BIOL 3050

There is a lot of information to take in from this class, but Barry makes it clear which details/ facts need to be focused on. So, make sure to go to classes, and not just listen to the recording because it is just the audio and NOT the PowerPoint with it. Going to class, there are arrows of exactly what needs to be taken note of. I did enjoy this course and did not require a lot of studying as long as I paid attention in class.

There is not any graded homework, but after every lecture he does post questions on Collab that you should answer because they are more likely to appear on the tests!

I think it is important to point out that he does tend to talk reallly fast.

Hard class, but fair. Condron adjusts grade brackets down a fair amount so don't be worried if your exam scores are a little low. Exams were open note but even with that it was still hard. His lectures were pretty fast paced. Be prepared to study a lot in this course.

Attending lectures and listening to their recordings later in order to review was very helpful in understanding the concepts in this class. Though they were made available, I did not use the Piazza discussion board or attend office hours; however, I am sure they were helpful for some students. The field of neurobiology is filled with many unanswered questions and mechanisms that have yet to be fully understood and Prof. Condron was candid about our lack of knowledge on these subjects. He effectively presented many viewpoints on these subjects. Though the class is structured in a difficult way (our grade is based solely on three open-note exams) I expect this is more how medical school will be, so I appreciate the preparation I am receiving by taking this course. I do wish that there was a little more structure in between exams to help us review the material, however. Exams were sufficiently difficult. Overall, I enjoyed this class and thought Prof. Condron did a great job teaching it. The three-exam format of the course was not something I am entirely used to, but I am glad it was structured this way.

I took this class somewhat on a whim. I'm not premed and am not planning on grad school; I just had an interest in neuroscience and neurobiology. I did fine.
At the beginning of the semester, he lays out what you need to succeed, including the 5-25 rule (review for 5 minutes before the lecture what the lecture will be about; study for 25 good minutes after the lecture before you go to sleep to solidify the information). He recommends a textbook (to follow along) but not necessarily that you use the textbook; I used the textbook for the first week. All the information that he wants you to know is in his slides and flashcards, but the flashcards don't make sense unless you go to lecture (and often don't make sense even when you do). He goes fast but often reiterates things during lecture and always reviews the prior lecture at the beginning of each lecture. He's good in office hours – really tries to make sure that the student understands what concept is being discussed – and will talk with his students about other things, too. He's very gracious and knowledgeable. Advice: follow his 5-25 rule and only take the class if you're interested in neurobiology (because otherwise it feels like a lot of useless memorization of pathways).

This class is cool, it has lots of interesting stuff. I love how there are slides, recordings, and peer notes available. Professor teaches very fast in class and is blurry sometimes, but with those materials, I could take my time and learn more deeply and slowly. Although the test is an open note with a super long time, it would be a little confusing sometimes if you are not good at English (I guess) because some of the questions (mc or short answer) are worded weirdly that you don't know what it's looking for as an answer.
Professor Condron loves deep and thoughtful questions and will answer enthusiastically with extra information, that's great. However, I don't think he like to answer what he has gone over in lecture (via email or piazza). He usually answer very shortly with least amount of word possible (which might confuse people) or not answer at all.

Barry is a very nice guy and has some dope examples for the stuff he teaches. His exams were fair for the most part and it wasn't hard at all to get above a 85. My only complaint was Barry was adamant he would not raise the grading brackets which made a 87+ an A-, 90+ an A, and 92+ an A+. However, come finals week, those grading brackets turned out to be false. This misinformation hurt the students (myself included) because I thought my 90.3 would be good enough for an A so I didn't take the optional final. That 90.3 ended up being an A- which is fair for the amount of work I put in and the percentage itself, but still sucked because he told us it would be an A. Outside of that, this class is pretty awesome.

Professor Condron was amazing. I learned so much in this class and the content was actually interesting. In addition, a lot of the material was applicable to the MCAT. I would definitely recommend this course as an elective for the bio BA.

In terms of the class, it was 3 non-cumulative exams. There was no homework. You definitely have to do well on the exams to get the A because each test is only about 35 questions. The A is manageable though if you follow the study recommendations that Professor Condron gives you at the beginning of the semester. I would also recommend being a notetaker for the class as it helped me pay attention during the entire 75 min lecture

This was probably my favorite class I took this semester. Being a freshman in all online school was very tough, I had no idea what to expect, but this class was a bright spot in it! It was definitely hard to motivate myself to sit through the recorded lectures and take notes, but I learned so so much about the brain. The chapters on the senses (hearing, smell, etc) are the best, I would learn something and immediately tell my friends/family because I thought it was so cool. This class is 100% easier taken online than in person. I used someone else's study guide, which prof Condron generously gathers and puts on Collab, to take every exam and I did very well. He does speak a little fast, but he will always slow down and explain stuff if you ask, you just have to speak up for yourself. I wish we had in person office hours! The communication I'll admit was a bit lacking, but that never concerned me much. Overall, this course was amazing and reinvigorated my love of biology. Highly recommend.

Coming from someone who is interested in Neuroscience, this class is one of the best biology classes at UVA. I took Neural Basis of Behavior and found Barry's class much more interesting because of his excitement with the topic and his connections to real-world research. The grade is determined by only three exams, which makes the exams pretty high pressure, but there is a curve at the end. I don't know how much the curve was, but I got 88% of the questions right and ended up with an A-. The key to doing well in this class is re-listen to all of the lectures, go to office hours, and do the homework questions right before the exam. Don't waste time reading the textbook - only use it as a tool if you need to clarify something. Although Condron definitely talks fast and covers a lot of material, he does a great job of emphasizing the most important things, so it is easier to figure out some of the questions he will definitely ask about on exams. The homework questions will also be similar to the exams, but he will change a small part of them, so make sure you pay close attention on exams and anticipate him asking the homework question material from different angles. His lectures are very structured as well - starting with recent Neuroscience papers, then a review of the previous lecture's material, and ending with new material. I found the reviews really helpful. The hardest part for me was keeping up throughout the semester with re-listening to lectures, but I recommend trying to keep up so you don't have to cram near the exams.

Condron is said to be one of the best professors at UVA--he is approachable and fun outside of class, and willing to help you understand material you don't get. However, his lectures are difficult to follow because the information is so dense, and he compacts it a lot, and on top of all that he speaks extremely fast in class, making it hard to get a proper grasp on the subject. He does have students put up their notes on collab and has audio recordings for each lecture, so you can go back and listen to them later (which is necessary because he speaks so fast)--that being said this already amounts to 3 hours of just listening to audio and trying to understand the information he's telling you---you still have to get a really good understanding of the material because he nitpicks for questions. He does have homework problems and practice problems (none are graded) that you can take that are really helpful, totally take these because they're worded like exam questions. About the curve for this class: he said there would be one and there usually was one (one year a B was a 24/35 on exam 1), but since students didn't do too bad he didn't give a curve at all, so your grade is basically the sum of the 3 exams you take (noncumulative).