Yr 3- Overview

Information here is based on experiences gathered from a series of upper class peers and going

to an informal orientation hosted. 

Let’s start off with what's most familiar and keep it simple. Year 3 comprises four courses, one

of which is year long.This means that your year long course (3314) would be running 

simultaneously at any time with one of the other three courses you are required to do. 

The three courses are distributed among the two semesters and are as follows:

• 3311- First course of semester one and focuses on aspects of Cardio and Resp.

• 3312- Second course of semester one and focuses on aspects of GIT, Repro and Renal.

• 3313- First course of semester two and focuses on aspects of Neuroscience, Endo, 

  and MBJ. 

Again 3314 is a year long course which starts at the beginning of semester one and ends

 at the end of semester two. In this case, semester two ends in March/ April. 

You must have already heard something about Clerkships in Year 3 so let’s tackle that next.

Clerkships are specific to the course 3314 and there is a total of five disciplines you would

experience as a clerkship: 

• Immunology

• Haematology 

• Chemical Pathology 

• Anatomical Pathology 

• Microbiology 

Not everyone would start with the same clerkship but everyone would’ve been in each clerkship a total of 

one time at the end of semester two. Clerkship content is holistic as it is designed to cover aspects 

of the systems that will be done in 3311, 3312 and 3313.

 

So essentially by the end of 3314 all the material you would’ve needed to know/cover, would be

done regardless of which clerkship you started with and which block/course the clerkship fell in. 

When hearing persons describe this, they expressed how difficult it was to learn about systems in 

3312 (GIT and Renal)  while presently doing a clerkship, i.e. Anatomical Pathology Clerkship,  

in 3311 on different systems (Cardio and Resp). However it is noteworthy that end of clerkship exams are 

specific to ONLY what is taught during the specific clerkship. These end of clerkship exams

go towards your coursework mark for 3314 as well as your pharm quizzes, OSPE and OSCE exams. 

So as we’re on the topic of Pharm quizzes, let's talk about the general layout of the courses 3311,

3312 and 3313. 

I’ve mentioned five disciplines thus far that clerkships focus on but what I need you to understand is

that for each block/ course these disciplines would also be done with the addition of Pharmacology

and Public Health & Primary Health Care. So this means for each course you would have general lectures

that the entire year group attends based on these disciplines specially for the systems involved in 

the course i.e. You would be doing:

• Immunology

• Haematology 

• Chemical Pathology 

• Anatomical Pathology 

• Microbiology

• Pharmacology

• Public Health & Primary Health Care. 

   

For each course, it would be based on the systems the course focuses on and the learning 

objectives outlined. So for each course PDQs (Progresive Disclosure Questions) would 

replace Spotters as 25% of the course work mark. 

 

The remaining 5% would be your PBL participation mark; yellow forms are not weighted this round. 

Therefore your total course work mark for each of the courses 3311, 3312 and 3313 would 

add up to a total of 30%. 

Just to be clear, pharm quizzes would be based on what is covered in the seminars and would 

be done in each block/ course but would go towards your 3314 course work mark. 

Points on style of exams:

• Pharm quizzes-MCQs (whether in person or online)

• PDQs- if in person; SAQs in AMphi A. If online,most likely MCQs* 

• Phase- MCQs (whether in person or online most likely) 

• OSPE- MCQs; if in person then in Amphi A. If online, asynchronous. 

• OSCE- in person* 

Additional Notes:

• A part of the Anatomical Pathology clerkship evaluation in addition to the exam is a Case 

  Study Presentation. This is where you are placed in  groups and given a specific case study. 

  You are required to do relevant research and present as a group however at the end

  each group member would be asked 2-3 questions individually. 

• Public Health & Primary Care is important. This should not be neglected as content 

  from the lectures come on PDQs and are worth a substantial amount of marks. 

  Marks that add up. 

• Collaborating with peers in different clerkships and in the year group as a whole is

  really important. 

Cycle to expect:

Clerkship Exam -> Pharm Quiz -> PDQ

There may be occasions where two of these items may be in the same week. 

Or even before this general cycle like in the case of pharm quizzes.  

Resources:

• Anatomical Path; Pathoma

• Haematology; Hoffbrand textbook

• Osmosis 

• OSCE: Geeky Medics, Mcleod's