Basics of Biostatistics and Informatics

This course consists of sitting in front of a computer loading up excel and typing in different programming commands to play around with numbers. It really doesn't get more difficult than that. The theory however can be very confusing, the lectures were no help for me and I stopped going after a few weeks.

When you start to read medical journals you will understand how much more important this subject is than it seems at the time. In fact anytime there are statistics presented in anything, newspapers, online articles etc. you will see how you are being attempted to be manipulated. A good knowledge in statistics is valuable for everybody so I suggest you learn it well.

Your patients will usually have a misinformed opinion of most medical practices and knowing the correct understanding statistically may help you save time and lives.

How to pass
Learn to use excel before you start, don't be the student that slows the whole group down because you don't know how to input a formula

Read the lecture notes in your own time, lectures are confusing and generally pointless but contain information on the tests

Attend every practical and learn how to perform each test, there are only about 6 - 8 in total

Learn the basic commands early on, at home is even better

Read the stats worksheet in the Physics Lab Manual

Do the practice questions in the Physics Lab Manual

Get and practice past papers, there are only so many questions that can be asked about this subject

Learn by heart the ROC analysis



The exams
Midterms:  Final:
 * 10 multiple choice questions
 * 2 calculations
 * 20 multiple choice questions
 * 4 calculations

The difficulties
Specific terms for different information types

Minus points for wrong answers in the exams

Terrible lectures

If you can't use Excel, learn quickly, it will be used a lot, there are many online tutorials. (YOU NEED TO KNOW EXCEL TO BE ABLE TO DO PHYSICS LABS QUICKLY AND EFFICIENTLY)

If you are in a slow group you may get to the end of the semester without doing all the tests, this is very bad, don't let it happen to you, help people who are struggling so they do they do not waste lab time redoing old tests

Conclusion
This is not a difficult subject and a bit of revision before the the mid-terms and final should be enough

When you take the public heath course in the 4th year you will re-encounter a lot of this in a more practical setting