BIOL 3010

I thought this class easier than Cell Bio. Cronmiller is not a very good lecturer (low attendance), but the weekly HW, group work, and reading assignments really force you to stay on top of the work. It's basically like high school, and kind of annoying when you have a lot of other things going on because you can't put off Mastering Genetics (vom). But as a result, studying for the tests didn't take as long… guess that's what she was going for.

Cronmiller is not a very good lecturer as has been stated in other reviews. It's really the group work, quizes, and hw that gets you through the class. The exams are not fun and truly take a full understanding of the material. You won't do poorly in this class if you try, but it's not an easy class to get an A or A- at all.

One homework per week-can work with other students and get help from TAs. Weekly discussion sessions where you work on questions with a group that are similar to exam level questions. These were helpful but we were required to stay for the entire scheduled time even after we completed the questions. This turned more into a study hall than anything. Reading quiz every night-not bad at all, adds to your grade and makes sure you stay on top of reading. Prof. Cronmiller is entertaining in her lectures. My friends always said genetics was like a box of chocolates..... The exams were all 'short answer', and required really understanding the material to complete. I would recommend this course, but only if you feel comfortable with biology.

Hard class. Midterms and finals were kinda weird - fill in the blank and matching.

Class is not easy. Possible to do well if you have a little bit of prior knowledge of genetics. Really have to understand concepts and application.

The material in this class is very interesting but difficult. The structure of the class is strange, and it's awkward when Cronmiller tries to "involve" 300 students in a lecture. I don't recommend taking it unless you're a Biology major, but if you do, attend the lectures and do the reading before the discussion sections.

So glad to be done with this course. If you're not a bio major (or a pre-med that needs genetics for the MCAT and/or med school), I don't recommend taking this. If you're a biochem major, taking BIOL3000 with Wormington will probably be less painful. I mean, it's still it's worth taking if you're reeeeally into genetics--the course is really interesting, and despite having had Cronmiller as a prof, I ended up learning a lot. One of my problems with her lectures was that she spent practically half the time doing useless demos (i.e. taking 5-10 minutes to walk around the lecture room demonstrating something as simple as DNA supercoiling with 2 pieces of rope). When she did teach, she was just okay at explaining concepts. Reading the book and practicing the problems at the back of each chapter were much more helpful than any lecture. The homeworks were tricky; the reading quizzes on MasteringGenetics were also useless and mostly just a pain (3 a week); and the group quizzes during discussion were somewhat helpful--I was glad that I ended up in a good group. Oh, and the exams seemed a little easier than the homeworks. Overall, though, the time needed to complete all the mostly unhelpful weekly assignments (I know it's a 4 credit class, but still), Cronmiller's subpar lectures, and annoying iClicker questions were what made the class painful--the material itself wasn't that hard.

GO TO HER OFFICE HOURS AND STUDY THE HOMEWORK AND PRACTICE PROBLEMS. It's definitely possible to get an A if you read, do all of the problems that she give you online, pay attention to what you're doing in discussion, and go to HER office hours. She holds her office hours in a classroom in the form of an open discussion. Everything that has seemed unclear in class or on homework will click in her office hours. Even if you don't have questions, go and listen to other people's questions. Despite what you may hear, she's actually incredibly friendly and extremely interesting.

This course is more difficult than it should be. Cronmiller's tests are extremely short but count for large portions of your grade. She doesn't really provide good study material to prepare you for the tests. She does do final exam swap... where if you do better on your final than the average of the three exams throughout the semester, she'll change your semester grades to your final grade. Difficult class but is required for bio majors.

Overall a good class. Cronmiller is kind of eccentric but she is definitely enthusiastic about the class and the material. The material is interesting for the most part. There is a lot of work for the class on a weekly basis. There are warm-up quizzes before every class, weekly homework assignments, Learning curve assignments for every chapter, and weekly group quizzes in discussion sections. However, the tests aren't that difficult and are pretty fair. Cronmiller also makes herself available to meet with you and spends a great deal of time replying to student emails in a timely fashion. Overall a great class!