Endless reports and hours in the lab; the bane of all Biology major’s existence: BIOL 340. As its name suggests, BIOL 340 is an intense lab that teaches different cell biology techniques, from fluorescence microscopy to SDS-PAGE.
format of the course
BIOL 340 is a 3 hour weekly lab course with a separate 1 hour lecture portion. However don’t be fooled, often most of the class were unable to finish on time and labs ended up being on average 4-4.5 hours long. Since each lab featured a new lab technique, pre-readings were very dense. There were also in-class pre-reading quizzes, so memorizing every little detail was crucial (imagine spending hours reading about the different steps in SDS-PAGE, but then being asked what SDS stands for…).
These labs were usually done in a group of four of five (random partners), and I was lucky to be in a good group. Each group was given a different mutant yeast strain to practice on using the lab technique of the week. In the later parts of the course, we had to run an independent study on this same yeast strain, which was by far the most stressful portion of the course.
GPA 🙂 OR 🙁
There is absolutely no ambiguity, this course is not healthy for your GPA. From the lab notebooks to the research papers to the presentations, there are NO easy marks. In terms of marking, this course was one of the most subjective science courses I have ever taken, mostly due to it being a writing heavy course. The class average ended up being 75; however with quite a tight distribution. Here is a distribution for the more visual from winter 2018:
Credits: ubcgrades.com
VERDICT? TO TAKE OR NOT TO TAKE
Unfortunately, most biology majors have no choice anyways because it is a prerequisite. Unless you’re really passionate about learning cell biology laboratory techniques, taking this 2 credit course is not worth it. I often found myself spending more time on this course than my regular 3 credit courses – even compared to advanced organic chemistry (CHEM 330 – stay tuned for a review).
Special thanks to Justin Carless, an amazing TA who was always there for my group! Could not have survived this course without his help.