<p>Has anyone taken this class and have any advice on what to expect on tests/papers/etc... this class seems insane</p>
<p>i heard it was really hard. haha. hence why i'm not taking it. haha.</p>
<p>i'm taking it now. The reading regarding ethnics seems pretty tough since i have no background in that subject. I have Pollard as my discussion teacher and he basically said the majority of the students will not be getting A's. Instead the average grade will be a B- or so.</p>
<p>I took biotech last year. If your TA is Rich, you are screwed. If it is Mark, then you'll be a little better. </p>
<p>Labs should be manageable if you have had lab experience in high school. As for the papers, I just don't know what to tell you. My TA, Rich, was very vague and didn't really lay out his expectations, and despite claiming at our writing level was surprisingly high (or maybe his alma mater Dartmouth just sucks), very few people earned A's on the papers. </p>
<p>DO THE READING. If you don't, then you'll probably be able to answer only about half of the questions on the midterm/final. </p>
<p>Overall, I thought fall and winter quarters were okay. I thought spring quarter was a lot better. I enjoyed the seminar... perhaps it was because my seminar professor is not one of the regular professors nor TA's (he appeared as a guest speaker), so it was a good get-away from the insaneness. </p>
<p>On the bright side, if you want to be a terrorist, you can talk to Prof. Robinson. He's on the CIA (?) blacklist for possessing anthrax in his lab and he also has this really scary hypothetical bioterrorism plot. He's a good lecturer to boot.</p>
<p>That class has an insane amount of reading!! Their advice to read the assignment before AND after the lecture is like ridiculous! LOL</p>
<p>"majority of the students will not be getting A's" seems to be ok. I'm just hoping its around 33% or something as close to 50% as possible.. haha.</p>