I actually felt her lecture style was decent. She was definitely pretty organized. However, the test was just gnarly man. MCDB 1B is THE weeder class for your entire UCSB undergraduate biology education. Expect to have to work for it because if you do, you will definitely come with your head above water.

Memorize every little detail on her slides and you might get a C on the exam. Hardest class I've taken at UCSB. In all honesty, I think that this class says more about the intro bio department, which is the least empathetic and caring department I have ever met. I liked biology before taking this class. I don't anymore.

She acts like she does not want to be there. Read the textbook it helps more than her slides. Honestly ruined biology for me

Hardest class I've taken at UCSB. You have to eat, sleep, and breathe her lecture material. Write down everything on the slides and everything she says. She'll mention something once for 2 seconds and it'll show up on the exam. If you think you won't need to know it for the exam, yes you will. Use the Anki app (free) for studying, it helped a lot.

Tricky exam questions not meant to measure your understanding of the subject but check how well you can read. MEMORIZE her slides. Textbook won't really help you. Quizlets help a bit. Just survive the class, it's rough

The slides are not digestible and there is no clear organization during her lectures so it's hard to learn anything during class. Don't wait to start studying, even if you're an academic weapon. Call her Dr. ____ Finkelstein cause this class is Ruth-less (seems like a nice person tho).

Does not respond to emails. If you want to talk to her you have to somehow get her attention outside of class and even then, it's impossible to get a hold of her. I emailed Nguyen 4 times about the same subject at the beginning of the quarter and continued to get zero response. Eventually gave up and stopped asking questions- really disappointing.

You'll think you have it bad with Professor Low at the start. Then you'll experience Finkelstein, and you'll offer your firstborn to satan if only you could get her back.

Honestly, I thought the other reviews were giving her a hard time but they are extremely accurate. Lectures are nearly impossible to follow and slides contain very little info and abstract terminology that she does not explain more than just reading straight off the slide. Seems like a nice person, but maybe lecturing just isn't her thing.

Does not convey the lecture material in helpful or explanatory ways. I learned all content for this class from the book or CLAS. Her lectures are jumbled and she jumps straight in saying terms you've never heard of or showing complex graphics and barely explains them at all. Would have failed this class if it wasn't for reading the entire book. I

Honestly, you'll have to teach yourself most of the material. Lectures are NOT engaging whatsoever and half of the time you can barely follow her line of thought. Seems confused about her own course content and it seems like she sometimes has zero interest in what she's saying. Would not recommend, and would not take again.

This lab was not difficult content-wise, but it seemed highly disorganized and busy-work based. We accessed course materials on a platform outside of GS, which was inconvenient. It could have been structured better, to suit both students and TAs. Your grade and how time consuming the course will be is 75% dependent on your TA's teaching style.

just put the effort into learning, and it will pay back, her tests were very similar to the practice test she gave out.

Most of lab section is spent sitting and waiting for something. The experiments we do are pointless and uninteresting, but every bio major has to take this class at some point. Your TA will determine how easy or hard the research paper assignment is. At least its way easier than 1LL.

Terrible professor. Monotonous tone makes lectures unbearable, tests you on the most obscure and minuscule details, and overall makes the class very unenjoyable. Only positives were the curve (~8%) and that she played music before lectures started in-person.

Prof. Finkelstein's teaching style did not align well with many students. It involved a lot of lecturing AT us and little to no interactive learning/engaging lessons. The iclickers and quizzes were slightly useful for gauging knowledge... but overall, a really poor learning experience. Tests were hard, and there was no traditional curve.

Finkelstein does not make this hard class any easier. Her lectures are extremely slow, and she asks for very detailed answers on her exams. Plant physio was tough, but CLAS helped somewhat.

Doesn't explain literally anything, regardless of whether the entire class gets iClicker questions wrong. Tests are ridiculously detail-oriented on things she mentioned offhandedly once, aren't on the slides, or even in the textbook!!! Not even enough time to look through them anyways She does provides a lot of resources for studying though

This is THE WORST professor I have EVER come across. I am so sorry if you ever have to sit through a class with this person. Her lectures are absolutely dreadful and her exam questions make you wonder why anyone would ever want to study biology. Seriously, I don't get what she is thinking when she comes up with these exam questions.

Her lectures are really hard to pay attention to because they are really dull and she has a very low voice. The slides she uses are really hard to take notes on because they are all pictures and very few words. I try so hard to pay attention in this class but catch myself zoning out every 5 minutes because she is so boring

The Biolab classes (1LL and 2LL) are horribly organized and a huge waste of three hours every week. This class also has super strict rules on grading and attendance and they will almost never make an exception for students under any circumstance. The only upside is that the final exam is a group test in 2LL.

Not good at her job. Has made multiple mistakes such as telling people incorrect grade cut offs and accusing people of cheating and later admitting it was her mistake. Makes you feel like a number. Weeder class

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.

I liked Finkelstein even though her lectures were a little dry. She is very knowledgeable and always answers any questions you have. There are some scientific articles that are hard to understand but she helps you learn how to analyze papers better which I think is a good skill to have.