[SarahP]

Hi People,

I took Health Studies 1A03. So, here is my long winded and probably useless review of that class. I thought the class was very interesting, and actually really liked it. Yet, there were many many people in the class who did not like it and complained quite a lot on web ct... I had not seen that happen in any other class.

Anyways, if you are interested in how health care systems work and looking at different ones around the world, you may like this class. I think it is pretty important particularly in Canada, where our universal health care is threatened by more privatization to know how health care systems function. You might agree that privatization is threat after taking this class. You learn a lot about the history of health care in Canada and how it all works.

Health Studies 1A03 very social sciences, in that, most of the course focuses on different research techniques particularly critical analysis and other whatsits.
When I took it, the course was mostly about it social and cultural norms, how societies work in general, and specifically how they take care of their sick throughout history and currently. As well, it dealt heavily with the economics and politics of health.

If you thought SICKO by that Moore guy was really interesting you might find the course interesting.

The Downside: Multiple choice exams are tricky and you may find some of the material rather redundant.



CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FORUM DISCUSSION
CLICK HERE FOR THE COURSE OUTLINE


COURSE BREAKDOWN

Tutorial Participation (10%) and Short Assignments (2 x 5%): 20% total.

• Tutorial attendance will be recorded. Students will receive between 0-3/10% for attendance. I.e., bare attendance will earn you up to 30% (3/10) of this mark.

• Students’ contributions to tutorials, in the form of clear efforts to engage with readings and to contribute to discussions, will count for up to an additional 5/10%. i.e., students who both attend fully and participate within the average-to-above-average range will earn between 4-8/10%, depending on their level of participation as judged by their tutorial leaders.

• Students who perform exceptionally in tutorials, by showing a strong understanding of the readings or course material, and by making strong contributions to discussion, can earn up to an additional 2/10%, i.e., a combination of full attendance, sustained participation, and exceptional efforts can result in up to a full 10/10% for this component.

• Two short writing assignments, each worth 5%, will be assigned and explained in tutorials during the semester.

Formal Tests: 80%
Test 1: 20% -- held in class
Test 2: 20% -- held in class
Test 3: 20% -- held in class
Test 4: 20% -- held during exam period

The in-class tests (tests 1, 2, and 3) will consist of a combination of multiple-choice and short-answer questions. Each will focus on untested material, but may include a small amount of previously tested material.

Test #4, held during the exam period, will consist entirely of multiple-choice questions. It will focus on untested material, but may include a small amount of previously tested material.

No aids of any sort – e.g., books, written notes -- will be permitted during tests.

I thought this class was terrible. In my opinion it just may be the worst class I've ever taken at Mac!

i agree with ferrinm. But I am going to explain why I did not like it a bit futher so people can judge themselves. i'm a science student, so taking this course was very different from what I usually take. I was really excited about this class at first, but in the end i hated it. The material was somewaht interesting. Hoewver, the mutliple choice tests are very difficult. Some of the questions I did not even understand or remember where I learned it from. If you didn't know one multiple choice question, your mark goes down by quite a bit. I really would not suggest it to someone who is really into science and not good with social sciences/humanties. It was difficult to do the m/c. very disappointed.

The description makes this course seem very interesting. Thanks for the insight!

that's what i thought at first.. but it wasn't that interesting. lol. at least not to me in the end.

I agree with both Eva and Nicole. Terrrrrrrible class. It was almost as bad as my calculus mark, which it really shouldnt have been. The multiple choice tests were tricky for some odd reason, though I still can't figure out why in god's name they were, they marked the assignments too hard and I couldn't stand Prof. Rothenburg. Blah, done ranting.

Honestly, I dont think it matters if youre a Business (like I was), science, social science or whatever kind of student -- this class was actually pretty tough. I knew people from different faculties that found this class to be absolutely brutal.

I had Dr. Hollenberg for this class, he has slightly different requirements than the other prof. I found his final exam easy for this course, just had to know your stuff and you're set. But he does like to give short answer type tests more, a typical test would be mostly short answer and a few multiple choice questions.

Are the four tests in this course cumulative and how difficult are these tests?

Originally Posted by lankan_4lif

Are the four tests in this course cumulative and how difficult are these tests?

No, they're not cumulative. I personally found the tests esp by the first prof ( Dr.Alina Gildner) very tricky and confusing. Some of them completely throw you off. The other prof was comparatively better.

Overall, I didn't like the course, the content esp the first half was dry and boring, the second half was somewhat interesting but it really varies from person to person depending on what might interest them. This course would definetly not be on my list of 'courses to recommend' at all.

Disliked this class a lot. Content very dull.

i took this class in winter 2011 with dr penner, and i found it to be interesting, but some parts were pretty dry. It was supposed to be 3 lectures but he ended up making it 2, occasionally meeting for the 3rd to watch a movie. for tutorials you got a set of 5 questions and had to answer 2 and bring them in the next week.. also if you contributed to discussion (even saying one thing..) itd contribute to your tutorial mark. the short writing assignments were not very difficult.. for each assignment you were given 2 topics and you had to pick one (some were opinion based.. some were on movies viewed.. some were related to what was learned in class etcc). there were 4 tests, 3 x20% 1x10% and they were all written during class time – there was no final exam. They consisted of 20-25 MC questions. If you put in the effort and study you can manage to well
heres the course outline from winter 2011!
http://www.healthagingandsoc iety.m...ter_20 11.pdf

G. Voros will be prof teaching this term 1, how was her teaching style in the course?
Asides do you need to be literary/historical person to do well in the course(writing assignments,essay,any other writing stuff???) pls reply asap, thanks

I'm not sure which profs the others had but we had Prof Voros and she was amazing! The class was really interesting and it was easy to get at least a 10 if you payed attention and did your work.

I was reading through the past outlines from Prof Voros and there was a debate that goes towards your mark. How hard was the marking scheme and work load for this?

Despite a debate between the courses' difficulty on how it was good or bad, I personally enjoyed that class. It has to be one of my favorite courses I have taken at McMaster simply because it was the highest mark I got out of the my courses.

I had Professor Voros and she was simply adorable. She was always willing to have students chat with her over coffee on concerns about the course that she would help discuss/make changes to how she approached class lectures. Despite some courses being dry or some people lacking interest in certain subjects, Professor Voros made the lectures funny with her cute commentary.
- If you have her you'll know what I'm talking about

Out of my other classes I felt, it was "you're on your own, good luck figuring things out" but for this class Prof Voros tried her best to make it an easy transition by offering assistance, summarizing course content, etc.

If you are taking this class and have Professor Voros, I recommend you to always be on top of your readings as long as you do that it's an easy B - A+