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BIO 2A03, 2B03, 2C03... what were they like??

 
Old 08-11-2007 at 09:18 PM   #1
dacrown4life
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BIO 2A03, 2B03, 2C03... what were they like??

i would just like to know how these three biology classes are like and how i can get at least a 8 in the course...
also, the level of difficulties in these classes...?
are there any tricks in some test? what to expect from lectures and tests
how should i study for it.. ( use lecture notes, textbooks, old tests?)
how is the exam like and midterms like? any similar to BIO 1A03 and 1AA3?
what are the preferences of the profs.. i.e how do the words questions on midterms and exams...? and how well do they explain stuff
also wat should i expect in the labs?,....

i heard genetics 2C03 is very hard.... if so wat did u do to survive the class with a good mark



lol.. too many questions.. but i would really appreciate any suggestions..
thanks in advance..


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Old 08-14-2007 at 11:24 PM   #2
paul
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I have only taken bio 2B03, and know many who have taken the other two.
The labs are always pointless because it's the biology department.
For biology 2B03 I would recommend coming to class (many don't) because Dr. Dej clearly states what will and won't be on the tests - which is important because memorizing everything is difficult. Other than that, study lists because they often appear as large questions on tests (i.e. "Name three types of membrane proteins and define each - 6 marks). Also, study diseases she gives in class and pay close attention to the definitions on the notes. keep in mind that her tests are based on the notes, not so much on the textbook content.

Paul

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Old 08-14-2007 at 11:54 PM   #3
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wow.. great hints and advice
very well appreciated
thanks alot paul
Old 08-19-2007 at 08:40 PM   #4
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i took bio 2c03
it was hardddd =S but hang in there !!!!!!
well honestly if you DO the assignemnts (NOT COPY THEM AND DO THIS LAST MINUTE) they help ALOT. like it is a little tough but if you dotn slack a nd keep up. u will be fine : ] and tutorials (or labs?) helps w/ understanding the materal alot : ]
Old 09-04-2007 at 12:17 AM   #5
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i heard bio 2c03 is really hard, so i actually havent taken it
i did take bio 2b03 i think last summer with dr. dej. definately go to every class as her tests were a little tricky
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Old 03-08-2009 at 08:04 PM   #6
katesaidhi
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2a03, 2d03, 2f03, 2g03,
Hi!
I thought I would post my opinions on these second year Bio classes even though you've probably gotten your answer. This is just for anyone else who is taking these classes in the future.

Biology 2A03
This class was split between two different lecturers - Dr Wilson and Dr McClelland - and both of them were poor at explaining the material for different reasons. Dr Wilson refused to answer questions during lecture and when she chose to repond, her answers would always be worded so that she was condescending and rude to the student. Her share of the test questions were always ambiguously worded, which resulted in a lot of students getting questions wrong based on a slight misinterpretation of the questions.
Dr McClelland also disliked teaching this class (early morning or no - it's common courtesy to respond when someone greets you good morning!).
The labs were awful and the textbook by Germann is an indigestible tomb. It takes twice the amount of time to read just because it's hard to understand the main concept that is being presented. I was very excited coming into this class and there was not a single saving grace to keep me from being 100% disappointed.

Biology 2D03
I enjoyed this class because it became clear that Mrs. Leech is the savior of organization to Dr Dudley's hailstorm of disorganization. The labs were fun and hands on, and we were allowed to listen to classic rock on the radio while doing them. Personally, I'm disappointed that future plant courses require Cell Bio as a prerequisite and not this course. The tests were very well laid out and drew primarily from the lecture notes and assigned topics in the text.

Biology 2F03
I think this class could have been more than it was. Honestly, it was a flop.
Dr Wei was the worst lecturer I've ever heard or seen in my entire life. He couldn't read the lecture notes that were pre-supplied to him and he didn't know the answers to ANY questions that were asked of him. Dr Chow-Fraser seemed like a beacon of light by the end, which is saying something, since she was only a moderately fair lecturer to begin with.
The first lab in Cootes Paradise was fun and the ones after that were ridiculously like high school presentations where everyone gets up in a stupid costume and reads off their paper. Boring!

Biology 2G03
This is the biodiversity inquiry class. Let's just say it's an extension of the 2F03 labs, with some of the topics repeated! Not exactly stimulating.

I'm going to take 2C03 in the summer so I will post my feelings on that course once I'm done with it!

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Old 03-08-2009 at 09:12 PM   #7
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its so nice to hear something about 2D03, it seems no one talks about it since its not necessary for alot of things
these comments are very helpful
thanks
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Old 03-08-2009 at 09:33 PM   #8
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Hmm....I took Bio 2A03 last year, and it was just Dr. McClelland teaching it ... his lecture notes were good, they were fill in the blanks and as long as you knew the lecture notes you didnt really have to use the text ... the only reason I used the text in that class was for the lab reports and I did well in the class.

2B03 was a really really boring class ... the only good thing was that the exam was not cumulative

2C03 ... hard class, but you have to do the assignments! They helped me a lot, and I did well in this class too. But you probably have to like genetics to really enjoy this class...otherwise, boring and hard.
Old 04-11-2009 at 04:09 PM   #9
batman
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2A03 is a terrible course.

Now let me explain, the material you learn, the actual physiology is great, a little tough at times, but its great.

However, there are 2 lecturers, Dr Wilson, who you may have had in Bio 1A03, and Dr McLelland. Dr Wilson is quite possibly the worst professor ever, and I've had the pleasure of Dr Jacobs when he was failing people for fun and Dr Dudley. Now, don't think that this is me blaming Dr Wilson, because I am doing well in the class, but on my own accord. As said before, she is rude and condescending, and had the nerve to post on Learnlink that we did not know what type of learners we were and that is why we did so poorly on her tests. The two tests which were primarily based on her material had averages of 55 and 58% respectively. She does not answer questions in class, asks ridiculous questions on tests, that don't test knowledge or application, but often an extension of an application of a topic she spent 5 words on. Her lecturing style, I found to be poor, because you were rushing to fill in the blanks, and she was saying so much other stuff, which she ended up testing on, even though you didn't get nearly enough time to copy it. I ended up just typing every word she said.

Halfway through you switch to Dr Mclelland, who because of Wilson's lecturing seems like a beacon of light. He is much better, and performance on his tests/material seems better, which is not surprising. Sure he's not Dr Dej, who is an amazing lecturer, but at least he is good.

The labs are a little stupid, and my TA took marks off for literally no reason, she'd give a page 8/10 but she'd leave it blank, so I'd sit there wondering why.
Old 04-13-2009 at 01:54 AM   #10
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I took 2A03 last year, and I've definitely heard about the gripes with Wilson. I've never taken a course with Wilson, so I can't comment on her style/teaching. However, the lecture notes are a rehash of last year 2A03s notes meaning that she didn't actually create the fill-in-the-blank slides that she presented. Granted, she should have.

McClelland isn't a bad lecturer, in my opinion. But I agree that the text was awful.

For the labs, I would talk to your TA nicely about the marking. Make sure you do it in a way that shows that you want to improve your writing skills : ). Sometimes in the long run it's better to have a TA that marks hard and dramatically improves your abilities than one that marks really easy but lets a lot of errors through. (ie: My 2A03 vs. 3U03 TAs).
Old 04-14-2009 at 11:47 AM   #11
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Thanks for the feedback and tips! I was just wondering for those of you who took 2A03...how did you find the final exam?
Old 04-14-2009 at 12:47 PM   #12
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The practice Qs that were given out weren't actually indicative of how the questions actually were, imo.

The MC was good, the SA was kind of tricky because it involved a lot of the graphs shown in class and I didn't actually memorize the #s, just the general pattern. Otherwise it was pretty straight forward.

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Old 05-31-2009 at 10:25 PM   #13
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I took all three of these this year so here are my thoughts:

2C03 - I really feel that I could have done better in this course. I messed up my first term (I had a part time job and a demanding boss, and it was my first year in a student house so it was really distracting). I think Dr. Dej's tests were very fair, and I thought she was a great prof. Everybody seemed to do really good on her tests. I didn't like Dr. Campos as much, I thought her lecturing was much more confusing. I had a feeling I failed the exam (I had pink eye, and I had another exam that day), but my final mark was still a mid 70, which leads me to think they bell curved. The assignments were a pain in the ass, and I ended up copying some of them. If you actually take the time and do them, I imagine it would SERIOUSLY help on the tests, and they are marked quite fairly too, in my opinion. The assignments definitely brought up my average. Anyway, my point is, had I spent more time studying and doing work, I probably could have gotten at least an A- in this course. So I think this course is definitely do-able, if you put the work into it and LEARN the material when you do the assignments.

2B03 - AWESOME COURSE. Another one with Dr. Dej .. best prof ever! She ruled my second year! It was so interesting (at least to me), and the tests were very fair. If you study hard, it is not hard at all to do well in this course, at least a 10. The labs were kind of useless, but helped to raise your mark. The lab test was easy too, as long as you wrote down all the catalogue numbers and other random details (they gave you a list of things they thought you should write in your lab notebook). I went to class and I found it really interesting, thought I thought Dr. Dej rushed a LOT .. but I brought a laptop to type the notes so itw as okay. The tests were initially a lot of memorization and just spittingi t out but towards the end it was more application (tho this course is mostly still just a lot of memorizing lol). Probably one of my favourite courses at Mac so far, I would go so far to say.

2A03 - This course used to be a good course, apparently. Then Dr. Wilson started teaching it. You spend all lecture trying to fill in the stupid blanks on the lecture slides and she rambles on and on and on and on and you have NO idea what she's talking about becausey ou're too busy filling in the blanks. Dr. McClelland was better, I liked him WAY more .. he went slower, and his lecturing actually made sense to me. The test questions from Dr. Wilson were EXTREMELY ambiguous and poorly worded, and she refused to accept that if the averages on the first two tests were so low, that might be due to her poorly worded questions. You could have studied extremely hard, but it's not a lack of knowledge or ability to apply knowledge that would throw you off .. it's not being able to "intrepret" her wordy questions properly. I swear, if I ever see another course taught byh er again, even if I really want to take it, I will stay far away from it. Dr. McClelland's questions were WAY easier, but I think he made them easy since the average from the first tests were so incredibly low. The labs also definitely didn't help bring up marks, they were marked RAELLY tough with no comments to suggest how to improve ... the textbook was also horrendous and they pretty much expect you to read it all (which is NOT gonna happen).

Anyway, I actually ended up getting a surprisingly good mark in this course, which leads me to think they bell curved .. or maybe the exam was just very fair (because I was scared ****less before the exam so I spent naerly 2 straight weeks studying for it). So I guess a good mark is possible, even with Dr. Wilson. And on the plus side, the material is very interesting .. if you can get through the often subpar lecturing. Still, I was disappointed. I was looking forward to this class so much, and I was so let down in the end.

I would like to add, however, that RAY PROWCATT IS AWESOME .. best instructional assistant ever! 2C03 and 2A03 were so much better, because of Procwatt's sarcastic messagse on Learnlink.

Richa, sinthusized all say thanks to ladyh for this post.
Old 06-30-2009 at 08:50 PM   #14
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Bio 2B03 is probably too easy. Half the class got A's on tests. Can't complain though, it was a really nice course.

Bio 2C03 was alright. Not my favorite 2nd year bio course, but it's easy to do well. There was a lot of work in the course and Campos will put you to sleep.

Bio 2A03, hardest bio I took last year but it's still A-able if you're good at bio. The main problem with the course was Dr. Wilson's MC questions which were honestly unfair. The complexity of her questions did not match the level that we studied the material or the detail of the textbook. Averages for her tests were in the low to mid 50's. There were 3 midterms which were pretty brutal considering they were cumulative and labs were generally not easy marks. One of the more interesting courses I've taken though.

Also Bio 2EE3 and 2F03 are easy too.
Old 06-30-2009 at 09:51 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fight0 View Post
. Also Bio 2EE3 and 2F03 are easy too.
Definitely agree about 2EE3 and 2F03 .. definitely two of the easier 2nd year courses for people who like to take bio/biochem courses, haha. All you have to do is memorize the lectures and it's a guaranteed A for 2EE3 (there's a lot of material though so hopefully you are good at memorizing, he also asks the most RANDOM questions ever lol). 2F03 requires a little more thinking, and silly labs/tutorials that involve skits or playing games. The skits were fun, we made costumes out of cardboard. I got to pretend to be an albatross grieving over the loss of its two baby albatrosses that choked on plastic. It was epic. Anyway, there was one midterm, labs (that were more like tutorials), and the exam. I will be honest, I went to maybe 3 or 4 lectuers in the beginning, and never showed up again (it is extremely boring in my opinion), but everything seemed to be tested right out of the lecture notes, and I read the textbook to expand on stuff in the lectures. If you want 2 easy-ish courses with a fairly light workload, take 2EE3 and 2F03!!



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