Prerequisites
An introductory biology course is a prerequisite. Most of you will have taken Introduction to Molecular and Cellular Biology (C2005/C2006) or Contemporary Biology (F2401/F2402) here at Columbia. If you took a biology course a few years ago or at a different school, I suggest that you look through the syllabus for our introductory course C2006/F2402 and review the relevant chapters in Purves or Sherwood, both of which are on reserve in the Biology Library.

Readings

The detailed schedule contains links and lists of readings. I recommend that you read the textbook, which will help you understand what we cover in lecture, but you will not be held responsible for material in the text that we haven't covered. You will be responsible for material that is listed as "Required reading". This will include articles from scientific journals, which will explore areas of physiology in more detail than we cover in lecture. You should concentrate on the general ideas in these articles; don't worry about the specific details. For readings that are not available on the web, I will leave copies on reserve in the Biology Library.

Biology Library, 6th floor Fairchild. Hours:

2pm-10pm...Sunday
9am-10pm...Monday-Thursday
9am--5pm...Friday
12pm-7pm...Saturday

Studying

Study questions will be given out during the semester. These are questions from past exams, or from the physiology textbooks. Don't just look at the questions and glance at the answers. It's not so important to know the answers to these specific questions -- These are not the same questions that you'll get on the exam! What is important is that you are able to figure out the answers based on the material you learned in class. In trying to answer these questions, you must review in your mind what you know about the topic, and this is a good way to test your mastery of the subject matter.

It is always helpful to study with other students, since you can see if you know the material well enough to explain it to someone else. Optional recitations will be held twice a week. If you would like to form a study group, send me an email ([email protected]) and I'll forward you the list of other students who are interested.

For those who'd like to study with a private tutor, there are sometimes students from previous years, or graduate students, who are looking for this sort of job. Any financial arrangements are between the two of you. As of now, the following people are interested:

Eric Wolf, [email protected]
Took Physiology here as an undergrad, is now in medical school uptown.