First Year Anti-Calendar
Presented by:
The Academic Advocacy Committee
About The Academic Advocacy Committee
The Academic Advocacy Committee is a standing committee of the Engineering Society Board of Directors and has a mandate to provide advocacy on academic improvement and lead student run academic initiatives that will improve the overall undergraduate experience.
About The Engineering Society
Founded in 1885, the University of Toronto Engineering Society, also known as EngSoc, is the student government for students at Skule™ — the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering at the University of Toronto. EngSoc manages Skule™ services and provides club funding, professional development, and extracurricular opportunities to over 4800 members, proudly continuing the traditions and storied history of Canada’s oldest and largest engineering school.
Acknowledgments
This Anti-calendar is brought to you by representatives of the Academic Advocacy Committee and the first year representatives of the Engineering Society. Special thanks goes to the Academic Advocacy Committee (Ernesto Diaz Lozano Patino, Marissa Zhang, Praneet Bagga, Ryan Gomes) and the other volunteers who helped put this anti-calendar together (in alphabetical order): Amir Sheidaei, Ashley Mcllvena, Dayna Lau, Joshua Calafato, Kevin Vincze, Ozan Coskun, Rossdan Craig, Shreyas Upadhyay, and Syed Imam.
Legend
This booklet uses the following rating system:
Low: u
Somewhat low: uu
Medium: uuu
Somewhat high: uuuu
High: uuuuu
APS104 - Introduction to Materials and Chemistry
Lecture Value: uuuu Tutorial Value: uuuu Relative Difficulty: uuu
This course was often described by previous students as requiring: Problem Solving, Memorizing, Theoretical Knowledge
Insights into this course: “This course is an introductory chemistry course that all ECEs and TrackOnes take in their first year. As the name suggests, it combines topics of basic material science and introductory thermodynamics. The first part of the course covers the fundamentals of atomic structures in materials, nature of bonding, macroscopic properties and types of structures with defects in the nature. The second part of the course includes thermodynamics. This portion covers the laws of chemical thermodynamics. It also introduces topics of chemical equilibrium and electro-chemistry from a thermodynamics perspective.”
Tips for doing well in this course: “Although the content is simple, it is very easy to fall behind in this course. You can keep up if you attend lectures and practice a few of the assigned problems. This course also offers numerous opportunities for "free marks" in the form of labs and tutorial quizzes, so make sure to utilize them.”
APS105 - Computer Fundamentals
Lecture Value: uuuuu Tutorial Value: uuuu Relative Difficulty: uu
This course was often described by previous students as requiring: Problem Solving, Writing
Insights into this course: “In programming, you have to learn to break down a big problem into many little problems and solve them individually. This course tries to go about teaching how to do this within the context of program. As such, there is a ton of code writing in this course.”
Tips for doing well in this course: “If you are new to programming, go to tutorials and either pay attention in class or practice on the notes you take down at home. With programming, lectures and tutorials are always helpful, but it is lots of practice that will help you do well.”
APS106 - Fundamentals of Computer Programming
Lecture Value: uu Tutorial Value: uuuu Relative Difficulty: uuu
This course was often described by previous students as requiring: Problem Solving, Writing, Memorizing
Insights into this course: “You have to break down programs into many small problems and tackle them one at a time, so problem solving is a huge factor in the course. You write a lot of code throughout the course as well, so 'writing' is a major component of this course.”
Tips for doing well in this course: “If you are new to programming, go to tutorials and more importantly PRACTICE! If you have programmed before, this course will be quite easy. Regardless of your experience, though, you should pay attention in tutorials and make sure to attend lecture.”
APS111 - Engineering Strategies and Practice I
Lecture Value: uuuuu Tutorial Value: u Relative Difficulty: uuu
This course was often described by previous students as requiring: Problem Solving, Writing, Group Work
Insights into this course: “Exam and Quizzes are based on lectures, so lectures form a big part of this course. Tutorials are not very helpful, but the marking for assignments is done by the TA, so it can make or break your mark.”
Tips for doing well in this course: “Attend all lectures even though they are at 9 am classes and are quite boring. The videos are also online, so that can be helpful at least. Be sure to stay on top of all the material though!”
APS112 - Engineering Strategies and Practice II
Lecture Value: uuuuu Tutorial Value: uuuuu Relative Difficulty: u
This course was often described by previous students as requiring: Problem Solving, Writing, Memorizing, Group Work, Presentations
Insights into this course: “Essentially, the whole course is based off of how much effort you put into memorizing all of the facts thrown at you. They may seem insignificant at first, but plenty of small details come up in quizzes and tests.”
Tips for doing well in this course: “It'd be expected to tell you to study your hardest for this course, but after going through it first hand I've noticed that the more people study, the worse they do. Lectures are your only friend…”
APS150 - Ethics in Engineering
Lecture Value: uuu Tutorial Value: uuu Relative Difficulty: u
This course was often described by previous students as requiring: Memorizing
Insights into this course: “This a pass or fail course that you can study for through the lecture recordings posted online. You probably only need to spend one day working on it; it takes minimum time and is mostly common sense.
Tips for doing well in this course: “Though it is an easy pass/fail, make sure to stay on top of it! You NEED to pass it before you graduate. It would be quite embarrassing to fail an ethics course... so don’t let it come to that!”
APS191 - Introduction to Engineering
Lecture Value: uuu Tutorial Value: uuuuu Relative Difficulty: uuu
This course was often described by previous students as requiring: Attendance
Insights into this course: “APS191 is a seminar course for students entering TrackOne. This course is offered on a credit/no credit basis, and runs once a week. Each lecture will have presenters from different departments talking about the core 8 disciplines to introduce TrackOnes to different areas of engineering. Presenters will usually be a mix of students, professors, and professionals, each going through topics such as curriculum, career opportunities, and research in each field.”
Tips for doing well in this course: “While you only need to attend 10/12 lectures to pass, I would strongly recommend making the effort to attend every one. Each lecture is really interesting, and it will help you a lot in your decision to choose a discipline. The presenters are usually very engaging, and they will introduce you to aspects of each engineering discipline that you've never heard of before. While it is tempting to just go on your phone or do homework through the presentations, paying attention to these presentations will ensure that you will make the best decision when choosing a discipline.”
CHE112 - Physical Chemistry
Lecture Value: u Tutorial Value: uuu Relative Difficulty: uu
This course was often described by previous students as requiring: Problem Solving
Insights into this course: “This course's content primarily consists of several examples of various topics presented in Chemistry. Luckily, the course only deals with mathematical and numerical concepts in Chemistry, and thus the course is heavily based on problem solving.”
Tips for doing well in this course: “Both lectures and tutorials of this course consisted mainly examples, and very little theory is discussed. Be sure to copy the answers to each of the examples and do homework problems. The problems presented on examinations are very similar and sometimes the same as homework problems. Do your best to try these homework problems on your own!”
CHE113 – Concepts in Chemical Engineering
Lecture Value: uuuuu Tutorial Value: uuu Relative Difficulty: uuu
This course was often described by previous students as requiring: Problem Solving, Theoretical Knowledge and Group Work
Insights into this course: “For this class, you will actually be spending 3 hours in the lab most weeks. Don’t expect the labs to follow the lecture sequences or be related to the concepts covered. Tests and quizzes are based on lecture material however and the labs have their own quizzes.
Tips for doing well in this course: “Make sure to read the lab descriptions beforehand as there will a quiz pertaining to that specific lab procedure beforehand. Also, attend lectures as things that may not be in the class notes but were covered in lectures may be tested.”
CIV100 - Mechanics
Lecture Value: uuu Tutorial Value: uuuu Relative Difficulty: uuu
This course was often described by previous students as requiring: Problem Solving, Group Work
Insights into this course: “There are weekly assignments for easy marks, so it's very helpful to work with friends and ask a lot of questions during these tutorials. Be sure to attend all of your lectures and keep up with them!”
Tips for doing well in this course: “Do a lot of practice problems, especially in groups. Once you get the concepts down, you can do almost any question because they're all pretty similar.”
CIV102 - Structures and Materials
Lecture Value: uuuuuTutorial Value: uuu Relative Difficulty: uuuu
This course was often described by previous students as requiring: Problem Solving, Presentations
Insights into this course: “CIV102 basically crams 3 years of civil engineering theory into a semester. This shouldn't dishearten you, however, as the material is incredibly interesting and you'll have plenty of opportunity to ask for help with teachers and classmates. The course is also taught with a large historical background in its curriculum. Although this aspect is not tested on, it brings the material to life and can help you understand the importance of what you're learning. Lectures are crucial as there is no textbook and the exam mark can potentially be your final grade, so study hard.”
Tips for doing well in this course: “Pay attention in lecture and ask questions. Prof. Collins is a genius, so he may not understand that you can't see how he got his numbers in class, but he is incredibly helpful in office hours. Pay attention and take detailed notes in class, as all tests will allow you to bring your notebook with you. Some people take the historical interjects in lecture as sleep time, but they are actually really interesting and can act as tethers for recalling the info later. Finally, study hard for the exam. Take past tests and heavily understand concepts, as they will help you on the final, which could be your final grade if you do well.”
CME185 - Earth Systems Science
Lecture Value: u Tutorial Value: uuuu Relative Difficulty: uu
This course was often described by previous students as requiring: Memorizing, Theoretical Knowledge
Insights into this course: “Lectures in this courses aren't very helpful as they consist of PowerPoint presentations of usually more than 100 slides. The tutorials however, are done collectively in groups and are generally a lot of fun.”
Tips for doing well in this course: “This course allows for a one page (double-sided) cheat-sheet for your midterm and a two page (double-sided) cheat sheet for the final. Put ALL of the information from your course into those sheets. Also, do your best to learn how to complete mapping problems early.”
CSC180 - Introduction to Computer Programming
Lecture Value: uu Tutorial Value: uu Relative Difficulty: uu
This course was often described by previous students as requiring: Problem Solving
Insights into this course: “This introduction includes all the basics you’ll need to prepare you for second semester programming, even if you have no previous coding experience. Topics include if statements, for/while loops, variables and their types, as well as data structures in Python (arrays, lists, dictionaries, classes, etc). You will do individual labs every week or so, and you will have to submit them using either a Git repository (which you will learn how to use) or just online.”
Tips for doing well in this course: “In programming, there is not usually a "right answer" rather than simply understanding the problem and what you want to achieve using logical procedures. That's why practicing is essential. You won’t get the logic/mindset required from programming just by reading it from a textbook (it may help, but only to a certain extent). Bring your laptop to class to code on the spot – however, your laptop might become a distraction, so judge for yourself. Slides are also posted online, so don't worry if you missed a lecture.”
CSC190 - Computer Algorithms & Data Structures
Lecture Value: uu Tutorial Value: uu Relative Difficulty: uuuu
This course was often described by previous students as requiring: Problem Solving
Insights into this course: “This course teaches C, unlike CSC180, which deals with Python. Things you will learn include allocating and freeing memory, different types of data structures (linked lists, stacks, queues, hashtables, binary trees), and neat keyboard shortcuts! This year, we had weekly assignments which were pretty tricky and only worth completion marks, but they served as good preparation for the two midterms. There were also two ridiculously difficult projects that took some people a full week each to complete; but don’t panic ! There’s no way they’ll make you guys go through that like we did (at least I hope they don’t)...”
Tips for doing well in this course: “Practice beats theory. The best way to learn programming is to fiddle around with code yourself. Check out other people’s code after you finish the assignment. There is no “best” way of coding, and you’ll get to see how other people approach the problems and compare it to your own methods. Also make sure to keep up with lectures!”
ECE101 – Introduction to Electrical and Computer Engineering