Hey guys, so I'm joining McMaster this fall for Life Sciences I. Courses for my second semester include Chemistry 1AA3, Bio 1A03, Math 1LS3, and Physics 1B03.

On the website, the winter break says it's from the 22nd to the 3rd. I'll have to be away from the country from classes from the 3rd to the 10th.

From your guys' experience with the program and the aforementioned courses, how important is that first week of the second semester? Is it viable to skip it? If I were to gather info from the professors in advance, would it be better?

What are your thoughts and opinions?

Originally Posted by Smanohar

Hey guys, so I'm joining McMaster this fall for Life Sciences I. Courses for my second semester include Chemistry 1AA3, Bio 1A03, Math 1LS3, and Physics 1B03.

On the website, the winter break says it's from the 22nd to the 3rd. I'll have to be away from the country from classes from the 3rd to the 10th.

From your guys' experience with the program and the aforementioned courses, how important is that first week of the second semester? Is it viable to skip it? If I were to gather info from the professors in advance, would it be better?

What are your thoughts and opinions?

I would not recommend missing a week of classes if you can avoid it. Those subjects require a lot of work and you would have tons of catching up to do. For me it would be dificult. However, each person is different so depends on how well you know these subjects. Good luck.

I've taken AP Biology and AP Chemistry, if that counts for anything. Do these classes have professors which dock points/grades for attendance?

Originally Posted by Smanohar

I've taken AP Biology and AP Chemistry, if that counts for anything. Do these classes have professors which dock points/grades for attendance?

For chemistry, bio and physics you'll use a thing called i-clickers, which is used for mini quizzes during lectures that worth like 0.1% per question, so if you miss a week of those that shouldn't be a problem.

The first week usually doesn't have labs scheduled (labs usually starts 2nd or 3rd week depending on your section) so no problem with that either. But for Bio 1A03 you'll have to do 3 skills lab before the actual scheduled lab within the first 2 weeks (last year), and you can do them whenever during the day on the first 2 weeks. So I guess you'll have to squeeze all 3 of them in 1 week. They are not hard, but the space is limited, so if you leave all 3 of them on the last day and theres a huge line up... don't let that happen! Finish them ASAP =)

Originally Posted by Smanohar

I've taken AP Biology and AP Chemistry, if that counts for anything. Do these classes have professors which dock points/grades for attendance?

You use an iclicker during lectures and get a small percentage for attendance/participation but it is not worth much (2 % of your overall marks).

Originally Posted by Smanohar

Hey guys, so I'm joining McMaster this fall for Life Sciences I. Courses for my second semester include Chemistry 1AA3, Bio 1A03, Math 1LS3, and Physics 1B03.

On the website, the winter break says it's from the 22nd to the 3rd. I'll have to be away from the country from classes from the 3rd to the 10th.

From your guys' experience with the program and the aforementioned courses, how important is that first week of the second semester? Is it viable to skip it? If I were to gather info from the professors in advance, would it be better?

What are your thoughts and opinions?

Bio 1A03: Don't worry. The first *few* weeks are review of very basic biochemistry from Grade 12 (Carbohydrates, Lipids, Nucleic Acids + Proteins). Reading the textbook to catch up will be fine, in my opinion. If you've got Dr. Kajiura, her notes basically follow the textbook very closely.

Math 1LS3: Considering we start off the class by going over slope calculations, yeah you're fine. Real calculus doesn't even hit for several weeks and the other new stuff isn't in the first week anyways.

Physics 1B03: If you were strong in physics, it probably doesn't matter. You'd just be doing dynamics problems.

Chem 1AA3: In this class you do jump into newer material pretty much right away. Some of it could be considered tricky.. But between getting caught up from friends in the class and reading the textbook you should be fine.

As far as "participation marks" or anything like that, you'd miss a few iClicker questions (in-class multiple choice questions a la Who Wants to Be a Millionare/ Ask the Audience), you won't lose anything. Considering there are a boatload of iClicker questions throughout the term it's a total non-issue.

Alright, it seems like I'll be good then. Sounds great, thank you all! Any more input is welcome by the way.

Oh! In Physics 1B03, there are online assignments called CAPA's (Computer Assisted Physics Assignments). There *may* be one in the first week, but I'm not sure. I'd recommend trying to get online at some point while you're away to make sure you don't miss it if it's due :p I know they never gave us much of a break with those, we even had a couple CAPA's on the last "unit" we only spent 2 and a half lecture days on right at the very end of the semester before exams -_-

For Phys1B03, we had a lab in the first week. I can't remember if it was mandatory or not, but it was to learn how to work the software that we used during labs. I'm pretty sure Lab 0 (Uncertainties) wasn't until the second week.

Alright, so for Physics, it might be best to check with the Prof beforehand? And yeah, I'll have internet access for sure, so the 'CAPA's would likely not be a problem at all.