UWO 2nd Year Courses

[Medschooldreamer]

Hey, I was wondering if anyone from UWO has taken these courses and have any advice or information about them:

 

Biochemistry 2280A

Orgo 2213/2223

Cell Biology 2382

Psychology Stats 2810

Psychology of Language 2134

Social Psychology 2720

Pharm 2060

 

Also, I need a .5 elective still so if anyone has any suggestions of easy courses that would be great! Thanks in advance!

[62E]

UWO student going to 4th year here.

 

Orgo 2213:

 

Try to understand the material well in this course because 2223 is based on it. 2213 has A LOT of different types of reactions you'll have to learn, can't say much about it except do every practice exam they offer, there are like 5-6 for the midterm and final IIRC. All the information you'll need to know for the exam is written into the online notes (there may be some fill-in-the-blanks) so class isn't necessary, but it is quite helpful to attend since you probably haven't done much of this before. Try to enroll into Felix Lee's class. The final is definitely much harder than the midterm so try to do well there.

 

Labs are free marks, just check with your lab mates at the end of the lab to make sure you didn't mess up, try to get +90% here. If you did mess up you're experiment just work with someone else's results (you may want to ask your TA first before doing this). You're supposed to work alone but I know people that worked as 2 in order to finish fast, some TAs really dislike this though.

 

Know the mechanisms well, know the online notes well. Everything in the notes about a mechanism, you should know it.

 

Orgo 2223:

 

Personally I found this course more difficult, than 2213 but they're not too far off from one another in terms of difficulty. You learn more about the reaction mechanisms learned in 2213 except in a biological setting (i.e. lipogenesis, fatty acid break down, peptide bond formation, etc.) Again, try to enroll into Felix Lee's class. There is more memorization involved here than in 2213 since the mechanisms for biological phenomena can be quite long. All material in posted notes is testable, nothing outside of it is testable (the notes are quite long and have many small details). Again, do every practice exam given.

 

Know the mechanisms well enough to go backwards (a question like that may be asked). Same stuff from 2213 applies here.

 

Organic chemistry a/b is probably the most difficult amongst the courses ones you listed.

 

Bch 2280a:

Taught by 3 separate proffs in my year. All I can say is that it was helpful for me to transcribe everything said in class into my notes. One of the professors (at the time it was the 3rd one) refused to provide powerpoints, so it is definitely helpful to record the professors here (esp the one that doesn't provide PPs). Difficulty was not as bad as high as orgo but I felt that some concepts were poorly taught, leading to difficulties for many people. Try to get clarification if you don't understand a topic, it will help a lot on the final.

 

Psych stats:

Didn't take it but I heard it was easy, a breeze compared to biostats.

 

For your elective you should try to fill out any remaining breadth requirements (classics/language for group B and psych for group A are usually considered the easiest). If you already have them filled out, and you DEFINITELY won't need any more first year courses (for switching programs or sth) then you could just an Earthsci course (the 1st year one is considered very easy).

[Medschooldreamer]

UWO student going to 4th year here.

 

Orgo 2213:

 

Try to understand the material well in this course because 2223 is based on it. 2213 has A LOT of different types of reactions you'll have to learn, can't say much about it except do every practice exam they offer, there are like 5-6 for the midterm and final IIRC. All the information you'll need to know for the exam is written into the online notes (there may be some fill-in-the-blanks) so class isn't necessary, but it is quite helpful to attend since you probably haven't done much of this before. Try to enroll into Felix Lee's class. The final is definitely much harder than the midterm so try to do well there.

 

Labs are free marks, just check with your lab mates at the end of the lab to make sure you didn't mess up, try to get +90% here. If you did mess up you're experiment just work with someone else's results (you may want to ask your TA first before doing this). You're supposed to work alone but I know people that worked as 2 in order to finish fast, some TAs really dislike this though.

 

Know the mechanisms well, know the online notes well. Everything in the notes about a mechanism, you should know it.

 

Orgo 2223:

 

Personally I found this course more difficult, than 2213 but they're not too far off from one another in terms of difficulty. You learn more about the reaction mechanisms learned in 2213 except in a biological setting (i.e. lipogenesis, fatty acid break down, peptide bond formation, etc.) Again, try to enroll into Felix Lee's class. There is more memorization involved here than in 2213 since the mechanisms for biological phenomena can be quite long. All material in posted notes is testable, nothing outside of it is testable (the notes are quite long and have many small details). Again, do every practice exam given.

 

Know the mechanisms well enough to go backwards (a question like that may be asked). Same stuff from 2213 applies here.

 

Organic chemistry a/b is probably the most difficult amongst the courses ones you listed.

 

Bch 2280a:

Taught by 3 separate proffs in my year. All I can say is that it was helpful for me to transcribe everything said in class into my notes. One of the professors (at the time it was the 3rd one) refused to provide powerpoints, so it is definitely helpful to record the professors here (esp the one that doesn't provide PPs). Difficulty was not as bad as high as orgo but I felt that some concepts were poorly taught, leading to difficulties for many people. Try to get clarification if you don't understand a topic, it will help a lot on the final.

 

Psych stats:

Didn't take it but I heard it was easy, a breeze compared to biostats.

 

For your elective you should try to fill out any remaining breadth requirements (classics/language for group B and psych for group A are usually considered the easiest). If you already have them filled out, and you DEFINITELY won't need any more first year courses (for switching programs or sth) then you could just an Earthsci course (the 1st year one is considered very easy).

 

Felix Lee isn't teaching it this year sadly He was a great prof I had him for the first semester of chem. Yes, I believe that I have filled them all out, I had sciences and psychology (which filled out two) and I believe english takes care of the other one, since it does say "writing"

 

Have you heard anything about classics 2200? Also, what electives did you take?

[62E]

Felix Lee isn't teaching it this year sadly He was a great prof I had him for the first semester of chem. Yes, I believe that I have filled them all out, I had sciences and psychology (which filled out two) and I believe english takes care of the other one, since it does say "writing"

 

Have you heard anything about classics 2200? Also, what electives did you take?

 

Unfortunate to hear that about Felix Lee. Try to take the class when you can pay attention, it's easy to miss/skip 1 class and get completely loss the next day. You should be good for the breadth requirements.

 

Classics 2200's material is pretty much what is described in the course description. Heard it was relatively easy if you're interested in the material since the stories will stick well if you enjoy reading them.

 

In my 2nd year I took sex psych as my elective. Not difficult but probably more so than Classics. Sex psych also had a lot of dry topics, and/or topics you don't particularly want to know too much about (e.g. STIs). Fully MC-exam evaluations.

 

I've also taken two other classics courses for my elective: "classical studies of crime and punishment in ancient Greece and Rome" and "classical studies of Greek and Latin elements in English". They're 1/2 year courses, neither of which are hard but I wouldn't say they're interesting either for the average person. 2200 is probably more interesting for most people, I took the other 2 because I prefer having a nice compact schedule. All of these courses were fully MC exams in my year.

 

1st year maths are typically easy electives if you come from a school that made calc1000 feel like a joke and calc1301 feel like your hs math.

[iphonelovers]

Not to take away your thread from you, but I figured this would be an ideal place to post. Does anyone have any info on business administration 2295F for science students. Looks interesting, but there isn't a lot of information on it.

[FrenchToast]

Personally, I found biochem 2280 to be harder than either of the orgos. The last of the 3 biochem profs is killer. His questions are *really* hard, and he doesn't post his slides. I didn't record his lectures, because imho recording is a colossal waste of time. ANYWAYS, the first 2 profs are fairly easy. My advice would be to make sure to do well with them. Don't rely on the final to be a mark booster.

 

Orgo isn't bad if you are good at logic and spatial reasoning. Be sure to keep on top of it, though, as there is a lot of content and it builds. I had Wisner second semester, and he was dec. He covered all the material really well. He is a bit monotone, but he is honestly a good prof and doesn't get enough credit. My recommendation for both semesters of orgo is to read the notes before class. Then, when you are in class it's kinda just a review, and it really helps consolidate it. The exams in both semesters were very fair, but be sure to do all the practice ones.

 

Bio 2382 (cell bio) is easy, but you need to memorize every detail.

 

I hear pharm 2060 is easy.

[IAMMEDSCI]

Does anyone know anything about 2244, 2290 or 2581?

[Razer]

Hey, I was wondering if anyone from UWO has taken these courses and have any advice or information about them:

 

Biochemistry 2280A

Orgo 2213/2223

Cell Biology 2382

Psychology Stats 2810

Psychology of Language 2134

Social Psychology 2720

Pharm 2060

 

Also, I need a .5 elective still so if anyone has any suggestions of easy courses that would be great! Thanks in advance!

 

Hey I'm a BMSc student going into 3rd year; I'll try to give you some feedback.

 

Biochemistry 2280A

 

The posters in this thread are right when they talk about the "3rd" prof. Last year all of his PPT lectures were actually floating around so it did help. When you have him, try to stick to the study guide as much as possible for understanding. It does a good job of explaining things.

 

Orgo 2213/2223

 

This biggest mistake you can make in this class... is to not keep up with the work. Granted, I know a few people who pulled off 90's while procrastinating, but everyone I know that did poorly just didn't put in enough effort. If you spend a few hours a week dedicated to these courses you will probably have an easy ride through. Do all of the practice exams before the real things.

 

Cell Biology 2382B

 

Definitely one of the easiest 2nd year courses I've taken. The concepts in this course are dead simple and the only thing between you and the A+ is taking the time to memorize the simple (and usually interesting) information.

 

Psych Stats

 

I haven't taken this personally, but everyone I know that did said they are really happy with their marks.

 

As for your 2nd semester elective, I took MicroImmunology 2500B last year and found it to be the easiest course all year. The course goes over a broad survey of the Immune system, bacteria, viruses, and parasites without ever going into too much detail.

[Medschooldreamer]

Thank you to everyone for the feedback! I really appreciate it!

Hey I'm a BMSc student going into 3rd year; I'll try to give you some feedback.

 

Biochemistry 2280A

 

The posters in this thread are right when they talk about the "3rd" prof. Last year all of his PPT lectures were actually floating around so it did help. When you have him, try to stick to the study guide as much as possible for understanding. It does a good job of explaining things.

 

Orgo 2213/2223

 

This biggest mistake you can make in this class... is to not keep up with the work. Granted, I know a few people who pulled off 90's while procrastinating, but everyone I know that did poorly just didn't put in enough effort. If you spend a few hours a week dedicated to these courses you will probably have an easy ride through. Do all of the practice exams before the real things.

 

Cell Biology 2382B

 

Definitely one of the easiest 2nd year courses I've taken. The concepts in this course are dead simple and the only thing between you and the A+ is taking the time to memorize the simple (and usually interesting) information.

 

Psych Stats

 

I haven't taken this personally, but everyone I know that did said they are really happy with their marks.

 

As for your 2nd semester elective, I took MicroImmunology 2500B last year and found it to be the easiest course all year. The course goes over a broad survey of the Immune system, bacteria, viruses, and parasites without ever going into too much detail.

 

 

Can you tell me a bit more about micro immunology? Are the tests content or do they go above and beyond (AKA haffie)? Also, these are the profs for 2500B this year:

 

Colby

Summers

Reid

McCormick

Sener

Dikeakos

 

Did you have the same ones? Any comments on them? Thank you!

[Razer]

Can you tell me a bit more about micro immunology? Are the tests content or do they go above and beyond (AKA haffie)?

 

The course has 3 exams, two are non-cumulative 1 hour in-class exams, and the final exam at the end is cumulative. The grading structure is 20%, 20%, 60%.

 

There are no quizzes, assignments, or any sort of homework throughout the course. The midterms and final are completely multiple choice.

 

As for the test difficulty, for the vast majority of questions... it was pure memorization of what you had been taught. The only questions that were hard weren't so because they were conceptually difficult, but only because they may have been a little vague. In other words, the exams are simple measurements of how much information you've retained (easy marks).

 

Also, these are the profs for 2500B this year:

 

Colby

Summers

Reid

McCormick

Sener

Dikeakos

 

Did you have the same ones? Any comments on them?

 

This upcoming year, professor C.Y Kang (Virologist whose team developed HIV vaccine) will be too busy to also teach this course, so Dikeakos will be replacing him.

 

I'll go over the remaining profs

 

Colby: By far the most interesting professor. He taught us about parasites but since he also went through Medical School and worked in the field for many years of his life he often took the time to share insightful stories about his career. He also kept things fresh and his exam questions were undoubtedly the easiest.

 

Summers: She's a very nice professor who cares a lot about her students (invites you to invite her for coffee if you would like to chat) and it shows. She taught us about the immune system; this is the only unit of the course that required a bit of conceptual understanding to couple the memorization. Her notes were very organized and she included markers (symbols) in the notes to let us know what bits of information we absolutely had to know for the exam. She also made us very useful summary pages. Her questions on the midterm were very easy and on the final they were of moderate difficulty.

 

McCormick: He taught the bacteriology portion of the course. His unit was probably the most information intensive one, but his questions are a lot easier than what you think he might ask. He keeps the material interesting and brings in 2 guest lecturers during his time with us

 

Speaking of the 2 guest lecturers:

 

Reid: He's a researcher at UWO who is undertaking international projects related to probiotics. He presented his guest lecture to us to show how vital and useful bacteria are when it comes to treating disease. Fairly interesting, the content of the lecture was testable but the questions were very easy.

 

Sener: Transplantation surgeon at UWO who gave a lecture about transplantation and how it ties into immunology (rejection etc.). Pretty straightforward material.

 

I don't know anything about the new virology professor, but I'm sure he can't be worse than Kang when it comes to making questions; Kang was the only one who came up with unreasonably tough (very vague) questions to ask on the exam.

 

Overall, the course was a great learning experience and the information was organized so well that it never felt overwhelming. I found it did not take much effort to keep up a high mark (90+) in this course, although if your memory is not one of your strong points, you may need to put a little more effort into it.

 

Hope that helped

[Medschooldreamer]

The course has 3 exams, two are non-cumulative 1 hour in-class exams, and the final exam at the end is cumulative. The grading structure is 20%, 20%, 60%.

 

There are no quizzes, assignments, or any sort of homework throughout the course. The midterms and final are completely multiple choice.

 

As for the test difficulty, for the vast majority of questions... it was pure memorization of what you had been taught. The only questions that were hard weren't so because they were conceptually difficult, but only because they may have been a little vague. In other words, the exams are simple measurements of how much information you've retained (easy marks).

 

 

 

This upcoming year, professor C.Y Kang (Virologist whose team developed HIV vaccine) will be too busy to also teach this course, so Dikeakos will be replacing him.

 

I'll go over the remaining profs

 

Colby: By far the most interesting professor. He taught us about parasites but since he also went through Medical School and worked in the field for many years of his life he often took the time to share insightful stories about his career. He also kept things fresh and his exam questions were undoubtedly the easiest.

 

Summers: She's a very nice professor who cares a lot about her students (invites you to invite her for coffee if you would like to chat) and it shows. She taught us about the immune system; this is the only unit of the course that required a bit of conceptual understanding to couple the memorization. Her notes were very organized and she included markers (symbols) in the notes to let us know what bits of information we absolutely had to know for the exam. She also made us very useful summary pages. Her questions on the midterm were very easy and on the final they were of moderate difficulty.

 

McCormick: He taught the bacteriology portion of the course. His unit was probably the most information intensive one, but his questions are a lot easier than what you think he might ask. He keeps the material interesting and brings in 2 guest lecturers during his time with us

 

Speaking of the 2 guest lecturers:

 

Reid: He's a researcher at UWO who is undertaking international projects related to probiotics. He presented his guest lecture to us to show how vital and useful bacteria are when it comes to treating disease. Fairly interesting, the content of the lecture was testable but the questions were very easy.

 

Sener: Transplantation surgeon at UWO who gave a lecture about transplantation and how it ties into immunology (rejection etc.). Pretty straightforward material.

 

I don't know anything about the new virology professor, but I'm sure he can't be worse than Kang when it comes to making questions; Kang was the only one who came up with unreasonably tough (very vague) questions to ask on the exam.

 

Overall, the course was a great learning experience and the information was organized so well that it never felt overwhelming. I found it did not take much effort to keep up a high mark (90+) in this course, although if your memory is not one of your strong points, you may need to put a little more effort into it.

 

Hope that helped

 

YOU ARE AMAZING! thank you so much for taking your time to write all this! much appreciated

[Medschooldreamer]

I just talked to the psych department and they said I would have to take 2820E (Psych stats+ research) can anyone comment on this program?