Guest newbeee Posted April 16, 2002 Report Share Posted April 16, 2002 Hello, my question is how hard are first year university courses compared to OAC's I have heard they are alot more work, but I have taken 6 OAC's (with a 92% average) all at the same time is it really that hard that people who wanted to be doctors when they were growing up have to give up those thoughts because of their lousy grades in University. Sorry if these questions seem obvious, i just dont know alot about University courses yet thank you newbee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Smileeeeey Posted April 16, 2002 Report Share Posted April 16, 2002 I think it has to do with your courseload...... I'm from BC, so I don't know the OAC system very well(I left TO b4 I got into high school) but in university, you take 5 courses for the whole year, so I guess you'll be alright since your used to doing a lotta courses at the same time(6). However, expect the courses to be EXTREMELY brisk and difficult( in terms of trying to get help and the tests--especially at the larger schools). Secondly, your first year also has to do with the difficulty of the program. If you're in Engineering you'll have to mnage 7 courses in one semester, and if you're in the life science stream, expect to deal with the weeder courses(Bio, Chem, Phys). Here in BC, I only took 6 in grade 12(Bio, chem, phys, math eng, calc--3 per semester) so I found it really tough to get adapted to the university style of taking 5 HARDCORE courses a semester. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted April 17, 2002 Report Share Posted April 17, 2002 Uh - I had a different experience. I found many of my first year courses (doing a B.Sc, not engineering) to be almost entirely repeats of OAC courses, with added labs for the science courses. At least that was the case for first term. Problem was, that wasn't the way University was the whole way through! 2nd term and/or 2nd year was a bit of a shock. If you do find 1st year relatively easy, don't lose those habits that allowed you to maintain that 92% average! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest AniyaSG Posted April 17, 2002 Report Share Posted April 17, 2002 I had a very similar experience to UWOMED2005, 1st semester was a breeze, but my OACs had been relatively tough at my high school. 2nd semester was definetly harder as we started to cover new material that I hadn't done in OAC... So don't be afraid to enjoy yourself in 1st semester when the workload for you may be lighter! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MDCY Posted April 17, 2002 Report Share Posted April 17, 2002 First year in general isn't that difficult if you are thinking of going into life/biological sciences. Once you get in to second year, the weeding begins and the course load and workload get pretty tough. So do as best as you can in first year and rock the GPA as it will most likely be your easiest year; then prepare for the tougher years to come. In retrospect, my last year wasn't that difficult but maybe it was due to the fact that I had gotten used to the long grind. I'm not OAC though so take this message with a grain of salt but I think the trends are general in all universities across the country. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest smleeeeey Posted April 18, 2002 Report Share Posted April 18, 2002 I didn't know you guys in OAC covered 1st semester of 1st year. That's probably what that extra year of high school is for. How do most people from non-OAC backrounds(Anyone who's not from Ontario) do in 1st year in an Ontario University? Since almost everything will be new to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 990105355 Posted April 18, 2002 Report Share Posted April 18, 2002 I did my high school in Calgary and graduated with a couple IB certificates (higer level chem, std physics, math...) I found most of my first year in UofT a review, except for economics and ecology/evolution Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest AB Posted April 18, 2002 Report Share Posted April 18, 2002 yupyup The IB curriculum definitely helps for 1st year!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted April 18, 2002 Report Share Posted April 18, 2002 Of course, it's 'somewhat' useless by fourth year. . . everyone's on the same level then! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MDCY Posted April 18, 2002 Report Share Posted April 18, 2002 I figured that the IB advantage dissapears after second year but that's because Organic Chem isn't taken till second year at Calgary. Did anybody who went into Physics IB ever find the advantage of taking it while in second year? For us, all we had to do was take two-first year physics courses and that was it for the degree requirement for most Biological Sci majors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest leather cheerio Posted April 19, 2002 Report Share Posted April 19, 2002 Some kids (of course, nobody here on this forum) were forced/brainwashed/shamed by their parents into spending ridiculous amounts of time doing homework in high school. These are the people who end up collapsing in undergrad. If you party left and right like most normal people during OAC, and you still managed to maintain a 92%, then you WILL kick ass in undergrad. Personally, I only did an average of 30 min - 1 hour of homework (excluding the night before exams, assignments, etc.) and partied throughout high school and university. My friends who studied 3 hrs but had 95% or even higher in OAC during high school got raped in 1st year. It's actually quite distressing that you're perusing this forum at such a tender age. Shouldn't you be worrying about who you're going to hook up with at the prom? Enjoy your last few months of high school!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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