BIOL 2030

My first recommendation for this class is to take it during the summer, if possible. It's not necessarily the toughest intro lab course, especially if you're comparing it to Intro Chem Lab, but taking it during a summer session allows you to devote more time and energy into a class that does require a pretty detail-oriented approach. As far as the actual teaching structure, you couldn't ask for a more knowledgeable and amiable professor than David Kittlesen. He really knows the subject matter backwards and forwards and is super effective at communicating that in a clear, concise manner to his students. I don't know the structure of tests and quizzes during the fall and spring, but during the summer we were given daily pre/post lab assessments, a midterm, and a final. While participation is all well and good, the bulk of your grade is determined by the aforementioned components. The lab procedures are usually very easy and dull, but don't let that put you in a lull. All that info tends to show up on the assessments as well as the midterm and final. I would definitely advise everyone to keep up with the readings and to find a partner/group to study with as these two strategies made the difference for me in the class. I pulled off an A-, but by no means was it an easy grade to achieve. It's really one of those classes where smart studying and collaboration are the keys to success. Ultimately, BIOL 2030 is a very rewarding and (if you're pre-med and didn't place out of it) necessary experience here at UVA. Good luck!

Awesome class. Kittlesen is such an engaging lecturer, and the subject material is very interesting. Yes, you'll see tons of reviews here saying that the exams are impossible and the labs are boring; honestly, the labs are just very straightforward. You get your procedure and you just do as it says; it is a little deceptive in that if you're not paying attention to what you're doing it'll kill you later on the exam, but it's still fun. KNOW THE CONCEPTS. The exam is entirely concept based; it's not an easy A just vomit rote memorization of what you already did. That's why people complain about the difficulty, but it's so worthwhile once you understand it. I would totally recommend this course to anyone willing to put the effort into it! A word to the wise: type/write everything Kittlesen says; his slides are very bare, so you'll want to pay close attention during lecture.

While the lab itself was actually very easy and quick to compete, the exams were nearly impossible. Even if you attended all the pre-lab lectures (the majority of which were cancelled) and do all of the assigned readings (typically only 5-10 pages per week), Dave's exams would still make you second guess yourself and frequently included information that was never even discussed.

This class was the biggest pain. The lab portion is a poorly structured joke and is deceptively easy, but the tests are obnoxiously difficult. Readings are not enough, good class notes would have helped.

Pretty easy class. Main homework was pre/post labs and small amounts of reading out of the textbook (that he has online). The 3 midterms weren't too difficult but did require a bit of studying, especially the assigned readings. Lecture was almost pointless to go to ONLY IF you already has the BIOL 2010 credit (if not I'd recommend attending most of the lectures).

This class was really interesting! The semester was spent with the goal of sequencing our own DNA for a specific gene/marker we were looking for. For instance, I selected to look at the sequence adjacent to the gene responsible for eye color. For the course, Kittlesen put the background readings and protocols online and would post what pages to read and do online assessments of them (which were open book and you could work with classmates). There were 3 exams, which you needed to understand the background readings forward and backward to do well on! Also, go to his lectures because a lot of the time he will have questions on the exams that were only mentioned in class. However, he canceled lectures a lot, which was really nice. Labs were also really short, the longest lasting only 2 hours, the shortest lasting 15 minutes.

So, this is the first semester this class has been "revamped" by Prof. Kittlesen. You basically sequence part of your own genome over the course of the semester and then analyze it at the end. Overall, not too bad of a course as far as requirements go. If you've taken any other class with Dave, the tests he makes for this lab course are exactly what you would expect: tricky, and essential that you know your stuff. There is a bit of a disconnect between the background readings, pre-lab lectures, and the actual lab experience. It seemed like none of the three components ever quite explained how it connected to the others. However, just study the basic concepts of the labs (what you were looking for, why you used certain materials, etc.) and you should be fine for the exams. Overall, still some kinks to work out in the new class layout, but not terrible as far as introductory pre-recs go.

The lab itself isn't too difficult. It's the quizzes that will get you. The pre-lab lectures don't always help you to prepare for them and you have short background info in the lab manual. The final exam is even worse. There's really no way you can prepare for it since all you have are the not-so-helpful powerpoints from the lectures and the lab manual. The questions are ridiculous and unexpected. Overall, it's just a horrible class and I'm glad I passed.

Going to pre-lab lectures is essential- 10 point quizzes at the end of each lab. The biology itself is not that hard if you do the reading in the lab manual. Beware who you get stuck in a group with! Not awful for a class that's a prereq for so much.

This course is truly an embarrassment to the University of Virginia. Since it's the only lower level bio lab, you are stuck taking it. Lab lectures are a waste of time, with Kittleson rambling on without realizing how incompetent of a lecturer he truly is. Labs are merely a pipetting torture session which goes on for three months. Quizzes each week might as well be a joke since the average is a 50% on them. Not to mention you will actually learn nothing. So enjoy this class, I hope UVa realizes at some point that this course is as useless as it is frustrating.

This class is needed for many pre-reqs and since Kittlesen is the only professor, you kind of have no choice anyway. He talks in a voice that makes you sleepy, however he does a decent job explaining. The lab portion of this course is the worst because of the irrelevant quizzes you have to take each week.

This is a very great lab that fully introduces a lot of biology lab techniques, while also teaching the students the science behind the lab. Professor Kittlesen is also a great lecturer. Be prepared for his quizzes!

A good TA is hard to find in this class. I really never went to lecture, but I did fine on the exam because I took 2010 at the same time and understood Kittlesen's questions pretty well. Do yourself a favor, and do the readings. You will do fine if you just do the readings and understand them. If you aren't taking 2010 at the same time, or haven't had Kittlesen, you will have to work harder to do well on the exam, just a heads up.

This class wasn't so bad for a lab. I felt like I actually learned something about biology, which sometimes doesn't happen when your stuck in the procedures of a lab class.

The classwork is easy until the final. The final is absolute crap and he sets the A at a 94 in the class...totally unfair.

Do not expect to get an A.

The experiment itself is conceptually really easy but somewhat boring and monotonous to carry out. Beware of the 5 question quizzes at the end of each lab period (which count for 25% of your grade) and hope for a fair TA that actually puts his/her office hours at an accessible time. Lab lecture is beneficial although also somewhat boring.

This is a really nice review for those of us with AP Biol credit. It was pretty easy too, just go to lab lecture and read the assigned lab manual pages and you should be fine. The actual procedures are really simple, and sometimes even fun. If you have the option to take Karen definitely go with her. She was really nice and gave very straightforward and helpful answers with any questions.

This class is really straight-forward, since you spend the entire semester pipetting and centrifuging bits of leaves. Dr. Kittlesen is really enthusiastic about biology, but the material is review for everyone who took AP bio. I have no idea how he determines final grades, but I'm pretty sure that the final exam carries a lot of weight, so study for it. Try to get a good lab table, because there's a lot of down time during the labs.

People tend to be overwhelmed by this class at first because of the weekly quizzes and tough pre-labs. This class is fine as long as you go to pre-lab lecture and do the work. You will get an A as long as you do the pre-lab sheets, the reading and memorization, pay attention in pre-lab, and try to understand what you are actually doing.

Grade depends on your TA. The TA can make the 5 question quizzes easy or hard. I had a hard TA...

He splits up the lab notebook into two, one that's a PDF and one that's a physical copy. That becomes SO annoying trying to find which page is where.

I would not take this unless you need it for premed or your major!

Pre-lab lectures were difficult to follow since his slideshows have very little text and don't highlight/summarize the main ideas clearly. However Dr Kittlesen is a very enthusiastic and passionate teacher.
The final was VERY difficult and quizzes can be somewhat picky. Luckily homework, lab participation, and lab notebooks help your grade.

As long as you do your lab notebook and come prepared for class, your grade is pretty much that completion portion plus the final. The final is reasonable and basically confirms that you understood what you were doing throughout the semester.

This lab, was just a pain in the ass overall. The lab notebooks and all assignments (except for 1) are graded on completion...all you need to do is show up to lab and read the instructions. The quizzes can get annoying at every lab, and on top of that Kittlesen has a final which didn't turn out to be that bad, but I thought it was a little unnecessary for a 2 credit lab. This semester he made it so that your final score could cover for your quiz score if the final was higher. Even though a 94 is an A, he ended up curving the final and the quiz grades at the end. Only take this if you are a bio major or premed.

Apparently this class was redesigned from previous years. You do learn some interesting biology, but the material would be difficult for non-majors. Most people skip lecture so he puts questions on the quizzes that come only from lecture. I never went to lectures but still did fine.

The tests and clicker questions were a little harder than I expected. You get to learn some useful bio techniques from this class. The good thing about the lab report is that the TA only checks it for completion but the reports are not that hard to start with. Not a class for an easy A.

Biol 203 was a time-consuming class. The hour-long pre-lab lectures were painful because the clicker questions were evil and people's questions rather drew out the hour. The lab itself concentrates on molecular biology laboratory techniques such as ELISA, pGLO bacterial transformation, RFLP and plasmid mapping, and PCR. It was nice learning how to do the techniques, but the midterm and final were very tricky. As for weekly stuff, you have to keep up with the lab notebook and do the lab manual exercises.

This is one of the more irritating lab lectures you'll ever endure, since you usually end up sitting in CHEM402 at 7PM, listing to somebody be confused about PCR...but you can't leave because Kittlesen hasn't asked the last clicker question or given you the homework assignment. As for the lab itself, it's not so bad. You spend the entire semester doing an ELISA, a GFP prep, or some variation of PCR. The assignments from the lab manual are brainless, but BEWARE of the midterms...Kittlesen tries to stick you, and he does a good job.

this class is just annoying. the actual lab part is really, but the lab manual questions are extremely repetitive and obvious. the midterm is tricky, just like his class tests, which is bothersome when you know all the material.

Very, very, VERY difficult class. If not a bio major or pre-med student. DO. NOT. TAKE.

If you are not a pre-health student or a Bio major, don't bother. This class is hard. Difficult clicker questions (which essentially make lab lecture mandatory), ridiculously tricky tests, and little guidance make this class a huge pain. Kittlesen is enthusiastic, funny, and of great help, but that doesn't change the fact that this Intro lab is way harder that it should be. 1 midterm, a final, clicker questions, and a long (8+ pages) lab report make up your grade. Getting an A is possible, although the work needed rivals most 300 level courses.

My TA wasn't the best. However, if you have a good TA, you should be fine. Kittlesen is very tricky with midterms and clicker questions; you have to really know the material and also interpret what he's asking.

This class sucks. The labs themselves are very easy to comprehend, but clicker questions make attendance mandatory and Kittlesen's midterm/final is unreasonably tricky and difficult compared to what he teaches and what is done in lab. I'm seeing the trend here that the UVa Biology Dept is a real piece of work.

This class was awesome. I did not find his tests all that tricky at all. Just study your lecture notes and book notes in depth and you will do fine. Once you understand the material, the stuff that you do in lab makes so much more sense and becomes extremely interesting.

Kittleson's midterms were harder than expected. The class was interesting and very hands on.

Kittleson is very entertaining, approachable, and caring for his students. You won't find a professor much better. His tests can be kinda tricky though and require studying both of lecture material and the textbook.