I'm sure Prof Nguyen is a nice person, but she is probably the least empathetic and accomodating professor I have met at UCSB. MCDB 1LL was honestly not that bad or difficult, other than having to do a poster on a lab we never did.

This class was extremely unorganized and it had us make a research poster on a lab that we never even got to do. The labs themselves are really easy, but the pre-lab assignments take like ten attempts to get full credit b/c of how difficult they are.

Prof. Low is pretty funny but her lectures are completely copied from the textbook (which is already a dense reading). Her tests are SUPER specific in regards to small parts on the lecture slides and that's what tripped me up. BELIEVE IN THE CURVE! I thought I would fail but I got a C-. Also do any extra credit!!

The most stupid thing about MCDB1LL is the poster. We didn't do this experiment at all, but instead, the poster, which relies entirely on the editing process, gets the biggest score. It's really stupid and disgusting.

I honestly have no words. To sum it up, I'll give you this: It was so confusing that my entire lab class was under the impression that we would eventually DO the worm lab at some point, and were not informed that we would never actually do it (and were supposed to work off the old data the WHOLE course) until week 8. WEEK. EIGHT.

What hasn't been said? The fact every bio student pays to go through her courses is a crime. She makes me want to self-immolate in front of Bio2, or wherever her office is. When a TA posts a rating saying the prof Is bad, it's bad. Sorry to every other bio student. Prepare yourself. I agree w/ "this is my villain origin story".

I refuse to hear slander on this woman. It's a hard class, but Low sets us up for success as long as we actually put in work. I put in super low effort and got the grade I deserved, but I was certainly given the resources I needed to succeed if I had used them. Her voice is a little quiet for a lecture hall of that size, but she always wore a mic.

This is literally a made up class. We write a research poster on research we did not do. The in person labs are an actual joke. This is a waste of three hours every week. And don't get me started on the horrible organization and direction of this class and the stupid pre-lab quizzes. I am sorry if you have to take this class.

Professor Low didn't really seem to care about her students very much and wasn't very accessible outside of class. Textbook readings were required to do well on the tests but for her lectures, she practically copied the textbook word for word so they didn't really add much to the material. The tests were extremely hard even with studying.

It's bad. The pre labs are borderline ridiculous. The questions are so out of date that they still ask about covid green badges in pre lab quizzes. It just feels like they are so unprepared to teach this class. Even my TA is confused by the organization of this class. Also we are writing a poster about a lab we will never do. Weird.

This class was incredibly hard, but you will get through it. Harder than chemistry for me personally. No matter how prepared you feel from studying the lectures and textbook, her midterms were unrealistically challenging and would pertain to one sentence of the textbook. I recommend to self-study as much as you can and memorize the lectures.

I am speechless. I have never encountered someone who couldn't care less about their students. MCDB 1LL is my villain origin story and I have never felt more misery. She never responds to emails and her videos are less than helpful. Do not get me started on the pre-labs. The questions are awfully worded and the answers are not clear either.

Makes a class that's supposed to fun ridiculously complicated and tedious instead. Way way way too much work for 1.5 units and essentially an online class. Worst class I've taken here so far.

Professor Low was bad, but you can survive. Be prepared to learn completely independently, and low test averages. The tests are insanely unfair and take like one sentence from the textbook and make it a question. I recommend memorizing every word of the slides and understand it super well and you'll pass. Curve was 4 pts for me bc I had a B-

The tests were impossible no matter how hard you studied unless you could memorize the entire textbook. Her lectures were very rushed and confusing. I studied for two weeks for the final and still got a D because of how specific her questions were.

read the textbook!!! you basically have to memorize the whole thing in order to do well on the tests. she makes the questions extremely specific, so make sure you know sizes, functions, and all the little details you didn't think you'd need to know. khan academy was my bff in this class, as most of her lectures and textbook didn't make much sense

This class was hard work, by the end of the quarter I had about 600 flashcards and hundreds of pages of notes. Professor Low is a good lecturer though, she's funny and is clearly interested in the subject. Her tests are reasonable aside from the occasional question on something she skimmed over. Big curve helps, my 84 became an A-.

Lecture slides are word for word from the textbook with little additional detail from the professor. Test questions are on the smallest details not even covered in lecture and exams are over 80% of your grade.

Low is funny but lectures quickly & the material is DENSE. Get ready to rewatch lectures & USE ANKI!!! Multiple choice questions are actually from hell tho so good luck. Curve at the end helps a lot (the class average gets curved to a B-)

She tested the question that she barely mentioned in her lecture, you would never know which info she will test. Exams are extremely difficult and hard to understand.

This class was rough. Exams were impossibly detailed, and lectures were long and dense. Pay attention to every little thing she says out loud during lectures (which are recorded) and don't assume that they won't show up on the exams. The curve is really good though. Take advantage of the TA's office hours and the practice problems from the book.

Her lectures took me 3-4 hr to listen since it was really hard to understand. Although her curve was huge it brought be from a 67% to a C. Grades are mostly determined off your performance on the exams. Exam questions are worded very oddly and can trick you.

S

Wow. I literally went to every lecture, did every assignment, and read all the readings, and still got a D on her final. I don't understand what more I could've done. Curve was alright, brought me from a 83 to a B+. This is a tough class, mostly because her test questions are sometimes out of pocket or about the most tiny detail/ fact.