Biomedical Sciences

You are required to select an elective option course that you will study in Semester One. It is important that you submit your choice using the Elective Course Form no later than 5 September 2024.

This page provides more information about the full suite of elective and core courses available in Year One to help you make your choice. 

While you only need to select one elective, it is important that you provide your first choice and second choice, should your first choice not be possible.  You will have the opportunity to select your course options when you meet with your Student Adviser. 

 Elective Course Form

Core and Elective courses

Each of the seven biomedical degree programmes (Anatomy & Development, Biomedical Sciences, Infectious Diseases, Neuroscience, Pharmacology, Physiology, and Reproductive Biology) follows the same curriculum in first and second year.

First year courses are designed to facilitate your transition into university teaching and learning methods while fostering the development of key attributes and skills (including essay writing, presentation, team working, data handling, library research, independent learning, deductive reasoning, use of statistics and mathematics.) 

In each year of the Biomedical Sciences Degree programmes, you are required to obtain 120 credit points by passing selected courses.  Year One will typically be made up of six courses each worth 20 credit points; three to be taken in each semester. These courses include “core” and “elective” courses. 

A “core” course is compulsory for all Biomedical Sciences students and must be passed to ultimately graduate with a degree in Biomedical Sciences. 

In addition to the core courses, you will choose from a selection of “elective” courses.   

Core courses

Our BSc. degree programmes require all first year students take three core courses:

• Biomedical Sciences 1 (taken in first semester)
• Medical Biology 1 (taken in second semester)
• Molecules, Genes and Cells 1 (taken in second semester)  

These are compulsory and you will be pre-registered on these courses for the start of the new academic year. 

Chemistry courses

In addition to the core Biomedical Sciences courses it is highly recommended that you take both Biological Chemistry 1A and Biological Chemistry 1B.  

All students will be pre-registered for both Biological Chemistry 1A and Biological Chemistry 1B.  

All students must study at least one chemistry course.  

However, if you are very confident in your proficiency in chemistry and would like to open up elective course choices in Semester 1 an alternative course to Biological Chemistry 1A may be taken.  

If you would like to open up an elective course choice in Semester 2 an alternative to Biological Chemistry 1B may be taken. 

If you are unsure about your chemistry proficiency, or wish to discuss your chemistry option, you can discuss this with the Year 1 Cohort Lead during Welcome Week.  Typically, students not taking Biological Chemistry 1A would have an A Grade Advanced Higher or A* A-level passes in Chemistry.  

Table 1 below provides an overview of the suite of core and elective courses for Year One.

Highly recommended elective courses

In addition to the three core courses and two chemistry courses listed in the table above, you will select one additional elective course for study in Semester One.  

The following have been the most popular elective course choices for students on your programme.  BMS students generally enjoy and perform well in these courses, and you are encouraged to choose from this list:

Choosing your elective

Please complete the Elective Course Form to submit your additional elective by 5 September 2024 .

While you only need to select one elective, it is important that you provide your first choice and second choice, should your first choice not be possible. 

Elective Course Form

Choosing outwith the highly recommended elective courses

You can choose your elective from the wider University catalogue.  Many students, for example, wish to take a Language course as their elective.  However, there are a number of criteria that must be met for an elective course to be approved for your programme of study such as credit load, credit level, delivery period, location and timing.  

The University Course Options Hub can help you to explore alternative options. If you wish to choose a course outwith the elective listing above you can discuss your selection with the Year 1 Cohort Lead Team or Student Advisor following the Welcome Meeting on Tuesday 10 September.  Language courses in particular can be very popular, and to have the best chance of getting onto a course you should discuss those options with your Student Advisor as soon as possible. 

University Course Options Hub