BIOL 3270

I thought this was one of the most interesting bio classes I've taken to date! Prof. Wu is actually so funny and makes lectures fun and you can tell he really cares about what he's teaching. Grades were based on homeworks which you could turn in and complete with your lab partner, in class participation, exams (3, no final) , and the lab portion (lab final, in lab work, and lab quizzes). He also recorded in class lecture which was super useful to use when studying. I think the exams were moderately difficult and he lets you fill out an index card front and back as a cheat sheet. You definitely still need to study and shouldn't rely just on the index card to do the exam. The lab portion wasn't too bad, but I also had a good TA that was willing to guide us in the right direction :). I feel like the lab final was harder than the lecture exams just because it was your TA teaching you the material. Class participation was based on questions he'd ask during lecture that were graded on correctness. I will say at the end they randomly had us complete this lab assignment AFTER classes had ended and before the final which I think wasn't fair but...overall take the class it's not the absolute hardest bio class out there, but prepare to do some work and hope you get a good TA!

This is a wonderful course, and, as somebody who's much more interested in plants and animals than microbes, I still found it very interesting! The exams were not too hard, and I felt like Wu was a clear lecturer. Overall, the lecture component of the course was amazing. That being said, the lab was an absolute disaster. Do not take it with Nithin as your TA if you can help it. Every single week when we'd come in, he'd explain what we were doing very poorly, and whenever we asked clarifying questions, he'd just say "Even I don't know." We never knew what was going on, and most of our labs took way longer than they should have because of that. Additionally, there's a minor lab assignment at the end of the semester that asks questions about your personal "unknown microbe sample" that you'd been keeping track of for the whole semester. Many of the questions on it ask, "What were your results from X test on your sample?" and we had no way to answer those, because we never even performed those tests on our unknowns (we were told to do it on other unrelated samples we were given instead). Overall, a wonderful class with a terrible TA. I recommend taking it if you're interested, and leaving parts of your schedule open so you can switch lab sections once classes start if you get the same TA I did.

This is a great course! Professor Wu made sure to make the content interesting, funny and engaging. He taught everything that was necessary to know for the exams, with no trickery present which I truly appreciated. I found the content to be less difficult than genetics and evo/eco, and the content to be overall more interesting. You even don't have to read the textbook. The lab was fun and not as nitpicky as other labs like chem, it was more focused on you learning the content. I loved this class!

Take! This! Class! Martin Wu is the BEST, he is so funny (though not sure if he knows/is trying to be haha). The content is so interesting and the exams are pretty straightforward and easy in my opinion (with the exception of the second exam, idk what happened for me lol). My lab was at home, and honestly that was awesome too. I thought it would be a nightmare, but we basically just grew bacteria on plates. One might even call it fun. The only thing is the homework is weirdly difficult sometimes, but even with getting a couple of 50s and 75s on homework I still easily ended with an A. Would highly recommend!! By the way, don't buy the textbook. Never read it. Literally just study the powerpoints and you'll be fine. I just read over my notes after each lecture and made a study guide based on the powerpoints for each exam.

Professor Wu is unapproachable and rude, however, he does a good job in lecture so you dont really need to go to office hours. Lab is enjoyable and very applicable to lecture. This class will be relatively easy if you have taken genetics and biochem.

My review: Wu is one cool dude - he makes the lectures fun and is always trying to incorporate jokes. He makes the difficult concepts in the book quite easy to understand often requiring you not to know the specific details. Wu is IMO one of the best in the bio department (even better than Kittleson). This class is very unlike the Nursing school microbio in the sense that it is not health/disease oriented and Wu loves microbes, not so much disease. Unless you're taking this class for graduate, I would not recommend.

What you probably want to know: no final, 3 tests equally weighted that get harder as the semester progresses (average was about an 80 on each, which he said was atypically high). 6 group homework assignments worth 20% of your grade, tests are 70%, and in-class activities (catalytics) is 10%, so you have to go to class. The lab portion is not bad and aside from the first couple weeks, you get out of the lab in around 30 minutes. The quizzes are either super easy or incredibly specific and hard depending on the week. The lab final was tricky and oddly specific (classic Kittleson). The group homeworks are not bad. The tests are all application questions, which can get hard, but then he gives you around 10 questions each test that are super easy. The tests are all 60-70 questions. He does not round up and in my case, .02 points away from the next step up, Wu did not show mercy.