Originally Posted by Freak705

I took:

2C03- Genetics
2B03- Cell Biology/Molecular Cell Biology
2A03- Animal Physiology
2EE3- Microbiology
2L03- Experimental Design in Biology

As far as I know, almost every bio student ends up taking 2B03. Genetics was pretty interesting, but it was trickier than 2B03.. There was more analysis and conceptual thinking happening there than in cell bio, which was essentially just strict memorization. Physiology is a great class if you want to learn how the body works, and you can do very well on the midterms/exam from studying the lecture notes alone (they are fill in the blanks, though they are VERY comprehensive). Only downside is that the labs were a little shoddy.

2EE3.. the material is interesting, but I found the presentation and format of the class to be pretty awful. Having it as a night class will put you to sleep. If you have problems with accents, you may find Dr. Xu very hard to understand. You will basically have to learn this class entirely from the textbook, because the questions Dr. Xu asks are just way out there sometimes. Anything is fair game..

2L03 is a fantastic lab course, and was my favourite class in second year. I have a HUGE review of it posted here:
http://www.macinsiders.com/showthrea...tr=B&t=43 494

In summary: Arguably dry class component, but hands down the best labs I've ever taken. I had a lot of fun in the lab =D

I'm actually looking forward to 2L03 It sounds like so much fun!

But if you had another biology course (in my case, 2D03) do you think you could have managed? How did you find the courseload of the biology courses you took? (I'm curious because I have the same ones!)

Originally Posted by rkb12

I'm actually looking forward to 2L03 It sounds like so much fun!

But if you had another biology course (in my case, 2D03) do you think you could have managed? How did you find the courseload of the biology courses you took? (I'm curious because I have the same ones!)

For the record, I also took:

Origins 2B03 (Big Questions)
Chem 2OA3
Chem 2OB3
Astronomy 2E03
Psych 2AP3

In having Origins/Astronomy (I had Origins first term, Astronomy second), for me, I had two classes I essentially didn't have to think about in terms of workload. Chem was a *****, and I'd have rather been taking another bio. Psychology I quickly tired of, and I would have rather had another bio.

For me, what I found was that the most important thing is not workload, but how engaged you are in the material. If you hate a class, it will seem like a lot more work than it really is.

To address the workload in each of those classes, I'd say..

2B03- Average workload for bio. Think bio 1A03 but more in-depth, minus the labs. Essentially, mostly memorization. My professor told us we would be tested only on lecture material, so I never even opened the textbook.

2C03- Same workload with respect to note-taking compared to 2B03, but the tests are not to the same level of regurgitation as in 2B03. You need to know how to apply concepts better/do practical calculations. I may argue that 2C03 might be a little worse than 2B03 in workload.

2EE3- Well... I didn't really write notes, or show up to class half the time... I just read the textbook (albeit at the last minute). I'll go out on a limb here and say if you keep on top of your readings, it will be less work than 2B03/2C03. If you don't... This class may crush your spirits come midterm/exam time. The readings are not short. Labs are comparable to Bio 1A03 labs.

2A03- Less workload than 2B03/2C03 for classwork. The slides are fill in the blank... Study the slides and you will do well. The labs are stupid. The labs themselves are arguably pointless exercises in terms of actually learning anything useful, they don't follow the course material in pace properly, and the write-ups are puzzling. The labs are manageable, not necessarily difficult, but I to this day still have no idea how they wanted the reports to be written. You're given theory questions to answer that are nigh impossible to write into your discussion section, as they have little to no relevance to the actual lab procedures you carried out. They are handed back weeks after you finish your last lab, and you never learn what they want. There are strict length limits that I, and everyone else found, impossible to adhere to while still answering the theory questions to the level of detail they told us they wanted. The labs prevented me from getting a 12 in the course, despite getting 92%+ on all 3 midterms and the exam (I got an 11).

2L03- The assignments are pretty straight forward. Dedicate 1 hour/lab period before each lab to readying your lab book and the labs will go smoother. By far the lowest workload (unless you write your formal labs the night before until 4am. I did this... Not fun)

Originally Posted by Freak705

For the record, I also took:

Origins 2B03 (Big Questions)
Chem 2OA3
Chem 2OB3
Astronomy 2E03
Psych 2AP3

In having Origins/Astronomy (I had Origins first term, Astronomy second), for me, I had two classes I essentially didn't have to think about in terms of workload. Chem was a *****, and I'd have rather been taking another bio. Psychology I quickly tired of, and I would have rather had another bio.

For me, what I found was that the most important thing is not workload, but how engaged you are in the material. If you hate a class, it will seem like a lot more work than it really is.

To address the workload in each of those classes, I'd say..

2B03- Average workload for bio. Think bio 1A03 but more in-depth, minus the labs. Essentially, mostly memorization. My professor told us we would be tested only on lecture material, so I never even opened the textbook.

2C03- Same workload with respect to note-taking compared to 2B03, but the tests are not to the same level of regurgitation as in 2B03. You need to know how to apply concepts better/do practical calculations. I may argue that 2C03 might be a little worse than 2B03 in workload.

2EE3- Well... I didn't really write notes, or show up to class half the time... I just read the textbook (albeit at the last minute). I'll go out on a limb here and say if you keep on top of your readings, it will be less work than 2B03/2C03. If you don't... This class may crush your spirits come midterm/exam time. The readings are not short. Labs are comparable to Bio 1A03 labs.

2A03- Less workload than 2B03/2C03 for classwork. The slides are fill in the blank... Study the slides and you will do well. The labs are stupid. The labs themselves are arguably pointless exercises in terms of actually learning anything useful, they don't follow the course material in pace properly, and the write-ups are puzzling. The labs are manageable, not necessarily difficult, but I to this day still have no idea how they wanted the reports to be written. You're given theory questions to answer that are nigh impossible to write into your discussion section, as they have little to no relevance to the actual lab procedures you carried out. They are handed back weeks after you finish your last lab, and you never learn what they want. There are strict length limits that I, and everyone else found, impossible to adhere to while still answering the theory questions to the level of detail they told us they wanted. The labs prevented me from getting a 12 in the course, despite getting 92%+ on all 3 midterms and the exam (I got an 11).

2L03- The assignments are pretty straight forward. Dedicate 1 hour/lab period before each lab to readying your lab book and the labs will go smoother. By far the lowest workload (unless you write your formal labs the night before until 4am. I did this... Not fun)

Thanks! I think I'll be fine with 6 biologies, because I didn't like orgo either, and I'm a person who'd rather take a bio than another chem.
Big questions is another course I'm really excited for If I like it, I may consider pursuing something in Origins.

Originally Posted by rkb12

Thanks! I think I'll be fine with 6 biologies, because I didn't like orgo either, and I'm a person who'd rather take a bio than another chem.
Big questions is another course I'm really excited for If I like it, I may consider pursuing something in Origins.

If you took Astronomy 1F03, Big Questions will be a complete joke of a class (ie you can skip the first half of the class and still get a 97% on the first midterm).

I love astronomy/cosmology/hell even physics, and if not for my utter hatred of calculus I would pursue a minor in astronomy. Origins offers lots of classes that are similar to my interests so I've decided to minor in Origins. Very cool stuff!

I'm taking 7 bios this year... yay physiology.