This was the first Mol Bio course I've taken and I'm glad I took it!

The content was straight forward, as long as you attend classes. I found some parts to be a bit boring, and caffeine was a real requirement at times (especially as I took it as a night class), but over all it wasn't...

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I think she meant Dr. Dej taught it in 2010-2011...as in January-April of 2011, and will not be teaching it January-April of 2012, the 2011-2012 session.

This has got to be the worst course I've taken in all my 4 years at McMaster.

The professor is very dull and boring. She doesn't teach during lectures but reads of slides. She doesn't even read everything on the slide and she tends to just breeze through everything without explaining the concepts.

Tests: they are on saturdays. You can do very well on the tests. It's just you have to memorize everything because you loose marks for not stating the number of base pairs or something that's really minor and irrelevant. You do need to know how to apply the concepts as well so it's not just strickly memorization. There is also a bonus question on each test which is nice.

Overall, this course is just awful. Mainly because the prof is terrible. She thinks she's "helping" you develop skills which you will use in your professional career but she's going about it in all the wrong ways. She also has a big attitude problem. She's always right and she is very petty. She also treats a lot of the students poorly. Whenever people ask her questions, she puts them down.

I wouldn't recommend this course as long as Dr. Daniel is teaching it.

i heard this course is being phased out/cancelled soon, is this right?

I am asking the questions many have already asked and received no answer :p
IS THE TEXTBOOK REALLY NECESSARY? or ARE LECTURE NOTES SUFFICIENT IF YOU DON'T MISS ANY LECTURE?

Also, is it really that hard with Gupta?

Lecture notes are sufficient. I torrented the older version oft he textbook just in case I needed clarification cuz Daniels doesn't explain things at all.

Originally Posted by nishan

I am asking the questions many have already asked and received no answer :p
IS THE TEXTBOOK REALLY NECESSARY? or ARE LECTURE NOTES SUFFICIENT IF YOU DON'T MISS ANY LECTURE?

Never taken it with gupta

I've taken in 2012 with Dr. Gupta teaching. He's a friendly guy, doesn't try to make you fail but you have to study obviously. Notes are good and complete, just read the bullet points. However, in the tutorial you have to read a scientific paper, analyze it and make a professional presentation. You don't have to go to the tutorials every week, but there is a 1% quiz on each presentation when other groups present. Overall, it's alright..kind of like another cell bio 2b03 but mainly on cytoskeletal proteins, cell signalling etc.

Oh and the textbook comes in a pdf format somewhere so if you get your hands on one, you don't need to buy the textbook!

There are 6 papers that they want you to read and after each tutorial you have a 1% quiz at the end. To be honest, you don't really need to read it if you don't have the time, after all it's just 1%..you can learn a lot from the presenters but just skim through it, get to know the general idea. And the only paper you really need to focus on is the paper you will be presenting, so it's not a big deal!