William Smith

22 reviews
Tough grader Graded by few things Hilarious Lecture heavy Test heavy
Past quarters
MCDB 1B
549 / 555 Enrolled
Introductory Biology II--Physiology
Seng Low 2.5 Alice Nguyen 1.1 William Smith 3.1
M W F
12:00 PM - 12:50 PM
20.3% A
MCDB 1BZ
2 / 8 Enrolled
Selected Topics from MCDB 1B
Seng Low 2.5 Alice Nguyen 1.1 William Smith 3.1
M W F
12:00 PM - 12:50 PM
68.0% A
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MCDB1B . 4 Years Ago

Weekly multiple choice quizzes & 3 exams (mostly short answers). Grading for short answer questions is all over the place bc he doesn't give feedback on exams unless you email directly. His lectures are pretty interesting and the material is straightforward. I would recommend reading the book along with the powerpoints to study for the midterms.

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MCDB1A . 6 Years Ago

Doesnt normally teach the Cell bio portion in 1A. This section was definitely the most challenging of the 3. Really look at the details and study everything on the slides. I used OneNote to highlight my slides and write up summaries when studying and it helped. Go to CLAS. Final is split between the sections, got 8/20ish right on this section.

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MCDB1A . 6 Years Ago

He is temporarily teaching this course while the normal professor is on sabbatical and he taught much more material than he was supposed to. It was ridiculous how much information he expected us to know when his slides did not match up (he used another professor's slides) and the textbook didn't even go as in depth. They better curve this class.

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MCDB1A . 6 Years Ago

funny guy but you could tell right away that he wasn't prepared to teach this class - pretty all over the place. things got better but he wasn't good enough of a professor to make his exams so difficult. average was so damn low for the midterm but it was honestly okay. final was a JOKE. SO specific on barely touched topics. Biomentors couldnt help.

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MCDB1A . 6 Years Ago

He explained things well. Midterm wasn't that hard but had questions about minor details that you wouldn't think are important so the class average was really low (but if you read over the slides you would know them). Literally never went to class because lectures were online.

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MCDB1A . 6 Years Ago

He's a nice, engaging lecturer, but his exam was awful. It was way more specific than what he *or* the book covered, and I could barely understand it. Apparently, the rest of MCDB 1A didn't, either. He seems like an alright guy, but I wouldn't trust him as a substitute teacher

2 helpful 0 unhelpful
MCDB111 . 12 Years Ago

The class was interesting and for the most part he was able to get a lot of his points across clearly, and if not his TA's are very helpful and reliable. His lecture slides have about 80% of what you need to know the other 20% comes from attending lectures for clarity. His tests do test on a small portion of what he actually expects you to know.

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MCDB111 . 13 Years Ago

interesting class. 40% for each midterm and final, 10% for weekly quizzes. curved relative to the avg of top 10 scores (i think it was like 10% within that score was an A..) ended up with an 82% that was a A. lecture slides have everything you need to know.

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MCSB111 . 13 Years Ago

The class was interesting, however, the professor was rude and unhelpful during office hours. Did not answer emails most of the time. In addition, did not fully answer questions during office hours, preferring to instead ask, "well do you go to lecture?" Overall an essential class, but negative experience.

1 helpful 4 unhelpful
MCDB111 . 14 Years Ago

Memorize the lecture slides and just use the book as reference. The first part of the class was much easier than the second half, so be prepared for a tough final (thank god it's not cumulative). It's an interesting class and crucial for the mcat

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MCDB111 . 15 Years Ago

Best class ever and awesome lecturer. Prof. Smith is approachable and very help during office hours. Class involves a lot of memorizations and his tests were long. Quizzes in section every week so don't fall behind. Physiology is an awesome class, but too bad there's no lab.

0 helpful 2 unhelpful
MCDB111 . 15 Years Ago

Be prepared, don't try and cram there is a lot of information and he speaks very fast at times. His curve doesn't do your grade any good (due to med school students) so study the lectures inside out.

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