<p>Hi everyone!</p>
<p>I'm currently a first-year at UChicago taking the Advanced (formerly AP5) Biology sequence, and I was wondering if anyone who's taken the sequence before could provide me with some info/advice on how the mechanics of the class work out. I have a few specific questions, since some TAs gave different responses:</p>
<p>1) Do the midterms/exams cover solely the content in the lectures, or also the papers and labs we're assigned to read and perform?
2) How long are lab reports typically expected to be - and how much time, on average, is spent on writing them?
3) What are some ways to succeed or perform better in the class? I've been going to discussions and keeping on top of the reading and listening to recordings of the lectures after the fact so far. Is forming a study group and attending the professors' office hours worthwhile?</p>
<p>I've heard this sequence is brutal, but also extremely rewarding, and even though it's only been the first week I've already learned so much :) Thanks for anyone who can offer answers/general advice! </p>
<p>I wasn’t going to answer this originally since I realized when I read it that it has been 7 years (!) since I took AP5 bio. But since nobody else answered your questions, I’ll try my best. Keep in mind that things could have changed a lot in that time, so the TAs will know far better than I do. </p>
<p>1) I remember the exams being some of the most challenging I’d taken yet, because they involved applying concepts learned in class to solving problems that I hadn’t seen before in addition to more typical lecture-based questions. So in this sense, I think lab material and perhaps knowledge gleaned from papers was helpful. They were hard but curved, so that was ok. I don’t remember the exams very well, though.
2) I just looked into the depths of my computer and found some of my old lab reports. They are all around 10 pages single-spaced, including figures. Some are shorter and one was 15 pages. Ask your TA, though, since they’ll be grading them. The amount of time it takes to write these, as with any other kind of paper, depends on how quickly and cleanly you write.
3) Study groups are nearly always a good idea. Office hours are nearly always a good idea. Both have been strongly encouraged by my professors from AP5 Bio all the way through my graduate school core sequence, and I agree with them. I wish I had spent more time in office hours as an undergrad.</p>
<p>It’s a good course, and I’m glad I took it. However, it’s definitely more valuable for molecular/cellular/genetics types than E&E folks like myself (now it would be worse in this respect, since they got rid of the elective third quarter and created a third required course). It also feels somewhat strange, because you’ll go very into depth on a very specific topic, like how DNA is packaged, while other topics seem glossed over or skipped. I know that it’s designed for people who have already covered most topics more generally in AP Bio, but sometimes the organization and choice of topics just seemed odd.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t call it brutal–I also took Honors OChem and Honors Physics and it was much, much easier to do well in AP5 Bio. I worked hard and had a study group but I didn’t listen to recordings of lectures or anything and ended up with a B+ in both of the first 2 quarters (third was elective back in the day), which I think was in the middle of the curve.</p>