I found Kittlesen's lectures very interesting and engaging - the topic themselves are pretty fascinating even if you aren't someone who's super interested in biology. As for how to succeed - the way to do well on Kittlesen's tests is to make sure you are not just using rote memorization, but actually thinking about how to apply the information. If you know the facts and can use logic to deduce conclusions, you will be absolutely fine. The tests are not meant to trick you unless you don't understand the actual way that something works. I didn't do the readings before class and I hadn't taken AP bio, but I did the readings before each exam and always did quite well. I would also recommend talking about the concepts with a friend like he suggests. Overall, you shouldn't be scared of this course - it's easy to do well if you are willing to apply information rather than just regurgitate it.

#tCFS24

Kittlesen is a great professor! He genuinely cares about his students and makes lectures entertaining and enjoyable. Reading the textbook is unnecessary as everything on the exams is solely lecture based. Kittlesen's lecture slides are mostly pictures so you really need to focus and take notes during lecture. He does record the lecture, but it is only an audio recording. An additional benefit in attending lectures is poll everywhere which he offers an extra credit point for participation. There are Mastering Bio assignments after every lecture that typically take about 20-30 minutes. This is pretty much the only form of homework outside of class. Labs can be confusing, but in my experience the TAs were happy to guide us through. My lab group got out 1-2 hours early every week. There are no prelab or postlab assignments as homework. I would suggest reading the lab overview before showing up for lab. This will help you move quicker and hopefully get out early. Exams are easy if you review all the lecture content before hand. Drawing out all the biological processes for each unit exam on a whiteboard helped me feel prepared. If you have taken AP Bio most of the topics should be familiar. Exams are closed notes so you do need to memorize the content, however he directly draws out what you need to know and what you don't. All exams (including the final) are unit exams and not cumulative.

In summary, this is a great introductory course and I suggest taking it even if you get transfer credit for AP Bio. I wish I had gotten to know Kittlesen better. If you are able to, go to Kittlesen's office hours and take his COLA class. He is a great connection as head of the biology department and for recommendations.

Overall, this class is taught pretty well even if it is pretty difficult, especially in the beginning when you're getting used to the course. Professor Kittlesen is a phenomenal instructor, and quite clearly lays out the knowledge you need to be expected to know come exams, but you similarly need to listen, study, and review accordingly to make sure you perform well.

In terms of exams, Kittlesen changed his original policy of having 6 exams and allowing us to drop one in favor of only 5 exams with more extra credit opportunities starting with Fall 2023. This might very well mean you'll start off with a really low score on your first exam like I did because you're not yet used to how his exams are somewhat tricky with their questions. But even then, I found that what worked best for me was to take proper notes in all his lectures, then make a Google doc with all the learning objectives for the upcoming exam and try writing out and explaining each one. If you took good notes already, this should only take a few hours, but will do wonders in helping you recognize which areas you need to review more as well as training you to understand the concepts in the way in which Kittlesen wants you to for the exam. While you're reviewing, though, make sure to draw out all the relevant diagrams and processes as much as you can, because his exams pretty much require you to be able to have a mental image of how the systems work and how they're manipulated in the wake of certain changes so you can then determine the right answer.

In terms of his lectures, you should definitely attend every lecture in person if possible. He didn't mention it in detail for us until the very end, but the Poll Everywhere questions he has you do in class will be added as extra credit to your final grade, which is determined solely on completion. For this semester, he decided to give everyone 100% completion because a lot of students faced a lot of technical difficulties, but that may not be the case in the future, so make sure to attend in person and do the questions whenever possible. It may not be much, but a 100% completion grade for us meant an extra 1% boost to our overall course grade, so it can definitely make a difference.

You should also try to do your best to get as close to 100% in your MasteringBiology homework assignments, so take your time answering them. He also gives out a few extra credit homework assignments at the very end of the semester, which I highly suggest you complete as that can very well bring an original homework grade of around 90% up to a full 100%.

In regards to labs, they're not that difficult overall, so just make sure to do your best to complete everything as best as you can.

Tl;dr: Professor Kittlesen is a great instructor, and you can study well for his tricky exams by making sure you can explain and know everything on the learning objectives for an upcoming exam. Always attend the lectures in-person as much as you can, and make sure you take any extra-credit opportunity possible, including homework and in-lecture questions.

I hope this helps, and good luck to anyone who plans on taking the course!

Professor Kittlesen is a good lecturer. He makes lecture engaging and interesting, which helps with actually remembering the material he’s taught. The exams can be kind of tough, but if you go to class and study, you’ll be okay. Make sure to study for exams, as they are most of what makes up your grade. Lab is boring and honestly kind of useless. I didn’t learn a single thing in lab. It is, however, a good grade buffer between the exams. Make sure to do the homework, as that gives an easy opportunity to bring your grade up. This semester he gave a good amount of extra credit, which really came in handy. I got a B in the course, but an A is totally possible if you put in the work for it.

I loved this course, I found Dave to be a phenomenal teacher. The tests were not on textbook material so I didn’t open the textbook at all and I was fairly successful throughout the course. The only real issue I took with the course as a whole was that the lab section kind of dragged and many of the labs felt like time wasters (things like arts and crafts and escape room that all took hours). #tCFF23

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.

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.

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

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!!!!

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.