Horrible subject. Utter shit. If I was to choose between doing this subject and drinking an expired carton of cockroach milk, I'd choose the latter.

I initially gave this 4 stars, but the more I sit with it, the less I think it deserves that many. The content was too vague and really difficult to study for. This subject is a lot more focused on research and publications. The assignments were also really vague and took way too long, for them to only count 10% each. The MST and exam I found fair, and were fully based on the lecture content so just make sure you write down good notes on the lecture videos and you should be fine, though a lot of people did find them challenging and the average was around 60-70% for both. This subject is meant to give us a taste of 7 different potential research fields you could go into. In theory that sounds great, but because each module was only 1 week long, the content ended up being really vague, and by 3rd year most students already have an idea of what they want to do. Honestly this subject belongs in lvl 2. There's also a final presentation where you get to present a research paper guided by a mentor, often one of the authors of the paper. Everyone in the class got H1 on their presentation so its a good grade booster at the end of semester. Frankly, I would not recommend this subject as an elective. It's part of the BCMB major core, so don't have any choice if majoring in it, but if you're not, I would take something else. Not the worst subject I've ever taken, but not one I would ever take again.

I'm not mad that this is a core subject, the modules are alright and there are only 7 of them. 3 weeks are spent on the group assignment which you can get a H1 in if you and your group just prepare (i.e. meet up a few times without your mentor, who will give you guidance about how to structure your presentation). I found the exam very difficult due to a few sections only having one question - this meant if I was stuck on a question that was a lot of marks on the line. There are three assignments worth 10% each and you are given sample guides. The subject coordinator is very responsive to questions, the other lecturers to a lesser extent especially when it comes to asking about the content itself. However the more specific you make your question the more likely it will be answered. Also, I feel like this subject helped me improve my research skills in writing essays for BCMB 3rd year subjects - now I know what the part of the rubric that evaluates the quality of sources is actually looking for. So I do recommend you take this early on in your BCMB major. If you are not majoring in BCMB, do something else.