BIOL 3000

I really liked Wormington and he's a great professor, but the class is very hard. The exams and homework are very much memorization based, which isn't something I'm good at so I didn't do that well in the class, but lectures were very interesting. I totally recommend going to his office hours because they help a lot and he's a great professor to get to know. Also I thinks he helps your grade a little if you really show a lot of effort and dedication to the class.

I learned more in this course than I have ever learned in a course at UVA. BUT, I have also never taken a more difficult course. I only recommend taking this if you really have to or if you are really interested in cells. The textbook is absolutely unnecessary. Every lecture is required, record every lecture and relisten to it as you study. The exams are ridiculously hard and impossible. But, in the end, the homework grades and bracket extensions make a good grade attainable. Go to office hours leading up to the exam and absorb Professor Wormington's knowledge. He knows what he is talking about and really wants his students to learn, even though it is very challenging.

This is a great class, but it is a lot of work. As a student who got an A, I would listen to each lecture before doing the pre-class homeworks (which are hard even though they are open note) and studied a week leading up to each exam. There is a lot of material but the exams are pretty fair. Don't get the book, everything you need is in the lecture notes. Record lecture! Also Wormington is very approachable and helpful in office hours. Would not recommend taking this class with the 2000 series of physics because the exams are back to back. Overall a super interesting class!

This class isn't too bad once you get a hang of how to take notes and study for the tests. You MUST record the lectures -- I typed for 50 minutes straight all class, and still had missed small, important details when I went back and listened to the lectures. Wormington goes quickly, and his slides are often ambiguous, so recording really helps you later. I didn't record lectures or type word-for-word on the material for the first test and I got an F (so did 2/3 of the class). For the rest of the tests, I typed notes and listened to lectures later and I got B's on all of the tests; I ended up with a B in the class, so don't go crazy if you do bad on the first exam. He expands brackets in the end, but he doesn't expand each letter grade by the same amount, so I would STRONGLY recommend not relying on the expansion of the brackets to try and get a certain letter grade. I would also recommend studying your notes from class (your typed notes on the powerpoint slides) after each class, because you'll retain a lot more of the details this way. To study, go over all your powerpoints and lectures and make sure to know every step in any pathway and listen to the recordings of the lectures. There are also online homework questions that are important to know the answers to; when studying these make sure you can explain why all the other choices are incorrect, because he usually switches up the question somehow on the exam. Overall, if you put in 110% you can at least get a decent grade.

TL;DR this class is worth taking if you really enjoy studying biology at the cell/molecular level, enjoy the "cause and effect" style of biology exams, and are willing to spend a significant amount of time (~15-20 hours) preparing for exams. In that case, I would definitely recommend this course as an informative, interesting, and relevant experience. I'd say one should only take this with at most only one other hard class, as exam preparation can eat up at least a few days and put you in a tough spot with other coursework.

Mike Wormington is a good-to-great lecturer with an infectious passion for cell biology. This course will give you an in-depth understanding of various topics in cell biology, including cancer, cell signaling, some pharmacology, experimental techniques, apoptosis, and other hot topics. I came away with a new appreciation for how biologists discover cellular processes and how that knowledge can be used to devise novel therapeutic approaches. However, the sheer volume of information that gets tossed your way during a lecture can be overwhelming. That "drinking out of a fire-hose " analogy comes to mind. The majority of students find it necessary to record the lectures as they take notes, as Wormington doesn't waste a sentence while lecturing about some very complex systems and pathways. I would recommend taking notes on your laptop in PowerPoint, since taking written notes is something of a lost cause for most mortals. Starting a week before the next exam, I would suggest listening to each lecture again and transcribing your typed notes into written ones. All the homework together counts for a test grade, so really give your all in answering each question. I neglected to take a few of them seriously, and my otherwise good grade was shaved a few points as a result. Don't waste (relatively) easy points.

Exams take a significant investment to do well on. They are all multiple choice can be quite complicated. Reread the questions and make sure you understand what it is asking. Mike WILL throw in "not" and "except" and the other SAT trick question words to throw you off. Think through everything as carefully as possible. I always ended up changing multiple answers when I would check the exam before I turned it in. The questions are very similar in style to the homework questions, but you cannot rely on the homework alone as a study source, as Wormington has plenty of curveballs he will throw you. Prepare early and often. Listen to lectures over again, transcribe notes, review and discuss each slide with a buddy multiple times, and make quizlets that contain all the proteins and enzymes and mutations (this class is acronym HEAVY) so you don't have to spend any time or mental effort trying to remember what each acronym represents during an exam. One quizlet shortcut I can suggest is to search for pre-existing BIOL 3000 exam quizlets that other UVA students have already made, and simply go over the PowerPoint slides to see if you need to add anything. It will save you buckets of time. Another thing I would recommend is booking a room at Clem or wherever you can have access to a big whiteboard/marker surface and mapping out all the complicated pathways, especially those in the Cell Signaling unit. This will help your understanding immensely.

Specific recommendations: Give some extra attention (maybe even a triple listen of the lectures) to Units 4 and 6 (or whatever number the protein trafficking and cell signaling units are). These are easily the most complicated units associated with the most difficult exam questions. Really take care to memorize each protein, enzyme, etc. and its function. This is crucial to making any sense of Wormington's frankly confusing exam questions, which have many moving parts. Also, as I mentioned before, draw out each pathway and cellular process in these units. I cannot understate the importance of this.

Professor Wormington is a great professor. This class expanded my interest for biology. You learn a whop ton of information and have to be able to synthesize all of it and apply it to many different types of questions on the test. Preparation for tests is extensive. You need to start studying at least a week in advance for them to give yourself time to understand all of the different concepts. There are 4 exams and then you have homeworks due every 3 days that actually boost your final grade. Every single word that Wormington says is important so I recommend recording lectures and listening to them again and transcribing every word. If you are a biology lover, the amount of time and effort you have to put into this class to get an ok grade doesn't seem as overbearing and painful. The concepts are very interesting and apply to many different medical fields. I do NOT recommend getting the textbook. It overcomplicates the things you need to know and all of info he provides in class is enough to get you through the tests.

The class runs at a breakneck pace so you'll want to record everything you can. Beyond that, its a matter of thinking analytically about the course material rather than rote memorization. You'll be successful if you devote most of your time to this class and stay on top of the material.

Whew, what a class. This has been my most favorite class of undergrad so far and that might be part of the reason of why I was able to get a good grade. I'm not sure if Wormington is going to be teaching this class again but either way I'm gonna give some tips. Use the textbook only for the first exam for the topics he says learn on your own . You don't need it for any other part of the course because the exams are lecture heavy. Put effort into the homeworks. They may be the factor that save your grade. Go to lecture and record them. After lecture, fill in your notes on things you may have missed from lecture. I think the main mistake people make is transcribing every word Wormington says. Be reasonable and write down content you know you will actually study. Use some notetaking skills instead of just writing down every damn word that comes out of his mouth. I think another mistake people make is not thinking they need to know all the individual proteins. Yes, you do. Know their names and their functions otherwise you will sacrifice points on the exams. His exams are not just memorization, although you will need to do this to succeed. You have to try and understand the material at a higher level such as the effect an experimental action will have. Wormington is an extremely knowledgeable guy who will answer any questions you might have. Overall, you will learn more in this course than probably any other biology course at UVa. While it is difficult, you can succeed with the proper effort.

I took BIOL 3000 (Cell Biology) with Wormington fall 2018. First, the stuff you need to know:
1. Don’t buy the textbook. There are technically readings assigned, but you should not do them. Download a .pdf of an older version and use that if you ever need help outside of class with a concept.
2. Record every lecture. Go back and re-listen to the complicated ones as you prepare for an exam.
3. Memorize (almost) every word that comes out of this man’s mouth.

Mike Wormington is a legend. I know people twice my age who still remember taking biology with him when they were students here. There’s a reason he’s been at UVa since 1989 (and teaching Cell Biology since 1992): knows his freaking stuff and he knows it well. For a 9:00am lecture with 300 people, Mike made every day worth it and interesting. He explains concepts very well, he’s actually pretty funny, and his lectures cover everything you need to know. Are the exams hard? Yeah, for sure; one of my favorite quotes from this semester was when we were walking out from the first exam and someone said, “I used to think our professor was a nice guy.” But Mike knows his exams are hard, and he will prep you as well as he can for them. He can sometimes be a little unapproachable, but he has a heart of gold and I swear he knows more biology than any human on Grounds. Name one other professor who will talk about a Nobel Prize-winning lab for 30 minutes, then pull up a picture of himself working in the lab (surprise!) and roast himself for wearing short shorts in ‘80s. Dude is a legend.
As far the class itself goes, yeah Cell is difficult. There are daily homeworks, 3 exams, and 1 final exam. Do the bonus homework assignments when he offers them as these are pure extra credit. Study for exams starting a week in advance; they are hard.

Workington is pretty straightforward about his expectations for his students, and if you buckle down, study, go to office hours, and show up to class, you'll be okay. It is a difficult class with lots of reading and lots of studying attached, but it is possible to succeed.