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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
It's heavy material, but he's funny and passionate.
know your slides inside and out, and listen intently in class. He speaks fast at times so record him if you must. THe class is difficult because a good percentage of the class is pre-med. Pre-med students are studious. goodluck.
Very interesting class. Go to class, record it, read book for reference and listen to recordings. He is very clear in lecture, but goes pretty fast. You need to work for an A in this class.
Very straight forward class. Know everything on his slides. He asks very detailed questions, so have to know everything in order to get an A in the class. He's kind of snooty, but put the work in and you can do well in the class.
this class was awesome. materials r very intersting and the tests were fairly easy... u learn a lot in this class. prof. smith was nice dude, and u don't really have to read the book to do well in this class. highly recommended for pre-med student(this class is practically a mcat prep course).
This was a very interesting but very hard course!! Be prepared to put in a lot of time and know the details if you want to do well.
An 85% was an A. That's pretty reasonable. Also- this is Human Physiology. If you want to be a doctor you better do well in it. The class wasn't easy, but a class like this shouldn't be.
This class is really hard! His curve is dumb because he averages the top 10 grades (usually around a 95%) and then bases the rest of the grades around that. 10% away from the top is an A, 10% away from that is a B and so on. He's pretty much a jerk. Interesting class, bad professor!
Great Professor, is pretty funny. Will take time and has patience to explain things. Can be tough, but its not an easy subject. Expect to be challenged and he will come through on his end. Great class.
Class isn't too bad, but Smith is kinda a dick. Not too helpful, thinks he's funny. DON'T sit with test after he calls time or he will take it away and declare it failed!