BIOL 2040

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.

Easy class, very fun and interesting lab sessions.

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.

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.

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.

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

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 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.

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.

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.