I am having the hard time in choosing the courses. I’d like to know the course load of the following courses:
RLG100Y1Y
GGR124

Thanks.

Another school year has passed us by, and another round of course enrollment looms in the not-so-distant future. With a new cohort of students entering of U of T, I am morally obliged to advertise the “Anti-Calendar.” Proudly presented by the Arts & Science Students Union (ASSU), this document presents a synthesis of course evaluations that students fill out at the end of term. While the info may not always be transferrable to subsequent courses (e.g. there’s a new Prof), the Anti-Calendar is still one of the most useful resources for course selection, and/or mindless time consumption. Aska shamelessly refers to it like a broken record.

The 2008-9 version will be available in mid-June online and in tangible form at the ASSU office.

In the meantime, I will rely on the 2007-8 edition in the hopes that you readers will chip in … a lot.

Before I begin let me just say… If you are a new student, which it sounds like you are, then I wouldn’t base my course selection solely on work load. Sure some course combinations yield a hellish course load, but very few are heaven-ish. And even if you could take the Sun & its Neighbours’ 5 times simultaneously, where would that leave you?

May I suggest considering…

a) pre-requisites for subject POSts that you might want in the future;

b) distribution requirements;

c) courses of pure interest (I’m convinced everyone likes at least one thing); and

d) first-year seminars.

According to the Anti-Calendar, from 2 years ago, RLG100 was interesting and not too tough (woo), but the tutorials are supposedly not great (boo). One Prof seems enthusiastic and fun, and the other seems enthusiastic and approachable. Students indicated that the workload was about 4.25 out of 7. So, like, average.

The Anti-Calendar indicated that GGR124 had a marginally lower workload. The Profs were reported to be… guess what?… enthusiastic. Apparently the powerpoints aren’t posted online, which is totally irritating. I guess you’ll HAVE to go to class.

A second useful resource, when selecting courses, is the exams and course collections database (search by department… it’s easier). PDFs of many past exams and syllabi are accessible here. Calm down, most Profs are not lazy enough to repeat the same exam two years in a row, BUT reading previous exams gives you a great idea of the course content. And yes, I said the word “syllabi.” Plural for syllabus, it is a pretentious word for course “outline” (oh, how banal!). Get used to it. Again there are no guarantees that these details (e.g. description, lecture topics, modes of examination) will remain the same from year-to-year, but they will probably be really similar.

On a side note, syllabi are like “contracts” between the student and Prof. So, if the Prof ever changes assignment weightings or late penalties without consulting the class you totally have a leg to stand on when appealing to them.

And that’s all I have to say about those two courses that I have never taken. Any help from out there?!?

P.s. Both courses had non-multiple choice exams. So, you’re on the right track so far.