[sinthusized]

This course is divided into three parts. The first two profs tried to incorporate a sort of model to aid the curriculum.

Dr. Jacobs - Cell Bio
- had a virus model. Seemed irrelevant until after the unit which is kind of unfortunate because understanding was crammed to the end. His notes were very terrible (pictures) and he spoke with a monotone and rather quickly. It was kind of hard to follow his lectures through the text book and his midterm was extremely difficult.

Dr. Kajiura - Genetics
Fill in the notes style notes. Something she said on the side (but not in lecture online) was worth some marks on the midterm. Her material was very clear though. I forget the model aid thing. For the last week, she finished her lectures 15-10 minutes early and kind of rushed things though which irked me and then when my friend approached her for slowing down, she said we should have read the topics during "reading week"

Dr. Wilson - genetics
- Started off great, good notes with great balance of pictures and words. Went at a good pace. After that, she went super fast and her notes were simply text. Follows the textbook, it seems. Not sure if she had the model aid thing. (Pretty much, the model aid things are not useful)

Assessments:
4 labs, prelab quizess
surveys
pretests
two midterms
exams
Lab exam
Lab Skills

Too many random things for assessments... so I might be missing some. They have some tutorials which are optional but allow access to survey which is worth marks (Not bonus). This course can be better organized.

Jacob's
I agree his model didn't really seem to tie in until the end of his section. his section was specifically on cell functions and was very dry. he was kind of boring but answered questions fine and the lecture notes were clear. alot of memorizing for his material, the extra articles he links were very helpful though
you can tell he is as he previously started a visual learner. his concept maps are helpful but only likely if you too are visual and organizing type. otherwise they are confusing. his questions are ... confusing and overly complex wording wise.

Kajura
she used cancer as her overall motif. her section covered mitosis and meiosis and beginning of DNA replication I think. her notes are almost full as is which means that you may have to go over and rewrite it to get the most out of her lectures. she has pacing issues because we would routinely finish too early but the material itself was not difficult. importance on names was somewhat annoying but not difficult.

Wilson
followed the text so if you had any problems during the lecture the text was a good place to go. early on lecture notes mostly pictorial and moved toward nearly all text in the last few chapters especially genomics. used her zebra fish research a little as an example but it wasn't focused on specifically
good pace and clear explanations. I found this section, especially the early parts the most interesting

labs are fair with a good amount of time needed to properly write them up
tutorials are overall helpful if only for quiz practice

the extra links that the profs provide are useful for more visual/kinetic learners

overall fair workload not too heavy but certainly not a bird. set aside 5+ hrs per week and you should be good.

Jacobs
- I found the virus model helpful. It really does tie in everything if you sit down and draw the comparisons.. I ended up making a comparison chart for the textbook stuff vs virus stuff and u can see the similarities.
- He DOES kiinda speak in monotone.. but i think he KIND of tried to be enthusiastic?
- Lecture notes can be hard to follow..they consist of a picture with a few words. I'd suggest typing up notes as you go along or writing them out.
-I found if I read the textbook before coming to his class I wasn't as lost..well I found that for this entire course. Lesson learned: READ THE TEXTBEFORE CLASS!! haha.
- The first half of his material (proteins.. DNA..carbs etc) were pretty similar to what I did in gr 12. I kept my gr 12 notes and just added anything new Jacobs provided.

Kajuira:
- uses the cancer model as mentioned above.
- Easier to take notes because she gives you outlines to fill in
- her material is similar to genetics in gr 11 / DNA replication in gr 12.
- Overall, pretty easy material to learn if you go over it a few times

Wilson:
- Personally didn't like her style
- A lot of her stuff was from the textbook..
- some of the stuff similar to gr 12 biotechnology (if anyone remembers..it was ch 6 in the nelson book..don't ask how I remember that)

Midterm #1:
- All Jacobs. - mostly application; includes questions on the virus
- he posts a previous midterm which I found helpful
- Quite a few of his questions are directly from the Macromolecules Practice Quiz posted on WebCT
- Short answers were okay.. just make sure you don't rush them.

Midterm #2:
- Mostly Kajuira, 5 m/c from Wilson
- again, application and some knowledge.. pretty much review the material.. do the practice questions and you should be good.
- Same thing with the short answer.

Labs:
- Interesting, but a pain.
- 3 Informal 1 Formal. 1% per informal and 3% for the formal
- pre-lab online quizzes worth .5% each. u get 3 tries for each and they're timed.
- Formal lab kind of irked me. You put in so much effort for 3% of your mark. Also happens to fall aroudn the same time your chem formal labs are due.
- Mark boosters.
- there are also 'Skills Labs' - 8 to do, 3 are in the lab, 5 are just online. I forget how much they're worth 2% overall ors omething? you get 2% for doing all of them, 1% for 5-7 etc.

Lab Exam:
- An easy mark booster if you follow instructions on what has to be recorded on WebCT.
- That being said, you have to be very detailed.
- Ask about catalogue numbers and supplies of the equipment you use.. The procedures.. specific amounts used in materials.. etc

Tutorials:
- Dependent on who your T.A. is
- Can either be really useful, or a waste of an hour.
- You get marked for participation, though.

Just a quick hint...

Some of the final exam questions were taken directly from the midterm, so make sure you pick them up.

Originally Posted by KRan

Just a quick hint...

Some of the final exam questions were taken directly from the midterm, so make sure you pick them up.

truee, they post the midterm and answers on webct

How difficult is BIO 1A03? I have another question, what kind of concepts/topics are covered in this course?

Originally Posted by lankan_4lif

How difficult is BIO 1A03? I have another question, what kind of concepts/topics are covered in this course?

http://www.macinsiders.com/showthread.php?t=2103 3

Edit: I'll leave that up there... I definitively need sleep.

Mitosis and Meiosis, basically review.

Lac and Tryp Operon, more review (with a bit more in-depth stuff)

The Genetics related stuff with making genomes was new. But the stuff before it about synthesizing DNA in a test tube was review from highschool.

Cancer related stuff and all those diseases stuff were new but are easy to memorize.

Macromolecules was kind of review, alpha and beta glucose. But the entire virus thing was new. Takes a long time to learn completely.

I think I covered everything. I have this course 7/10 on easiness, but looking back I might change it to 8.

Thanks for the info Jeremy. What's the virus thing about? Virus cycles and stuff like that or?

Originally Posted by lankan_4lif

Thanks for the info Jeremy. What's the virus thing about? Virus cycles and stuff like that or?

It was about the influenza virus, the components that make it up, how it infects, how it makes more viruses and how it gets released by the infected cell.

oo thats interestin so its all abt influenza virus or all viruses but more details on influenza then other viruses

Originally Posted by lankan_4lif

oo thats interestin so its all abt influenza virus or all viruses but more details on influenza then other viruses

Just the influenza virus. It's interesting but it's A LOT of detail. We spent a really long time on it.

oo k
how much time do u guys spend on Mitosis/Meiosis?
Do you guys cover DNA replication, protein synthesis and do you guys do Biotechnology like PCR?

Originally Posted by lankan_4lif

oo k
how much time do u guys spend on Mitosis/Meiosis?
Do you guys cover DNA replication, protein synthesis and do you guys do Biotechnology like PCR?

We covered all of that, but I don't think we spent that much time on it except for the protein and DNA synthesis.

I don't remember how much time we spent on Mitosis/Meiosis, but I think most of it was review.

So, you guys spent more time on DNA replication and protein syntheiss? Was there biotechnology in the course and midterms/finals?

Originally Posted by lankan_4lif

So, you guys spent more time on DNA replication and protein syntheiss? Was there biotechnology in the course and midterms/finals?

We spent more time on DNA and protein synthesis relative to PCR and whatever they other technique was.

There was stuff on shotgun sequencing.