The entire course is very confusing, with guidelines that are extremely vague. The grading is very tough, and simple mistakes in formatting is harshly punished, regardless of the actual quality of work. She seems like a person who wants to see you fail, and who will make things difficult for no reason in order to ensure that you fail.

Most annoying class I have taken at ucsb. MCDB 1LL is an introductory lab course that is structured like a weeder class. Lots of mindless work. Grading is unnecessarily tough for a class that is so easy. Infuriating to get a 0 on assignments that you put time into because of a technicality. Put due dates in google calendar and you will do well.

Horrible. Expectations for research project in this lab were super unclear. TAs were clearly not communicated to well as they seemed confused too. Missed deadline by 10 min and was counted as a 0 docking a whole letter grade.

My grandma died right before MCDB 1A midterm, i had to fly across the country for the funeral. Alice needed proof she actually died to not get a zero with no leniency. No obituary cause she was buried 24 hrs after death (jewish) & death cert would take weeks to get. I sent a picture of me at her grave, my family was in on it and we had a laugh.

The first half of this class has a different professor, Dr. Even jokes and kind of rambles then loads a lot of vocabulary quickly in lectures. Tests used lecture concepts but also had to understand specifics a person could google for vocabulary matching questions

Professor Hayes is a unique guy. He's nice, understanding, and very knowledgeable, but sometimes he's blunt. A lot of material isn't found in the notes, so definitely show up to lecture. Provides study guides and practice tests. Grade is made up of exams only, textbook was a good supplement but not necessary. Exams seemed very fair to me.

great professor…. If I was bald like him. his tests are way too long. the final was near 100 questions. he tries to be cool by making jokes in video modules we have to watch but he tries too hard and just adds to the time of the videos to make it seem like we are learning. i spend only like 2 mins writing notes out of the 30 mins when he talks blah

It's ok, he likes to rant a lot and go off topic in lecture. The lectures are twice as long as they need to because of this.Exams are hard and will trick you, but gives a good amount of time for it. lot of discussion is different topics and the readings come from news articles so I get confused how to connect it to the lectures slides.

Visually and systematically well-formatted for online,but content deviates heavily from neutrality to partisanship.This course aims to set a platform to indoctrinate rather than educate, discouraging academic exploration or open discussions on complex topics.Students are forced to align answers with course agenda on linguistically confusing tests.

This professor was not willing to work with students. Her expectations are not reasonable. She asks more of students then she asks of herself. For example me and (over 10 other students) were completely unable to reach her. I think this is unacceptable behavior from a department head at a University such as UCSB.

This professor was not willing to work with students and made herself unavailable for comi

Really enjoyed his lectures! Fun class, but definitely have to study. Tests make up the vast majority of the grade.

I understand the rough reviews, however, she is understanding and gives second chances. She is always willing to help and just wants to see your dedication to the class. She helped me write my final poster. Tough but fair and kind at the end of the day. Go see her in person for help as much as possible.

Professor Even's lectures are engaging and he clearly cares about his students' success. Prepping with unstuckstudy and the free textbook should help you ace his challenging but fair exams.

Very poorly written/designed. Instructions could be way more clear. Lab videos are not in order/skips steps so it's more confusing than it needs to be and generally just not that helpful. Makes me miss gen chem lab because at least everything was clear.

His lectures are very detailed and easy to understand. The way he formats the class though feels like it can be a lot of work sometimes, and the time limit for quizzes and the tests can be intimidating. There are quite a few things due each week but it wasn't bad. His exams are hard but if you study and really understand, you should be fine!

Alice is literally so terrible and mean. She wants all the bio students to suffer and I truly feel like she wants to weed out as many people as she possibly can. I feel really sorry for you if you have to suffer through one of her classes. She has made me absolutely hate my major. So thanks for that!

Dr. Even is just amazing. His style of teaching is unmatched and is probably the most informative and engaging way for students to learn. His midterms are extremely fair and considering the means for both midterms were above 80%, you can tell his teaching is effective and grading is fair. love him and his bald head.

Absolute joke of a coordinator. She split a single course into 3 different professors, already confusing students, and 1 of the professors is teaching ENTIRELY on zoom. 0 accessibility, 0 transparency, 0 accommodations, and honestly the worst professor in all of UCSB. You cannot avoid her classes, but hopefully she loses her job one day.

Professor Even is awesome!! His lectures were clear and he explained everything so well. He is obviously very passionate about his work. His exam was online but still challenging so preparing is definitely still necessary. However, if you study, you'll be totally fine.

I have never had the misfortune of dealing with such a terrible person until I had to take a class the Alice Nguyen was in charge of. She is the most unaccommodating person if you have to miss any classes and she doesn't allow you to make up any grades if you do. Avoid any classes with her name attached at all costs.

I don't really know where to start... she is extremely power hungry and bureaucratic. I had an instance where a TA told me something regarding the course policies and I took it to be truth (as one does). Turns out that wasn't the case and when I did everything else right (turned in my assignment EARLY) she didn't listen during our meeting at all.

WORST professor in the MCDB department. Has no sense of social skills whatsover, and is not lenient to different circumstances. Never met a "professor" like her before. DO NOT recommend! Would rather take this class at cc than here. Not a great coordinator, the worst by far at UCSB.

if I could give 0 stars I would. probably the least empathetic person you'll ever meet in your life. and the lab manual, quizzes, and poster project are all very poorly written. on the good side, it's easy as long as you don't miss a deadline.