A foundation course concerning the mechanisms of evolution at micro- and macroevolutionary levels, and interpretation of the resulting patterns of adaptation and organic diversity.
4
UnitsLetter
Grading1
PasstimeNone
Level LimitLetters and science
CollegeLecture
Sections
Turner is a great professor and an interesting guy. He explains concepts well but there is a lot you have to learn on your own. If you do the reading and rewatch lectures you can do very well in his classes. Also, all of his lectures are recorded which was very helpful. Midterm was graded very harshly , but his grading scale makes up for it
If you suck at taking tests, do not take this professor. Quizzes are tricky (on purpose) and it's hard to find the answer unless you deeply read the textbook (no one has time to read 50 pages 2x a week). Lectures are engaging, but he does say a lot of unnecessary stuff that won't be on the exam. Free response is graded harshly.
Tom gives very high quality lectures, no iclicker and they were all recorded. I liked going in person, he is very engaging, plus evolution is an interesting topic. Midterm was graded harshly and there was a trick question, but final was much better once you learn his grading style. Go to discussion section, the TAs like to drop hints and help you.
Evolution was my favorite, but now every time I think of evolution, I think about how stressed I was. If he graded the final as harshly as he did with the midterm (unreasonable) then I would have rated him a 1. Cheat sheets were annoying to make. Felt like nothing I wrote helped me. Quizzes were hard. Short answer questions sucked.
I really enjoyed this class. The weekly discussion questions are great indicators of what will be on the exams. Lectures are engaging and have tons of examples for each concept. Professor Turner is very kind and open to helping students understand difficult concepts, and I believe the exams were more than fair.
Grade is based only on quizzes, midterm, and final. Quizzes cover chapters from the textbook and are due before lecture so you must read the book (50ish pages per chapter). Overall I thought Turner was a good professor and his grading scale is extremely fair. He didn't respond well to criticism after the midterm though; strict on free response.