Careers Page 

University of Newcastle Medical School Workshop

The University of Newcastle (UON)  held a forum for potential Medical students each year in their beautiful facilities in Tamworth. UON is one of the partners with UNE in the JMP or Joint Medical Program. This forum is open to all students from years 10 to 12. 

The Guyra Central School Careers Adviser, Mrs Helen Doyle, Mr Tim Lloyd and a Year 12 student, Cordy Lloyd attended the very informative 2 hour session.

The students from across the region had the opportunity to practice a medical simulation on one of the $150,000 + mannequins. The mannequins are extremely life like with many features, for example moan in pain and have arteries for taking blood pressure, etc.

We all had a go at practising some UCAT style questions! These were tricky and potential medical students must sit the UCAT exam to enrol in a medical degree at any university in Australia other than James Cook in QLD.

We heard from current medical students about their pathway to medicine, each story was different, with only 1 student starting straight from Year 12. We also heard from a JMP Graduate who is now a consultant at Tamworth Base Hospital in Emergency Medicine as well as lecturing at the JMP. She told us that she enrolled in medicine from Year 12, decided it wasn’t for her, swapped to another uni degree, which included units on Glass Blowing, before deciding that she did indeed want to become a doctor.

If your child is interested in a Medical Career please get them to make an appointment with Mrs Helen Doyle (Guyra Central School,  Careers Adviser).

Challenge time........

Now just to test you out!

An example Verbal Reasoning Question. Who can answer this question? 

Email the answers to helen.doyle4@det.nsw.edu.au

The Mechanical Turk was a fake chess-playing machine, constructed and unveiled in 1770 by Wolfgang von Kempelen to impress the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. The Turk appeared to be able to play a strong game of chess against a human opponent, as well as perform the knight's tour, a puzzle that requires the player to move a knight to occupy every square of a chessboard exactly once. Until its destruction by fire, it was exhibited by various owners as an automaton, though it was eventually revealed to be an elaborate hoax.

Following word of its debut, interest in the machine grew across Europe. Kempelen, however, was more interested in his other projects and avoided exhibiting the Turk, often lying about the machine's repair status to prospective challengers. In the decade following its debut at Schönbrunn Palace, the Turk only played one opponent, Sir Robert Murray Keith, a Scottish noble, and Kempelen went as far as dismantling the Turk entirely following the match. Kempelen was quoted as referring to the invention as a "mere bagatelle", as he was not pleased with its popularity and would rather continue work on steam engines and machines that replicated human speech.

In 1781, Kempelen was ordered by Emperor Joseph II to reconstruct the Turk and deliver it to Vienna for a state visit from Grand Duke Paul of Russia and his wife. The appearance was so successful that Grand Duke Paul suggested a tour of Europe for the Turk, a request to which Kempelen reluctantly agreed. The Turk began its European tour in 1783, beginning with an appearance in France in April. Upon arrival in Paris in May 1783, it was displayed to the public and played a variety of opponents, including a lawyer named Mr. Bernard who was a second rank in chess ability. Following the sessions at Versailles, demands increased for a match with François-André Danican Philidor, who was considered the best chess player of his time. Moving to the Café de la Régence, the machine played many of the most skilled players, often losing, until securing a match with Philidor at the Académie des Sciences. While Philidor won his match with the Turk, Philidor's son noted that his father called it "his most fatiguing game of chess ever!" The Turk's final game in Paris was against Benjamin Franklin, who was serving as ambassador to France from the United States.

Question 1

Following the machine’s debut, Kempelen was reluctant to display the Turk because:

(A) The machine was undergoing repair.

(B) He had dismantled it following its match with Sir Robert Murray Keith.

(C) He preferred to spend time on his other projects.

(D) It had been destroyed by fire.

Question 2