My First Year at York University

[Greyhound]

So this post is about my own experiences at York. I just finished first year at York in Biomedical Science. During high school I was pretty clueless as to what to expect from a university science program so I figured I’d post my opinions and any tips I have on this forum to help anyone entering York this year. This forum definitely helped me a lot in choosing my University as well as general questions regarding med school etc. So I hope this post helps all of you!

 

I’m going to list each course by their full name, the prof I took it with as well as the grade I got. I’m not posting my grade because I want to brag(not like they’re great any who) but because I feel like it may help you, the reader. I am definitely suspicious when people tell me that a certain course is easy because sometimes some people will say that a course is easy and the lecturer was awesome but ended up with a C+ in a course...not exactly the grade you want to get into med school.

 

So before I start talking about the courses I want to say a little about WHY I chose York. I chose my university mainly by looking at each universities grading scheme. My final decision was between York and UofT. For any of you who haven’t taken a look at the OMSAS GPA conversion scale, it can be found at: http://www.ouac.on.ca/omsas/pdf/c_omsas_b.pdf . So to be competitive candidate at a Canadian Medical School your GPA from the OMSAS table should be a 3.8/4 approximately (http://www.premed101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28154).

 

At York

A+ is a 90%+

A is 80%-89.9%

B+ is a 75%-79.9%

 

Converted to the OMSAS scale

A+=4

A=3.8

B+=3.3

 

At UofT

A+ is a 90%+

A is a 85%-89%

A- is a 80%-84%

B+ is a 77-79%

 

Converted to the OMSAS Scale

A+=4

A=3.9

A-=3.7

B+=3.3

 

Taken from http://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/current/undergraduate/transcripts/guide

This is the UofT scale but as I go to York I may be incorrect so if any forum members see any mistakes feel free to correct me

 

So for those who haven’t noticed York has a broader range between 75-100, having only 3 possible grades whereas UofT has 4 possible grades. This may not seem like a big deal but this actually makes a huge difference! Remember that magical number of 3.8/4? Well to attain a 3.8 you only need an 80%+ at York but you need a mixture between 80-84% and 85-89% at UofT. I know I’m not what many would consider “smart” so getting just above an 80 in university would definitely prove difficult for me which is why I ended up choosing York. I felt that to obtain an 80% would be possible but to boost it another 5% may be beyond my reach so I went to what I consider to be a safer route. Now onto the courses!

 

Introduction to Microeconomics, IdaFerrara B+

 

For a person who has taken all science courses ever since grade 11, I literally had no background in economics. Many people told me that this was a Birdie course, but that is definitely not true. I absolutely hated Microeconomics as I found many of the ideas to be foreign and new. Since I had no background in economics I was definitely at a disadvantage compared to those who took it during high school. All the exams were M/C and 20% of the course came from “myeconlab” which is a website where you answer questions based on the topics, also in a M/C manner. So for people who had a lot of friends in this course they would get together and do the lab assignments together and generally get a very high mark. The exam in my opinion was fair but not easy. The prof has no control of the class but she was really nice. At the end of the day I didn’t really attend any of her lectures maybe for the first month or so but religiously skipped the rest. I generally just studied on my own or with a friend. I heard there were easier profs such as John Paschakis but I did not look at his tests so I can’t really say with 100% certainty if he is in fact easier.

 

Introduction to Psychology, Doug McCann A

 

Psychology was a subject that I always had an interest in but I never touched in high school. The Prof had interesting lectures and the course was composed of 5 tests 20% each (no exam). The tests consisted of approximately 70-90 M/C and 1 short answer question worth 7 marks. His Short answer questions all came from his lectures or sometimes from the book so they were all pretty fair. Be sure to go to his lectures because you will be tested on it! In general I found his tests fair but they definitely required some abstract thinking. For example, if you were being tested on psychological disorders he would vaguely tell you one of the patient’s symptoms and ask you what type of illness this person may have.

 

In general though this type of testing isn’t really all that different from biology tests, so realistically if you’re a science student you will not have as much difficulty as some other students. One of the reasons I found this course to be “easier” some may say is because professor McCann is not against bellcurving. His first test had a class average of about 58% so he belled it up 7% so that the class average would be approximately 65%.

 

The reason why I made a distinction for those who are science students earlier is because many people who take this class are in the arts. This is because York has a BA and a BSc option in their psychology programs. However, Introduction to Psychology is built like a science course. As such, many art students aren’t use to being tested in a M/C manner that required a different type of thinking and as such did poorly dragging down the class average. Thus if you’re a science student who studies hard, you will find it easier to score a decent mark that gets belled into a good mark. This Prof though was definitely not the easiest prof, many people say Jubis is a better prof, she got nominated as one of Ontario’s best lecturers, and she also tells her class the short answer questions before her tests so in that sense it’s a bit easier.

 

Biological Science, Tanya Noel followed by Tamara Kelly A

 

At York, biology is split into genetics and evolution. Noel teaches genetics and Kelly teaches evolution. This course largely felt like a review of grade 12 Biology. The course is split into 2 mid terms 15% each and 2 finals 22% each and the lab is worth 22% of your grade and 4% class participation (clicker questions). Basically participation questions were questions the profs put up to gauge the class in terms of how effectively they understand the concepts they were explaining and it’s marked by participation not if you’re right or wrong. Going to these lectures definitely helped, but again I didn’t really go that much so I won’t say it’s vital but it definitely helps. I was able to get by, by mostly reading from the book and asking a friend for the clicker questions.

 

Labs are either very hard, very easy, or in between depending on your TA. At York you will write full lab reports that means title page, intro, results, conclusions, appendix etc etc. I found the labs to be quite time consuming and to be honest quite difficult to get a decent mark(80+) because my TA marked harder than others. Although being marked hard does have its benefits, such as preparing you for future lab reports in 2nd year and beyond. What I absolutely detested about labs though were that if you ever disputed your marks it would go to the lab coordinator, and they would mark very tough and most likely lower your mark, so unless you feel like you were marked very very very unfairly I wouldn’t recommend getting your labs remarked because at the end of the day each lab is worth a few % of your final average and it’d probably be easier to get a higher mark on your next lab by learning from your mistakes in the current lab.

 

Chemical Structures, Donald Hastie B+

 

By far the toughest course in my first year! This course is made up of 4 tests 10% each, lab 20% and final exam 40%. Hastie is known across campus to be the essence of pure evil and preys on his undergrads like a vicious flesh eating bacteria (ok a little too dramatic!) but of the 3 profs this year, he was probably the hardest. Hastie’s test was definitely harder than other profs (having seen all tests from the different profs) although pietro had an incredibly hard first test.

 

Each 10% test consisted of approximately 6-8 questions with a total of 30 marks. His test require a lot of abstract thinking and getting above a 70% was a serious challenge since it was only worth 30 marks each. Generally, the harder the question the more marks it was worth so the hardest question may be worth 6 or 8 marks so if you screw that up you could literally kiss the A goodbye. The TAs are also relentless markers and give little to no part marks. The Key to succeeding in Hastie’s tests (which I found out too late) is to get the Chem Package from the chemistry society. They have a catalogue of past tests and Hastie generally recycles questions (but puts twists) which definitely prepare you for the test, so even though they are not the same you may have an idea as to where to start etc. His lectures were also very boring and I fell asleep during most of them and ended up skipping almost all of them since he was pretty much just reading the lecture slides. If given the option choose Michael Hempstead, as his tests are much easier and the questions are exactly the same from year to year with different numbers.

 

The labs, many would argue, are the reason most people past this course. The labs are very easy and the TAs hand out near perfects to almost everyone in the lab. So make sure you attend every session! Finally, the exam in my opinion is fair as there aren’t really any surprises and if you prepare well you will definitely do good on this exam (A is definitely attainable if you study)

 

Chemical Dynamics, Donald Hastie (again) B

 

I should have switched profs during the winter semester but thought I could handle Hastie but I ended up doing worse in this course. Everything is really the same as the first semester chem Course just the content is different. If given the option choose Rene Fournier as his tests were MUCH easier than the other profs. Again getting the Chemistry Package from the chemistry society is vital to doing well in this course.

 

Computer Use: Fundamentals, Mariana Kant A

 

I never attended any of her lectures. Her tests were fair, and if you study and go to lectures you will definitely do well on them. One of the most important things in this course is to do the Excel Labs as they are thoroughly tested so you must have a good understanding of them to do well. The exam is tricky and definitely harder than the tests. This is because in Computer Use: Fundamentals, you may choose to drop your tests and transfer the weighting of your tests to the final exam. Thus many people don’t bother with the tests or don’t study properly and end up writing 90% exams. To do well, I would recommend doing the tests and study as you would any other test so that your exam will have a smaller weighting because it definitely is harder. Although A is definitely attainable given enough studying, if you find past tests for this course they help exponentially as many of the questions were recycled in the final exam.(at least in my year)

 

Math. For the Life and Social Sciences, Ileana Guiasu B+

 

The first half of this course was really just a review of grade 12 calculus. The prof is very nice and her notes were very helpful when studying and preparing for the exam. The best thing about this prof is she will give you tips on the exam such as what type of word problems will show up on the exam. For example, the lecture before the exam, she would do a review and tell you that an optimization problem will show up and go through an optimization problem. I found out that many profs didn’t bother giving reviews or even hints so I guess this prof is definitely nicer than others. Her in class tests were very fair and for the most part easy if you study. The exams on the other hand were much more difficult and required sometimes a bit more abstract thinking because she didn’t write them, but at the end of the day wasn’t impossible. Getting the past exams for this course was definitely helpful, which can found at club infinity. For those of you who enter Biomedical Sciences at York, you are given an option to do either 1505(this course) or 1013/1014 if you do not need it for grad school(such as pharmacy) DO NOT TAKE IT AND TAKE 1505! This is because 1505 is much easier and as I said, the first half was a review of grade 12 Calculus. 1013/1014 almost have a 50% fail rate..seriously...

 

And that concludes my very very long post. I hope it helped those of you who are entering York this year and I DO have all my old textbooks/past tests so if you are interested please PM me and I will definitely give you a discounted price! All my books are in tip top condition and past tests are generally very helpful! If you have any other questions feel free to PM me and I’ll try to reply as soon as possible =)

[charmer08]

First, lemme point out that you are absolutely right about "bird courses" at york. I did the same thing this year by taking two bird courses and they were the hardest A's ever (an A+ was just not possible).These courses are the easiest B's and thats why they are called "bird courses". They are bird courses for the regular york students not for the premeds lol.

 

 

Introduction to Microeconomics, IdaFerrara B+

 

For a person who has taken all science courses ever since grade 11, I literally had no background in economics. Many people told me that this was a Birdie course, but that is definitely not true. I absolutely hated Microeconomics as I found many of the ideas to be foreign and new. Since I had no background in economics I was definitely at a disadvantage compared to those who took it during high school. All the exams were M/C and 20% of the course came from “myeconlab” which is a website where you answer questions based on the topics, also in a M/C manner. So for people who had a lot of friends in this course they would get together and do the lab assignments together and generally get a very high mark. The exam in my opinion was fair but not easy. The prof has no control of the class but she was really nice. At the end of the day I didn’t really attend any of her lectures maybe for the first month or so but religiously skipped the rest. I generally just studied on my own or with a friend. I heard there were easier profs such as John Paschakis but I did not look at his tests so I can’t really say with 100% certainty if he is in fact easier.

 

I took it with John Paschakis. My course had no econlab! 40% was a midterm and 60% was the exam, so if you bomb any of these, you're mark will suffer badly. The midterm had an average of 52%.

[charmer08]

 

Introduction to Psychology, Doug McCann A

 

Psychology was a subject that I always had an interest in but I never touched in high school. The Prof had interesting lectures and the course was composed of 5 tests 20% each (no exam). The tests consisted of approximately 70-90 M/C and 1 short answer question worth 7 marks. His Short answer questions all came from his lectures or sometimes from the book so they were all pretty fair. Be sure to go to his lectures because you will be tested on it! In general I found his tests fair but they definitely required some abstract thinking. For example, if you were being tested on psychological disorders he would vaguely tell you one of the patient’s symptoms and ask you what type of illness this person may have.

 

In general though this type of testing isn’t really all that different from biology tests, so realistically if you’re a science student you will not have as much difficulty as some other students. One of the reasons I found this course to be “easier” some may say is because professor McCann is not against bellcurving. His first test had a class average of about 58% so he belled it up 7% so that the class average would be approximately 65%.

 

The reason why I made a distinction for those who are science students earlier is because many people who take this class are in the arts. This is because York has a BA and a BSc option in their psychology programs. However, Introduction to Psychology is built like a science course. As such, many art students aren’t use to being tested in a M/C manner that required a different type of thinking and as such did poorly dragging down the class average. Thus if you’re a science student who studies hard, you will find it easier to score a decent mark that gets belled into a good mark. This Prof though was definitely not the easiest prof, many people say Jubis is a better prof, she got nominated as one of Ontario’s best lecturers, and she also tells her class the short answer questions before her tests so in that sense it’s a bit easier.

 

 

 

AHHHH not again, i took the freakin course with Jubis this year. She is soooo not easy lol. Yes, an easy B or even a B+ but not an A. She is definately the best lecturer, i've had till now and shes extremely helpful. But she does have some really specific questions in her tests. And usually, the average is a low 60 for her tests so our marks were NEVER bell curved whereas all the other profs classes had crazy bell curving.

 

Oh btw half of the psych class is taken by kine students (its a requirement for them).

[charmer08]

 

Biological Science, Tanya Noel followed by Tamara Kelly A

 

Labs are either very hard, very easy, or in between depending on your TA. At York you will write full lab reports that means title page, intro, results, conclusions, appendix etc etc. I found the labs to be quite time consuming and to be honest quite difficult to get a decent mark(80+) because my TA marked harder than others. Although being marked hard does have its benefits, such as preparing you for future lab reports in 2nd year and beyond. What I absolutely detested about labs though were that if you ever disputed your marks it would go to the lab coordinator, and they would mark very tough and most likely lower your mark, so unless you feel like you were marked very very very unfairly I wouldn’t recommend getting your labs remarked because at the end of the day each lab is worth a few % of your final average and it’d probably be easier to get a higher mark on your next lab by learning from your mistakes in the current lab.

 

 

WRONG! The lab coordinator is Julie Clark and she makes sure that each TA maintains a 70 average. If the class has an average of higher than a 70, the lab reports go to Clark. If the class has any lab reports with a 90, those lab reports go to clark. She's an awesome lab coordinator. You're gonna get screwed next year if you have a hard TA in biochem because the averages are not maintained by the lab coordinator.

 

[shannn]

Sorry man, but you gotta amp it up.

 

Out of the courses you took:

-Microecon is an easy A+

-Intro psych is an easy A+

-First year chem is pretty easy at York (an easy A, a little tougher getting an A+ I must admit), no need to go to the stupid chem society for their "package", what they give you and the textbook is suffice

 

All from personal experience, as well as experience from close friends. You have to study more efficiently.

[charmer08]

Sorry man, but you gotta amp it up.

 

Out of the courses you took:

-Microecon is an easy A+

-Intro psych is an easy A+

-First year chem is pretty easy at York (an easy A, a little tougher getting an A+ I must admit), no need to go to the stupid chem society for their "package", what they give you and the textbook is suffice

 

All from personal experience, as well as experience from close friends. You have to study more efficiently.

 

Yeah! First year is definately the easiest when compared to the other years.

[Greyhound]

WRONG! The lab coordinator is Julie Clark and she makes sure that each TA maintains a 70 average. If the class has an average of higher than a 70, the lab reports go to Clark. If the class has any lab reports with a 90, those lab reports go to clark. She's an awesome lab coordinator. You're gonna get screwed next year if you have a hard TA in biochem because the averages are not maintained by the lab coordinator.

 

 

sorry you're actually right, I forgot about Julie Clark because she went on maternity leave this year and Vivian was in charge of all the lab remarkings etc.

 

Sorry man, but you gotta amp it up.

 

Out of the courses you took:

-Microecon is an easy A+

-Intro psych is an easy A+

-First year chem is pretty easy at York (an easy A, a little tougher getting an A+ I must admit), no need to go to the stupid chem society for their "package", what they give you and the textbook is suffice

 

All from personal experience, as well as experience from close friends. You have to study more efficiently.

 

You are correct and the chem package as well as the textbook will suffice but generally having the chem package was a tremendous help(this being my own personal experience and that of my friends) and I do agree that I definitely have to amp it up next year! I slacked quite a bit, and probably should have attended a few more lectures this year lol I however wouldn't say Chem is an easy A but I guess to each their own

[leap87]

This just reminds me of how much I'm glad to be done with York. Bahahahaha...

 

I just had to say it.

[charmer08]

lol what? Jubis is so easy, I had her for research methods last year. easy A or A+. her tests were fine, she just had lots of scenario questions. and I heard she gives the 1010 kids the short answer questions in advance!

 

And to the OP- intro psych is fine for the BA kids like me too, I got an A+ no problem

your going to really have to pull up your socks next year, your marks are pretty low given your course selection. micro is a joke and you should've got at least an A.

 

i had to work my ass off to get an A in that course

[shannn]

i had to work my ass off to get an A in that course

 

I had her first year.

 

I thought she was good, tests were OK, did my work to get an A+

 

I personally think the hardest course I took at York was Cognition or first year physics (with this hardcore German/Austrian prof, forgot his name, but he kept insulting us and telling us how dumb the class was, haha, still pulled an A somehow though)

[charmer08]

I had her first year.

 

I thought she was good, tests were OK, did my work to get an A+

 

I personally think the hardest course I took at York was Cognition or first year physics (with this hardcore German/Austrian prof, forgot his name, but he kept insulting us and telling us how dumb the class was, haha, still pulled an A somehow though)

 

Haha that prof must be wijngaarden lol... he needs to learn to respect students. I would have got an A+ in his class if not for the exam. 4 problem questions and each worth 5% of the final mark - and one of them was derive a formula of which i had no clue so I left it blank. That guy also needs to learn to make an exam.

 

Oh I was gonna take cognition next year. But if its hard, I guess I won't be taking it then. How's health psych?

[charmer08]

really?? I just took cognition...there were 3 tests and a cumulative final. all three tests were open book, multiple choice, and lecture notes only since there wasn't a text...and somehow the class average was still a C+. go figure. it was ridiculously easy lol. I've heard its harder with some profs, though.

 

who was your prof btw?

[shannn]

I think Cognition was just difficult with the prof I had...sorry, I forgot his name too, haha, he was an old white guy though, didn't believe in technology (literally, he rode a bike to school because he refuses to drive, he refuses to use computers so he writes on a chalkboard). Check out the profs on ratemyprofessors.

His format was 45% midterm (average was a D), 55% final (average was a D).

It was terrible, but I squeaked out an 87 (arghh) without any adjustments made, which sucked

 

Health Psych was great IMO, but a lot of people don't like the prof. I thought he was great. But, it is a lot of work (the lectures are not the same as the book, and you'll be tested on both, 3 midterms and 1 exam, so lots of work). His sex song is hilarious too (yes, he busts out a guitar and starts singing about sex)

 

But yea, I hated physics

[Morzan]

I is goin to Yorkz next yearz.

 

Any advice to a future Yorkz student?

[charmer08]

I is goin to Yorkz next yearz.

 

Any advice to a future Yorkz student?

 

LOL Firstly, I'd like to apologize to all the nerds on behalf of him for poor grammer.

 

Advice:

1. Start studying from the first week of class.

2. Learn from your first test. Don't repeat the same mistakes again.

[shannn]

I is goin to Yorkz next yearz.

 

Any advice to a future Yorkz student?

 

Whaddup homeslize

 

Youz gotza make sure youz do you studyin, yo, cuz if you dun keep up wid da studyin', youz aint gonna do no good, ya heard?

[bored]

i have one thing to say. Psyc is NOT a bird course. Stupid facebook comments saying that psyc is a birdi

 

80 m/c per test + 20 marks short answer is either very insane or i jsut didnt give it an all out.

 

WHat courses are u guys taking/ took in second year?

[Morzan]

Few questions.

 

1) what's this 'nat' course?

2) In first year I'm planning to take "intro to literary study" 3 credit course, and my writing isn't fantastic. lol.

3) taking first year psyc and physics in second year, sound okay? would there be any problems with this?

[charmer08]

I took a bunch of psychs and a couple nats. btw if you haven't yet discovered them, nats are the greatest thing ever. their like really, really dumbed down science courses lol. I've taken 4 so far.

 

But they don't count as credits for science majors

[charmer08]

Few questions.

 

3) taking first year psyc and physics in second year, sound okay? would there be any problems with this?

 

Did an advisor tell you to do that? Advisors are dumb, don't listen to them. If you have place in first year, take psych in first year and leave physics for second year. Usually, a lot of bio students love psych courses and would like to take 2nd year psych courses in 2nd year. Its your choice tbh.

[shannn]

But they don't count as credits for science majors

 

Really? I took one, it counted for me (HBSc. in Psych)

 

I took physics in 3rd year, worked out well (lots of 3rd and 4th year students in first year physics)

[Morzan]

Ughh I need one more 3 credit course, and I don't know what to take.

[charmer08]

lol I'm arts...but I have friends in science who have taken nats and it counted for them. the only thing is some of them have first year bio or chem as credit exclusions

 

Holy ****, molecules and the mind is being thaught by pietro ... hes a hard prof

[medschool_hopeful]

Wow great information!

 

As someone who is going to go to York for Chemistry, is there any advice any of you guys may be able to give me? Anything would be greatly appreciated.

 

Someone who just finished his first year in York said that Chem was the hardest course he had ever taken. Now i'm not sure if he was good at chemistry in high school or not but is this true?

[shannn]

Wow great information!

 

As someone who is going to go to York for Chemistry, is there any advice any of you guys may be able to give me? Anything would be greatly appreciated.

 

Someone who just finished his first year in York said that Chem was the hardest course he had ever taken. Now i'm not sure if he was good at chemistry in high school or not but is this true?

 

First year chem is honestly really easy, just put in the work