Mike is such a great professor, genuinely cares about his students, and is so accessible outside of class. If you are struggling, it is so important to reach out to him because he WILL help you and he wants his students to succeed. Although, the tests can be tricky and they definitely require a thorough understanding of the material.

Mike is genuinely one of the best professors I've ever had. He always managed to make lecture interesting and you can tell he cares about all of his students and how much they understand the material.

Mike is an absolute beauty. His lectures are quite good, nothing too special, but the amount he cares about his students is incredible. His research is focused on basically 'how to teach better' and it shows in his teaching. He listens to feedback better than anyone I've seen before and it's resulted in him structuring his classes in the best way.

Professor Holton is the best. I was dreading taking MCDB 1B after struggling through 1A because the first part of the class is taught by Professor S. Low (eew), whos midterm I completely failed. Then Wilton came along, and boom, two midterms with a B and a high C later, and I passed the class with a B. Take Professor Wilton, you wont regret it!

mike is the best! he genuinely cares about helping you succeed and is incredibly empathetic. he sets clear expectations and exams are reasonable if u study. definitely go to OH--they give you insight on his thought process when answering questions which is a good way to gauge what will be on the exam. overall, one of my fave profs ever

one of the few profs that go the extra mile to help u succeed

Mike is one of the nicest professor I've met. The class is tough, but he (and Lalo) are always willing to help you out and truly wants everyone to succeed. The class is very memorization heavy. Probably the only bio weeder classes that I didn't feel helpless in.

Mike is the best MCDB professor I know, and he really helps you and provide all resources for you to success academically and professionally.

Super Canadian but it's great. I should've studied harder, but I think Mike provided me with all of the tools to succeed in his class

Doesnt normally teach the Cell bio portion in 1A. This section was definitely the most challenging of the 3. Really look at the details and study everything on the slides. I used OneNote to highlight my slides and write up summaries when studying and it helped. Go to CLAS. Final is split between the sections, got 8/20ish right on this section.

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.