UBC Second Year Courses for Pharmacology, physiology and how to study

First term

CHEM 233 – Organic Chemistry
CHEM 235 – Organic Chemistry Lab
BIOL 200 – Cell Biology
PCTH 201 – Drugs and Society
STAT 200 – Statistics
(Note: You should take CHEM 211 here if you’re a Honours Physiology or Pharmacology major. )

Second term

These classes were really useful for the MCAT

CHEM 233 Organic Chemistry

I had Dr. Jackie Stewart as my professor and she’s great. Super enthusiastic about what she teaches and willing to help us if we don’t understand.
Don’t take 8 AM Ochem though. You will regret signing for 8 am class every morning until the end of the term. You’ve been warned.

CHEM 235 Organic Chemistry Lab

Very useful class.
Your TA and your benchmates are your saviours. Love them, be nice to them, help them. You all are part of a team.

PCTH 201 Drugs and Society

I highly recommend this elective. It inspired me to major in Pharmacology and Neuroscience!
Dr. Horne is awesome. Enough said. Take this class.
If you put in the effort, you will do well in this class.

STAT 200 Statistics

highly recommend this elective too. Very useful if you do research.
The midterm was really challenging so our professor changed the grading scheme so that more weight was on the final.
I went to office hours so often that my professor, Dr. Lang, started to anticipate that I would be back the next week haha. Use office hours!

BIOL 200 Cell Biology

The material was really cool but the exams are difficult to do well in.
The problem sets have no answers and this will anger you while you study. You don’t understand me now but you will later. Going to office hours for answers helps only mildly.
You will want to tear out your hair writing your press release because you don’t fully understand the article you’re supposed to be advertising.
To be honest, if you don’t need this class and are not taking it for interest, avoid this class. It’s a lot of work and the exams and assignments are frustrating.

Term 2:

BIOC 202 Medical Biochemistry

Dr. Williams will play biochemistry songs. He’s cool.
I found this class pretty interesting! You will too probably if you’re interested in medicine, pharmacy, nursing, etc because there are many examples related to medications and medical conditions.
the exams were tough even with tons and tons of studying
Study tip: Study with friends before exams! It helps to explain your answers and quiz each other on details and draw out pathways on whiteboards.

CHEM 205 Physical Chemistry

Our professor provided us with tons of practice exams and problem sets – such a blessing.
Class attendance is optional – just a FYI for all you self-learners out there.
I can’t say I found the material particularly interesting but the material is useful for the MCAT and understanding biochemistry.

PHYS 118 Electricity and Magnetism

Useful class, interesting class, easy midterms but the final was difficult because it covered everything from the beginning to the end of the semester.
There are clicker questions every class so be prepared.
Tutorial is optional but I highly recommend attending to get guidance from the TAs.

SOCI 102 Sociology

I was super excited to attend class!
Dr. Neil Armitage is the man you want for your professor.
The written assignments are difficult to do well on though
My TA was really helpful for tips and feedback if you’re struggling with writing.

PSYC 101 Psychology

After I took this class, I decided to change my major to Neuroscience and Pharmacology so you can guess how much I loved this class.
Easy to do well in if you attend class and study a reasonable amount. I’m not sure why this class is notorious for being alarmingly difficult. My guess is that it might be difficult if you take this first semester of first year when you’re not used to the workload of university yet.
Dr. Luke Clark is super cool and a good professor.

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