I have never felt more stupid than I did while taking this subject. Coming from a background with no bio (only did chemistry in high school) this subject and the crazy amount of content felt like being run over by a car repeatedly. Like, short prerecorded videos as lectures, really? I had no idea what was going on!! Seminars are just stupid, workshops are stupid, pracs made me feel like I was gonna explode I had no idea what was happening. Please, I beg of you, stay away from this subject unless it's a prereq or you've done bio already. Save yourself

Not as bad as some reviews make it out to be but definitely room for improvement. The first two topics are good and easy to understand however I think the quality diminishes in the last two topics - as the content gets less clear in terms of key ideas and they increasingly rely on JovE videos (not made by them). The workshops are interesting... not in a good way, however they are extremely useful for the practical report - at least the slides are. Each workshop is 2 hours, with an hour each dedicated to academic skills and tutorial questions. The latter isn't really engaging and isn't entirely useful. I'd still go to them though. There are two seminars per week which are okay and you should definitely go because some of the exam questions were straight from the seminars. Like literally, the exact same. The practicals were pretty interesting, nothing amazing. The assessments were fine, there are two online tests weighted 10% each, a 20% weighted MST (in person), 20% weighted prac report and a 40% weighted exam. All of the assessments were fair and not overly difficult. The exam was a bit weird though as it focused a LOT on areas from topic 3 such as diffusion surfaces for some reason but overall it wasn't overly challenging. I have never paid attention to any level of biology before, so my background was below surface level but I still got a comfortable H1 by applying myself + the subject scaled up ! Overall if you do this subject you're doing it as a prerequisite (too much work for a breadth) so just put some effort in, show up to workshops, practicals, seminars, ask questions on Ed Discussion and you'll be fine. The criticisms are fair (in terms of practice material, delivery, coordination etc) but not insurmountable - even with no biology background you can still achieve a H1. Have fun !

Overall decent subject and more tailored towards people who have at least a small bit of knowledge about biology. For those who haven't studied biology previously, this subject is VERY content heavy and lots of memorisation is required. I personally enjoyed biology, having studied it in high school, but I can definitely see how it may be difficult for students without prior knowledge. Subject is structured relatively well but lectures are online, in the form of recorded videos, and should be watched before attending weekly seminars. Practicals are quite enjoyable and workshops are more centred on developing scientific skills which will be relevant to an assignment. Assessments can be a bit challenging and the depth of knowledge needed is quite vague but generally requires an overall understanding. I highly recommend attending student space sessions the subject holds. These enable students to ask questions about content, meet fellow classmates and provides opportunities to make friends. Again, overall good subject but be prepared to memorise lots of information

the 5 star review is absolutely TROLLING hahahaha. this subject is not really coordinated well and their is minimal guidance (no practice exams, lack of feedback on assessments etc). also quite content heavy and the online modules ruin the delivery of the content. they make it seem like we just need to show up to the tutorials and we will do amazing but i went to every single tutorial and still only got a h2a. so no its not a wam booster but definitely interesting, its basic biology. its a core prereq for half the science majors but do not do it as a breadth.

Ignore the reviews below, they are just gatekeeping the ultimate WAM booster subject from you guys. This subject is actually really easy to get 90+ in and most people pass without doing anything. I would highly recommend all first year Bsci students to give this subject a go if you are interested in biology. You basically just watch videos, show up to practicals and that's it, no extra studying required because there's not much content to study for anyways.

Just terrible coordination in all areas. I was originally a fan of the online lecture approach, as it meant that I could learn at my own pace, but at some point the online content changed to mostly JOVE videos where the lecturers were not doing any of the teaching. Due to the lack of student-lecturer engagement in these online lectures, it is critical that there are support mechanisms available for students to ask questions. Yet seminars and tutes were extremely impersonal and accommodated 100-200 students, and Ed Discussion (a support forum) was filled with passive-aggressive replies from tutors informing students that their questions were already covered in seminars. Yet materials (i.e. slides) from these seminars were not available, and students were prohibited from taking photos of the questions, which include huge paragraphs of context that were impossible to note down before the lecturer moved to the next slide. As someone who has a passion for biology, this subject has truly let me down.

Although I agree with many of the negative reviews, but I would still say this is a manageable subject after all. The contents are pretty much similar to the high school biology, and of course you do need to put in a lot of efforts in subjects like biology, which is why I think people shouldn't be blaming on the subject itself for obtaining a low mark, as 80% of the grade come from tests and exams. However they do seem to assume that people enrolled in this subject have biological knowledge foundation, as they've never actually went through the contents in class, instead they just post short videos online and expect us to know everything, even though some questions showed up on the tests are not even included in the videos. I barely found any differences for not going to the seminars and workshops, as they didn't really teach anything. The resource given are limited, which I can understand as this is a new subject scheme, but it doesn't change the fact that this subject doesn't run well. As this is a prerequisite for almost all of the biomedical related subjects, many people will inevitably take it, so if you are taking this subject, be ready to put in a lot of efforts, including going for external materials online, since they really just made it like a self-learning subject.

Let me just preface my comment by saying that I agree with all the negative reviews, but only to an extent. I strongly believe that you will get out of it what you put in, and unfortunately that means you can't merely just rely on contact hours. You need to be doing a lot of your own independent study too (Khan Academy, Amoeba Sisters, Wikipedia, etc...) and consolidating your knowledge in seminars is absolutely crucial to getting an H1 in this subject. I know so many people who complain about assessments covering content in the workshops and seminars, which I think is actually reasonable since the online videos are basically just a starting point, and they mentioned time and time again that every single contact hour can be assessed. The online videos are actually also kind of nice for me as I hate sitting through hours of lectures without any clear direction of where the lecturer is heading, whereas all the headings and captions on each 5-10 minute video make it easier to digest. However, I understand that this doesnt suit everyone. As someone with high H1 average, my advice is to basically just watch the online videos on 2x speed and develop a shallow understanding but then make sure you show up to seminars and workshops and write down EVERYTHING! I've found that they were the best ways of not only more deeply understanding the content but also applying it to questions. Also, don't waste your time passively reading out your notes, and instead create a Word doc or flashcards or Kahoots or Blookets or whatever you'd like to go through your own practice questions. Always ask why something happens, and do independent research until you're satisfied with your comprehension. Don't rote memorise anything except different classifications or numbers or other fine details like that. Wish they had more practice exams instead of just handing us the summer term exam, but they also give us 2 hours of practice questions every week in the seminar plus the 1 hour weekly tutorial, so I don't think that's a huge deal either. Also wish they released the modules a week earlier so we had more time to watch the videos, but that's a relatively small issue. Bio10008 isn't an easy H1 by any means and I don't think it's as well run as Chem 1, however I don't think it's as bad as all the reviews make it seem. There's not a lot of people showing up to the seminars and workshops, meanwhile the students who do show up don't actively participate nor write down the questions and answers, which obviously makes revising those practice exam questions before assessments harder. Don't be afraid to take it if you're set on BioSciences, but beware that you'll have to put in more effort to show up to contact hours than other first year subjects, and because they're not recorded, it's very difficult to catch up if you fall behind.

Bad bad bad. So much online content covered, in minimal detail, making study seem useless. Online content is difficult to follow, and the mix of JovE videos is just lazy. Tutorials/workshop are waste of time. "Tutorials" are 100-200 people, defeating the purpose of a tutorial, which is usually 20-30 people. Seminars are again, a waste of time. They are neither prerecorded, and do not provide the slides. They sent an email saying that we also cannot be taking photos of the seminar content. The seminars are 2hrs of Kahoots, and the application of content is just not relevant or useful. Pracs are okay, but frequent changing of the lead advisor is distracting. For those considering this as breadth, DON'T. But for many, it is a necessary prerequisite and to you guys, I wish you nothing but love and luck <3

This is a review for the new (2024 version) of this subject: So much content! Hard! Seminars (you don't have lectures you have these instead) are difficult and not recorded! Slides also are not posted! So if you get confused or can't keep up during the seminar you cannot go back and look at the slides. Do NOT do this subject unless you need it as a prereq! Ruined my love for biology first year chem and psych are run so much better do them instead. I cannot believe a uni that claims to be the 'best in the state' would allow a subject to be this badly run. You do not get practice tests or exams. Most of the limited practice questions do not have answers. They admitted they marked one of the multiple choice in our first quiz wrong and its been weeks and they still have not updated the marks.