[eycc11]

We had 3 different instructors for this course in January 2008 -- Dr. McNeill, Dr. Farrell and Dr. Hayward. They just took turns teaching and all three profs used PowerPoint presentations. I can’t remember exactly who taught what, but we covered: vibrations and waves, heat and heat flow, electricity and magnetism, modern and radiation physics, as well as fluids. It was really a mix of biology and physics.

It was pretty much split into 4 parts. Dr. McNeill taught half the term, so she was in charge of the first 2 assignments, the first 2 tests, and 20% of the exam. She was very easygoing and laid-back. She always showed us videos from stupidvideos.com, and she always related them back to physics...somehow! Dr. Farrell was a nice guy and he was quite fair, but I found Dr. Hayward to be the prof that likes to always challenge you. It’s good…and bad (marks-wise), especially since he taught the last bit.

MARK BREADOWN
Assignments: 4 x 5% = 20%
Tests: 4 x 7.5% = 30%
Exam: 40%
Participation: 10%

Physics for Biological Sciences by Hallet was the only textbook we used. The profs went through many of the textbook examples in class and some assignment/test/exam questions were quite similar to the questions they covered/assigned.

I was never a huge fan of physics, but this course was kind of interesting because it had a bit of biology involved, and it wasn’t just like “at what speed was the car travelling at 10 s” sort of thing.

Just like the previous review, there were 3 profs. Farrell taught Electricity & Magnetism, Hayward taught Fluids, and Farquharson (replacing McNeill) taught Heat, Waves, and Radiation.

MARK BREADOWN (exactly the same)
Assignments: 4 x 5% = 20%
Tests: 4 x 7.5% = 30%
Exam: 40%
Participation: 10%

Book: Physics for Biological Sciences by Hallet. Worst book ever; there's a lot of mistakes in the answer sections for the practice problems. However, if you're able to do all the questions before the midterms/finals, you're set.

Farrell: Very lazy. But very easy. Test was very straightforward. Assignment was tougher than the test.

Farquharson: I found his radiation section to be the most interesting of them all. Best part is that he's got online lectures of his subjects, so you could listen to them before lecture. It's not a total replacement to his in-class stuff, but listening to them will make studying much easier. He's big on theory, so spend most of your time on it. The assignment was most of that, so you could look at the notes. Test was very easy.

Hayward: The more challenging out of the three. Assignment is harder, but the test was quite easy. People have said that he's not a very approachable person and they find him quite cocky. To me, I didn't think so.

Overall: Do the work and you'll be fine. It found it more interesting then regular physics because it relates to whatever speciality you'll be getting into in second year. Also, this course is easier than the general physics other students take.

was there any cappas with this course?

Originally Posted by kgrun

was there any cappas with this course?

Unlike regular physics, there isn't any for this course.

The course is different now, as we only have one professor, Mic Farquharson, which is nice so that the teaching is consistent over the entire term.

Course breakdown:
assignments: 20% (2 each worth 10%)
midterm: 30%
exam: 50%


I think this course is more interesting than high school physics since it applies to the med rad specialization's. The midterm was supposed to be easy but a lot of people struggled with it, mainly because they didn't know what to expect going into it, but everyone has done very well on the assignments.