BIOL BC1502

The quizzes are hard, you do best when you collaborate. Don't assume the content is easy and that you'll do fine, you likely won't. The wording is very specific in them, concepts are mentioned for a reason. Pay super close attention in lectures because Snow might mention something only once and it will be on the quiz. His exams are much better. They're still crazy hard, but the questions are easier than on the quiz and the concepts they ask about are pretty reasonable. The quizzes were 12.5% of the grade and the average was curved to a 97 (yeah, I know). Each exam was 22.5% and then there was a attendance and SimBio hw grade which were both easy A's. I personally got A's on all three exams, but the average was typically a 75%. The best way to study is to start early and attend office hours even if you don't have specific questions.

Two midterms and a final exam. Extremely reasonable, and just the right amount of work required to intimately know the material.

I spent an absolutely insane amount of time studying for these tests and doing the reading for class, and yet it never felt like I saw proportional results. I spent entire days and days in advance of the exams, endlessly pouring over the material and trying to put everything in order. And yet, even with the (very large) notecard allowed on the exams, I still never felt as though I was prepared enough and never felt as though my grade reflected the amount of blood, sweat, and tears that I had put into the course.

Harder than the first semester bio. Much more abstract concepts and way more terms. Pay attention in lecture and I found that the best way to study was to explain concepts out loud to the TA's and they help clarify any confusions from there. Content is easier for those who have taken some form of biology in the past (ex. I got an A and had a phenomenal AP Bio teacher in high school).

Professor Wallenfang is leaving Barnard, but for the record, he is one of the best professors I have had in all of my time at the college. Professor Wallenfang's courses are always interesting, exciting and relevant. He is so friendly, and approachable and has such great enthusiasm for teaching his students. Professor Wallenfang's BIOL 1502 course is a difficult intro bio, but so worthwhile. He manages to always (consistently through the years) keep the content challenging and captivating at the same time. His incorporation of articles that are related to new developments make the textbook material come to life. Three years later, looking back at my notes in studying for the MCAT, I feel so lucky to have taken such a thorough course that really set me on the right track for bio success. I have come to know this professor very well and just want to say that learning from him is a true privilege! Barnard will not be the same without him.

This class was HORRENDOUS. This was Professor Shah's first time teaching this course, and it was an absolute train wreck. The material was taught in class in a very disorganized way that made it very unclear what topics we were going to be covering that day. The slides barely included any text, so you had to rush to write down every single word that Prof. Shah was saying -- because anything that came out of her mouth had the possibility of being on a test (even if she only mentioned the thing once, she might expect you to know very detailed information on it for the exam!). When a friend of mine asked Prof. Shah if she could post the slides before class, so that we can copy down or print them out and use class to actually work on understanding the material, Prof. Shah responded that she makes the slides in the elevator on the way up to class. In the future this should hopefully be better, since the slides will already be made and the professor won't be new at teaching the course -- but regardless, I think Prof. Shah should've been able to make the slides and send them at least a NIGHT in advance... The exams were also an absolute train wreck. They tested us on information that was touched on for maybe TWO seconds in class, if even at all, and didn't even show up in the reading. Prof. Shah loved to ask us about aliens on the tests, too. The tests also took way more time than wa…

He’s not a great teacher but tests are very very fair. Memorization based and he will try to trick you but LEAGUES better than Shah was (dropped it with Shah last semester and now am getting an A in Snow’s…so that should tell you something )

Reading for each lecture that is pretty dense. Two midterms and a final. Weekly online quizzes.

Three midterms, poll everywhere questions, weekly quizzes, recitation attendance, and journal article assignments were all factored into the grade.

I actually really enjoyed this course. Hertz's class I felt was much more intense than this class. Wallenfang let me actually enjoy the subject material. The reading load is a lot lighter this semester but it is still quite dense. I found I had to really go through the textbook in order to understand some of the lecture points. I really enjoyed how Wallenfang focused on mostly lecture. I made the mistake the first exam on focusing a lot on the textbook, which really isn't necessary. So overall, I would definitely recommend this class. It isn't too intense, and Wallenfang is pretty enthusiastic and wants his students to learn.