3rd Year Term 1 Review
BIOC 302 - General Biochemistry class average = 71
This course deals with metabolism of Fat/lipids/ nucleic acids. Frankly speaking, I was reluctant to take this course. Apparently, this course was notorious for being one of the difficult courses offered at UBC. However, it turns out that I enjoyed it a lot. It is partly because other courses that I've been taking were not of my interest but also the whole metabolism pathway was pretty interesting and even applicable too! I think people who enjoye CHEM 233 (Organic Chemistry) or BIOL 201 (Intro Biochem) will love this course. It is true that the difficulty of the exams are quite high, but if you pace yourself well enough that you are able to solve the tutorial questions on your own beforehand, I think you are pretty much set. There is much stress due to how the mark is distributed (MT 50% + Final 50%), but you can always make up on the final exam! I've heard many people saying that the nucleic acid portion that Dr.Maurus is in charge of is slightly easier to handle and I totally agree with that. So don't be too depressed if you didn't do so well in the Mid term :)
BIOL 209 - Biodiversity of Algae, fungi and bryophytes class average = 70
I had to take this course because every other organismal studies were full :( This course is very time consuming in that it has a lab portion + 3 projects. The write up for the project is pretty easy but the hard part is finding an organism to do a project on... I usually had to spend a whole day looking for specimen. The midterm exam and final exam were hard and lab exams are also hard to get a high mark. Honestly, if I put the same amount of time studying that I put into this course to some other courses, I am sure I would have gotten A+. This course did change how I would normally view algae, bryophytes and fungi though, but that was pretty much it.
BIOL 230 - Fundamentals of Ecology class average = 74
I never thought I would take an Ecology course ever again, but I ended up taking it (You have to take all the 2nd year requirements to be promoted to 4th year). Concepts are not difficult to understand but the exam questions are quite tricky. However, if you get used to how the instructors make exam questions, you will learn to prepare efficiently for the course. When I took it, Brodie and Malin were teaching this course - the first mid term I had 50% but I was able to do much better in the 2nd mid term and the final exam having identified what type of questions will be asked for the exams. This course also has a lab portion. You have to write 3 lab reports in total, and those lab reports take ridiculous amount of time - there are just too much data to handle. What I would recommend is to skim through the lab report questions before doing the experiments and try to get answers from the TAs while you are walking to the site with the group. This way, you would be able to get a better grasp at writing the report.
ps: it's not a formal report but you are to answer the questions asked and display the data.
BIOL 234 - Fundamentals of Genetics class average = 68
The course deals with Mendel's law, sex linkage, linkage, epigenetics, polysomy and cancer. I really enjoyed this course, especially the part on epistasis. The course content is very interesting but the exams can be a little tricky. Craig manipulates the questions so that one question covers multiple themes covered in the course. The first mid term is pretty straight forward but watch out for the 2nd mid term and the final exam!
This course deals with metabolism of Fat/lipids/ nucleic acids. Frankly speaking, I was reluctant to take this course. Apparently, this course was notorious for being one of the difficult courses offered at UBC. However, it turns out that I enjoyed it a lot. It is partly because other courses that I've been taking were not of my interest but also the whole metabolism pathway was pretty interesting and even applicable too! I think people who enjoye CHEM 233 (Organic Chemistry) or BIOL 201 (Intro Biochem) will love this course. It is true that the difficulty of the exams are quite high, but if you pace yourself well enough that you are able to solve the tutorial questions on your own beforehand, I think you are pretty much set. There is much stress due to how the mark is distributed (MT 50% + Final 50%), but you can always make up on the final exam! I've heard many people saying that the nucleic acid portion that Dr.Maurus is in charge of is slightly easier to handle and I totally agree with that. So don't be too depressed if you didn't do so well in the Mid term :)
BIOL 209 - Biodiversity of Algae, fungi and bryophytes class average = 70
I had to take this course because every other organismal studies were full :( This course is very time consuming in that it has a lab portion + 3 projects. The write up for the project is pretty easy but the hard part is finding an organism to do a project on... I usually had to spend a whole day looking for specimen. The midterm exam and final exam were hard and lab exams are also hard to get a high mark. Honestly, if I put the same amount of time studying that I put into this course to some other courses, I am sure I would have gotten A+. This course did change how I would normally view algae, bryophytes and fungi though, but that was pretty much it.
BIOL 230 - Fundamentals of Ecology class average = 74
I never thought I would take an Ecology course ever again, but I ended up taking it (You have to take all the 2nd year requirements to be promoted to 4th year). Concepts are not difficult to understand but the exam questions are quite tricky. However, if you get used to how the instructors make exam questions, you will learn to prepare efficiently for the course. When I took it, Brodie and Malin were teaching this course - the first mid term I had 50% but I was able to do much better in the 2nd mid term and the final exam having identified what type of questions will be asked for the exams. This course also has a lab portion. You have to write 3 lab reports in total, and those lab reports take ridiculous amount of time - there are just too much data to handle. What I would recommend is to skim through the lab report questions before doing the experiments and try to get answers from the TAs while you are walking to the site with the group. This way, you would be able to get a better grasp at writing the report.
ps: it's not a formal report but you are to answer the questions asked and display the data.
BIOL 234 - Fundamentals of Genetics class average = 68
The course deals with Mendel's law, sex linkage, linkage, epigenetics, polysomy and cancer. I really enjoyed this course, especially the part on epistasis. The course content is very interesting but the exams can be a little tricky. Craig manipulates the questions so that one question covers multiple themes covered in the course. The first mid term is pretty straight forward but watch out for the 2nd mid term and the final exam!
Comments
Post a Comment