Matt Shaw
101 Guide to COMM1101 with Benjamin Woo
Updated: Apr 27, 2020
By: Jenny Giang
It’s that time of the year again. September is fast approaching with many eager first-years ready to start university. For those of you in Communication Studies, here are a few things I learned from my experience in COMM1101 with Benjamin Woo on Monday mornings at 8:30am. Get comfortable folks and read on!

I know you guys will be rolling up to COMM1101 the same way Will did on his way to Bel-Air!
Do all the readings, it will save your life.It sounds like cliché advice that you hear from everyone, but doing your readings before the lecture is highly beneficial, especially for COMM1101. B. Woo’s lectures are on the readings. He structures them in a way where if you haven’t done the assigned readings for that week, you’ll have a hard time understanding and grasping the content.I’m not kidding; it WILL save your life. B. Woo’s short quizzes are based on the readings, so if you are serious about your grade, happy reading folks!
Buy the clicker, BUY IT.You might think the clicker is useless since you only use it for weekly quizzes and in-class polls. My first thought when I saw the price for the clicker was, “Do I really need it THAT badly?” The truth is YES! In the end I was so glad that bought it because the quizzes make sure you grasp the readings and even though it’s not much, the 10% of your grade that they’re worth, is a lot. Also, you might get a few looks when everyone has their clicker and you don’t.

3. Attend every single class, you’ll thank me later. Skipping lectures is something I’m sure almost everyone has done before, at least once. However, skipping COMM1101 is not an option. Each class has a quiz and B. Woo only posts the key terms on his PowerPoint slides, leaving out the explanations for those terms. He’ll only give the important explanations and examples during his lectures, which are never on the PowerPoint slides. Attending every class will quite literally, save your grade.

4. Talk to your TA

Photo credits: Will Smith – image found on twitter Shia Labeouf Beyoncé – image found on twitter Professor Penny from The Big Bang Theory Britney Spears