A+		90-100%
A		85-89%
A-		80-84%
B+		75-79%
B		70-74%
B-		65-69%
C+		60-64%
C		55-59%
D		50-54%
F		0-49%

And away we go!

My first year at UVic started in September 1993, right out of high school. I was expecting good things, and got them from Math and CompSci, but definitely not from English. Bleah.

CSC 110	Computer Science 110 - Fundamentals Of Programming: I Introduction to designing, implementing, and understanding computer programs using an imperative programming language. Topics include overview of computers and software, introduction to computing and problem solving, fundamental elements of imperative programming languages, top-down design and stepwise refinement.
A	This course was basically a course in learning Pascal. For a first look at programming of any sort, I think I did rather well. The one thing I remember most about this course was the amount of people in it. There were lots.

CSC 115

Computer Science 115 - Fundamentals of Programming: II Techniques, methods, and tools for systematic development and maintenance of software systems and documentation; basic algorithms and data structures; and fundamental concepts of object-oriented programming. Topics include control and data abstraction, modularization, abstract data types, layers of abstraction, information hiding, separation of concerns, type checking, program design, separate compilation, software libraries, techniques for the development of high-quality software components, program understanding.

A-

Not much to remember about this one. It was rather boring, as I recall.

CHEM 101	Chemistry 101 - Fundamentals of Chemistry: I Introduction to the modern theory of atomic structure and its relation to chemical bonding, molecules, states of matter; introduction to organic chemistry. This course includes a laboratory illustrating the behaviour of chemical systems and some of the basic techniques associated with quantitative chemical experimentation.
B+	Mostly organic chemistry, this course was basically memorization of all the different types of organic molecules. I think this was the course where the prof blew up a balloon filled with methane. If it was, that was the only exciting part.

CHEM 102	Chemistry 102 - Fundamentals of Chemistry: II Basic physical chemistry including thermodynamics, electrochemistry, and equilibrium in chemical systems; introduction to inorganic chemistry. This course includes a laboratory illustrating the behaviour of chemical systems and some of the basic techniques associated with quantitative chemical experimentation.
B+	This course convinced me to go into physics, rather than chemistry.

ENGL 115

English 115 - College Composition A study of expository composition and English prose. Reading consist mainly of essays for the analysis of ideas and style. Written assignments are designed to improve the student's ability to write clearly and correctly, to organize material, and to carry out basic library research. Students will write a minimum of six essays, including a substantial research paper.

C+

I hated this course. I got an A in Grade 12, so I didn't have to take any English in university, but I did anyways, and regretted it. Our prof was tyrannical; if it wasn't perfect, it was crap. I wrote the mother-of-all-essays on euthanasia, and even after he said I improved it greatly, I still received a B- on it. To this day I still wonder why I took this course.

ENGL 116	English 116 - Introduction to Literature A study of prose fiction, poetry, and drama, with practice in the writing of critical essays. Students will be assigned a minimum of four essays.
B	After ENGL 115, how could I not do better?

MATH 100	Mathematics 100 - Calculus: I Review of analytic geometry; functions and graphs; limits; derivatives; techniques and applications of differentiation; antiderivatives; the definite integral and area; logarithmic and exponential functions; trigonometric functions; Newton's, Simpson's and trapezoidal methods.
A+	I slept through this course (literally!) and still pulled off an A+. How? I took Advanced Placement Calculus in high school, and only got a 3 on the final. You need a 4 to be able to skip MATH 100. I think I'm proof that you only need a 3.

MATH 101	Mathematics 101 - Calculus: II Volumes; arc length and surface area; techniques of integration with applications; polar coordinates and area; l'Hopital's rule; Taylor's formula; improper integrals; series and tests for convergence; power series and Taylor series.
A	This still covered some of the things I learned in AP back in high school, but I actually learned new things near the end.

PHYS 120	Physics 120 - Mechanics: I Kinematics, particle dynamics, curvilinear motion, momentum, angular momentum, energy. This course is primarily for students who are planning a career in Physics or Astronomy.
B+	My first real physics course. Strangely, I don't remember much of it, other than there were about 50 people, and it was taught by Dr. Scarfe.

PHYS 220	Physics 220 - Mechanics: II Relativistic kinematics and dynamics. Noninertial systems, central force motion, harmonic oscillator, elementary rigid body dynamics, mechanical waves.
B	After this course the number of people in Physics started to decline. Quickly. Taught by Dr. Picciotto.

Hey, look, five first class marks! After my disastrous first term (4.8 GPA) I only took four courses, all of which were first class. That was my highest GPA to date, a 7.25.

ASTR 200A	Astronomy 200A - General Astronomy: I Astronomical coordinate systems, time, Kepler's laws and planetary orbits, the earth-moon system, the planets and minor planets, comets, meteors and meteorites, interplanetary particles, cosmogony, the sun.
A-	There's not much to remember from here, except that spherical coordinates still haunt me to this day. Taught by Dr. Pritchet.

ASTR 200B	Astronomy 200B - General Astronomy: II Stellar distances and magnitudes, binary stars, spectral classification, stellar evolution, variable stars, stellar motions, star clusters, interstellar medium, structure and rotation of the Galaxy, external galaxies and cosmology.
A-	The most memorable moment in this class was when some of us got the Order of Pi to come and pie Dr. Vandenberg, but he paid them off and got Chad Hogan instead.

MATH 200	Mathematics 200 - Calculus of Several Variables Vectors and vector functions; solid analytic geometry; partial differentiation; directional derivatives and the gradient vector; Lagrange multipliers; multiple integration with applications; cylindrical and spherical coordinates; surface area; line integrals; Green's Theorem.
B-	After pulling off the A's in first year, this came as a shock. When I saw my final mark I nearly died. Later on I learned that about 40% of the class failed, so I don't feel as bad now.

MATH 201

Mathematics 201 - Introduction to Differential Equations A first course in ordinary differential equations. First order equations; geometric interpretation; direction fields and integral curves; applications to the physical and biological sciences; linear equations of higher order; solutions of constant coefficient equations and their application to vibration problems; complex exponential functions; nonlinear second order equations and examples; the phase plane. The Laplace transform and applications. Singular points and global behaviour of some problems.

A

A welcome course after MATH 200, this was actually taught by the same guy. I guess the Math department came down on him, and he went a little easier.

MATH 233A	Mathematics 233A - Matrix Algebra: I Matrices; simultaneous equations; determinants; vectors in 2-, 3- and n-tuple space; inner product; linear independance and rank; change of coordinates; rotation of axes in 2- and 3-dimensional Euclidean space; orthogonal matrices; eigenvalues and eigenvectors.
B	Before going into the final I swore I was going to fail this course. I suppose stress like that does good things for one's study habits, because I obviously didn't fail.

PHYS 214	Physics 214 - An Introduction to Laboratory Electronics Standard laboratory electronic equipment, circuit properties such as impedance and resonance, semiconductor devices such as diodes and transistors, system functions such as feedback and switching.
B	I can't remember a heck of a lot from this course. Taught by Dr. Robertson.

PHYS 215	Physics 215 - Introductory Quantum Physics Introduction to topics in quantum physics.
A-	This was a sort of fun course. About the only thing I remember is that my text was thicker than everybody else's, even though they all had the same number of pages. Shows you that I gained a lot from this course... Taught by Dr. Pitman.

PHYS 216	Physics 216 - Introductory Electricity and Magnetism Electric and magnetic fields, Faraday's Law of Induction, dielectric and magnetic materials, capacitors, inductors, transformers, D.C. circuits, AC circuits using complex numbers, LRC circuits.
A-	Another dry physics class. Taught by Dr. Mason.

STAT 260

Statistics 260 - Introduction to Probability and Statistics: I Descriptive statistics; elementary probability theory; random variables, discrete and continuous probability distributions; expectation, joint, marginal and conditional distributions; linear functions of random variables; random sampling and sampling distributions; point and interval estimation; classical hypothesis testing and significance testing. The mathematical foundations of statistical inference will be introduced and illustrated with examples from a variety of disciplines.

C+

Did you read that description? Were you bored? Take that, couple it with the slowest professor you've ever seen, and have that course last thing on Fridays. Now you know why I only got a C+. Of course, knowing we could take a cheat sheet into the final would have helped...

A pile of B's, but no C+'s. Only one A, though. This year was split up. The first term was classes, but in January I headed off to Ottawa for my first Co-op work term, so my second term of classes was in the summer.

ASTR 303

Astronomy 303 - Introductory Extragalactic Astronomy The distance scale, properties of galaxies, observational cosmology.

B+

I'll remember this course as my first blunder in astronomy. We had to do a research paper, so I did one on brown dwarfs. Now, they hadn't been 'discovered' when I wrote up the paper, but the day after I handed it in a group announced they'd found one. My problem was that the one they discovered I said was probably not a brown dwarf. Great. My first paper and already I'm getting things wrong... Taught by Dr. Burke.

MATH 224

Mathematics 224 - Logic and Foundations Set theory, functions, relations, partial orderings, equivalence relations and partitions, connectives and truth tables, quantifiers, number of ways of arranging n items, number of ways of selecting r items out of n, methods of proof including mathematical induction, trees, graphs, asymptotic notation, exact and asymptotic solutions of recurrence relations, properties of integers.

B

This was a pretty fun course, taken because I had an elective in the summer. It was fairly interesting stuff, but I think I should have done more of the assigned problems...

MATH 323

Mathematics 323 - Applied Differential Equations A brief review of the material covered in 201. Series solutions of selected second order differential equations with variable coefficients with special emphasis on Bessel's and Legendre's equations. Linear systems of differential equations. The application of the Laplace transforms for systems. Numerical methods with applications. Some qualitative results.

B-

The day of the final for this course Victoria was struck by a freezing rain storm, shutting the city down. I had to catch a bus to get to the final, but the busses had stopped running. After standing in the cold for a good half-hour, a group of us finally managed to get a taxi. I arrived at the final a half-hour late, and 'finished' it an hour and a half later. I should have stayed home, because they offered re-writes, and I know I would have done better than a B-. My mind just wasn't into the final that day, resulting in that low mark.

MATH 326	Mathematics 326 - Introduction to Partial Differential Equations Partial differential equations in physics (wave, heat and Laplace equations), solution by separation of variables, boundary value problems, orthogonal functions, Fourier series, transform methods (Laplace and Fourier transforms), numerical methods.
A	See? I told you I could do differential equations. This is a more representative mark than the one I got for 323.

MATH 330A	Mathematics 330A - Advanced Calculus Sequences and series of real numbers; sequences and series of real valued functions; uniform convergence; Fourier series; differentiation and integration of series of real valued functions; power series; Taylor series; Taylor's formula with remainder; multivariate calculus; implicit function, Stokes and divergence theorems.
B+	I can't remember a heck of a lot from this course.

MATH 330B	Mathematics 330B - Introduction to Complex Variables An introduction to the theory of functions of a complex variable, analytic functions, elementary functions, integration, power series, residue theory.
B	This was a fairly fun course, but a little challenging. Coming out of the final I thought I had higher than a B, but I suppose all the other brilliant people in the class threw the curve.

PHYS 317	Physics 317 - Thermodynamics The theory and application of thermodynamics.
B-	Without a doubt, the single-most worst physics course I've taken to date. It was just horrendous.

PHYS 321A	Physics 321A - Classical Mechanics: I Topics covered include oscillatory motion, motion under a central force, dynamics of a system of particles, gravitational potential theory, special relativity.
B	This course was pretty cool, but I blew the final. There was one question I answered in class, but all memory of that answer left me when I needed it for the final. Oh well. At least I beat the top two students on the midterm. Combined. Add up their marks and they still wouldn't have beat me. Taught by Dr. Vollick.

PHYS 326	Physics 326 - Electricity and Magnetism Transients in RCL circuits, transmission lines, displacement current, Maxwell's equations, plane electromagnetic waves.
B	And thus my dislike of E&M begins. I don't know why, I just can't get my head around E&M. The profs I've had have been above average, so it's not them... Taught by Dr. Dosso.

PHYS 413A	Physics 413A - Quantum Physics: I An introduction to quantum mechanics, the hydrogen atom, optical spectra and electronic structures, x-rays.
B+	This was a great course, even though I didn't do all too well in it. Dr. Lefèbvre made it one of the most enjoyable courses I've had yet. I was 0.6% away from an A-, though.

This year is where things really start to get screwey. The first term of my fourth year was spent working in Vancouver, so I didn't start classes until January 1997. Only one term of classes, followed by two work terms in Hawaii. Another term of classes, followed by a work term at DAO, then one last term of classes. When will it all end???

ASTR 304	Astronomy 304 - The Solar System Astronomy of the sun, the planets and satellites, meteors and comets, including recent results from space exploration.
A+	I wish Dr. Tatum would teach every course. I'd have so much more fun. This class was a blast. Slides up the ying-yang. Quite a bit of memorization, though.

ASTR 400	Astronomy 400 - Radio Astronomy The detection of cosmic radio waves; mechanisms for production of radio noise; the sources of radio waves; the contribution of radio astronomy to our knowledge of the universe.
B+	One of my smallest classes, there were only five people in it. Our prof, Dr. Gower, has been in radio astronomy since the beginning, so she definitely knew her stuff. She made it fun, too. One of my favourite courses.

ASTR 404	Astronomy 404 - Introduction to Astrophysics: II The structure and evolution of the stars; interstellar matter; high energy astrophysics.
B-	This was combined with a grad-level course, and was a little tough. We had a term project which consisted of doing a computer model of a neutron star. I got 24/25. Apparently I blew the final. Taught by one of the big names at UVic, Dr. Hartwick.

ASTR 429B	Astronomy 429B - Observational Astronomy: II
A-	This is commonly known as the honours lab, because all honours students have to take it, and it's a lab course. Two labs, one term project. Not bad, but I think we blew the term project. Taught by Dr. Pritchet.

PHYS 321B	Physics 321B - Classical Mechanics: II Rigid body dynamics, an introduction to analytical mechanics including Lagrange's and Hamilton's equations, theory of small oscillations.
A+	Another fun physics course. I think the grade says it all. Taught by Dr. Tatum.

PHYS 325	Physics 325 - Optics Reflection and refraction at plane and spherical surfaces, thin lenses, lens abberations, optical instruments, interference, diffraction, polarization.
B-	One of the drier courses at UVic, I waited out Dr. Lobb, only to get Dr. Keelor, who seemed to teach the course at a Grade 11 level. I don't know how I got a B-, though. I had about 75% going into the final...

PHYS 413B	Physics 413B - Quantum Physics: II Selected applications of quantum mechanics to atoms, molecules, solid state physics, nuclei and fundamental particles; quantum statistics and lasers.
C+	Bleah. Hideous. I thought I was better at quantum physics than this. I suppose not showing up to class hurts one's grades... But Dr. Mason isn't the most exciting of professors, so I didn't have much incentive to go. I could have sworn I did better on the final than a C+ would suggest...

PHYS 421	Physics 421 - Statistical Mechanics Boltzmann, Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac statistics.
B-	Wouf. Hideous course. I thought it would be okay going into the final (even though I got 50% on the midterm), but no. I walked away with about 60% on the final before the scaling, 72% after. And that was good. Taught by Dr. Watton, who isn't a bad prof, by the way. Just bad subject material.

PHYS 422	Physics 422 - Electromagnetic Theory Potential theory, Maxwell's equations, electromagnetic waves.
B+	Even though it's E&M, Dr. Cooperstock made a dull subject much more interesting. In the lab section for this course I 'discovered' some sort of anomaly in an electromagnetic field... the lab instructor suggested I call it the 'Brad zone', so I put that in my report, much to the amusement of my fellow students. Even though I bombed the final (only 58%) I still managed a B+.

PHYS 490	Physics 490 - Directed Studies - Medical Physics An introduction to the broad aspects of medical physics. Topics will include production and measurement of x-rays and charged particles, interaction of radiation with biological materials, physics of nuclear medicine, medical imaging, the physics of x-ray imaging, PET, and MR.
A-	This was the first year they offered this course, and I jumped at it. It was interesting, although more material could have been covered. After this course was finished I was asked if I had any plans for grad school, and if not I should consider medical physics. And thus a new door opened... Taught by the tag-team of Dr. Scrimger and Dr. Schreiner.