BIOL 2100

If you're dedicated to some natural sciences (and if you're premed), you should definitely take this class. It's not particularly easy, but if you study hard and pay attention during lectures you should get an A or a B+. Kittlesen usually does a VERY good job during his lectures, and he 's great slowing things down and explaining tough concepts during office hours. The major problem I had with this course was with the mandatory lab section. The lab descriptions were complex, and everyone sort of adopted the mentality, "well the directions say to pipette this much liquid into this little cup, I have no idea what it is but the directions say to do it." I wish I had paid closer attention to what we were actually doing in lab, especially since Kittlesen asks you questions about it on tests.

This was a great class! It's not 100% necessary to do the readings before class, but keep up with them as best you can since you get a lot more out of lectures if you understand the material. To do well on tests, you have to make sure you understand the material and can reason with it, rather than just memorizing. Specifically, when you go over experiments in the textbook and in class, understand why certain techniques are used, why the results were what they were, and be able to predict what the outcome of the experiment would be if he changed a few aspects of the protocol (this was a huge part of the final exam). Overall, Kittlesen was great and I thoroughly enjoyed this class. An A, and certainly a B, is absolutely doable so long as you take this class seriously and do the work you're assigned. I would highly recommend this class.

I am one of the few who did not really like Kittlesen. He is very knowledgable in his stuff but attending lectures is almost pointless; I only attended them for clicker points. His lectures are confusing and rather than teaching the concepts, he will talk about specific cases before making sure the students understand the basic concept. However, the textbook was my savior so make sure you read that and do Mastering Bio. It doesn't really matter in the end though because there's only one professor for this course so make the best of it and good luck.

Overall I thought it was a worthwhile class and that prof Kittlesen was a great professor. He is really passionate about biology and that really shows during his lectures. However, both his clicker questions and test questions are pretty difficult; they test your understanding to a very detailed level. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to take good lecture notes (implying that you should definitely show up). This is tough at times because he moves through the material pretty quickly but try your best to write down the main ideas of what he is saying. You will definitely need them when studying for his tests. I really enjoyed this class, but that being said, it does take a lot of work to do well.

Professor Kittlesen is a GREAT professor. He is very dedicated to his students and makes himself very accessible to students and has a ton of office hours. The class was fairly challenging, and even though I am not planning on continuing with science I still enjoyed the class because of Kittlesen's teaching style. I'd recommend doing in-depth readings because all reading topics seemed to be fair game for the tests, even if it wasn't gone over in huge detail in class (also, make sure to show up to class and take good notes). Highly recommend this class for anyone interested in intro biology/wants to get a feel for biology!

Great class definitely recommend even though I got a grade lower than I had expected when I signed up for this course. You will definitely reap what you sow and Kittlesen will definitely test you on your preparation and understanding of the material. Exams are challenging but if you start preparing a week in advance you won't be losing too much sleep. Definitely a weed out but don't get discouraged by others who speak poorly of the class or Kittlesen he's one of the best lecturers and you will definitely get accustomed to the work it takes to get to Medical School if that's your path!

A good old, weed-out intro bio course. Kittlesen is pretty kooky and makes students laugh during lecture. But his tests really make you prepare. Labs are tested, as are the lectures and Mastering Biology. Read the textbook, take notes from it, and use his office hours. I didn't get the grade that I expected, but this really made me realize that I needed to prepare heavily for higher courses.

Kittlesen is a fantastic lecturer so it is definitely worth going to class. Also, a lot of his tests are from lecture so that's another reason to go. His clicker questions give you a 1% boost at the end of the semester, which is really useful. Exams definitely required some effort and critical thinking, but he gives you more than enough time to take them. Got an A in the class but I must have studied for about 8 hours over the course of 5 days to prepare for each exam. Definitely a great class. Kittlesen is a wonderful teacher and lecturer.

LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS COURSE. If you have even the slightest interest in biology, I highly highly recommend taking this course. I did not take AP Bio in high school but I did the readings and took notes on them before every lecture (which is necessary if you are like me and had not taken bio in a long time) which really helped the lectures make sense. On days I hadn't read before class I felt very lost and was unable to take notes. The homework is done through mastering bio and is very helpful in understanding the material and doesn't take too much time. (Theres either 1 or 2 due every week or every other week) I probably studied 10 hours over 3ish days before each exam and got an A/A- on each. The exams are nice because if you understand the material most of the questions aren't too difficult, but some require you to apply knowledge you have learned to a new example. Usually if a question is too difficult he'll throw it out. This class is definitely not too difficult if you are willing to dedicate time to it. It also helps if you find biology interesting in general or else it could be hard to focus on studying. A lot of my friends put the same amount of work in for studying but didn't do the readings/take notes in class and ended up getting B's or C's on the exams. So it's definitely not a class to take if you are interested in the subject but not willing to read. Also, Kittlesen is a really good lecturer as far as being kind of funny and engaging students in what he is teaching. He is definitely the most dad professor I have ever had. Clicker questions are every class so make sure you attend because you get extra points at the end based on participation. He usually tries to trick you on these, only to try to explain the concept so that "the answer becomes clear" without actually saying the right answer until someone in lecture will be like..."So what's the answer?".

tl;dr great class, interesting material, requires effort, fair exams, highly recommend

Dave is such a phenomenal professor. He's so incredibly knowledgable and passionate about biology. He really cares about his students and makes sure the students are prepared for future science courses. I found his class to be pretty easy, although I do realize I was in the minority. If you have a strong biology background, this course will be no problem for you. If not, this class will build you a strong background. His tests are all multiple choice and fair, but you must have read the textbook material and be able to synthesize and apply the material, not just recite. The homework for the course is mostly online and very easy. 100% recommend this course. Professor Kittlesen is the best!