Bridging course for Chem + Bio? (1 Viewer)

[chickencoop]

Hiiiiii

So it came to my attention upon enrolment for semester 1 of 2017 that i am most likely required to take biology and chemistry for my 1st and maybe 2nd and 3rd years too for my degree.

I ended up choosing:

CHEM1001- Fundamentals of Chemistry 1A
BIOL1003- Human Biology
BIOL1007- From Molecules to Ecosystems
CHEM1002- Fundamentals of Chemistry 1B

For CHEM1001 - the description said; "The aim of the unit of study is to provide those students whose chemical background is weak (or non-existent) with a good grounding in fundamental chemical principles together with an overview of the relevance of chemistry. There is no prerequisite or assumed knowledge for entry to this unit of study." However... reading on it then says; "There is no assumed knowledge of chemistry for this unit of study but students who have not completed HSC Chemistry (or equivalent) are strongly advised to take the Chemistry Bridging Course (offered in February)."

and for BIOL1003, the description Strongly advised that i take biology bridging courses as i had not completed the assumed knowledge of HSC biology..

Can anyone give me any advice or recommendations of whether or not to take bridging courses for these two units of study? or maybe just for biology?

I have heard that HSC biology is mainly all memorisation of content, and to take a bridging course spanning over 4 days from 9am-4pm seems stupid if its just handing us notes for us to memorise later on. As for Chemistry, the unit of study does say that it provides students with weak or non existent chem grounds with an overview, so would the bridging course still be necessary?

I just want an opinion from someone who isnt trying to sell me the service, if u know what i mean..

I plan on majoring in Neuroscience, if that helps. Thanks x

 

[Daemontreu]

I started B. Science (Anatomy and Histology) in 2014 after 11 years out of high school. I took both the bridging courses for biology and chemistry because it had been 11 years since I'd done any chemistry, and 13 since biology. I also did BIOL1003 and CHEM1001 in my first year.

The biology course was useless—it's very basic, there's groupwork you'll hate, and all of the material is covered again at length in BIOL1003. Don't do it. Pay attention during the first few weeks, and you'll be fine, this is rote memorisation stuff. The chemistry course I found helpful—while the material is covered in the first few weeks of CHEM1001, I found the concepts are slightly more complex than rote memorisation, and the grounding it gave me meant I was able to follow and understand the more advanced material much more easily. The material you learn in chemistry builds upon previous knowledge in a way that it doesn't in BIOL1003. I would recommend doing it unless you don't have the time or money.

 

[Amleops]

I second what Daemontreu said.

The good thing about the chemistry bridging course is that you can also do it externally. It's cheaper, you can complete the course in your own time, and you'll only have to travel into uni once to pick up all of the material.

 

[chickencoop]

I started B. Science (Anatomy and Histology) in 2014 after 11 years out of high school. I took both the bridging courses for biology and chemistry because it had been 11 years since I'd done any chemistry, and 13 since biology. I also did BIOL1003 and CHEM1001 in my first year.

The biology course was useless—it's very basic, there's groupwork you'll hate, and all of the material is covered again at length in BIOL1003. Don't do it. Pay attention during the first few weeks, and you'll be fine, this is rote memorisation stuff. The chemistry course I found helpful—while the material is covered in the first few weeks of CHEM1001, I found the concepts are slightly more complex than rote memorisation, and the grounding it gave me meant I was able to follow and understand the more advanced material much more easily. The material you learn in chemistry builds upon previous knowledge in a way that it doesn't in BIOL1003. I would recommend doing it unless you don't have the time or money.

Sweet, i think ill reconsider biology bridging course then! Thanks for the advice! Really means a lot x

I second what Daemontreu said.

The good thing about the chemistry bridging course is that you can also do it externally. It's cheaper, you can complete the course in your own time, and you'll only have to travel into uni once to pick up all of the material.

What do you mean by externally? ive already registered for Chem bridging courses commencing on the 8th with USYD and there wasnt an option to do it any other time

 

[Amleops]

http://sydney.edu.au/science/chemistry/studying-chemistry/bridging-course.shtml#ext

But if you've already enrolled then don't worry about it.