Pay attention to class--if you're not good at keeping up with his fast pace like I was, then record and transcribe his lectures at a slower speed like I did. Transcribing is so terrible but it's so worth it, especially for the final test on cancer when you're studying pretty difficult material. If you do this, his tests are very fair. Doesn't make it easy though! No curve, so it's quite merciless so you have to keep up. I think around 30% of the exam is from the HW questions, so make sure you understand those. Don't just memorize them, but actually understand them, because he often changes up the questions a bit.

My favorite class at UVA! I've never felt like I learned so much from a class. Wormington is an amazing professor and the material is super interesting. The tests are very fair. If you keep up with the lectures and go to office hours they are doable! Highly recommend!

Wormington's class is hard but definitely worth it. You need to pay attention to class and record lectures. Take good notes. Everything he says is super important! He also repeats important notes several times if you didn't catch it the first time. He speaks quickly sometimes, so just stay awake!
Very interesting class. Great professor (even though he can be a bit condescending).

Wormington is a champ. For most, taking this class is not an option so make sure to take it with the Worm. His lectures are engaging and while he speaks fast, he tends to repeat a lot of things to help students understand. Take excellent notes and record the lectures to review them later. That being said, this is not an easy class and getting an A can be extremely tough. The homework grade is not an automatic 100 and you have be regimented in staying up to date with the material in order to do well on them. Exams are difficult, but fair. Overall, the class is great and the material is super enjoyable.

This class covers a LOT of information, but it all feels so necessary to anyone on a Bio/Biochem/Premed track. It can get a little dense at times, and Wormington really tests at a pretty advanced level at times, but it's relatively easy information to grasp conceptually. He also does an excellent job articulating the information. The class is not an easy A, but is a reasonably attainable A, and is very worthwhile altogether. By the way, the book is absolutely useless. As long as you take good notes, the slides and homework questions are completely sufficient study materials.

It was an interesting class but does require a lot of studying prior to exams. Be prepared to spend the days before the exam stuffing cell biology into your mind.

I feel I have a responsibility to write a review, just to refute the negative comments regarding Wormington's teaching style and the structure of the course. Wormington is NOT sexist- if he ever treated anyone in such a way, it was because they came to review sessions to ask questions revealing how little they studied and reviewed the relevant material. These students asked questions that wasted time by forcing the professor to recapitulate material covered in reading/class, and took time away from discussion of more targeted questions. This class was incredibly interesting, and the difficultly almost disappears as you navigate through the mechanics of the cell, learning first about the cell itself (in depth) then going on to learn more applications, such as cellular pathways and the roles they play in various diseases. I would highly recommend this course to anyone interested in a career in medicine- the material is absolutely captivating, and will surely confirm your interest in biology.

The material is awesome, but the professor isn't. Wormington is an excellent lecturer, but unfriendly towards males. If you haven't heard, he is very welcoming to questions that come from women, but not towards men. I didn't believe the rumors until I took the class, and you will definitely notice when you take it. He doesn't even try to be inconspicuous about it. Anyways, the grading of the class is way too generous as anything above a 93 was an A+. The tests vary in difficulty. In decreasing difficulty: 2nd, 3rd, final, 1st. The first exam is basically just the HW for that unit and the final is very easy and worth 25% as opposed to 20%. OVerall, the mateiral is very useful, especially if you're in the midst of studying for the mcat

This class wasn't that bad at all. I wish I could have spend more time studying for this class, but due to heavy course load, I always ended up studying for tests 2 or 3 days before the actual test. The HW can be hard sometimes, but if you spend time looking through power points and textbook then you should be fine! some of the questions in discussion sections and HW pop on the exams! My biggest tip would be not to write down anything when listening to his recordings... just listen and absorb all the info in and then write your notes in your own words!! Also, he didn't really curve the class, but adjusted the scale as mentioned in the comment below me, which was very fair in my opinion (89 or above was an A!!!). Don't stress out! the topics were really interesting.

So I have a lot to say about this class and Wormington.

This past semester, the course was structured to be 15% HW, which were old test questions given in sets of 5 three times a week, 20% for the first 3 midterms, and 25% for the final noncumulative midterm.

Firstly, I loved the content of this class. For the most part, I was excited to go to lecture and learn about how the cell works. I especially thought the content towards the end was useful, and am getting a lot of similar stuff coming up in my MCAT review.

Wormington is a great lecturer, and his tests are pretty fair. I do agree with the comments below though. He really did not do a good job enforcing people from cheating on HW, and although he knows some people have old tests, he does nothing about it. I asked him about this numerous times, and he said he changes the test enough that old tests would not be beneficial, and that students should be in his class to learn, not just to get the top grade... I did not use old tests as I felt they were dishonorable, and I did well in the class. I know people who used old tests and did worse than me. The main thing that he should focus on is making sure people do not cheat on HW by working in groups.

Also, I noticed that Wormington is nicer to female students. At his office hours and during tests, he seemed to answer their questions more readily. It was annoying.

The class was not curved, but the brackets were adjusted to fit his liking. an A- and a B+ were each only 1 point range, with an 86 being a B (not B+) and an 89+ being an A. I know people who got 86's and were very mad about this.

TIPS: expect to spend an hour for each hw to check them in the ppt and book or literature, go to class or get recordings, and study a lot for a few days before each exam.