Lectures are dense, but with the free textbook and engaging study sessions, you can grasp the concepts. Using ChatGPT and unstuckstudy for practice questions really helped me prepare. Exams are challenging, but the curve makes it manageable. Overall, a worthwhile class.

nice guy but you watch his lecture videos and gives the most bare minimum explanation for every concept that he teaches. his online videos were extremely hard to follow and requires 3x the amount of time and effort to understand what he is trying to say. on top of his convoluted teaching, exams were extremely vague and ambiguous.

I can tell he is very knowledgable, but he really isn't made for teaching online. You know its bad when he holds a whiteboard up to his camera. His tests questions felt very vague and open ended. He was available for office hours but it took him forever when answering questions. Sections depend on the TA but don't miss that unique info in them.

Dr. Thrower is a good professor and always tries to help everyone in the class. The lectures are very long and dense. The course is graded on problem sets, midterms and a final. It was a bit difficult to understand the material at times, not sure if it was the way the professor taught it, or whether it was just the material itself.

Long and dense lectures. 90% of grade is 2 midterms and final so make to do well on each one otherwise its hard to recover grade. He curves exams but everyone did so well that it basically meant nothing. Exams are open notes but questions require you to apply your knowledge so simply memorizing won't help. Nice professor but exams are unforgiving.

Lectures are long and detailed but useful. Doing the reader problems and going through the old exams that he provides is the best way to understand the course concepts. If you keep up with lectures and do the practice problems, you'll do well in the class. Exams are hard but the curve is helpful.

Boring lectures, a lot of work, weekly quizzes, weekly readings, two midterms... no curve at the end but the avg of exams are at 70s....

Actually an ASYNC course, not SYNC. Lectures quite long and tedious to go through at 1x speed, so go at 1.75-2x lol. Gave good explanations and real-life applications of course material. Weekly quizzes, 2 midterms and a cumulative final. Do Reader problems, practice exams, and study the special section topics to succeed. Overall, a great professor!

Thrower is hands down one of the best professors I've ever had. His lectures are heavy and are sometimes hard to follow, but the reader problems help so much! He is such a patient and understanding professor. Do the reader problems and rewatch the lectures and GO TO OFFICE HOURS!! I know everyone says this but srsly, he just wants to help students.

Tons of mistakes on the midterms and quizzes. Tons of content and even exceeded his classtime by an entire online. Extra material in section and tons of confusing additional readings, mandatory homework. Terrible lecturer, barely able to make out his voice and super boring. Only bright side is he's really kind and wants to help, but overall terribl

One of the most caring professors at UCSB. Teaches pretty well and with a lot of passion. Hands down one of my favorite MCDB Faculty members.

Thrower held a class at 8 am, and got there every morning to power through the lecture as fast as he could. However, he also doesn't throw curveballs. His tests are very fair, if you try in his class you will get an A

Thrower is a great professor. Two midterms and a final. Tests are VERY hard, but fair. He gives 5% extra credit, and gives a generous curve. 80% came out to be an A-. He also looks for improvement, so if you did better on midterm 2 than midterm 1, he might make it worth more. He provides practice tests, and reader problems, DO THEM.

Frankly, Dr. Thrower failed to make genetics interesting with his lectures. Tests were also infuriating due to the plethora of mistakes that had to be corrected as they were being taken. That being said, the class was graded fairly, with a generous curve. If you get in the practice you need with reader problems, you will do well.

Dr. Thrower's slides were drier than flour. It was just so much text and his voice has zero inflection whatsoever. His tests were so poorly written that in the middle of multiple exams (midterm 2 and final) he would walk in and announce some problems were undoable, and come back and say they were doable. Tests were graded wrong sometimes too.

Professor Thrower's class is a very straightforward class where the effort you put in will translate to your success. He cares a lot about the class and holds many office hours. His tests are a combination of memorization and application and his MCs are slightly tricky so read well and know details! Book is useless and he gives extra credit clicker

This class is not too bad, but you really have to keep on top of the material. The textbook is somewhat useful, but all the information on the test are covered in lecture and the assigned papers. Starts off easy and gets difficult after the first midterm. Lectures are also 8 am and Thrower isn't the most engaging lecturer.

If I had to give an example for the most average possible professor, it would be Dr. Thrower. His lectures are a little boring, but overall nothing special. The class is difficult, but I felt that all of his exams were fair, and were graded fairly as well. If you work hard, you will pass with at least a B.

Be prepared for a straight Powerpoint lecture. The material on the exams are well beyond the scope of anything discussed in lecture and the problem sets were helpful in getting us to think more critically. CLAS wasn't available for this quarter which definitely made it more challenging. He's approachable, but I would never take his class again.

Free response questions were easy as long as you know the slides and listen to lecture/ The problem solving was the hard part of the class but if you're able to do the problems its easy because it doesn't really change overall problem just numbers

I love Dr. Thrower. His class is very challenging, but you really do read a lot. His reader problems are pretty much the exact type of questions you will see on the exams. His exams are hard but very fair. His lectures can be a tad boring at times, but he is a very chill guy that really cares about his students.

Doug Thrower honestly changed my life. Probably my favorite prof ever, b/c he's so knowledgable and caring. He has a lot of office hours and makes every effort to help students. I had him for both Genetics&Human Physio and he gave me such a good foundation in/love for both subjects, which will continue to benefit me forever. Thank you Dr. Thrower!

Very fair professor. He has more office hours than most professors. The lectures are extremely dull but you must go, especially for iclicker questions. You will do well if you really engage and keep up with the material. Ask questions in lecture or through email - he will give a detailed response.

Loved this class!! Everything you need to know for his tests will be explained very clearly during lecture and if you take good notes you don't need to read the textbook. Slides are mostly diagrams, not words, which helped a lot as far as understanding concepts.