Grade - H1 to do well in this subject you have to be highly organised, ask as many questions and take on feedback, Lecture quizzes - weekly, pretty straight forwards based on the lecture slides, it’s not too content heavy but concept can sometimes be confusing. Make sure you stay on top of your lecture, what I did was my lab was on Wednesday so I would watch the lecture and pop out lecture of the coming week on Sunday. Prevents you from falling behind. Prelab quiz - make sure you have a schedule or planning to remember to do these, you want to maximise you marks wherever you can because this is very much an accumulative subject. Pre-lab is based on each week’s experiment from the laboratory manual, it guides you for specific calculations and theory, not too bad overall. Report 1- Personally this is the hardest report, its very big, difficult to understand I got a H1 combined with 2% of doing the feedback (MAKE SURE YOU DO IT, many people missed the 2% due to late submission) , its okay if you don’t do amazing its worth the least. Don’t be too disheartened if it’s not your best score, the reports are nothing like you have been taught in the past it’s very different. try to schedule your tutorials with amber if you can. GO TO EVERY SINGLE TUTORIAL, it’s an opportunity to ask questions. NEVER EVER EVER leave the report last minute, I made this mistake once and it’s so stressful and scored the lowest out of all 3 reports. Make sure to read your final report 2-3x for spelling, grammar, coherency clarity, etc. They key to doing well in reports it is following the tutorial report guidelines, and rubric to the TEA. 5% is a bioinformatics quiz, if you don’t finish in class you can do it at home try to get 100% on it, 2% is guaranteed if you show up to the tutorial. Another important thing to do well in reports is actually under the experiment, this is why I did bad with report 1 because I actually didn’t understand the overall experiment. I just superficially wrote things. Report 2- This was the best report out of all three, it was super short and simple and made sense . MAKE SURE YOU FINISH IT DURING THE MID SEMESTER BREAK. Apply the feedback from the previous report to the best of your ability and any new feedback from the tutorials. It is based on protein quantisation. And people overall improved there score by so much from report 1. Report 3- This is the last report due on the first day of exam period. It is the longest one and worth the most (20%), make sure to go to the last tutorial in week 12, amber (if you have her) answers so many confusing questions that you didn’t even know existed. Again to do well in experiment you have to therotically understand it to its core. Follow the tutorial guidelines, apply report feedback, and rubric. They way you format your report is so important especially because its run over 3 days, you don’t have to order your method and results the order you performed them (actually better if you don’t), . Your scores will improve so much and you should be so proud of the work you put in, your effort correlated to you score. Practical exam- it may seem super daunting and I understand but trust me its super simple, its based off the Lowry experiment, which is the easiest experiement you will do, there are no discussion questions all you have to do is calculate concentration of unknown and show your working out THATS IT. You will do the Lowry assay 2x in the semester and in the practical exam , practice properly label tubes, show complete working out, keep micropipette tube closed and read the rubric thoroughly before the exam, it was pretty easy to score a H1 in, 50% of cohort got H1. The only thing that is different is the concentration of BSA. Take it slow, don’t rush it because you will make mistakes, talk yourself through each step, they give you instructions on how to perform it. Exam- The exam is 2hrs digital, honestly pretty straight forward worth 25%. But don’t let that fool you. It is 24 multiple choice and 12 short answer questions, make sure to show every single line of working out, The exam is very hard, it requires a lot of study and higher order thinking, lots and lots of calculations I struggled to finish on time ngl. The MCQ was fine short answer was cooked. Overall- this is an okay subject and however one of the most organised subjects I have ever taken, use ed discussion to your advantage, amber would literally reply like 5 mins later. However it can be a lot, writing report takes SOOO LONGGG and it is a time consuming subject, so I would take that into consideration if you wanna reduce your workload especially if your taking other very hard subjects. I really enjoyed writing reports which carried my grade, I feel like the other reviews weirdly overly glamourised this subject. It’s not an easy subject at all and def not a wam booster, only do this subject if you major in biochem and really like learning about biochemical techniques otherwise don’t.

(Grade H1) I am also speaking from the perspective of a 1st year student, who decided to do a Lvl 2 subject in Sem 2 of their first year. Overall, I really enjoyed this subject, and it was certainly very fun. The content is interesting, and whilst there is a lot of content, seeing it applied directly in a laboratory setting is great for understanding. The lab reports are a mixed bag, depending on who you ask. If you attend the tutorials, apply what they say, ask questions, use Ed discussion, apply past feedback, look at past examples etc, it is very straightforward (not easy) to achieve 90+ for all 3 reports. However, the demands for the report can also be, at times, very specific, and the way that it is marked means that a small error can lead to a major point and mark drop. This is the only reason why it is a 4/5, and not a 5/5 for me.

This was a very enjoyable and rewarding subject. The weekly practicals enabled us to gain hands-on experience with many fundamental molecular science techniques, with a large focus on analytical techniques involving DNA and proteins. However, the assessment load is quite high, and includes weekly lecture and pre-lab quizzes, three lab reports, 3 IBL quizzes, a practical exam and a theory exam. Although a lot of time needs to be invested in writing the lab reports, we received a lot of guidance and detailed feedback by the tutors which greatly helped. The practical exam was not as stressful as I expected, as we had performed a similar experiment earlier in the semester and they provide you with the procedure for the exam. The theory exam was not too difficult, however it was sometimes inconvenient to type the working out steps for the calculation questions. Amber was an exceptional subject coordinator. Not only did she ensure that our reports and assessments were marked in a timely manner, but she also offered to provide feedback on one of the sections of our report before we submitted it. She also explains concepts very clearly in lectures. Ultimately, this subject provides good foundations if you are considering a career in research, and you can do well in this subject, provided you put in the effort.

Fantastic subject. Alex and Amber are excellent coordinators. Challenging but very rewarding.

This is a time-consuming subject and for planning purposes I'd treat it as worth 1.5 subjects (do it with an easy breadth or underload). Nonetheless, it was one where I felt my grade was proportional to my effort. There are a lot of components, both the lectures and practical work, and you must understand both. For assessments, reach out to your tutor/Amber when you need assistance; the staff for this subject are incredible and will help. Many don't make utilise staff/tutorials enough, so they put in a lot of time but don't see the same returns.

Valuable subject, high workload, LOTS of different assessment items (over 30 including the 2 quizzes each week). Giving it 5 stars for Olivia, the best demonstrator. Other demonstrators seemed good but she made the subject extra enjoyable!

In terms of the materials, and the learning process, this subject is definitely a great one and you will learn lots of things through the practicals and lectures. However, the workload for this subject is honestly heavier than what I thought it'd be, and the prac reports are not easy to score well in since they score to a very high standard (which is good, but yea it's not easy). As for the exam, we all felt like it was fair in difficulty, but most of the people I know don't finish in time (honestly we all feel like its impossible to finish calculations, graphs, and general SAQ in 2 hours). However, some of us do feel like the coordinator can be pretty condescending. Many of us were scared of asking questions cause she can really answer us in a way that makes us feel very stupid. It is almost obvious that they're only "nice" to people who scored well. I almost feel like they generalise those who do not score well with all being lazy & dumb (not thinking that some of us tried the best that we can, despite not achieving an H1)

This subject given online could have been a disaster given that it is a practical based subject, but it turned out to be my favourite this sem. Amber and the rest of the staff worked sooo hard to make it as smooth as possible and to make sure we get as close to the real lab experience as possible. Even though I never actually got to the lab, I still feel like I learned an insane amount and would feel confident to know what im doing going into BCMB30010. I actually really enjoyed writing the reports, and the feedback was always great. The exam is based on the 12 lectures plus application that you get to practice throughout the practicals/workshops and if you payed attention throughout the sem, the exam should not worry you. For the reports Amber makes these super detailed marking rubrics so you know exactly what to mention and focus on. I mean yes, I wish I could have taken it in the lab but given the situation I'm so grateful for how it turned out, unlike other online practicals.....*cough* BIOL10008 *cough* ....which were just shitty 1 min videos. Absolutely loved this subject and made me even more certain that I wanna major in BCMB. Highly recommend! Especially given that you will likely be able to go back to campus from now on.

I absolutely loved this subject - this subject really allows you to learn new things on the more practical side and also have fun at the same time. Amber is the most organised subject coordinator I've ever had and she is always willing to give help. The demonstrators were equally as lovely, and pracs were quite relaxed overall - even though some pracs ran overtime, the demonstrators did not rush us to finish. Although the prac reports may seem stressful, I found they were a really good way to develop your scientific writing skills, which is obviously important for anyone who's doing science. The first report was marked more harshly so don't be disheartened if you don't receive the mark you hoped for, but the markers seemed to be quite lenient for the second and last reports where nearly 50% of students got H1. The rubrics provided were also very clear and Amber is always willing to give feedback on a section of your report! This year's exam was quite fair and similar to past exam papers, although it was a bit rushed in terms of time, doing past papers and asking for feedback on responses really helps. Overall, an excellent subject for those who are pursuing research/ do something more practical and also relatively simple H1 subject if you put in some effort.

Extremely well run subject - Amber is super organised and willing to give help. The pracs were much more relaxed than I was expecting and kinda fun, while the demonstrators were lovely and helped out a lot. The prac reports weren't too bad to write and worth a fair chunk of the overall mark (just make sure you don't leave them until the last minute, as they are lengthy and quite time consuming to write). I found the exam to be quite hard and required a lot of memorisation of techniques