#biol 210

[ayyellesrambles]

Any tips to doing well on Biol 210? I want to register in 204 but its full so 210 is the only option for right now. It is as difficult as I have heard so many people say?

I didn’t find it hard, I felt like 204 and 210 had the same level of difficulty. 204 can seem easier though because it’s about vertebrates and people are generally more comfortable with learning about those, while learning about plants in such detail can be new for people. The only tip I have is to use your learning objectives when you’re studying, but that’s the same for any class. 

[ayyellesrambles]

Hi, I'm currently in Biol 210 right now, and our midterm is coming up. I guess I'm just frazzled on how to go about studying for it? I don't mind trying to memorize everything and get the gist out of it, but the list of learning objectives for each of the lectures is so long. Do you have any helpful tips/recommendations?

I definitely recommend you go over those learning objectives, I know there a ton, but the majority of the questions will be based on those. I made the mistake of skipping over a few of them, and when my friend asked me about one, I had no idea and had to look it up. I’m glad my friend asked me because there happened to be a question in the midterm on that exact learning objective she asked me about. 

[ayyellesrambles]

Generally for biol labs, what do you do (ie/ lab papers, report, exams etc)

There aren’t usually quizzes but Biol 363 has an open-book final exam and all my plant labs either had quizzes or lab finals (Biol 210, 324, 343, 321). 

[ayyellesrambles]

I had a question about Biol 343. I took biol 210 with shona but it was one of my lowest marks, I studied off her lecture notes but idk the stuff on the exam had some weird stuff. Is Biol 343 similar to 210, same kind of testing? a lot of memorization?

Biol 343 is definitely very similar to Biol 210, in terms of testing and even material and definitely a lot of memorization is required. You might do better in 343 because you probably still remember info from 210. 

[ayyellesrambles]

What's the Great Botanical Contest in BIOL 210 about?

Oh LOL, it’s just a mini contest for prizes! It’s just for fun, when I was taking it, Shona asked for submissions for the next year’s lab manual and any other botany related thing you wanted to do (a couple of students wrote a song, others wrote poems). 

[ayyellesrambles]

did you find bio 210 or 205 more difficult? Overall how did they compare and which one did you do better in?

I can’t really compare since I never took Biol 205! I took Biol 204 and Biol 210! I personally really liked them both, they’re both great courses…although I have a bit of a bias towards Biol 210 because I love plants more than animals =P. 

[ayyellesrambles]

Is the textbook for Biology 210 actually required? Because in Biology 205, the textbook was required but we never used it. And if it is required, is the textbook for biology 210 used mainly for pre-reading quizzes or what? Are we given lecture slides in that class? Thanks!

I thought it was pretty helpful, especially if you don’t know anything about plants. However, I only used the textbook at the beginning of the course to better understand the basics,I felt the material was redundant as the notes given in lecture were very extensive. I only really used the notes to study and the textbook if I wanted a clarification (but Google is very good at that already). So the textbook is a great reference, but I wouldn’t say it’s required in order to do well in the course. 

[ayyellesrambles]

How was bio 204? I haven't taken any of the bio diversity courses yet, ive taken micb but im sure its very different. I know its very memory intensive but how much time does it take away from your other courses? My friend who took 210 said that it was very memory intensive but it was easy because you could have a cheat sheet for each unit. I was thinking taking it during the summer instead but I heard that its no longer offered in the summer, do you know where I can find out if that's true?

It was the only course I took in the summer so I can't say whether or not it took too much time away from my other courses. However, like Biol 210, it was a lot of detail and Biol 210 wasn't too bad. It just felt like another Biology course...and biology courses are all memory intensive, so you get used to it. 

Summer course schedules come out in February/March.