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MCDB 1A
NGUYEN A T
Alice Nguyen
1.2
83 reviews
Petra Kranzfelder
4.0
5 reviews

88
2.6
MCDB1AL . Nguyen A T 8 Months Ago

This course is extremely frustrating. Instructions are very unclear, deadlines are ridiculous. Only given 48 hours to turn in lab workbook despite it taking over a month for it to get graded. Received 0% for an assignment that I spent hours on because of a technicality that was not clear in her horrible directions.

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MCDB1AL . Nguyen A T 9 Months Ago

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.

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MCDB1A . Nguyen A T 10 Months Ago

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.

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MCDB1A . 10 Months Ago

Petra is so nice and really wants you to succeed in bio, but I had to do a lot of studying on my own because she is not good at explaining concepts. The first 5-10 min of class is just updates and reminders and we skips a lot of materials taught in big bio, but I won't complain because her midterm questions are so easy.

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MCDB1AL . Nguyen A T 1 Year, 20 Days Ago

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.

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MCDB1AL . Nguyen A T 1 Year, 20 Days Ago

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

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MCDB1AL . Nguyen A T 1 Year, 4 Months Ago

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.

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MCDB1A . 1 Year, 5 Months Ago

Dr. K was so nice, but this was her first time teaching this class, and it showed. There were always mistakes on slides/quizzes, which was confusing. Her lecture notes are also very messy, which makes it hard to review when studying for exams. The lectures also don't cover all the material on the exams, which are VERY specific on concepts.

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MCDB1AL . Nguyen A T 1 Year, 9 Months Ago

One of the worst human beings I've ever had the misfortune of meeting in my entire life. Not only is she hard to reach outside of class (which she doesn't even teach herself), she is also EXTREMELY insensitive. You can't miss any labs unexcused. My boyfriend thought he had covid and she still made him go to his lab because he didn't have a DR note

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MCDB1A . Nguyen A T 1 Year, 9 Months Ago

Does not respond to emails, very unhelpful. Pretends to be a resource for students to reach out to via the "Intro Bio Team" but refuses to help students, posts practice tests with incorrect answer keys, does not respond to any emails/will not meet with you if you have questions. Unhelpful and honestly just rude.

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MCDB1ALEEMB2 . Nguyen A T 2 Years Ago

All the labs and classes were a mess. Most of the time for exams we are left in the dark. Expectations of the material we need to know is unclear and the lectures are a mess. Your grade is basically just based on exams. If you can take the other eemb professor. Their class has better structure and direction.

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MCDB1ALEEMB2 . Nguyen A T 2 Years Ago

Ugh I thought MCDB lab was disorganized but just wait until you get to EEMB lab. My EEMB T.A. has no idea what's going on (she wasn't helpful), can't answer any of my questions. Like how am I supposed to write my 6pg paper when no one knows shi Istg I just can't with her anymore. Was pretty easy depending on TA. MCDB better than EEMB.

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MCDB1A . Nguyen A T 4 Years Ago

Half the class was accused of cheating on the last day of the quarter so no one could do anything about it. She didnt respond to the emails. Left us in the dark. Some got letters saying it was a mistake on their end. All exams had multiple mistakes they refused to fix. Waited to very last minute to submit final grades so we could not protest.

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MCDB1AL . Nguyen A T 5 Years Ago

The class wasnt well run but not necessarily that difficult besides that. Dr. Nguyen didnt do her PhD in a molecular biology field, which was apparent when she tried do discuss even intro molecular biology topics, and especially more obvious in hindsight as you go on to upper div MCDB classes. Not the same level of quality as other UCSB profs.

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MCDB1AL . Nguyen A T 7 Years Ago

too much work! should be worth way more than 1 unit!!!!!!!!

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MCDB1AL . Nguyen A T 7 Years Ago

She has written down on the course policies that she gives makeup exams but she doesn't. Says you can contest your grade but when I complained about a grading mistake on my practical (and I'm 100% sure), the staff refused to fix it. Reuses questions she threw out other quarters because 1/2 students got another very close answer.

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MCDB1ALMCDB1A . Nguyen A T 7 Years Ago

negligent, incompetent, disorganized, lazy

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MCDB1AL . Nguyen A T 7 Years Ago

Several videos to watch in order to take a weekly quiz, reading the lab manual before lab, a ridiculous amount of questions in the manual that you need to answer, two practicals, and a fat research project without ANY guidance and sources that hardly make sense or cover necessary material. Good luck!

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MCDB1AL . Nguyen A T 7 Years Ago

Trust me, too much work for 1 unit class. Lab manual is so unorganized

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MCDB1AL . Nguyen A T 7 Years Ago

I'm going to come off as so extra but I swear, this is most disorganized class that I've ever taken w the most disorganized lab manual that I've ever read. The lab manual constantly has conflicting information in it, is written out of order, is so grammatically incorrect and vague, etc. yet we are graded on our knowledge of extremely specific info

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MCDB1A . Nguyen A T 7 Years Ago

Objectively graded class, no curve or very low curve. Make a good connection with your TA because they grade your paper that is worth about 20% of your grade. Do all the pre-labs and labs on time, these are the easy points. 1 unit class, but if you want to get a good grade, study hard for the practicals.

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MCDC1A1AL . Nguyen A T 8 Years Ago

May be one of the most disorganized people for this job. She is in charge of coordinating the lectures and labs for intro bio classes and fails to do so well. The class is over complicated and the lab doesn't match the class at all. During my final she repeatedly screamed out errors she made on the final in a disruptive way. Very negative person.

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MCDB1ALEEMB2 . Nguyen A T 8 Years Ago

Very disorganized. Overcomplicate concepts in an intro class. The experiments she design barely match lectures. Has a lot of attitudes. Practicals are hard to study for. She really doesn't deserve this job.

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EEMB2LL . Nguyen A T 5 Months Ago

It sucks I have to rate this class so low, because my TA was really good. The subject matter was not as interesting as MCDB lab, but the exercises were much easier since we got instant feedback/unlimited attempts. Nguyen is not very responsive, you should never ask for help unless really necessary. So many tech issues, and she's not very helpful.

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