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Tips/Recommendations on first year Life Science courses?

 
Old 06-25-2010 at 01:39 PM   #31
brendanp
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Quote:
Originally Posted by m0nica View Post
lol.... one sec, last question i promise haha
you guys know how physics questions take a huge amount of time to get done, is that gonna be the case in univ too? is it gonna be as similar as highschool questions in terms of time length.... like how much time do you have for tests and stuff?
it depends...i took 1l03 and 1b03 and found that for both some of the practice problems(online, text etc.) took a long time. the test questions were more conceptual, and generally didn't take too long to solve, but i didnt take hs physics so i cant compare. the exam was 3 hours for b03(a little over 30 questions), but there was definitely more time than you needed.
Old 06-25-2010 at 01:48 PM   #32
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Quote:
Originally Posted by m0nica View Post
lol.... one sec, last question i promise haha
you guys know how physics questions take a huge amount of time to get done, is that gonna be the case in univ too? is it gonna be as similar as highschool questions in terms of time length.... like how much time do you have for tests and stuff?
It depends on the prof and how well you know the material, I think. When I took it, Dr King and Dr Rheinstadter were teaching it. Dr King is no longer here, and he's the one who wrote our midterms/exam, but Dr Rheinstadter is teaching it this coming year. The first midterm, I didn't find we were stuck for time at all, but I tend to write really fast. Even if I'm gonna fail the damn thing, I'll at least fail it quickly. For the second midterm, though, that's the only time I've EVER written until the very end of the time given, and I still felt like I could have used more time. Dr King brought us chocolate that night...probably because he knew what a bad midterm it was gonna be! The exam didn't take too long, though.

I can't really answer if it's the same as high school, since many high schools teach it differently. I found that we had many similar-type questions, but the way they taught us to solve the problems was different, and that's what I struggled with. It was annoying, because I knew I had no trouble solving the same type of problem in high school, I just couldn't integrate the 'high school method' with the 'university method' in my brain, and I'd forgotten some of what I learned in high school. It all seemed very different, even though it wasn't really. In high school, we learned the kinematics/dynamics/wave stuff, which is pretty much the entire course (except for fluids). They go a bit more in depth than in high school, but nothing that isn't manageable.
Old 06-25-2010 at 01:48 PM   #33
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wat about math 1A03 and 1ls3? and 1B03 cuz for electives in 2nd year some of th programs recommand 1b03...? O____O any1 recommand to take 1A03/1AA3?
Old 06-25-2010 at 01:56 PM   #34
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I definitely definitely definitely recommend you take 1LS3 if you value what you're learning. I didn't learn a single thing in 1LS3 that I didn't learn in high school. It was a complete waste of money and time. I can't imagine 1A03 is THAT much harder, but you learn so much more, and spend so much more time learning new concepts. Instead of starting from gr9 math and learning y=mx+b, you don't waste time on stuff you should really already know, and instead learn many different methods of integration. I think we were supposed to learn some different methods of integration in 1LS3, but we spend a grand total of 2.5 classes dealing with integration because we ran out of time.

If you absolutely hate math and are just taking it because it's required for your program, then 1LS3 is probably better. If you like math, or are planning on taking 1AA3 (some professional schools/upper year programs require it), then take 1A03 instead!!!! It is definitely possible to go from 1LS3 to 1AA3--I did and got a 12 in both courses--but it's a LOT of extra work in 1AA3. I spent more time on 1AA3 last summer than I did on genetics and stats combined this summer.
Old 06-25-2010 at 01:59 PM   #35
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hehe tyyy!!!
um... so should i take math 1A03 1b03 AND 1ls3 at the same time? or is it tooo much math...? >.> i am not very keen at math, but i dont' mind it either :O
Old 06-25-2010 at 02:07 PM   #36
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You can't take 1LS3 and 1A03 at the same time, because they're antirequisites. If you get at least a B- (7) in 1LS3, then you can take 1AA3.

I haven't personally taken 1B03. I've heard some people saying it's a pretty easy course, not bad at all, and others who say it's really hard and they have no idea why they took it. The course review for it is here: http://www.macinsiders.com/showthrea...2.html?t=22892
Some upper year programs recommend 1B03, but for these programs it's not really necessary. Some do require it, though, so you should check and see if it's required or not for the programs you are thinking of. If you're worried about taking too much math this year, you can take 1B03 or 1AA3 (or both, if you want) in other years. Two maths is definitely doable, and three shouldn't be that bad either
Old 06-25-2010 at 02:12 PM   #37
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haha okay haha tyyyyyy
Old 06-25-2010 at 02:21 PM   #38
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As someone who absolutely hates math, I took Math 1LS3 :p Anti-derivatives and integration up to integration by parts was new material, plus discrete-time dynamical systems was new material. DTDS was really just applying recursive equations to model problems in biology (drug administration, population over time) and was quite easy. Half of it was drawing pictures.. Integration was the only "hard part" and only took up the last two weeks or so of the course. If you're good in math/like math, you could skip this class. But if you're shaky in calculus/you dislike math, then 1LS3 will be enough for you.
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Old 06-25-2010 at 11:03 PM   #39
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Everything is doable in first year, just work hard, it's not that bad. In this post, I will give a synopsis of how my courses went and how easy they were.


Let's see, first year courses I took:

Maths - 1B03, 1A03, 1AA3: all are easy courses if you're math savvy, they're all introductory and don't require much work if you can problem solve well. Liked 1B03 a lot. 1A03 was really dull and boring because much of it was review of high school.

Psychs - 1X03/1XX3: easy if you can memorize a lot and apply your skills to scenarios presented on tests, your mark might depend a bit on the TAs that you get, we had to write some papers that were harshly marked, tutorial participation is 10/10 easy marks though, and it was really difficult to do well on in class quizzes so I pretty much gave up, don't know about others though. I found psychs to be really interesting however did not get 12 in either of them, don't know anyone who got 12 in either in my year but there were a few I heard (thousands take this and averages follow bell curve centred at 66ish).

Physics - 1B03, 1BA3: easy if you can problem solve well, in class i-clicker quizzes in 1B03 generally brought people's marks down by a few percent

Bios- 1M03, 1A03: easy if you can memorize useless info, 1M03 was easier than 1A03 but papaconstantinou's material was awful in 1M03, kajiura's parts were easiest, jacobs tripped some people... Handful of 12s in either course in my year

Chems - 1A03, 1AA3: both very easy, repeat of high school almost, practice makes perfect here


What I've heard from others:
Heard econs are really easy electives. Heard that inquiry (not sure if it's offered anymore) was easy. Heard 1L series courses were generally easy. If you had an amazing french prof and did IB, heard first year french was easy.

Last edited by macsci : 06-25-2010 at 11:14 PM.
Old 06-26-2010 at 02:02 PM   #40
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Definitely take both chems and both bios because almost every second year program requires that you take these courses and get at least a 6 in them.
If you didn't take Grade 12 Physics, then you're going to have to take Physics 1L03, but be sure to take 1B03 in either second term, or in the summer. Again, a lot of second year programs require that you have Physics 1B03.
I don't think there is too much of a difference between Math 1A03 and 1LS3, except that 1LS3 is a bit more applicable to life sciences, while 1A03 is like high school calculus with integrals. If you are good at math then you can also take Math 1AA3 in term 2. I don't know about 1LT3, since it's a new course, but again, it probably shadows 1AA3 with more application.
Since you have to take at least one psych, and only 1X03 is offered first term, you can take it, and if you liked it you can take 1XX3 in second term. But keep in mind that 1X03 and 1XX3 are totally different in terms of material. 1X03 was mostly social psychology while 1XX3 was alot of neuropsychology. So even if you didn't enjoy 1X03, if you are interested in neuroscience in general, I recommend taking 1XX3. Besides, it opens up alot of upper year life science, psychology and biology courses.
As for electives, I took Religious Studies 1B06, thinking it would be like high school, and it kinda was but there were alot more essays. The course's structure has been changed alot in the past two years, so I can't give you a detailed breakdown. If you don't mind essays though, and are interested in the subject, I recommend it. I know alotttt, and I mean almost everyone (except me, lol) took one or both econs, and said that they are serious average boosters. So keep that in mind when choosing electives.
Hope that helps

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Old 06-26-2010 at 07:21 PM   #41
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does this mean that we can still switch our term 2 courses even after term 1? like not all the courses we register on solar are set in stone?
Old 06-26-2010 at 07:27 PM   #42
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Yep, you can switch them until the drop/add date for term 2 passes (usually sometime in the first/second week of january--check with the registrar's website for the exact date)

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Old 06-26-2010 at 08:21 PM   #43
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Just bookmark this link, it's updated every year.

http://registrar.mcmaster.ca /regis...sessional.html
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Old 06-27-2010 at 04:23 PM   #44
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does any1 know which math 1a03 is equivalent to? because i heard that some professional school/programs would look at math 1a03 instead of 1ls3? is that true? D:
Old 06-27-2010 at 04:31 PM   #45
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Quote:
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does any1 know which math 1a03 is equivalent to? because i heard that some professional school/programs would look at math 1a03 instead of 1ls3? is that true? D:
You would have to contact the professional school in question. Math 1A03 is the raw math, it has very little application and is mainly theory and proofs. The other calculus courses are more application based for their respective faculty.

I know from the professional schools I have contacted that Math 1LS3 is insufficient as a calculus course because it does not cover enough material, which is due to it's application heavy material.
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