Hey guys,

I have a few questions.

1) Approximately how much of Bio 1A03, 1M03, Chem 1A03, Chem 1AA3, Phys 1LS3, and Math 1LS3 (if you took these courses) was high school review and how heavy was the content on a scale of 1 to 10 (ex. did you have to study A LOT and put in hours or hours, or was a couple of hours per week enough). I was surprised to see that in Bio 1A03, only like 15 chapters are covered and most of it is high school review.

2) Is it a really bad idea to have Bio 1A03 and Bio 1M03 in the same semester? I really like the idea of having detailed notes from Zhu where I wouldn't really need to spend time making my own, and I've heard Dudley's notes are also more detailed and thorough. And I think having a 2nd bio would be easier than having a math or physics.

3) I've heard Campos test questions are harder than Zhu's. Are her questions more application style, what makes them harder?

4) In your opinion, on a scale of 1 to 10, how hard was first year life science, and how much hours did you put in (on average) per week for each course?

5) How hard is Psych 1X03 and 1XX3. I have a feeling it'l be my toughest course. How much time did you put forth in it per week and how hard do you think it is on a scale of 1 to 10.

Thanks! (PS if you don't want to give a rating 1-10 it's fine, a simple answer would be more than enough )

Originally Posted by brady23

Hey guys,

I have a few questions.

1) Approximately how much of Bio 1A03, 1M03, Chem 1A03, Chem 1AA3, Phys 1LS3, and Math 1LS3 (if you took these courses) was high school review and how heavy was the content on a scale of 1 to 10 (ex. did you have to study A LOT and put in hours or hours, or was a couple of hours per week enough). I was surprised to see that in Bio 1A03, only like 15 chapters are covered and most of it is high school review.

2) Is it a really bad idea to have Bio 1A03 and Bio 1M03 in the same semester? I really like the idea of having detailed notes from Zhu where I wouldn't really need to spend time making my own, and I've heard Dudley's notes are also more detailed and thorough. And I think having a 2nd bio would be easier than having a math or physics.

3) I've heard Campos test questions are harder than Zhu's. Are her questions more application style, what makes them harder?

4) In your opinion, on a scale of 1 to 10, how hard was first year life science, and how much hours did you put in (on average) per week for each course?

5) How hard is Psych 1X03 and 1XX3. I have a feeling it'l be my toughest course. How much time did you put forth in it per week and how hard do you think it is on a scale of 1 to 10.

Thanks! (PS if you don't want to give a rating 1-10 it's fine, a simple answer would be more than enough )

1) I didn't take the math and physics listed, but the ones you plan on taking will be mostly review. This isn't stuff you should worry about though since those courses aren't difficult at all. Just be wise with time. Course content is a joke in my opinion.

2) The two first year bios are very light in workload imo, but from what I hear, your math and physics are far easier than both bios. bio 1a03 only annoyance is the formal lab report. 1m03 is light all around. project can be annoying if you wait until the last few days.

3) Don't know about this and don't worry about this. Marks in both terms for bio 1a03 were the same. it wont matter. stop worrying and relax.

4) its different for everyone. what someone else says won't apply to you.

5) I know many people who did well. I know many people who did poor. comes down to being smart with your time. nothing else.

stop worrying and asking all these questions man. you will be fine in first year if you put effort in. that is all you need. the courses you're taking are all pretty light in my eyes, but that could be different for others. just be smart, practice, understand what the profs talk about, dont procrastinate and then you will be fine.

Originally Posted by brady23

Hey guys,

I have a few questions.

1) Approximately how much of Bio 1A03, 1M03, Chem 1A03, Chem 1AA3, Phys 1LS3, and Math 1LS3 (if you took these courses) was high school review and how heavy was the content on a scale of 1 to 10 (ex. did you have to study A LOT and put in hours or hours, or was a couple of hours per week enough). I was surprised to see that in Bio 1A03, only like 15 chapters are covered and most of it is high school review.

2) Is it a really bad idea to have Bio 1A03 and Bio 1M03 in the same semester? I really like the idea of having detailed notes from Zhu where I wouldn't really need to spend time making my own, and I've heard Dudley's notes are also more detailed and thorough. And I think having a 2nd bio would be easier than having a math or physics.

3) I've heard Campos test questions are harder than Zhu's. Are her questions more application style, what makes them harder?

4) In your opinion, on a scale of 1 to 10, how hard was first year life science, and how much hours did you put in (on average) per week for each course?

5) How hard is Psych 1X03 and 1XX3. I have a feeling it'l be my toughest course. How much time did you put forth in it per week and how hard do you think it is on a scale of 1 to 10.

Thanks! (PS if you don't want to give a rating 1-10 it's fine, a simple answer would be more than enough )

1) Can't comment on Phys 1LS3 since I haven't taken it, but from the other courses you listed, most are high school review. But then again, that will change from person to person, so it'd probably be better for you to get a hold of the course outlines and see for yourself what topics you've already learned. I would say I put in most of my time and effort into Bio because I have a strong background in chem and Math 1LS3 is pretty jokes (you go over concepts like simple graphs, quadratic formula, simple calculus etc.). Even though I had learned most of the concepts in the bios, I still had to memorize my notes because the profs I had were nitpicky and tested on fine details.

2) I've had a few friends take both bios in the same semester and they didn't really like it. Again, I found the bio courses to be the most time-consuming so I wouldn't have wanted to take both in the same semester. But if you do choose to do so, at least one of your semesters will be relatively lighter.

4) Can't really comment on the scale, since what's a 4 for me may be a 3 or a 6 for you, it's entirely subjective. I will say though that I think I put in more effort than was necessary, but I did relatively well, so I don't regret it.

5) I have a few friends who took it last year, when the course was revamped and they said it was pretty hard. Since there was no midterm (at least for one of them), most of your grade comes from the exam and Dr. Kim comes up with tricky questions. I would say both psychs are more challenging compared to your other courses because you can't just memorize equations and facts and expect to do well. You have to be able to apply what you've learned and usually you'll have to apply multiple concepts to one question. I really enjoyed both courses though.

Originally Posted by brady23

Hey guys,

I have a few questions.

1) Approximately how much of Bio 1A03, 1M03, Chem 1A03, Chem 1AA3, Phys 1LS3, and Math 1LS3 (if you took these courses) was high school review and how heavy was the content on a scale of 1 to 10 (ex. did you have to study A LOT and put in hours or hours, or was a couple of hours per week enough). I was surprised to see that in Bio 1A03, only like 15 chapters are covered and most of it is high school review.

2) Is it a really bad idea to have Bio 1A03 and Bio 1M03 in the same semester? I really like the idea of having detailed notes from Zhu where I wouldn't really need to spend time making my own, and I've heard Dudley's notes are also more detailed and thorough. And I think having a 2nd bio would be easier than having a math or physics.

3) I've heard Campos test questions are harder than Zhu's. Are her questions more application style, what makes them harder?

4) In your opinion, on a scale of 1 to 10, how hard was first year life science, and how much hours did you put in (on average) per week for each course?

5) How hard is Psych 1X03 and 1XX3. I have a feeling it'l be my toughest course. How much time did you put forth in it per week and how hard do you think it is on a scale of 1 to 10.

Thanks! (PS if you don't want to give a rating 1-10 it's fine, a simple answer would be more than enough )

1. I took all of those courses and I found that most of it was high school review, although it varies depending on the school and the quality of your teachers. I met people who didn't have great science teachers and were more frustrated with keeping up. I don't know about rating it on a scale, but I don't think I studied that much in first year. I did go to most of my classes and took pretty good notes.. that always helps. And I gave myself ample time to start studying for tests. First year was more learning how the university worked, living away from home, being in huge classes.

2. I'm sure people have done them together, they aren't that hard. From second year, biology programs have multiple biologies per term anyways. I actually liked having one biology each term, I felt first year was very balanced. Bio 1A03 has the formal lab reports and 1M03 has the PBL project, so you'd have to keep up with a lot (compared to taking Math 1LS3 or Physics 1L03.. which aren't very hard and don't have projects). But it isn't horrible and I think you could do it if you wanted to.

3. I haven't had either so I can't say, although I have heard that Campos' questions are tricky.

4. First year wasn't that hard (in terms of content) but you do need to establish a routine, go to your classes, learn to take good notes, stay on top of deadlines, and study independently. I don't think I studied that much in first year but I kept track of midterms and gave myself ample time to prepare.

5. 1XX3 was harder than 1X03 imo. The content was more biology-based, it had more memorizing, and there was also a live lecture component. I heard that the courses changed since I took them, so the overall difficulty may be more now (we didn't have weekly quizzes based on the lecture). Halfway through the term, I slacked on listening to web lectures for 1XX3 and had a lot of lectures to catch up on for the final exam, so I don't think I worked as hard as I should have but I ended up getting double digits in both.
Edit: Both courses are still pretty tough. I thought Kim's testing was tricky.

Originally Posted by brady23

Hey guys,

I have a few questions.

1) Approximately how much of Bio 1A03, 1M03, Chem 1A03, Chem 1AA3, Phys 1LS3, and Math 1LS3 (if you took these courses) was high school review and how heavy was the content on a scale of 1 to 10 (ex. did you have to study A LOT and put in hours or hours, or was a couple of hours per week enough). I was surprised to see that in Bio 1A03, only like 15 chapters are covered and most of it is high school review.

2) Is it a really bad idea to have Bio 1A03 and Bio 1M03 in the same semester? I really like the idea of having detailed notes from Zhu where I wouldn't really need to spend time making my own, and I've heard Dudley's notes are also more detailed and thorough. And I think having a 2nd bio would be easier than having a math or physics.

3) I've heard Campos test questions are harder than Zhu's. Are her questions more application style, what makes them harder?

4) In your opinion, on a scale of 1 to 10, how hard was first year life science, and how much hours did you put in (on average) per week for each course?

5) How hard is Psych 1X03 and 1XX3. I have a feeling it'l be my toughest course. How much time did you put forth in it per week and how hard do you think it is on a scale of 1 to 10.

Thanks! (PS if you don't want to give a rating 1-10 it's fine, a simple answer would be more than enough )

1) as people have said, it's a lot of review but depends on how much you learned in high school. I found math 1LS3 to be entirely review with the exception of two lectures. The bios were also heavily review. So was chem, but they assumed that most people had skipped orgo but done electrochem in high school, and my school did the opposite, so I had a harder time with electrochem (although I do just suck at electrochem in general). Orgo was a breeze though Physics was maybe 70% review for me.

2) I disagree, I think having bio + physics/math would be easier than 1A03 and 1M03 together, simply because both courses require a lot of unnecessary work (ex, having to copy out the procedure for 1A03 labs, or the stupid 1M03 PB-hell project). Neither physics or math requires much work at all.

3) No idea

4) A scale is meaningless because it's all relative. After first year I don't really know what I would have said, but after finishing my degree, I can say that I had far more spare time and much more of a social life in first year than in any other year, and my first year marks were also pretty good. So in retrospect I'd say it's pretty chill and not a lot of work at all.

5) 1X03 was super easy. 1XX3 required more memorization, but we were allowed a cheat sheet for the exam (idk if they still do that), so that helped a lot. Double-digit grades for both, easy. I think physics was my hardest. It wasn't a lot of work by any means, I just didn't like it so it was hardest to learn it.

You kids worry too much.
Just suck it up and take the damn course like everybody else.
If you're smart, you'll be fine and if you're dumb (or spend too much time worrying about nothing), you might be in trouble regardless of which core you select.
How much of first year is a repeat of high school completely depends on what your high school taught you. I found ~90% of first year to be previous material.

Originally Posted by brady23

Hey guys,

I have a few questions.

1) Approximately how much of Bio 1A03, 1M03, Chem 1A03, Chem 1AA3, Phys 1LS3, and Math 1LS3 (if you took these courses) was high school review and how heavy was the content on a scale of 1 to 10 (ex. did you have to study A LOT and put in hours or hours, or was a couple of hours per week enough). I was surprised to see that in Bio 1A03, only like 15 chapters are covered and most of it is high school review.

2) Is it a really bad idea to have Bio 1A03 and Bio 1M03 in the same semester? I really like the idea of having detailed notes from Zhu where I wouldn't really need to spend time making my own, and I've heard Dudley's notes are also more detailed and thorough. And I think having a 2nd bio would be easier than having a math or physics.

3) I've heard Campos test questions are harder than Zhu's. Are her questions more application style, what makes them harder?

4) In your opinion, on a scale of 1 to 10, how hard was first year life science, and how much hours did you put in (on average) per week for each course?

5) How hard is Psych 1X03 and 1XX3. I have a feeling it'l be my toughest course. How much time did you put forth in it per week and how hard do you think it is on a scale of 1 to 10.

Thanks! (PS if you don't want to give a rating 1-10 it's fine, a simple answer would be more than enough )

1. Most science introductory courses are basically high school review. But it could be different for some people. I know that in high school, I didn't cover ANY evolution in biology so Bio 1M03 was completely new to me. I know some people in Chem 1a03/1aa3 where they haven't covered some topics in high school but I have. So it really depends what did you exactly learn in high school. But generally speaking, the concepts will be familiar and if not, it isn't so hard to grasp.

2. Bio is A LOT of memorization. Having two biology courses in one semester can be overwhelming. It all depends on you and your ability to memorize.

3. I never had Campos, but Zhu's question I found were fair for the most part. Again, if you know your stuff it's do-able

4. I found first year science to be easy. It can get stressful at times when you got a lot of midterm crammed into one week but I found myself to be very prepared for university. I had a strong background in the Sciences from high school plus I found the learning style to really fit who I am - I like multiple choice questions.

5. Psych last year was tough at times simply because the quiz questions were retarded. Even TAs don't know how to answer them. But it wasn't so hard in the end. Midterm/Exam was fair if you knew your stuff. It is possible to achieve a 12 in this course.