Unit Synopsis
This unit will provide you with foundation skills for work in histological and cytological (anatomical pathology) pathology departments. You will discuss and perform diagnostic histological techniques including tissue preparation, fixation, routine and special staining, sectioning and mounting. You will also prepare cytological specimens. Through your participation in practical sessions, you will develop a high level of skill in efficient use of microscope optics for examination of prepared slides. You will be able to apply quality assurance processes and quality improvement measures.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 2 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 2 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Pre-requisites: BMSC11001 Human Body Systems 1 AND BMSC11002 Human Body Systems 2 OR BMSC11010 Human Anatomy and Physiology 1 AND BMSC11011 Human Anatomy and Physiology 2 OR BMSC11007 Medical Anatomy and Physiology 1 AND BMSC11008 Medical Anatomy and Physiology 2 Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School |
Compulsory Residential School View Unit Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 2 - 2026
Term 2 - 2026 Profile
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
To see assessment details from an earlier availability, please search via a previous term.
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site.
Term 2 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 100.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 19.05% response rate.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Source: SUTE
Straight forward and fantastic material structure to help with learning.
Maintain the structure while making minor updates.
Structure of learning maintained, with some updates to the tutorial material and examination formats.
Source: SUTE and self reflection
Increase exam preparation to break down style of questions for students and marking distribution.
Prepare the tutorials with marking allocations in each question.
Tutorials updated to break down the question styles, including mark allocations for question types.
Source: SUTE evaluation
"I love the crossword puzzles! Please add more of them."
The UC will provide crossword quizzes in each week of learning material to helps students with rote learning of terminology.
In Progress
Source: SUTE evaluation and self reflection
"I love the layout of your learning material and the residential school."
Maintain the Moodle lessons layout. Consider exploring Moodle books as well. Keep the residential school layout.
In Progress
Source: Self reeflection
Online quizzes are potentially less rigid and authentic assessments. Students tend to perform well in these tasks, while performing less favourably in final examinations.
Reduce the overall weighting of progress quizzes. Keep progress quiz early in the term to keep students engaged, but consider the weighting of all other assessment items.
In Progress
To see Learning Outcomes from an earlier availability, please search via a previous term.