ConcernedP Posted June 10, 2009 Report Share Posted June 10, 2009 Hi there: I am going into 3rd year (Biochemistry) at U of A in September. Although my first year was only 3.7, I did ok (3.88) in second year and I would like to keep it that way in 3rd year. I am hoping a few people might have already taken these courses and will be able to help me out. See, I had trouble with Chem 211 labs in terms of accuracy of results. That lab was marked based on the deviation of your result from the expected result in a given lab. But then I did ok in Chem 213 lab. So my questions are: 1. Are the labs in Chem371 and Biochem401 marked based on accuracy of results or lab writeup etc? I cannot find the course outline for these labs on U of A web (I am not talking about the brief course description in calander). 2. Did you find these courses at par with the other courses (i.e. 3rd year courses) in terms of difficulty, class averages and workload etc. 3. Is there a particular instructor who is known to be a hard in case of chem371? 4. Anyother advice regarding these? Thank you very much in advance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juicyprunes Posted June 13, 2009 Report Share Posted June 13, 2009 Are you kidding me? Only 3.88?....Yea ...um...I did biochem as well, and my GPA was definitely not as high as yours, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. Chem 371/3 is HARD (at least for me, because I hated thermodynamics). Labs are not based on accuracy but Dr. J, the lab instructor is one tough lady. She does have high expectations for lab reports/notebooks, and back when I took the course, the lab exam was very difficult. The instructors for the course are all pretty nice - you'll either get Dr. Roy or Dr. Lopnow. Biochem 401 - labs include: DNA extraction, running protein gels, transformations, protein purification, protein assays, etc. etc. etc. Not based on accuracy again...You're marked on quality of lab notebooks, complete of assignments, lab exam, etc. Both Dr. Wright and Dr. Milner are super nice. Chem 211, being an ANALYTICAL chemistry course, is obviously going to put an emphasis on that kind of stuff. Maybe I was less motivated as the years went by, but I found biochem increasingly more difficult because of the large number of labs, the amount of information you had to know for 4th year biochem classes, etc. Make sure you pick your elective courses carefully and not to overload yourself Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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