does anyone know what our tests are going to be over? Is it going to be like last semester, all about our notes. because we take very few notes. I'm thinking it is going to be more out of the book which scares me
I've heard it's both from the book and our notes. I post all of my notes from lecture on here…
I hope it's not the book because I don't understand a lot of the stuff in it; she doesn't explain it, so she shouldn't be able to put it on the test. When is our first test?
I'm not sure of the date of the first test. I agree about not understanding the book. I stopped reading it last semester because I learned Heyborne's tests were mostly from the notes we took in class. I've been planning on talking to Robson about the book. I have a feeling she thinks the online quizzes are supposed to help us understand the material from the book.
DxRR here: The exam will be over concepts covered in lecture, in lab, and in the book. Except for basic terminology (e.g., definitions of terms like "genome," "artificial selection" etc) there won't be any information you have to memorize out of the book. There will be a lot of problem solving, where you're asked to apply concepts learned in class to a new scenario.
Indeed, the point of the online quizzes is to get you to read the material in the book, and to grapple with it on your own. Contra Madison, I do think it is reasonable and fair to expect you to take a large amount of responsibility for your own learning. It is not my responsibility to explain everything in the book on the chance that you may not understand it. If you do not understand information out of the book, I encourage you to ask questions about it in class, or come to see me in my office. Contra Mike, it is not my fault that you don't take very many notes. You should be taking lots.
The date of the first exam is in the syllabus.
Finally, I think it is tragic and a disservice to you that so many of you have been able to do well in classes without ever reading the material. Please trust me when I say that I would never ask you to buy an item as expensive as the textbook for this course if I didn't expect you to get a lot of value out of it.
But to be fair to us (some not neccesarily all students), if we wanted to just learn the stuff in the book we could have avoided spending the money on college and just bought the book. Sometimes the book is hard to understand etc.
DxRR: I agree, Cody. That's why the class has lots & lots of stuff that isn't in the book. For instance, I use different examples to illustrate ideas than the ones that are used in the book, because I figure you already have access to the examples in the book, and if they didn't help you understand the material there, they prolly won't help coming from me, either. The same reverse logic applies, too—if you don't like the examples I use in class, you at least have the book for additional examples. Also, we have labs (again, imho, the most important aspect of the class), which is obviously an experience you can't get just from reading (and, uh, not super easy to set up, if I may.) Plus, the book won't introduce you to super spectacular guest speakers like the sublime and rockstar-quality Justin Moser, who will be visiting with us on Friday. And the book will not bring you cookies.
To conclude, I want you do to both things: pay attention in class/lab (especially in lab), AND read the book. That's how you'll learn the most, and thus get the most for your money.