Smith was a decent lecturer, but tended to fall behind, which made everything a little harder. The exam we had for his section (first 5 weeks) had questions that were pretty unfair compared to what we had been taught. Also, I reached out to him for help with a quiz, but he brushed my request aside, leaving me confused. He's a very nice guy though.

Emphasis material, when this is done it is not on the test. Material is 50/50 slides and lecture material, but tests heavy things barely talked about. don't take.. do this class with anyone else. She's also not very accessible outside of class.

I took MCDB 1B in the summer, and Professor Low got more negative reviews than she deserved. She knows the material and sets clear expectations. While her lectures are detail-heavy, all intro bio requires memorization. It's essential to learn to accommodate different teaching styles. Just go to her office hours, and you will do better on tests.

The stuff you learn in MCDB 1B is super complicated and hard, and Low isn't the best person to explain all this content to you. She expects you to know the content as she's lecturing, and one of her favorite things to say during her lectures is, "I told you already!!!" She's low-key kinda funny, but funny doesn't make good professors.

Anything emphasized in class will not be in the test. The questions are designed in very ambiguous ways an often times will compare most to least correct. Also seemingly frustrated at questions.

Looks at student as though they are beneath her. Expects you to memorize everything she says. Anything heavily emphasized will not

Exams are ridiculously specific, questions comes from obscure concepts touched on during lectures so you have to memorize every word she's saying on top of lecture slides. When asked about the wording/ambiguity of the questions during the exam, she seemed annoyed and gave brief, dismissive answers that offered no help. Would not recommend.

Low gets more hate than she deserves just because her tests are SO HARD. Her lectures are hilarious and you can tell she knows her stuff. I put in more work than I ever have for MCDB 1B and it was well rewarded. If you can truly understand what shes teaching, even the minutia, an A is very possible. Test questions were specific but still relevant.

insanely difficult exams, and it's just so much material. she vaguely goes over stuff and then adds them to the exam. she's not as bad as ruth, however combined for this course they're no help. the weeder course is definitely weeding. I went to all the lectures, to CLAS, and rewatched ALL her videos, and I still bombed her midterm. boo introbioteam

Her lectures had a lot of content and she went really fast but she rarely gave us any take home videos and she was quite funny. The tests are really hard but there is a massive curve. I honestly had to know basically everything she said for her tests. I would recommend reading the book since she follows it pretty closely.

She was alright in hindsight. Just so much hecking content. This is definitely a class you want to do the reading.I feel that reading + slides + lectures should be enough, but there is just so much. Tests are quite difficult so be ready for that.

I thought Low was bad until I encountered Finkelstein. While she isn't the best professor, Low is sweet and seems to care about her students. Her lectures were okay, and heavily based on the textbook. Make sure to read the textbook. Exams were insanely difficult.

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 never know how good you have it until it's gone. I was a Low hater until I experienced the second half of this class, the antichrist Ruth Finkelstein. Then I realized Low is actually a sweet angel sent from heaven and I would have given anything to get her back. That being said, her midterms are impossible, you WILL dedicate your life to them.

Not great, but compared to Finkelstein she's a saint. She is pretty funny and engaging in lecture, and her slides are basically all you need. Accessible in office hours, however she definitely isn't fond of giving verbose answers to questions. Expect very straightforward material with decently challenging exams. Would suggest looking at book.

Great lecturer, uses lots of examples to help you understand difficult concepts. Her midterms are super specific though and didn't seem to actually test your knowledge on the course material.. overall love the professor hate her midterms

Honestly AVOID at all cost. 66% was average on midterm 1 and the class is scaled not curved meaning your grade is determined by the top 5 highest scoring students (and only benefits the people who are already doing well). take small bio the majority of people get As and Bs

If you see this comment, then stop thinking about taking her class. Her lectures are so tedious and her PPTs are quite not organized. She only follows a bunch of notes on her PPT during class and speaks so fast. Her exams are unreasonably difficult although exam grades are 90% of the score. She doesn't know how to help students understand biology.

I had Low online and her lectures were better than Finkelstein, but by no means were they amazing. She asks for very specific answers on her exams. I definitely recommend CLAS, it's a great way to review processes especially before an exam. Put in the work now in animal physiology, because once plant physio hits, it's harder to recover.

Lows exams are literally impossible. I reviewed the lectures several times and even read the textbook thoroughly. She included content on the exam that she explicitly said we wouldnt be tested on! Had to drop this class and will take it in the summer with hopefully a better and more fair teacher

I loved Dr. Low's class! I took her in summer session B. I enjoyed it when she became passionate when covering something she has a special interest in and when she ate snacks in the pre-recorded lectures. She's a quirky professor (which I love) and her exams inspired me to double my effort. Take her and you'll never regret!

Professor Low clearly does not know how to write proper and fair exams that encourage critical thinking in biology students. Her lectures are all over the place and she tests you on things that she will mention only in passing during a lecture video, so if you miss anything she says you will fail the exam. It's amazing how UCSB hires these people.

Dr. Low is not as scary as people described. I took her MCDB 1B over the summer and her lectures are kind of long but funny. Memorize her slides and do practice exams and then you will be fine. Make sure that you do the quizzes - that's a great boost of your grade!

why does UCSB hire these people? seriously? worst professor ever. AVOID AT ALL COSTS. so disorganized, all over the place, convoluted, lectures make 0 sense. turns simple concepts into a complicated mess because she has no idea how to coherently teach a concept. PLEASE ORGANIZE YOUR LECTURES DR. LOW FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. PLEASE HAVE SOME STRUCTURE.