Originally Posted by SilentWalker

IMO, Biology is mainly about understanding and little about memorization. I don't want to sound boastful, but in grades 11 and 12 I was in the top three in my Biology class, and I thoroughly understood almost all the material. In grade 12, it was basically me and this other guy that that kept the class average up there. We were the class lol. And he too understood bio, not memorized it.

I really enjoy bio, and a lot of it comes from understand the concepts and processes that it's teaching, not the other way around. I've heard so many people complaining that bio is pure memorization, and I just don't understand where they're coming from. Maybe I'll find out in 1A03.

Human evolution on the other hand is pretty much crap. Nothing to understand...just a bunch or terminology to remember. Awful stuff.

Tell all that to my cell biology midterm today

They attempted to poorly conceptualize tiny details from nearly irrelevant slides and I got owned hard it seems :/

Goodbye 12... it was nice knowing you.

Originally Posted by SilentWalker

IMO, Biology is mainly about understanding and little about memorization. I don't want to sound boastful, but in grades 11 and 12 I was in the top three in my Biology class, and I thoroughly understood almost all the material. In grade 12, it was basically me and this other guy that that kept the class average up there. We were the class lol. And he too understood bio, not memorized it. Bio is all about understanding. You can't memorize it...it's too much.

I really enjoy bio, and a lot of it comes from understand the concepts and processes that it's teaching, not the other way around. I've heard so many people complaining that bio is pure memorization, and I just don't understand where they're coming from. Maybe I'll find out in 1A03.

Human evolution on the other hand is pretty much crap. Nothing to understand...just a bunch or terminology to remember. Awful stuff.

Just wait until you take some second year courses. Some are truly pure memorization. And I agree with you on the part about grades 11 and 12, I was like you, in the top of the class. Not so much now.....


And Kendoon, I too wrote cell biology today, absolutely ridiculous. Some questions were just like you mentioned, tiny details.

Originally Posted by REPLEKIA/.

Aside from math, are there really any courses that aren't pure memorization?

Physics requires little memorization, also lab courses that you might take require little memorization but have high workload generally speaking.

Originally Posted by Buszaj

And Kendoon, I too wrote cell biology today, absolutely ridiculous. Some questions were just like you mentioned, tiny details.

I thought the cell biology midterm was this Friday?
how did you guys write it this past week?

Originally Posted by Buszaj

While trying to study for cell biology, I keep hating it more and more because it is pure memorization. Do any of you have any courses where it's pretty much memorizing a ton of stuff? Do you think these types of courses are useful at all? Love 'em? Hate 'em? Discuss.

Extreme dislike. I learn by linking concepts and examples, not straight memorization. That's why in courses like that I didn't do too well.

Essays ftw (for me)!

Originally Posted by SilentWalker

IMO, Biology is mainly about understanding and little about memorization. I don't want to sound boastful, but in grades 11 and 12 I was in the top three in my Biology class, and I thoroughly understood almost all the material. In grade 12, it was basically me and this other guy that that kept the class average up there. We were the class lol. And he too understood bio, not memorized it. Bio is all about understanding. You can't memorize it...it's too much.

I really enjoy bio, and a lot of it comes from understand the concepts and processes that it's teaching, not the other way around. I've heard so many people complaining that bio is pure memorization, and I just don't understand where they're coming from. Maybe I'll find out in 1A03.

Human evolution on the other hand is pretty much crap. Nothing to understand...just a bunch or terminology to remember. Awful stuff.

Lol, I'm sure you were a good student and still are in biology, but all I can honestly say is just wait, you'll see.

I mean, I try to understand, and for this cell bio midterm I knew all the pathways by just playing them out in my head (i.e., instead of using words I just played out an animation of everything that happens in a pathway when I close my eyes).

And it doesn't help, AT ALL, because they ask you the MOST ridiculous questions to the point where it's impossible to actually figure anything about.

For example, from the cell bio midterm, there was a question like "If there is an NRF mutation, which class of mutants does it fall under?"
Class A, B, C, D or E?

That's it. There's no chance of "figuring it out" you just know it or you don't. And considering we spent about 20 seconds in 5 weeks of material talking about NRF1, chances are you won't know it.

And there was a crapload of questions like that.

I don't mean any offense, because I was just like you, but biology is just stupid until you get to like 4th year. My only advice is to not try and understand, because they're going to take pictures/questions straight from your slides and if you understand it a different way than they teach it (even if yours is valid) you're going to get it wrong.

E.g., I did the pathways in my head, but they just copied pics off the slides and pointed to shit and asked what it was....how the hell do I know? That random blob on that one pic is irrelevant to me, but apparently testable.

EDIT: Human evolution has no thinking? really? I thought the opposite - that one you can get away with just knowing the general trends and ideas and sort of apply it to questions they ask. Maybe it's your professor.

^^THIS^^


random filler because message has to be stupid 12 characters long

This is the exact reason why I didn't enjoy biology class.

Also, bonus question for chem: what do organic chemists say during halloween? Argh wtf.

Originally Posted by Alchemist11

And it doesn't help, AT ALL, because they ask you the MOST ridiculous questions to the point where it's impossible to actually figure anything about.

For example, from the cell bio midterm, there was a question like "If there is an NRF mutation, which class of mutants does it fall under?"
Class A, B, C, D or E?

That's it. There's no chance of "figuring it out" you just know it or you don't. And considering we spent about 20 seconds in 5 weeks of material talking about NRF1, chances are you won't know it.

And there was a crapload of questions like that.

I don't mean any offense, because I was just like you, but biology is just stupid until you get to like 4th year. My only advice is to not try and understand, because they're going to take pictures/questions straight from your slides and if you understand it a different way than they teach it (even if yours is valid) you're going to get it wrong.

Sorry to dissapoint, but that's what cell biology is. And when you do further courses in cell biology, guess what? You memorize more pathways and proteins so you can spit them out in exquisite detail on the exam. You don't think. You have to suck it up, memorize facts, and give them back to the prof to get your 12.

Other types of biology are different. Molecular and microbial genetics require critical thinking, application and very little memorization. My microbial genetics midterm had 5 questions, but they were applied problems and I didn't need to know nuances of any particular pathways or proteins.

You can easily get through the course by memorization. Some profs don't seem to realize that it's useless and you'll forget it after the exam.

Originally Posted by RyanC

This is the exact reason why I didn't enjoy biology class.

Also, bonus question for chem: what do organic chemists say during halloween? Argh wtf.

What DO organic chemist say during Halloween?

Personally, I'd rather have a course with memorization and some basic understanding than something with both application and whatnot. But anyway, it's nice to have a variety of courses, so having courses that are just application-based would drive me insane! I need a little variety. On the other hand though, that Cell bio (2B03) midterm was INSANE! Some of the tiniest details were asked. But I guess that's what she meant by making it "hard" when the average for midterm 1 was high :(

Originally Posted by dhyong

Sorry to dissapoint, but that's what cell biology is. And when you do further courses in cell biology, guess what? You memorize more pathways and proteins so you can spit them out in exquisite detail on the exam. You don't think. You have to suck it up, memorize facts, and give them back to the prof to get your 12.

Other types of biology are different. Molecular and microbial genetics require critical thinking, application and very little memorization. My microbial genetics midterm had 5 questions, but they were applied problems and I didn't need to know nuances of any particular pathways or proteins.

You can easily get through the course by memorization. Some profs don't seem to realize that it's useless and you'll forget it after the exam.

Hahah, yeah, at first I didn't think that's all it is, but sadly that's what I've come to realize.

I'm going to totally change the way I study for this course now - I was studying it like it was a real course that required brain power, but now I realize I'm just going to have to recite her own words back at her in order to do well.

Originally Posted by britb

What DO organic chemist say during Halloween?

Trick or polymer.

Originally Posted by RyanC

Trick or polymer.

The hell? How does that even make sense?

Originally Posted by SilentWalker

The hell? How does that even make sense?

Cause polymers are such a treat! HAHAHa... haha... ha

Don't worry, I don't get it either.