20% fail rate

This unit was a complicated one. The lectures tended to be a bit messy and not well delivered at times. The work that was assigned in the few tutorials we had earlier in the semester had no pre-tute introduction and the brief introduction we had at the beginning of the class was not nearly thorough enough for the class to complete the exercises without constantly having to ask questions. The labs were well explained and run, and enjoyable and easy to follow. If possible make friends with people who have done the unit before as there is no past tests or exams provided by the coordinators. However, I commend the coordinators on their quick responses to the cohorts needs, specifically by adding extra revision classes to go over the calculations and bioinformatics tute classwork.

This is a fair unit that is possible to HD. Lecture content can be quite heavy and difficult, but this is made up for due to how interesting it is and the way the lecturers present it. There are two tests, a midsemester exam and final theory exam, as well as one short lab writeup. The tests and exams are fair. Labs are only two hours, and done with partners, with the instructions very clearly set out. A portion of the grade for the writeup for transgenics labs is based on whether you had PCR products at the end of the experiment, which resulted in a lot of disappointed students this semester. Accuracy is key. Lecturers, lab techs and tutors are all willing to help as much as possible.