June 22, 2022
I ranked first in GENET 270 IFoundations of Molecular Genetics with Dr. David Pilgrim in Winter 2022 with a grade of 94.26%, A+.
Here, I share some tips for doing well in this course.
- Do the practice questions.
- Read the papers, they are pretty short, page count is not representative of length due to pictures / diagrams.
- Understand, do not memorize.
- Be able to not only recall the experiments and why the scientists did what they did, but be able to imagine the outcomes if one factor / methodology was changed. When going through notes, simulate some scenarios.
- Heavily midterm focused, non-cumulative. Can focus only on the relevant material.
- For midterms and finals only the rank matters, since the prof tends not to give full marks.
- Listen to the professor's advice, it works.
- Know logical reasoning, especially as pertains to natural selection questions and experiments.
- 80% of the grade is in the two midterms and final exams, so they are the most important!
- Attend office hours, even though I only went to two, they help you guess what might show up on the exam. - Prof likes to take questions asked in office hours and put them on exam.
- Weird slide cutoffs, mark start and end slides, so it is easier to review them when reading back.
Disclaimer: it depends on the structure and instructor of the class your learning style, so use the below as general guidelines and adapt it to your circumstances.