If you’re interested in how life on Earth came to be, take BIOL336! Through this course you’ll be able to solidify your understanding of how evolution works.
FORMAT OF THE COURSE
There is a lecture and tutorial component to the course. Each lecture was filled with detail, and we were also asked to memorize phylogenetic trees for the exams.
Wayne and Jeannette were nice and approachable profs who always answered our questions. Wayne gave each lecture as if he was telling a story, which was enjoyable and entertaining.
During our weekly tutorials, we went over important concepts taught in lecture, and worked on in-class worksheets to be submitted for grading by the end of each tutorial. There were also pre-tutorial and post-tutorial assignments related to the assigned weekly literature.
All this practice with the literature prepared us for the SOP (short opinion paper) that was due at the end of the term.
GPA 🙂 OR 🙁
At first, BIOL336 felt daunting with all the tutorial assignments; however, as I got more used to the rhythm of the course, everything felt more doable.
I was worried that my tutorials, which were marked more harshly, would severely impact my final grade. Thankfully, the tutorial mark only counted for a portion of the final grade.
The lecture content was quite easy to follow, and the midterm was on the easier side while the final was trickier.
Take a look at the grade distribution below from Winter 2018:
BIOL 336 Grade Distribution (Credits: ubcgrades.com)
VERDICT? TO TAKE OR NOT TO TAKE
I wouldn’t take this course as an elective as quite a bit of effort is needed for the tutorials. But even if BIOL 336 is a requirement for you (like it was for me), the content isn’t too difficult to grasp, so it is still a decent and manageable course!