Overall, the layout and workload of this course isn’t too heavy and felt a lot lighter compared to other first year classes. There were 2 midterms, bi-weekly tutorials that had pre-tutorial quizzes and post tutorial assignments, and the semester long problem based learning (PBL) project in the tutorial section of the course. The midterms were both fair and the final exam was easier than the two midterms.

This biology course focuses on evolution and ecology content. A lot of people do not find the content of this class that interesting but a lot of the content is things you learn in grade 11 bio and it wasn’t hard to do well in this class. This biology class is less memorization based and more of understanding the concepts. The main concepts in this course included forming scientific hypotheses, evolutionary theories over time (Plato, Lamarck, Darwin, etc), modes of evolution, different types of selection, human evolution, evolutionary medicine, types of ecological relationships/interactions between species, ecological niches, population dynamics, biomes, the cycling of nutrients (carbon, phosphorous, nitrogen cycling), and climate change.

Dr. Doyle (formerly Batstone) taught the evolution section of the course. It is very clear that she cares about her students and has a passion for what she does and an interest in the topics she teaches. She was always available to answer questions after lectures and even during lectures, she hosted multiple review sessions throughout the semester before midterms/before the final exam, and she provided a breakdown of topics before midterms and the final. However, I did find that her lecture slides and test questions were text heavy/worded in a lengthy way and during lectures most times she just read off the slides. Dr. Kidd taught the ecology section of the course. She was also very caring and clearly passionate about what she does. She also hosted review sessions throughout the semester ...read more

As long as you stay on top of the tutorial work (pre tutorial quizzes, post tutorial assignments, and the PBL project) and attend lectures/go over the course content on a regular basis than you should do well in this course! As long as you don’t fall behind then you should have a guaranteed 11 or 12 in the class. The textbook readings were also great to study for this class and get a better understanding of the concepts

This course is nearly impossible to do well in.

Ben's ecology lectures were actually fairly interesting to listen to. The issue was he didn't follow the textbook, and often times referenced his own research instead of more suited examples. The tests are RIDICULOUSLY hard. They don't test your knowledge of the main idea or even key concepts, its entirely multiple choice of the most random overly-specific examples, that were mentioned once in the whole course. Also, we were given practice tests but they were very short and pathetically easy compared to both midterms and exam. As for Kolasa's lectures on humanity, they were extremely dry. Not to mention, people were constantly asking him to speak up or repeat things because he just mumbles into his beard. His lectures directly followed the textbook which was a plus, but it also meant teac...read more

Both profs were zero help at all.

Do not take this course unless you absolutely have to. I'm pretty sure you can get AP / IB credits for this class so look into that as well if you can.

Nothing to practice or get you ready for the tests. The tutorials are useless and are only for the 4 assignments and projects. Throughout the lectures, you do a total of 10 practice questions maybe, and they post practice tests that are nothing compared to the actual test in the style of the questions and the amount. the class was so unprepared the class average for our first test was 55.

The content is grade 11 bio but the profs make the tests hard for no reason.

Evans focused so much on his research, and his test questions were so BS and oddly specific. Kolasa was better but very dry as he just read off the slides which were straight from the textbook.

Don't.

The worst course I’ve taken at Mac. It was my lowest grade in the semester. The material is dry and the lectures were filled with the prof just talking and talking with very few points on the slides. The test questions ended up having very little to do with what was taught in lecture. The material taught was also very confusing and along with the lectures, there was a written page with extra information the professor skipped. The PBL project wasn’t too bad and quite straightforward. Tutorial assignments were also ok. Tests and exam were a nightmare as the questions made no sense to what was “taught” in lecture.

Prof Bolker clearly didn’t care for his first years. It was pretty obvious that he put minimal effort into his lectures. Prof stone’s lectures were ok.

DO NOT take this course if you don’t have to. Many many level 2, 3 and 4 courses don’t require BIO 1M03 as a prerequisite.

Pretty dry content and often copied straight from the textbook. Then the exam questions were about the most obscure examples that were only mentioned once. Probably the most skipped lecture of first year.

Dushoff can be very entertaining at times and made the content bearable; Kolasa made some very funny jokes that offered moments of entertainment but the way he lectures puts you to sleep.

Don't take it as an elective.

Fun, hard

Avoid if you can unless you are actually interested in evolution. Make sure to get the textbooks and do the required readings with these profs. Tutorials were pretty easy tho

Very boring content, difficult tests. No redeeming qualities to the course at all, terrible course

Dushoff's tests were brutal, Kajiura's were okay. Although you needed to attend Kajiura's lectures, whereas you could get by on Dushoff's tests with just the posted lecture notes

Avoid this course if possible. It is *not* required for Honours Life Sci

This course gets a lot of unnecessary hate but for the most part it’s decent. Some people can find the content very boring which will lead to a bad experience. Some of the test questions can be dumb, but overall they were decent and they gave us an alternative grading scheme after we asked.

The final exam dropped my mark from A- to B-. Many questions on the final exam were very confusing, to the point where it seems like the profs purposefully made it that way.

Even if you think you're a little interested in learning about human evolution, do not take this course as an elective. Just go watch some videos on YouTube.

No words at all for this course. Awful. Test questions were very stupid and the exam was even worse.

Boring. Unorganized.

Don't take it.

Tests for this class were weird. The multiple-choice on both Evan's test and the final exam (which was mostly written by Quinn, as we had no second midterm due school being moved online in the middle of the semester due to the pandemic) sometimes tested highly specific details.

Really enjoyed Evan's section of the course, he was a great lecturer and explained all the concepts quite well. Quinn, on the other hard, was super dry and not a very engaging lecturer.

You need the textbook (and this is the only bio course where I've found this is true). Some of Quinn's questions on the final exam were lifted straight from the textbook and had not once been covered in lecture.

**** this course bruh So dry and boring, and they make it so **** hard for no reason. Bio department in general sucks at Mac but this is the bottom of the barrel. I did good in the course and still have nightmares about it

I really liked Dushoff, a lot of people may not though. While his tests were hard (lots of application based questions), I thought he was a good teacher, he was funny, and explained concepts well. Did not like Kajiura though, her lectures were a drag and it was harder to learn. Her test questions were easier though

Let's be honest, Biology 1M03's gonna get a lot of bad reviews this year because people are mad. I'm gonna try and be unbiased. The course was not very well structured for online. A lot of assessments/tests were confusing and felt unfair. Some questions were utterly ridiculous if I recall correctly. I didn't particularly enjoy the content, but it was tolerable. If you're a bio fanatic you might find it more interesting than I did. I don't see myself using much of its content in my program choice, though.

Dr. Stone taught the first half on human evolution. I think he had some of the weird (kinda unfair) test questions. Basically read off of the slide, which is basically what's in the textbook. Dr. Bolker taught the second half on ecology. Slides were more like notes to highlight the things he said and he definitely went on tangents (which usually covered course content anyways, so take notes). In some ways his test questions were harder because it seemed like more than one right answer. Even though I didn't like the course or the structure, these profs are clearly pretty passionate about biology, even if they didn't enjoy teaching, and I think that's pretty cool.

I found this course to be one of the harder ones to do well in. There's a lot to know and memorize and test questions can start to seem like they have more than one right answer. I don't know what method to tell others to use when studying, but find something that really helps you learn and memorize the content so you feel more confident in your answers.

the most boring course ever. test questions make no sense. only 11 i got in first year, rest were 12s (not trying to brag but i’m trying to describe its difficulty).