PLEASE NOTE: The views expressed below are those of current and former students of the neuroscience program, they do not reflect the views of the Centre for Neuroscience or the University of Alberta.

As many of you may have noticed the "approved options" list in the calendar is somewhat limiting and does not strictly need to be followed. You can take courses outside the listed options (while making sure you still fulfill your required number of arts/science credits), so long as you get approval from Dr. Winship first.

Another piece of advice: make sure you have *42 or less junior credits. After first year classes and taking a few 100-level options you will be very close to that maximum. Be careful because anything above and beyond that will NOT be counted towards your degree!

The listing of courses below has been compiled based on the opinions of current and former neuroscience students. Most of us consider a course to be a good option if it is interesting and easy. In most cases students want to use options to boost their GPA, since neuroscience tends to be a pretty difficult program as it is!

We will continue to update this list as we receive more opinions. Please send your suggested options (with reasoning and tips) to neuro@ualberta.ca.

2011-2012 Reviews:

PMCOL 305: Pharmacology of Drug Abuse
Type of Option: Science
Difficulty: 2/5
Textbook: Not-required
Professor: Dr. M. Davies
Assessment: Midterm, Final
Review: This was a hugely enjoyable course, taught by a competent and entertaining professor. The material was a little bit simplistic at times (think neural transmission, but in less detail than say PHYSL 212), but as we got into the details of the drug classes after the midterm it became much more interesting. The midterm was very easy, but the final more than made up for it; be prepared to know every little detail for that, including minutiae of structures of the drugs. The curve is quite high, but if you’re taking it with some neuro background you should be more than capable of staying on top of it. Dr. Davies was fun to listen to and had a bunch of great stories relating to the drugs being discussed in each class.

PSYCO 267: Perception Psychology
Type of Option: Science
Difficulty: 1/5
Textbook: Required
Professor: Dr. Douglas Wylie
Assessment: Computer assignments, Midterm, Final
Review: This is a great course if you like perception and psychophysics. Topics included the biological basis of perception and the science of various illusions (optical, auditory, tactile). The textbook is required, mostly because you need the CD with the assignments on it. These are marked based on completion, and are super easy (<30 mins each). Basically, if you come to class (do not be late!) and do the assignments, you will get a good grade. Any neuro background is a huge help, as a good portion of the classes in the first month deal with neural transmission and physiology of perception. Dr. Wylie is clear in his expectations and engaging, asking the class questions to keep them awake. A good GPA-boosting course, but also a genuinely interesting one.

Pther 567 (Rehabilitation in Neuroscience)
A great course if you enjoyed the sensorimotor sections of Physl 372; has a lot of overlapping material but tends to take the content one step further. The professor running the course, Dr. Jaynie Yang, is an energetic and enjoyable lecturer. Marks are entirely based on two (fair) exams, consisting of multiple choice questions (midterm and a final). There are 5 hours of lecture each week for 8 weeks; the course starts earlier than most others but also ends about half-way through the semester. Recommended (if it fits your schedule).

Phys 364 (Environmental Physics Level 2)
If you enjoyed Phys 261, this course is very similar and slightly less work. The lectures have even less math involved and the topics covered are just as environmentally interesting (eg. How long do you have to tan in Edmonton to get the same tan in Hawaii? Or How can we tell the temperature of the Earth 300 million years ago or 20,000 years ago?). Dr. Wheelock is a very straightforward and clear lecturer with nerdy quirkiness that is really enjoyable. Course marks consist of ~5 assignments, a written midterm exam and a written final exam. If you like conceptual less-mathy physics, this course (and phys 261) is highly recommended.
Class Name: MLCS 204 - Folklore
Type of Option: Arts Option
Difficulty: 2/5
Textbook: Required
Professor(s): Dr. Natalie Kononenko
Assessment: 1 Midterm, 1 Final, 2 small projects and 1 Big project
Review: This class was a welcome change from all our science related arts options like psychology. It looks at folklore – stories, traditions and cultural practices and rituals. It was extremely interesting and engaging. The professor was really good and interesting and knows her stuff. All the assignments were really easy and with the marks being divided among lots of assignments and the 2 exams it is easy to do well even if you don’t do well on one portion. The class isn’t curved and the exams are take home. Really easy and interesting class. Definitely recommended!

Psychology 267 – Sensation and Perception
Type of option: Science Option
Difficulty: 3/5
Textbook: Required
Professor: Dr. Karsten Loepelmann
Assessment: 2 midterms (25% each), 10-1% assignments, 40% final
Review: This was a little dry and I found a lot of the information overlapped with previously taken courses like biology and intro psycho. The professor is very engaging though and makes the material a little more interested. He is very clear and shares what information is especially important. That class basically explores the 5 senses in depth. The weekly online assignments were of medium difficulty as were his exams. If you study the textbook and his notes they are very fair and it is easily possible to do well. Overall a dry course but a great professor!

Psychology 377
Type of Option: Science
Difficulty: 3/5
Textbook: Required
Professor(s): Dr. Anthony Singhal
Assessment: 2 Midterms, a paper, and a final
Review: Dr. Singhal is a good lecturer. He keeps you involved with in class videos and discussion sessions during the ethics part of the course. Examinations are fair, with about 20% of the questions based on textbook readings, which may overlap with lecture material. Exams do have written components, but if you know the studies then you're set. Go to class. The paper written is just an evaluation of how a mental disorder is portrayed in a film, which is fairly easy to do well in.
Overall, the course was interesting and not very difficult.

Latin 101
Type of Option: Arts
Difficulty: 3/5
Textbook: Required
Professor(s): Dr. Katy MacKay
Assessment: 2 Midterms, assignments, final
Review: Even if you don't already know a second language, Dr. MacKay makes it fairly simple to catch on to. She does require class participation and will call you out if she hasn't heard from you. She will guide you through the answer and make it as minimally embarrassing as possible. There are assignments often every class and readings to do which come from the textbook. These don't require too much time to complete, at most an hour. Exams, especially the first, are marked with much generosity, but don't count on this for the final, which is made and marked by the collective Latin professors. There will be lots of memorization. Get flash cards.

Intro to Pharmacology of Drug Abuse, PMCOL 305
Type of Option: Science
Difficulty: 3/5
Textbook: Not-required
Professor(s): Dr Martin Davies
Assessment: 1 midterm (30%), 1 final (65%).
Review: This class counts as stress-relief more than course work. The material is very  straightforward (lots of drug effects, which are of course the most entertaining part) and presented in a very lively and organized manner. Video examples of patients, and personal anecdotes, made it easy to stay focused. The class mostly covers drugs by type, including alcohol, hallucinogens, amphetamines, steroids etc.  The material pre-midterm is very easy and the class average is HIGH! Of course the final is much harder, just keep up with the different drug effects as you go along. The only reason this course wasn’t a 2/5 is that no-one likes writing 65% midterms!

 
Beginners American Sign Language, ASL 111
Type of Option: Arts
Difficulty: 1/5
Textbook: Required
Professor(s): Randy Dziwenka
Assessment: Midterm 30%, Final 40%, 2 Quizzes 20%, Participation mark 10%
Review: This class is a great and easy arts option, especially for those looking for something a little different. You learn all the material and get a fair bit of practice with games, conversations and review – all in class. The only thing you’re responsible for outside of class time is to practice, which will significantly improve your mark with just a little effort. Exams consisted of signing sentences, which you were given 5 minutes to review beforehand, to a video camera, and Randy marks liberally. I bought the text but didn’t find that it corresponded very well with the class material, so if you practice with friends anyway I wouldn’t buy it.

PHYSL 404 - Cardiovascular Physiology
Type of Option: Science
Difficulty: 5/5
Textbook: Not required
Professor: Team Taught
Assessment: 2 midterms (25% each) and a final (50%); short/long answer 
Review: This course covers cardiac anatomy and mechanical function (i.e. pressure-volume relationships); cardiac electrophysiology; excitation-contraction coupling; vascular smooth muscle contraction; mechanisms of regulation of vascular tone/blood pressure; vascular pathophysiology; and cardiac pathophysiology (i.e. myocardial and ECM remodeling associated with heart failure). I found the material to be highly interesting, but the course does require a time commitment if you want to do well. I would recommend this course particularly to students interested in medicine. Some topics covered in this course intersect with neuroscience: regulation of blood pressure; electrophysiology of the action potential; and autoregulation of cerebral circulation. Also, this course would be useful if you are interested in doing neuroscience research that involves the vasculature (i.e. stroke, vascular dementia).  Be aware that this class is curved and that it is comprised mostly of honours students, so the average is high (i.e. ~82%). There is some physics involved, in terms of interpreting graphs. 

 

LABMP 400 - Laboratory Medicine and Pathology
Type of Option: Science
Difficulty: 4/5
Textbook: An Intro to Human Disease: Pathology and Pathophysiology Correlations, by Crowley. "Required" (i.e. could be tested on material covered in text and not lecture) for one section of lectures (neoplastic disease - 4 lectures), but I would recommend borrowing it from the library rather than buying it, as you don't need it for the rest of the course. 
Professors: Team Taught
Assessment: 2 midterms (30% each) and a final (40%); multiple choice and short answer questions; Final was written on the last day of classes, so it was only 50 min long.
Review: This course covers methods of diagnosis used in pathology labs; cell pathology; immunity, including hypersensitivity, autoimmunity, immunodeficiency, and acute and chronic inflammation; infectious diseases - viruses, bacteria, parasites; hemostasis and transfusion; neoplasia (cancer); endocrine disorders; mitochondrial and other inherited disorders and the ethical issues surrounding prenatal testing; clinical toxicology testing; and investigation of sudden death. Also, for one lecture the class goes to a pathology lab to look at specimens. As this list demonstrates, the course covers many fascinating topics. I would particularly (though not exclusively) recommend this class to students interested in medicine. Don't be fooled by the 4/5 difficulty rating. While none of the concepts presented are rocket science, there is a LARGE amount of material, and some of it is rote memorization (i.e. species of gram positive and negative bacteria)...be prepared to spend a lot of time on this class. That said, I would not hesitate to take this class again!

Abnormal Psychology (PSYCHO 339)
Type of Option: Arts
Difficulty: 2/5
Textbook: No required textbook, required audio lectures
Professor: Jamie Dyce
Assessment: 2 midterms and 1 final (each midterm has 2 parts)
Review: This course involves an examination of the Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The professor is a clinical psychologist and therefore he has lots of experiences about the presentations of various disorders including anxiety disorders, somatoform disorders, mood disorders, and psychotic disorders. Lots of videos of cases are shown in class for learning these disorders. The exams are straight forward, facts based multiple choice questions; students usually finish within half an hour. In addition, the exams are not cumulative. This class is a must if you are interested in psychology!

Structure and Catalysis (Biochemistry 320)
Type of Option: Science
Difficulty: 4/5
Textbook: recommended, but not required readings
Professor: Michael James
Assessment: 2 midterms and 1 final
Review: this course involves an examination of biological catalyst in terms of different levels of structures, functions, enzyme kinetics, and proteins of the cellular membranes. The material can be quite dry at times but it serves to build a foundation in understanding biochemistry. Biochemistry 200 is a prerequisite. Exams are all written with some diagram drawings; expect both facts based and application questions.

Psychology 275: Biopsychology
Type: Required
Textbook: Biopsychology 8th ed. (Pinel)
Professor: Deanna Singhal
Assessment: 3 Tests/Midterms and Final. All tests multiple choice only.
Review: This course seemed deceptively easy until the tests rolled around. The class average on the second test was 57%, which may be one of the lowest I have seen in any second year course. That being said, the reason was that many of the test questions required in depth reading of the textbook, not just the lecture notes. The tests require very little critical thinking; memorization of the notes/additional textbook concepts is the main challenge as there is a decent amount of textbook reading to cover. If you have no problem putting in the time and memorizing large amounts of details, this class is a breeze. Do not be fooled by the simplicity of the lecture notes; the devil is in the details.

History 391: History of Technology
Type: Recommended Arts Option
Textbook: None
Professor: Lech Lebiedowski
Assessment: 40% Midterm, 60% Final

Review: This course was excellent. Lech is the closest thing to Indiana Jones you will find at a real University. He has tracked down and excavated a massive proportion of the things he teaches about in class, including aircraft and old space shuttles, and has pictures which he shows in his slides. You have to go to class and take good notes as he doesn’t post his slides, and tests on specifics from lecture. He shows a bunch of films for interest only, which is great for obvious reasons. The tests require a bit of memorization (dates and such) but that’s History. He marks the long answer portions fairly hard so it’s worth the time to study hard, especially since the tests are worth a lot. This was by far the most interesting class I have taken in a while; I would highly recommend it.

 

2010-2011 Reviews:

ART H 102 - History of Art, Design and Visual Culture II
Difficulty: Easy.
Textbook: Pretty, but unnecessary.
Exams: 40% Midterm, 60% Final, short answer. No prerequisites.
Overview: A great and non-typical arts option; the lectures are interesting and the colourful art power points are a welcome change from the usual science overheads.
I took this class with Dr. Hutchinson, and the lectures are more about the cultural setting of the art than just listing off boring artistic techniques. Best of all, her exams are non-cumulative and she doesn't expect you to remember dates or artist names...She's so relaxed that you can describe a painting if you can't remember the title or artist. It's worth knowing that her exams are all written (a few compare-contrasts and then a choice of a short essay) but she reiterates the themes of the course so often that if you pay attention in class I think you could get a decent mark without reviewing at all. I also stopped doing the readings within the first few weeks and my mark didn't suffer at all -- consider them optional. The complete lack of extra projects or assignments also makes her class very compatible with busy science schedules.
Overall a very engaging and lightweight option, and it was interesting how much neuroscience you can read into Art History if you are looking for it (especially relating to perception and neurotic-genius painters).

SPA 515 – Hearing Science/Audiology
Science Option
Difficulty: 3/5
Interest: 5/5
If there are any people out there looking for a rather unique neuroscience-related course, this might be the one for you! SPA 515 is a course in the Speech Pathology and Audiology program here at the university, but it also relates closely to neuroscience, so if you can enroll (ask the SPA department on campus, and you might need to be in 4th year) you can probably get it approved as a science option (still, check with the current honors advisor just to be safe). In this course's lecture component, it begins by covering the basic mechanisms of hearing, and then it discusses various hearing disorders (and how they interfere with the mechanisms of normal hearing). The lecturer of this class, Dr. Bill Hodgetts, is both an audiologist and researcher, so he is able to teach everything in this course within a framework of science, referring to some cutting-edge research that is ongoing in hearing science, but he also presents some material from a clinical perspective which makes for a really interesting blend. He does all of this in a really entertaining (and funny) way that makes the 3 hour lectures just fly by! Then, in lab, you get to do all sorts of cool stuff like test (and troubleshoot) hearing aids, watch a physician perform an otoscopical examination (sticking an endoscope up someone's outer ear canal), and perform hearing tests on yourself and on your friends. Even though this course is technically a graduate-level course, don't let that concern you: it isn't super difficult! That being said, it still might be a bit harder than your run-of-the-mill 200-level science psychology option, but this class has a lot more going for it: it's interesting, relevant, and really fun too! So overall, if you want a great, unique, and enjoyable science option, consider SPA 515 – you definitely won't regret it!

Physl 444: Advanced Topics in Neurophysiology
This is an amazing class for anyone interested in Neuroscience, which, as you're a Neuro student, I'm assuming includes you. This course is 100% paper based and team taught, with each professor having four 1 ½ hour lectures and each lecture is spent going over a different paper (or two) that has been pivotal in the advancement of its respective area of neuroscience. Some of the major areas covered in this course are synaptic physiology (by Dr. Fred Tse, and feels like mostly review after 371), Development of spinal cord (by Dr. Simon Gosgnach, review from 372 plus a little more), Motor and sensory systems (by Dr. Keir Pearson, again, review from 372 plus a little extra), Synaptic plasticity and learning/memory (By Dr. Peter Nguyen), and Neuronal oscillatory and synchronizing properties of the nervous system (Dr. Clayton Dickson). This course is very interesting, a great way to brush up your skills at reading primary literature and figures, and best of all, really not that hard for a 400 level course (as it is a lot of review). However, you DO need to READ the papers before every lecture and stay on top of the material! Overall, a great class, not too difficult, and well worth the effort, ENJOY!

Pharmacology 201
Difficulty: 3/5
Textbook: none
Pharmacology 201 is the first introductory course into pharmacology and various lecturers teach it. Overall, the course does not require too much memorization on drug names, in comparison to other pharmacology courses. Instead, the course focuses on mechanisms of actions, and how many common drugs like caffeine and aspirin work. If you are taking 200 level physiology classes as well, which many of you will, there are some overlap and you get to learn the same thing twice and can probably understand it better!
There is 1 midterm (30%), 3 online assignments (15%), and a final exam (55%). The midterm is straightforward and easy if you study. The online assignments are free marks because you have two attempts on each assignments; after the first attempt you are given the answers, so you can just use them on the second attempt because they are the same questions. The final is cumulative but emphasizes mainly on the second half of the course.
For neuroscience students, you can take the course without the prerequisite Chemistry 102. Do not worry that you may be at a disadvantage because you do not know the stuff from chem102 because there is almost nothing on it.

Psychology 275-Brain and Behaviour
Textbook: required (almost 90% of test questions were from the textbook)
Professor: Dr. Adam Howorko
Assessment: 2 Midterms (work 30% and 35%) and a final (35%)
Overview: I went into this course with very high expectations and came out a little disappointed. While some sections I found to be very interesting (ie. Addiction, disorders) the others were strictly okay. Dr. Howorko had some interesting stories to share because of his experiences which made the lectures more interesting. His tests were very straightforward if you read and understand the textbook thoroughly. Since it is a requirement, I would recommend taking Dr. Howorko as a professor solely because of his interesting stories. Overall, this course was pretty good and you can expect to do well in it if you read the textbook.

Psychology 281- Principles of Behavior
Difficulty: Easy (2/5)
Textbook: Required
Professor: Dr. Michael Snyder
Overview: Extremely interesting class. Learn all about classical conditioning, operant conditioning and many other aspects of behaviourism. Although discredited by much of psychology today, the behaviourist thought still has a lot of relevance in training animals to do tricks, etc etc. The class is easy as there is little material and there are assignments that are worth a good portion of the course mark (the assignments are easy to do well on, so they boost your average in the class).

2009-2010 Reviews:

JAPAN 101: Basic Japanese I
Professor: Yumi Sasaki
Definitely my favourite course this year, and I think the professor has a lot to do with it. Workload isn't too hard, but memorizing vocabulary quickly can become a bit difficult. There are two midterms and a
couple group presentation skits that go along with the final exam, which make it easier to bump up
your mark. While the textbook may be pricy and hard to find a used copy, I recommend this course
100% everyone, especially fellow neuroscience students. Having Japanese three times a week does
wonders in breaking up the painful science course load. Every class is a blast and honestly, I don't
think I'd have survived first semester without out it. –Makes for a great G.P.A booster as well. =]

CLASS 110: The Ancient World
Instructor: Kelly MacFarlane, Frances Pownall (both good Profs)
Textbook: Good to get for background information you don't understand from lecture
This course is a great arts option for those who have any interest in history but don't want to do that much work for their arts credits. The best part about the course is that it is essentially an overview of many different cultures and their history without going into that much tedious detail. Professor MacFarlane or Pownall are both excellent, and make class very enjoyable, plus they don't require that you memorize any historical dates. The exams are easy if you have spent even a few hours studying, and attended class. Since there is not an arts option out there that does
not require you to write papers you can't escape the inevitable. So you might as well choose one that has one extremely short (1500) paper to write and another bonus marks paper you can choose the write. There are also quizzes that occur every week online that are a guaranteed 100%.

ENGL 121: Literature in Historical Perspectives
All of the English classes at the introductory level have a HUGE dependence on your course section,
from what I can tell the theme of the course does not dictate at all the course matter or readings. My
instructor, Anne MacTaggart, teaches using the Broadview Anthology text to elaborate on medieval
to early modern British literature. Being able to understand Shakespearian language is a must since it
gets harder with older lit. (like Chaucer). I loved the course since it included a lot of diversity, from
sonnets to King Arthur. Again, most relies entirely upon the instructor and likewise at any other
introductory level English course. This section was for the avid reader of British text, and MacTaggart is
a great prof.

PMCOL 201: Introductory Pharmacology
Difficulty: 3/5
Interest: 4/5? Depends if you enjoy pharmacology
Textbooks: None! all notes are posted online
This course provides a basic understanding of the types of drugs, how drugs enter/move in the body,
the different drug mechanisms and how drugs are developed. It also includes some lectures on specific drugs of interest; such as caffeine, nitroglycerin, ASA, prostaglandins, antibiotics, Viagra and many
more. It should be noted that Pharmacology 201 is not just about memorizing drug names and famous
pharmacologists, the course mainly focuses on the biological and pharmaceutical effects of drugs on the
body. There is no lab portion of this course! Pharm 201 fortunately is taught by multiple
lecturers, meaning that most lecturers are interested in teaching their section, which makes the class far
more enjoyable. Plus, if you don't like the teaching style of a lecturer, you only have to suffer for twothree weeks and you will have a someone new teaching. The course consists of one midterm worth 30% (40 multiple choice), two online assignments/tests worth 5% each (stupid easy, you get two attempts at each test, but after the first attempt, they give you the answers, so the second time you answer the same test, everyone who noticed the answers get 100%) and a final exam worth 60%. The downside to this course is that the U of A Calendar lists Pharm 201 as restricted to second year students, which means that the class usually fills up really fast. Don't worry though if there isn't room at the beginning of the term, a small fraction of the class drops the course fairly early on, when they release that pharmacology isn't as cool as they thought. There is an important fact to point out for neuroscience students interested in pharmacology 201: you do not need Chem 102 to take this course, even though it is listed as a prerequisite. The department of Pharmacology excuses neuroscience students for missing the prerequisite since we don't have any options in our first year courses. Overall, this is a great introductory course into pharmacology which allows students to take some awesome third and fourth year pharmacology courses.

PSYCO 233: Personality
This is your standard psych class, read the notes, read the text, enjoy your 4.0. The prof is Jennifer
Passey, and other than her obvious distaste for, and hence biased presentation of, Freud's work (which
was a complete disgrace), she does a pretty good job at getting the material across. The only main
problem with this class is that Passey seems to believe that it is her job to make sure everyone
attends lecture, and so will give out extra information in the lecture (i.e. the midterm long answer questions),thereby forcing you to come. Over all, this is an interesting class, with lots of overlap from other psychs, so it is fairly easy, as long as you don't mind having to attend.

PSYCO 267: Perception
Prof: Karsten Loepelmann
Marks: 10 Assignments (1% each), 2 Midterms (25% each), Final (40%) This is an option science credit and highly reccommended if psychology is a section that you enjoy. Dr. Loepelmann's notes are
fairly comprehensive, however, the textbook is required and the questions are based on both. The
nice thing about this class is that there is a lot of review and overlap with other psychology courses
and it also isn't on the curve - 86% for an A, 89% for an A+! The class covers perception and
sensation with a lot of neat illusions; I have found that it has changed many ways I view the world!

PMCOL 305: An Introduction to the Pharmacology of Drug Abuse
Professor: Dr. Davies
Assessment: Midterm (35%), Final (65%)
Prerequisite: Any 200-level Biological Sciences course.
This course is an interesting overview of culturally significant drugs from a scientific perspective. The
material is interesting, and the prof often shows videos from pop culture as illustrations of the
concepts. The exams are all multiple choice and pretty straightforward; really the most difficult part
of the midterm is the time (50 minutes for 50 questions), meaning that if you don't know the
answer right away just don't dwell on the question. The curve in this course is notoriously difficult,
since the averages are so high. That said, there are a lot of aspects to the material that should be a breeze for neuro students, like synaptic transmission and neuroanatomy. There is of course a lot to memorize, in terms of drug names and mechanisms that are related-but-slightly-different, but I'd recommend it as it makes an interesting and relevant Science option.

BIOCH 310: Bioenergetics and Metabolism
�� Difficulty: Hard
�� Interest: 4/5
�� Textbook: I didn't get/need one but the nice thing is that they use the same textbook for Biochemistry 310, 320 and 330 so it usually isn't hard to borrow one from someone else.
If you're a neuroscience student, there's probably not much of a chance that you're looking at taking a course like Bioch 310 for one of your options. But there's actually a few good reasons to pick a course like this up. The biggest reason for most people is that some medical schools (UBC, U of C, U of Manitoba & U Sask) have a full year worth of biochemistry as an admission requirement – and Bioch 310 is probably the most relevant 300-level Bioch course for this. And there's also the other reason, that this course isn't all that bad! The material is a bit heavy at times but when it comes down to it, it's not much more complicated than Bioch 200. Where the teachers do elaborate, usually it's just to describe a mechanism you already understand in greater detail – so it actually helps your understanding in the long run. And you get all the same quality teachers that you had in Bioch 200 (including Dr. Wright, who is awesome). But the coolest thing about this class is that the exams are all written response! So unlike Bioch 200, you won't ever leave a test scratching your head because all the answer options were so weirdly worded that you didn't understand the question. Bioch 310's tests are simple and straightforward, but can run a bit on the long side. One more recommendation that I have is to avoid taking this class at the same time as Pmcol 371. Both of these courses have their midterms and finals at around the same time of the year so balancing your study time can be a bit overwhelming. But aside for that I would recommend this course to everyone!

PSYCO 339: Abnormal Psychology
(Arts)
Professor: Dr. D. Wardell
Difficulty: 3.5/5
Interest: 3.5/5
Textbook: 3/5 (REQUIRED)
Prerequisite: At least one 200-level PSYCO (PSYCO 233 and 275 recommended)
U of A Calendar Description: Nature and treatment of psychological disorders, such as crossdisciplinary perspectives and an emphasis on improving understanding of psychopathology in everyday life. This class is for those who genuinely want to learn about psychopathology, because although the information covered is interesting, the amount and level of detail can be overwhelming. Dr. Wardell is an engaging lecturer but can speak quickly so class attendance and attention is a must. As well, since he spent many years working at Alberta Hospital Edmonton, Dr. Wardell is able to provide relevant examples and stories for many of the topics covered, which helps the lecture time move by quickly. The exams are all multiple choice, cover both the text and the lecture, and are not cumulative, though this does not mean that they are easy (the course outline indicates an expected average of around a C+). Overall, I would recommend this course for students that need arts credits and want an opportunity to learn about an interesting topic, however, if you're not interested in working for your A, this class is likely not for you.

PMCOL 371: Cellular Neuroscience
Taught by: Various Lecturers
Exams: 40% Midterm, 60% Final
Textbook: From Neuron to Brain (not required)
Difficulty: Hard
This class is a requirement for Neuroscience. Although it is challenging, the good news is that everyone finds it difficult, even the Physiology and Pharmacology students who also have to take it. Pre-midterm material is definitely more difficult, and deals with electrophysiology and ion channel properties. The second half was easier, and is mainly about pathological states. While PMCOL 371 seems overwhelming at first, it is definitely doable. A textbook is not required, and I don't think is necessary, since all the exam material is based upon the lecture slides. The best advice I can offer is don't panic, and pay attention in every lecture!

PHYSL 401: Molecular and Cellular Physiology
This is a fairly easy and interesting course. It is a small class with mostly honours neuro and physiology and is NOT curved. The course is taught in three sections. The first section is a very easy and complete review of membrane properties and such. The second section is a little more challenging and almost entirely focused on G-protiens. The third and final section of the course is focused on CF and is based on research on your part and has no exam component. One interesting point of this class is there is no final. There are however a large number of assessments throughout the term. These roughly total to three midterms, 2 group presentations, one very short presentation and one paper. None of the exams are cumulative however so the work doesn't end up being too extreme. I would recommend this course over all. It is a good higher level GPA booster with only the middle exams providing any real challenge.

ASL 111: Beginner's American Sign Language I
Looking for an Arts credit? Something different from your typical Psychology or Sociology course? Perhaps a second language? Then I would highly recommend ASL 111. This course is an introduction to conversational sign language and is often taken with the intention to continue on with ASL 112 (which I would also recommend). In one semester I have learned enough to carry out a conversation (albeit slowly) with a deaf person. I believe that by the end of 112, I will be able to fluently speak with almost a 2000 word vocabulary. The course itself is relatively easy with very little requirements outside of class; which is a nice break from the science heavy course load so common in the Neuro program. There are two quizzes (10% each), a midterm (30%), participation (10%) and a final (40%). All of these are marked extremely fairly (boarderline too fairly) which reduces the stress of the course and increases your enjoyment. Be aware that the course is twice a week at 2.5 hours each (a little more than normal classes) as it is a language. This may require some rearranging of you schedule but I assure you, is well worth it.

GENET 270: Foundations of Molecular Genetics
Prof: Dr. Jonathan Dennis U of A Calendar Description: Basic concepts on the organization of genetic material and its expression will be developed from experiments on bacteria and viruses Prerequisite: BIOL 207 Interest: 3.5/5 Difficulty: 3.5/5 Textbook: Required (as well as a collection of articles) If you enjoyed Biology 207, Genetics 270 will likely interest you as well. The course delves into greater detail regarding mechanisms of recombination and complementation, mutation and repair, and regulation, as well as some new concepts. There is a required seminar component in which relevant articles are discussed and students are expected to write 4 quizzes on these articles, an excellent chance to boost your grade. Exams and quizzes are both a combination of written and multiple choice. Grading is on a curve, and as long as you attend lectures and do the readings you can expect to do well in the course. Overall, this course is definitely worth taking if you have an interest in bacterial genetics or need a science credit and would like to take something that doesn't require you to learn about the neuron for the 1000th time.

Engl 361: American Literature and Culture: The American Modern - Postbellum and Early 20th Century
Professor: Dr. O'Driscoll
This course covered a variety of culturally significant works in this time period, drawing primarily from novels, but also comics, films, pulp fiction, poetry, and essays. Works were discussed in their relation to general anxieties of modernism, as well as specifically American anxieties around class, race and gender.
The teaching style was very engaging, mixing lectures, class discussions, small group discussions, and YouTube videos. Dr. O'Driscoll was also very accessible and friendly outside of class, and was willing to discuss paper topics and give suggestions.
The course grade came from two response papers (7%), a short essay (21%), a term paper (35%), participation (7%) and the final exam (30%). This meant plenty of opportunity to buoy a low grade, and it actually didn't feel like very many assignments (but don't get me wrong, reading a novel a week with a neuroscience course load sort of sucked.) The professor had high expectations for marking, since it is a 300-level course, although writing was manageable once you grasped what he was looking for. Overall a pretty interesting and challenging Arts option, which I'd recommend if you're into that sort of thing.

NEURO 443: Neuroendocrine Concepts
Neuro 443 is a good fourth year option for people who are tired of having to memorize slide after slide of fairly useless facts for multiple choice style exams. It is taught in a class of around 12-15 people with about one entirely discussion based class every two weeks. All of the notes are handed out to you in class and you never have to print anything. All of the exams are essay style with three questions per exam. The emphasis in this course is on understanding concepts and being able to extrapolate concepts beyond what was discussed in class. This class also has one major term paper on a given topic.
Overall it is a very interesting, very well taught course with some new and intriguing
concepts. Dr. Harvey is the instructor and he is very approachable and willing to help
with any questions or concerns throughout the class. As it is such a small class everyone
in the class is expected to participate in disucussion classes and to contribute thoughts and ideas. I would highly recommend this course.

PSYCO 478: Behaviour & Brain Chemistry
Difficulty: Hard
Interest: 0.5/5
Textbook: Not Required
400-level Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience Option
The major reason that I signed up for Psyco 478 was that I enjoyed its prerequisite courses: Psyco 104, 275, and 371 were all interesting, informative and enjoyable. But even early on in 478's lectures, it seemed that this course was very different from all of its prerequisites. Unlike all of the others, this course came across more as an easy high school chemistry course, blended with a difficult pharmacology course that dealt only with neurotransmitters and their receptors. The majority of each lecture notes package consisted of listing each receptor subtype for a given neurotransmitter, and then listing the agonists and antagonists at this receptor. This pattern repeated throughout most of the semester, detailing every receptor subtype for several common neurotransmitters. Unfortunately, these receptor lists were not very contextually presented so studying for this course was difficult and often involved rote memorization. Some connections between receptor malfunctions and various psychiatric disorders were drawn in the final five or six slides of each lecture package, but significantly less time was spent on this than was spent on listing receptors (except in the cases of anxiety and depression, which was probably the least receptor-focused and therefore best part of this course). The other aspect of this course was a paper. Although this paper was interesting enough to do, the writing guidelines in the syllabus were fairly vague. To help out, Dr. Treit replaced several classes with essay question periods. No material was covered in these classes, and especially earlier in the semester (long before the paper was due) there were too few questions asked every review period to last a full fifty minutes. Instead, everyone left early, so it kind of felt like we were wasting a lot of time and tuition money for nothing. Don't get me wrong, Dr. Treit is a very helpful, approachable, friendly professor, but as far as his course goes, I would advise considering other options in the "Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience" category before getting your mind set on Psyco 478

2008-2009 Reviews:

PMCOL 305: Introduction to Pharmacology of Drug Abuse
If you ever need cheering up after a gruesome lecture in PMCOL 371, you can either turn to drugs of abuse or to Pharmacology of Drug Abuse. Engaging material, easy exams, and professor Martin Davies make this class one of the best approved science options in the Neuroscience Honors program. There is only one midterm and a noncumulative final and no textbook required. Although easy, the exams are detailed and the average is high (80%-86% for the midterm) so it helps to know everything. If not for a good grade, come for the chance to witness a pharmacology prof tell a joke that's funny!

NEURO 410: Neurobiology of Aging and Neurodegenerative Disorders
• Difficulty: 2 out of 5
• Exam format: Multiple Choice
• Prof rating: team-taught course means that some are brilliant and others not so brilliant
• Textbook: none, or if there was a suggested text I can't remember it which tells you how important it was to the course
• Highlights: This course was probably the easiest 400 level course Neuro students can expect to come across in their required courses. The material was all straight-forward and simple—it was all a matter of getting your hippocampus to lay down the circuits and then let REM sleep transfer them to the cortex (memory, in other words). As some of the lecturers were clinicians, prof accessibility was not always great, but with this course that wasn't a problem. Final note, although easy, this course also covered a lot of very interesting and important material.

BOT 380: Drug Plants
• Prof: Dr Lisa Prichard
• Textbook: none!
• Course Evaluation: 3 written assignments; 2 midterms and a final – both have MC, matching, and short answer format
This course was probably the funnest (apparently that's not even a real word) course I've ever taken. You get to learn about drugs that affect the nervous system (which should be a piece of cake for anyone who's in Neuro) and the history behind the use of drugs. Since it IS a botany course, there will be some plant memorization (and also chemical structures of drugs), but still, the information is really interesting and not hard to grasp at all. I'd definitely recommend it!

PMCOL 371: Cellular Neuroscience
• Difficulty: 4.5 / 5 – lots of detailed material to memorize!
• Professor: Dr. Colmers, plus additional professors throughout the term
• Textbook: Not needed
• Testing: 1 midterm and 1 final (multiple choice)
Overview: This is definitely a material intensive class, but a must for Honours Neuroscience students. You need to know all of the information inside-out, and you need to be able to apply it for exam questions. Keep up with the material as this is not a class you can easily cram for! Many students used a voice recorder (OK with professor first!) because the material is difficult enough at a conceptual level to understand, without worrying about madly copying every word down. This tip greatly aided me in learning the material. Definitely not my favourite class… but I survived!

CHEM 102: Introductory University Chemistry II
What's that you say? You want to get into med? Really? Weird, well, if you do you will need this course. This course is a continuation of 101, and I STRONGLY recommend taking it at the same time as 261 as they have a ton of overlap in the first half, so you only really have to study for one to get both. This course is fairly straight forward and I definitely suggest taking it with Dr. Sai Yiu if possible as his metaphors are entertaining enough to keep you coming to class when the material isn't. Be warned though, the class averages when I took it were around 80% with a deviation of ~7% so make sure you know your stuff or you can get a real rude awakening. However, with 2 midterms, a lab component, and a final, even if you get taken by surprise on the first midterm there's time to make up for it.

PMCOL 371:
Cellular Neuroscience
• General Info: This course is taught by a variety of professors and it's a required course for all neuroscience students.
• Evaluation: There is a 40% midterm and a 60% final.
• Difficulty: Hard. There is a recommended textbook, which can be helpful in clarifying some of the stuff if you missed it in class, but attending class is a definate must. Above all else, do NOT let yourself fall behind in this class!!! You need to purchase a coursepack that has all of the powerpoint slides used by the profs, and for exams you basically need to know that whole course pack really well so give yourself a lot of time for memorization. Also, make sure you understand all the electrophysiology you're taught.

CHEM 261/263: Organic Chemistry I & II
Okay first years (and some second years) welcome to your introduction into Organic Chemistry (carbons, oxygens and nitrogens). The classes themselves provide a cursory introduction to the basis of Organic Chem, synthesis pathways, important identifying tools and an application of inorganic chem into the organic world. If you are someone who doesn't like textbooks and likes to study off previous exams TAKE ED BLACKBURN! His exams are almost the exact same format as previous exams just changing the spectrum or agents that you will use. He also provides an excellent pathway chart (of which he tests heavily) that you can memorize and can basically ace his exams off of. The difficult part for any 261 beginner will be the labs. It is an introduction to a lot of new techniques and a lab quiz every lab. Be prepared to put in quite a few hours when you first start. Good news, you are only really learning one new technique in the 263 labs.
Specs:
• Marking Breakdown: 25% lab, 2X20% midterms and 35% final
• Difficulty: Depends on if you can understand steric hindrance, synthetic pathways, IR and NMR (263).
He provides his notes in a course package but obviously it is recommended that you attend class because of the tough curves.

BIOL 207: Molecular Genetics and Heredity
• Textbook: NEEDED
• Exam Format: Short answer
This is an easy course for anyone one who didn't have any trouble with high school biology. There isn't a lot of new material introduced, and it is mainly a review from biology 30. The lab component (worth 40%) is straightforward if you have a good T.A., and mostly involves examining fruit flies, which can become tedious. The rest of the marks come from a midterm and a final. The test consists of only short answer genetics problems, so I suggest you DO ALL THE TEXTBOOK QUESTIONS!!! A lot of the questions for the exams are just textbook questions that are slightly altered. If you have any difficulties in the course, there are multiple help sessions every week led by 4th year genetics students. They will go over any question you have and also do a sample problem every week (helpful if you're having difficulties otherwise there is no point going).

PSYCO 275:
Brain & Behaviour
• Difficulty: 5/5
• Interest: 5/5
• Required Course
• Textbook: Yes
Dr. Ziolkowski warns you as soon as you start your very first class that this will be harder than any other 200-level psychology course, and she definitely is telling the truth! Be prepared for a lot of reading, a huge amount of memorization, and pretty hard tests. However, this is one of those courses that is more rewarding with the more work you put into it. Dr. Ziolkowski's an interesting professor, and all of the neuroanatomical stuff she goes into detail about are confusing the first time through but become very interesting on your 3rd or 4th read. Like any psychology class, a textbook is needed for this one: half of the exam material comes from textbook readings.

NEURO 450: Readings on Selected Topics in Neuroscience
What they tell you about NEURO 450: This is a 'reading course' in which you read current literature on a particular topic in Neuroscience and, at the rate of one per month, produce 3 papers under the supervision of a member of the Center for Neuroscience. Your final mark is based on the 3 papers, graded by your supervisor, and a presentation given by you at the end of the term, evaluated by the Department chair, your supervisor and an additional faculty member.
What they don't tell you about NEURO 450: The presentations are scheduled for the last few days of the term. A little while after you start panicking about when your presentation will take place and about a week or two before it does, you will be sent a list of time slots, one of which you and your supervisor will choose. The subject of your presentation is usually a topic you covered in one of more of your papers. After presenting for 10-15 minutes, you will be asked questions about your topic for the remainder of the hour.
Some tips for writing papers: Different professors have different expectations when it comes to papers. For instance, it may be worth asking how many references you should cite. As a general rule, precision is a key element in scientific writing. Try to avoid vague statements and broad generalizations. Most importantly, pay close attention to your supervisor's critique.
Some tips for the presentation: Although it is often helpful to read reviews that combine all relevant knowledge in your area of study into a complete picture, you should also familiarize yourself with some of the first experiments and original papers pertaining to your topic. Be aware of the influential researchers in the field. Make sure you can defend the assertions you make in your presentation and that you can elaborate on your statements, as you will most likely be asked to do so. If you get nervous, remember that the committee expects to see fidgety, sweaty undergrads and will usually try to be nice to you and console you with a box of Swedish Delights.

NEURO 450: Readings on Selected Topics in Neuroscience
What they tell you about NEURO 450: This is a 'reading course' in which you read current literature on a particular topic in Neuroscience and, at the rate of one per month, produce 3 papers under the supervision of a member of the Center for Neuroscience. Your final mark is based on the 3 papers, graded by your supervisor, and a presentation given by you at the end of the term, evaluated by the Department chair, your supervisor and an additional faculty member.
What they don't tell you about NEURO 450: The presentations are scheduled for the last few days of the term. A little while after you start panicking about when your presentation will take place and about a week or two before it does, you will be sent a list of time slots, one of which you and your supervisor will choose. The subject of your presentation is usually a topic you covered in one of more of your papers. After presenting for 10-15 minutes, you will be asked questions about your topic for the remainder of the hour.
Some tips for writing papers: Different professors have different expectations when it comes to papers. For instance, it may be worth asking how many references you should cite. As a general rule, precision is a key element in scientific writing. Try to avoid vague statements and broad generalizations. Most importantly, pay close attention to your supervisor's critique.
Some tips for the presentation: Although it is often helpful to read reviews that combine all relevant knowledge in your area of study into a complete picture, you should also familiarize yourself with some of the first experiments and original papers pertaining to your topic. Be aware of the influential researchers in the field. Make sure you can defend the assertions you make in your presentation and that you can elaborate on your statements, as you will most likely be asked to do so. If you get nervous, remember that the committee expects to see fidgety, sweaty undergrads and will usually try to be nice to you and console you with a box of Swedish Delights.

NEURO 451: Honors Research Project in Neuroscience
Finding a Supervisor:
-Start by contacting the professors listed on the Center for Neuroscience site
-Look for professors that are doing research in areas of interest to you
-Meet with professors and tour their lab
What to Expect:
-You may be working directly with your supervisor or with their graduate students and
other lab members
-You may develop and execute your own project or take part in an existing project. If you are excited about working on your own project, think about taking both NEURO 451 and 452 with the same professor to give you enough time to complete the project.
-The semester goes fast! Start your final paper and presentation early. Leave lots of time for these - they are worth 75% of your mark!
-Practice your presentation in front of friends and your lab group - make sure that anyone can understand what you are saying, even if they have no prior neuroscience background.
-Prepare for the questions following your final presentation. I was a little shocked to be asked 30 minutes of questions following my presentation (I was expecting 5 minutes!). It is important to be well versed on the literature concerning your research project and the general background knowledge.
While this course takes a lot of time and effort, it is definitely worth it (and a degree requirement!) because you take away valuable skills and information that won't just be forgotten the next day. So overall it was a great experience!

PSYCO 371: Neurobiology of Learning & Memory
• Difficulty: 4/5
• Interest: 5/5
• Approved Option
• Textbook: Isn't exceptionally useful but it's only a cheap custom course package so it might still be worth your while
At first, this course seemed pretty intimidating to me because I found the prerequisite for it kind of hard, and because I have never taken a 300-level course before. And then, just as you think it can't get any worse, you learn in the first class that you have to start designing your very own psychology research project and conduct it by the end of the semester. But don't let all this intimidate you. The fact of the matter is that even though you might find designing your own research (especially in the already jam-packed Honors Neuroscience program) to be too much, Dr. Caplan engineers his course to make it less stressful for you. It's nice not only because it isn't very exam-based (only 40% of the total course mark goes to exams), but also because Dr. Caplan really helps you set your project in motion. He gives you a good base article to start with, specifies the paradigms you can work with, and sets up a good class program that lets you meet people in your class to work with. So all in all the whole research procedure doesn't seem so tolling after all – but instead it almost feels like fun… especially if you have a good group to work on it with. I would say that if you enjoy hands-on work rather than being examined on multiple choice tests, I encourage you to give this course a shot!

PHYS 224: Thermal Physics
• Professor: Dr. Isaac Isaac (awesome prof!)
• Difficulty: 2 out of 5
• Textbook: not needed but if you haven't sold your Walker from PHYS 124/126, it wouldn't hurt to have it for reference.
• Evaluation: Five problem-based assignments, four diary entries based on explaining the physics concepts in your own words, four online quizzes, two midterms, and a final.
The material is fairly easy and straightforward. The course covers the 4 Laws of Thermodynamics (Zeroth, First, Second & Third). Dr. Isaac explains the concepts exceptionally well and he is also very easy to approach. The assignments were not difficult at all but the assignment questions were definitely more challenging than the actual midterm questions. The midterms were fairly easy, but then Dr. Isaac made the final a bit more challenging. If you are choosing to upgrade physics, this is definitely the physics you want to take!

PSYCO 105: Individual and Social Behaviour
• 2 multiple choice midterms (20% each), cumulative multiple choice final (40%)
• 5 hours research participation (10%), 2 online assignments (10%)
This is the introductory arts credit psych class, and as such, is a prerequisites for many 200 and 300 level arts psychologies. The online assignments and research participation are all free marks if you show up/put in minimal effort, and as with intro psych classes, read the text and you are guaranteed an A. This is an incredibly easy class, and even manages to throw in some interesting material to boot.

MICRO 265: General Microbiology
• Difficulty: 3 out of 5
• Textbook: Only used it a few times to check on something missed in class and there are copies on reserve in Cameron library, so buying one isn't too necessary.
• Evaluation: One midterm worth 20% (approximately 50% short answer/fill in a table/definitions, 50% multiple choice), lab work worth 20%, a practical lab exam worth 5% (Gram staining, identifying an unknown bacteria, serial dilutions), a written lab exam worth 20% (multiple choice and written, the calculations you learn are really important here!) and a final exam worth 35% (same format as midterm)
You get a basic overview and introduction to many of the different types of microbes, their metabolic capabilities and their relevance in our lives. The class is also a prerequisite for immunology 200, if you're interested in taking immunology classes. If this course didn't have a lab component, it would be rated as 2/5 for difficulty (not that the lab is particularly difficult, but since it makes up 45% of your mark, you end up spending a significant amount of time working on it - otherwise the labs are actually fun). The material is relatively easy to read through, and the exams are very fair; just make sure you know the lecture notes well. Overall, I would really recommend this class.

PSYCO 377: Cognitive Neuroscience
• Instructor: Anthony Singhal
• Difficulty: 3/5
• Assessments: 2 midterms, final exam (multiple choice, short answer, long answer), written assignment
Like every other psychology course the readings are essential (so buy the textbook). The material is clear and interesting most of the time. The course certainly provides grounding for the field. The written assignment is interesting (a film analysis) and not too labour-intensive. You have to know the material for the exams given the written components, but he's a fair marker and as a lecturer can keep the class engaged. Also, classes rarely run to full length.

BIOCH 330: Nucleic Acids and Molecular Biology - One of the three Biochem 300 classes; this one focuses on everything nucleic acids. Everything from the structure and properties of nucleotides and nucleic acids to DNA-based information technologies to RNA metabolism to regulation of gene expression is covered in this class. This class is an option science course, but for those of you that are thinking

medicine, some schools require six credits in biochem. I found that this course and Biol 207 (Intro to genetics- one which you must take) have a lot of overlap. I'd suggest taking them at the same time or at least Biol 207 before this. Though the material is bearable and there are very little textbook requirements, expect a tougher curve than some other courses as a pretty good mix of 2nd, 3rd and 4th years can be found in this class. Otherwise, if you're into nucleic acids or biochemistry, seriously consider this class.
• Prerequisites: Biochem 200, Chem 102, Chem 263 with a minimum GPA of 2.4 in these three courses.
• Difficulty: Please, you're a neuro student, you can do anything.
• Textbook: Required (but as far as I'm aware, not completely necessary).
• Awesomeness factor: 8.7/10 if nucleic acids tickle your fancy, 5.2/10 if you're taking it because you thought that it would be a good idea because your friend (whom is slightly smarter than you) wanted to take it and you thought that it would be beneficial to have him help you when you needed it but soon after realized that it is similar to Biochem 200 in that it is pretty straight forward with regards to the material and the professor does a good job at explaining it and you realized that you did not in fact require your friend (whom was slightly smarter than you) to succeed in the class. Just saying.

 

More suggested option reviews can be found in the The Second Messenger newsletters!