There are no formal prerequisites for this course, but we do presuppose high school-level biology and chemistry (especially familiarity with the fundamental aspects of chemical structure). Take the Chemistry Self-Evaluation to test yourself.

Course Text (2007): Life, The Science of Biology (7th Edition) by Purves et al. Available at the MIT Coop. Some copies are also on reserve at the library.

Recommended Text (2007): A Problems Approach to Introductory Biology by White & Mischke.  Available at the MIT Coop. NOTE: This is a book of practice problems for a general introductory biology course. If you would like more problems to practice then this book might be helpful. Problems from this book will NOT be assigned.

Note on using your time and resources: As you study in this course, your first source should be section and problem set problems and lecture notes. The textbook serves as a reference and a good source for additional information and quality illustrations.

Class email list
The email list for 7.014 is 7.014-students@mit.edu. Membership on this list allows you access to the restricted areas of this site. The list is populated on a daily basis with information from the Registrar's office. If you are officially registered for this course you need only have your MIT Certificates to access the materials. If you are not registered, you will not be on the email list and will not be able to access the site.

If you are auditing this course with instructor permission, please see a TA or one of the professors who will ensure that you are added to the email list.

Important access and browser information:

As mentioned above, you need your MIT Certificates to access the restricted materials. As for web browsers, if you use a PC, you can use either Firefox or Internet Explorer. Netscape is no longer an MIT-recommended browser. If you use a Mac, you should use Safari (if your OS is 10.3.x or higher, not 10.2 or lower) or Firefox. Certificates will NOT work in IE on the Mac. In Athena, your certificates should give you no problem in the standard browser, Mozilla. On Linux, the supported browsers are Mozilla 1.4x and 1.7x and Mozilla Firefox.

If you have browser or certificate problems please contact IS&T Computing Help, 3-1101.

Tutors
Tutors are available at no charge for all students who wish to have extra help with the course material, either on a one-time or on a regular basis. Feel free to contact the tutors by e-mail to arrange meetings; please be sure to notify the tutors in advance if you are unable to make a pre-arranged meeting.

Recitations
Regular weekly attendance is expected. Each section meets twice per week for 50 minutes.

Please go to the recitation section assigned to you by the registrar. If that recitation does not fit your schedule, send email to 7.014-recitations@mit.edu. Include your current section information and the section you hope to attend. Please note that section enrollment is limited to 20 and not all requests can be accommodated. Attend your assigned section until the change is confirmed by email.

If you were assigned to the recitation section not listed below, please go to the section happening at the same time as your assigned section.

Recitations, Spring 2007

One minute assessment
During each recitation you will be asked to take a minute to tell the staff of the course what was confusing about each lecture and/or what was particularly interesting. We will use your answers to clarify any confusing points, and to otherwise help you with the class material.

The surveys are an invaluable part of this course. Student answers allow us to identify and immidiately correct prevailing confusions and misconceptions, as well as to quickly react to a variety of student comments and concerns.

Problem Sets
Problem sets are available here.

The solutions to the problem sets will be posted on the web after the problem set due date. Of the 6 graded problem sets, the lowest grade is dropped in calculating your final grade (see below).

Although you may engage in general discussions of problems, sharing of answers is a violation of the trust placed in all students in the class, each of whom is entrusted with producing her/his own set of answers. Students who copy problem set answers or allow their problem sets to be copied may receive a 0 for all the Problem Sets (and thus lose 20% of the grade).

Completed problem sets must be put in the appropriate TA's box in the wooden cart stationed outside room 68-120 by 5:00pm on the due date (by the clock in 68-120).

***Problem sets will not be accepted late and will be scored ZERO points if not turned in on time.***

Quizzes/Exams
Three quizzes and a final exam are given in this course. The quizzes are given during the term from 12:05 p.m. to 12:55 p.m., and a comprehensive final (worth 2 quizzes), given during finals week.

Each of the term quizzes will take place on the dates listed in the syllabus. There will be no make-up quizzes and no conflict quizzes given for any reason.

The Final Exam is a 3-hour, cumulative exam, covering the entirety of the course. The score on the final exam will be halved and each half counts as a quiz score when calculating your grade. The final represents two of the five quiz scores and must be taken, otherwise you lose 20% of your grade. The date, time, and location of the final will be announced as soon as this information is available.

Quiz Review Sessions will be held prior to each quiz – the dates, locations and times of the reviews will be announced during the term.
Any quizzes, exams, or problem sets that are not picked up by the end of the term will be disposed of.

Grading Policy
Your overall course grade is determined by the following components:

Regrades of Quizzes
If you find an addition error, show it to your TA to have it corrected.

If you feel that your answer was graded incorrectly, please submit a written explanation of your regrade request and your unaltered quiz to the course instructor. Note that most quizzes are photocopied before they are returned to the students. If you submit an altered quiz for regrade, you may be given a failing grade for the entire course or referred to the MIT Committee on Discipline.

Quizzes must be submitted for regrading within one week from the date of the quiz.