This course is a moderate course; it is harder than BIOL 121 but easier than most first-year science courses. Pre-reading quizzes, in my opinion, are the most tedious part of this course, and the midterm is considered significantly more difficult than the final. However, the hardest part of this course is the adjustment from high school, as the problems focus less on memorization of minor details and more analysis and application. Other significant parts of this course are the tutorials (smaller classes where you learn secondary content from the TAs) and the Mastery Learning Modules (MLMs), which are the hardest topics from the tutorials that the professor tests you on further to ensure understanding. Lots of chances to succeed with both of these, even if you don't do so well on the exam...read more

The course consists of three units. It consists of three parts: biological molecules (mostly review from Anatomy and Physiology 12), DNA transcription/translation/replication, and metabolism (photosynthesis and cellular respiration; the hardest part of the course in my opinion). It is highly applicable to higher-level biology courses, most notably BIOL 200 which is essentially a much harder sequel to this course.

Great professor, very approachable in class and office hours and explained a lot of concepts in lecture.

You are granted a cheat sheet on exams, but do not overload it with information as the exam format means you will hardly use it. Because most of the problems are application-based, you are much better off committing many things to memory, so only include on your cheat sheet content you are likely to forget so it comes in very handy when you need it. The most important chemistry concepts you need to remember for this course are intermolecular forces/polarity (CHEM 11) and redox (CHEM 12). These concepts may be worth reviewing, as they are not thoroughly retaught in this course.

I found this course to be very interesting, so I didn't mind studying, but you definitely do need to study to keep up.

Prof. Chen is a good professor. She seems to be passionate and gives lots of opportunities to go through example questions. The only issue is that the exams are written horribly. The wording is so confusing. Not only do you need to really learn the content inside and out, but you also need to re-read each question to get a decent grade.

Do not try to memorize for exams. Anything you need to memorize, you can write on the memory-aid you're allowed to bring (which doesn't help that much tbh). You will do much better if you actually fully understand the concepts being tested.

This course itself is not difficult, but Dr Couch and his teaching team successfully made it much harder. His lectures were totally unhelpful, and the outline given is confusing and vague. I passed this class only because of The Amoeba Sisters. Btw do NOT buy the textbook, you won't use it at all.

Intracellular activities such as transcription, translation, protein synthesis, and ATP synthesis Kinda useful, I enjoyed the knowledge itself anyways.

I don't want to criticize too much, but you just need to know one thing, that YouTube is more reliable than his lectures.

You'd be better off contacting some students who have already taken the course and ask them to give you an outline or notes; you can find that on CourseHero as well (I uploaded mine anyway). Otherwise, you won't know what the class is about until near the end of the semester. Don't go to lectures because you most likely won't know what you're listening to.

This course is disorganized, the syllabus didn't explain clearly. Lots of course work and activities, heavy workload. The textbook is poorly written. lots of unrelated stuff included in the course reading , but they said it will be included in exam. Tutorial session is meaningless, the topics taught are easy and it should be included in the lecture instead of seperating it and ask students to spend extra day for class. Lecture is not recorded and attendance is mandatory, which forces students to listen for the boring and useless lectures. The TAs are not helpful, they always respond with yes/no only on piazza , they never explain in depth.(Seems like they dont care at all)

Basic biology content. Self studying will be better.

He just read the slides. He is boring.

Take another prof or avoid this class .

The course this term was quite disorganized with the exams and quizzes, such as a mishap with midterm scores.

Found the course content really interesting! I’m sure I’ll use the info again in other bio classes.

Awesome dude, he showed us a yoyo trick and made the class engaging.

Taking the course more seriously earlier in the term. Studying really hard for the midterm.

Sometimes hard to keep paying attention to zoom lectures, useful and interesting course with moderate difficulty

Use the learning goals to study

Great prof, great class. Textbook was expensive but the organization was decent and the quizzes were helpful.

Do the textbook reading, and go to the TA review sessions before midterms.

Textbook was expensive :( and included a mandatory online quiz software so you couldn’t even buy used textbooks

Dr. Smith is the best, make sure to attend the review sessions before the exams. Also, exams can be difficult if you focus on memorization over understanding, as most questions are written so you can show application of knowledge. Make a good cheat sheet and you don’t have to worry about forgetting things.