BIOL 4559

Developmental Neurobiology was a great course! Professor Liu is a great professor and is very enthusiastic about what she's teaching and really wants to keep the students interested and enthusiastic as well. She would often mix in videos into her powerpoint to make them less dry or would share brief anecdotes on authors of relevant papers which is nice given that its super hard to maintain focus in a 75 minute lecture. The class definitely isn't an easy A but it is manageable and easier than most 3000 level bios like cell or genetics. I would record the lectures and listen to them again and I was really happy with my grade. I personally never touched the textbook because its pretty dry and contains a lot of irrelevant information as she won't test on anything that isn't covered in class, but it is a great resource to help clear up any confusion. I would probably recommend reading it if you're not a fan of recording lectures though. Overall I would probably say the difficulty level is like a 3.5 but thats not an option on here haha. The class has 3 midterms and a cumulative final, but she only counts the best 3 tests so if you're happy with your grade you don't have to take the final. The class also has one paper presentation thats worth 10% of your grade and then two 2-page essays that are worth 7.5% each. Overall I would definitely recommend the course if you're interested in either neuroscience or developmental biology.