Is it necessary or not? I kind of read the 1st two but I felt like it didn't help me to understand any concepts better... From past experience, is there material in there that's not in the lecture that can be tested? Thanks!

no, they only test lecture material. slides on avenue should be good enough to do well. the readings are short though anyways for the bio 1m03 book. it wasnt a bad read i thought.

Anyone know how to take notes for this class, or how to review for the tests? Should we make summary notes for each chapter, or just review the slides?

It depends on the prof. I took BIO 1M03 last year and both profs lecture slides were sufficient