What's a good 300 level life science course?

[Guest mindteaser]

Hi,

 

I will be finishing my life science major this september and I am having a bit of a problem chosing the 300 level courses.

 

Part of the requirement for third year life sci students, is that we complete at least 1 -300 level course in biology, botany, genetics, psy or zoo.

The other requires us to competle one full course from Anatomy, biochemistry, genetics, immunology, mby, mgb, nutritional science, neuroscience, pharmacology, or phsyio.

 

I've considered bio351Y (intro to virology), however, I'm quite concerned by the fact that the exam (cummulative) is worth 50% of my final mark and is all M.C.

 

I also chose imm334y (intro to immunology), however, I've heard that the course load is very heavy and this might be unfavourable since I will be doing three social science courses with major reading/project requirements.

 

A friend suggested ana300y (intro to anatomy), apparently it is the most easy life science course to take? I was unable to access the course website. If you have taken it, I would appreciate any feedback.

 

Are there any other courses I should be considering? Any help would greatly be appreciated. Thanks in advance for your help!

[Guest turtle]

I would stay away from virology...I took the full year MBY (can't remember the number at the moment) course...1st semester bacteria, 2nd semester viruses...the bacteria section wasn't too bad, but the viruses were brutal (it has since been split into 2 half-year courses)...i don't know if the bio course is the same, but we basically had to memorize every little detail about every different type of virus (at least it felt like everything), and the exams were all M/C...you really had to know your stuff...plus, the teaching wasn't even good. You'd think that a course all about viruses/bacteria (and, to some extent, the diseases they cause) would be interesting, but, no...not at all. Just my opinion though...like i said the bio course might be different since it is designed for life sci majors not microbiology/genetics/biochem/immunology majors.

 

Not sure if any of that will help...good luck!

[Guest cheech10]

turtle - I also took the mby virology, and agree that it is tough, but the bio virology course (full year) is not nearly so bad from what I hear.

 

I vote for anatomy - the profs (Taylor and Wiley) are the same ones that teach anatomy and histo in year 1 meds, and are 2 of the best profs at UofT.

[Guest dogeatdog12]

I heard that BOt251 is easy? anyone take it?

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi guys,

 

I'm not sure if you're permitted to take any of the University College Health Sciences courses to fulfill your requirements. Given, however, that they're essentially epidemiology courses taughty by epidemiology faculty within the Faculty of Medicine, I'd imagine that they would count.

 

The Health Sciences program started last year and at that time I took UNI373H: Population Health. Quite an interesting course, but I'm a bit biased towards epi! They also have a range of courses which were introduced just this year too. In all, it might be a section of the course calendar that may be worth investigating.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest dogeatdog12]

I think the UNI courses are restricted to their students (health sci). What is epidemiology anyway? statistical analysis of medical conditions? where and where? what are the patterns?

 

by the way, has anyone taken BOT251Y or any other botany course? a friend of mine in immunology also suggested it.

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

The only restriction surrounding the UNI373 (population health) course is that you must also be taking UNI200. Both are good courses and the latter had no final exam nor tests when I took it.

 

As to epidemiology, one definition is that it's a branch of medical science devoted to the study of health in human populatons. Does that involve statistics? Usually.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest dogeatdog12]

thanks...

 

how can a course have no exam or tests? Are they all assignments or research papers? I can't imagine any essays for epidemiology. How does the course compare in terms of difficulty? workload? prof?

 

I know there's no such thing as a bird course but how easy is it?

 

thanks

[Guest turtle]

I took UNI373 (Population Health)...not last year but the year before (2001-2002 I guess). I was not in the UC program, nor was I required to take UNI200...but I did have to ask the instructor for special permission, which she gave quite willingly. (May have had something to do with the fact that I was applying for grad school in Epidemiology at the time.) To be honest the Pop Health course was incredibly easy, but also very interesting. I don't know what UNI200 is, but the pop health course doesn't really involve much traditional epidemiology at all (at least it didn't when i took it). We had to write a few assignments, one major paper, and do a presentation about our paper.

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

turtle is bang on with her description of UNI373. It seemed fairly easy, if you put some time and thought into those assignments, to end up with >90% on that course. Actually turtle, you must have been in my class! Where did you sit--in amongst all the Phys. Ed. students? On what topic did you do your final presentation? I always sat in the front right and did mine on reproductive assistance technologies.

 

UNI200Y was not much different. It had some very, very basic statistics in it (and they spent lectures showing you how to do a chi-sqaure analysis), but the biggest kick was the fact that our first test was a math quiz, worth 5 or 10% of our final mark. The most "challenging" component of this math quiz was long division--I kid you not. It was a serious joke. Furthermore, class attendance counted for 15% of the final mark. Again, another course where, if you took the assignments seriously, an A+ was not a problem. Who knew?

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest turtle]

haha....that's so funny! I also sat near the front, by myself since i didn't know anyone else in the class: usually second row, on the left (when facing the prof). I often came in just as class was starting 'cause i had a class in vic just before it. I am trying to remember your presentation, but am not having much luck...i'm sure if I saw you though i would recognize you. I did my presentation on the relationship between Health & Human Rights.

 

Too funny...maybe some day soon we will be classmates again!!

 

*turtle*

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hey there turtle,

 

Health and human rights, eh? I think I recall that. It's a teeny world, eh? It would be neat to be classmates all over again--fingers crossed!

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest ozymandiasking29]

Hi,

 

I took ana300 and bio351 (virology) and I liked both of them. It's true that virology is a lot of memorization, but I found the tests not to be too bad and the fact that they were mc helped since you could eliminate answers instead of having to write down everything you know. Anatomy was also an excellent course but again requires lots of time. If you don't mind taking your course requirement in two halves, I definitely recommend taking embryology (ana301) which was the best science course I've taken in all my three years at U of T. It's not hard but it's very interesting and the profs are both amazing.

As for BOT251, it's a really easy course. I don't know if it's changed since I took it, but it used to be only 4 tests mc 25% each. There were labs but there were no marks allotted to them. It's kind of disjointed because there are four sections and each seems to be a completely different course, but that probably is the reason it's so easy, since each section is like a beginner course.

Good luck choosing!

[Guest dogeatdog12]

hi

 

does UNI200 have a final exam? what are the assignments like? problem sets or research papers?

 

thanks

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

UNI200Y had two term tests, so in that sense, there was a final exam, but it was not cumulative. The exams were very easy. The assignments were primarily papers. Our first was a 3-page paper where we had to do a qualitative survey of the graffiti in university bathroom stalls--no joke! What a constructive little assignment: I now know the whereabouts of every loo in UofT's Med. Sci. Building, including those in the basement. The second assignment was the creation of a questionnaire. As long as you paid attention to detail, i.e., covered all the minutiae in these assignments, then 95-100% on each was attainable.

 

You might want to check to see who's teaching the course. When I took it in the course's inaugural year, it was Prof. Behrens who presided. In addition to the math quiz (worth 5%) and the attendance mark (which was originally worth 10%, but then subsequently elevated to 15 or 18% due to him not wishing to give us another assignment), during the winter term he decided to take ~5 classes off. What an experience.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest studentz]

If anyone has taken LMP363 (Princ. Pathology), HMB302 (histology), or both, please comment on which you liked best, why and the workload/difficulty.

 

Also, if anyone has taken any 400-series LMP courses, or Microbiology BGYC17 at Scarborough, any info would be great!

 

Thanks

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

A while ago and the year before the Clinical Biochemistry Dept. became the Laboratory Medicine & Pathology Dept., I took CLB404Y. Looking at the course calendar now, it appears that the full-year course may have been split into LMP404 and 406. The course co-ordinator for CLB404Y was Doug Templeton and he was fair, although the workload, i.e., amount of memorization required for the exams was massive. We had guest lecturers who would delivery 2-3 lectures each and each lecture contained ~50-75 PowerPoint slides, on average. Our final exam was supposed to be cumulative, but Doug agreed to split it into two smaller, non-cumulative exams--what a humanitarian.

 

I'd advise you to visit the Arts and Science Student Union (ASSU) offices (formerly located in the Sidney Smith Building) and snag a copy of the Anti-Calendar. If you've not already heard of it, therein you'll find ratings of many courses and their instructors.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest pilotgrrl]

Yes, I know that PSL 302 is the dreaded course for many life sci students. I'm currently taking it in second year and it's amazing how much I'm learning (and the pace at which I'm learning it). Mind you, I enjoy physics so I get such a thrill when Mackay talks about neurophysiology and synaptic potentials...but if you work hard, it can be a very rewarding experience.

 

They've introduced tutorials this year and offer bonus marks for attending them. So things ARE improving...

 

8o