C5.12 Mathematical physiology.

TT 2020 Revision classes

You will have been inundated, as have I, by emails explaining what is happening this term. The exams are open book but will look more or less like normal exams. I will put the latest edition of the printed lecture notes on the course web page.

The revision system consists of four parts:

1. Past papers. These are online, and I have looked back as far as 2014 to see what is in them. The syllabus has not changed much in that time. It currently comprises ion transport, Hodgkin-Huxley/Fitzhugh-Nagumo, CICR, heart (pump/electrochemical), respiration, blood cells. The 2019 paper was set by me, the 2015-2018 papers by the previous lectiurer Sarah Waters, and the 2011-2014 papers by Eamonn Gaffney. So the question style has evolved in that time. 

As the style of this year’s questions will be evidently in similar style to that of the problem sheets, it is important to revise these also.

2. Past paper written answers. The answers for 2019 are online, also six answers from 2014 and 2015. I intend to write out answers to some more recent questions also, and will post them here if nowhere else (ideally by end of week 1). The ones I am contemplating at the moment are 2017 q 3, 2014 q 2 and 3, no doubt there will be others. 

3. Video solutions to past paper questions. We have been told we can have up to 60 minutes of these per course. It is suggested to omit bookwork and just do the ‘last bits’ of the questions, where calculations take place, with 5 to 10 minutes on each. That would seem to allow for about six such questions. I will aim to talk through the 2019 questions, and others as in 2 where I have written out the answers. I think the videos will consist of slides of the written answers with my voice over; if the technology works.

4. Interactive Q and A sessions on Microsoft Teams. There will be four of these in weeks 2 to 5. We’ll see how that goes. Ideally, you’ll need to email me in advance if you have a question.

Andrew Fowler