BIOL 2040

Definitely a self-taught class. Lectures are not very useful, and listening to Kopeny lecture is honestly the best cure for insomnia. Honestly just keep up with the textbook readings and you will do fine on the exams, of which there are 6 and no cumulative final.

I made a mistake by taking this class for fun and using my AP credit for 2020. Kopeny only does podcasts, and grading is very subjective based on your TA. The material on the quizzes was sometimes very minor details, or things that were gone over more in 2020 so I didn't know it. The last half of the labs were very interesting because they were dissections however the first half were all microscopy and very boring. Its not a hard class but if you don't take it seriously like I didn't, your easy A is suddenly one of your lowest grades. Don't take it if you don't need it.

So this class really does depend on who your TA is. 40% of your grade depends on the worksheets you do in class which are graded by your TA. My TA's average was around a C- on them but other people's TA's average was like a 95%. Quizzes are also graded by your TA and mine was picky and even participation was graded harshly! Not having your name written on your kit for example took off points or if someone in the class messes up the whole class is docked off points. Megan was my TA but she graduated so I don't think anyone else will get her. The exams are the only thing that's graded the same within all the students in this course. So again, TA is key to getting a good grade.

Overall a very easy class....BUT you don't learn much. Don't bother watching the lecture videos before lab, they don't help with the quiz. Just look at the list of structures and memorize their function; this usually takes about less than an hour before lab. Exams are weird and worded weirdly but they're not worth much. And I second the person below that said "do not buy the lab manual." It's really useless.

Easy course. Kopeny is very chill although he is a very boring lecturer. It is hard to sit through the lectures and videos.

An easy lab course--no need to study before the lab, just cram right before the quiz! A word of advice: DO NOT buy the lab manual! You cannot return it to the bookstore and you use it exactly one time in lab.

This class is definitely more enjoyable and much easier in terms of doing well on the assignments (than Biology 2030)! Professor Kopeny didn't hold any of the lab lectures and the "review" sessions before the midterms were less than helpful; however, he did post PowerPoints on Collab that were good to review before lab and or the three midterms. The quizzes in lab are straightforward and manageable if you review the terms before coming to lab! Definitely possible to get an A if you go to lab and pay attention during the dissections!

Kopeny didn't hold any of the lab lecture sessions - just posted podcasts on collab. You don't really need to listen to them to get an A, just look at the powerpoint slides he posts. This lab is MUCH more doable than 2030. You don't get out early anywhere near as much but the quizzes are really straightforward and simple. You learn more in lab than 2030 rather than studying material outside of class. Should be an easy A.

This lab is one of the more enjoyable science labs, if you like dissections. It's pretty laid back; you get to dissect the animal with a partner and learn the parts as you go, which is important for the quizzes. The quizzes weren't too bad, just study the Powerpoints from lecture and the lab manual, and know the structures AND functions of parts! Lab lecture is completely pointless and nap-inducing (typical Kopeny); just get the Powerpoints from collab. I didn't do awesome on the final and midterm (they're hard to study for because the information is very widely spread across topics), but they're worth much less than the quizzes and in-class worksheets (which leaves you with little outside homework besides preparing for the lab), and I still got an A. Get a fun lab table, do the readings, and hope that your TA knows a little more than mine did.

This class was a joke. First of all, dont waste your time to go to lectures. They are completely pointless and Kopeny reads straight from the slides (which was much different from 2030's lectures). Overall, quizzes/labs themselves are easy and doable, just know something about what you're doing AKA don't come to class thinking you will be eating cupcakes and be surprised to see an earthworm. Jokes apart, most people take this class due to requirements, but this class will be much easier than your other classes, so dont worry too much about it.

Hated this class. It's been a while since high school bio and I feel like if you're not a bio major/taking it in conjunction with the bio 2030 you won't do well. Tests and midterms you would think you did well and then get an awful grade, quizzes were random and had nothing to do with anything.

Megan Sebasky was a good TA in that she was lenient with grades and pretty relaxed overall. Quizzes are the hardest part of this course because sometimes you won't know where the TAs got the questions from because its not anything Kopeny talked about in his lecture and all the material is kind of scattered. That being said, I only had an 82.5% quiz average and still got an A in the course because there is so much other participation/gimme points. I studied hard for like 2 days before the midterms and got a 100 and an 88, but they're worth so little that if you have high quiz grades, they don't even matter

The lab was really interesting and challenging. I would recommend studying and going over the questions before going to lab. When I was in the course I would watch youtube videos and look at pictures so I could fill out my worksheets before going to lab and I ended up with a high A.

This class was MUCH more interesting than biol2030, and graded much more fairly. The worksheets were almost always a 10/10, or very close to it, and the quizzes in the lab were long enough so that if you missed one thing you could still do well (unlike Kittlesen's).
The dissections were interesting and you really do learn a lot even if you don't go to lab lecture (I went only once). There were two midterms, first one 8%, second one 12%. Both were fair, second one was very easy.
An A is set at a 92, so getting one is more likely this semester than in biol2030.
Kopeny is a very nice guy, and his office hours are useful if you actually have question. If you are taking biol 2020 at the same time, you should at LEAST get a B+. if you study for an hour before each lab, you can get an A-/A fairly easily.

Also, if you get Xin Zhao, you are super lucky. He is the best TA ever, and his quizzes are fair (unlike some of the other TAs).

Boring class, how hard your quizzes are depend on your TA. My TA gave always the hardest quizzes while other friends would have quizzes with half the difficulty.

The first few weeks are really boring, but it picks up when it comes to dissections. Lectures are completely pointless since Kopeny tends to repeat himself over and over while mixing up all the information and doesn't even get through the whole lecture. He's also very disorganized when it comes to getting assignments out and midterm/final grades out. Not too hard of a class, but annoying to take.

The class was a breeze.

Take it if you need it. Otherwise, it all depends on your TA. Kopeny is a very inefficient lecturer. Never really went to any of the 8:30 AM lectures. Still pulled off an A by reading the lab manual and powerpoints.

Kopeny is not coherent in lecture (which is at 8:30AM, btw) and never gets through his slides...I don't even know why I went because I just ended up falling asleep. That being said, being in BIOL 2020 really helped for the labs go with what you cover in lecture for the most part, and you don't have to study that much for the quizzes. (which get pretty hard) The grade breakdown for this class is 40% quizzes, 40% lab worksheets (completed during lab), and 20% participation (should be a gimme). I believe a 93 is an A in this class, and he says he "normalizes" the quiz grades between sections. Karen Barnard was a really good TA, she would always have these short reviews before lab and things she pointed out would always be on the quiz.

Lab lecture is a waste of time. If you print off the slides, read them, and bring them to lab, you will have the info you need from the lectures. the quizzes ask random questions, but if you have read everything in the lab manual and the slides you can do okay. Lelena is a really good TA and was really helpful.

Eric was a great TA, and made the lab very enjoyable.

boring. time consuming. relatively easy class though

Fun, interesting class. If you go to lab lecture and do the required reading, you'll have no problem getting an A.

required but sucks just like most intro bio classes

Kopeny is evil.

the labs got fun when you got to dissect things. the lectures were unneccesary and were very boring. the main part of the grade were long detailed lab reports in which half of the questions were drawing and labeling and the rest stupid long discussion questions which always related to evolutionary trends. the labs were sometimes very interesting.

What a COMPLETE waste of time. This class is the most ridiculous class I have ever taken at UVa. In essence, here's how lab goes. You go in, try to waste some time and make it look like you did the lab in lab, and then go home early. The next week right before lab, everyone is in the biopsyc library rushing to finish the 10 page worksheet packet by looking up everything on the internet. The student TAs also told us to look it up on the internet; that's what they did.

And Kopeny's prelab lecture was another JOKE. He would have a 50 slide ppt, and get through (maybe) 12 slides and just expect you to read the rest on your own. I went for the first 3 weeks just to answer the clicker, but after that I stopped going because the lecture was superfluous. Honestly, the Biology department here at UVa is a piece of work.

In case your wondering, I got an A in this class. It had NOTHING to do with Kopeny. If you do well on the weekly quizzes but don't go to lecture, your TA won't say anything. They start to question you when you do badly and don't go to prelab lecture.

This class was really unstructured with only weekly worksheets and quizzes and no midterm or final. The early morning lectures were painful to sit through, but they were only 45 minutes long. Depending on the TA, quizzes may be easy or really tricky. Study the pre-lab lecture slides and read through the book. Overall, it was an interesting class because we get to dissect stuff, but the quizzes and worksheets were another matter.

Admittedly, I am not a bio major (there wasn't a biochem tab). So this was really the most painful lab experience I've ever had, just because I didn't care. And quizzes were extremely picky, and a bit arbitrary. Worksheets were the most busy work I've ever had at UVA...maybe worse than anything I encountered in high school. It turned out for me, but it wasn't fun at all.

I love this class! No work at all. Easy A+. You dont eve have to go to lab lectures- ecause he just reads off the slides so makes things easier. The few times I went, the lab lecture was enlightening but no need to go as I figured out by the 2nd lecture. Thr reports and quizzes are so easy!- even a 5th grader can do it.

Prof. Kopeny was a much better lecturer than I anticipated based on the reviews I read. His lectures were clear and interesting, and good preparation for lab. A good brush-up course for AP Bio students - but all grading depends on your TA. Get a good one - Lindsay was great!

I wouldn't take this unless you are a bio major or pre-med. It is interesting, but the tests are unnecessarily difficult

This class is easy. Mark, on the other hand, was not a very likeable guy. He makes the lecture at 8am. No one went so he made the TA's derive more questions from the lecture. This class has 600 kids; no one wants to get up and walk across grounds to hear your rant on 2 slides of your 50 slide powerpoints on BASIC biology. Oh, and your jokes are terrible. Thanks for the easy A.

The lab itself was fine, relatively easy, occasionally a lot of busy work (lots of drawing things - animals, plants, etc.). Quizzes were fair as well. The lab lecture was horribly boring and Kopeny just read off of the slides, so it was not worth going to at all at 8 am, other than the clicker questions. He also never finished the presentation for the day, ever.

The lectures were long, but the actual lab section was a great way to get a hands-on look at real biology. My UA Andrew was great. He was always willing to help with dissections and explain any material he was asked about. He really knew his stuff. Not too bad on the eyes either. The weekly quizzes were easy as long as you paid attention to the lab notebook and print-outs. A great class to take if you are looking for an easy science course.

Easy class, very fun and interesting lab sessions.

In spring 2005, the course required testing via laboratory practicals, which proved to be very challenging. However, Dr. Kopeny has focused in Spring 2006 to present the course in a more concerted fashion with weekly quizzes to test specific skills and concepts following the laboratory exercise. The more recent efforts seem much more rewarding for the student, rather than cramming weeks of material into two lengthy, frightening practicals.