1. In terms of workload how many hours would you have to study and work a week?
- It's like 12-16 contact hours a week, it's not too many
Studying depends on yourself. I make myself an assessment timetable at the beginning of each semester (when everything is due) and base my studying/work around that. It's really up to you how you want to approach it though.
2. Do you have any examples of how an assignment can be confusing or difficult?
3. examples of an assessment task in general?
OT isn't so straight forward sometimes. It's a low of evidence based practice, and there's always new research coming out.
You have to think of the person themself, their environment, their occupation/what they need/want to do, and how these fit all together to optimise their performance at something. We don't heal people like doctors, but we help people to do the things as independently as possible.
A lot of our assessments are case studies. So say for example you have a child with cerebral palsy who is starting school next year. What are the barriers to the child participating in the physical and social aspect of school life and what can you do about it. A lot of the assessments are based on things that you could be doing in the real world when you graduate, so the majority of them are really interesting
4. Is the job as an occupational therapist stressful? Well just from ur observations when you've been on placement at least because what if you're always really busy and you have to see many patients and do lots of administrative work on top of that?
It really depends on the type of job you have. You could be working in an acute ward where there is a high turnover rate and seeing 15 patients a day, trying to discharge them as fast as possible. Or you could be working in a community mental health centre where it may be pretty chilled in comparison. Every job is different and every day is different
After you see each patient/client/consumer (in most settings) you will need to document, for legal reasons and just as a form of communication. So there is a bit of admin work but you find ways of fitting it in.
5. I also don't like sitting much so how much paperwork, computer usage, sitting is there when you're studying in uni and when you become an occupational therapist? Or how much you think there will be for occupational therapists.
At uni: For almost every degree, you will have to study, meaning there will be quite a bit of paper work, computer usage, etc.
As I said before, OT is about evidence based practice, the best OT's constantly review the literature and find new ways to do things. You're also not going to know everything about every diagnosis and disease, or even about peoples cultures and contexts, etc. You will always be doing prep work and googling to gain a better understanding of how you can help someone, as everybody is different. E.g. Two people with a broken arm in exactly the same spot could come from different socioeconomic backgrounds, have different friendship groups, have different needs and wants, different jobs, different attitudes, etc, all which we need to take into consideration when we are working with someone. Paperwork and stuff also really depends on what type of job you get as an OT as well. (There are hundreds of different kinds of OT's)
6. For the lectures/tutorials etc. do you always have to attend? I mean five day a week of school is a lot and I want to get a part time job.
7. How many hours do you have to attend uni a week and if I choose to cram all my hours into two days can I do that instead of studying five hours everyday for five days a week?
8. At usyd is it approximately five hours per week and five days a week?
In the undergrad program at usyd, there is about 80-100 people in first year. It doesn't really leave a lot of room for different classes and stuff as it's not feasible. In saying that though i've never had a 5 day week, it's usually about 3. You don't have to attend any lectures (although it is encouraged that you do go). Tutes/prac attendance is usually 80% (however will vary depending on the unit). Also, I have 3 jobs
You'll be fine
9. What is the general demographic who studies occupational therapy? Sorry I used to get teased in primary school so I'm kinda paranoid it'll happen in uni. I hope you can answer this question for me.
Ummm it's like 70%/80% girls. Maybe 30% asian, 60% white, 10% other? Uni is a lot different from school
You shouldn't let demographics get in the way of doing what you want to do!
10. In terms of content how much memorising is there? Especially with anatomy and neuroscience. Are you able to compare them to a subject in high school such as biology or something a high school student can relate to? What about how many pages of content do I need to read and memorise? Compare it to the Hunger Games?Harry potter?
OT subjects: 5% memorisation
With science subjects you will both need to memorise and understand the content. If I was to compare it to a school subject (that I did), it would probably be year 11 chemistry. In year 11 chem (from memory), you were required to know the content but also know how to apply it, memorising alone isn't enough. The pages of content depends on the length of your notes.
11. Compared to studying for the HSC and prelim in high school is there more workload and is it harder in uni? I know this depends on what subjects I chose for high school but if I choose moderately scaling subjects.
It's definitely harder than high school (in my opinion), you have to keep ontop of things, and they go quite fast through the content. In high school, I did a lot of rote learning, however in uni this doesn't really work. You will find your own way of studying effectively (or maybe you already have), you'll find out what works in terms of studying and what doesn't
Let me know if you need me to clarify anything or if you have any more questions
