[jimmyjones]

I found this course interesting and easy, Dr.Dudley knows her stuff but has some of the worst writing i have ever seen, that is pretty much the only bad side of this course the material you learn is very interesting and can be applied to everyday aspects of life. 60% of the course is lab, and 40% lecture, but they go hand in hand.

Tests:
You have two tests each worth 10% and they are only centered around labs, make sure to bring a camera to labs because just drawing some of the slides can very time consuming. The tests are easy/fair you are not going to get tricked if you know your stuff it will show.

Slides/Diagrams:
Show your diagrams and slides to your TA and he/she will check it off if it is sufficient, these are the easiest 10% you will get.

Greenhouse Assignment:
You will go to the greenhouse and do a matching exercise, it is worth 5% and is very easy, once again if you know your stuff this can be finished in less then 15 minutes.

Lab Exam Practical:
25% of your final mark, this is not very hard there is alot of stations and you can be pressed for time but if you study your camera pictures you should have no problem. You basically get a paper and just match or answer short answers regarding the pictures that are presented on that certain station, I think there are 24 stations in total.

The above are all lab marks

Exam:
40%, didn't hear much complaining so people found it reasonable, the exam only covers the lecture notes.

Final Thoughts:
Go to the lectures they are only twice a week, notes are posted at the end after all the lectures are done but i wouldnt depend on that. This course is on learnlink and learnlink is horrible, you will also have a chance at a 2% bonus regarding biofuels. I recommend this course it is not hard, not very time consuming and has everyday value, overall i really enjoyed this course.

I too find this course to be rather on the easy side. Being a visual learner, the material from labs really helped in further explaining some of the concepts from lectures and vice versa. The Quizzes are easy if you actually take the time to do your labs and know the material in them.

There are quite a few opportunities to earn bonus marks, which is nice (in quizzes, Biofuel, lab exam, and even in the final exam).

As for the final exam, I personally thought it was a bit on the hard side and was rather long, but other people have thought otherwise.

Lastly, if you're planning on taking this course, check who would be teaching it next year, my TA said his might be Dr. Dudley's last year teaching the course and Dr. Cameron might take over so the course will change accordingly.

This was one of my favorite second year bios. I went into the course thinking it would be rather dull but was pleasantly surprised.

Most of the learning occurs in the labs and it makes up a big portion of your mark with 2 tests, a practical and the greenhouse assignment. Make sure you bring a camera to the labs and you'll never need to be there for the full 3 hours.

Dr. Dudley is a great prof but I agree, she has poor handwriting. This isn't really a problem though since she clearly states what she is writing and doesn't really go through the material too quickly.

wat is learnilink rly?

"LearnLink is an electronic messaging and conferencing platform that is used to mount course materials and related discussions at McMaster University. It features an easy-to-use interface that has been customized for the McMaster academic community."

Source: http://www.ltrc.mcmaster.ca/cms/index.htm

Has anyone ever taken this course in the past with Dr. Cameron? She's going to be teaching this course in 2009/2010 and I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on her teaching style, her breakdown of the course and whether it is easy to get a 12 in the course.

Originally Posted by dchan28

Has anyone ever taken this course in the past with Dr. Cameron? She's going to be teaching this course in 2009/2010 and I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on her teaching style, her breakdown of the course and whether it is easy to get a 12 in the course.

Well this course has been Dudley's baby for quite some time and it was Dr. Lot who was teaching it before her. So as far as I know, Dr. Cameron is new to the course so you'll find out the course breakdown in the term.

From what I gather, Cameron is more of a plant physiology person instead of Dudley who is more into the environmental factors and plant responses. Hope that helps.

I had Cameron for 2B03 and all she did was read off of the slides. Hopefully she'll be more interesting for 2D03.

Initially I was really excited about this class but quickly it became one of my least favourite. What bothered me throughout the beginning of the semester was that Dr. Cameron assumed a lot of knowledge from high school and first year bio and almost every lecture she'd explain a concept and say something like "this will make more sense in November when we cover it in detail". Labs and lecture also seemed to be very unrelated as lecture covered molecular plant bio and lab was more practical.
However, as the course moved along I ended up liking it more because as Dr. Cameron said, concepts really do come together. I also ended up doing much better in the class than I thought I would. There were times when I thought I'd get a 6 or 7 because I felt like I understood nothing but ended with an 11. So overall this course wasn't exactly a blast but it wasn't horrible either. I would also say that it taught be more about DNA technology than any other class so far, so it is good in that respect.

This course has been slightly re-structured so please read updated reviews. I have attached the outline.
If you go to titles and have a look through the Plant Biology text that was used for the first time this year you will first notice that it is molecular based more so than based on plant structure. I highly recommend this course for anyone who is interested in research and genetics. it is important to learn about plants and their signal transduction pathways as they can serve as an important model organism in various types of research.

Specifically, we covered interesting topics at a molecular level and phenotypic one such as how plants respond to disease and the pathways that allows them to become resistant to pathogens (like an immune response). How plants have adaptation to their environment suchy as high salinity and water stress.

In addition, we covered important application to mutagenisis of plant genes and protiens and how mutants are created and selected for as well as analyzed. In the last section on Biotechnology we covered how plants are used in genetics (Ti plasmids) and I found this really interesting.

Labs:
They are three hours but you basically walk around, take pictures with a camera, read and learn a bit and then leave. (some of them are acutally really cool- like a plant that emits a toxic fluid when scratched). The lab exam is worth alot but I mostly just went through my lab notes and googles the images and did well on the exam. (If your fast it won't take you 3 hrs)

Quizes:
Online and easy since...their online and short. (Try and study a bit for these as there is no midterms)

Professor:
I thought Dr. Cameron was a really nice prof. She speaks clearly and is always willing to answer question after class. She is especially good at teaching the part on system resistance (which she studies). She doesn't just read off the slides all the time, and whats on the exam is pretty much just from lecture, so not sure why you would complain about that.

Overall, this is a good course and I would not go in having pre-conception that plants are "boring" because if you pay attention you will for sure found yourself being proved wrong.

With respect to marks, you can easily do well if you study your notes and she gives good hints for the exam.

Originally Posted by salimak

This course has been slightly re-structured so please read updated reviews. I have attached the outline.
If you go to titles and have a look through the Plant Biology text that was used for the first time this year you will first notice that it is molecular based more so than based on plant structure. I highly recommend this course for anyone who is interested in research and genetics. it is important to learn about plants and their signal transduction pathways as they can serve as an important model organism in various types of research.

Specifically, we covered interesting topics at a molecular level and phenotypic one such as how plants respond to disease and the pathways that allows them to become resistant to pathogens (like an immune response). How plants have adaptation to their environment suchy as high salinity and water stress.

In addition, we covered important application to mutagenisis of plant genes and protiens and how mutants are created and selected for as well as analyzed. In the last section on Biotechnology we covered how plants are used in genetics (Ti plasmids) and I found this really interesting.

Labs:
They are three hours but you basically walk around, take pictures with a camera, read and learn a bit and then leave. (some of them are acutally really cool- like a plant that emits a toxic fluid when scratched). The lab exam is worth alot but I mostly just went through my lab notes and googles the images and did well on the exam. (If your fast it won't take you 3 hrs)

Quizes:
Online and easy since...their online and short. (Try and study a bit for these as there is no midterms)

Professor:
I thought Dr. Cameron was a really nice prof. She speaks clearly and is always willing to answer question after class. She is especially good at teaching the part on system resistance (which she studies). She doesn't just read off the slides all the time, and whats on the exam is pretty much just from lecture, so not sure why you would complain about that.

Overall, this is a good course and I would not go in having pre-conception that plants are "boring" because if you pay attention you will for sure found yourself being proved wrong.

With respect to marks, you can easily do well if you study your notes and she gives good hints for the exam.

Just adding the attachment

Originally Posted by salimak

With respect to marks, you can easily do well if you study your notes and she gives good hints for the exam.

She pretty much gave us the short answer questions before the exam. All you really had to do was study for the mc.

Is it possible to rename the title as Bio2D03 with a capital 'D'? the 'd' is really bothering me D: *cough* OCD

Besides bringing a camera to labs, what other tips/hints do you recommend for doing well on the labs/tests/ final exam? Also, how difficult is it to do well in the course (10+)?

So I personally am not always dilligent with reading the text and keeping up with notes but this is what I did and I did really well.

1. Pay attention and go to class. If you involve yourself in the lectures you are more lilkley to remember key points that would come up on a test. For example the signalling pathways or structural details.

2. You don't need to read all the text. She is really good with telling you what section to read and they are usually short and an easy read. Near the end I only used the text if there was a signalling pathways that I didn't get from the notes/lecture.

That being said if there is a figure in the notes, find it in the text and at least read the caption. It will probbably be on a test.

3. For labs dont just go in and take pictures and leave. I had a really funny TA and so asked questions and tried to understand the stations. I found that I did well on the lab exam becuase I had remembered things my TA said or things we discussed in lab. Its better to spend a bit of extra time with your TA to understand what you are doing than trying to cram from the lab exam with pictures you don't remember or understand.