BIOL 2100

Kittlesen is great professor. He's very organized and is always emailing with updates and reminders. His lectures are clear and understandable if you know what he's talking about. He includes little stories and jokes which breaks up the info. He records them and I recommend relistening to them before the exams.
However, this class is really hard. I would not take it unless you have to or really like bio. An A is attainable if you're willing to put in the work. Best part about the class is that the tests are not cumulative. Definitely go to class and keep up with the material or you will struggle. For the exams, it's not enough to memorize the material, you have to understand it. There isn't much work outside of studying for exams (except for the mastering bio hw), but during exam week I spent probably 25 hours studying. If you do bad on one test you can still get an A but you have to grind. Even though the class is hard, it's fair and he tries to give extra credit where he can.

All I have to say is, I hate Dave's exams. So much. I took this class as a second year, after I had already taken biol2200, and was expecting it to be a breeze. My year was the first to have fully in person exams with no opportunity to drop your lowest (in any circumstance). I completed all the learning objectives, would study for hours, transcribe his lectures, read the textbook, all to no avail. I found the exams to be unreasonably specific and complicated, and felt like I was constantly fighting a war. I do not know what else I could have done to be successful. It is the worst pre-med weed out I've taken at UVA and I feel like the war is over now that I've completed it. Just put your head down, try your best, and get through it.

Kittlesen is a nice man but boy was this class rough.

He assumes everyone learned the basics in high school of each topic that he teaches, so he goes super in depth into random examples about a topic, but not the facts/details about the topic. For example, we would learn about replication, but instead of learning about the process he would talk about a random disease that had to do with it. Lectures were pretty unorganized. Here's my approach to success (A-):
-Type EVERYTHING he says during lecture. literally like a speed race while he's speaking just dictate it.

-go to class- his slides are all pictures, so if you skip you have to listen to the transcript and it's basically impossible when all he says is "This then slides in here and attacks this..etc". Also you get poll everywhere points (but make sure you don't miss ONE- I missed a single lecture of the entire semester when there's 3 a week and I got an 85% on pollev. If I had gotten a 1% I would have an A :(

-Type and talk out his LOs for each exam WELL in advance. This is his strategy for success and it's somewhat helpful.

His exams are pretty unreasonable if I'm being honest. I know even the smartest people who just didn't do well because they are so random and detailed about stuff that just shouldn't be in an intro bio class. I mean seriously as a 2nd year this class was kind of the bane of my existence. Just try your best and start studying in advance for exams. Def possible to get an A if you cushion your grade with a high lab grade (20% of your overall grade) and high mastering bio grade (10% overall). Don't get discouraged because BIOL 2200 is much easier and more straightforward.

I took this class in fall 2022 when he took away the drop and online exams. I got an A+ in the class and my biggest suggestion (that worked for me at least) would be to listen to the lecture audio recordings twice before each test. For the first time write down literally every word he says. The second time just listen. I went over the mastering biology questions and the learning objectives too, but spent most of my time with the lectures. I did the reading in the beginning of the semester, but eventually stopped as it didn’t help me much but it couldn’t hurt. This is what worked for me in the class, but as everyone’s different I recommend trying everything. I thought the first test was the hardest, so don’t be discouraged after getting your first grade back.

The course helped me realized that biology was not for me. That being said, Professor Kittlesen taught it well and offers plenty of opportunities to improve your grade, and there are plenty of opportunities to get help at office hours and P2L sessions.

The class itself is not particularly difficult, but you need to put in the work and study regularly and efficiently. Do not try to pull an all nighter one or two days before an exam, because there is a lot of content—be sure to begin studying and rewatching lectures the week of the exam at a minimum.

There is an e-text, but you honestly don't need it—all of the information on the exam can be obtained through lecture and Mastering Bio. I stopped reading the textbook after exam 2 and did fine. While studying, focus on answering the learning objectives he gives you, and use the textbook as reference when you need additional explanation. Follow Prof. Kittlesen's suggestion and try to explain concepts while studying so you know you fully understand them.

Some people say that the exams are unfair and use random, obscure information from his lectures, but I did not really find that to be the case. While it's true that the exams can be difficult, all of the content is directly related to the provided learning objectives—it's just a question of how effectively you studied them and if you know how to apply them. Ultimately, as long as you study EFFECTIVELY, getting an A in this class should not be too difficult.

This class was awesome but a lot of work. Kittlesen is an engaging lecturer and gives out lots of extra credit. He is helpful in office hours, and I loved his TAs. They know how hard the class is and seem to take that into consideration when grading your lab work (mine emphasized that they wanted lab to be a grade boost). I ended up with an A in the class, so here is what worked for me. Before lecture, take notes on the reading. I know it is tedious, do it anyway. Go to lecture and take shorter notes and do the participation extra credit! When it comes to studying, I relistened to his lectures and filled in my class notes with what I missed. Then I took those notes and used them to fill in flashcards labeled with the learning objectives. Rather than just turning the flashcards over, I would get a blank google doc and write out paragraphs explaining each learning objective. If I couldn’t, I would type out what was on the back of the flashcard and then come back to it. I would also explain certain concepts to my friends or mom to make sure I had them down. Do the hw and check it. Get this and lab grades as close to a 100 as possible, because that could be the difference between an A- and an A. Overall, this class is hard work, but it is much more doable that people make it out to be. You just have to be prepared and willing to put in the work.

I’m a science major so I needed to take this class and I didn’t not take AP Bio in my high school. Dillery was a very nice person, he cared about what he taught and helped out understand as much as he could. That being said, the amount of information needed to be memorized and the complexity of the information means no room for slacking. I ended with an A- and I ended with it because I read the textbook before every lecture, took notes in lecture, and then relistened to his lectures after lecture, whenever I found time. The best way to approach this class and end with an A in my opinion is to focus on his objectives. Study smart, so skim the textbook at least before each lecture so you know terms that pop up since he won’t really explain those, and then while taking notes really pay attention to the objectives. VERY IMPORTANT, is that all the test content is from the lecture and only content from the objectives, so don’t try going and memorizing and practicing information that he doesn’t talk about or simply doesn’t expect you to know. From what I say, the kids that ended with an A skimmed the textbook(fast), paid very close attention to lecture, relistened to the lectures, but instead took notes on his learning objectives. He posts the objectives in the slides on the first slide. A few cautions for the class are that the recordings for the class are all audio, so remember to take pictures of any drawings or demonstrations in class, and that sometimes you might feel really behind or have no idea what he’s saying during lecture. That is 100% fine, I think I understood like 40% of the lectures first way through, but listening to the lectures again really helps so much. For this class be ready to absorb a lot of time into bio studying and remember that it’s a weed out class, so just keep pushing, there are usually incentives that Kittlesen somehow gives be it .5 bumps or extra credit on homework that help. And for labs, it’s not in your choice, but TA matters a lot since some TAs would try to help during labs and grade easier, while others would refuse to help in any way and grade harder. One tip for lab would be to find a group that you think would do work, so all the burden of lab isn’t on you. Again, not to scare anyone taking this class, but Kittlesen is there not to yank your gpa, but to help you guys out, so go to office hours, P2L sessions, and TA office hours if you really need it. I personally loved the content of the class, so no matter how hard or confusing it was I pushed through and I ended doing well. GOOD LUCK AND ALL THE BEST!!!!

AMAZING! I loved this class and Kittlesen is the best! He is so funny and makes lecture so enjoyable. His tests are not as hard as people say, I would describe them as surface level knowledge but written to trick you so that you really need to read (and reread) the question and all the answer choices. Lab is fine but know that the amylase, genetics, and PCR stuff can take a while. 10/10 recommend

For an intro class, it definitely is a lot of work. It is essential you go to the lecture and take note of everything he says. Many times he will put a question on the exam that wasn't on the slides, you had to listen to his example. His exams are relatively difficult and will take a lot of prep. When he says his class isn't definitions based, he is not exaggerating. Be prepared to be tested on the concepts and examples relating to them. He is a nice guy who truly loves the subject, so you can expect him to be engaged and resourceful during office hours.

I did not like this class. Kittlesen is really nice - I'm not denying that - but the man needs to change the way he teaches because it DOES NOT CLICK.
First of all, the exams are by far the worst part of this class. Kittlesen gives you "learning objectives" that guide your studying and tell you what you need to know. And sure, those help! But he throws SO MANY CURVEBALLS on the exams and so many questions are worded terribly that it feels nearly impossible to do well. I don't say this lightly - because I genuinely try and am a good student otherwise - but it feels like his exams can be partially up to chance. If you didn't pick up on one specific thing he said, zoned out for ten minutes, or missed class, good luck. You will not be able to get that learning back. Kittlesen's slides are awful, with barely any words on them. They serve as a rough outline for where the actual information comes from, which is from Kittlesen himself. Make sure you transcribe EVERYTHING he says because you'll be stuck up a creek otherwise.
There are some good things about this course, in fairness. He's fairly generous with extra credit, REALLY nice, and labs and MasteringBio assignments are fairly easy grade boosters. It's just that the core of this course is such a slog that I can't in good conscience recommend it. In essence, it's REALLY easy to get a B to an A-, but getting to that A feels nigh on impossible.