“The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.”

— Students who have clearly never taken BIOL 200

Cellular biology! Who doesn’t love cell biology? (Apparently most of my friends.)

The majority of science students I’ve met fall into one of two categories:

A) Preference for life sciences (ie. biology) and statistics.
B) Preference for physical sciences (ie. chemistry, physics) and calculus. 

Fortunately, in this case, I fall into category A. Thus, I found this course to be relatively straightforward and ended up with an A+. However, I’ve heard many scary comments about this course from otherwise very smart students. How is this possible? They probably fall into category B! But don’t worry. Even if you fall into category B, you are not doomed to fail this course. It just takes a bit of practice to understand what the professors want.

First things first: This course almost solely focuses on your ability to answer data questions. 

Most people hear biology and think memorization. I’m telling you now, this course has practically no memorization involved. You get a cheat sheet for the midterm and final, which you probably won’t even need to consult because a lot of the information you need to answer a question is given within the question itself! You can decide for yourself whether this is a good or a bad thing— I personally loved it, but I know some who find difficulty in answering data questions. You do need to understand the material being taught, but the logic in biology is relatively straightforward and this shouldn’t be an issue. Plus, any logical connections you need to make to succeed on an exam are typically spelled out to you during lectures and/or tutorials. Try not to fall asleep during class and you’ll be fine!

Course Breakdown

25% Midterm
50% Final
3% Pre-Readings quizzes (6×0.5%)
4% Participation (iClicker)
18% Tutorial (8% for attending tutorials, 6% for the summary paper, 1% for the science communication assignment quiz, 1% for glossary, 2% for pre-tutorial 6 worksheet)

Midterm/Final

These exams, together, are worth three-quarters of your mark! That’s a lot, so it’d be wise to take them seriously. In the case that you do poorly on your midterm, there is a ‘Hard work pays off’ policy in BIOL 200. What this means is, if you happen to get 20% higher on your final exam than your midterm, then the midterm will be worth 15% of your mark (instead of 25%) and the final will be worth 60% of your mark (instead of 50%).

But of course, it’d be better to just do well on both of your exams in the first place! My advice to you is to do the problem sets and the practice exams! This is absolutely crucial! Some of the questions are near identical to the problem sets.

I made the mistake of not doing the problem sets for the midterm. While I still ended up with 89%, I’m certain that I could have done better if I spent more time doing problem sets and less time copying out the eBook onto my cheat sheet. 

Yes, I spent hours copying out the eBook word-per-word onto my cheat sheet in tiny font. This was not a worthy investment of my time. Do not do this! Look at the kinds of questions in the problem set and practice exam to decide what information you need to include. For example, microscopy is always a necessity, along with drug names for the final.

The biggest problem that most students had on the midterm was the essay outline. Essentially, you are given a prompt (ie. write an essay outline about the importance of pH on biological processes) and then you have to write:

1. A thesis statement
2. Argument 1 + evidence
3. Argument 2 + evidence
4. Argument 3 + evidence

Many people ended up with less than 5/10 on this part of the exam… again, this is not because they’re not bright students, but rather because they didn’t understand the expectations. I personally find writing essay outlines to be a straightforward task, so long as you have the background knowledge needed to come up with three arguments + evidence! I got 9/10 on my midterm essay outline, and I’ll give you the secret to doing the same (or hopefully better).

Writing essay outlines is very methodological. You just need to follow a formula:

1. Read the prompt and make sure you address the prompt specifically. If the prompt asks about a specific protein make sure you mention that specific protein in your thesis statement and your arguments! Don’t be too generic, or you will lose marks. For example, our prompt asked us to write about a proton pump (a protein). Many people forgot to mention the proton pump in their answers, and simply discussed proteins in general. 
2. Make sure your thesis statement clearly outlines your three arguments. If the prompt is to write about the importance of pH on biological processes, then your thesis statement should be: “The proper functioning of biological processes such as [example 1], [example 2] and [example 3] is dependent on pH.”
3. For each argument, start with a statement about your example, tying it into your thesis statement. “Digestion by lysosomes requires low pH to occur.” Follow it with a second point. “The digestive enzymes involved only function in the low pH environment within the lysosome, and become denatured at higher pH, to avoid damaging the cell if they manage to escape the lysosome.”

Just remember to specifically and completely address the prompt! If the prompt asks about both protein structure and function, you must mention both in your essay outline for full marks. Something I found helpful prior to my final was brainstorming potential essay outline questions and thinking of ideas ahead of time. Put this onto your cheat sheet! For the first midterm, some generic essay outlines about amino acids/polypeptides and the lipid membrane will probably be of use (unless the order that the topics are taught changes, of course). 

A final note about exams: my midterm mark went up by 10%(!!!) after I requested a regrade. If you look at the answer key and think that you were graded unfairly, do not hesitate to submit it for a regrade! They do regrade the entire exam, but none of my answers went down in marks.

Pre-readings

There are a total of 8 pre-reading quizzes administered online on Canvas (aka open book). Only your highest 6 quiz marks count, with each one being worth 0.5%, for a total of 3%. You get two attempts on these quizzes, so there should be no issues getting perfect on at least 6 of 8! Think of these as a free 3% boost to your grade.

Participation

This, to the best of my knowledge, solely consisted of iClicker questions. As long as you participate in 85% of the lectures, you will get the full 4%. Make sure your iClicker batteries are working and you don’t fall asleep during the lecture! It doesn’t matter if you choose the right answer or not, so just click something before the poll closes. More free marks! 

Tutorial

Sadly this one isn’t all free marks, but the majority of it is. There are 9 tutorials, and these tutorials are mandatory. For each one you attend, you get 1%. It’s basically a show-up mark. Your lowest tutorial mark is dropped so if you are late to one or miss one entirely, that mark will be dropped. In total, you get 8% “free marks” for attending your tutorials and doing the in-class worksheets. 

But, if you recall, tutorials are worth 18%, not 8%! That leaves 10% unaccounted for.

Enter the Science Communication Assignment!

Your tutorial TA will choose a scientific paper for you to read and summarize. This paper will be the same for everyone in your tutorial section, but different from people in other sections (unless they happen to have the same TA). This means that, while you can discuss your paper with people within your tutorial section, you’re out of luck if all your friends are in other sections. 

You can get 4% of your mark relatively easily. There is a Canvas quiz to complete regarding the assignment (ie. expectations, due dates, etc.) worth 1%. Then, you are made to write a glossary of the words that you found difficult to understand in your research paper; this is also worth 1%. Finally, 2% comes from completing a pre-tutorial 6 worksheet which is marked solely for completion. It involves explaining figures from your assigned scientific paper and answering some questions about it. 

The final 6% is the tricky part. This comes from the actual summary paper that you have to write. I don’t have much advice for you on this, because I only got 80% on it. This was by far the most difficult component of the course for me, but thank goodness it’s only worth 6%, right?

Final Thoughts

Biol 200 is a course that I personally enjoyed. Most people I’ve talked to did not share my enjoyment. Whether or not you enjoy this course depends on… you. But if you manage to convince yourself that you enjoy the course, it’ll be a whole lot easier to get a good mark, I assure you!

The difficulties that people face in this course probably stem from a lack of understanding of what the professors want. Don’t be lazy and take shortcuts on your exams! If I learned anything from IB and Science One, it’s that it is totally worth it to end up with hand cramps from writing a bit extra, rather than lose marks because you didn’t include things you thought were obvious. Don’t assume that the reader knows what you mean— make it crystal clear! Spell out every single logical connection between one statement and the next. At the same time, don’t go overboard; time management is still important. You should have plenty of time to complete your exam and check over your answers several times.

Good luck and feel free to ask if you have any questions regarding this course!