Degree Life - First Year as A Pharmacy Student in IIUM

Assalamualaikum and hello everyone!

Today is 28/6, and the result for our second semester examination was released at 5 p.m. Alhamdulillah, although I still didn't achieve my target GPA but I achieved my another target. And OMG I scored A for Organic Chemistry doh hahahahhaha (I'll describe briefly about each subject for the first year later in this post).

This post is actually to document my journey as a first-year student of Kulliyyah of Pharmacy, IIUM. (Btw, please hafal how the spelling of kulliyyah is because it's annoying bila dalam report ke dalam assignment ke salah eja and ada lecturer potong markah kalau salah eja lol). I hope it will give a little insight into how will your life be if you are expecting to be one of the KOP students!

First of all, set your intention right. This may sound cliché but you know, it's real.

Gambar full bilik takde la pulak huhu 

Tu dia masih nampak bulan. Nanti time TaWe kena bawak everything you need for the whole day sebab akan stay kat OCD pagi sampai malam okay?

P/s: The talks during TaWe maybe nampak macam boring tapi take note la mana yang penting. Finance, ITD, curriculum talk, library, IIUM clinic apa semua tu. So nanti bila kena deal with all those thing takde la terpinga-pinga. Nak bayar yuran pun tak reti padia, pastu duk bising kata talks time TaWe takde input pape pun sebenarnya, hang yang ignorant takmau ambik peduli pastu bising. Ha kan dah terbebel.

1. White Coat Ceremony
Okay first of all, during TaWe (after all the talks), there will be a White Coat Ceremony for all first-year students of KOP. As the name suggests, yes everyone should wear a white coat or a lab coat wtv. The TaWe committees will remind the students. White Coat Ceremony is a welcoming-ceremony-kind-of conducted by IPhA, not the TaWe committees. There will be a short briefing, speech from the Dean and also a bai'ah session. (Yes, another bai'ah ceremony). And every batch has their own name, it is Rx(your intake year - 1). For example, we registered in September 2017 so our batch is Rx16 which means we're the 16th batch. What is Rx? Ha sila Google ;)

There will be a briefing on your curriculum structure. Please give your full attention on this briefing okay?

After the ceremony, it was the photography session!

All pictures of White Coat Ceremony is credited to Ipha Press.

Then, on the first-second week, please expect more briefings :) (But not as much as in TaWe). There will be IPhA, ALPHA, MyPSA briefing, RxBuddies talk, lab briefing, KOPSHEC briefing.

2. Class and Timetable

Contoh timetable. It changes weekly. Bukan tetap setiap Selasa pukul 9 ada Anatomy, gittew.
Tapi uni required courses macam UNGS, tilawah tu selalunya tetap.

Sebesar-besar KOP ni, ada 3 je lecture halls (+1 for postgrad students) and an auditorium. Setiap batch duduk dalam satu lecture hall (takde section macam CFS dulu) and if I am not mistaken, akan rotate annually. But, disebabkan Rx16 members punyalah ramai (currently 140), we are going to be in the auditorium until our final year :) 

As you know, pharmacy students are among the busiest students in IIUMK. Tapi, jangan biar mindset tu leads to negativity, like what happened to me. But still, everyone wears different shoes right? Paling penting, niat dan berlapang dada. 

And please, please avoid la masuk kelas lambat. It's annoying. Ada lecturers tak suka, ada yang dah bagitahu awal2 kalau dah lambat 10 minit better tak payah masuk lulz. Kalau lambat datang untuk lab, ada lecturer memang tak bagi masuk ha terkontang-kanting la kau cari slot nak ganti kalau tak 0 marks for practical haaa. Tapi kalau sedar diri tu dah lambat datang class masuklah ikut pintu belakang so tak distract semua orang okay? Ni dah la masuk lambat, ikut pintu depan, berlenggang pergi seat yang at the other side of the lecture hall pfftt. Try la to be punctual.

One more thing, please acknowledge the lecturers' title. Dr ke, Brother ke Madam ke. Most of them are Dr btw, so avoid calling them Bro / Madam because of ummm respect?

3. Subjects

Disclaimer: what I am going to write is basically what was implemented during our year so I don't know if it is going to be the same as yours but if you are reading this in 1-2 years after I posted this entry then I think there will not be much different. And I suggest you guys to ask the seniors about the Class Rep and PIC system to avoid confusion which may lead to chaos ;) 

In Semester 1, these are the subjects that you are required to take (setiap subject ada few lecturers yang ajar) :

Update 2019: The study plan for the upcoming batches starting from Rx18 will be different, so there'll be some outdated info here.

1. ISLAMIC INPUT IN PHARMACY 

This subject is interesting. Basically, you learn about the rulings/fiqh on medical issues such as abortion, fasting, organ donation, alcohol usage, vaccines, smoking, animal trial etc. Tapi chapter awal is about the Islamic history of pharmacy. Dah nama pun Islamic Input, so bersedia la kena hafal ayat-ayat Al-Quran & Hadiths. Ada quiz, assignment, seminar presentation. Final exam got no MCQ. 

Oh, during our time, the assignment is individual, which I love. And the assignment requires you to choose a lecturer to be your supervisor (is this the term?) lol. Setiap lecturer ada topic dia sendiri and there will be few students for each lecturer, ikutlah dia nak berapa. And, bukan semua lecturers yang assigned for the assignment tu ajar kita time first sem. And as expected, yang pernah ajar kita and students rasa macam baik menjadi rebutan. So, Iman and I chose a lecturer yang kitorang tak tahu pun siapa dia hahahahha so random sebab time nak rebut and isi the Google Sheet, we were at Tunas Manja, busy with grocery shopping lol. Seminar tu pun kena assigned under a lecturer jugak tapi this time it is a group task.

2. ANATOMY & HISTOLOGY

Subject ni pun best jugak. Learn about the organs and systems in our body. Time lab please focus and give attention because nanti ada OSPE for final exam which is a practical exam. Gross anatomy lab will be held at KOM and that is super interesting because there are real cadavers and you can touch the real organ. Ada quizzes, ada assignment (just a simple one). Final ada MCQ and essays and in case you don't know, MCQ here is on "true or false" basis. Not "one best answer" (This applies only to final exams, quizzes may vary according to the lecturers). And the best part is, MCQ uses minus marking system :))))))

 Example:

Question 1:

a.

b.

c.

d.

e.

Five questions. You answered all, got 4 correct answers and 1 wrong answer. Your mark will be only 3 because 4 correct answers - 1 wrong answer. So, nak selamat mana yang tak tahu tu tinggal je tak payah jawab lol. Kalau tak jawab tak potong markah.

That's me holding a real brain ;)

3. FUNDAMENTALS OF PHYSIOLOGY

This subject requires a lot of memorising (of course understanding too), basically you learn how the systems in the body work. Got quizzes, lab reports but I can't recall if we had an assignment for this subject. Final pun ada MCQ and essays. 

4. PHYSICAL PHARMACY 1
As the name suggests, this subject is about the physical and technical part in pharmacy such as solubility, acid base, partition coefficient, colligative properties etc. No quiz at all (so subject ni selalu jadi anak tiri lol), ada assignment, labs and lab reports. Final rasa macam ada MCQ (what happened to my memory duhhh) and essays.

Kahoot session during tutorial class. I'm pretty good at this hhahahahah I won twice for Phy Pharm class and also I got the first place in Organic Chem hehehehe.

5. INTRODUCTION TO PHARMACY PRACTICE
Subject ni pun best! Walaupun banyak definition nak kena hafal, tapi ada lab and during the lab session we will prepare some medications (the simple ones of course such as normal saline, syrups, calamine lotion). Ada quiz, assignment and for final ada practical exam. During the practical exam, after you're done with your task, you need to present your medication to the examiner. Tips: Please give salam first before you start with your so called patient-consultation. Oh, time kitorang ada hospital visit to IIUMMC. We got to know how the in-patient and out-patient pharmacy operate. Lepas tu kena buat report kahkahkah.

6. THE ISLAMIC WORLD VIEW, KNOWLEDGE AND CIVILIZATION

Ni one of the UNGS subjects, ada 3 UNGS kena ambik sepanjang belajar kat KOP and subject ni takde final exam so workload banyak dekat assignment and presentation la tapi insya-Allah okay je.

There is also a slight change for the upcoming batches for your curriculum structure but I think you guys should receive the news during White Coat Ceremony later (rahsia jeng jenggg). The first semester is the time for you to find out which study method is suitable for you because the life is not the same as your CFS life. I tried a few, pergi library lepas class (tapi ada hari yang tak productive sebab dah letih kat class kan), buat flashcards, tampal nota kat dinding, tweet kahkahkah.

P/s: Time tutorial class sila focus and bagi perhatian (patutnya every lecture pun kena camtu) and take note bila lecturer cakap macam "you might want to have a further reading on this topic" etc. Some lecturers talk very fast and some of them are not Malaysians so some of us might be struggling to understand their accent. My suggestion: guna voice recorder kat phone to record the lectures so at least boleh tahu apa yang lecturers cakap kalau time dalam class terberangan ke tertidur ke (been there done that lol). 

Oh, do you know about Microsoft OneNote? I baru tahu yang dia boleh voice record and in the same time kita type notes. And ada siap dah division dia. I only know about this thing when I was already halfway through the second semester.

But I don’t think I’m going to use this software for the upcoming semesters sebab dalam recording selain bunyi suara lecturer ada juga bunyi I’m typing, I cannotttttt rasa macam terganggu sikit. Tapi kalau jenis tak kisah okay je.

4. Books

About the books, lecturers akan bagitahu buku apa diorang pakai. For Physiology, it is recommended to buy the book from the lecturer herself. Subjects lain try tanya senior if they have the photocopy version. Islamic Input tak pakai buku pun. My advice: dapat je matrics card terus pergi register as library member sebab kalau tak register tak boleh borrow books from the library. There are few copies of the books in the library tapi kena pandai cari. Dekat student lounge pun kadang-kadang ada yang wakaf punya tapi ada jugak orang yang nak jual buku (usually ada price tag) letak kat situ so pepandai la korang cari. 

5. Societies
IPhA which stands for IIUM Pharmacy Students' Society is basically one of the students' societies or here in IIUM, they are known as Kulliyyah Based Society (KBS). ALPHA is the alumni's, MyPSA is the national society of pharmacy students.

Nanti akan ada EGM and AGM organised by IPhA. EGM ni macam membincangkan perkara berbangkit which the committees will ask for every batch to come with their motion to be discussed in the meeting. AGM pulak is more to the wrapping up session for the current tenure of IPhA as there will be reports presentation by the secretary, treasurer etc and announcement of the new line up for IPhA, which the voting was done before the meeting. Nanti ada la korang kena calonkan your friends for certain position in the line-up (you can also nominate yourself btw) andddd guess who was elected kahkahkahkah.

Time TaWe nanti ada satu hari yang every society kat IIUMK akan bukak booth kat OSC (Client Day kot nama dia) to promote their society so bolehlah pergi tengok kalau rasa nak join. Ada banyak, we have PROFAZ, PEERS (macam pembimbing rakan sebaya kot), FUSCHIA for those who love arts, Faciteam, Silat, Pengakap (tapi kat sini nama dia lain), iMasjid, ARC and banyakkk lagi.
During my first year, I held few positions; Head of InfoPub for Rx16 Lineup, IPhA Treasurer, Pharmily Day Secretary, iMasjid committee, subcomm NPSC. Tapi alhamdulillah hidup lagi walaupun kekadang mental breakdown sikit kahkahkah. Faciteam tu bagi nama je lepas tu masuk group WhatsApp tapi tak pernah join sebab selalunya meet-up or activity dia lama, 2-3 jam :') Ada jugak students yang dah lah pegang memacam jawatan, malam ada activity lagi (silat, language class etc) fuh power betul :’) Pasal language class tu, I’m not really sure what classes are offered, tapi yang tahu ada Mandarin, Korean, Arabic and Japanese. Kena bayar RM 50.

6. Food

About the food, rasanya semester 1 2018/2019 cafe dekat KOP tu takde tender lagi (sama macam time kitorang sem 1 lol). Siapa rajin bolehlah balik mahallah for lunch, yang kurang rajin boleh pergi KOM or KAHS. KAHS punya bubur ayam and pecel lele sedapppp, ada spaghetti bolognese jugak but it is too saucy for my liking. Ada yang pergi makan time recess 10.00 a.m. tu, ada yang tapau sesiap from cafe mahallah before datang kelas. 12.30 p.m. - 2.00 p.m. tu sempat je nak pergi makan pastu solat pastu sisters nak touch up lulz.

Kalau makan yang selain time class, banyak je kedai makan kat Kuantan ni. Depan campus je ada Vanggey and Burger King. KFC and McD pun sebelah-sebelah je, before sampai bandar. Asama and Jaman Tory pun sebelah-sebelah. Asama punya Mango Susu is da bomb! Em apa lagi eh, Nasi Lemak Shahputra a.k.a Nasi Lemak Anjing, Lilawadi yang tak pernah bukak setiap kali pergi, Jungle Foodcourt, ABC. Dekat Tunas Manja yang paling dekat dengan UIA tu ada satu kedai makan apentah nama dia but ‘sayang’ something-something hahaha tu pun best tapi rasanya tiap kali lalu sekali dua je bukak :’) I jarang keluar semata-mata nak pergi makan so tu je lah yang tahu setakat ni hahahahaha.
Kalau nak keluar selalunya orang naik Grab/MyCar etc sebab bas Rapid tak masuk dalam sampai Mahallah. Kalau nak naik bas, kena tunggu kat bus stop kat luar main gate sana.

7. Activities

Interbatch Game (IBG) will be held in this semester. So siapa yang berbakat dalam sports tu bolehlah join. ISCAR which is IIUM Sports Carnival (inter-kulliyyah) selalunya second semester. Ada jugak programmes organised by IPhA and other societies. Sometimes ada talk and the speakers quite well-known. Inche Gabanna (camtu ke eja nama dia), Dr. Beni. Tapi satu je la isu (to me) banyak talk pasal cinta. Ye la memang la tak semestinya cinta=couple but hmm next? hahahaha. Tapi ada sekali tu KOS buat forum, I don't really remember the exact title tapi something macam Islam and Science. Yang tu I pergi :P

Attending Madam Rohani's son's wedding at OCD. Madam Rohani taught us Pharm Prac tapi dia dah pencen.

Time ni Closing Ceremony for Mahallah Carnival Week and UNIC datang. I wasn't a fan and pergi sebab ikut Ilah hahahahaha bila part dia ajak reramai nyanyi guess who kept her mouth shut sebab tak tahu lyrics lol

Ni BBQ session which we did before the final exam.

And this semester jugak (usually nak dekat hujung semester) the first year students will start planning for Pharmily Day that will be held during Semester 2 (I'll write about this event in next entry). It's the tradition, first-year students will be organising this event. And usually every year IIUM will be the host for one of the MyPSA programmes such as NPDC, NPSC. So, this is your chance to be involved in national level programmes.

8. Others

My advice is: bila dah masuk degree ni, please act like a degree student. Most of the assignments and lab sessions are in group, so please be a good team player. Please take your task seriously, put a lot of effort. Jangan lecturer dah cakap jangan tiru intro dalam lab manual untuk letak dalam report tapi itulah yang kau buat. Give attention to details macam formatting, grammar etc. Takkan setiap kali orang nak compile tu nak kena fix your mistake? 
Yes, everyone makes mistakes. Takde siapa nak marah kalau kita buat silap because everyone is here for learning, but when dah tegur dah cakap elok-elok but still no improvement, still buat salah yang sama every single time. And siap gelak lagi bila orang bagi guideline on how to actually write a lab report like a uni student, I really don't understand la how this type of human can exist. Some subjects punya final exam questions are really tough (tapi first sem ni relax lagi) so scoring in Continuous Assesment is one of the ways to secure your grades. And that is the reason kena buat bebetul dalam CA, okay?

Pesanan dari akak Welfare IPhA: Sila jaga kebersihan and jangan buang sampah merata-rata. Rasanya setiap lecture hall ada tong sampah and dekat audi tu ada dua (at both sides of the audi) and dekat setiap pintu masuk pun ada.

Say hi to Sis Marsya (in green scarf)

I guess for the second semester kena tulis entry lain sebab macam dah panjang hahahaha. See you in the next post! If you have any inquiries or nak lecture notes for semester 1 in case nak study awal boleh comment (tapi selalunya tak perasan sebab tak check on daily basis), or you can tweet / email me at athirahaziz08@gmail.com. 

Update 2019: I really don't know what's wrong with Blogger nowadays but I can't reply to comments, either using my account or as anonymous. I need to log in into Blogger using private tab in my phone and that's somehow inconvenient for me. Therefore, if you have any question, feel free to DM me on Twitter or email me. Don't worry, usually I'll reply to you as soon as I received the email (if I am not busy, which is rare if I am in the campus) but insya-Allah it will not take more than 24 hours. Plus, I am not notified if people left comments in my blogposts, so if you need immediate reply, feel free to contact me as mentioned above ;)

Bye!