Syllabus

There are no formal prerequisites for this course, but familiarity with high school level biology and chemistry (especially familiarity with the fundamental aspects of chemical structure) is expected.

Life: The Science of Biology (6th edition), by Purves, Orians, Heller and Sadava.
Available at the MIT Coop.

Since problem sets will be graded, copying of problem set answers constitutes cheating and is forbidden. While general discussions and collaboration on the problem sets is appropriate, detailed discussion of specific solutions or sharing of answers is a violation of the trust placed in all students in the class, each of whom is entrusted with producing a set of answers on his/her own. Students who copy problem sets or allow their answers to be copied may be assigned a 0 for all problem sets (20% of the grade). Any student that commits an act of academic dishonesty regarding a quiz, such as copying or altering a quiz prior to a request for a regrade, will be assigned an F for the course.

There will be three quizzes given during the term and a comprehensive final (worth 2 quizzes), given during finals week. The lowest letter grade score of the five (the 3 quizzes plus the final worth 2 quizzes) will be dropped when calculating your overall grade. Because we drop the lowest score, there will be no make-up quizzes and no conflict quizzes given for any reason. If you miss a term quiz, it will be the score that is dropped.

The Final Exam will be a 3-hour, cumulative exam, covering the entirety of the course, with emphasis on the material not previously covered on a quiz. The score on the final represents two of the five quiz scores and must be taken otherwise you would lose 20% of your grade. If your score on the final is your lowest grade then one of the halves will be dropped. The date, time and location of the final will be announced as soon as this information is available. A conflict final exam may be scheduled by the registrar for students with legitimate exam conflicts.

Quiz Review Sessions will be held prior to each quiz - the dates, locations and times of the reviews are listed in the syllabus or will be announced during the term.

Any quizzes, exams, or problem sets that are not picked up by the end of the term will be disposed of.

Your overall course grade will depend on the following components:

If you find an addition error, show it to your TA to have it corrected. If you feel that your answer was graded incorrectly, please submit a written explanation of your regrade request and your unaltered quiz to the course instructor. Note that some graded quizzes are randomly chosen for photocopying before they are returned to the students. Quizzes must be submitted for regrading within one week from the date of the quiz.