Hi!

I'm not a strong english student, but I need to take 2 english courses for post-grad schools. Currently, I'm looking at either english 1A03, 2R03, 3F03, and 3Y03. Does anyone know which would be the least demanding, especially with regards to essays which are my weak point? I heard that on the 1A03 exam there is no essay component, which I like a lot...

Thanks for any advice!

Originally Posted by ley5

Hi!

I'm not a strong english student, but I need to take 2 english courses for post-grad schools. Currently, I'm looking at either english 1A03, 2R03, 3F03, and 3Y03. Does anyone know which would be the least demanding, especially with regards to essays which are my weak point? I heard that on the 1A03 exam there is no essay component, which I like a lot...

Thanks for any advice!

i haven't taken any of them, but if you're not a strong english student i'd recommend doing them over the summer if that's an option for you...definitely taken 1a03, from what i've heard it's not too bad...

Originally Posted by ley5

Hi!

I'm not a strong english student, but I need to take 2 english courses for post-grad schools. Currently, I'm looking at either english 1A03, 2R03, 3F03, and 3Y03. Does anyone know which would be the least demanding, especially with regards to essays which are my weak point? I heard that on the 1A03 exam there is no essay component, which I like a lot...

Thanks for any advice!

Lower level courses tend to mark easier since higher level courses assume you've been in university for a couple years and therefore should know all the "basics" and have that experience.

I personally hated 1A03, but 1AA3 was more enjoyable. I'm also not the best in English but I did fairly well in 1AA3 and pretty bad in 1A03. I would say they are both the same in terms of workload. Just make sure you do your readings on time.

Originally Posted by jhan523

Lower level courses tend to mark easier since higher level courses assume you've been in university for a couple years and therefore should know all the "basics" and have that experience.

I personally hated 1A03, but 1AA3 was more enjoyable. I'm also not the best in English but I did fairly well in 1AA3 and pretty bad in 1A03. I would say they are both the same in terms of workload. Just make sure you do your readings on time.

Can you tell me more about those two courses? What kind of readings? Are there tutorials or is it just lectures? Oh, and why'd you choose to take them?

I'm pretty sure English 1A03 had an essay component on the final exam....

I LOVED 1A03. I had Dr. Lorraine York and she was absolutely amazing. The reads were really easy They were all short stories of poems and they honestly took less than 20 mins to read the content for each class. I think there were 2 essays... but only 500 words each. I actually can't remember the exam but I know that there were short answer (short essay) questions. Maybe MC, but I'll have to check. Overall, it was my favourite 1st year course! I definitely recommend it.

There were 50 MC questions, one commentary (I think) and an essay which you were supposed to plan beforehand (the topics were released before the exam).

I'm not 100% sure since I wasn't the one who wrote the exam but my brother.

Originally Posted by Desda

Can you tell me more about those two courses? What kind of readings? Are there tutorials or is it just lectures? Oh, and why'd you choose to take them?

I have to take them for Optometry.

1A03:
Short Readings --> Short Stories, Poems, etc...
Tutorials --> Discussing the Readings and one short presentation (like 5-10 minutes) on one of the readings (Symbolism for instance)

1AA3:
Long Readings --> Novels, Plays, etc...
Tutorials --> Discussing the Readings and a medium presentation (15ish minutes) on one of the readings (Again, symbolism for example).

I thought they both had similar course loads, I was just more interested in 1AA3 material than 1A03. Also I didn't like my 1A03 professor (don't even remember her name), the one for 1AA3 was a lot more interesting, enthusiastic (Dr. Adamson I believe).

Originally Posted by jhan523

I have to take them for Optometry.

1A03:
Short Readings --> Short Stories, Poems, etc...
Tutorials --> Discussing the Readings and one short presentation (like 5-10 minutes) on one of the readings (Symbolism for instance)

1AA3:
Long Readings --> Novels, Plays, etc...
Tutorials --> Discussing the Readings and a medium presentation (15ish minutes) on one of the readings (Again, symbolism for example).

I thought they both had similar course loads, I was just more interested in 1AA3 material than 1A03. Also I didn't like my 1A03 professor (don't even remember her name), the one for 1AA3 was a lot more interesting, enthusiastic (Dr. Adamson I believe).

ahh these two english courses sound interesting.

1. same material (ex. the poems) every year or not?
2. can u give me the names of the novels, plays, short stories, and poems?

i think i could do well if i liked the stuff we had to read. so ya. i prefer novels but if they're boring ones then i think i'd rather do short stories/poems...

ty

I took 1AA3, and the material varies based on the professor. Dr. Brophy used the same material this year as she did last year, so if you take it and she's still teaching it, it'll pretty much be the same course as it was the previous year. The book list should still be on the Titles website somewhere.

I can't comment on 1A03, but 1AA3 wasn't too bad. It wasn't my favourite course, but I enjoyed it. If you have a good TA then it shouldn't be too hard to do well. The TAs mark everything except for the final exam, so your mark is in their hands, for the most part.

Originally Posted by Desda

ahh these two english courses sound interesting.

1. same material (ex. the poems) every year or not?
2. can u give me the names of the novels, plays, short stories, and poems?

i think i could do well if i liked the stuff we had to read. so ya. i prefer novels but if they're boring ones then i think i'd rather do short stories/poems...

ty

As oranges mentioned, it differs based on the professor. Apparently this summer 1AA3 (SMID) is doing:
The Shipping News
Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays (Incl. Lady Windermere's Fan)
Oroonoko
Much Ado About Nothing
Piano Lesson

Last summer, with Adamson:
Hamlet
Wuthering Heights
The Iceman Cometh
Oedipus the King
Molloy

To add to the list above, if you take 1AA3 with Brophy, you will probably have this list:

Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (novella)
A Taste of Honey (play)
Their Eyes Were Watching God (novel)
Kiss of the Fur Queen (novel)
Trainspotting (film & screenplay)
Persepolis I & II (graphic novel)
Palace of the End (play)

@TheCrucible: YOUR USERNAME IS NAMED AFTER A BOOK ISN'T IT. I can't believe it took me so long to notice.

@Jhan: Dude, I read most of those already. I wanna take 1AA3. Zomg.

thanks for the comments! any idea on which would be good out of 2R03 (monsters and magic), 3F03 (the fairy tale), and 3Y03 (children's literature)? I'm not too keen on 1AA3 because I'd prefer to avoid reading long works.
Thanks for all the help!

Dude, they all sound awesome. Fairy Tales especially.