GENE20002: Genes and Genomes

10% Mid semester test; 15% for 2 online assignments weighted equally; 75% 2hr exam

Definitely one of the easiest science subjects I have done. 3 of the lectures are devoted as revision lectures and the last 2 are not assessed in any way. Other lectures are incredibly boring and in the case of Meryl, extremely slow. John Golz goes through some of the more laboratory aspects of genetics which I found to be difficult and convoluted but he set extremely easy exam questions so nothing to worry about. Meryl's lectures are to do more with DNA repair, replication, transcription, translation, etc. very dry but easy to study for. The lecture slides are among the poorest I not worth much. The first assignment basically involved "reading" an article and answering some questions online within a week. Ctrl+F worked just fine for me. The second set by John was a little harder and requires using the genetics lab for a computer program but can be knocked out within 2-3 hours looking over some lecture notes. The exam is quite a joke. 30% of the questions were recycled and a further 10% were mind numbingly easy. The rest are easily doable with some effort in studying the notes. The best bit is there are only 50 to answer in 2hrs so most people were finished within 45 minutes. I would definitely recommend you do the subject if you are looking for an easy H1 but if you are looking for something interesting/ engaging, this isn't it.

Yes, with screen capture but not very reliable

Meryl Davis and John Golz

The 2006, 2008 and 2010 exams were available (No answers for 2008, 2010)

3.5 Out of 5

None

3 lectures & 1 problem class per week

2013 Semester 2

H1