BIOL 3000

Given its notoriety at the university, I'm sure most people know it's a difficult class. What largely makes it tricky in my opinion is the extreme depth of knowledge required on exams. While it can concededly take a while to figure out what works for you, I found it best to skip lectures and listen to the recordings later that day, transcribing the "important parts" on a notebook, and later going back to these notes if I needed content clarification. Honestly, the course's organization is somewhat confusing. For instance, when covering mitosis, it isn't done in chronological order. So it will take a while of looking back at lecture notes to get the "story" right in your head. The figures on the slides are both very helpful and pertinent to your success. Most figures should be MEMORIZED forwards and backwards unless he explicitly says otherwise. This means mechanisms of pump action, cofilin cycling, etc.

While it is difficult and arduous, I did find it improved my knowledge of biology quite a bit.

Some other miscellaneous notes:
- because of the enormous amount of content, the TAs are VERY shaky on their content from the course, so ask them content questions sparingly
- the homework questions are very similar in style to the exams, so pay close attention to these
- many units are seemingly random and esoteric, i.e. the cancer unit, but still make sure you learn them just as thoroughly for the final

contrary to the other reviews, i didn't really find cell biology to be nearly as bad as most people made it out to seem--going to class is a must imo! even though he records his lectures, i feel as if being able to pause and take notes almost diminishes your ability to see the big picture of the lecture, which is often more important than the little details which you can refine later anyways. during lectures, i basically wrote down everything he said, but do note that he often repeats things several times. i didn't touch the textbook a single time and you really don't need to, and should def opt out. he always uses several homework questions on exams, so make sure to basically memorize all of them EARLY (anki, quizlet, wtv). i know the course forum reviews and course average looks scary, but i really believe this class wasn't nearly as bad as orgo. my biggest piece of advice would be to start reviewing early, even if that means just staring at the slides without understanding them. simply priming yourself with the content is way better than cramming things in, and although some test questions may require a little thinking, the large majority imo were simply knowledge checks (i.e do u know x/y). i know many people do a "week in review" for every 3 lectures, or even every lecture, but i managed to get an A basically just by reviewing everything a week before the exam and honestly didn't touch the course material much outside of class if there wasn't a test. he also "curves" the grades by changing the grading scale, so anything above a 89.5 was an A and 87.5 was an A-, and it was basically the same for B's and C's. another thing to note is that mike is lowk super rude unless you fit a certain demographic which you will recognize very quickly,

Writing this review pretty late but I'm in dental school right now and this course actually helped so much for the DAT as well as my actual dental school cell bio class. The class itself is pretty difficult. I ended with a B but would overall recommend just because it helped me understand biology on a much deeper level. Study hard and you'll do fine. I would go to office hours if you want to do really well. Make sure you understand everything he says because anything is fair game. Wormington isn't super nice but he is a really good teacher. DO NOT CHEAT. Wormington is super strict about cheating and will literally stand in the back of the exam room to catch people cheating and give them 0's.

Well, what can I say that hasn't already been said: cell bio is a ridiculously tough class. The volume of information is immense, and you need to be able to develop the skill to synthesize and understand multiple complex systems. So here's my advice:
Please, please, if you can, take cell bio with Prof Wormington. YES, this class is difficult, but he does a genuinely incredible job communicating the information. He appears abrasive at first, but he's been teaching this course for 32 years, and takes no crap from anybody. Take the time to get to know him - go to office hours - and really try your hardest in the course, and he will appreciate it. You will get a lot more out of the course that way, too!
Materially, I recommend taking at least a week in advance to study for the exams. They are NOT a cakewalk - they will test your ability to apply the concepts you've learned. I like to make Anki decks to drill the raw information, then make sure I can apply it by drilling the homework questions and drawing out the relevant structures and pathways.
This class is tough, but you will get through it!

Cell Bio is a beast of a course. The amount of material is quite intimidating and a lot to undertake. That being said, Prof Wormington is a very good instructor. He is super passionate about this subject and this comes through when he teaches. I personally think he is very effective at teaching, although often I had to rewatch lectures to fully grasp things. The course material is really interesting, and Wormington's enthusiasm helps with this. I will say, if you are used to getting A's, that may not be the case in this class. Exam averages are in the 70s. This is probably the hardest class I have ever taken, but if you have to take it, I recommend Wormington for sure.
#tCFF23

As everyone else has mentioned, this class is challenging.
How I studied for the class: I would go to lecture (he records, so if you miss you can re-watch, but it's only audio, so when he points to things or changes slides you won't be able to tell in the recording). I would try my best to re-watch the lecture the day of, synthesize my notes and then attempt the homework problems to check my understanding. Leading up to the exam, the week before I would go through the lectures and create anki cards based on the lecture+my notes, and then grind them. 2/3 days before the exam I would whiteboard all the information down to put it all together, as well as answer the big unit questions, and then the day before I would put all the homework questions together and take it like a practice test. If I had time, I would also go through my "practice test" and next to the wrong answers I would write down what would be needed in order to make them correct.
Exams: Even still, this class was super challenging. His exams are scantron, around 50-60 questions. His exams are very application based, meaning you need to already come with an understanding of the material, and his questions will test the ability to be able to know what would happen if you changed a certain aspect of the information.
Wormington: I think Wormington is a fantastic lecturer and is very knowledgeable in this field, and takes the time to talk about drug pricing and the importance of being vaccinated (through the history of HIV) as well as explains very complex topics that are important to know for med school/research/other bio classes. I went to OH and discussion almost every week, and I really recommend going to OH because we talked about important but small details that I otherwise would have missed in my studying. I know depending on who you are people have different opinions about Wormington. For me, I think he favors people who frequent his OH, but if you are not able to make the same connection (even if you do go to OH a lot) it feels harder to approach him for questions/talk to outside of OH. If you are interested in taking his Spring class (Cell Mech) I suggest you make a connection with him, as I have noticed that people who do make a connection with him end up taking the class (it is a professor permission class).
Grades: I honestly believe Wormington was trying to make this semester harder (GPA avg went from last sem 2.8 to 2.7 this sem, and avg class mean grade went from 82 to 80%). He does not curve, but instead changes the grade brackets and installs a built in grade boost through bonus homework (so in theory someone could have a 510/500 in the class). He does round to the nearest number (89.6->90).
It is a lot of work, but if you approach the class with wanting to learn the material and are prepared to put in the effort daily, an A is achievable!

Cell bio is the most difficult course I have taken so far - to me, it's even harder than orgo. A big thing with cell bio is that there is SO MUCH memorization. Particularly with Wormington, you have to memorize and understand every single thing he says, as his (all multiple choice) exams consist of complicated questions that require us to make connections between topics that we hadn't connected before. This can be hard because he speaks almost nonstop during the lectures, so it's difficult to get down everything that he says. He does voice record his lectures so you can go back and listen. Wormington is a really nice guy and I definitely recommend going to his office hours for help, but it's mostly on you to put in the time and the effort to truly understand the material. The daily HW questions are a needed grade boost, especially the extra credit bonus HWs, so take your time to make sure you get all of them correct. It's much easier said than done, but my advice would be to study as much as possible - like spend time after each lecture going back through all the slides and your notes to reabsorb the content. Good luck!!! #tCFF23

I thought this was by far the most interesting bio class for the major that I've taken thus far, but also challenging. Wormington's lectures were more engaging compared to Kozminski (he lectured for us a few times because Wormington was gone) in my opinion and Wormington records his lectures. I agree with previous reviews that you have to know almost every small detail he has on his slides to do well (be familiar with chemical structures and the scientific names of microorganisms for example).

To do well on the exams I found it most useful to look back at homework questions (he uses a handful of them on the exams), his reading questions, and to make quizlets/flashcards about all the notes and information from his slides. Also, relistening to all his lectures to get information I missed from lectures, he talks very fast about a lot of information, was also useful. I found the weekly discussions weren't that helpful for me. Like the other reviews mention, the textbook was not really needed as his lectures and slides are sufficient, but you will need to refer to it at times for topics he doesn't teach in his lectures but are on the exam. #tCFF23

This class is hard, specifically because of the exams. The questions are very convoluted, require you to synthesize information, recall very specific concepts/details, with answer choices with having minor differences . They count for 85% of your grade and the averages are like B-. Other than homework and bonus homework, no grade buffers. You need to listen to every word he says in lecture, and probably will need to relisten to his audio recordings because he talks fast and everything he says is important. He is a good lecturer though and really knows his stuff. Slides were also pretty organized and helpful. The content can be fairly interesting, and it's not really a lot of work otherwise. But you will need to study a ton to even have a chance to get a B. #tCFF23

Very, very difficult class. Worm is a great professor and he explains the concepts very well and very clearly. The issue is that he is a very blunt person (could be seen as rude) and his tests are crazy difficult. Be prepared to study for around 10-20 hours per exam if you want to get an A. What works for me is to relisten to all his lectures and retake notes on them too, then go through the homework problems he gives out since they are old exam questions. Good luck!

#tCFF23