally unbiased opinion, Biosoc events are the best!! As mentioned above, it’s important to go to other society events and meet people from other courses (or God knows what kind of complex you’ll develop) just try and not let it clash with Biosoc events #spon. In 1st year, you’ve got 219 fresh faces to try and get to know, it’s pretty tough introducing yourself 219 times in a lecture hall, only to realise it’s the same 5 people each time. That’s what the Biosoc events are for. They’re a great opportunity to meet a load of people in your year at once and help you find who you get on best with, so do try and prioritise them (that’s what our handy calendar is for, so keep an eye on our social media for exact dates!!) 

8. Community is key – Never underestimate the power of a good friend group, for splitting up the workload, for always being there for the 5th coffee of the day, and for having the ability to make you laugh when all you want to do is cry. It’s important to have some good friends in your course, because they really understand what you’re going through at any given time, and it’s crazy how close you get with your year as time goes on. Don’t sweat it if you’re halfway through the year and still feel like you haven’t found your tribe, 1st year is all about getting to know everyone in the year and then finding out who you gel with best, I would discourage you from getting too comfortable with one group straight away! Whatever you do, don’t start to isolate yourself if you’re getting too 
   stressed with work or can’t seem to find like-minded people, just keep saying hi to everyone (and coming to BioSoc events) and you will find your people! 

9. You have more time than you think, so use it wisely – Things are very full on from Day 1, so it’s easy to feel like you need to be studying a lot to keep a handle on things, and with any spare time you have you should be going out to different society events (mainly BIOSOC) and making all new friends like I told you. BUT I still have one more instruction to give you (then I’m done I promise). Don’t neglect to meet up with your old friends, don’t forget to keep exercising or doing what you used to enjoy, try and go home now and again if you’re not living at home, because although it may feel like you only have time for college, study and going out, you actually have a lot more time than you think, especially if you use your study time efficiently i.e. look up past papers early (don’t wait till the week before exams) and see what topics come up and how much detail you need to know about them, start preparing exam answers (I know that sounds so Junior Cert Irish but bear with me) and don’t just sit down and start scrolling through lecture slides or you will end up having no time to do anything else! 

10. It gets better, like so much better – Clichéd I know, but still it is nice to hear. 1st year is a great time for going out, trying new things and enjoying what college has to offer, but let’s face it, the workload is fairly bleak and most of the time it doesn’t feel at all like what you signed up to do, but you get used to the workload and get better at balancing things, and then by the time you get to 3rd year and start your clinical studies, all that basic science is finally worth it! Everyone says they start to enjoy studying a lot more once they get to 3rd year, so hang in there, and remember when studying gets dark and dreary, that it all pays off in the end! 

Best of luck with the year ahead, you’re gonna have a ball! Don’t forget to sign up to Biosoc, and we’ll see you at our events!!! <3 

Lots of Love 

BioSoc 152 xxx