BIOL 2200

As someone who did not get an A in this class (I got a B -- and WORKED for it) listen up. This class is tough. Lecture goes extremely fast. I felt like many times the most important, complex topics were extremely rushed and never went over again. This class requires SO much time outside of lecture and preparing for exams. Let me help you. As someone that would start studying an entire week before her exams and take maybe 12-20 hours (or more) and still get around a B on all her exams, I want to help you succeed. USE P2L!!! This will help you guide studying and get a better understanding of topics that she rushed through lecture. (Especially if April is still a P2L leader, she is awesome! go to her!) Exams are 70% of your overall grade, so STUDY (they aren't curved either). Use your online resources. Don't read the textbook, it's a waste of time. Memorize her lecture slides, and as you are studying look things up online to get a better understanding. I felt like I taught myself pretty much everything in this class. Online videos are really useful and draw yourself charts, and compare/contrast. I would write 30 pages of hand-written notes from her lecture slides and from videos I watched online to help me study. (Obviously everyone studies differently, but it's important to give yourself enough time to go through everything). She does provide a practice exam the Tuesday before your Friday exam slot, THESE QUESTIONS ARE NOT ON THE EXAM SO DO NOT STUDY THE PRACTICE TEST. This is to help you use what you know and apply it to her questions. I don't think I ever saw a question she reused from one of them. My advise would be to have all the other lectures studied before you take the practice exam to really help you apply the content.

Additionally, she teaches new material up to the last class before the exam, and it is on the exam. Try to have gone through other lectures before the Monday and Wednesday that she teaches new material before the Friday exam. You don't want to have to rush last minute. When you get to the exam, her exam questions are long, confusing and very tricky wording sometimes. It feels like many times there are two correct answers, this is why it's important to have EVERYTHING memorized so you can rule out other answers. If you receive a low grade on one of the exams, you can drop it if you take the final (which is a little easier than her other exams, but still study!) There are 4 exams that count in this class (4 highest scores) and 5 total exams. Final is 'optional' if you are happy with your grade, but I would recommend taking it any way because it's meant to help you. Overall, this class is hard, but not impossible if you put in the work! I'm so glad this class is over, but I've learned how to study more efficiently for the future. Good luck!

Compared to BIOL 2100, this class was far more easy and enjoyable. Manson is great at lecturing; she likes to tell stories and give examples to help dumb down concepts. Honestly, I gave up reading the textbook after the first exam. Everything you need to know for the exam is said in lecture. Now this doesn't mean memorize her slides and you're all set for the exam. Her exam questions require a bit more thinking but they follow a reasonable line of thinking. Process of elimination is your best friend. She has a form you can fill out during the exam if you have any questions/concerns. Sometimes points are given back for another answer choice or all depending on the situation. I remember she once accepted all answers for a small typo (a word was missing an -s) because it may have been confusing. Poll Everywhere is still a thing BUT she actually goes through why the correct answer is right and all the others are wrong. Her PollEv questions are a good reflection of exam type questions SO TAKE NOTE. Lab follows lecture content based, however it was all over the place. Just know that your lab grade depends on your TA. A lab assignment is submitted at the end of lab. The questions are open response. Sometimes each group decides to research different things. So the rubric Manson gives to TA's is really just a suggestion. For example, her rubric will give points if a concept was mentioned and explained in the answer choice, but your TA may deduct points because "you could have said more" or "you're right, but this word you used in this context is wrong". I went to office hours about this, but Manson said she can't do anything about how TA's choose to grade. At the ends of the semester, I got an email that our lab section had on average really low grades compared to the other sections. She only offered to increase our lab grade by 1%. Unfair when you compare it to other sections, so be warned.

I really enjoyed Mansons class, it thought it was much easier than 2100 (I was able to finish with an A+ in this class and a C+ in 2100). Its not an easiest class but if you put in work you can do well

Tips
- ALWAYS go to office hours! Manson leaves a lot of things out of lecture that and she goes more in depth about and explains in OH. They are usually pretty small and she answers every question and goes in depth. If you do nothing else PLEASE go to office hours.
- P2L for this class wasnt great in my opinion, I went like three times but I felt like the tutors didnt know what was going on, if you dont get to it for this class you arent really missing anything
- READ THE TEXTBOOK BEFORE LECTURE (only the pages she assigns). The pages are pretty short and easy to skim but if you dont read before lecture you will definitely be lost in every class. Manson's lectures about body systems were very confusing and reading the textbook or watch a video it is easier to understand.

EXAMS
I studied by using active recall, I made a quizlet after each lecture. Also going over PollEv questions (very similar to the exam questions), Mastering BIO and office hours. Manson has practice exams and she provides alot of other ways to practice problems. They are 70% of your grade so start studying at least a week out
- LEARN HOW SHE WRITES HER EXAMS. Mansons exams were hard because she uses tricky wording and vocabulary. If it seems like a simple question it probably isnt so make sure you read through each slowly. Also remember exceptions and specific language, especially when it comes to evolution (for example saying 'the goal of evolution' is always wrong).
- Her questions are heavy on process of elimination or which response is MORE correct. There are some where every choice is technically correct so be warned

The lab is pretty easy for the class though, depending on your TA, and you can usually do pretty well but some TAs are hard graders. She has a 1% extra credit for doing 90% of the PollEvs, it not much but it helps. Unlike Kittlesen though she also has an exam drop so take advantage of that (I got to skip the final).

Manson is a super sweet professor and is so willing to help her students. That being said, I found this class very hard. I got an A but spent countless hours studying and still didn't perform as well on most of the exams as I wanted to. I also hadn't taken 2100 before it so I can't compare the two. The strategy that started to work for me was to rewatch lectures the day of and take notes on literally everything that she says. Most people I knew in the class would rewatch all the lectures the week before the exam, but I think by doing it the day after you really drill the concepts into your mind and you won't fall behind. Then start dedicated studying the weekend before the exam (exams are on Fridays). I would make a quizlet and study that and also draw out phylogenies once you get to that point in the unit. Phylogenies will always be on an exam so it's really good practice for them. She also gives practice exams both through the online textbook and she writes her own with about 20 practice questions. Don't do these questions until you feel very prepared for the exam so that you can get the most out of it. I've heard her office hours are very helpful but I was never able to go because they were all during my class time. If you don't want to you really don't need to do the HW in my opinion. By that I mean you can just look up answers if you want to, you still have to do them for credit. Everything on the tests comes straight from lecture and there will be things in the textbook that you absolutely do not need to know. The textbook can be really helpful if you're struggling with a concept and need to reinforce it with more material/figures though. The final was 10x easier than all of the other midterms and it really only talks about surface level material. Most people finished in under an hour. Overall she's an awesome lecturer and I don't think she's out to get you with the exams, but they are challenging. Just make sure to do all the textbook HW and check all your work with TAs in lab so that you leave yourself with as much as a buffer for exam grades as possible. She offers a few different opportunities for extra credit too which is great.

Dr. Manson is very knowledgable and accommodating. If you ever had an issue with anything, she was always available and able to work with students to fix any problems. I ended the course with an A+ and I do believe that ending with an A is very doable. Her exams may seem difficult but if you pay close attention to lecture and wording, you will be fine. She records her lectures and I highly recommend rewatching them for any confusing concepts. There were times where I feel I had to do my own research to fully understand a concept as lecture did not explain it in enough depth, but she never tests outside of the material she provides. She has homework and reading grades which help to "buff" out your grade and are very easy to do. Lab is only once a week but it is hit or miss depending on your TA. The workload for lab is very simple (we never had to stay until full time), it just depends how strict your TA is when it comes to grading. The class is not much work besides exams, however, it is important to study in advance and take good notes on the things she says in lecture.