So I'm in the physical science I program, and I was wondering if you can divide the courses up into a two year period to complete, or go to summer school. I need to finish 30 units.

My first year courses would be:
- 2 Chemistry classes
- 2 Math classes
- 2 physic classes
- 2 psychology classes
- biology and something ( these are my two electives, I chose Bio cause I'm thinking about switching majors later on)

Anyone in the physical science program here? I find that with those courses, it will be a very intense year and I don't know if I can handle it.

Also, when applying through SOLAR, for certain courses, for tutorials there is a very long list to choose from, are all they all the same? and what are they?

You shouldn't divide the courses up into two years. You wouldn't be a full time student (unless you take random electives, but then you're just wasting money), and you won't have the prerequisites to get into any second-year programs. Unless you're a student with a disability (and thus need less units to qualify as a full-time student), you should go for 30 units. Those courses won't be that bad My first year was two anatomy/physiology courses, two chems, two bios, two psychs, a math & a physics, and it was totally doable.

What major do you want to do after first year? Because if it's something that doesn't require, say, phys 1BA3/1BB3, you can take it in the summer, or in 2nd year, or not at all, even though it's required for first year physical science. If you're not planning on continuing in physical science (3-yr BSc), you can take courses that will give you the prereqs for the program you want to be in in 2nd year.

When you're getting accepted into a 2nd year major, you can defer 1-2 required courses to the SUMMER, but you HAVE to complete them prior to second year. Most science programs require at least one math, both chems, and some other more specific courses (such as two bios for any bio programs, or two psychs for any psych program, or two physics for any physics program, or some combination of the above). With the courses you're taking, you would be eligible for nearly any 2nd year science program (if you took the second bio in the summer), so you're in a very good position.

A lot of first years have those doubts but it truly boils down to time management. You have 10 courses over 2 semesters: 5 courses/semester which is just one more than a 4 course/semester load in high school.

Let's say you wake up at 7:45 AM on a typical day and that you have class non stop from 8:30 till 3:30, with a one hour break for lunch. You go to bed at 11:45 each night - we'll assume you live on res, even though your courseload is completely doable if you spend 2.5+ hours a day waiting for, travelling on and waiting for a ride after you're on the GO Bus, which is what I did in first year.

After your 3:30 PM class you take a break for one hour and start work at 4:30 PM.
You then have 7 hours to review 5 subjects and I swear, you won't be reviewing 5 subjects every day.
During those 7 hours, you'll likely (if you're a diligent student
- Read the chapters for the next lessons (30 minutes per chapter, let's say? 5 chapters x 0.5 hours = 2.5 hours)
- You'll work on a Chem elm quiz or a Physics CAPA (Let's say that takes 2 hours as well)
- Then you might do some homework problems (1 hour)
- Webassign (the Math online homework) for 30 minutes.

That's 6.5 hours which SEEMS bad but that's assuming you have a chapter to read every night, you do nothing on the weekends and you have 7 hours of class each day which is never going to happen.

Your regular day will probably be something like this:
- Watches TV for 2 hours
- Does Chem/Math/Phys homework
- Goes over concepts that didn't previously sink in in textbook
- Prepare for labs and tutorials
- Sleep
- Read ahead if desired.

You'll be fine; I assure you. Just make sure you get the work done and understand it properly and don't procrastinate. You'll have an ample amount of time left at the end of each day

Yes, all tutorials are the same on SOLAR. SOLAR assigns you to a lab and tutorial automatically. People usually switch around to find the best timings for them not because tutorials are vastly different. TA's might be different but tutorial content isn't.

Hello, although I was in life science in first year, sometimes I like to consider myself in physical sci. (I took all the required courses for physical sci).

I had
2 chem
2 math
2 physics
2 bio
1 psych
1 econ

Also, my roommate was in physics sci. She took

2 chem
2 math
2 physics
2 bio
1 astronomy
1 (med rad course, something like that)

Anyways, it's completely doable, but we both spent crazy hours studying... Well not really, we mostly slacked until exam time haha.

With these courses, in second year you can go into: math & stats, honours physics, honours chem and if you took another bio, honours chemical biology, honours biochem... you get the idea. I'm pretty sure you can also go into psych as well. So yeah, lots of options.

thanks so much everyone. This definately helped a lot, now that I know this course load is quite normal I feel a bit better.

I'm also in physical science 1!
for electives i chose 2 bio and 2 econ.

Originally Posted by Kayee

I'm also in physical science 1!
for electives i chose 2 bio and 2 econ.

OMG are you first year?

Just a warning, physical science is a challenging program (probably harder than first year engineering). A majority of my friends who were in that program have now either failed our or swapped out, so be careful next year and try not to pick up too many challenging courses (Bio 1M03/1A03)

Originally Posted by mudathto

Just a warning, physical science is a challenging program (probably harder than first year engineering). A majority of my friends who were in that program have now either failed our or swapped out, so be careful next year and try not to pick up too many challenging courses (Bio 1M03/1A03)

so bio is hard or easy?

for most programs 2 bio are needed

Originally Posted by knguyens2

OMG are you first year?

Yeahhh you are the 1st physical science ppl that I meet in this forum

Originally Posted by mudathto

Just a warning, physical science is a challenging program (probably harder than first year engineering). A majority of my friends who were in that program have now either failed our or swapped out, so be careful next year and try not to pick up too many challenging courses (Bio 1M03/1A03)

I took both physics classes for people in physical sciences (1B03/1BA3) and it really wasn't that bad.. Engineering physics definitely did more complicated stuff at the very end (my roommate was an engineer). Now mind you I didn't take the math, but one would (likely) assume that if you're going into physical sciences, you'd have a strong math background. To offer the flip side of this story, everyone I knew in physical sciences passed, and are continuing on.

As "another" course to take, I recommend Astronomy 1F03. Sure, its another science course, but the material is fairly simple. I'd say that anyone who got into physical sciences should have enough knowledge to get a 12.

Biology's difficulty really comes down to how strong you were with bio in high-school. No, you wouldn't have needed to memorize all the steps of glycolysis or Kreb's cycle, but in this class there are a few other metabolic pathways you'll need to know (generally involving the lac or trp operons). If you were a strong bio student, it will be both comfortable yet still challenging to some degree. You learn a lot more about genetics and the molecular basis of it towards the end of the class. If you struggled in bio and you don't like memorizing things, I'd steer clear.

Originally Posted by mudathto

Just a warning, physical science is a challenging program (probably harder than first year engineering). A majority of my friends who were in that program have now either failed our or swapped out, so be careful next year and try not to pick up too many challenging courses (Bio 1M03/1A03)

I also know people who've gotten near 12 averages in physical sci I.

Don't be scared, just work hard. Anything is possible!

GOODLUCK..

Originally Posted by goodnews.inc

Your regular day will probably be something like this:
- Watches TV for 2 hours
- Does Chem/Math/Phys homework
- Goes over concepts that didn't previously sink in in textbook
- Prepare for labs and tutorials
- Sleep
- Read ahead if desired.

You'll be fine; I assure you. Just make sure you get the work done and understand it properly and don't procrastinate. You'll have an ample amount of time left at the end of each day

Your post was great, but the only thing missing here is studying for tests, which takes up a lot of time as well. And since we all know how many tests us science students have, that can kind of throw a wrench into things, haha!

I took Grade 12 Bio online when I was in grade 11, and I had a semester off between high school and university because I graduated early. I wasn't allowed to take the regular cell Bio until summer school so:

Feb 08 - June 08. Grade 12 Bio online
June 10 - BIO 1A03.

I did just fine, in a summer course, with Physics. It comes down to time management, asking for help and doing the readings ahead of class so that you aren't stuck on the names and can focus on your difficulties with concepts.

Tip: The things that everybody in university says are "really hard" just means you're going to have to work hard, maybe work differently and be efficient. As long as you aren't an engineer (because with 37 units and profs who enjoy your pain, you guys have to work EVEN harder than any faculty I'm familiar with), you'll be okay.