This is one of those classes I think all Phy Sci students should take. It was a really, really great and informative class. Once a day I catch myself thinking about my bone formation or how easy it would be to tear a ligament in my ankle. Dr. Whiting is also a great person and a great person. I had a very hard time with family issues during his class and he was so willing to help me out and work with me. I will miss how caring this man is.

BREAKDOWN:
Midterm 1 (Chapters 1-3 ~95 pages): 25%
Midterm 2 (Chapters 4-6, ~100 pages): 25%
Midterm 3 (Chapters 7-8, ~ 85 pages): 20%
Term Paper (~8 pages content): 30%

One tip: READ. THE. BOOK. LIKE. YOUR. LIFE. DEPENDS. ON. IT. Because your life may not but your grade sure as hell does. The tests are 99.1% book material and 0.9% emphasized lecture material. The multiple choice is pure book material and the short answer is emphasized lecture + book material. Please read the book, like multiple times. The exams during COVID were not open note. The term paper also seems scary but it was actually so fun to write. Pick a topic that you are interested about. He wants to learn when he reads these!! He let us choose a topic beyond biomechanics so thank god. Anyways, great class. Recommend IF you are willing to essentially memorize the chapters for each midterm (not cumulative).

Good, fun, easy class! If you read the textbook, you will be well-prepared for the exams.

Grading: Midterm 1 (25%), Midterm 2 (25%), Final (20%), Paper (30%)
Material: bones/muscles/joints, types of injury

Midterms are multiple choice, followed by a page of fill-in-the-blank and 1-2 long free response problems. Nearly all of the MC is based on textbook material-- he goes over some of the topics in class (strong indication they will be important later), but the textbook is NECESSARY for this class!!! You will read it cover to cover by the end of the quarter. I was surprised by how text- and detail-oriented his MC was. The free response is graded very generously.

As reviewed below, his class is very forcibly engaging-- often picks people at random to answer questions on the spot, etc. Especially likely if you're walking in late.

Overall, not a bad class to take. Would recommend attending lectures (good indicator of what will be on the tests), but its fine if you skip some. Read the textbook so you don't have to memorize 100 pages in 24hrs. Paper is doable w/o office hrs.

Overall: LOVED the class, found the it very interesting and informative. Whiting tries to engage students by constantly asking questions, a few of which are worthwhile but most of which are completely random and meant to make the class "different." It works for the first day, but his schtick gets old pretty fast. Still, the topic was interesting enough that I enjoyed it.

Class mechanics: 1 midterm, 1 final, 1 paper. As mentioned, read the textbook!!! And pay attention to the topics listed in the study guides. Lecture material ends up being maybe 1-2 questions on the test at best, so attending lecture is pretty much optional although there was usually a good turnout. Paper wasn't too bad, it's mostly research-based (summarizing current research) so just choose a topic that has enough to write about for 8-10 pages.

The lectures were entertaining and helped reinforce concepts, but the most important thing about this class is the book. Always read the book. The exams are based on the book, and you have to memorize everything he lists on the study guide, and youll be ok. Otherwise, if you rely only on lecture notes, you will not succeed in this course. I made the mistake of skimming the book and studying the lecture notes only for the first midterm, which was a bad idea, given that you are tested on the book (about 80% of the test is book material). This might be a bit difficult to adjust to at first given that the 111 series doesnt test you on the book, but once you have the book memorized you are set for the exams. Also, make sure you go to office hours for the term paper, you cannot BS your way through it. It takes a long time to write a high quality review article.