Boooooooooring! Luckily lectures were posted online so I could watch them on my own time, AND I STILL FELL ASLEEP! the woman means well but let's be real, she has no charisma. TAKE CLAS AND READ THE TEXTBOOK!!! do not rely solely on her lack luster lectures.

People that are complaining about her have no reason to, they just were likely not willing to put in the work. Her class was excellent, she is easy to work with, and she knows more than any other professor I have had. Just look at the grammar of the people who didn't like her.

Awesome prof. The course has a TON of information you need to know but Hayes does a good job teaching. He copies questions from old tests and the practice questions he gives out. Super funny, and a bit of a smart alec, but great for learning microbio. Go to his office hours

Horrible professor. Her lecture slides are awful, thus making her lectures awful as well. Fails to convey key concepts well and then expects us to know everything come exam time. Definitely a weeder class for the pre-meds and such. It's tough, no doubt. Go to CLAS and read the text carefully.

The WORST professor I have ever had at UCSB. She's monotonous and her slides are of no help. She makes things way more complicated than they need to be. You're better off just reading the book. Do not even bother showing up to class. The final was near impossible. She will purposely try to trick you, so know EVERYTHING.

She basically make things that are not really that difficult unnecessarily complex. Topics that were interesting to me (like photosynthesis) became utterly boring when it came out from her. Her test is EXTREMELY HARD. Study and attend CLAS.

Dr. Finkelstein is a great teacher and is the most helpful person ever. Not going to lie, really tough but rewarding.

Dr Finkelstein is very helpful and understanding if you talk to her. She will also give you hints by "clarifying" her tricky tests if you ask her intelligent questions. She is a very nice woman!!!!

Not really helpful. It is extremely useful if you attend CLAS. Her final was pretty hard. Be prepared to know every detail that lies within her slides and even more. Her tests make it extremely difficult to pick the actual correct answer because they will be formatted to be: A, B, C, A and C, or All of the above (this is an example of course).

Very smart and knows her stuff. However, her test questions are very tricky. 4 words: know everything about everything. Yes, plant physiology is boring, but this isn't her fault. SOMEONE has to teach it to us. However, the fact that she makes her test questions very tricky IS something that is in her hands. Again, know everything about everything

I liked her! I studied A LOT but since I did, the final was super easy. Just go over her slides a lot a lot a lot. Honestly, the hardest part about her test is that the answers are wrong because one word is off or something. But if you study you will do great! And she always answered my questions after class. She's really nice.

She has an affinity over plants, she really does; but teaching plants was just not her thing. She's very smart and knows everything about plants, but plants are just not something that many people enjoy. I liked her, but not plants. At least she tried. Teaching plant physiology is just not her strength at what she does.

BRUTAL final. Know everything about everything. She's really smart and knowledgeable at what she does. But that doesn't make things any better esp. when you're a premed and need near stellar grades for your goals of going to med school. booo

boring lecturer, horrible slides that fail to define a lot of simple processes or terms, and dull subject. covers a lot more depth than I needed for an intro class.

sweet lady! you can't help but smile if you talk with her in person - she loves to help people and gives proper direction. if you have any problems, or think the class is too hard, TALK TO HER! she will make it so much easier!

great class. she has clear lecture slides and she provides great supplemental detail! to all those people leaving (-) comments, they prob just don't know how to sort out supplemental detail from what she wants you to know, which she makes clear even in 1b. Very knowledgeable & a GREAT resource for plants, genetics, or developmental! give her a try!

Had her for mcdb 1b too. She's one of the smartest people I know - I don't just mean knowing the material. There is so much people can learn from her, and I think you have to take something other than an intro class of 800+ before you can properly judge anybody - she is so much better than these comments

I liked her. You could tell she really loves plants. She just seems really boring when she's following Dr. Low who is so enthusiastic! If you study all the material and do her practice final or quizzes you'll do fine.

she is very smart but her lectures are incredibly boring, unless you happen to love plants. that isnt her fault though. her test questions are very difficult and you need to know the information backwards and forwards.

Not only are her lectures so boring its unbearable to sit through, but her exams are the hardest tests ever. I'd rather watch plants grow then listen to her talk about plants. avoid if possible. she tries to kill students with exams and doesn't care if ppl do bad

there is alot of information that you need to know, but it isnt really hard if you can keep up with the studying. he does reuse all of his exams, so if you can get ahold of them, you are pretty much set. he is funny, and easy to approach. seriously tho, try to get his old exams

Her midterm was ridiculous, not because the material was hard, but because of the way she worded the problems. Did not read the book, because all her exams were purely from her vague lecture slides. Not a very good professor, does not explain the concepts well.

She isn't mean, but she didn't seem to care if the class understood what she was talking about or not. Doesn't explain things well. Tough and tricky exam. I had to read the book thoroughly to figure out all the information for myself. She goes into too much detail about things. Avoid if possible.

his tests are not really hard if you know the material. the only thing that makes this class hard is that there is a LOT of info, and it's impossible to know all of it, so it's hard to know what you will be tested on. you NEED to go to class! write things down, tests on stuff he says in lec.