GLG - Geology Courses

A&S Geology Course Descriptions


GLG 110 - Introductory Geology
Bank

Marking scheme: 2 midterms (20% each); 2 tutorial assignments (10% each); attendance at tutorials (5%); exam (35%).

Personally, I loved the material that was taught in this course. It's pretty basic geology - you learn about rocks, mountains, volcanoes, earthquakes, geologic time, fossils, maps, etc. It's not hard, either. If you're interested in the material, it's pretty easy to get a great mark. Put in some effort and it's all good. But if this sort of thing doesn't interest you, you'll probably be really bored. It's kind of necessary to stay awake because most of the slides are pictures... and the textbook is totally useless.

The midterms were both multiple choice. They were pretty fair, but some questions were vague. We had one hour to fill out scantrons. Then everyone got together in the lecture hall and we were able to dicuss answers and fill out another scantron sheet. The term test mark is basically derived like this: 75% of the grade is based on your score on the first scantron (individual); 25% of the grade is based on your score on the second scantron (group discussion). The group discussion was kind of beneficial in that you could usually score a few extra points, but at the same time was kind of useless. People would debate between two answers and never find out which was correct. We never ended up getting answer keys.

There were 2 tutorials and one assignment was given out at each tutorial. Tutorials were the biggest waste of time EVER. The TAs were totally incompetent. If it weren't for the freebie 5%, no one would bother to go. The assignments were seemingly easy - draw a graph, write a paragraph type thing - but were pretty vague, and the TAs were of little help.

Exam this year was short answer (one-liners), drawing a few diagrams, and writing short paragraphs. I'd say it was mostly fair, with the odd WTH question.

Overall: Not a bad course. Since I really liked the material and it wasn't a screw-you-over course.

Rating: 4/5

GLG130 - Exploration of the Solar System (Ballin' O.G. Srinivasan)
Marking Scheme:25% Test 1, 25% Test 2, 50% Exam; Test 1: ~all MC; Test 2: ~half MC ~half one liners Exam: All long answer

  • Why take this course?:
    If you're looking to take a course that is reminiscent of highschool or Ryerson this is it. This is the best bird course at UofT HANDS DOWN. The tests are almost EXACTLY THE SAME AS LAST YEAR, AND THE PROF PROVIDES THEM TO YOU. He's also an absolute OG that prints out the lecture notes and hands them out in class. Holds test review sessions. The material is extremely interesting and hes one of the best profs at UofT. He enjoys giving students high marks.

  • If you want an easy 4.0, this is the course. HOWEVER, the course is boring and I went to only 4 lectures in total (1st lecture, lecture before each midterm, final lecture), and learned absolutely nothing of value from this course. So if you just want that 4.0 on your transcript and don't care about what you learn, by all means take this course; otherwise it's a waste of $500 tuition.
    Rating: 2.5/5