This subject was fun but felt like it lacked structure. Some more contact between staff and students would have been ideal - Ed questions were often ignored, despite a promise that they would be addressed, and the coordinator often took many days to reply to emails. That being said, the teaching staff were approachable and good at teaching, and they made an effort to remember our names. The assignments were all manageable, and the major assignment (the critical analysis) was marked very generously. Most people I know came out of this subject with a good mark. The final assignment was marked a lot harsher then every other assignment, but it was only worth 12% so not the end of the world. The journal clubs were probably the best part of the subject, but as the other commenter said, it was a bit unfair that some people had more time to prepare. The pracs were alright, although I often found myself pretty bored as they weren't the most engaging, and some felt like they hadn't been updated since 2010. The genetics cohort is relatively small, which was one of the best aspects of this subject as it led to a sense of comradery between all of us when it came time to helping each other out with assignments. Overall a decent subject, but not as good as the other genetics practical subject GENE20004.

I enjoyed this subject. Lectures are a lot more based in real world practical use (e.g. how to design primers, what experiments to use for particular questions) which is nice after hearing learning what felt like pure theory for so long. Good variety in the pracs, which were fun. Some of the assignments were more open ended, which was good, though some were quite frustrating at times. The journal club sessions were alright, though it felt unfair that some only got 2 weeks to prepare a 15 minute oral presentation while others got up to 7.