He is temporarily teaching this course while the normal professor is on sabbatical and he taught much more material than he was supposed to. It was ridiculous how much information he expected us to know when his slides did not match up (he used another professor's slides) and the textbook didn't even go as in depth. They better curve this class.

funny guy but you could tell right away that he wasn't prepared to teach this class - pretty all over the place. things got better but he wasn't good enough of a professor to make his exams so difficult. average was so damn low for the midterm but it was honestly okay. final was a JOKE. SO specific on barely touched topics. Biomentors couldnt help.

He explained things well. Midterm wasn't that hard but had questions about minor details that you wouldn't think are important so the class average was really low (but if you read over the slides you would know them). Literally never went to class because lectures were online.

He's a nice, engaging lecturer, but his exam was awful. It was way more specific than what he *or* the book covered, and I could barely understand it. Apparently, the rest of MCDB 1A didn't, either. He seems like an alright guy, but I wouldn't trust him as a substitute teacher

Best professor ever. Please do yourself a favor and take him :)

To study for the midterms just want all the lectures again. If you understand the concepts you can easily get an A. Also don't take the online quizzes, iClicker accuracy, and worksheets lightly because those are your free points. Mike is a great teacher and if you want to put in the effort you will get in the grade.

Love accent. Very caring. very canadian. 10/10

Mike is a great honest professor. I wasn't doing so well in MCDB 1A at first so I went to his office hours, so we came up with a good study plan. I printed out slides, took notes in class, and then added more notes from the book. This really helped me understand the material. He just really cares about his students.

Mike is my favorite teacher I've had at UCSB. He's also a great person to talk to with regards to anything else school-related. I wish I started going to office hours earlier because it's super helpful! Tests are not easy, but they are fair and it's easier to succeed in this class than in the big lecture. 10/10 would recommend!

Mike and Lalo are the best professors for intro bio. They keep lecture interesting and fun. Tests are hard but most of the material comes from iClicker questions and tutorial, so they're practically giving it to you. Very accessible outside of class. Try and form a relationship with them, they're great. Highly, highly recommend for intro bio

Mike is an incredible professor! He made my intro bio experience amazing. I honestly don't think I would have gotten As in the big bio class but he (and Lalo!) make the class really engaging, he truly cares about his students, and he offers endless opportunities for help.

Mike is great and very willing to help your grade out! In this class, what is learned and taken away is what's important. Highly recommended if you are looking to do research or are taking Chemistry.

Mike is fantastic! Always available to help and truly seems to care about his students success. Tests can be challenging, but offers a lot of review and prep help, including practice tests, so nothing is unfair or unexpected. Is a real nice guy and makes jokes, thoroughly enjoyed his lectures and conversations with him. Favorite teacher at UCSB

The class was interesting and for the most part he was able to get a lot of his points across clearly, and if not his TA's are very helpful and reliable. His lecture slides have about 80% of what you need to know the other 20% comes from attending lectures for clarity. His tests do test on a small portion of what he actually expects you to know.

interesting class. 40% for each midterm and final, 10% for weekly quizzes. curved relative to the avg of top 10 scores (i think it was like 10% within that score was an A..) ended up with an 82% that was a A. lecture slides have everything you need to know.

The class was interesting, however, the professor was rude and unhelpful during office hours. Did not answer emails most of the time. In addition, did not fully answer questions during office hours, preferring to instead ask, "well do you go to lecture?" Overall an essential class, but negative experience.

Memorize the lecture slides and just use the book as reference. The first part of the class was much easier than the second half, so be prepared for a tough final (thank god it's not cumulative). It's an interesting class and crucial for the mcat

Best class ever and awesome lecturer. Prof. Smith is approachable and very help during office hours. Class involves a lot of memorizations and his tests were long. Quizzes in section every week so don't fall behind. Physiology is an awesome class, but too bad there's no lab.

Be prepared, don't try and cram there is a lot of information and he speaks very fast at times. His curve doesn't do your grade any good (due to med school students) so study the lectures inside out.

It's heavy material, but he's funny and passionate.

know your slides inside and out, and listen intently in class. He speaks fast at times so record him if you must. THe class is difficult because a good percentage of the class is pre-med. Pre-med students are studious. goodluck.

Very interesting class. Go to class, record it, read book for reference and listen to recordings. He is very clear in lecture, but goes pretty fast. You need to work for an A in this class.

Very straight forward class. Know everything on his slides. He asks very detailed questions, so have to know everything in order to get an A in the class. He's kind of snooty, but put the work in and you can do well in the class.

this class was awesome. materials r very intersting and the tests were fairly easy... u learn a lot in this class. prof. smith was nice dude, and u don't really have to read the book to do well in this class. highly recommended for pre-med student(this class is practically a mcat prep course).