EVSC 3060

I am a double major in biology and environmental science and thoroughly enjoyed this course. It is almost 100% math and physics based, so a background in physics is very helpful. Reidenbach is the nicest guy and incredibly smart. He goes over a lot of stuff in class but all you really need for the exams is an understanding of the equations. He doesn't really test on the concepts although they are helpful to understand. We had one midterm and one final which were both take-home and open-note which made the class a lot less stressful. In addition, he let us choose to write a final paper or do a presentation on the final days of class about basically anything we wanted as long as it related to biomechanics. You learn about some really cool stuff like how different organisms move, adhere, make noise, hear, defend themselves, and so on. I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in the math behind biology!

The grading is from 2 exams, a paper and hw. You get a sheet of paper for notes for the tests. The test averages are usually somewhere in the neighborhood of an 88. He grades the paper kind of hard, I got an 84 on the paper and a 89 in the class. Just be prepared to do math. The whole class is plugging numbers into equations, but it gets a little tricky sometimes. The professor grades fairly and I would take it again.

This class is very straightforward. Each class he lectures on different concepts and equations and once every two weeks you get a problem set on those concepts. You are allowed one cheat sheet (front and back) for the midterm and two for the final and it is more than enough space to fit what you need. The homework and tests are not meant to trick you and take very little time. The paper for the class is also very easy, but will creep up on you so don't put it off until the last minute. Overall the Professor is really helpful and the class is easy.