[BIOL BC2100] Molecular and Mendelian Genetics

Shepard was a pretty good professor. It's biology, so what do people expect? She tries very hard to make sure we learned everything. The first exam was pretty easy for me because probability and math comes naturally to me. However, on the second midterm I did pretty bad because I just can't remember and memorize facts-- which is something you have to deal with in any bio class. The final was reasonable. Her multiple choices were a bit annoying. In terms of the problem sets, they were okay. if you got stuck the TA sessions were helpful. I really enjoyed that class. It was very interesting; particularly the stuff we learned.

Don't be fooled by the silver nugget next to her name or the reviews below that rave about her. Kristen Shepard is just not a good professor. However, (unlike now) there were no true reviews of her ability when I took Genetics with her. I guess when she was teaching Bio BC 1001 she was easier on those students since they were mostly freshmen and it's a course for people who don't have a strong background in bio, but she was HORRIBLE for Genetics. First of all, she is very rude and for no apparent reason. It's nice that she gives you a print out of the slides she uses in her presentations and that she tries to learn everyone's name, but I would much rather prefer good teaching over both of those things. The clicker questions were thrown at us in class as we were being introduced to the information and if a large percentage of the class got it wrong she would say things like "how she didn't understand why we don't understand" and then would tell us to talk over our answer with the person next to you, which wasn't very helpful because most of the time, they guessed too.

The problem sets were hard and there were so few questions that getting 3 wrong would give you a C. The tests were ridiculously difficult and LONG. Expect to be in the middle of a problem in the last 2 minutes. I also spent a majority of the test trying to figure out what she was even asking and got a lot of points off because I only included 1 part when she expected more, despite the fact that it was inconsistent with the problem sets (which were also written in a strange stringing together of random words). I also had to teach myself a lot of the material because she rushed through most of it and sometimes would forget to include important slides of mechanisms we would be tested on! The one saving grace is the fact that the TAs are really helpful and hold sessions almost everyday.

In general, this class was harshly graded and really unclear. I came out without a real knowledge of genetics. The course started off really interesting and has some great potential...if someone else taught it.

So I took this class because I love molecular biology. Really, a big fan. But now, I hate it. I really don't like Mendelian genetics because of the way Shepard taught it. I can't say probability comes naturally to me, so just reading it in the textbook and being hit with hard clicker questions in class is not the best way to learn how to figure out the probability of someone being color blind, blood type O, and have hemophilia. She is very disorganized, has typos all over her slides and largely unclear about everything she says. She tries hard. She really does. But for some reason she ends up confusing us even more. The TAs are helpful and her office hours are helpful. But she's not always so welcoming. So really push your question to be answered even if she turns you away. You'll probably have to take Genetics to take any other Biology class, but luckily, she probably won't be teaching it anymore.
Her tests were difficult especially when the wording of the questions was even more confusing than her lectures. Most questions were backwards english so it made it nearly impossible to understand what the question was asking. Problem sets had just the same problem. Oh, and for any class she teaches, don't expect your assignments or exams returned to you within two weeks of handing it in. She's slow with grading. Overall, I think the class was unfairly taught and graded.