PHYS * 1080 – Physics for Life Sciences F,W (3-3) [0.50]

Really enjoyed the content of this course, just the quizzes and labs are very annoying. Quizzes are somewhat difficult with torque being the worst by far. Buy the textbook and do every question before attempting the quiz. Exam I found was tricky so make sure to go into the exam with perfect on all quizzes.

A half of this course is review on what went down in physics during grade 12, but if you don\'t remember any of it, or didn\'t understand it in the first place, then good luck. I can see how this course can be enjoyable for people who are fond of physics and understand it well, but for someone who is like me and never understood it, even with having a tutor, this course was torture. The TA\'s mark extremely hard and unfair on quizzes, and not to mention the structure of this course is messed up. Getting even a 7/10 on a quiz will only land you 20% on that quiz, and with only five quizzes each worth 10% and a final worth 50%, you\'ll want to get 100\'s on every quiz. Seems easy, but be prepared to teach yourself everything. I did enjoy Massa as a prof, he\'s really funny but I didn\'t like the way he taught. Study guide questions don\'t help with the quiz material at all in my opinion, but the text book questions do, so definitely study those.

I hated this course so much. I also don\'t like physics so that is probably why but the teaching and the course setup only added to my hatred. Orbax writes out all his notes and does not give you slides or anything so his lectures are pretty much you frantically trying to get everything down which is so frustrating so I stopped going to lectures. Lectures for this course, unlike many you will take, are NOT mandatory to do well because you are also given a study guide which contains textbook readings and questions. You are not tested on lecture content, but rather study guide material. The setup of the course was the worst, it was literally anxiety inducing. You basically had 5 quizzes worth 10% each and a 50% exam. Quizzes were written and are about 3-4 questions long, 10 marks each. You need to get 8-10/10 to get 100% on the entire quiz. If you get 3.5-7/10, you get 20% on the quiz. below that is 0%. You have 3 tries and get a different quiz each try but if you get 100% on any try, you get 100% on the quiz. If you get 20% on each of the 3 attempts, it counts as 60% etc etc. It sounds good, but trust me, it really isn\'t. you can easily go into the exam with 100% though but youll need it because they make the exam extremely hard, most people drop 20-30% from the exam.

Course itself was not a ton of material but definitely need to keep up on it. The trick with 1080 is get on it EARLY. If you follow the schedule for quiz deadlines they slam you right in the middle of midterms and finals. There is a unit on the final that is NOT part of the quizzes (heat) so if you finish your last quiz the friday before exams you have an entire unit to teach yourself RIGHT before the final (when you should be studying for other things - like Chem1040) The quizzes are difficult and the time limit/stressful atmosphere doesn\'t help BUT you get 3 shots and if you get 8/10 on them the grade is curved up to 100. You should be able to walk into the 50% final with a 50 with relative ease. DO YOUR LABS EARLY. EARLY. BEFORE THE MATERIAL IS COVERED IN CLASS. The labs are annoying and tedious and even if you know the material they still are confusing. Go in on the first and second week for ALL of them and GET THEM DONE. Its MUCH easier that way. The quiz room closes early on fridays usually - so you get 2 quiz attempts on friday, therefore you must do ONE quiz attempt on thursday so if you dont get the 8/10, 2 marks from each quiz attempt are compounded and you still get a 60. The final this year was not much fun but it wasn\'t horrible. There are conceptual questions and some basic ones (vector addition, barometric pressure, conversions of pressures) so you get a few down without really thinking about it. Keep in mind that with most students coming in with a 50, the final is NOT designed to give everyone 100, so there are tough aspects to it. I did not go to any lectures and taught myself out of the book (and old course notes) no problem. Not worth it to go in 2x week.. its really not hard to teach yourself. I budgeted a day and a half to study the material (from brand new to quiz) which cut it tight on a couple of quizzes but was doable for most of them. (Hence - not needing to go to class) TORQUE is the worst quiz BY FAR. Study that EARLY. Scaling sucks too so go in for help because its on the final. Overall I did actually enjoy this course - its not a mark booster for me but it was interesting and had some cool concepts.

Massa was a great professor. He kept me interested in the concepts and explained them very well. His slides are very good too. The textbook is a necessity if you plan on passing the quizzes. The quizzes are harder than PHYS*1070 but the final for this course is easier. If you pass the quizzes, there is no reason you shouldn't get a great mark. Try to get the quizzes done early. Massa finishes the material needed for the quiz well before the due date so you can write it early. The first two are the hardest and need the most prep.

Massa is a great prof for this course, and really tries to prepare you for the quizzes and exam by using a ton of examples - get him for a prof if you can! The quizzes are a lot hard than 1070, and you have to make sure you keep up with the readings and questions in the textbook, otherwise you won't have a clue what's going on during the lectures.

There isnt that much material and the proff moves at a good pace. But make sure you keep on top of the material because it can be hard to learn all in one night ! Make sure you do well on the quizes since the final usually consists of only 20 questions, each of which are very difficult

Massa tries soooo hard to make the class fun.. but truth be it, its PHYSICS! so that never really worked! the course is designed for you to study by yourself, and teach yourself everything! you can go with a 100 percent before the final, but dont expect taht when you come out of the final. expect anywhere between the 60s and low 80s ! final is brutal!

Massa is a brilliant and funny prof, i had him for the first half and Kycia for the second half. Kycia is a good and competent prof, he just isn't as funny as Massa. The quizzes are more difficult than in 1070 but still doable. It's not too hard of a course.

This course is the same format as 1070. It has 5 quizzes each 10% and the final exam worth 50%. Massa is an excellent professor, get into his section.