MCDB 1AZ
Dennis Clegg
3.9
39 reviews
Stuart Feinstein
4.4
63 reviews
NGUYEN A T
Alice Nguyen
1.2
81 reviews

183
3.1666666666666665
MCDB1LL . Nguyen A T 2 Months Ago

This whole course is in shambles. TAs are always unclear of how to set up experiments, but it's not their fault, because they aren't properly prepped. Unclear lab directions messed up our research poster project, which was a HASSLE for half the quarter. The actual biology was interesting, but the department honestly needs to scrap/rework this class

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MCDB1AL . Nguyen A T 3 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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MCDB1LL . Nguyen A T 3 Months Ago

just horrible no standards unclear instructions and cares more about technicalities then learning. makes me want to kms and drop out

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MCDB1LL . Nguyen A T 3 Months Ago

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.

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MCDB1LL . Nguyen A T 3 Months Ago

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.

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MCDB1AL . Nguyen A T 3 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 4 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 . 5 Months Ago

BEWARE of the trick questions! One word could be different, making the entire answer wrong. I really enjoyed Clegg's jokes and personality. However, when taking the midterm, I was blinded by the trick and niche questions about specific experiments. Now that I know how to study for his section, I bounced back on the final. Just be careful!

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MCDB1A . 5 Months Ago

Stu was the best professor out of the three. He explained content thoroughly and the first midterm reflected exactly what was on the practice exam and stressed topics in class. Pay attention to the diagrams concerning NADH, ATP, glycolysis, etc. (how much ATP is made from what). Also, he sparked my Fleetwood Mac obsession!!! Cool and super smart!

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MCDB1A . 5 Months Ago

He brought his dog to lecture:D Definitely my favorite out of the three professors, his jokes were very silly and I loved the medical mysteries. The topics he covered are kind of hard to understand so reviewing lecture videos and quizzes, watching explanatory YouTube videos, and practice problems are key because exam is a lot of the same questions.

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MCDB1A . 5 Months Ago

For me Feinstein's Biochemistry section of MCDB1A was the easiest to understand out of the three. He did a really good job at explaining the topics and if you studied well, rewatched the lectures, and did the practice exam then his exam and his portion of the final were a majority questions you've reviewed and already seen. Great Professor.

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EEMB2LL . Nguyen A T 5 Months Ago

Unpopular opinion, Alice is an incredible professor. I just finished the entire intro biology series + labs and honestly, I think she did everything that she could to be helpful throughout the series. Yeah there were a few errors on her end- but cut her some slack, the woman manages the ENTIRE intro bio department. IDK why she gets so much hate.

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MCDB1A . 5 Months Ago

He was ok, he wasn't AMAZING but he wasn't the worst either. A lot of his portion of 1A is about memorization. He provided a practice but it was riddled with errors. Tbh I think if you just cram everything he's said in lecture into your head somehow, you'll be fine

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MCDB1A . 5 Months Ago

MY FAV FROM THE 1A PROFS he knows what he's talking about, exam questions are exactly like study guide, and he tells a joke every lecture. Takes a content heavy subject like cell biology and makes it very digestible. 10/10 recommend

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MCDB1A . 6 Months Ago

I liked him the best out of the other 2 professors for 1A. He was very upfront that his midterm would be solely based on his lectures. This portion of bio is entirely based on memorization, there's no critical thinking so it made it easy. It's just a matter of how much raw information you can shove into your brain. Do that and you're golden

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MCDB1AL . Nguyen A T 6 Months 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 6 Months Ago

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

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MCDB1LL . Nguyen A T 7 Months Ago

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.

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MCDB1AL . Nguyen A T 10 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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EEMB3 . Nguyen A T 1 Year, 1 Day Ago

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!

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EEMB2LL . Nguyen A T 1 Year, 8 Days Ago

She don't provide what student need: I have no idea how to do the programmins for statistic analysis, but I can't find any guide for this. If you get sick and miss a lab, drag your tired body to get the doctor note. Since without it you will lose whole credit for the lab, and there is no compensate lab or lowest one drop, so say bye to your A!

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EEMB2LL . Nguyen A T 1 Year, 20 Days Ago

The definition of "this is just a job". She's not even a real professor, just a coordinator. Unfortunately, that means a lot of the planning for these intro level mcdb/eemb classes get handed to her, bureaucrat-style. Terrible communication, if you reach out to her either in-person or by email, good luck getting a response back.

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EEMB2LL . Nguyen A T 1 Year, 25 Days Ago

Literally the meanest professor/coordinator ever. Every single class I have taken run by her had something go drastically wrong (like having 800+ students take a final 3 times). She also has 0 empathy for students, almost didn't excuse my friend from a lab because she couldn't send her a LITERAL OBITUARY fast enough.

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EEMB2LL . Nguyen A T 1 Year, 1 Month Ago

Literally the WORST HUMAN to ever grace ucsb campus. is the least understanding person and hardly responds to emails on top of how HORRIBLY she coordinates classes. My house literally flooded and she said It wasn't fair to other students for me to submit my assignment late. (bro my house flooded). awful courses for an awful coordinator

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