BIOL * 1090 – Introduction to Molecular and Cellular Biology F,W (3-0) [0.50]

The genetics portion of the class is pretty standard stuff. Nowhere near as in depth as high school biology was. It is mandatory to buy the textbook for the class since it contains the code that you need for answering clicker questions during the lecture. However, I have never opened the textbook a day in my life and still ended up getting an A- in the course. The molecular bio part of it was more difficult as there was a lot more content and key terms thrown at you so definitely spend more time studying those parts for the final. There are fill in the blanks and diagram labeling for the molecular portion on the exam as well, so make sure to memorize the terms and diagrams they give you in the lectures.

This class is basically high school, the content is pretty simple and boring, and a lot of people gave up on showing up to lecture. I took it in F15, and it wasn\'t too hard, just some of the extra projects that we had were kinda annoying. The midterm was pretty good, the exam was easy. The profs were super nice too! I never touched the textbook, the profs said it was just for looking up concepts that we didn\'t understand. Overall pretty decent course especially if you\'re in first year and are new to uni life!

If you buy the text and study from it, you will get 90% or higher. If you don't buy the text, but study only from slides, expect 75+ If you don't study, but go to class and labs, you will get 65+ If you do nothing in this class, you still have a chance to get 50+

Its a tough course but you can easily do well if you study! What is hard is that there is a CRAP load of material and it can become overwhelming when you have exams to worry about. Even tho people say the midterm was hard, I got a 95% on it and a 87 on the final and that was only because I prepared well ahead of time so I found everything to be straight forward on the exams. However despite what people say I recomend a textbook! Sure you can do well with out a text book, get maybe a 75% but there was alot of extra details in the textbook (esp genetics) that was on the MC part of the exam, I was very thankful I took the time to read it. My overall advice, to do well in this course, do your readings weekly, and take notes on them or if you can't do that prepare for this exam about a week and a half ahead to avoid stress. You will be just fine if you you put in the effort, it is not a hard course at all. But it require alot of your commitment :) good luck future guelph-ers or whatever u may be :)

The lecture notes are great, I wouldn't bother buying the two textbooks, which are just heavy and a pain in the ass to sell after. If you are taking MBG and cellular in second year then maybe an investment should be made. Coppola was very good. He was engaging, and his song of the day kept class interesting. Batten was pretty dry, and genetics isn't exactly the most boring topic but he made it the most boring course in first year. Keep up with whats going on in lecture, make good notes and don't miss class. That will give you a good mark. Don't bother with the textbook, the chapters are way too long and you probably have to do physics and chemistry too! Midterm was easy if you kept up with the material. The only hard part of the final is there is a lot of probability with genetic traits, and if you don't get practice on doing the math, you don't have a good chance of doing well.

first half with Coppilino was great. 100% based on slide. Definitely need to textbook of the 2nd half

This course is fascinating, and very well structured. The first half of the course is spent on organelles, focussing on their structure and function within the cell. The second half is all about genetics. In seminar, the knowledge learned in class is applied to learn about real-life scientific innovations and problems. The professors have a great deal of enthusiasm and teach the course at a level appropriate for introductory biology.

I took this course the second time it was offered. I got a 78 and I am still upset about it because it is very easy to get a mid 80. The first half was taught by Coppolino. All you really learn about is cell organelles. On the midterm, you just write down the information that he already put on his slides. It is NOT a difficult course, people just didn't study properly. You don't have to actually use your head to do well on it. You don't have to read the textbook if you understand everything in coppolino's notes. Bendall on the other hand was one o the worst profs I have ever had. He speaks in monotone and his exam wasn't "hard" it was challenging, but he did not properly prepare us for it in class. If you are going to give a challenging exam, you should at least know how to teach first. The second half introduces genetics problem solving (which you do more of in MBG 2040). The paper was simple. 75% of the marks for it was based on formatting. The tutorials were pointless, but gave you an easy 4% of your mark, and the iDP is stupid, but I managed to do very well in it. (Don't know if they still make students do idp's).

I though this course was really interesting. It's also pretty easy. There's only a few assignments and you don't have to put that much work into them. The midterm and final were pretty much the kind where you just spit back the information you learned in class.

This course is very challenging but you learn a lot from it. I did very well on the essay. The midterm is very challenging and the final is even more challenging. Both professors are great! Don't take this course if you think you are going to study a couple of days in advance. It covers A LOT of material. I can't stress that enough!

somewhat interesting, mostly review. even though the midterm is a little tricky there's 25% worth of free marks in the tutorials, paper and idp so it's still very easy to do well.

Material for this course is all lecture based even though the profs do assign readings. Study incrementally, and not the night before. The paper must be completed in order to pass the course, so don't blow it off.

Midterm was very difficult, average was 61%. Seminars are very dry however you get marks for attending. Lectures are interesting and profs notes are very helpful. Material can be difficult to absorb, especially a couple days before a midterm.

This course is somewhat boring but straightforward. It skims over much of cell bio and covers basically what you learn in grade 12 bio. The course is generally fairly easy with not too much extra work. You don't need to do the readings at all for the first half of the course and they will just confuse you but try to do the practice problems for the genetics component because they'll help you on the final.

This course is really interesting, I learned a lot but the midterm is very challenging. Despite how much you study it will be challenging, there is just too much knowledge that they test you on. I would start preparing for the midterm on day 1 of the course. Dr. Copollino is awesome, so is Dr. Bendal but Bendall speaks to you like a 5 year old child. The final for this class is one that you will never forget :D