LOVE HER! Her lectures are super informative. If you don't understand, she breaks the content down even more during office hours. Her class is also structured very nicely, and her assignments are straightforward. You are going to have a group project, but you're graded individually. Just meet the deadlines and show effort in your work - easy A.
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.
Such an interesting class, and Prof. James is amazing! Assignments are very straightforward and anything brought up in exams is explained in lecture several times, so you never feel blindsided. I would definitely recommend this class to anyone looking for an easy, interesting class - even if you don't know how to surf.
Lacks empathy and contributes to the (minimal) toxicity in the bio major. I dont understand how she has a job considering the immaturity and lack of self-awareness that she has. How did she even end up running the Intro Bio Labs? I cant believe the intro lab classes for the most impacted major on campus is this disorganized. UCSB deserves better.
If I could give her a zero I would. She is by far the worst faculty member I have ever had experience with at UCSB. This class was horribly organized, had unclear requirements, and Dr. Nguyen displayed a complete lack of compassion for her students on several occasions. I was actually excited to this class but this professor ruined it. TA was nice
Class is terribly organized, she doesn't respond to emails, changed grading policy to be harsher mid-quarter during a pandemic, even though the class uses 3 different websites to turn things in, all with different times due which is extremely confusing and difficult to keep track of. She is also uncaring and unsympathetic to student hardship.
literally the worst and least organized professor ever, does not respond to emails, is NOT understanding, changed the grading policy mid quarter to be less accommodating during the pandemic, and is m o n o t o n e
Hands down one of the best professors you can find. She goes out of her way to make sure that you understand all of the course material and is super available to answer questions! She's also very understanding during the Coronavirus pandemic, making the class less stressful overall. I would 100 percent recommend this professor to anyone.
The literal worst, the labs are completely disorganized and the practicals test on tiny details with not enough time to answer the questions. The manual is horrible, and there's no guidance on the research project. WAY too much work for 1 unit.
Very disorganized. Overcomplicate concepts in an intro class. The experiments she design barely match lectures. Has a lot of attitudes. Practicals are hard to study for. She really doesn't deserve this job.
Shay is the sweetest. She was always available to talk and help (even gives put her phone number and offers to FaceTime students). She gives good and thorough feedback on papers. She really cares about her students and even let us out early once because everyone was dead from midterms. Also a fair grader. Not hard to please, just put in effort.
Nice teacher, hard grader.
My favorite class at UCSB so far, I'm still a first year though. Shay is so sweet and helpful, loved her class!
She was great for Writing 2 during summer session B, super easy class and less projects because there was less time than a normal quarter. She is the sweetest person ever and super great. She dresses cute and makes class fun.
James is the goat. Small EEMB3 with James is WAY easier than big. Lectures are participation heavy, but it's worth it. Her lectures are interesting, and her exams are based exactly on what you talk about. Also take this class if you're also taking ochem, because it'll give you more time to study that. James is also easily accessible outside class.
Such an amazing professor and person all around, she cares so much for her students. This class helped me so much in guiding me as a biology major this first year, and Anna could not have been more supportive in that journey. No homework, and even got donuts at the end of the quarter! Could not recommend more to any first year bio student.
This whole course is in shambles. TAs are always unclear of how to set up experiments, but it's not their fault, because they aren't properly prepped. Unclear lab directions messed up our research poster project, which was a HASSLE for half the quarter. The actual biology was interesting, but the department honestly needs to scrap/rework this class
This course is extremely frustrating. Instructions are very unclear, deadlines are ridiculous. Only given 48 hours to turn in lab workbook despite it taking over a month for it to get graded. Received 0% for an assignment that I spent hours on because of a technicality that was not clear in her horrible directions.
just horrible no standards unclear instructions and cares more about technicalities then learning. makes me want to kms and drop out
The entire course is very confusing, with guidelines that are extremely vague. The grading is very tough, and simple mistakes in formatting is harshly punished, regardless of the actual quality of work. She seems like a person who wants to see you fail, and who will make things difficult for no reason in order to ensure that you fail.
Most annoying class I have taken at ucsb. MCDB 1LL is an introductory lab course that is structured like a weeder class. Lots of mindless work. Grading is unnecessarily tough for a class that is so easy. Infuriating to get a 0 on assignments that you put time into because of a technicality. Put due dates in google calendar and you will do well.
Horrible. Expectations for research project in this lab were super unclear. TAs were clearly not communicated to well as they seemed confused too. Missed deadline by 10 min and was counted as a 0 docking a whole letter grade.
My grandma died right before MCDB 1A midterm, i had to fly across the country for the funeral. Alice needed proof she actually died to not get a zero with no leniency. No obituary cause she was buried 24 hrs after death (jewish) & death cert would take weeks to get. I sent a picture of me at her grave, my family was in on it and we had a laugh.
Caring, Funny, Accessible through email and Office Hour, Deeply wants you to succeed, Cares for the wellbeing and success of the students, Light workload. Wish all professors were like her.
