This course is good.

I believe the break down was something like this:
20% Tutorial Assignments (6)
20% Midterm
20% Project
40% Exam

The midterm was very easy and was about 40 MC questions. I think the average was anywhere between a high 80 or a low...

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is the project independent or does it involve group work?

can anybody provide an updated review for this class?

is this course mathematically heavy? If content includes drug effects on body system and so on i would assume some kinda calculations are required?

Aw darn it, I really want to take this course, but I don't have physics1b03, so I can't enroll in bio2a03 :(. I've heard that 2a03 was a nightmare, though...so I guess I can't satisfy the prereq to take this course :(.

Took this course in Winter 2012.

Breakdown:
Tutorial Assignments - 5 * 4%= 20%

• questions range from easy to challenging
• all assignment topics are discussed in tutorial by your TA, and there is one class per assignment when Dr.Grover goes over the questions- pay attention and you are good to go
• quite a bit of calculations/ graphing for some of them, gets tedious but good source of marks

Group project - 20% (Presentation + essay)

• Assigned a random topic for groups of 4-5
• Only one person has to present but an exam question will be based on student presentations. All slides were posted on avenue, so you could get by without attending
• had to critique 2 other groups and had to reply to critiques
• essay was straightforward- generally write about properties and applications of 1-2 drugs

Midterm- 20%/ Exam- 40%

• Questions can be challenging and wordy- midterms include more straightforward questions, while exams are based more on interpretation of graphs and open-ended questions
• Great resource at the back of the courseware with many previous exams and midterms- recommend that you go through them because it is difficult otherwise to get a handle on his testing style
• Some T/F and M/C, some repeats of tutorial questions, some questions known beforehand [ex: had to research a question we know would be asked on exam based on male-female differences in response to drugs] and some questions based on figures from actual research paper

Other points:

• The prof is patient and understanding if you take the initiative to approach him
• Very organized because all lecture notes are already given in the courseware, you just have to follow along
• Will have tutorials not associated with assignments later on for free discussion, can be rewarding to go if you have questions for TA about anything else
• The first half of the course is calculation-heavy and on basic drug properties, but the math is basic. The later half is based on receptors and receptor classification, which forms the basis for most exam questions.

Personally, I enjoyed the course because a lot of the material was new to me and I liked the way the course was organized. I also found the prof confident and willing to listen. However, you might get bored with the second half if you already covered a lot of receptors in other bio courses.



Hope this was helpful!

Would you say that the workload for this course is a bit lighter than the other 3rd year bio or mol bio courses? I'm trying to find a few bio/molbio courses to meet my degree requirement :(.

I also took this in Winter 2012. Just so you guys know where I came from I got a 12.0 in this class.

In terms of the material you learn, I found it was pretty interesting and I learned a lot about drugs and taking drugs I didn't know before. However, I personally did not find the material to be well organized. It wasn't very unorganized per se, but I did feel like sometimes we jumped from topic to topic and I didn't like how the tutorials did not pertain to the recent lectures but were usually a few lecture material ahead. Also his notes have many typos in them or mistakes in them which usually doesn't impress me since I'm paying $40+ bucks and they didn't even proofread it properly.

The tutorial assignments were challenging as it generally was on stuff you hadn't learned yet but would learn later, but it was easy to do well if you talked to the TA and went to the classes where Grover went over the questions (he would basically give you the answer). The midterm test was pretty easy as long as you did all the practice tests he provided. The exam wasn't easy, but doable if you put in the work. He basically told us what the format would be like and all his practice tests give you a good sense of how he likes testing. Basically, he choses a paper and gives you data from the paper and asks you why you think the data is the way it is. So basically the bulk of the exam was just testing you on how well you could analyze excerpts of data.

For the group project, it was a lot of work (huge report as well as a presentation, critiques, etc.) and a little frustrating depending on your topic. Some groups had little to no information while other groups, like mine, had so much information we weren't sure what Grover was looking for. Overall, it wasn't bad but it took time.

Now about Dr. Grover himself. He's a very nice prof but he does have a habit of reading off his slides sometimes. Personally I found it hard to understand him as he phrased questions weirdly and when discussing things it seems like he was looking for a specific answer but no one really even understood his question. When you go for help, he only helps you on concepts if you need further explanation which is good but he would barely provide help for solvng his practice questions. This is understandable but frustrating for students who actually put in the work trying to solve the questions and just want to verify if their thinking is right. No solutions are given for the practice problems.

I know I mentioned a lot of 'cons' but other posters before me have mentioned most of my 'pros' already so I won't mention them again. All in all, this wasn't my favourite course but if you like pharmacology this will definitely be an interesting course for you.

Advice for those taking the course: if you put in the work, don't underestimate this course, and do the practice tests, you will do fine!

Originally Posted by N.Cheng

I also took this in Winter 2012. Just so you guys know where I came from I got a 12.0 in this class.

In terms of the material you learn, I found it was pretty interesting and I learned a lot about drugs and taking drugs I didn't know before. However, I personally did not find the material to be well organized. It wasn't very unorganized per se, but I did feel like sometimes we jumped from topic to topic and I didn't like how the tutorials did not pertain to the recent lectures but were usually a few lecture material ahead. Also his notes have many typos in them or mistakes in them which usually doesn't impress me since I'm paying $40+ bucks and they didn't even proofread it properly.

The tutorial assignments were challenging as it generally was on stuff you hadn't learned yet but would learn later, but it was easy to do well if you talked to the TA and went to the classes where Grover went over the questions (he would basically give you the answer). The midterm test was pretty easy as long as you did all the practice tests he provided. The exam wasn't easy, but doable if you put in the work. He basically told us what the format would be like and all his practice tests give you a good sense of how he likes testing. Basically, he choses a paper and gives you data from the paper and asks you why you think the data is the way it is. So basically the bulk of the exam was just testing you on how well you could analyze excerpts of data.

For the group project, it was a lot of work (huge report as well as a presentation, critiques, etc.) and a little frustrating depending on your topic. Some groups had little to no information while other groups, like mine, had so much information we weren't sure what Grover was looking for. Overall, it wasn't bad but it took time.

Now about Dr. Grover himself. He's a very nice prof but he does have a habit of reading off his slides sometimes. Personally I found it hard to understand him as he phrased questions weirdly and when discussing things it seems like he was looking for a specific answer but no one really even understood his question. When you go for help, he only helps you on concepts if you need further explanation which is good but he would barely provide help for solvng his practice questions. This is understandable but frustrating for students who actually put in the work trying to solve the questions and just want to verify if their thinking is right. No solutions are given for the practice problems.

I know I mentioned a lot of 'cons' but other posters before me have mentioned most of my 'pros' already so I won't mention them again. All in all, this wasn't my favourite course but if you like pharmacology this will definitely be an interesting course for you.

Advice for those taking the course: if you put in the work, don't underestimate this course, and do the practice tests, you will do fine!

Thanks for the awesome review >:O. The report seems kind of daunting. I'll be taking this at the same time as Bio3UU3, and I have the feeling I'm gonna be overwhelmed by the work :(. Was the project a term-long kind of thing? By the way, he actually gives you practice midterms? Does he sort of recycle questions from previous years?

Originally Posted by Angoose

Thanks for the awesome review >:O. The report seems kind of daunting. I'll be taking this at the same time as Bio3UU3, and I have the feeling I'm gonna be overwhelmed by the work :(. Was the project a term-long kind of thing? By the way, he actually gives you practice midterms? Does he sort of recycle questions from previous years?

Bio 3UU3 isn't too bad, much better than 3U03 because there's no labs, just reading papers. I know a lot of people who took it with 3AA3 and it wasn't too bad at all.

Originally Posted by Angoose

Thanks for the awesome review >:O. The report seems kind of daunting. I'll be taking this at the same time as Bio3UU3, and I have the feeling I'm gonna be overwhelmed by the work :(. Was the project a term-long kind of thing? By the way, he actually gives you practice midterms? Does he sort of recycle questions from previous years?

Sorry for the late reply I didn't see this until now!
But the project was a pretty long-term thing. You received information about the project very early on and whether you started early or not was up to you though.
Practice midterms are in the handbook he makes you buy. There are the old midterms for every year from like 2000 or even a bit earlier.
He somewhat recycles questions for the midterms but it's not usually 100% the same but similar concepts or something.

The previous reviews were excellent, I am just going to add my two cents. The class was not that difficult for me (though I have a strong research background). After reviewing my final exam though and talking to Dr. Grover, I found that the final had definitely lowered many students final average significantly (2-3 grade points, If i remember correctly). Tutorial assignments were not that bad and the Teaching assistant/grover is very helpful with answering them. I differed the midterm and wrote a 60% final. Though I heard the midterm was not that bad (average about 84%). Though how well you will do in the course ultimately depends on how comfortable you are with the types of question asked in the final exam. His questions are mostly based upon the interpretation of data, asking questions about what conclusions can be made based upon some graph. If you are comfortable with that you should have no problem. However, many students were not comfortable with it, I saw during the final exam students who looked like the exam was going to kill them. As a result, I recommend this course to people who are comfortable with interpreting data and making scientific conclusions. If you want to take the course and are worried about whether you will do well, just look at the end of the courseware, where grover has attached practice exams. If you feel you could answer these questions, then you will be okay.

do you think it would be ok to take bio 3aa3, bio 3uu3 and bio 3ss3 in the same term? its because all these courses are only offered in the 2nd term! i'm kinda worried

Originally Posted by jinhee18

do you think it would be ok to take bio 3aa3, bio 3uu3 and bio 3ss3 in the same term? its because all these courses are only offered in the 2nd term! i'm kinda worried

I took 3UU3 and 3AA3 at the same time, but I have no experience with 3SS3. 3UU3 (with Rollo) was a lot of memorization and reading, which required quite a bit of effort. 3AA3 was more conceptual, but the weekly tutorial assignments could be heavy. Having said that, the assignments were only there for the first half of the course and we focused on the group project for the 2nd part. It was a juggling act when 3UU3 and 3AA3 midterms or presentations coincided, but it was not very difficult if you knew how to manage your time well. I ended up with good marks in both courses, despite having my 3UU3 midterms overlapping with another course each time.

Originally Posted by Angoose

Would you say that the workload for this course is a bit lighter than the other 3rd year bio or mol bio courses? I'm trying to find a few bio/molbio courses to meet my degree requirement :(.

Sorry for the late reply. Just saw this For future reference: from what I remember, the workload could be heavy because we had weekly tutorial assignments for the first half, replaced by a group project for the second half. The assignments were not hard, but tedious. The group project could be work, but it tends to depend on the group you have. It was honestly not a big deal but I lucked out with my group members and topic. Overall, you could find other courses with "lighter" workload such as 3UU3 (2 midterms, 1 exam based on 30 articles) but it all depends on what you think is heavier/ takes more effort: reading and memorizing from long articles for a midterm or doing repetitive work in weekly assignments.

Originally Posted by meddling

Sorry for the late reply. Just saw this For future reference: from what I remember, the workload could be heavy because we had weekly tutorial assignments for the first half, replaced by a group project for the second half. The assignments were not hard, but tedious. The group project could be work, but it tends to depend on the group you have. It was honestly not a big deal but I lucked out with my group members and topic. Overall, you could find other courses with "lighter" workload such as 3UU3 (2 midterms, 1 exam based on 30 articles) but it all depends on what you think is heavier/ takes more effort: reading and memorizing from long articles for a midterm or doing repetitive work in weekly assignments.

No worries . I just happent o have 3UU3 and 3AA3 in the same term. That might be a bit tough, but I guess I'll just work hard and do what I can . Thanks for your help!