This document includes some advice on taking exams, in-class exercises, etc.
To see more information about a topic, click the header that interests you.

These will be posted after the relevant lecture. The primary reason is that they'll contain 'spoilers'--summaries of ideas the in-class exercises and questions are meant to evoke. Once these are revealed, your opportunity to think them through is gone. Forever.

In order to help you take notes, each slide will be numbered, so there's no need to sketch or copy slide content, unless that floats your boat.

They will include 'presenter notes', which are my own notes containing important ideas. Links will also be provided where possible.

Content: If we've emphasized certain terms in lecture, lab or homework, they may be here. I am comfortable copying questions from Assessors and putting them on exams.

Don't forget you can submit your own questions for use on the exams. These must be provided with thoughtful answers. Multiple choice or 'check all true' formats are best.

Read questions calmly & completely. Read all the choices before you start answering. Think from time to time

No ‘trick questions’. <BUT> details matter. If a question says “In every case except lions, what is true?” don’t skim, then answer thinking “Aha! lions are the exception, so #2 is false!!”

If you have a confusion, ask!!! It’s not a game of whether you can interpret the question; I want to know if you can answer it

If you’re likely to ask questions, sit where we can get to you--if you're deep inside a section, we have to walk over people, disturbing them and taking time

Mastering Biology is the website of materials that comes along with your purchase of the textbook. Some of the tutorials and animations will probably prove very useful to you. There is also an e-text that includes not only the chapters in your textbook, but the rest of the textbook as well. Occassionally, material corresponding to parts of these latter chapters will be presented.

Alas, neither the textbook nor the Mastering site do a great job of restricting vocab to the essentials.

This resource is available to help you study and as a supplement; it will not suffiice to get you a good grade in the course.

I chose to use Scott Freeman's 'Biological Science', 4th ed. for several reasons
1) It does the most restrained job with vocabulary I've seen (though I think there's tons of room for improvement still)
2) In a lot of areas, I think its explanation of some very important concepts is clear, properly focused, and well-presented. A lot of the molecular representations are very helpful

Those things said, I part company with the author on topic order and relative importance. So the text will best be used by identifying topics covered in lecture and getting a second viewpoint, especially when you found my presentation less than helpful.

In class exercises are a very serious and potentially valuable part of your education this semester. They have a number of purposes

First, to give you an opportunity to think your way through a problem BEFORE jumping to the answers. If you've considered what the potential challenge is, you'll not only understand the solution better, you'll remember it more readily and longer.

To the extent possible, these exercises will showcase the type of thinking and understanding that will be featured on exams. In other words, this is a serious form of studying.

Equally important, you'll probably find them a heckuva lot more engaging than listening to me talk.

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
--Albert Einstein

Reading the textbook multiple times isn't studying; highlighting parts and expecting the highlighter to remember them and help out with the exam isn't studying. Both of these can be valuable as an initial INPUT, but multiple rounds probably contribute nothing.

The best study approaches are going to be ACTIVE--put aside the book and your notes and explain a key concept or process. Do this out loud or on paper--NOT silently in your head. Having a partner that listens is also great; one that doesn't already know the stuff or knows it in a different format than you can be extremely valuable (think English major roommate, family, etc.).

The course is designed to be one about concepts. So don't expect raw memorization of facts and definitions to be sufficient. However, some of these will be foundational, so don't neglect them altogether. I'll try to make clear what definitions and memorizables will be essential components.

Pay attention to emphasis in lecture. If you've heard something a dozen times, Bruce probably thinks it's important. If he was shouting or jumping up and down, ditto. If it came tagged with "You may need to know this for the MCAT, but I think it's dull as dirt..." it probably won't feature prominently.