Earth Science 1G03 is a great elective for all students regardless of their programs. I found the course to be very interesting. The professor John Maclachlan, made the material interesting and had great lecture style.

The course focuses on a range of topics including Plate...

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Has anyone had Padden before ?

I took this course in 2011 and it is not exactly a bird course as many people will tell you. The material is a bit boring (studying rocks and other geological processes. A lot of the labs are in class but those that are done outside of class do require some time (not a lot but still a significant amount of time). I would recommend the other Earth Sci courses over this one.

I had Eyles and she was a pretty good prof. Very reasonable and i actually enjoyed her lectures.

I had it this term with Dr. Padden - I've heard alright things of past professors but this course was just terrible this term. I talked to the academic advisers about dropping it and they said that a lot of students tend to drop it due to how dry it is.
It is not a bird course - it's draining and there's a lot of information alongside weekly labs (which aren't so bad but it's a hassle).
Anyone I know who took this course this term had the same opinion.
Unless you GENUINELY like rocks/earth sci - don't do it.

I just finished this course with Dr. Maureen Padden teaching it. It was a pretty cool course and we learned about: plate tectonics, rocks, volcanoes, glaciers, land slides etc. Dr. Padden is one of the best professors at McMaster and makes lectures worth going to. Marks are based on:

Labs 30%
Midterms 30% (2 tests)
Final Exam 40%

In the labs, you learn how to identify different types of rocks and how to graph topography. Working in groups makes the labs go by faster. We had a field trip to Rock Chapel (in Dundas) to look at different rocks in the escarpment and we had a lab to complete there.

Overall, it's a pretty cool course and you learn about a lot of interesting things/events. Her midterms and final exam are all based on her lectures and the textbook, so make sure you actually read it. Similar to what the person above me said, unless you actually NEED the course or GENUINELY love rocks, do not take this course. It is not an easy 11-12.

Just finished this course with Dr. Padden in Winter 2016. Breakdown was:

Labs (9): 35%
Midterms (2 tests): 15%/each
Final Exam: 35%

Dr. Padden is an awesome prof and I enjoyed her teaching style! The midterms were straightforward no tricks and the labs were fun since we had awesome TAs. It's mostly in groups so they can be done fairly quickly and there is a field trip to Dundas Valley Conservation Area at the end of the term which is cool! Overall, its good and definitively doable but it is dry and has a lot of content for the final exam (35 lectures with 20 slides each + all lab content + textbook readings) so be wary before taking this course!

I'm a first year that just finished this course with Dr. Padden. Note that as of writing, this course seems to have merged with the first year Enviro Sci course since we ended up in the same lectures, same labs, etc (why they have 2 different codes for the same course? I dunno)

I'm in the compsci program and chose 1G03 as an elective, and I highly recommend it! Dr. P is an AMAZING prof!

There is a lot of material in the course for sure, but it is all super interesting and the evaluations (Labs, Midterm, and Exam) were not particularly difficult. I did well in the course by attending most lectures/labs and only referring to the textbook for concepts I wasn't comfortable with. A little bit of knowledge on the specifics plus common sense/intuition about the physical world will take you very far in this course. Just make sure you review the coursepack before labs and go over slides and notes before midterms, and you'll do great without a ton of effort.

I learned so much about geology, especially from the labs. If you have even the slightest interest in oceans, minerals, glaciers, volcanoes, earthquakes, etc and you are looking to fill an elective, you should take 1G03!

Originally Posted by bobsingh

Just finished this course with Dr. Padden in Winter 2016. Breakdown was:

Labs (9): 35%
Midterms (2 tests): 15%/each
Final Exam: 35%

Dr. Padden is an awesome prof and I enjoyed her teaching style! The midterms were straightforward no tricks and the labs were fun since we had awesome TAs. It's mostly in groups so they can be done fairly quickly and there is a field trip to Dundas Valley Conservation Area at the end of the term which is cool! Overall, its good and definitively doable but it is dry and has a lot of content for the final exam (35 lectures with 20 slides each + all lab content + textbook readings) so be wary before taking this course!

Would you say that this was an easy 12/11?