My GOAT. He is very clear about exactly what you need to know to do well. Use the discussion board!

Easy A. Tests based around problem sets and they were pretty easy. Weird thing was they had a deadline for hw, but gave no penalty for late hw. You got less points if you turned it in on time than if you turned it in late by copying the answer key. Slides by themselves are meh; but he annotates them in the vids and was super well organized imo.

Lectures are a little confusing but tests are pretty simple if you lock in to your problem sets and understand them well! Best thing about Richardson is that he records his lectures AND office hours - he's always looking to be accessible for students that need help. Great prof

One of the best classes I have taken in the biology dept. His lectures might seem confusing (especially at first), but it all comes together when solving the problem set and discussion section worksheets. He answers any questions from the PS and WS through online forums. Understanding those problems is the code to performing well on the exams.

Great guy. Not exactly the best lectures, but the discussion and homework practice make it clear what you should understand. Ask for help and you'll get it. Put in the effort and the class will be extremely doable, fun even.

Professor Richardson is by far the best teacher on the MCDB department, he made his class easy to follow and explain the concepts in the most clear and organized way. He is very engaged with his students and helps you understand, definitely go to office hours and sections and understand the problem sets. Would definitely take him again!

Richardson is one of the best professors ive ever had. He has a forum where he answers all kinds of questions all throughout the quarter. He truly wants his students to learn and succeed. He changed the grading distribution and completely dropped a midterm halfway through the quarter if it would benefit your grade. I can't say enough good things.

I made an entire rate my professor account just for the guy. Easily one of the most goated professors in the MCDB Department. So compassionate and so caring for his students. If you take the class, you will learn a lot. Just a 10/10 professor.

Richardson makes a difficult subject as doable as possible and tries to make it palatable to everyone. This is the first class that's gotten me excited about my major bc Richardson teaches class topics in the context of biotech and medical applications. Good lecturer, approachable and helpful in OH and on the class forum, reasonable exams.

Richardson spent so much time answering students' questions on forum off his normal lecture time. Tests problems are questions from his practice problem set and no trick questions. One thing to note is that his lectures are not the most interesting thing ever.

Richardson is honestly one of the greatest professors I had---and I had a lot of them! He focuses heavily on the lectures, and his exams were extremely fair. He literally will tell you if it is a trick question or not on the exam and I love that! He also was extremely accommodating during the pandemic transition, and made his expectations clear.

I wasn't too excited for 101A but Richardson really cares about his students. He put out weekly problem sets and his lectures were long but he explained things well. Tests are hard but very reasonable. I did not use the textbook.

I was definitely not looking forward to taking 101a since I heard it was pretty hard and genetics was already a tough subject for me but Prof Richardson made the class really easy to follow along. His lectures+problem sets are really all you need to know and the readings helped at times too. Lectures are very organized which I really appreciated.

Richardson is a nice guy. New professor so lectures felt a little messy. Focus primarily on problem sets, they are nearly identical to the exam. He was very very generous with grading. Dropped one midterm or made the final weigh less if it helped. No minus grades and all cutoffs for a regular grade were below cut off for a minus (87 for an A, etc.)

I think Prof Richardson is one of the best genetics professors at UCSB. He's very approachable and is accessible outside of class during office hours and one-on-one zoom calls for students that need extra help. This is a tough class so the lectures can be long and dense. TA discussion sections are super helpful.

Prof Richardson provided so many opportunities to succeed in this class. He's nice and always willing to help during office hours. Provides many examples related to complex concepts. Long but useful lectures, even added supplemental lectures which were helpful. Tests were difficult but definitely fair game. Do the practice probs and you'll be good.

He teaches like a graduate level professor. His lectures are very dense and he does a poor job of talking through concepts. Some of the questions and practice problem sets on midterms were poorly worded and even the TA was confused. I would highly recommend taking another professor's class if possible.

Richardson was a solid choice for genetics. I think it might be his first time teaching here, so he's still getting the hang of it. But the effort that he put in to make the course as clear and smooth as possible is obvious. Lectures were easy to understand, tests were fair, and he made himself accessible and very helpful outside of class.