Hi!
Has anyone taken both first year geography courses - or even one of them?
"HUMAN GEO:CITY&ECONOMY" or "HUMAN GEO:SOCIETY&CULTURE"
I'm debating between which to take - they're both taught by Prof Mercier and I'm a bit lost.
I'm hearing mixed reviews on the course so I was wondering what your opinion might be?
Thank you!
-Afsha

Originally Posted by Afsha-noon

Hi!
Has anyone taken both first year geography courses - or even one of them?
"HUMAN GEO:CITY&ECONOMY" or "HUMAN GEO:SOCIETY&CULTURE"
I'm debating between which to take - they're both taught by Prof Mercier and I'm a bit lost.
I'm hearing mixed reviews on the course so I was wondering what your opinion might be?
Thank you!
-Afsha

My friend took Geog 1HA3 with Dr. Peace or someone, but I took Geog 1Hb3 with Dr. Mercier and the course was excellent. Sure, the assignments were a bit boring, but the lectures were very informative and the assessments for the most part were quite fair. You can easily obtain at least a 10 in that course if you put in an appropriate amount of effort, even if you have no interest in most of the material as myself.

Or even, how is Dr. Mercier - are the tests focused on the textbook or his lectures?

Thank you!
Did you think the material was dry? I heard the same sort of an idea about 1G03 Environmental sciences and honestly, I just cannot stand it! So I'm worried that the material might be extremely dry? :/
Thanks

Originally Posted by Afsha-noon

Thank you!
Did you think the material was dry? I heard the same sort of an idea about 1G03 Environmental sciences and honestly, I just cannot stand it! So I'm worried that the material might be extremely dry? :/
Thanks

Well, I also took an Environmental Science course, and I found it was much easier for me to understand the material in Geog 1HB3. Most of the sections were pretty dry for me except for a few that stood out maybe because it was very easy to understand such as populations, and their trends overtime. His lecture notes he provides you with are not enough to have a good concept of all the topic being covered, even after you fill in the blanks in his skeleton notes. You have to take additional notes on the side, and you have to read the textbook for each section covered, make your own notes, write down all the definitions and understand them and so on. I can't recall what his midterm and exam focused on more, but it would be fair to say it was more focused on lab and lecture material as compared to the actual textbook stuff.

If you have anymore questions, feel free to ask here, and I'll try and check back later during the day. Feel free to PM me as well, cheers.

With best regards,

Humza

I know somebody in 1G03 right now, and honestly, if your just looking for an easy course with a relatively light workload, this is NOT the course to choose.

Two people I know are in the course and both are generally doing poorly because they have no interest in the subject matter.

It's just that I need another science credit - I have both chems, calc, both bios, both psychs. I just need ONE more and the counselor recommended something with a light workload. So, well here I am searching, ahaha.
Thanks

@mastercool - Yup, pretty much - I'm in that position right now too! It's the worst of all of my marks right now, so I'm debating dropping it.
@ thank you SO much. Would you say the labs were intensive (a lot of people say they're extremely time consuming)? I don't mind studying or reading and taking notes! So long as the material makes sense, its fine. Do you think maybe the other geo would be a better choice in that case?
Btw - how was the professor?
Thank you!

Originally Posted by Afsha-noon

It's just that I need another science credit - I have both chems, calc, both bios, both psychs. I just need ONE more and the counselor recommended something with a light workload. So, well here I am searching, ahaha.
Thanks

@mastercool - Yup, pretty much - I'm in that position right now too! It's the worst of all of my marks right now, so I'm debating dropping it.
@ thank you SO much. Would you say the labs were intensive (a lot of people say they're extremely time consuming)? I don't mind studying or reading and taking notes! So long as the material makes sense, its fine. Do you think maybe the other geo would be a better choice in that case?
Btw - how was the professor?
Thank you!

This isn't exactly something with a light workload (though it's not too heavy either), but have you considered physics? Your profile says you're in first-year science, and many second-year programs require you to complete it by the end of second year, so if you're looking for a course to fill up a spot you might as well do it now, unless you know for sure you'll never need the credit (or the knowledge!)

Originally Posted by Afsha-noon

It's just that I need another science credit - I have both chems, calc, both bios, both psychs. I just need ONE more and the counselor recommended something with a light workload. So, well here I am searching, ahaha.
Thanks

@mastercool - Yup, pretty much - I'm in that position right now too! It's the worst of all of my marks right now, so I'm debating dropping it.
@ thank you SO much. Would you say the labs were intensive (a lot of people say they're extremely time consuming)? I don't mind studying or reading and taking notes! So long as the material makes sense, its fine. Do you think maybe the other geo would be a better choice in that case?
Btw - how was the professor?
Thank you!

Not sure who you're asking about the last two points but uhm. The labs aren't really labs, they're assignments..and they aren't really time assuming. You do have to write a fair bit, and use Excel and do some Math related stuff but that is all covered in the actual lab slot with the TA who was our IA as well at the time. The professor was pretty cool, though I didn't really talk to him much on a one on one basis but he seemed like a nice guy.

I took both of the courses and both were with Dr. Mercier.

I personally enjoyed the culture one more as the other is much more business related.

I didn't find the workload to be too bad, just stay on top of all your assignments and what not.

I really enjoyed having Dr. Mercier as a prof; he lectures well and is very approachable if you have questions, same goes for the course TA's. He knew me by the end of the year simply from staying after class and going to speak with him during his office hours.

That's my two cents; I may be bias as a geography student though.

I took both geographies (I had Peace for both). They are really easy electives. The written assignments are very simple and straight forward (much better than first year bio labs). As for the material, I liked both courses but I found the culture one more interesting.
You can get 11s with ease and 12s if you put a bit more effort in.

overall which one is easier? 1ha3 or 1hb3?

1ha3 was definitely not a light work load- i spent 3 hours at gore park and another one drawing them and then spent like 4 hours walking around downtown for another assignment, and we had to research who lived in certain homes that we took pictures of and the history of certain buildings, so while the material was not difficult, it was time consuming, and the material was really boring (i had peace by the way)

The assignments for 1HA3 and 1HB3 weren't all that difficult...however I found them to be very dry and time-consuming (not to mention unnecessary). In addition, the TA I had wasn't very helpful in terms of answering questions promptly and clearly.
I say this having gotten a 10 in that course, definitely would not take again.

1hb3 I found to have a really easy workload for all but 2 weeks, where there are like 2, 5-10 hour assignments. I barely studied for tests or exams and pulled off a 10 so shouldn't be bad. I had Mercier