BIOL 2200

Dr. Manson means well, but I did not learn well from her at all. Material seems straightforward during the lecture until you get to the test, and she manages to throw you for a loop. She often has to correct questions because multiple of the options could be true or others had no right answer at all. Her wording is horrendous and is often the reason students miss questions. All bio majors have to take this class, so here are my tips as someone who got an A-, not an A.
- Go to the lecture. She records them, but participation is extra credit, and every point helps. After class, rewatch the lecture at least twice in preparation for tests and discuss the lecture and reading content with friends to make sure you have it down.
- If you are confused about a topic, don't ask her. Read the textbook or ask a TA. She made concepts more confusing than they needed to be.
- During the neuron and brain unit, DON'T GO TO CLASS. Teach yourself the material. She has no idea how to teach this topic. My neurobio friends had to reteach it all to me after class due to the extreme amount of factually incorrect information Manson gave.
- Reason out all multiple choice options during tests by writing out on a piece of scrap paper why answer choices could or couldn't work. That helps keep your mind active during long computer tests and makes you less likely to make careless mistakes.

This class is genuinely so much better than the 2100 analogue. Here's the structure - exactly like 2100, but:
1. Lectures 3x a week. GO TO LECTURE and transcribe the slides and any explanatory comments from Manson into your notes. Don't worry terribly much if you miss her comments as they aren't often tested.
2. Lab 1x a week. They suck, no two ways about it - just do your work, try your best, and ask the TAs for help if you need it. They will help you.
3. Exams 5x a semester, but only 4 count. People love to complain about this class, but here's a secret: just take your notes (that you copied from the slides) and transcribe them EXACTLY into a flashcard deck. Then drill them for however long it takes you to memorize the content. Do the practice exam she posts 3 or 4 times to solidify your understanding. You can use Mastering to study if you want. Doing this for maybe three days ahead of each exams got me 97s on all three I've taken, and hopefully on the fourth. (and if you do well enough, you don't have to take the final!)
I wasn't terribly interested in the material, but Manson manages to make it interesting and she clearly loves what she's talking about. Just show up, put the time into studying on exam week, and you'll be totally fine! I can't say it's a stellar class, but you won't hate it. #tCFS24

This class will have you question how you get questions wrong, even though you studied the entire week leading up to the test. If you are taking this class for premed, I recommend going over the material beforehand, as Manson teaches in a very unorganized fashion. Many aspects of this class involve test-taking skills and pure luck. For example, walking out of the second test I thought I was going to get mid 60%, however, I got a score of 80%. The last test before the final, I was confident in getting a 95+%, and received a 77%. I knew far more about the test I got a worse score on, yet the tests do not reflect that. Keep in mind this is coming from someone who received a high B+ in this class. Biology may not be my strong suit, but there is no reason for the test questions to be as difficult as they are (especially in an introductory class). #tCFS24

Your exam grade is 70% of your final grade, so doing well on them is imperative. To do well on the exams take 8-10 hours the week before the exam to MEMORIZE THE SLIDES! I'm bad at biology, but consistently got 92-94% on the exams by memorizing all the slide info. You also need to be able to connect the info. The first test is probably the easiest, the second test is the hardest, and test three and four are in between.

The second biggest portion of your grade is lab, and this grade really just depends on your lab TA. My group just asked our TA non-stop questions, and she would give us hints to guide us on the right track, but like I said, it really depends on your TA.

The smallest portion of your grade is mastering bio questions. There are a ton of textbook specific questions (i.e. things that weren't covered in lecture) and as someone who never read the text book I generally ended up checking my answers with Quizlet. This was really helpful, and helped me learn without needing to read the textbook (lol).

STUDY FOR EVERY EXAM EVEN THOUGH YOU CAN DROP A TEST GRADE

This course was definitely not easy, but if you go to lectures consistently and pay attention then you should be fine. The annoying thing about this class is that the exams are way harder it seems than the information you learn in class. I would suggest reading the textbook more as I didn't really do that, but maybe it will help explain the harder concepts that are sometimes glossed over in lectures. ALSO... make sure you do the mastering biology homework on time! The homework is around 10% of your grade and it is really easy to forget about them sometimes.
#tCFS24

Even as someone who took it for pre-med, I surprisingly enjoyed this course better than BIOL2100. Manson had a lot of passion for teaching about subjects she enjoyed, especially with plants, and it made learning the content more engaging. However, it is an intro bio course and it can hit you like a truck if you don't study efficiently. The grading scale is 70% tests, 20% labs, and 10% homework with a 1% Pollev bonus. I'll share tips on how I studied for each section (which wasn't easy at first even though I estimate my grade to be in the A range lol).

Tests (70%) - This one is typically the bane of people's existence - especially since her tests are notorious for confusing wording - and you will hear a lot of people on Yikyak complaining lol. What I did was take her learning objectives from the slides that she gave, fill out the learning objectives with her powerpoint notes and other additional details that I made, and put it into a Google doc for an extensive study guide. I use an Ipad for notes in class this but computer works as well. After everything is organized based off of learning objective + topic (ex: bryophytes), I would write down the main points/word the notes into my own words on a whiteboard. Drawing out diagrams is also extremely helpful - especially in preparation for the 3rd and 4th exams. After you write down everything, try to figure out how to connect all of these ideas since Manson's exams are application based like Kittlesen's. I also recommend studying with your friends since if they're confused on a topic - you can try to explain it to them and vice versa. Regarding actually taking the exam, be extremely careful in choosing answers. A tip that I use: if one part of the answer is wrong, the answer choice is completely wrong. It helps to narrow down answer choices! Take your time as well - her wording is confusing and you want to take as much time to comprehend what she's saying.

Labs (20%) - This one is dependent on your TA but I was lucky to have a really chill TA and lab group. Me and my lab group would divide the work (ex: one answers the post-lab questions, one does work on DataClassroom, etc) and we would be done within an hour or less. Make sure that your work is divided amongst your group and ask TAs for help!

HW (10%) - The HW is on Mastering Bio like BIOL2100 if you had taken it. For me, I would just answer based off of textbook/activity that Mastering Bio gives and check with Quizlet (which will be ur goat in HW trust). Don't make HW harder than it needs to be!

If you answer/keep up with pollev questions, you'll get the pollev bonus and you don't have to get the questions right all the time as well!

Intro Bio is hard but you got this trust! :)

#tCFS24

As someone who got an A in the course and didn't have to take the final - got lots of tips and tricks:

How I structured studying for this course:
- Had class Monday, Wed, Fri. During the weekend I would re-listen to lectures from the week and use anki image occlusion on all of the power-points (and I mean ALL of it! I had about 500 cards per unit) including handwritten notes I wrote on the slide. I would also throw in my anki deck any homework questions I found tricky.
- A week before the midterms start synthesizing with a friend concepts. Test each other, draw stuff out on white boards (processes, concept maps, venn diagrams).

When taking the test
- I took the whole two hours. For each question I would write down a,b,c,d and cross out and scribble notes and reasonings for eliminating or choosing a certain answer choice. This A) makes it easier for you to go back and confirm you have the right option B) confirms that you picked the best option.
- Her wording is tricky, sometimes her questions don't make sense (those are usually dropped after). Be careful. Read every word.

Tips:
- I never once opened the textbook the entire course. Everything she tests comes from her mouth. Her lectures are your bible for this course.
- I would go to office hours once every other week if I had lingering conceptual questions, I found them helpful.
- Studying far in advance will do you wonders. There is a lot of content and the farther ahead you study the happier you will be. Just take it little by little.
- DO NOT undermine her tests. You are going to be learning some easy concepts but still put in the time to learn it.
- Re-listen to lectures at least once.

This class takes a lot of effort to do well, and her exams can be very tricky, but I hope these tips help!

The course is a very similar structure to BIOL 2100. I highly recommend attending lectures because everything on the exams is entirely lecture based. There is no need to read the textbook. For every lecture you will have a mastering bio homework assignment that is relatively short. I suggest looking up the answers to make sure you are getting them right. Homework is only 10% of the final grade but you want to make sure you get all the points you can since the exams are more challenging. The labs are a bit on the boring side, but they were all really easy. Her wording on the exams can be very tricky. I found myself over thinking the answer choices and getting stuck because multiple answers seemed correct. Make sure to fill out the form she gives you if you find any questions confusing. She will look through all the responses and gives credit for an extra question or two on each exam if there are enough responses. #tCFS24

As someone who received an A+, this class certainly requires time and effort to do well. The exams are the primary focus, and everything you do outside of lecture should be spent preparing for the exams. Here's what I recommend:

1. Start making study guides ASAP. Some time after each lecture, pop back into the slides, make a few flashcards (I made plenty in Quizlet which certainly helped), and do your best to do a little bit of studying every day-- 5 min of review can be the difference maker in retention. Not only will it make it easier to study leading up to the test, but you'll save yourself precious cram time later on.
2. Ask yourself the kinds of questions you'd expect to see on a test-- Biol2200 is not a cut-and-paste, match the term/definition-style class. Think about the functions of processes in the greater scope of biology, and focus on how/why one thing affects another, not just what that thing does on its own. In other words, while vocab is extremely important, try to understand how all the pieces fit together, and the significance of each individual part.
3. Study with true/false questions. Every question on the exam is multiple-choice, so realistically, you should approach each answer option with a true/false mindset. Either the option is outright false, sometimes true (which is never good enough), or definitely/always true. She'll never include two options which are always true (though she does sometimes give out pity points for misleading questions, from which I certainly benefited). Keep this in mind when using process of elimination, and I strongly encourage adding your own true/false questions in your study guides to prepare for ambiguous questions, of which will be plenty.
4. *More of a superstition* - Avoid cramming a ton the day of the exam. In my purely anecdotal experience, if you study well leading up to the exam, then you can avoid yourself a lot of anxiety (and precious exam time) worrying over extraneous information. The stress of packing too much info right before a test and wondering whether you studied enough is often enough to throw you off your game when it comes time to take the test. You've got this, and you know everything. Don't psyche yourself out.
5. Never, ever, ever second-guess yourself. Unless you're 100% certain you misread a question, misunderstood an answer option, or remembered some last-minute detail, don't change your answer on a whim. Chances are, you were right the first time, and always try to prove yourself wrong before caving into that last-second panic attack.

You'll do great. The class is just another stepping stone in a long journey ahead of you. No matter what grade you receive, you are worth more than a single letter, and so much more than a 3-digit number. Happy studying.

I took this class as a first year biology major, and I ended with a B+. I had taken AP bio in high school and Dr. Kittlesen’s BIOL 2100 prior to this class. I loved Dr. Manson as a biology professor; she’s definitely my favorite out of the four biology teachers I’ve had. I fully believe she tries to make the class fair to everyone, no matter your interests or motivations. Her lectures are typically easy to follow, but it’s extremely important to understand what she says and figure out how to apply that to different scenarios. I went to P2L every single week from the start of the semester, and I still found many exams to be challenging. What helped me the most was reviewing the lectures (since her exams were completely based on what she said in lecture) and spending a lot of time on MasteringBiology questions. I read the textbook in the beginning of the semester, but I learned it was better to focus solely on what Manson had said, especially because she explains concepts very well, so there’s little need for clarification through the textbook readings.

There are 5 exams (including the cumulative final) that account for 70% of your grade, but she drops your lowest score. Labs (pre-lab quizzes and post-lab reports) account for 20% of your grade. Homework (MasteringBiology 3x/week) accounts for 10% of your grade. Participation through PollEv can earn you an extra 1%. I was really sick this semester and missed many classes, but I still got an extra 0.93%.

For my lab, my TA was extremely sweet and helpful. In my experience so far, you can earn a 100% in your labs as long as you communicate with your TA well to make sure you complete things correctly. Labs were cool when we got to use microscopes (for two of the labs), but I wasn’t a big fan of them otherwise. They were crafty (e.g. card games) and I never left the room with a better grasp on what they were trying to teach us.

I think I could have improved if I had gone to Manson’s office hours, and if I had studied with friends/groups more. The few times I did study with friends, we were able to point out each other’s misunderstandings because there’s so many intricate details (like all of the plants covered in exam 2) that are easy to confuse.

Overall, this course definitely taught me more than any other STEM course I’ve taken in my life. I enjoyed the content from the beginning, even if I wasn’t performing as well on exams as my classmates. I think my lowest score was 26/35 (exam 2), and my highest was 29.75/35 (final). Also, don’t be afraid to point out any possible errors on the exams. Manson is very open to comments. When I pointed out that one of the questions didn’t have a correct answer (because the correct answer was not totally correct), I was able to get a point back. Manson is extremely thoughtful when it comes to discussion. Her email reply to my exam comment was kind and conveyed how grateful she was to learn something new, which is an attitude I appreciated more than anything.

My one hour of groupwork each week was my weekly P2L session. My three hours of writing per week is my note taking on paper. I estimated that I read/studied 8 hours/week because I’m a slow reader/learner. #tCFS24