Does not convey the lecture material in helpful or explanatory ways. I learned all content for this class from the book or CLAS. Her lectures are jumbled and she jumps straight in saying terms you've never heard of or showing complex graphics and barely explains them at all. Would have failed this class if it wasn't for reading the entire book. I

Honestly, you'll have to teach yourself most of the material. Lectures are NOT engaging whatsoever and half of the time you can barely follow her line of thought. Seems confused about her own course content and it seems like she sometimes has zero interest in what she's saying. Would not recommend, and would not take again.

Hayes is incredibly condescending during lecture, and writes exams by whim that include information from one slide that is entirely irrelevant to the rest of the course. It is really easy to do sufficiently well in this class, but incredibly difficult to take away any useful information or actually learn anything. Would not take again.

This was so far the easiest MCDB lab I have taken. The exams were all online. Also the experiments were very low stakes, not like O Chem labs where if you really messed up you would miss a bunch of points.

All in all I thought this was a great class. Professor Hayes was very clear with how we would be graded and what material was important for us to remember for exams. Both the midterm and the final were multiple choice. Some questions were definitely trickier than others, but once you get used to his question style, the questions aren't too bad.

Chris is the worst lecturer and test writer I've had in my 4 years at this institution. We didn't cover the intended material, so weekly quizzes covered stuff outside the scope of the course. He is condescending and regularly insults his students. His Fall 2022 final had a basic trigonometry question simply to mess up student. 2/10, do not take.

just put the effort into learning, and it will pay back, her tests were very similar to the practice test she gave out.

Terrible professor. Monotonous tone makes lectures unbearable, tests you on the most obscure and minuscule details, and overall makes the class very unenjoyable. Only positives were the curve (~8%) and that she played music before lectures started in-person.

Prof. Finkelstein's teaching style did not align well with many students. It involved a lot of lecturing AT us and little to no interactive learning/engaging lessons. The iclickers and quizzes were slightly useful for gauging knowledge... but overall, a really poor learning experience. Tests were hard, and there was no traditional curve.

Finkelstein does not make this hard class any easier. Her lectures are extremely slow, and she asks for very detailed answers on her exams. Plant physio was tough, but CLAS helped somewhat.

Doesn't explain literally anything, regardless of whether the entire class gets iClicker questions wrong. Tests are ridiculously detail-oriented on things she mentioned offhandedly once, aren't on the slides, or even in the textbook!!! Not even enough time to look through them anyways She does provides a lot of resources for studying though

This is THE WORST professor I have EVER come across. I am so sorry if you ever have to sit through a class with this person. Her lectures are absolutely dreadful and her exam questions make you wonder why anyone would ever want to study biology. Seriously, I don't get what she is thinking when she comes up with these exam questions.

Her lectures are really hard to pay attention to because they are really dull and she has a very low voice. The slides she uses are really hard to take notes on because they are all pictures and very few words. I try so hard to pay attention in this class but catch myself zoning out every 5 minutes because she is so boring

Hayes is an odd bird. He's extremely intelligent, the guy is literally an encyclopedia, so sometimes its hard to distinguish between material we actually need to know for the class or if he is just flexing his knowledge on us. Tests are nearly impossible, many questions asked way beyond the scope of the course and also directly contradicts himself.

This class sucked. The lectures were extremely painful to watch. 10% section attendance, 30% MT, and 60% final. The content of the exams were fair, but there was a massive time crunch on the MT. Didn't even get to finish the exam. Professor seemed really uninterested in teaching. My TA was really snobby too.

I'm not sure if it's microbio, but the way he taught it was super dry and bland. Take notes on what he says in class because the slides are mostly pictures. The tests have both on-the-surface questions and doable application questions. There was not a lot of time for the midterm. You can use notes for his online class.

I liked Finkelstein even though her lectures were a little dry. She is very knowledgeable and always answers any questions you have. There are some scientific articles that are hard to understand but she helps you learn how to analyze papers better which I think is a good skill to have.

The midterm is 40% of the overall grade, and the final exam is 60% of the overall grade. He mostly tests from his slides and from his lectures, so make sure to listen to what he talks about during lecture, just in case the information may not be in the slides. Overall, the class is a solid mix of memorization and concept application.

I love his lectures! He is hilarious and loves when students are engaged and ask questions. There was only one midterm and one final, both are a mix of MC and open ended questions. If you go to class and listen you have nothing to worry about. He is an amazing professor and really well respected in the micro community.

I am not someone who has a hard time focusing in class, but her monotone voice and lack of personality really makes it hard to get into the material. She does about 5 iclicker questions per lecture so bring that sucker to class. Tests are very hard, but as long as you study the lecture slides and do the online tests you will pass.

Her lectures are extremely boring. Watching the recordings 2x fast is the only way to get through them. Iclickers for accuracy, a few extra credit quizzes, and a review session for the final. Provides good resources, but really makes you work for a decent grade. Definitely do clas.

There is so much content for this class, and you really need to know the nitty gritty details or else you will get many questions on the exams wrong. Lectures are dull and hard to pay attention to. She is not really approachable and does not seem that interested or enthusiastic about teaching. Go to CLAS, rewatch lectures, organize your notes.

Dr. Finkelstein is a nice human being but an awful lecturer. Each lecture covers too many materials and you never know what will or will not be on the tests. Sometimes you checked on your phone for a second and could not follow her since then. Get ready to review recordings of the lectures. Questions are very tricky and very difficult to answer.

She knows her stuff but had a monotone voice which made it impossible to pay attention. Went to lecture for the iclicker points and watched lectures later at home. She went way too fast in lectures so even if you paid attention you'd have to go back and watch it again. The content is interesting but she made me hate bio. Tests are tricky