The University of Otago does not endorse external providers that promise to help students gain entry to our health professional programmes.
Some private companies offer tutoring and resources that they claim will help students gain entry to Otago's Health Sciences professional programmes through the Health Sciences First Year pathway (HSFY).
These external providers are not affiliated with the University, and we do not endorse them in any way. We do not recommend that applicants pay for their services, and we advise our students to be wary of claims that these providers make.
We are committed to supporting all students to succeed
As a HSFY student, you will have access to lots of support within the University, including:
- Teaching staff in your HSFY papers
- Residential college study tutorials and support
- The Locals Collegiate Community (for students not living in a residential college)
- Disability Information and Support
- PASS study sessions
- Student Learning Development workshops
For Medicine applicants, free UCAT preparation resources are available from Pearson, who administer the test:
Practice tests and question banks – UCAT ANZ
Why we do not recommend external organisations
- These companies have no liability if they teach you incorrect information or offer you poor advice.
- All HSFY students already have access to many resources, including practice test and exam questions.
- You are much better off focusing on the educationally-designed activities and resources that we provide in class and online for each of our HSFY papers, rather than investing in workshops run by people who have no responsibility for your academic performance.
- Some of these companies provide students with “notes taken by A+ students”, but such notes are of little value if you have not taken the time to study and make sense of the course material for yourself.
- Attending additional external tutorials uses up time that could be spent doing individual reflective work such as revising course content, working on assignments, or group study.
- “Testimonials” provided by private companies from students who did get into their programme of choice are not necessarily evidence that private tutoring helped them get in. These students' success likely reflects their individual abilities, rather than the private tutorials' effectiveness.
More information
For detailed information about each programme's admissions process, visit:
Guidelines for admission to Health Sciences professional programmes
Please contact AskOtago with any questions:
Tel 0800 80 80 98
Email ask@otago.ac.nz