Dr. Kuris is a funny and well respected professor, his lectures are engaging and always super interesting. Lab practicals are very hard and require a TONNN of time put into studying, but if you put the work in it will be VERY rewarding. Not an easy class, but I would still recommend taking it.
My favorite professor at UCSB! Dr. Kuris genuinely cares about students and is very passionate about invertebrates and parasites. He's very responsive to emails and is very easy to talk to during office hours. Go take EEMB 111 and 112 before he retires! The lab practicals are tough, but dissections are so fun. Amazing and funny professor.
Kuris is incredibly passionate about invertebrates and it shows through in his lectures. Though the exams and practicals are hard, if you take a lot of time to study, you'll do well. Go 2 lecture! The TA's this quarter care a lot about their students doing well, and both Kuris and the TA's have been making it clear what to focus on for the exams.
- Lab AND lecture midterm in the same week...I have other midterms that week, get a grip - Jump rule punishes those who do well on the first test - They make the class so difficult and unfair that a 50% has to be a passing grade - Expect you to remember an atrocious amount of taxonomy and anatomy - Don't care about students wellbeing or learning
The lecture exams were fair and if you have a good memory they're not bad at all, but the practicals are really hard because of the sheer amount of info tested. He's pretty generous with grading though and I know a lot of people who got As. Overall, not an easy class and it requires a ton of time, but it was one of my favorite classes.
Loved class & professors, absolutely HATED lab. Required to memorize all taxonomy, pathology, hosts, life cycle, ETC. of hundreds of parasites for practicals, NO ONE did well. TAs not helpful when asked what to focus on for practicals, basically just said to study everything. Altered grading scale, but no curve. Don’t take as an UD bio elective.
If you plan to have a heavy course load for the quarter, this class is going to be painful on top of everything else because of how time-consuming it is. The lab portion was extremely challenging, as you have to memorize the tiniest details of a plethora of parasites. However, professor Kuris was extremely sweet and passionate about the material.
The lectures are great, Kuris keeps things interesting, encourages questions & is easy to talk to outside of class. BUT THE LAB PRACTICALS! Lab practicals are always hard, I get that. But the amount of memorization, number of species, the fact we were not told what to focus on, & NO ONE felt prepared.The lab desperately needs restructuring.
This class is a complete red flag for anyone that cares about their gpa.PRE MEDS BEWARE. The lab is horrible, cool info, but the practicums are impossible to do anywhere close to passing. They had to throw out our first practicum because highest was a 70%. HE DOES NOT BELIEVE IN CURVES, so far no one has enough points for an A and final on Monday.
Midterm was fair, not sure about the final yet. The lecture was interesting, HOWEVER, the lab portion is a MESS. They expect you to know EVERYTHING (taxonomy, specific species names, pathology, hosts, life cycle, life stages, location in hosts, etc.) about hundreds of parasite species and give no guidance on what to focus on for the lab practicals.
THERE IS NO CURVE IN THE CLASS!!! The lab TAs don't really know anything at all, so that makes it really difficult to take the hardest part of the class with virtually no help. Take this class if you want to experience pain and disappointment with no curve or reward for all your hard effort.
This class is interesting but lab is a nightmare. Do not take if you're just doing it for an elective. Everyone failed the lab practicals so they had to throw out the scores. I didn't feel like the TAs knew what they were doing. Lecture was interesting though and fair.
Professor Kuris is an amazing teacher who has a tremendous knowledge of invertebrates. The invertebrate zoology classes are really fun if you like invertebrates, but they are also very challenging because of the amount of material you have to memorize.
Armand is a great professor and an awesome person! He truly cares about his students' success and he researches parasites so he is incredibly knowledgeable about the subject matter. The lecture tests are fair as long as you attend lecture and study, but the lab practicals are pretty difficult. Try to take pictures of the sp in lab to study for them
Love this professor. Class is kinda dry but show up and you will be fine.
He puts up a powerpoint and then reads it word for word. Once he's done which is pretty fast, he moves on to the next slide. There is NO time to take notes. He adds in fun bits of info about biologists that he knows, or how he loves parasites. He's a fun professor and every few slides he'll ask if anyone has any questions. He's passionate & cares.
Armand is one of the best professors at UCSB, especially if you take him for Parasitology. He really works to answer your questions and is enthusiastic about teaching and the subject matter. The class requires a lot of memorization, but if you put the work in, you'll get a good grade. The TAs are also really helpful and nice.
Great class and great professor. He has an incredible body of work to share and tells some excellent stories. Lectures are important, definitely don't miss them. Tests are hard but graded fairly, and the lab is awesome but definitely requires effort. Not an easy class, but very much worth taking!
Class was interesting for the most part. Kind of dull professor, but lecture portion of class was easy. Lab practicals were harder than lecture exams. I would recommend the class although I disliked that we talked quite a bit about organisms that weren't actually parasites.
Prof Kuris is an amazing teacher...you can tell he is really invested in his students' futures as biologists.
The Best Prof I have ever had, He is so interested in what he teaches its an awesome class! I recommend taking a class with him!! So cool!
Best prof EVER! He is amazing to talk to and is just an amazing man! By far my favorite prof here. The class will kick your butt if you don't study though!
really really nice professor. parasitology is one of the best classes offered at ucsb. the class is really interesting, he's a funny guy. the ta's are all enthusiastic about the subject matter. the labs are interesting, but the lab practicals are hard as hell!
You have to take his Parasitology class if you are a Biology major. He and his graduate students are so passionate about the subject matter...truly a great experience.