marking – The Yogi Scientist

PHYS 101: Energy and Waves

This course focuses on sound, waves, motion, and biological applications. This course builds upon knowledge that should have been taught in Grade 12 physics. This course has Mastering Physics, which consists of numerous practice questions, these are key to succeeding in this course, as many questions on the midterm and final are derivatives of these types of questions. This course has an associated weekly lab, in which you get to conduct hands on experiments in topics related to that being tested. The lab involves graphing and the calculation of statistical properties such as mean, standard deviation and uncertainty. The lab also has its own final that takes place during the lab session, in which you are randomly placed to do an experiment similar to one that was already tested before, so make sure to pay attention and ask lots of questions beforehand!

The exams in this course consisted of multiple choice and short answers. After completing the exam individually, students form groups of 3-4 in which they are able to answer multiple choice questions similar to those that were on the exam. The mark from this group portion is added into the exam mark in lieu of your individual mark if it benefits your overall grade.

Marking:

Midterms (1 and 2): 15% (2.5% of each came from group component)

iClicker: 5%

Tutorial: 5%

Mastering Physics: 5%

Labs: 20%

Final: 50%

CHEM 123: Thermodynamics, Kinetics and Organic Chemistry

This course had it’s own custom textbook, which contains many practice examples, and explanations. This course focuses on equilibria, Hess law, Entropy, Spontaneous/Non-spontaneous reactions and free energy. The kinetics components emphasizes the rate of reactions and looking at different factors that may effect reaction speed. The latter portion of this course begins an introduction into Organic Chemistry which will then lead into the course Chem 233. This focuses heavily on stereochemistry of different reactions (cis/trans isomers, enantiomers and diastereomers). It also looks at different types of reactions that may occur such as SN1 and SN2.

This course similarly to Chem 121, has a lab component that involves biweekly wet labs. This means that students are given a week to prepare for the lab during the dry week. In comparison to Chem 121, this lab requires writing formal lab reports that have greater detail and research in understanding underlying mechanisms involved in the experiments.

To succeed in this class, you should definitely hand draw notes, this helps ensure that you get directionality correct and can label all components of a reaction, as reactions build and get complicated very quickly! Take advantage of the practice midterms posted as they contain many examples that are similar in the level of difficulty to the actual exam.

BIOl 121:

This course focuses on evolution and genetics (mitosis, meoisis, cell cycle and alleles within the population). There was analysis of pedigrees, sex-linked alleles, Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium was introduced, and the principles surrounding Mendelian genetics. There was also focus on topics surrounding gene flow, genetic drift, bottleneck effects and the influence these events may have on genetic variation within a population.

This course had two midterms and a final, in which students were allowed a cheat sheet. However, this course was much less memorization based and instead required problem solving abilities and the ability to understand new situations. The exams can be difficult as they are very picky on the word choices, and therefore it is important to be extremely clear when describing a phenomenon.

Marking:

Midterm 1: 15%

Midterm 2: 20%

iClicker: 5%

Online quizzes: 5% (only have one try!)

Field trip: 5% (we went to the beach)

Final: 50%

BIOL 112: Biology of the Cell

This course is required for a major in Biology and looks at topics such as cell replication, protein transcription and translation, enzymes and membranes. This class is essentially an elaborative version of Biology 12, and goes into some greater detail. Overall, the class was not extremely difficult, but does require time commitment to ensure material is understood as it does build upon itself relatively fast. The material is more applied and not simply memorization. The examinations are multiple choice with some short answers.

The first midterm is written in-class (50 minutes) and are allowed to bring in a review sheet with hand-written notes. The second midterm was longer and was therefore written at night, but a review sheet was allowed again. The final is written during the formal examination period, and is in similar format to the midterms. Organization of your review sheets is key to having success in the course and finding information as needed!

The rest of the marks are made up through lecture activities. The iClicker is based on participation but can be helpful in determining your understanding of the material. The in-class activities usually consist of drawing a mechanism or picture alongside the class, or writing down some ideas pertaining to a particular question. There are pre-class quizzes based on the reading, which also consists of multiple choice questions.

Marking:

Midterm 1 (10%), Midterm 2 (30%), Final (40%)

iClickers (3%), In-class activities (4%), Pre-class quizzes (10%)

CHEM 121: Structure and Bonding in Chemistry

Lots of focus on the periodic table and the particular characteristics associated with the numerous elements. There is a look at orbitals, molecular bonding, VSEPR and quantum mechanisms. This course also has a corresponding lab which takes place bi-weekly. This means one week you are able to prepare for your lab, and the other week you come in and actually do the experiment. There is thus pre-lab prep work, and post-lab submissions of observations and findings. The lab itself is quite challenging as you are doing experiments alone, and are not given clear instructions (this is left for you to do during the pre-lab)! Every lab has a pre-lab quiz to ensure students know what is expected, there may also be a calculation pertaining to the experiment. And at the end of the lab, there is a lab exam to ensure that students learned basic chemistry lab skills.

There are two midterms each worth 10% and a final which is worth 50%. These exams can be very challenging and test knowledge beyond those questions seen in the student textbook (ChIRP), thus ensure you ask your professor for help as needed!

Marking:

Midterms (20%), Final (50%)

Lab (20%), Lab Quizzes/Prep (10%)

ENG 110: Approaches to Literature

This course consisted of reading numerous novels, poems and short stories, and understanding and analyzing their structures. This course has a tutorial in which participation is important. This allows your TA to understand that you have read the assigned chapters and have put thought into the analysis. The tutorials are also where the in-class essays are written. This course will provide you the skills to think more critically about literature and understand basic concepts and different genres. Each professor may have a different theme, my class focused on the interplay between social media and literature in a theme denoted as “Texts and Technology”.

Marking:

Participation (10%), In-class essay (20%), In-class essay (30%), Final Exam (40%)

Tag: marking

First Year Course Review: Term 2

First Year Courses- Term 1