PHA3011 Principles of Drug Action
PHA3021 Drugs in Disease and Health
CHM3941 Advanced Inorganic Chemistry
I would like to know how the labs are, especially if they run all semester.
Thank you
I did CHM3941 in 2014. You'll probably notice that the labs for this subject (as for pretty much all of the major 3rd year Chem subjects) are listed as going for four hours.
I think that we had labs on 9 of the weeks (no lab on first week, last week, and one week in the middle). These were made up of a 3 week prac, 2x2 week pracs, and 2x1 week pracs. Previously, there used to be a third 1-week prac, but they took that out when I did it.
The labs don't necessarily match up with what you're learning in lectures. I think in your starting lab, you'll learn about working in an inert atmosphere, as some of the reagents you use actually react upon contact with oxygen and water. Also, you get to use the dry ice/nitrogen containers, required when you want to cool things to -78 degrees (or something like that). Your prac manual details what you have to do quite well, and should have a copy of key research papers at the back, for easy reference. You probably won't spend the full four hours on all weeks. Particularly on the multiple-week pracs, working efficiently means that you might be able to leave a bit earlier on the final week. I was probably the slowest person in my lab session, and there were still weeks where I left early.
The lab manual and Moodle have guidelines on how to write your lab reports. I suggest paying attention to the uploaded marking schemes on Moodle - there are specific marks allocated to a bunch of stuff, and unfortunately the lab demonstrators can't give you those marks if they're not in your report. The lab demonstrators are really nice people though. Also, you will probably be expected to look at some research papers and use their findings to help write your discussion in your lab report. Your lab manual will contain a list of suggested papers for each prac - these are well worth reading for an understanding of what is going on.
If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me or to post here!