This a place to suggest and discuss electives/bird courses for the upcoming school year.

Please avoid creating standalone posts regarding these courses to help keep the main feed uncluttered.

it’s not a bird course i promise you. whoever told you it’s a bird course lied unless you’re one of those freaks who thrive on a live or die exam (50% exams) don’t do it.

if you’re in health sci take the course because you’ll actually have enough time to study, everyone else, rethink your decisions

EDIT : okay maybe i was surrounded by a crowd of people who struggled because i struggled and so did my friends who took the course 😭 i will stand on business saying it’s not a bird course, it’s not hard but it’s tedious and you need to know your stuff, when i took it the exam was 50%. the course itself is really interesting though especially if you’re thinking of taking medicine or like latin, but it’s not a bird course.

Whoever was controlling the computer accidentally flashed corn. It happened while a video of the dean was playing. It took them like a minute to take it down LOL.

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hi guys i have my organizational behaviour midterm this upcoming Thursday. I wanted to ask if anyone has a past midterm bank, study advice, prep or just any advice for the exam.

I’m scared guys, or even a list of all the stars?

abything helps!

Why doesn’t Mac have a wait list for courses like other universities? Seriously so annoying, like we wanna spend 2 dollars on seat alert for each course 🤦🏻‍♂️. And it usually takes you so long to make the changes that someone else already takes it.

So I made thing that refreshes timetable every 2 seconds (better than seat alert’s 15s delay), and when it detects the color of a successfully generated timetable, it will beep and lyk.

Ik this is very inefficient, yes I used a mosfet instead of a transistor, yes i soldered directly to the arduino nano, but atleast it works. Just a life sci student so please dont hate.

NO ONE ASKED ME TO ADVERTISE AND THIS IS NOT AN ADVERTISEMENT I JUST GENUINELY LOVE THIS COURSE AND THE PROF AND THEY DESERVE THE WORLD AND MORE AND THIS COURSE GENUINELY CHANGED MY LIFE AND I BET IT CAN CHANGE URS TOO

CMTYENGA 3E03 is running for the may to june term and i really hope if you see this and are convinced by the end of it, that you register!! if the course doesn't get at least 15 people by april 12, it won't run. the prof, dr. scherzinger put their heart and soul into this course and it even won an MSU award this year!! the course is in collaboration with Empowerment Squared and essentially you learn about theories of community engagement and education for the first half and then for the second half you go to empowerment squared's central location (10 minute walk away) and participate in their homework circle. As a volunteer there, you and another person will be paired up with a mentee (tuesdays its with grades 6-8 and thursdays grades 1-5) and help them out with their homework. NO YOU DO NOT NEED TO KNOW OR REMEMBER STUFF U LEARNT FROM GRADE SCHOOL WHEN I WAS IN THE COURSE AND TO THIS DAY DO NOT KNOW HOW TO DO FRACTIONS OR BASIC MATH. you just guide them with their work and encourage them! I WAS IN THE PILOT COURSE WHEN IT RAN LAST SPRING SO IT IS A BIT DIFFERENT NOW BUT I THINK THE WAY ITS STRUCTURED is that you will have two reflections, three quizzes (like 5 questions, online, no supervision), one activity to do during homework circle, a discussion activity, and getting graded for engagement during homework circle. idk if this course would be considered a bird or heavy course as i don't know everyone's learning styles but if you are someone who loves hands-on work you'll probably like this course!! i personally found this course to not be time consuming and i passed it with a 12!

I WILL ALSO BE THERE EITHER AS A SENIOR MENTOR OR AS A REGULAR VOLUNTEER BECAUSE I LOVE THIS ORGANIZATION SO MUCH. EMPOWERMENT SQUARED DOES SM FOR ITS COMMUNITY AND I SWEAR YOU WILL LEARN TO LOVE THESE KIDS AND THIS PROGRAM BY THE END!!! Aside from getting credit, i just want to list some highlights about this course. once you are introduced to empowerment squared you can continue to volunteer with them (or not)! Around june is when applications for their internship starts, i applied for it last spring and i spent my entire summer interning with them (paid) and gained so much experience! after that, in september i continued to volunteer and then became senior mentor which is a paid position and is a leadership role (supervising mentees and volunteer mentors) and still am! personally for me, because of the relationship i started to build with this organization, i've been able to have them be references when it came to jobs and other opportunities (literally the job i just got now is because i had them as my references)! They also have so many other internships like KPMG which is targeted towards 1st-2nd years but 3rd year students are also encouraged to apply! KPMG is the third leading consulting firm in the world (i think regardless they are HUGE) and Empowerment Squared has a program called CDLP which if you are selected through volunteering in their programs, can get resume and interviewing help and a consciousness that you KNOW you're application is being looked at and regardless someone from that CDLP program is getting CHOSEN (and that could be you!). They also have an international internship where you can either go to Ghana and Liberia and do research as well as helping the communities there, I've had my roommate and my friend (he was also in 3E03 with me) go to ghana and mind you all of this is FOR FREE YOUR PLANE TICKET FREE YOUR STAY FREE YOU ARE GIVEN A LIVING STIPEND YOUR VACCINATIONS GET REIMBURSED LIKE GIRL!!!! i highlight these, because i didn't know prior to taking this course.

PERSONAL NOTE:

CMTYENGA 3E03 means so much to me because prior to this course, i've felt so lonely. university genuinely has not been a good time but meeting dr. scherzinger (from 2MD3) made me love school and learning again. I'VE FOLLOWED THEM FROM 2MD3 TO 4MM3 TO ARTSSCI 3X03 AND LAST YEAR 3E03 AND NOW ASKING TO CO-SUPERVISE MY INDIVIDUAL STUDY FOR ARTSSCI 3F03. they will help you as much as they can, and omg has it been so relieving to not have to spill your entire life story to a prof about your disability or chronic illness BECAUSE YOUR PROF GETS IT. THEY GET IT. Dr. Scherzinger means the absolute world to me and I promise this course will be different from all your other courses. Also dr. scherzinger is the lebron james of profs so i promise you you're in good hands. this course has built not only professional skills but life skills as well. i've become more extroverted, changed my career field (literally went from studying for the LSAT to now wanting to go towards education), more confident, and GOT MY MONEY UP YUH. i truly believe courses like these are so important for the mac community. while the course also runs in the fall, as someone who took it in the spring, it was just such a beautiful vibe. the amount of sunsets that you will see while you're doing chalk drawings or racing with the kids.

HERE IS A DRAWING ONE OF THE GIRLIES DID OF GOJO PLS LET THIS CONVINCE YOU

IF YOU ARE SCARED ABOUT YOUR GRADES JUST TAKE IT AS A PERSONAL INTEREST COURSE AND IF YOU GET A GOOD MARK JUST SWITCH IT BACK TO A GRADE COURSE I DONT WANNA EXPLAIN WHAT A PIC IS SO I'LL JUST LINK IT HERE AND FEEL FREE TO PM ME FOR MORE INFO. YOU CAN BASICALLY TAKE THE COURSE WITHOUT THE FEAR OF YOUR TRANSCRIPT

https://registrar.mcmaster.ca/build-degree/pic/

OVERALL I HOPE I COULD CONVINCE YOU TO TAKE THIS COURSE, THERE'S ONLY FOUR DAYS LEFT AND IF YOU NEED ANY MORE INFO PLS PM ME ATP I'M EVEN DOWN TO GET ON A CALL AND EXPLAIN IF YOU WANT MORE INFO

I had the misfortune of taking one of the most dogshit courses that McMaster has ever unleashed upon its students: CMTYENGA 2MC3. This course was the worst course I have ever taken in my entire undergraduate years. Read this other post I made for more information on 2MC3: https://www.reddit.com/r/McMaster/s/KJeCqLL3HZ

I just saw a post encouraging people to take a CMTYENGA course. PLEASE DO NOT FALL FOR THIS MARKETING SCHEME/TRAP. The author of this post is LITERALLY THE TA FOR 2MC3 (you can see she commented under my previous post, but deleted her comment lmao). This course will tank your GPA. I'm not going to let the instructional team of this course scam students out of their money, time, and GPA. I will do my part to make sure that no one else has to suffer from this bullshit. I don't care if you think I'm over exaggerating. You will thank me later. I'm putting in my blood, sweat, and tears so no one else has to suffer through this fuck ass course

EDIT: I only shared are MY experiences ONLY. You can take whatever courses you want. This post has nothing to do with the grade that I received, it’s about the quality of the course and the amount of wasted money and time I spent on this course.

Title.
I’m considering in order to do better on other midterms. Anyone who has or knows people who have please advise!!

I have a unit 1 Test for MATH 1F03 and I haven’t even looked at the lectures yet. How cooked am I? Anyone have any advice. What should I do. The test is on Monday 😭

the more i find out about this midterm (unwillingly) the more angry i get. i didn't check my answers after the exam as i thought i did bad (despite days of practice and thinking i understood the exam), but everyone is talking about this exam and im genuinely so pissed. i think it's so unfair for all the previous exams dating 6+ years to be similar in questions even structure and also all the question banks (which is supposed to be the hardest questions btw) to be so different and 10x harder from our test. is there a way we can protest or something can be done against this. how can you tell us concepts and then expect us to know additionally things that were never talked about even in the textbook (which i read btw). i wouldn't be this sad and mad if i didnt study but i was able to explain concepts confidently to my friends and do past test in 40 minutes. this is so ridiculous and unfair.

p.s: if anyone who took the test and found it fair or easy, pls give me advice and pls dont js say do practice cause ofc that's not the key and pls be nice😭 im rlly sensitive rn

i'm in third year (faculty of science) and i swear i cant be bothered to study unless i have a midterm. Like my entire time here, i just go to lectures and then....dont do anything after. I only study when i have a midterm. Literally every single course ive had i learn the entire course content 3-5 days before the midterm. i do all the assigned textbook problems 3-5 days befor ehte midterm. And somehow ive always gotten 1-2 standard deviations above the average, and my cGPA is like a 10.1. I had two midterms right before reading week and for both those courses i didnt even touch the course material at all until like a few days before, and i got 80s on both of them while the median was in the 60s. This year i still have these same shitty habits like i literally dont look at course material AT ALL unless i have a midterm in a few days. Then i learn the entire course in a few days and somehow still do well. im just wondering if this is normal or not? I'm ashamed of this and obviously i should be consistent but i cant

I’m looking for any advice on how to structure my cheat sheet because copying my notes on a paper did NOT help for midterm 1. Also looking for study advice. If anyone wants to lock in with me please shoot me a dm

I’m sick of it

my main concern is orgo II and balancing that with everything else. I wanted a lighter semester since ive heard horror stories of orgo II from other upper years but I can't do much since everything here except sustain is mandatory and bio 2A03 (animal physio) and 2EE3 (intro to microbio) are only offered in the winter sem and bio 2b03 (cell bio) doesn't fit in my fall sem

like i know its possible but i also wanna have a life yk

I feel like I have too many courses on here what should I do?

What are some bird courses that I can take for the 2026-2027 school year. No midterm or exam please🙏🏽 or if there is one as long as it’s online🙏🏽. I would love in person tutorials or labs or whatever to talk to people still and stuff and make friends.

First year btw, upper year courses r fine too if im allowed to take it

Enrolment times are now visible on mytimetable (~30 mins early)!

I recently wrote my organic chemistry midterm, and I'm feeling pretty disappointed with how it went. I'm anticipating a mark somewhere in the 70s, mainly because I made some really careless mistakes on the short-answer questions that will likely cost me quite a few marks.

What's frustrating is that I genuinely felt like I knew the material really well. I spent a lot of time preparing, worked through multiple past tests under timed conditions, and made sure I understood the concepts. Going into the midterm, I felt fairly confident in my understanding.

However, during the actual test, something just seemed to fall apart. I made mistakes on questions I knew how to solve, overlooked details I normally would've caught, and made errors that I immediately recognized after leaving the exam. It's especially frustrating because I don't think my performance accurately reflects how well I understood the material or how much effort I put into preparing.

I'm trying not to dwell on it too much, especially since there are still other assessments left in the course, but it's definitely discouraging when you prepare thoroughly and still underperform because of avoidable mistakes.

Has anyone else experienced something similar, particularly in organic chemistry? If so, what helped you overcome it?

I'd really appreciate any advice, especially from people who managed to bounce back and do well in the course after a disappointing midterm.

The class average being 34% is crazy 😭. I thought I was the only one doing bad

Anyone here doing the BSCN at Mcmaster, if so, how do you like it? What's your overall opinion on the school/ the profs?

Also what were your first year courses like? Did you get to pick your class times?

I know a lot of people who have done the Mohawk- McMaster route, but I'm curious to know about everyone's experience with just McMaster.

I realized how important a prof can change my attitude in the subject they teach, currently im having bio1m03 with Dr Christina Abbatangelo and she is such a great prof all the time, made me looking forward to every of her lecture and i definitely want to take her genetics when year 2. What are some other profs recommendations?

We recently added auto-enroll for Mosaic in MacTrack, it automatically enrolls you when a course seat opens up.

Quick note on security, since that’s usually the first concern:

• We don’t ask for your Mosaic username or password
• The feature runs only on your existing Mosaic session cookie
• That cookie is encrypted when stored
• It only takes action when you explicitly trigger or schedule enrollment

This was designed specifically to avoid the “hand over your login” approach. As students ourselves, that’s not something we’d be comfortable with either.

The video walks through the full flow. Open to questions, especially around how the session handling works.

Hope it helps you get into your desired course :)

Please post all questions regarding course enrolment, including but not limited to: course reviews or recommendations, questions about enrolment times/dates, mytimetable, “is my schedule good?”, the list goes on.

Any posts of this nature in the subreddit will be removed as per rule 8 and you will be directed here. This megathread will be monitored regularly by mods and users of the subreddit and we will do our best to answer your questions. Good luck with enrolment, and may the odds be ever in your favour.

THIS ACCOUNT IS RAN BY THE MCMASTER BIOLOGY SOCIETY!!!!

This a place to suggest and discuss biology courses for McMaster students.

Please provide the course code and any of your experiences/what you thought of these courses.

You are also welcome to ask questions about any particular biology-related course, and our society will try our best to answer!