Originally Posted by mike4

If youve taken gr 12 economics, econ 1B03/1BB3 is supposed to be a breeze actually Did you take the course with no background in the subject?

i did take this course with NO BAKGROUND AT ALL, i had no idea wut was going on lol i dint do too bad i just didnt like it at ALL

^ I have no background in economics either, I'm interested in the subject... I just wasn't able to take it in high school. My cousin took it without any background in it either and she told me it was an easy 12, as well as a couple of my friends who took it last year.

"Is it likely? Nope, it's not likely at all. It's not likely to get a 12 in one course, let alone every course!

Is it possible? Yes. Very very slight chance. It's possible to get a 12 in one course, and I'd say if you're very dedicated, it's do-able to get a 12 in one course. However, as aforementioned, to come even close to getting a 12 in every course, you'd have to give up on having a life. "

LOL. Are you guys joking or something? I honestly can't tell if people are being sarcastic or not. At least Mahratta and Jeremy know what they're talking about at any rate.

One piece of advice: don't fall for this trap that university is hard, and that your grades will drop, and that you have to give up a life to get 12s. You can hang out all day, do a couple hours of work in the evening and more than half your marks can be 12s, with 11s and 10s being the rest regardless of what program you're in.

Unless of course you want to listen to these other people and go into university knowing that you'll never do as well as you want just because "it's university", or you'll do well but not make any friends or have any time to hang out.

And then other people come in and say, "yes, some students are able to do well without doing that much work and they're able to obtain almost perfect GPAs without studying all day BUT OF COURSE that's not the average student, that's an exception!!!1"

Maybe it's an exception because everyone else is making excuses such as having to give up their lives in order to get mostly 12s, just to compensate for the lack of intelligence that actually creates this idea that "university is difficult."

You'll do as well as you want. If you want all 12s, you'll get them. The amount of work required is irrelevant. If you want your 12s, you should be ready to work as hard as you need to. Some people will work less than you and get better marks, some people will work harder and get worse marks. But that's them, and you're you.

The grade doesn't matter so much as how hard you worked for it and what you got out of it. I've gotten 12s where I didn't really work hard at all for them, so I don't really care. Then, there have been courses where I've been fully expecting to get a 10 or 11, and I ended up pulling off a 12 and it's amazing On the other end of the spectrum, my lowest mark in high school was a 70 on a grade 11 chem test. In this chem test, we were tested on things that I have yet to learn after 2nd year in a chemistry program--it was ridiculously advanced, and the teacher gave it to us knowing that and expecting to bell curve it appropriately, but 70 was my raw mark and it was the highest of his two classes. Even though it was the lowest mark I got in high school, it was one of the ones I was proudest of.

Focus on learning things and working hard, and you'll hopefully be happy with whatever marks you get

Originally Posted by ShesTheMan

^ I have no background in economics either, I'm interested in the subject... I just wasn't able to take it in high school. My cousin took it without any background in it either and she told me it was an easy 12, as well as a couple of my friends who took it last year.

I also had no background and got a 12 in Econ 1B03. It's important not to go into the course thinking, "Everyone says it's an easy 12, I'm not going to do anything because I don't have to". It's certainly easy to get a 12 for most people but that doesn't mean they didn't do anything in the course. I studied quite a bit for the course, I would even say equal to other courses I took like Physics and Math. But I didn't get a 12 in physics, that's why Econ 1B03 is considered easy. You can put as much effort into the course as other courses you are taking and do better it compared to your other courses.

you'll do as well as you want. If you want all 12s, you'll get them. The amount of work required is irrelevant. If you want your 12s, you should be ready to work as hard as you need to. Some people will work less than you and get better marks, some people will work harder and get worse marks. But that's them, and you're you.

so true man im in this total mind set

@Alchemist11: THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH for your post I really appreciate it! Though I realize university won't be a breeze, I'm sure if I put in efforts I can maintain good marks and a life

This was a really interesting thread to read for sure..

I think that it is possible, of course, to get all 12s. I took some of those classes, and had friends who took all of them, and from what I've seen, your biggest enemy is when all the courses suddenly collide and all your finals are back to back, or you have two labs and a midterm in one day.

At the end of the day, it's most important for you to do your best. Once you get deep into university, it'll take you awhile to figure out what exactly YOUR BEST is. As someone mentioned before, getting a 12 in a nonchallenging class (based on your perspective) is not as fulfilling as getting a 12 in a REALLY challenging class...that's when you get to figure out what your true potential is.

The worst possible thing you can do is go into it with the wrong attitude, feeling like it's impossible and that you shouldn't bother trying.

*WARNING: extremely terrible cliche ahead:* shoot for the moon, if you miss you'll end up in the stars. seriously, work hard, if you can't get all 12s, then you know you've tried and you'll probably still end up in the top.

Your courses are OK. From my first year (2 years ago), here's my take on your courses and how easy it was to get a 12:

Chem 1a03 - easy
Bio 1a03 - was pretty rape in my year to pull a 12 :S, very few did it, we had jacobs
Math 1a03 - easy
Psych 1x03 - was challenging in my year also to get 12, lots of 11s though
Physics 1L03 - baby course from what i've heard

Chem 1aa3 - easy
Bio 1m03 - easier than bio 1a03 in my year, still few 12s though
Psych 1xx3 - i found this easier than psych 1x03, but still hard to get 12 in my year
Phys 1b03 - not too hard
Econ 1b03 - easy from what i've heard


With that said, the difficulty was the way these courses were structured at the time. For example, psych papers were marked harshly/easily depending on your TA. PBL projects and bio short answer questions would be marked harshly sometimes too. Iclicker quizzes brought some people's marks down from 12 in physics 1b03 (with Dr. King). In other instances, testing styles would always play a role. For example, psych multiple choice questions were always very wordy (kind of like MCAT VR) and this was occasionally the same with bio (especially with Dr. Jacobs). In my year, I remember they made two mistakes on Bio 1A03 lab exam that cost people precious time. It all adds up.

In summary, NOBODY got 4.0 in my year. Some came real close.

With that said, I think you need to be a little lucky to get 4.0 in first year science. It's possible but unlikely.

Originally Posted by ShesTheMan

I'm heading into life sciences this year and these are the courses I'm taking:
First term: Chem 1A03, Bio 1A03, Math 1A03, Psych 1X03, Phys 1L03
Second term: Chem 1AA3, Bio 1M03, Psych 1XX3, Phys 1B03, Econ 1B03

I've heard that phys 1B03 is really tough so with the exception of that course, how difficult is it maintaining a 12 in all the other courses mentioned?

To easen up your load, and possibly attain a 12.0 Avg first year, swap Psych 1X03 out first semester for psychbiology (HTH SCI 1G03).
Also swap Psych 1XX3 (HTH SCI 1G03 ANTI-REQUISITE) for an easier elective say, Astronomy (ASTRO 1F03) in first term.
Move your math to second term, and swap it out for MATH 1LS3.

It'll be easier if you are aiming for a 12 this way.

Originally Posted by jordan19

To easen up your load, and possibly attain a 12.0 Avg first year, swap Psych 1X03 out first semester for psychbiology (HTH SCI 1G03).
Also swap Psych 1XX3 (HTH SCI 1G03 ANTI-REQUISITE) for an easier elective say, Astronomy (ASTRO 1F03) in first term.
Move your math to second term, and swap it out for MATH 1LS3.

It'll be easier if you are aiming for a 12 this way.

I heard that psych courses are easy bird courses no?

Originally Posted by cjdzl

I heard that psych courses are easy bird courses no?

omg no def not

Originally Posted by cjdzl

I heard that psych courses are easy bird courses no?

So, as it's been said many times on this thread, there is no such thing as bird courses....it depends on the person. So some people might have found psych easy, but I know many who found it quite challenging as well. If you're REALLY good in analytical thinking, and applying what you learn to specific situations, then I think it'll be easier for you.. The other issue with psych is that it is a lot of individual work, so you have to maintain your own work ethic.

Originally Posted by cjdzl

I heard that psych courses are easy bird courses no?

false, black bears

Originally Posted by cjdzl

I heard that psych courses are easy bird courses no?

It depends...I found them very easy, but some other people found them difficult because of the wording of the MC. I thought 1X03 was much easier than 1XX3, though--1XX3 has a whole bunch of neural pathways & whatnot...except, we were allowed a cheat sheet on the exam, which was one sheet of paper front & back with whatever you want written on it. I managed to fit the whole course on there, and there wasn't a single thing on the exam I had issues with