[MichelleM]

You need to purchase course-ware for this class. In the course-ware there are 23-27 articles that you must read. The first 10 are tested on the quiz (which covers no content from lectures). The midterm covers articles 1-17 and lecture material. The exam covers all readings and lecture material.

The classes can be interesting but Dr. Rollo often goes on tangents about his childhood or random other things and you often don't know what he's talking about or whether you'll be tested on the information. He does not post any lecture slides and the lecture slides that he shows in class are usually just useless pictures of animals. Learning the content for the tests and exam is quite challenging.

It is VERY hard to understand the questions on the tests and he refuses to answer any questions. If you are very good at reading peer-reviewed articles and are a highly independent worker, this class is for you... Otherwise, you may struggle with his style of teaching. Overall an alright class, but didn't learn nearly as much as I'd hoped and so far it is the lowest mark I've gotten in university.

Hope this helps!

[PockyWarrior]

Exact same structure as 3UU3 taught by Rollo as well

The problem is, 4AE3 just isn't a course structured for that same style of random detail memorization and short 1-mark-to-1-percent MULTIPLE CHOICE tests. He'll stress that he's going to test on concepts he feels are really important from each article, yet the questions chosen often can be really nit-picky facts. You'll be expected to recall a small detail from one sentence in a 20-page article (i.e. even if you understood the majority of the article, you could still get the question wrong, and therefore seem like you didn't read the article at all because that's the only question he'll ask on it)

Like MichelleM said, he refuses to properly address the questions on his tests, and I just strongly felt this type of course and information would benefit from short answer questions instead of fully MC. Especially since the class size is fairly small, that shouldn't have been an issue to mark.

I love the subject matter of the course, but the way it's structured to get marks, I think makes this course something to be a little cautious about. I studied hard for the exam and ended up with an A, but that was after being cremated and destroyed on the midterm (despite also studying hard for that one). So it's definitely still possible to do well, but pretty dependant on how much effort you're willing to put into reading and learning the detailed articles, how comfortable you are with this topic and subject matter, and some luck on the questions he decides to ask.

Sorry for long-winded semi-rant, I just had high hopes in this course going in and the structure of it failed me. He's a good prof who clearly loves the subject matter, and a fairly good talker (not lecturer persay imho). Message me if need some more specific details and I'll try to help - though I don't check my inbox often lol

-I took it this semester

[PockyWarrior]

Can't seem to edit my post, but just wanted to add that I strongly recommend posting often (quality posts too though, not just mass quantity but zero quality) on the discussion boards. Notes, explanations, insights, interesting articles, etc. The bonus marks (read: bonus percent to final grade) from that can really save you if you don't do great on the midterm/quiz. Start posting on the first or second week even and be consistent with it!

[MarkeyMark]

If either of you has taken Biology 3UU3 (also taught by Rollo) would you say this class is similar in the style of questions? And is the class similar in the amount of work and difficulty?

[hons2]

Also, does he post any of the slides/notes for this course? because I know in 3UU3 he didnt :S

[Angoose]

Does anyone still have their courseware/notes from last term?

[MichelleM]

Identical style to Rollo's 3UU3. He does not post any of the slides (his slides are irrelevant pictures and diagrams anyways - not a big loss).