Hello, Im coming to Mac this year as a health sci student, so I have 9 units worth of electives to choose from. What I am aiming to achieve are 3 courses, 1 in the first term and 2 in the second, that are interesting, but most importantly, easy :p

I've looked around the course reviews and elective threads and here are 3 seemingly great electives:

Term 1: MATH 1LS3 Calculus for the Life Sciences I
Term 2: POL SCI 1G06 Politics and Government, HLTH AGE 1BB3 Aging and Society

Could anyone offer some personal comments on these electives? Are they easy to score high on, without incredibly high amounts of workload?

EDIT: elective unit value

I'm pretty sure you get 9 units of electives. Also, POL SCI 1G06 is for 6 credits (end of course code) - so that would count as two electives. You should be receiving a big package with student written reviews before or during welcome week. There are also review on learnlink you could check out.

People score high in all of these courses. But if you are scared about essays and whatnot then it would be best to look at course outlines to see which courses have them. I've only taken HLTH AGE 1BB3 from that list. It was meh - I got a good mark but it was rather boring looking back on it.

Aaah, now I feel stupid for the 6v3 unit mixup :p. Thanks for letting me know the meaning of the suffix, I can't believe I didn't figure that out earlier.

Oh and yes, it IS 9 units, but this time I just mistyped it.

I suppose I'll have to look for a replacement for the polisci course that is actually 3 units...are there any suggestions?

I took HLTH 1AA3 and I found it interesting , I had professor Voros and she was an amazing professor. I got a 10 in the course so it's not that bad of a course. There is tutorials, debate and a research paper, and a final, so you get your marks from that. I suggest taking the course

What are you interested in? That'll help us give you better suggestions

Originally Posted by JJia

Term 1: MATH 1LS3 Calculus for the Life Sciences I
Term 2: POL SCI 1G06 Politics and Government, HLTH AGE 1BB3 Aging and Society

Could anyone offer some personal comments on these electives? Are they easy to score high on, without incredibly high amounts of workload?
EDIT: elective unit value

Do you like math? I took calc 1A03 one in first year, fairly easy workload and I did well, but I feel like I took it only because everyone else seemed to be taking math and I didn't really gain anything from it. I kind of regret it now that I missed out a great humanities elective. So um if you're in the same boat, I'd recommend taking something you're more interested in .

I'd also recommend Econ 1B03; a lot of the health sci students take the course and its quite easy; i had it just this winter term; Professor Holmes usually always teaches it (for day time anyway) and there's 2 mid terms, which are real fair and easy, and also there's weekly quizes you do in class, but you can do in a group. They are also easy. And then there's the final exam. Overall very easy course.

Here's the course outline if you want to take a look.

Thanks for the responses!!

I have interests that are mostly geared towards medicine, including biology and chem. however, I try to stay well rounded by dipping to humanities, like history and law, occasionally. Math is also something I enjoy, hence the term 1 calc course.

Im considering Econ, but I'm afraid that I'll be disadvantaged because I took absolutely no finance courses in high school. I'm also thinking about physics 1bo3 mechanics, because it might be useful for the future mcat. Can anyone say how they felt about physics course?

Originally Posted by JJia

Thanks for the responses!!

I have interests that are mostly geared towards medicine, including biology and chem. however, I try to stay well rounded by dipping to humanities, like history and law, occasionally. Math is also something I enjoy, hence the term 1 calc course.

Im considering Econ, but I'm afraid that I'll be disadvantaged because I took absolutely no finance courses in high school. I'm also thinking about physics 1bo3 mechanics, because it might be useful for the future mcat. Can anyone say how they felt about physics course?

Physics 1B03 is hit or miss. It's a very unforgiving course because there are no part marks in multiple choice, it's do or die sort of thing. I personally did really well in the course but you definitely need to practice a lot. The material itself isn't that hard, but you have to get used to how they test. I would highly suggest not taking courses just because it might be useful for the MCAT. If you don't actually like physics, then don't take it. I am happy i took it in first year though when my workload was pretty manageable.

Originally Posted by JJia

Thanks for the responses!!

I have interests that are mostly geared towards medicine, including biology and chem. however, I try to stay well rounded by dipping to humanities, like history and law, occasionally. Math is also something I enjoy, hence the term 1 calc course.

Im considering Econ, but I'm afraid that I'll be disadvantaged because I took absolutely no finance courses in high school. I'm also thinking about physics 1bo3 mechanics, because it might be useful for the future mcat. Can anyone say how they felt about physics course?

No previous knowledge is needed for ECON 1B03. I took not a single business course in HS and was perfectly fine. You will not find an easier elective in my opinion. The course is mainly simple math and the workload is extremely light because there's only 2 midterms and an exam. While everyone says it was boring, I found it extremely interesting.

Other options are HTH SCI 1PA3, MATH 1LS3/1LT3/1B03, ECON 1BB3, MED PHYS 1E03, MUSIC 1A03/1AA3 all of which I have heard extremely good reviews on.

Originally Posted by yoni

Physics 1B03 is hit or miss. It's a very unforgiving course because there are no part marks in multiple choice, it's do or die sort of thing. I personally did really well in the course but you definitely need to practice a lot. The material itself isn't that hard, but you have to get used to how they test. I would highly suggest not taking courses just because it might be useful for the MCAT. If you don't actually like physics, then don't take it. I am happy i took it in first year though when my workload was pretty manageable.

Ah well I'll have to admit that physics really isnt my forte, and I was planning to do it only for the MCAT. I'm hardly bad at the course, but I certainly am not fond of the subject.

If that's the case, what should I do for a term 2 elective? Instead of physics, I'm still receptive to all sciences and humanities. I would prefer it to be an easy-ish course, so does anyone have a suggestion? Perhaps a history?

Originally Posted by Aeria

No previous knowledge is needed for ECON 1B03. I took not a single business course in HS and was perfectly fine. You will not find an easier elective in my opinion. The course is mainly simple math and the workload is extremely light because there's only 2 midterms and an exam. While everyone says it was boring, I found it extremely interesting.

Other options are HTH SCI 1PA3, MATH 1LS3/1LT3/1B03, ECON 1BB3, MED PHYS 1E03, MUSIC 1A03/1AA3 all of which I have heard extremely good reviews on.

Thanks a bunch! I'm having a good look into ECON now, but after a run through your list, I found that HTH SCI 1PA3 seemed especially interesting to me. I hadn't known about this course before. I'm reading the course reviews for it, as well as making sure it does not conflict with any other of my courses, and it's all A-okay so far. Thanks so much for the suggestion!

Can anyone offer a personal opinion about HTH SCI 1PA3? It's a fairly new course, so the reviews on it are slim pickings

HTH SCI 1PA3 was a great course in my opinion. The course isn't strictly focused towards research in one area; instead, students examine a variety of topics and that tends to keep students interested.

You should understand that this is a pass/fail course. The upside to this is obvious; however, there is also a downside in that your other marks will have a greater impact on your overall GPA.