1629fan Posted March 28, 2015 Report Share Posted March 28, 2015 I'm entering 4th year HSP-IMS in Sept 2015 and I'm a little nervous about choosing courses because HSP-IMS requires 1.0 4th year medsci courses + 2.0 4th year modular courses. Taking 60% 4th year courses worries me because my 1st and 2nd year GPA aren't exactly the greatest (far below mediocre) and I was counting on my 3rd/4th year to balance them out. Does anyone know of any good 4th year science courses I can take, that aren't too bad to take in terms of workload and maintaining GPA? Any info on AnatCell, Physiology, or Medical Biophysics modular courses are appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uwo_guy Posted April 1, 2015 Report Share Posted April 1, 2015 Integrative neuroscience is a great Anatcell course, I took the online course and found it fair. Same with skeletal phys if Beier still the prof. Out of the fourth year med sci courses that I took these were by far the easiest to do well in, I ended up with a low 90 in both of these fairly easily. The other 4th year ones I took (physiology of senses and pathology) we much more difficult to do well in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1629fan Posted April 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2015 Thanks for the feedback! Do you mind telling me when you took these courses? I'll definitely look into these courses. I plan on taking physiology of senses, do you think you can expand on what makes it so difficult? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uwo_guy Posted April 2, 2015 Report Share Posted April 2, 2015 I took them in in the 2011/2012 year. I personally just didn't do well on the exams because I found the material difficult to grasp. It was pretty detail oriented question-wise rather than big picture. Sorry it's a few years ago so I don't remember exactly. But take that with a grain of salt, some people I know did quite well. I couldn't do well on the exams for the life of me despite finding it really interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ygella Posted April 2, 2015 Report Share Posted April 2, 2015 4th year physio: Physiology of senses (if still taught by Dr. Vilis) is pretty interesting and easy. It's the only 4th year physio course that has only multiple choice questions Cellular molecular neurobiology (if taught by Dr. Ferguson) is also fairly easy as long as you do the required work. They try to scare you in the first lecture, but the course is pretty chills. Stem cell and regenerative medicine is an extremely interesting course. Getting 85+ is doable, but requires more work than the above courses, but the evaluations are fair and there are no surprises. 3rd year: Medicinal Chemistry (if taught by Dr. Lee) was one of the best courses I have ever taken. Exams are fair and 90+ is definitely doable with enough work All these courses are good courses, they aren't bird courses (can't find bird courses in 4th year) but they have really good teachers, the content is engaging and the evaluations are fair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardHammond Posted April 2, 2015 Report Share Posted April 2, 2015 Reproductive Endocrinology 4620 with Drs Babwah and Watson is an interesting course that isn't too difficult. The professors are among my favourite professors I've had at Western. It's kinda repetitive with things you've been learning since high school like the menstrual cycle so you'll have some basic knowledge already. I think 85 is quite achievable but 90+ will be a bit more difficult. The exam had short answer and long answer questions so that might take some getting used to. Exercise phys 4420 is pretty interesting too but has some papers/essays. If you think you would perform better in a course with essays rather than only exams, this might be your thing. Professor Shoemaker is a cool and chill dude. He looks like he lifts so I trust his teaching on this subject. I wouldn't say it's necessarily an easy course but it's possible to do well. Digestive phys 4100 is a bit dry and the professors aren't the most enthusiastic but the course has some quizzes and assignments. Many 4th year courses only have a couple midterms and a final so if you're looking for a phys course with your grade broken up into more quizzes and assignments, consider this. It's possible to do well with some effort but be aware that the instructors aren't the best at presenting the material in an engaging manner. I think in general with 4th year phys courses, 80+ is easy but 90+ with written exams takes a lot more work. These courses are much more interesting than the lower level phys courses but are also much more detailed. I still recommend them based on how interesting they are though, but I'm biased because I love phys haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razer Posted April 2, 2015 Report Share Posted April 2, 2015 Most of the great anat/phys courses have already been suggested in this thread. If you have you have by any chance taken biochem 3381A then you'll also be able to take biochem 4450A - molecular genetics of human cancer. I would say getting an 85+ is easy and 90+ doable in this course. I would also say it's the easiest 4th year course I've taken outside of the mandatory medsci ones (4900/4930). The course load is quite average for a 4th year course, and outside of exams there is one paper to write (which can be done in a group) that is due near the end of the course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1629fan Posted April 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 2, 2015 @Razer do you think you could comment on the mandatory med sci courses? & unfortunately, I didn't take 3381A. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razer Posted April 2, 2015 Report Share Posted April 2, 2015 The lab course and lecture course go together, so I'll talk about them as one course. Taking these will leave you with a busy workload, so try not to take a lot of other project-oriented courses at the same time unless you feel like you can handle it. The exams/quizzes in these courses are very easy, but they don't make up the majority of the marks, the projects do. Every assignment (critique, report, essay, proposal, poster) you do in these courses is worth a 25% chunk and the late penalties are enticing (10% off for being 3 days late; I suggest resisting the temptation). There are also some free marks from attendance/participation/lab books. Having prior knowledge isn't important for these courses, so your mark will effectively reflect how hard you tried and how carefully you followed the marking rubrics (which are clear and detailed for each assignment). They're easy courses to get high marks in, but they demand a lot of work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1629fan Posted April 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 2, 2015 Do you recommend them to be taken in the same semester? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razer Posted April 3, 2015 Report Share Posted April 3, 2015 There's no choice, they're co-requisites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeeDoc Posted April 3, 2015 Report Share Posted April 3, 2015 Definitely agree with the people above that Med Sci 4900 and 4930 are easy courses, but will keep you quite busy. I'd say avoid Med Sci 4200 though. The course itself is an interesting format, but I found the essays and projects quite time-consuming and the material wasn't too interesting. I'm not sure if you have the prereqs, but I found Pharm 4660A (Human toxicology) to be an extremely interesting course, and Dr. Urquhart is one of the best profs you will have. He genuinely cares a lot about his students. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1629fan Posted April 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2015 Thanks! Anyone have any advice/tips for succeeding in Physiology of Senses or Anat Cell courses? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MD aspiration Posted June 23, 2015 Report Share Posted June 23, 2015 Any thoughts on Physiology 4730 with Cregan- Cellular signalling in Tissue Injury and Repair ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.