I took this course as one of my engineering electives in the Fall 2008 term and I found it to be pretty interesting. I also had Dr. Mercier as my prof who was very good at lecturing. His style was to post all lecture notes on WebCT the day before so you...

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Ok now I regret saying that last sentence. History is actually not too bad it really depends on the professor. I had Dr. Sun and I really really did not like her teaching method. Just to be clear I have nothing against History courses lol.

i really didn't like this class because of the labs. i had an AWFUL TA and we did have to go on goose chases around the hammer.
dr peace was ok in lecture, he's very funny to listen to. the midterm and exam were annoying because there would be hefty questions on very ambiguous things we did and nothing on more crucial parts. i got a 9 so it was a very shitty bird course

Originally Posted by Colin

Although I haven't taken 1HA3, I've heard it was easier than this course. In terms of grades getting a double digit mark in this course is not as easy as it sounds. You will have to put in alot of effort and time into your assignments to get the marks you want obviously. It will also depend on your TA and instructor. The material is not hard or anything its just the amount of assignments thrown at you which can get out of hand if you leave them to the last minute especially if your in Engineering where you have to worry about other things (Math & Physics for one thing lol). The assignments themselves were also a sort of 'break' from the math and stuff aswell I found. Anyways if you enjoyed Geography in Grade 9 I say go for it! Just whatever you do dont go take a History elective LOL.

how does this course stack up to eng 1c03 or eng 1p03? the whole "drawing maps" and "running around hamilton" is telling me this course is too time consuming..

Originally Posted by kenvin100

how does this course stack up to eng 1c03 or eng 1p03? the whole "drawing maps" and "running around hamilton" is telling me this course is too time consuming..

Its not that bad its an easy A if you do all the work. It can be a bit annoying but besides that its ok. Not a lot of work and the drawing map is only like one assignment and itll at max take you 1hr to do (includes travel time).

1c03 1p03 were the "bird courses" of first yr engineering

Were you guys given a 3% bonus for attending all the labs like in GEOG 1HA3?

When I took it there was some marks for tutorial attendance but looking at this years syllabus:
http://www.science.mcmaster. ca/~geo/undergraduate/courses/firstyear/geog1hb3/1HB3_2010-11_Course_Outline_Fal l.pdf doesn't look like it...

I had this course last semester and i found it really interesting as well. I had a heavy workload in my other classes and i found you have no regular homework but there are 3 time consuming (almost full day) assignments but if you do not procrastinate they are not bad.

As for marks it does depend on your TA as well as for the last group project which was worth a lot is also dependent on your group. With a fair bit of effort you can get a 10 or higher but with little effort its really easy to get an 8 or 9.

I was really happy with the course so i would recommend it

Hey, does anyone know if Dr.Peace's midterms are more based on the textbook or the lectures for this course?

This course is kind of easy. The assignments, midterm, and exam weren't hard at all. The only thing that I did not like about this course was the group project where you have to go to different locations, draw them, and take notes on them. Besides the group project, this course was pretty good.

Hey,
So one 1HA3 course review had a really good in-depth explanation of the assignments; I was wondering if someone who took the course could kindly just list the assignments done for this class as well? It would be tremendously helpful. =)

The assignments for 1HB3 is similar to 1HA3.

Assignment 1: writing a précis and critical review. The TA gives you an article to read about and you write about it. In précis you pretty much summarize the article and critical review, you explain the article in terms of theme with some citations
Assignment 2: we go to the library and do the assignment on the map room. This assignment is normally due at the end of the lab.
Assignment 3: writing a research paper about population of two countries assigned to you. I remember you had to draw population pyramids on this one and explaining how population in each country changed over time.
Assignment 4: a group assignment. This is making a route for the LRT. The group decides where each station is going to go and we have to make field notes based on the station. This is worth normally 20% of your final mark.

Overall, I found this course harder than 1HA3 and this class has some calculations to do..

Attend the lectures, do your assignments, and make sure you cite your work properly! If you can do these three things effectively, you have no trouble getting a good mark in this course!

Is the textbook necessary for this class?

Originally Posted by Moose1992

Is the textbook necessary for this class?

I hardly read the textbook when i took the course but it's good to have it anyway.