BIOL 2200

Manson is very knowledgeable of the material and is a very entertaining lecturer. She always shows up smiling and eager to teach the material. The material in this class is not very difficult but the tests could get difficult unless a lot of studying was put in.

Professor Manson is great! She's enthusiastic, funny, and knowledgable. There is a lot of reading but it's manageable. The tests do require a lot of studying beforehand, though. They aren't easy but not impossible either. As with other science classes, I'd recommend recording the lectures.

Don't take this class if you don't need to. She did not curve any exam scores nor the final grade, using the excuse "Oh we had such a high average grade for the class that I determined that no curve was necessary."

Manson is a very interesting lecturer, but this class overall is very hard if you aren't a science-y person. The information in lecture is very straightforward, but all of the exam questions are based on applications of the material, so you REALLY have to know your stuff. She did not curve the tests at the end of the semester, which ultimately hurt my grade, but if you can stay average on each of the midterms you will be fine. Bottom line: don't take this class if you're not a science major.

Bio 2200 Lab is a waste of time and very frustrating because it has a huge impact on your grade, so you need to devote a lot of time to it to make sure you do as well as possible, but if you have a bad TA (which happens the vast majority of the time) you're screwed.
There is reading assigned for basically every lecture, you don't really have to read to be okay in the class. Study everything she goes over in lecture because it's all fair game but that's the stuff she likes to focus on. Use easy notecards to study.

Despite her haphazard passion for BIOL 2200, Manson fails at engaging students. Her class is extremely plant focused, speeding through the human anatomy, and swooning over her love for all plants. Nonetheless, her style and Canadian butchering of English words are bearable if you're a good test-taker. Tests are 80% of the grade and like others have said, she does not curve. The lab completely depends on your TA; meaning you could be in there the entire 2.5 hour block or 30 minutes. I would recommend getting an undergrad TA because most of the GA's are not from this country and are complete boner's about taking this lab as if it is organic chemistry and keeping you in there for 2.5 hours to play cards and sit there while the Hoos are playing basketball.

The professor made this class super bearable. For bio majors, or for anyone, most ecology and biodiversity is either their thing or its not. I thought it wouldn't be exciting to me, and really the material wasn't that all fun, but Manson was so excited to teach! Her lectures were super engaging, and her excitedness to teach the course made the class so bearable. I'd say I liked her more than Kittlesen. Her tests were definitely a bit difficult and tricky and almost as hard as Kittlesen's tests though. I ended with a B+ in the class when I definitely thought I was an A- or higher so I have a feeling I was downcurved.
Pro: super engaging professor who loved plants and almost made you also to also love plants
Cons: Tests were tricky even still

I liked Manson and I liked this course. Towards the end it got a little dull, but what can you do you have to take this if you're pre-med. Overall not that bad, just make sure to keep up with readings and to go to office hours if you're confused.

Manson has been one of my least favorite professors to work with. Her class is very unengaging and it often feels like she's trying to butcher every word possible. Her exam questions are often worded very poorly and she refuses to listen to her student's criticisms. When I visited her office hours to discuss a test question, she was extremely condescending and defensive and refused to regrade the question despite admitting fault. One of my least favorite classes but you have to take it for premed . Try and wait for a different professor if possible

Overall a horrible experience. Manson is nice and all, but the class was frustrating at best. The average grade on the first test was in the C range, despite it covering material students have known since 7th grade. The material is presented in lecture as if the students were first graders, so I attribute this dissonance to her masking test questions as "application-based" when in reality they're just exceptionally confusing and poorly written. The only way to reason out an answer is to find the three answers that make less sense than the "correct" answer which still isn't always true. With that said, I learned the hard way to not stress about doing the readings--some of my friends found it only hurt them to know the material presented in the book. Focus on studying the lectures and accept defeat on the few "trick" test questions. Most TAs are awful with the exception of maybe two or three, so your lab grade essentially depends on a Russian roulette of scheduling. Unfortunately, the labs take at least 2 hours each, so do yourself a favor and sit next to someone who smells good the first day. The only saving graces are MasteringBio and iClicker questions (although her controversial iClicker questions often sparked lively debate). She spends more time discussing the gymnosperm life cycle than human anatomy and animal phyla combined. I still hate plants.