MCB2011: Molecular Biology and the Cell

Mid-semester test: 10%
Examination: 50%
Practical activities: 30%
Online quizzes: 10%
(There's a 12% Animation Project somewhere in those marks.)

Lectures
Lecturers were well-versed and, while I only could attend half of the lectures, any that I was there for were fairly good. Content was diverse and covers lots of specialities in the Molecular Biology umbrella, which makes it both difficult and easy at times. Once in a short while, it would switch 'themes' and you'd learn about a different area.

Labs
Pre-lab activities were usually in the form of pre-reading the lab notes, a SCORM package (basically an interactive set of slides) and a pre-lab quiz. They were really in-depth and you ended up learning a fair amount from the pre-labs, so I would recommend doing them well to properly prepare yourself.
The labs themselves were fairly straight forward (with a little prep) and related to the previous week's content. The practical convener (Danielle Rhodes) was amazing at setting up the lab design and pracs. The experiments we did were very enjoyable, unique and definitely not like first year Biology where you're kind of in the dark. I would not recommend being late, as you miss out on some important notices.
The post-labs were the let down of this component, as this was where I really had no idea what they were looking for. Even though they were just short answer questions, the questions were kind of broad and many answers could've been right, but they'd only mark one right, so it was a bit of guesswork sometimes.

Assessment
Both lab work and lecture content is tested in the mid semester test and the final exam. I don't know if they'll change this, but both were MCQs and in the final exam, also extended MCQs. Also, don't leave the Animation Project to the last minute!

Overall
I liked this unit for its pracs and fairly good revamp. I've heard horror stories about MOL2011, this unit's predecessor, and let's just say that MCB2011 ran pretty smoothly for a first run (content no longer feels too disconnected). I would recommend this unit to any science student that is unsure what else to study and is intending to major in any of the areas of study listed in the Handbook entry.

Assoc. Professor Helen Abud
Assoc. Professor Priscilla Johanesen
Dr. Julia Young
Dr. Saw-Hoon Lim
... and a couple more.

No, but they do provide several optional Moodle quizzes

3.5 out of 5

Yes, with screen capture.

Molecular Biology of the Cell (6th ed.) by Alberts et. al. but you won't really need it.

2 x 1 hr lecture
1 x 3 hr lab

2016, Semester 1

Unknown.