Hey guys!
i just want to know which of the following electives below is great to take:

hth sci 2g03 - epidemiology (any thought about this, the report part?? is it more bio-based?)
econ 2gg3 - intermediate microeconomics (how is bruce teaching style for 2gg3)
econ 2h03, 2hh3 - intermediate macroeconomics (how is letendre teaching style for 2hh3)
econ 3m03 - game theory (any special thoughts about this?)
econ 3u03 - econometrics
math 2k03 (2fm3) - financial mathematics
math 2L03 - math methods in bus and soc sci
psych 2b03 - personality
psych 3ba3 - positive psychology

because im allowed to take 4 electives in the upcoming school year so please send any suggestions and will be greatly appreciated.

Originally Posted by keiser=)

Hey guys!
i just want to know which of the following electives below is great to take:

hth sci 2g03 - epidemiology (any thought about this, the report part?? is it more bio-based?)

because im allowed to take 4 electives in the upcoming school year so please send any suggestions and will be greatly appreciated.

Definitely not more bio-based. You learn about different types of studies, when to use which and concepts like confounding and measures of mortality. There's some math involved, but it's mostly concept-based. I found the course to be useful knowledge, but it wasn't particularly interesting. The report wasn't too bad; it's done in groups of 1-3. Most people did relatively well.

Econ 2GG3- the course is all math. If you are good with calculus and algebra, this course should not be a problem. There are times when Bruce doesn't explain concepts real well but he's not too bad. Tests are 4 problem questions similar to the one's he does as examples in class and the practice problems on his website. He usually puts a twist on 1 or 2 of the test questions so you gotta know your stuff. Don't expect all of the questions on the tests to be exactly the same as the practice problems. His exams are challenging but Bruce usually does bell curve up if the class, as a whole, does bad.

Econ 2H03- taught by Rashid Khan. All you basically gotta do is complete the questions in his courseware to prepare for his midterms and exam. In past years the questions on the test were identical to the ones in the courseware however he has caught on to the fact that too many people are finding to easy so he could put different questions the midterms. He gives lots of bonus marks and you can work together (aka copy off each other) on quizzes. His exams are usually long but i think he has shortened them now. Easy 10+. Khan is horrible when it comes to lecture notes, he basically scribbles a whole bunch of graphs and equations on a piece of paper, but his courseware is helpful.

Econ 2HH3- Letendre is an amazing professor and very nice. He explains things very clearly and he provides lectures slides that he posts on avenue. His tests and exam were very fair. You should have no complaints with Professor Letendre. Content isn't very hard. He has weekly assignments which are basically mark boosters.

Originally Posted by MichaelScarn

Definitely not more bio-based. You learn about different types of studies, when to use which and concepts like confounding and measures of mortality. There's some math involved, but it's mostly concept-based. I found the course to be useful knowledge, but it wasn't particularly interesting. The report wasn't too bad; it's done in groups of 1-3. Most people did relatively well.

speaking of the people who took this course, besides health science students, are there any other students from other faculty who took this course and didn't find it hard? is the report long enough (im not quite good at writing long papers but short papers (5 - 10 pages) is doable for me) and time consuming (more research, annotations, so on, etc.).

Originally Posted by rpg51

Econ 2GG3- the course is all math. If you are good with calculus and algebra, this course should not be a problem. There are times when Bruce doesn't explain concepts real well but he's not too bad. Tests are 4 problem questions similar to the one's he does as examples in class and the practice problems on his website. He usually puts a twist on 1 or 2 of the test questions so you gotta know your stuff. Don't expect all of the questions on the tests to be exactly the same as the practice problems. His exams are challenging but Bruce usually does bell curve up if the class, as a whole, does bad.

i was wondering if there are any tutorial or help centre that can supplement in studying this course. Aside, is the test multiple choice, short answers, etc? hope to get your feedback

Originally Posted by keiser=)

speaking of the people who took this course, besides health science students, are there any other students from other faculty who took this course and didn't find it hard? is the report long enough (im not quite good at writing long papers but short papers (5 - 10 pages) is doable for me) and time consuming (more research, annotations, so on, etc.).

I'm not entirely sure, but I don't think there were that many non-health sci's who took the course. The report is 5 pages single spaced and it can be split between up to 3 people. Writing it was kind of time-consuming, but mostly because we had to take into account as many minor details as possible and make sure what we had proposed was accurate from several perspectives. There was a lot of editing and rewriting that happened.

there is the econ help center where grad students can help you with problems. There are no tutorials for this class. The tests are 4 problem questions that requires math to solve (computational). The exam is multiple choice though. Don't expect any theory to appear on the tests. They are usually strictly math.
If you wanna see examples of past tests check out his website

http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/bruce/

click on econ 2GG3

Originally Posted by rpg51

Econ 2H03- taught by Rashid Khan. All you basically gotta do is complete the questions in his courseware to prepare for his midterms and exam. In past years the questions on the test were identical to the ones in the courseware however he has caught on to the fact that too many people are finding to easy so he could put different questions the midterms. He gives lots of bonus marks and you can work together (aka copy off each other) on quizzes. His exams are usually long but i think he has shortened them now. Easy 10+. Khan is horrible when it comes to lecture notes, he basically scribbles a whole bunch of graphs and equations on a piece of paper, but his courseware is helpful.

Econ 2HH3- Letendre is an amazing professor and very nice. He explains things very clearly and he provides lectures slides that he posts on avenue. His tests and exam were very fair. You should have no complaints with Professor Letendre. Content isn't very hard. He has weekly assignments which are basically mark boosters.

For these courses do I need to handle a lot of calculus as I did in 2g03/2x03? whats the difference about the math use in macro from micro?how do you rate the level of interest and usefulness of each 2nd year econ courses you take? please reply and thanks

Originally Posted by keiser=)

For these courses do I need to handle a lot of calculus as I did in 2g03/2x03? whats the difference about the math use in macro from micro?how do you rate the level of interest and usefulness of each 2nd year econ courses you take? please reply and thanks

Honestly, i would stay away from 2g03/2gg3. Micro as a whole tends to be pretty boring and will likely not be valuable to you. I would take Econ 2h03, Econ 2d03, Econ 2j03 and Econ 3t03. 2hh3 was fairly straight forward but you have to be a little more comfortable with Economics and the class average was surprisingly low this year. Stay away from the third year econ electives other than 3t03.

The thing about Econ 2G03 is that there are usually like 4-5 different profs that teach this course, each with their own way. Some profs use a lot of math (i.e. Bruce, who deals exclusively in math are rarely tests theory) while others use less math. But since 2GG3 is only taught by Bruce you gotta be comfortable with calculus and especially algebra.

Econ 2H03 and Econ 2HH3 have very little calculus, basically all you do is take simple derivatives and draw and interpret graphs.

Micro examines economic agents and their behaviour at the firm or household level. (ie how firms determine how much quantity to produce or what price they charge) while macro economics deals with the economy as a whole and what happens when certain economics agents interact (ie. unemployment rates, GDP, inflation, trade). Micro economics generally involves more calculus and math.

If you want to better your critical thinking skills and challenge yourself, econ 2gg3 and econ 2hh3 are great courses to take. I personally find all of them interesting, but that's just me, you really gotta judge for yourself.

one last thing about 2GG3, it is very similar to the material in econ 2g03/2x03. econ 2g03/2x03 is producer theory while 2gg3 is consumer thoery

Originally Posted by rpg51

one last thing about 2GG3, it is very similar to the material in econ 2g03/2x03. econ 2g03/2x03 is producer theory while 2gg3 is consumer thoery

are you going to be taking any of the grad level econ courses? I'm pretty nervous for 3g03, 4t03, 4tt3 and 4g03.

No I am not. I am not planning on doing an graduate degree in Econ so I am not going to take those classes. However I heard those classes are really hard and you gotta really know you stuff and be good at Math.

Honestly, difficulty is very subjective. What some people might find easy, others might find hard. That being said, I'd recommend you take econ 2D03, definitely the easiest class I've taken.