Freshman/Foundation Year (30 credits)

Program Requirements

If you are entering university for the first time from a high school system (outside of the Quebec CEGEP system), you will be required to complete a freshman/foundation year of at least 30 credits as listed below.

Normally, students registered in the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Freshman/Foundation Year program may take a maximum of 8 credits outside the Faculty offerings to meet the requirements of the program. Permission to exceed this limit must be received from the Associate Dean (Student Affairs) prior to registration.

Note: If you are not certain that you have adequate math and/or physics skills to commence the Freshman/Foundation year, you may wish to take preparatory courses prior to the normal Fall semester. You are encouraged to discuss your potential need with your academic adviser. Mathematical skill level will be determined during the first week of classes. Your Freshman/Foundation Year adviser may recommend that you register for an additional weekly Pre-calculus Lab, of one credit, which may be applied towards the required credits of the degree program.

For information on academic advising, see: http://www.mcgill.ca/macdonald/studentinfo/advising

Required Courses - Fall (14.5 credits)

• AEBI 120 General Biology (3 credits)

  Offered by: Natural Resource Sciences (Agricultural & Environmental Sciences)

  Overview

  Biology (Agric & Envir Sc) : An introduction to core themes in biological sciences, including cell structure and function, cell replication, gene expression, genetic inheritance, biodiversity, evolution, and ecological interactions.

  Terms: Fall 2024

  Instructors: Altamura, Fernando; Lovat, Christie-Anna (Fall)

  • Fall

  • 2 lectures and one 3-hour lab per week

  • Restriction: Not open to students who have obtained CEGEP competency 00UK.

• AECH 110 General Chemistry 1 (4 credits)

  Offered by: Bioresource Engineering (Agricultural & Environmental Sciences)

  Overview

  Chemistry (Agric&EnvirSci) : The course will be a study of the fundamental principles of atomic structure, valence theory and the periodic table.

  Terms: Fall 2024

  Instructors: Cherestes, Alice (Fall)

  • Fall

  • 3 lectures, one 3 hour lab, and one tutorial hour

  • Restriction: Note open to students who have taken FDSC 110.

• AEMA 101 Calculus 1 (3 credits)

  Offered by: Animal Science (Agricultural & Environmental Sciences)

  Overview

  Mathematics (Agric&Envir Sci) : A review of functions and graphs. Limits, continuity, derivatives. Differentiation of elementary functions. Anti-differentiation. Applications.

  Terms: Fall 2024

  Instructors: Altamura, Fernando (Fall)

  • Fall

  • 3 lectures

  • Prerequisite: a course in functions

• AEPH 112 Introductory Physics 1 (4 credits)

  Offered by: Bioresource Engineering (Agricultural & Environmental Sciences)

  Overview

  Physics (Agric & Envir Sci) : Kinematics in one and two dimensions. Newton's laws of motion. Circular motion and orbits. Rotation of a rigid body. Momentum. Work and energy, power. Conservation principles. Simple harmonic motion. Waves and sound.

  Terms: Fall 2024

  Instructors: Titley-Péloquin, David (Fall)

  • Fall

  • Three 1-hour lectures, one 2-hour lab, one 1.5-hour tutorial per week

  • Corequisite: AEMA 101 or equivalent

  • Restrictions: Not open to students who have passed AEPH 113 or obtained CEGEP competency 00UR. Not open to students in Bioresource Engineering.

• AGRI 195 Freshman Seminar 1 (0.5 credits)

  Offered by: Bioresource Engineering (Agricultural & Environmental Sciences)

  Overview

  Agriculture : Members of the Faculty and/or Student Services will present seminars on resources available to help students develop the requisite skills to facilitate their transition into university life.

  Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • Restriction: Open only to Freshman (U0) students. Not open to students who have taken or are taking BREE 187.

Required Courses - Winter (12.5 credits)

• AECH 111 General Chemistry 2 (4 credits)

  Offered by: Bioresource Engineering (Agricultural & Environmental Sciences)

  Overview

  Chemistry (Agric&EnvirSci) : Thermodynamics, kinetics, equilibrium, aqueous solution chemistry including applications to acids, bases and buffers and selected topics in organic chemistry.

  Terms: Winter 2025

  Instructors: Cherestes, Alice (Winter)

  • Winter

  • 3 lectures, one 3 hour lab, and one tutorial hour

  • Prerequisite(s): FDSC 110 or AECH 110

  • Restriction: Not open to students who have taken FDSC 111.

• AEMA 102 Calculus 2 (4 credits)

  Offered by: Animal Science (Agricultural & Environmental Sciences)

  Overview

  Mathematics (Agric&Envir Sci) : Integration, the indefinite and definite integral. Trapezoidal and Simpson's Rule approximations for the integral. Applications to areas between curves, distance, volume, length of a curve, work, area of a surface of revolution, average values, moments, etc. Improper integrals and infinite series.

  Terms: Winter 2025

  Instructors: Altamura, Fernando (Winter)

  • Winter

  • 3 lectures

  • Prerequisite: Calculus 1 or equivalent

• AEPH 114 Introductory Physics 2 (4 credits)

  Offered by: Bioresource Engineering (Agricultural & Environmental Sciences)

  Overview

  Physics (Agric & Envir Sci) : Electric and magnetic properties of matter: electrostatics, electric currents, the link between electric and magnetic phenomena, geometrical optics, interference diffraction.

  Terms: Winter 2025

  Instructors: Titley-Péloquin, David; Sunjka, Predrag (Winter)

  • Winter

  • 3 lecture hours, 2 lab hours, 2 tutorial hours

  • Prerequisite: AEPH 112 or AEPH 113 or PHYS 101 or PHYS 131 or CEGEP objective 00UR or equivalents, or permission of instructor

  • Corequisite: AEMA 102 (or MATH 141 or higher level calculus course) or CEGEP objective 00UP, or permission of instructor.

  • Restriction: Not open to students who have taken PHYS 102 or PHYS 142 or AEPH 115 or CEGEP objective 00US or equivalent. Not open to students in Bioresource Engineering.

• AGRI 196 Freshman Seminar 2 (0.5 credits)

  Offered by: Bioresource Engineering (Agricultural & Environmental Sciences)

  Overview

  Agriculture : Members of the Faculty will present seminars on topical issues about their areas of research.

  Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • Restriction: Open only to Freshman (U0) Students. Not open to students who have taken or are taking BREE 188.

Elective - Winter (3 credits)