Queen's University ~ Biology 103

Help for Boag Lectures ~ Evolution & Ecology

An overview of Evolution and its relevance to modern society (optional reading) is presented in the publication "Evolution, Science & Society" put together by the Society for the Study of Evolution and The American Society of Naturalists. It is available as a PDF or HTML document from the ASN website (www.asnamnat.org, see also http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/an/158/s4) or as a downloadable PDF file by clicking HERE.

How much detail in the readings are you responsible for?
We want you to understand the most important concepts in the readings. At the back of each chapter there is a "Chapter Summary" section. If you understand and can define the concepts listed in that section, you are in good shape. You can also test your understanding of the key concepts by trying out the questions in the "Test Yourself" sections, or on the textbook web site.

When you first read a chapter, read it start to finish as you would a Scientific American article. Do not make detailed notes on it or attempt to memorize it. Then go back to identify text and figures relates to a given lecture or that we have asked you to read and pay special attention to.

For a detailed breakdown of what readings in the textbook that you will be examined on, click HERE (subject to updating!).

Will the material covered in 'Xtra' slides, guest talks & videos be on the exam?
We use some lecture time for guest lectures and videos we think you will find interesting and which should start you thinking about how Bio 103 relates to other courses. We don't expect you to understand or remember all the details of these talks and videos, but since they are related to the course we do want you to know the main concepts covered. Try to take away the following from each: (i) What are the questions being addressed and why are they important? (ii) What methods were used to address the questions being asked? (iii) What key results were obtained and what were the GENERAL conclusions drawn? Detailed notes need not be taken during these presentations, but you might want to list the topics covered during each session, and then summarize the take-home messages after class. Some guest lecturers may provide notes we can post on Moodle but this is not guaranteed. In some lectures there are some 'Xtra' slides at the end; these are primarily for interest unless explicitly covered in class; if not covered in class you should treat them the same as the videos and guest lectures, knowing the general concepts covered but not worrying about specific details.

About the Moodle quizzes
We will run a 2nd Moodle quiz, worth a small % of your mark, in the final week of term; watch for details here. It will be similar to the one before reading week, and will cover the 5 week period from after reading week through the penultimate week of term. The purpose of these quizzes is to encourage you to keep "on top of" the material covered in the lectures and textbook and to practice the kinds of questions asked on the final exam.

You are entirely responsible for following the instructions as posted here and on the Bio 103 Moodle site for completing these quizzes; we strongly urge you to review the tips on preparing for and taking multiple choice questions previously posted HERE!

Tips for writing a successful final exam
The 2012 final exam for BIOL103 will probably consist of about 100 multiple choice questions and will last 3 hours. The final exam is currently scheduled for April 17, Tuesday, 2pm - 5pm. For final information and to confirm exactly where you are writing, it is your responsibility to check the official timetable at the registrar's office using SOLUS or go to: http://www.queensu.ca/registrar/currentstudents/exams.html

IF THE FINAL EXAM IS INTERRUPTED OR CANCELLED AT THE LAST MINUTE, YOU MUST IMMEDIATELY CHECK THE BIOL 103 WEB SITE FOR INSTRUCTIONS ABOUT A POSSIBLE RE-SCHEDULING OF THE EXAM!

Come to the final exam review sessions in the week after classes, times TBA. These sessions will be held in Biosciences room 1101 unless otherwise announced.

Here are some tips for studying for and writing the exam:

• Try to find a group of students to study with. It is useful to quiz each other and be forced to explain concepts and examples to each other.
• Practice answering the 'self-study' and 'pre- and post-test' questions at the end of each chapter in your text and/or at the textbook web site here.
• The best way to use the textbook is to quickly read each ALL of each chapter BEFORE it is covered in lecture. Afterwards, go back to each chapter and identify the pages and figures most important for detailed study, using the reading list and lecture content as guides. The 'Summary with key terms' sections at the end of each chapter are a useful place to note which topics are most important. Make sure you identify and understand concepts or examples given in lecture that ARE MISSING from the textbook.
• The first thing to know are the fundamental concepts in each lecture. Refer to the back of each chapter in the book and see if you can make a list of the key concepts covered.
• Lectures present several studies in detail. There are three important things to get from these studies: (i) What is the question being asked and why is that question significant (how does it relate to what we are talking about in lecture)? (ii) What methods did the researchers use to answer the question? (iii) What were the results and the GENERAL conclusions drawn from the result? Go through each of the studies with this in mind. You should be able to describe these studies to the other people in your study group. On the exam, we test your understanding of the take-home message from several of these studies.
• Don't just memorize equations, understand what they mean intuitively. For example, be able to explain in words the essential difference between the exponential and logistic equations for population growth.
• If we give you a table with the states of various characters for a set of species, you should be able to build an evolutionary tree from these data. In a multiple-choice context, you should be able to choose the correct tree from among several trees.
• Come to the exam help sessions (see above).
• Check out Moodle forums to ask questions and see them answered.
• Get a good night's rest before the exam.
• Once you've got the exam in front of you, READ EACH QUESTION CAREFULLY BEFORE TRYING TO CHOOSE AN ANSWER. Many mistakes are made because students do not read the question and potential answers carefully; some questions provide a 'distractor' designed to catch students who read a question too quickly to grasp the real concept being examined.
• Pace yourself and leave enough time to answer all the questions. Don't get hung up on one or two difficult questions; flag them and go back after completing everything else. When all else fails, try to narrow the choices and identify the most likely answer; we don't penalize incorrect answers. Note that studies indicate most people do best by sticking with their initial choice when uncertain about multiple choice answers.
• If you are deathly ill or suffer a traumatic life crisis immediately prior to the final exam, PLEASE GET IN TOUCH with the Bio 103 Profs, Rob Snetsinger, or the Biology undergrad assistant Julie French (tel 613-533-6344) BEFORE YOU WRITE! It is much more difficult for us to help students who report problems after they have attempted an exam.

Evolution & ecology on the web
We have compiled a list of links to websites related to research in ecology and evolutionary biology. The purpose of these links is to give you a broader perspective on the wide variety of fascinating research going on in this field. Ecology and evolution are rapidly growing fields that are playing an increasingly important role in influencing many other aspects of society. Please tell us if any of the links don't work or if there are others we should include.
Check out the links page by clicking HERE.

If you enjoyed learning about ecology & evolution there are plenty of other courses and activities here at Queen's that you can pursue to further your education in this area. To find out more, click HERE.