Turner is a great professor and an interesting guy. He explains concepts well but there is a lot you have to learn on your own. If you do the reading and rewatch lectures you can do very well in his classes. Also, all of his lectures are recorded which was very helpful. Midterm was graded very harshly , but his grading scale makes up for it

If you suck at taking tests, do not take this professor. Quizzes are tricky (on purpose) and it's hard to find the answer unless you deeply read the textbook (no one has time to read 50 pages 2x a week). Lectures are engaging, but he does say a lot of unnecessary stuff that won't be on the exam. Free response is graded harshly.

Tom gives very high quality lectures, no iclicker and they were all recorded. I liked going in person, he is very engaging, plus evolution is an interesting topic. Midterm was graded harshly and there was a trick question, but final was much better once you learn his grading style. Go to discussion section, the TAs like to drop hints and help you.

Evolution was my favorite, but now every time I think of evolution, I think about how stressed I was. If he graded the final as harshly as he did with the midterm (unreasonable) then I would have rated him a 1. Cheat sheets were annoying to make. Felt like nothing I wrote helped me. Quizzes were hard. Short answer questions sucked.

I really enjoyed this class. The weekly discussion questions are great indicators of what will be on the exams. Lectures are engaging and have tons of examples for each concept. Professor Turner is very kind and open to helping students understand difficult concepts, and I believe the exams were more than fair.

Grade is based only on quizzes, midterm, and final. Quizzes cover chapters from the textbook and are due before lecture so you must read the book (50ish pages per chapter). Overall I thought Turner was a good professor and his grading scale is extremely fair. He didn't respond well to criticism after the midterm though; strict on free response.

Super unforgiving class. All points are test or quiz-based, with only one attempt for everything. The questions are designed to trick students, and there is no clear grading criteria. Professor doesn't seem to really care about the success of his students, and refuses to accept any criticism about his teaching style.

This is the second time I've taken a class with Tom, he is one of my favorite professors here. He is brilliant and passionate, and his lectures are the ones I bring my non-major friends to for fun. His class expectations are reasonable, he posts lectures, and in my experience has had fair exams. I have nothing but praise for Tom!

One of the best biology professors at UCSB. Delivers great lectures and the courses are well-designed. Is enthusiastic about the material but not in an artificial way. Really wants students to improve their analytical abilities, not just memorize obscure details. Brilliant man, but unpretentious and very helpful during office hours.

I've read posts like "avoid this teacher like the plague"... but after wasting my time in his course... I am starting to wonder if the plague would be better? This "Professor" makes no time to meet with students, his exams are all subjective and his TA brags about his research more than teaching. Run far and fast. Learn evolution from an expert.

really makes you work for your grade. very nit picky with exams. all exams are free response. expect to know every example and every detail. didn't expect to do so poorly.

Lectures are informative and he's very clear about his expectations. The TA, Michael, is very helpful because he's been working with Turner for a while and knows what information is important-go to section! The homework questions were poorly worded. Know that 'none of the above' is always an option on his exams, even if it's not stated.

By far the best class I have taken at UCSB. He is so engaging and passionate about what he teaches that it has made me excited to attend his lectures. His tests are fair and are mainly on big concepts in class. Not a ton of memorization needed. To do well, definitely attend all the sections, especially for then first half of the quarter topics.

Tom is the kind of professor you don't forget about. He makes lectures that could potentially put you to sleep actually interesting because you can tell how cool he thinks the material is. He made me not dread going to class and his tests are fair-he doesn't expect you to become an expert in 10 weeks but rather makes sure you paid attention.

I thoroughly enjoyed Tom's lectures partially because of the course material, but mostly because his lecturing style is very engaging. This class isn't memorization heavy, which I loved because it gave me room to be interested in the topics without feeling overwhelmed by material. Tom is a genuinely kind person and a wonderful professor, 10/10!

Loved this class. Concepts are super interesting and he makes them very accessible in his lectures. No tests, just 2 quizzes weekly (really wish other professors did this). Would highly recommend taking this as an elective, especially if you're interested in biology as a career.

EEMB130 online bc covid. No HW or exams, just weekly quizzes due Monday night, usually 1 on lecture & 1 on readings. There was no time limit on quiz, and they were pretty easy and usually could be found directly on the slides. Turner is a GREAT professor, passionate and funny. The material is also just super cool. Highly recommend

EEMB 130 was a REALLY interesting class, one of my favorite classes Ive taken. The material was easy, and Tom was clearly passionate and a fun guy. The only reason I didnt give him a better rating was because his grading was pretty subjective and I feel like his expectations for what gets credit on a test and what doesnt is blurry.

Great professor. Extremely enthusiastic about what he teaches, is super up-to-date with all the relevant literature (literally sends you new articles that were released the day of, just for fun). His lectures are straight forward and if you attend class (there's iCliker) you'll know everything you need to do well. Highly recommend.

Hard class.. get ready to read every single detailed underlined point.

Such a great professor! He's funny and clever and gives great, interesting examples. Very interesting class, I'm glad I took it.

really loved this professor.. he's amazing and he presents evolution in such an interesting way. lots of genomic evolution is taught, he targets mcdb students as well as eemb really helpful, really nice, and he very obviously is passionate about what he teaches

Turners evolution class has been one of my favorite classes I have taken at UCSB. His lectures are incredibly interesting and relevant. It was a challenging class, yet I sincerely wanted to attend every lecture. Class isn't mandatory but is kind of necessary if you want to do well. Not an easy A class, but definitely one worth taking!

He was an amazing professor, very engaging and straightforward lectures. His slides are clear and the information is incredibly interesting. I really wanted to attend class everyday and was way more interested in the topic after taking his class. The tests are a bit challenging but fair. I highly recommend his class!