APSC 101

Course Description

This is the sequential course to APSC 100. The course covers topics such as sustainability, fluid mechanics, water systems, isometric projections, and implicit bias. There are more deliverables (Ex. poster, presentation, or competition) in this course compared to APSC 100 and they include the autonomous claw project, sustainability project, and the rainwater system treatment project.

Types of Assignments To Expect

• Individual Quizzes - After each screencast, there is a multiple-choice Canvas quiz.

• Team Quizzes - At the start of each week, teams will complete a quiz together based on the content of the screencasts. The team quizzes are usually similar to the individual quizzes.

• Midterm - There is only one midterm for this class. Since there are significant ambiguities with APSC 100 tests, they are usually scaled because not every test has equivalent difficulty.

• Group Studio Submissions - Studio submissions are documents that are meant to prepare groups for major projects.

• Group Projects - These projects will involve design building, presentations, competitions, and technical documents.

• iPeer Reviews - After each module, team members will assign scores to other team members based on their professionalism, work ethic, and communication.

• Evaluations & Others: There will be other minor assessments such as giving constructive feedback on other group projects.

• Final Exam - The final exam is all multiple choice/select all that apply.

Advice/Study Tips

Since the organization and structure of the course are very similar to APSC 100, many of the study tips provided for APSC 101 are similar to APSC 100. I will include most of them again for reference.

• You can be severely penalized for showing up to class late by missing out on team quizzes (thereby not getting credit) and poor iPeer reviews. Always come to class on time because this class is a participation-heavy course.

• At the end of midterms/final exams, try to write comments about the ambiguities of the test. Trust me, there are always ambiguities with APSC 100 tests and they will consider this when curving exam scores.

• This may be an unpopular opinion, but you can study effectively for this course. Many of the test questions can feel counterintuitive because they rely on understanding the content presented in the lecture, not necessarily on common knowledge. If you are inclined towards memorization and source-based interpretation questions, this course might be a lot easier for you than most first-year engineering courses.

• Pay attention to the lectures! This sounds obvious but most people end up distracting themselves with homework assessments from other classes or other distractions. While people believe that the screencasts are sufficient for preparing for tests in this class, there is additional information taught during the lecture that appears on tests.

• Take notes during the screencasts. At first, I wrote them down by hand but ended up typing them because of how long they took to write by hand. Also, it's easier to read your notes when on a computer. You can also collaborate with people for note-taking to maximize efficiency. It can be difficult to understand which parts of the screencast are important to take notes on, but the least you can do is write down steps for processes, definitions, and diagrams.

• Don't re-watch all of the screencasts! Not only is it the equivalent of passively reading a textbook, but it is more time-efficient if you actively take notes the first time. With this method, you will not have to re-watch all of the screencasts. Reviewing my notes took a third of the time that I would have used to watch screencasts.

• Practice all of the given practice midterms and final exams and revisit concepts based on questions that you answered incorrectly.

• Keep organized with a calendar or online management system. APSC 100 has a diverse range of assessments to keep up with and many students end up missing the deadline for minor assessments that can boost their grades.

• The projects in this course are extremely time-consuming! Make sure to stay on task with studio submissions and start meetings outside of class as early as possible.

• Make your presentations as audience-friendly and on-topic as possible. Avoid large blocks of text and distracting colour themes.
  

Resources

1. There are study documents that you can use to study from for the APSC 101 midterm and final exam on StuDocu.

APSC 101 Notes