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Psych 2F03

 
Psych 2F03
Fundamentals of Neuroscience
Published by mgallant
05-26-2009
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Join Date: Jul 2007
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Overall Rating
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7
Professor Rating
80%80%80%
8
Interest
90%90%90%
9
Easiness
60%60%60%
6
Average 75%
Thumbs up Psych 2F03

Taught by Dr. Ullal (who is awesome). This course is a great introduction to topics in Neuroscience.

The material at the beginning of the course is very dry. You learn (for the 3022023203820th time) about neuroimaging techniques (fmri, ct, etc.). Although boring, it's necessary to understand the rest of the course.

After this, you have a couple neuroanatomy lectures, followed by lectures on the blood-brain barrier, cerebral blood flow, and other interesting things like that.

Then the course gets a little harder, by focusing on the brain on a neuronal/synaptic level. You learn about resting membrane potentials, action potentials, synaptic transmission, and axon transport.

After this section, the course closes with some study on the motor and somatosensory systems, with particular focus on the basal ganglia (parkinson's / huntington's) and the cerebellum. I found this material very very interesting. Especially the material on parkinson's.

The course has 2 midterms (very detail-oriented), 2 small assignments (literature review), and a final.

I recommend this course.

magicalland says thanks to mgallant for this post.
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Old 05-31-2009 at 10:00 PM   #2
sinthusized
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can you tell me how much (percent wise) was review from first year psych (some stuff you mentioned was taught in first year)? Or was it something that built off of it completely?
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Old 06-30-2009 at 10:35 AM   #3
Sohail
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Just to add a few more points to the review:

You need to go to class in order to do well in this course. I didn't do so, and unfortunately found myself struggling to understand key concepts a few days before the test. Dr. Ullal has horrible slides, and almost no notes to accompany them. From what I have heard, he does a good job of explaining his slides in class. So, the bottom line is that you need to go to class in order to do well.

This brings me to my second point. If you go to class, then don't bother buying the textbook; it is a lot of unnecessary detail (unless of course you like that) and simply complicates concepts. Save your money.

Third, Dr. Ulllal's tests are very detail-oriented (like the OP mentioned). Make sure you understand everything that is mentioned in his slides, because chances are that he will test you on a minute (and often ignored) fact. For example, on the final exam, one of the short-answer questions was to identify the frequency of beta waves (in an EEG). it was a small detail in one of slides, and I had completely overlooked it. There were a few otherquestions that were similarily detail-oriented as well, so watch out for those. By the way, his tests were formatted as such:

- 20 multiple choice (for 0.5 mark each)
- A few short answers, which included definitions, fill in the blanks, and drawing/identifying diagrams (such as anatomical structures)
- Total: 20 marks (worth 20% of final mark)

The two assignments (worth 10% each) are not too bad. The TAs are fair in their marking. Basically, the assignments are that Dr. Ullal gives a specific paper to read (on neuroscience research) and asks a few questions based on the reading.

The exam (worth 40%) was OK as well. Like I mentioned earlier, it was more detail-oriented than I had expected for a final evaluation.

Overall, an interesting course if you keen on learning about the fundamentals of neuroscience.
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Old 06-30-2009 at 01:19 PM   #4
Harlequin
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Has anyone had Dr Goldreich for this course? How is he?
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Old 06-30-2009 at 03:22 PM   #5
Marlowe
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I haven't had Dr. Goldreich myself, but I have heard from a review of another Psych class he taught that he is an amazing professor.

Fingers crossed!
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Old 06-30-2009 at 05:01 PM   #6
Lois
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I had him for 2F03.

The tests will get progressively harder as the term progresses. You need to go to class because he'll have brain teasers that account for 10% of your mark. There are also weekly assignments.

He's a great prof, very enthusiastic and knowledgeable.
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Old 07-01-2009 at 07:22 PM   #7
Marlowe
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I've heard about his brain teasers, can you elaborate on those? Like, what are they, how difficult they are, what they tend to be on, etc.
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Old 07-01-2009 at 08:07 PM   #8
Harlequin
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Sounds good..I'm just bummed it's a night class
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Old 07-01-2009 at 11:41 PM   #9
Lois
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Sometimes he'll ask you to calculations (without a calculator). Sometimes he'll ask you to think about what a possible mechanism is. Some of them are more difficult than others.

They're not worth very much (10% total), but they're mostly for ensuring that you're paying attention during class.

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Old 08-22-2009 at 09:57 PM   #10
LWright
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Whats the difference between this course and Psych 2No3?
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Lauren
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Old 12-24-2009 at 11:11 AM   #11
iki_31
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Do you think this course is 12able?? (or 2 digit GPA) ?


Or a good course if you want to get a HIGH GPA?
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Old 12-26-2009 at 01:26 PM   #12
Marlowe
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If you're good at physics and you get Goldreich, its definitely possible.

To be honest, I'm not sure I would recommend this course though. Its great in the sense that the material is really interesting and that Goldreich is a good lecturer. Its terrible in the sense that he really loves testing in a way that isn't representative of the material learned. I spent more time studying for this course than almost any other course, feel like its the one where I understand the material best, and still only finished with a 9. He loves testing on random numbers that he mentions in class, as well as on problem types that we never discuss prior to the exam. Which is great at measuring specific detail retention and problem solving abilities, but its not so great for seeing how you understand the concepts.

The Brain Teasers and Assignments (15% each) are both pretty easy, and the questions range from basic math, to physics based questions, to stuff that helps you understand concepts, to stuff that really has no purpose (I found the last one to be less prominent in these though).

The midterm and exam though (30% and 40%) really aren't that easy. I though the midterm had prepared me for the sort of questions he would be asking, but it felt completely different. There was still the same focus on numbers, but he moved away from numbers that gave a bit of context, towards straight memorization. He also added a multiple choice section (fair enough), but there would be 5-6 questions asking about one topic single topic, that he just mentioned briefly. that we didn't really cover. The long answer on both were quite brutal. I know he was trying to go for questions that would let us apply the information we learned, but they really didn't.

The course wasn't bad, it was really interesting. But looking back I would have preferred to learn the info on my own for fun rather then take it again.
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Old 12-04-2010 at 05:35 AM   #13
Allana:)
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According to the course calendar, Biology 1A03 is to be taken as either a prerequisite or a corequisite. Would taking it as a prerequisite be significantly better than taking it as a corequisite? Thanks.
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Old 12-09-2010 at 10:38 AM   #14
_Mike
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Allana:) View Post
According to the course calendar, Biology 1A03 is to be taken as either a prerequisite or a corequisite. Would taking it as a prerequisite be significantly better than taking it as a corequisite? Thanks.
I really don't think it would matter, to be perfectly honest. I just finished the course yesterday, so I will post my review when I have some time to write one later in the week!
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Old 12-23-2010 at 10:25 PM   #15
_Mike
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I took this course in Fall 2010 with Dr. Goldreich.

The marking scheme for the course was as follows:
10% Brain Teasers: I really disliked this portion of the course. I find it unfair to evaluate students' knowledge of a concept that they only just learned, especially when most of the questions are very conceptual and require a deeper understanding of the material that for some, may only be acheived after it sinks in. Also, the brain teasers required a lot of background knowledge of math and physics; although some of it should have been easily remembered, this is not a math or physics course, so you shouldn't lose marks for forgetting things from high school. Furthermore, physics is not a prerequisite, and I felt at a disadvantage, especially during the Brain Teasers, for not having taken it. This seems like it would be an easy participation/attendance mark, but I'm pretty sure my overall score on them brought down my final grade!

10% Assignments: These were much more fair, as although they were very conceptual and tricky at times, you had a week to do them, as opposed to being expected to master the concept within minutes. Again, though, some of the questions seemed very difficult to solve, especially those involving math that we hadn't covered in class.

30% Midterm: The midterm consisted of short answer, medium answer, and long answer questions. The short answer was basically regurgitating numbers (Goldreich loves them), the medium answer had conceptual questions that typically involved math, and the long answers weren't too bad. However, the spinal cord lesion question still confuses me to this day! The midterm wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it wasn't a walk-in-the-park, by any stretch of the imagination.

50% Cumulative Final Exam: This exam sucked, to put it nicely. It had a similar format to the midterm. There were many, many, many random numbers/facts/names to remember, which was quite difficult. The medium answers were easier than those on the midterm. However, the long answers were, as a whole, extremely unfair. One question required you to find the place at which a sound orginated, which was unfair, because although I knew how the MSO worked (which we were taught), I didn't know what math to use to answer the question. Similarly, there was a question in which you had to draw the VOR pathway -- I didn't spend my time memorizing diagrams, rather I tried to understand material, and thus got burned.


Overall, this course was very interesting; I feel like I learned a lot about neuroscience. Also, the prof was good at explaining the material, although he went a bit fast for me. What I didn't like about the course was that it was a night class, and there's only so much you can retain within 3 hours, OR between 7-10 p.m. -- the format is not conducive to learning a complicated subject, such as neuroscience.

My overall grade was much better than I had expected, but I don't feel like it reflected my knowledge of the material. I feel like the testing was not representative of the material, so even though I understood everything, I didn't do as well as I feel like I should have. Before you go telling me that I'm placing blame, I am not like that -- this course truly isn't the most fair. It's definitely challenging in a good way, but it's not fair at the same time. Fortunately, part marks are given, so that helps.

My other complaint was that there seems to be a lot of overlap between 2F03 and 2E03. I would have much rather learned more about memory, behavioural neuroscience, neurochemistry, neuropharmacology, etc. in 2F03, and the sensory systems in 2E03. So in that sense, I was disappointed, because I didn't get to learn what I am interested in, but that's what upper-year courses are for!

I wouldn't recommend this course as an elective, and although it was somewhat enjoyable, I feel like until the testing style is changed, it will never be as great as it could be. Sorry if this seemed harsh, but it's just my honest opinion!
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