[mitch]

This course is not a bird course! It is really interesting as you learn about every single part of the brain and how it functions. And I mean EVERY SINGLE part of the brain. You have to memorize lots of names, locations, and functions. Like Rostral Interstitial Nucleus of the Medial Longitudinal Fasciculus. That's one tiny thing! It's funny how I remember that and it's been almost 1 year.

So there's a balance here between being very interesting, but really difficult. Also, you will have to write at least 2 literature reviews. You take a study in the literature relating to neurology, and then summarize and relate it to what you are learning. You only have to write 2, but you can write up to 5. He takes you best 2 marks. The class focuses a lot on application and memorization. Even though it was difficult, it was one of the best courses I've had so far. I highly suggest it if you're up to the challenge. You need to be in kinesiology or psychology level three to take it.

[alicia11]

Loved this course... But you probably need to have Dr. Bala for it to be as awesome as it is.
In 2009 it was an 8:30 am course and everybody always showed up because its not a class u want to miss (because its very interesting.. the 50 minutes flies)
Very interesting stuff... made me love the brain.
You learn about things like schizophrenia, parkinson's disease, strokes, cerebellum damage.. its cool
There's 3 midterms, one is multiple choice, one fill in thte blanks one short answer. Theyre all very fair.

[Navi]

was the course difficult in terms of material, or did the professor explain everything well enough for it to be easily understandable?

[ariang]

Ya, I'm wondering the same. I realize that this course requires work, but will it pay off? I mean some courses are RIDICULOUS in that you have to put in waaaay more that you get out ... is it possible to get an A in the course with a reasonable amount of effort?

[Awesomeness]

do you have to do the readings?

[McUsed]

Life Sci students take note:
Kin 3E03 is cross listed with Life Sci 3K03

I took this course in the Fall 2011 session.

What did I learn in this class?

I learned how to make an omlet, where Timbuktu is, and who Amadou Toumani Toure is (inside joke).

This course is jam packed with neurology and is taught by Dr. R. Balasubramaniam. Now for those of you who are familiar with Dr. Ullal, Dr. Bala is basically a younger, more cooler, in-your-face version of Dr. Ullal with a naughty sense of British humour. He's well-informed, knowledgeable, and is willing to answer questions. In lecture he's amusing and animated.

As the course name suggest, a good portion of the course is dedicated to movement (from how to plan a movement, how to execute a movement, what brain regions are involved). You'll learn about almost every aspect of the brain and it's associated functions, what happens when their is a lesion in certain area of the brain, how to treat neurological disorders etc. Knowledge from previous neuro courses such as neurotransmitters and imaging techniques (MRI, PET etc)are also covered. Finally, phenomenons such as phantom limbs, lou gehrig's disease, amnesia, capgras delusion, apraxia and several speech disorders were discussed as well.

Midterm:

Consisted of MC, fill in the blank (and no, there isn't a work bank for fitb) and short answer.
Yes, the test was fair. No, we weren't given enough time. The test was held during the lecture time slot (50 minutes) and afterwards several students on the discussion board were complaining.
Similiar to Dr. Ullal's tests, some questions were very specific, but most were general.
As for the short answer, most questions required you to explain a definition. Each short answer was worth 3 marks each. Although on the test paper it says to write 1-2 sentences for each question, don't hesitate to write more! The answer key for the short questions were about 3-5 sentences long!!

Average for the test: 76.89%
3 people out of a class of 371 scored between 95-100% (The highest being ~96%)
141 students scored between the 80-89% range.

Fun fact: apparently the Life Sci students brought the average of the midterm down (Funny because the prerequisite for Life Sci students is Life Sci 2C03...and a good portion of the content in 3K03 is from 2C03).

Exam: similiar format to the midterm except more MC and more short answer. Again, short answer was basically definition questions, plus some concepts. Exam was cummulative.

Going into the course, be aware that the midterm (40%) and exam (60%) account for a significant portion of your final grade.

[vweir]

This was a great coure. There was a lot of material but all of the assesments were very fair and straightforward (i.e. no trick questions), they just required a lot of preparation. If you find the amterial interesting and are willing to study, this is a great course that you can do well in.

[Kobina.Baiden]

does anyone have a current review of this course they would like to share?? thanks