BIOL 2100

I took this class as an incoming first-year, and let me tell you, it was probably the best way to be gradually introduced to college-level difficulty. Kittlesen is an amazing guy. He provides slides that go along very well with the lecture, as well as anecdotes and jokes to keep the class somewhat entertaining. Most of the time, the slides are fairly different from the pre-lecture textbook reading. It's best to take diligent notes and pay attention, but it is not the end of the world if you don't because most of the concepts are very well fleshed out through the textbook, in lab, and through the MasteringBiology homework. But seriously, TAKE NOTES and do your reading before you come to class. The only part of this class that is somewhat time-consuming is reading the textbook, but it does help you in the long-run for tests. There were five tests, and each counted for approximately 16% of our grade. The averages for most of the tests were ~75%, and they got increasingly harder as the semester progresses. Clicker questions can only help you as they are often trick questions that help clarify certain difficult concepts, and wrong answers cannot count against you. Kittlesen is also the most approachable professor, as he sees no question as a dumb question and loves helping his students. All in all, would definitely recommend taking this course. It was probably my easiest course last semester.

Kittlesen is an amazing professor! He makes the lectures pretty entertaining and he tries to explain everything as best as he can. The textbook basically teaches all of the core material you need to learn for the exams and in lecture, he doesn't really review, but instead only really does the application of this information and expands on it. So if you are behind on the reading and go into lecture not knowing it, the lecture won't make much sense, at least not for me. Most of the semester's curriculum is based off of AP Biology in high school so if you took it you will recognize almost everything you learn. However, I would say this course is somewhat difficult to get above a B+ in. The concepts can be difficult and confusing (so utilize office hours;he's very approachable!). And the exams are very much application, which can be frustrating. He gives out useful study guides before exams, and the online Mastering Biology assignments are helpful. The readings are minimal, but dense..about 30-40 pages a week. I think a good tip is going to his office hours because a lot will be cleared up as I often left is lectures feeling like I barely understood anything. Labs are easy and you should get an A in them. Not much commitment.

Let me start off by saying I agree that Dave is a great professor and really does care about his students, but nevertheless, I would NOT recommend this class unless you love biology or if you need it for your major. Tests are fairly difficult and he did not curve very much this semester as he has in recent ones. A lot of reviews say the book is your savior but many of the concepts discussed in class this semester were NOT in the book, so write down every word he says and be sure you know what ALL the slides are illustrating. Definitely recommend recording lectures, because he moves fast and studying fairly often.

Professor Kittlesen is an awesome teacher. I really enjoyed his class and highly recommend. That being said this class is in no way a GPA booster. Even if you took AP Bio in high school you still may find this course challenging. Overall, I highly recommend though. Fantastic and interesting class.

Kittlesen is a decent professor (and the only one for this course anyway) - he's funny and knowledgeable but really likes to emphasize specific examples and applications for many of the units that he discusses. The tests are fair and he does 'curve somewhat' so that the class average is usually around an 80. I'd really recommend reading the chapters beforehand to understand what the lecture is going to be about because towards the end of the semester it was pretty hard to take notes in class as he just goes through slides with pictures and studies. Also, bio lab is super easy so don't worry about that!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!