Hey guys, can anyone give me advice if I should take this course? I read the course reviews, but looking at the course outline, I think the course has changed.

Participation 10% (7% in-lab, 3% inlecture)
Leading lab discussions 15%
Assignments (7.5% each) 15%
Midterm test 25%
Cumulative Final Exam 35%

I've heard the content is easy, so the midterm and exam should be good. I was wondering about the assignments, there's only two of them, what are they based on?

And what are the leading lab discussions? How are they marked?

And the participation, is it based on attendance or contribution, how is it evaluated?

And how are the labs, are they really time consuming, I don't see how they fit in with the course outline.

I want to take this course, but I have a feeling it will be really time consuming. Is there a lot of group projects in this course, or is that only for the labs?

nothing has changed in this course. same as past 2-3 years. tutorials are just presentations which everyone does well on. 7% participation is prob just raising your hand in tutorial (like how psych 1x03 is) 15% is from 2-3 presentations on easy topics. assignments are easy. they are online like masteringchem.

2-3 group presentations. it isnt that time consuming. everyone just reads off a sheet in presentations anyways so it isnt hard to prepare for them.

Just take this course. If kolasa is teaching it youre golden. My friend and i skipped a tonn of lectures and still got 12. I got 105% on the midterm and that was studying the day before. kolasa also helps the marking scheme a tonn.

Originally Posted by naval23

Hey guys, can anyone give me advice if I should take this course? I read the course reviews, but looking at the course outline, I think the course has changed.

Participation 10% (7% in-lab, 3% inlecture)
Leading lab discussions 15%
Assignments (7.5% each) 15%
Midterm test 25%
Cumulative Final Exam 35%

I've heard the content is easy, so the midterm and exam should be good. I was wondering about the assignments, there's only two of them, what are they based on?

And what are the leading lab discussions? How are they marked?

And the participation, is it based on attendance or contribution, how is it evaluated?

And how are the labs, are they really time consuming, I don't see how they fit in with the course outline.

I want to take this course, but I have a feeling it will be really time consuming. Is there a lot of group projects in this course, or is that only for the labs?

This course is so bird that they should call it an ostrich course. The exam has 12 bonus marks out of around 80, so even if you get 12 MCs wrong, you still get 100% on the exam. This course also had an alternate marking scheme, in which the exam can replace everything else, so you just need to do well on the exam. The course content in my opinion is very boring especially the part with the different layers of soils. The assignments are online assignments and they are relatively easy. The lab marks depends on your TA. The labs are not time consuming at all unlike biology 2A03 labs. All the labs are group projects so there are quite a few group work related projects.

Originally Posted by Silver

nothing has changed in this course. same as past 2-3 years. tutorials are just presentations which everyone does well on. 7% participation is prob just raising your hand in tutorial (like how psych 1x03 is) 15% is from 2-3 presentations on easy topics. assignments are easy. they are online like masteringchem.

2-3 group presentations. it isnt that time consuming. everyone just reads off a sheet in presentations anyways so it isnt hard to prepare for them.

So they don't expect you to make eye contact during the presentation, and will still give you good marks?

Originally Posted by pineaukeo

Just take this course. If kolasa is teaching it youre golden. My friend and i skipped a tonn of lectures and still got 12. I got 105% on the midterm and that was studying the day before. kolasa also helps the marking scheme a tonn.

Yeah, I like the marking scheme, I'm just worried about all the presentations you have to do in the course.

Originally Posted by naval23

Yeah, I like the marking scheme, I'm just worried about all the presentations you have to do in the course.

Hey, don't even worry about them. They're group presentations and you can get quite creative with your topic. for instance, my group acted out a skit. so it's light and easy. nothing like hardcore presentations. if fraser is teaching it, make sure you study the practice questions and you'll do well.