How hard is Bio 1?

[cwb]

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Hey everyone, I'm currently a sophomore in chemical engineering and I finally decided I might want to start taking my biology requirements. Having said this my next semester will be really tough with diff eq's, p chem, ochem 2, and a weed out ChE class, I was wondering

Biol 201. Principles of Biology I. (3-0) Cr. 3. F.S. Prereq: High school biology and chemistry or credit or enrollment in Chem 163 or 177. Introduction to the nature of life, including the cellular basis of life; the nature of heredity; evolution; diversity of microbial, plant, and animal life; and principles of ecology. Intended for life science majors. Students may receive graduation credit for no more than one of the following: 109, 123, 201.


did you guys think the class that you took which is comparable to this was hard or not? This may seem like a stupid question but I will take it over the summer if I absolutely have to. Thanks in advance.

 

[PianoGirl04]

It really depends on the school. Some intro bio classes are a joke, but others are considered weed-out courses. If you have any friends that have taken bio at your school, talk to them about it. Good luck!

 

[superdevil]

it sounds like its one of those "survey classes" where they just show you the broad-strokes of a bunch of different fields (your description mentions cellular bio, evolution, micro, plant and animal life, ecology, etc---lots of different stuff). those typically are not too tough, unlike the classes that say "ok, we're going to do a 15-week semester of molecular genetics." i wouldn't worry about it too much, but then again, you never know...

 

[BerkeleyPremed]

The difficulty of the course is more likely to be correlated to the school you attend as opposed to the content/material within the course. The difficulty of the general bio series really depends on your professor, the quality of students in your class, and how involved your lab component is. Personally, I wouldn't take general bio with the schedule you described in your original post...well...I'm thinking of the general bio class offered at my school though (called "Bio1A"). Regardless, good luck with all of your classes and good luck in the med school admissions process!

 

[theprizefighter]

Hello,

I agree that the course can differ by professor so I'll just talk quickly about my experience. I took an honors biology course in my freshman year. It was only 25 people in the first semester and 12 in the second semester. On the one hand it was better than a large lecture because there was more class discussion. On the other hand, the tests were a lot harder and the class mean was very high because so many people in the class were very smart students. So, if you like group discussion and harder exams, take an honors class if your school has it and you have the time (very key). Otherwise, just mop the floor in the regular course. Good luck!

 

[kg9921]

Hmmm. Bio 1 sucks. Assuming it's an intro to life sciences course, and not a survey. 223/300 people failed our first midterm. It didn't help that our professor lectured extensively on coral for the majority of her ridiculously useless lectures, and tested on multiple random concepts. And of course, there was no curve, so basically, 150 students or so are mathematically screwed out of passing at all. I would stay away from Bio1 unless you know it's a decent professor. It's a ridiculously boring course, and if you wish, there are definetely more stimulating alternatives to it.

 

[drlexygoat]

No matter what university or professor, I can guarantee that it only gets harder as you go. Bio 1 may not be too difficult but just wait until organic II or some of your physics courses. Granted, every person is different but you can count on an increase in difficulty as you progress.

 

[kg9921]

That's a given, but I'm merely stating that most universities intend bio1 to be a weed out course, therefore the OP shouldn't use it as fallback, and the course he's looking into might not be a survey...