Professor Kittlesen is very passionate about biology and very knowledgeable! He is always available outside of lecture in office hours. However, this course is very challenging and requires a lot of studying. I recommend studying the information repetitively even if you think that you know the information. Taking notes and watching youtube videos additional to lectures and readings are helpful. Kittlesen's lectures do not go very in depth and he goes over the main concepts. As the semester goes on, the information on tests stray further away from the textbook readings and lecture is required in order to do well. His tests are all multiple choice, there are five of them, and all weigh the same. However, the questioning on his exams can be tricky.

This class is certainly not easy, but after figuring out a system for taking notes/studying that works for me the class was relatively straight forward. The reading is not necessarily required, and not everyone does them as they can be time consuming, but I HIGHLY recommend doing them. They are extremely helpful if you do them before lecture, as it is good to have some context as to what Dave is talking about since he can go fast sometimes. I found the MasteringBio homework to be not that helpful, but it is easy to get a 100 on your homework grade, given that most of the answers can be found online and there is a lot of extra credit you can do for it. The first three tests were mostly based mainly off of textbook, so if you didn't understand something in lecture it was easy to just go into the textbook and teach it to yourself. However, the fourth and fifth tests were based more heavily on stuff talked about in lecture, so I would recommend recording these lectures s o you can go back over stuff you didn't understand. I didn't record the lectures for the fourth test and I got an 80 on that test, but when I recorded the lectures for the fifth test I got a 90. It is also helpful to have a group of people to study with and talk over concepts - if you are able to talk through the concepts and explain them to others that is a good indicator of whether or not you are prepared for the test. Another important thing on tests 4 & 5 that wasn't really important before that was concepts from lab, so be sure to understand what you did in lab for test 4 because there were a lot of questions about it.

Overall, this was a decent Intro to Bio course. Would definitely recommend. Most students love Dave, but in all honesty, I did not like him. Yes, he is a good professor and lecturer, but he is not the best science teacher that I have had. The tests progressively get harder through the semester; and the wording can be pretty tricky on them. I suggest that you do the readings in advance and that you study for the exam with other students in the class that way you can help each other out. Sometimes it is difficult to take notes effectively as Dave can talk really fast or talk for so long without pausing, so I definitely recommend that your record the lectures just in case you miss something. There are plenty of extra credit opportunities available so do not miss the chance to take them up. The homework isn't too bad, if you do the readings and listen to the lectures you will be fine. I found this class quite simple as I had taken AP Bio right before and most of the topics were similar. Be sure to pay attention in the lab as you will be quizzed about what you do in lab on the bio tests.

David Kittlesen is such an amazing professor! He is really engaging in his lectures and it comes across like he is really excited about the material, which rubs off on you. In high school I was not a fan of biology because it was a lot of memorization and the lectures were just spewing facts, but Kittlesen puts emphasis on understanding the concepts and their context to biology as a whole. On top of that he is a funny guy and is the only professor thus far that has made me genuinely laugh during class. That being said, this is a hard course. I would highly recommend reading the textbook sections before class, and if not then right after the class. It is really easy to get lost in the lectures if you get behind on the material. Also, for grading: there are 5 exams (each 15% of your overall grade), each around 40 multiple choice questions, and you have 2 hours for each exam, which is extremely generous on time given that most AP Biology classes are very time sensitive. Kittlesen also gives you a practice exam that is very similar in difficulty to the actual exam. Finally, I found the mastering bio homework to be very helpful in understanding the concepts. Overall, I would highly recommend this class!

Kittlesen is a funny guy and he is very engaging in his lectures. His lectures, however, are hard to take notes on if you don't have context (so read the textbook beforehand) and the powerpoints are not useful if you do not attend lecture as they are usually random bullets and pictures. My biggest advice is to LISTEN TO EVERY EXAMPLE HE GIVES and UNDERSTAND them as they will 100% show up on the exams. Also, record the lectures and listen to them again because he talks really fast and details crucial to understanding the concept are not always listed on his powerpoints. Digest and understand every example, terminology, and diagram he shows in lecture. If he shows diagrams from the textbook in lecture, absolutely be read the textbook section carefully again.

Intro Bio is necessary for so many different majors and it's great that Professor Kittlesen is who teaches it. Kittlesen is very passionate and has a deep understanding of his subject and teaching. You'll learn to love his jokes, stories, and style of teaching (especially compared to BIOL 2200). Reading the textbook helps in this class so stay updated with the syllabus and pay attention to topics in the powerpoints! An A is definitely doable through keeping up with everything!

I went into this class first year after taking AP Bio and doing well, but even if you do the same, you still need to take this class seriously - my grades suffered initially because I underestimated the class. However, Kittlesen is very knowledgeable and has lots of office hours, so there's really no excuse not to go. Kittlesen also seems to genuinely enjoy teaching this class, which makes it much more bearable. Just be wary of the exams, as some of Kittlesen's questions can be a bit tricky.

As someone who took ap bio I still found this course to be challenging. I went in as a second year and didn’t take it very seriously, only for that to bite me in the ass later on. The first month of the course or so definitely was very doable, the material on tests could be directly learned from the textbooks alone and the lab section was pretty basic information. Arround the third or fourth test the tests started diverging more and more from the textbook until ultimately you would fail the fifth test if you hadn’t been going to lecture. I would most definitely try to attend the lectures leading up to the last two tests or try to record them because otherwise you will have no access to the information on the test as the slides he posts on collab are practically useless. Additionally, about halfway through the semester the labs became more difficult as well which was pretty frustrating. Ultimately this course isn’t impossible but it certainly isn’t easy and should be taken seriously. Good luck!

Professor Kittlesen is a very engaging lecturer, and he makes BIOL 2100 an entertaining class. The amount of work outside of class is not excessive, usually 10-25 pages of reading from the textbook and an online assignment that takes 30-60 minutes. That said, additional studying before tests can be quite time consuming. Kittlesen is a fan of complicated or "trick" questions on quizzes, so assessments can be difficult even if one has a good understanding of the material.

Kittlesen is a very engaging professor. You can tell he tries his best to simplify the somewhat complex content that he teaches. As others have said if you don't have to take this class don't. The tests are tricky on purpose and the bulk of your grade, and they get much more difficult as the semester continues (the final this semester was actually ridiculous). If you must take this class, for the love of God, DON'T SKIP CLASS. The material he covers in class is basically what he tests you on. You can try to make up for it by reading the textbook but that alone won't get you an A no matter how much you put into studying (trust me I tried). Also, he's going to advise you to read the textbook before class, do it. Otherwise you'll be lost the entire time and gain nothing from showing up. All of the extra credit he offers, iclicker questions, mastering bio, all of that, do it, you'll need it. Labs are no joke, they're a percentage of your grade and part of the tests so pay attention during them. Overall the class isn't ridiculously difficult if you put in the time, it's manageable but it's definitely not a class where you can slack off or procrastinate.