School is over, grades have rolled in, and summer is starting! For some it means more schooling at UBC doing a summer session, for others, like me, it means trying desperately to find a job. I have been looking for 2 weeks or so nonstop, applying almost everywhere. So far its been unsuccessful. I actually came to the Toronto area, for the summer to stay with some family and get a job, so if anyone has tips, give me them! Haha on to my review of courses I took this semester
Chem 123
dun..dun..dun….this course couldn’t have been more different from chem 121. After 123, you realize how organized and doable chem121 was! Why do courses only seem easy after you’ve taken them! Well my first midterm for chem123 was bananas, my word for awesome. Being the average student I am, I was shocked at its easiness that I thought the average had to be like high 90’s just because it was easy for me. Found out some found it difficult and the average was 72, which is still high. All I know is I was tooo excited after it, and this was the beginning of my downfall. I wasn’t going to the problem set solving sessions anymore and I wasnt paying attention in class anymore, and this completely screwed me as I prepared for the final. I had an amazing 1 day and a half to prepare for this final and those were some painful hours of cramming. The problem with chem123 is sometimes you get things and then suddenly it doesnt work for one question (eg. enantiomers, or identical, or etc kill me now). This is extremely frustrating when your running out of time, and concepts aren’t working. Luckily my midterm 1 and my lab grade helped me pull out a good grade in the class, and the final didn’t do too much damage. Even though I found it harder than chem121 I got a substantially better grade. To anyone taking the course, when the ochem portion starts go to office hours (especially if you have sammis, what i did know, i learned in office hours), do all the prereadings before class, and the problem sets!
Bio112
WAYYYYY better than the most horrible course on the planet: Bio 121. Though this course was much harder, I enjoyed it for the most part. My first midterm was good, well above average but disappointing. One of those cases where the work your putting in doesnt seem to pay off. If you are in Bio 112, make sure to know the details, because those details are what let you get the tricky questions! When you know everything, you can better analyze the trickier questions. Spiegelman was my favorite prof this semester and I was part of his last class. This course went downhill when the metabolism stuff hit, and the microbes *ughh* I put off reading microbes until the day before the final just because it was unbearably annoying and boring. I’m glad we learned it though because its made me re-evaluate the specialization I want. Apparently microbiology and immunology has a lot of this microbe jumbo, so I need to pull off some ‘A’mazing grades next year so I can apply to physiology as well, I hear the acceptance rate is low. As for Bio112, the final appeared easier than both midterms, and the participation helped my grade as well.
Eng112
Certainly my last english course ever. Thank goodness! Its a hassle, and theres no definite way to get the grade you want because you dont know what your prof wants. Unlike science courses, this class really purely depends on your professor, some profs will take crap writing and give it a B, some will take that same writing and give it a D. Its really different through the sections ( same with Bio121, probably why I hated Bio121 so much). For my final research paper I chose a great topic, preimplantation genetic diagnosis. I wont go into it, but its a great topic, from my oral presentation alone many seemed interested. I have my own writing style in terms of essays and I changed it dramatically to fit my professors own preferences. The time I thought I wrote my worst inclass essay I got a good/okay grade. When I spent weeks perfecting my final essay paragraph by paragraph, I get virtually the same grade.. Well then again, I chose Science for a reason, I will never be one to love an Arts course at UBC. My final grade in the course was expected, and I was somewhat satisfied. :\
Math103
*sighhhh* I seriously love math, everyday when I study, I look foward to studying math because then I can listen to music, do problems at peace. I don’t know, its just a course I’m always comfortable with because problems are systematic, you follow the same rules, and some are tricky but its still the same rules. Unfortunately the professors decided to completely obliterate our gpa’s with the first midterm. It was extremely hard, and infinitely harder than the practice exams from previous years, and definitely harder than the homework. The average for my class was a 45 I believe, other sections were around this average as well. I was above average, but my grade was still disappointing, considering it was one of the courses I really stayed on top of. The second midterm, everyone expected it to be much easier. It wasn’t. The average was like 50 this time. And the final, I wont go there. Overall it was a hard course. As you go along, and do the homework, everything seems fine, until you take a test and its like WOAH. I knew it had to be scaled unless half the class would fail, so my grade wasnt as bad as I expected
Bio 140
Avoid at all costs. If you dont need to take this, DONT. As foolish as it sounds, Bio 140 is the primary cause of my downfall in Bio112 and Chem123. I give all my classes a fair amount of time, but suddenly Bio140 assignments were taking days, nights away from me. The assignments were always crazy back to back, and left no time for anything else. I wouldn’t give it so much time, if the TA’s weren’t so picky with grades. Now I realize it doesnt matter, an 80 or a 70 in the course will virtually affect your gpa the same way because its only 2 credits. I literally danced in my room for 10 good minutes celebrating the end of this course. 🙂
Cens202
What could have been…this was my arts elective I dropped the last night to drop classes. I actually enjoyed the course, my professor was awesome and I enjoyed the readings. I actually regret dropping it now, because it was such a great class. At the moment I didn’t want to deal with readings when I had other classes to worry about. I had Allison Beringer I think, or amy, who knows, she was great! I liked her teaching swag if that makes sense, ha! If I pull off what I’m trying to pull off this summer( I’ll explain in another blog entry) then I’m definitely giving this course a second chance!!
Awards
Fave Course: Bio 112! Spiegelman is the man!
Least Fave Course: Bio 140 !!!!!
Could Have Done Better *sighhh*: Chem 123
Could Have Done Worse : Bio 140