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.