[Richa]

I took this course with Dr. Beston. It was a really interesting course. Dr. Beston added short video clips from animal planet to help us understand and made the lectures worth all our attention. The course consisted of two midterms and one final exam, and 2 assignments. The first midterm was worth 15%, second 20% and the assignments were worth 15% in total. The final exam was of the value of 50%.
This course was my favourite as it consisted of psychology and a little background from biology. All the readings from text book were very different from what was taught in the class. At times few examples did overlap but the readings were always interesting.
The only dropback of the course was that though the midterms were belived to be really easy, the marking scheme was not that lenient. Due to strict marking marks were lost at times unexpectedly. Therefore it would be a good idea to review your midterms with the TA, to check where and why you lost marks.
Overall the course was awesome and is worth taking!

I took this course last term. This course was full of surprises. I started off with a shaky start but things turned out OK. His first midterm was really tough. I had heard nothing but good things about this course but the first midterm did not show that. It was bad. The second midterm was better. The whole class did a lot better, the average was pretty high - around the high 70s.

(I think what happened was he changed his super strict SA marking scheme and so the average improved on the second midterm... but that's just my two cents!)

The exam was cumulative and I'm sure the class did fine. It wasn't anything you did not expect. It was just like the midterms - but easier.

You can get a double-digit even without the textbook. But if you wanna play it safe, buy the textbook. The textbook helps explain the concepts in his lecture notes. His lecture notes are kind of vague... so take really good notes.

The downside was that it was a night class. If you have a friend with you, makes things a lot better.

You can do well in this course but you need to figure out his questioning style. That's all.

Any updated reviews from 2011?

I took this class in 2011.

I can honestly say that this is one of the best courses I've ever taken at Mac for a couple of reasons. Primarily, the content is very interesting. It's all about animal behaviour and psychology and professor Beston does an amazing job in keeping you engaged.

Secondly, the midterms were extremely fair. Both midterms had averages that were in the high 70s, so it was very possible to get 80+ on both of the midterms.

Thirdly, there was only one 3 hour class per week. No tutorials and no lectures.

Fourthly, you don't need to buy the textbook for this course. Just make really good notes in his class and you should do well on his midterms.

Overall, I highly recommend this course. You won't regret it!

is this course the same thing as psych 2TT3?
they are antirequisit of each other and both taught by Dr.Beston
also I read that for 2TT3 there's no assignments and just midterms and final, is this same for this course?

One thing I thought coming out of the exam and midterms for this class was that the tests were extremely fair. I didn't even do that well on the first midterm but I was able to appreciate the way the test was put together. Dr. Beston's multiple choice questions were a refreshing change from all my other classes. His MC questions make you think and apply the concepts and don't just test stupid random information! Class was so interesting I actually enojoyed attending this night class and he always ended early. I loved the little clips he showed during class this was actually such a good way to keep us engaged. I highly recommend this class it's very interesting and some of the experiments I have learned about in this class have popped up in some of my other classes.

Do the mid-terms and final exam consist entirely of multiple choice questions, and if so, how many questions are there? Are there any short answers?

The course is pretty much a review of Bio 1M03 and Psych 1X03/1XX3. the material is pretty easy t grasp but for some reason the averages are really low on the midterms, theyre hard and the marking scheme is very particular

the midterms are M/C and short answer

I took this in fall of 2012 and it was a night class which is usually 3 hrs per class per week. But our prof was nice so he let us off after 2 hours.

So I had Dr. Beston as well and he was the only one teaching at the time.

There were two tests and one exam. Test 1 was 25%, test 2 was 30%, and final exam was 45%. So screw up the tests, you screw up a huge chunk of your mark. There weren't any assignments or quizzes to save you. The tests consisted of multiple choice and short answers.

Lecture: You must go to his lecture. He will have slides during lecture that is not included in the notes and they will be tested on. It is a night class so I have seen people fall asleep. It might happen to you so be aware or think of a plan to take all the notes down. You might also need extra paper if you print notes because he has slides up he expects you to copy down and it won't fit on the notes.

Interest: Material is interesting and you might have a good talk with your friends/family about it. I know I did. He shows clips and that does help me stay interested throughout his lecture.

Professor: Dr. Beston is not the best prof. He is a nice guy but I find that his material can be hard to follow. His tests are not well constructed and there are errors here and there. I recall our second test, he added a chapter that was not supposed to be on it and of course it was not counted for marks but it threw a lot of people off. So he has many technical errors with his tests. His marking scheme was also pretty specific.

Easiness: I recall the 1st midterm's average was around 75% which was not too bad. He does tend to test on minute details.

Overall: I really like the course, but not the tests. I think just the questions that he designed were pretty tough.

My suggestions on how to do well: I did not do too badly...Well I didn't get my final mark yet but so far I am doing okay. I recommend going over his slides carefully and the stuff he goes over in lecture but is not found in the notes. Whatever you do not understand, write it down or email the prof. You can also post on discussion. It is very important to ask because that question might very likely show up on the test, trust me, it happened to me. I think his multiple choice is manageable. I think the trouble is in the short answers. I recommend making your own questions guided by his notes and writing your own answers. Make sure you can explain the significance of the experiments and what is being said. If you can answer your own questions without looking at your notes, you should be fine. An example of a question could be "Explain this experiment and how did it demonstrate learning?". Also textbook is essential to doing well. There are definitions that he expects you to know and you will only understand them by reading the textbook. The definition he gives in lecture is not sufficient and he will expect you to know the full definition from the textbook. So get the textbook!!! Also ask about what you got wrong on your test! You are not allowed to keep your test so you have to go to the specified hours to take a look and ask questions. Don't be lazy and not do it because the questions you screwed up on may appear on the final.

Good luck.

Course is fairly interesting. Two midterms for which you need to know the class lecture material well in order to get a high mark... but the downfall is that the marking is very strict on short answer.. very very strict in fact! Exam is a bit harder than the midterms because they incorporate alot more textbook stuff that wasnt covered in the two midterms, so it was a bit of a shocker. Beston is a good prof, goes a bit fast at times but the course content is nothing too intimidating anyways. Worth taking course on the whole!

Does anyone know how picky the TAs are about the assignments?

Does anyone have any thoughts on Dr. Khan? He's teaching the course this year.

anyone?

Dr. Khan was a new prof 1-2 years ago, so she may not have taught this course before.

Hi, I took this course in 2013-2014. This is an amazing course if you like to study more about the animal behavior through multiple research studies. It was my favorite course to be honest. Dr. Khan is a great professor. She is very approachable, and provides very interesting lectures!
The course starts out with basic concepts on scientific methods and builds slowly up. I would recommend this course for sure if you can put in some effort into reading the textbook and going to lectures!