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Theodore Dayie BCHM465 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 12/12/2023	Do not take him, he is extremely boring, disorganized, and not invested in his class. It's about to be finals and he hasn't graded more than half our assignments and quizzes. I cannot stress enough how awful his slides are and the way he relays the information. The study guides are so long and you don't even know how to answer half of It. The exam structure is tricky and he doesn't prepare you for it. Work with people for everything because he cant teach. It could have been such an interesting class.
Paul Paukstelis BCHM465 Expecting an A Anonymous 07/17/2023	I really liked Dr. Paukstelis. He's got the most pleasant speaking voice, although it can be a little sleepy sometimes. I also loved that he was super into the material, like for the first exam he 3D printed DNA base pairs for us to analyze in 3D space, which was sick and I think shows the dedication of a good and cool professor.
Paul Paukstelis BCHM465 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/24/2023	Paul Paukstelis is an absolute cutie and a nerd, and I love it. First of all, if he ever made a podcast, I would listen to it, because he has the most pleasant speaking voice ever. Second, he was not so passionate about teaching, but he was passionate about the subject, and that was pretty cool, because he actually would share things from his own experience with us, or just like hand out DNA primers because why not. On the first exam, he 3D printed nucleotide base pairs for everyone which is so cool and thoughtful, and it made us really look at the DNA in our own hands and analyze it. I thought that was sick, and the sign of a pretty special professor in my opinion. Ok, that's all. I liked him. Still do.
Paul Paukstelis BCHM465 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/15/2022	Lectures can get pretty dry with just him writing on his iPad or whatever he uses but it seems like he really puts a lot of effort into making us understand DNA/RNA biochemistry. In fact, during our first exam he actually 3-D printed models of DNA base pairs for each of us to use to answer some of the questions in the exam. He lets you keep them too! He records his lectures but his handwriting is not the best and the microphone quality isn't the best either. I would still recommend attending lecture every day. Paul is very personable, having a broad range in music taste which is not too surprising given that he played music at the start of his lectures for like the first few weeks. If you're a fan of Fugazi I bet you could strike up a nice conversation with him about it, he seems pretty passionate about music. His exams were generally reflective of what he taught in class. There was never a question which made me feel blindsided. For our last midterm he gave us a test bank of like 50 or 60 questions and essentially said that he would choose 6 or 7 of those questions to ask us on the midterm, which is a pretty cool system if you ask me. There was a significant curve at the end of the semester. He didn't do plus minus grading the semester I took the class, which was nice since I would have ended with an A- otherwise. Additionally, his class has 4 total exams weighted equally (including the final) and he drops one of those exams at the end of the semester, which means if you do well enough on all the midterms, you won't have another final to worry about.
Paul Paukstelis BCHM465 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/12/2022	He’s a great professor and an excellent lecturer. He even made a discord for us where we could ask him questions (which he was pretty good at responding to). I will say his tests are difficult at first but once you get used to them, they become much easier.
Theodore Dayie BCHM465 Expecting a B Anonymous 06/08/2022	Every class is structured differently and I think the assessments are appropriate for the content of the course. It is an 8 am class, which is difficult. However, the slides contain the information sufficient to pass an assessment. The quizzes keep students on their toes. The homework and literature provide insight into how things were discovered. An earlier comment complained about the history of discoveries but I think the consensus is that it helps with remembering the content. It's not content that we should memorize and forget. It is a 400-level Biochemistry course that discusses nucleic acid research and applications. Professor Dayie is a lovely person and it may take him a while to grade assignments (on his own), but you can tell that he is really passionate about nucleic acid biochemistry. If you just want an 'A', you'll have to approach this class with an open mind. I wish I had put more effort and time into the material but as a BCHM or nutrition science major, you might not have that luxury with a rigorous schedule (hence my 'B'), but I am happy with that grade nonetheless.
Paul Paukstelis BCHM465 Anonymous 05/18/2022	This professor is one of the best lecturers I’ve had- he’s very thorough in explaining material and linking concepts to make them make sense. The exams are fair if you memorized and understood the material, and study guides really help to know how to think on exams. Would take again!
Paul Paukstelis BCHM465 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/11/2022	Each of Dr. Paukstelis’ classes consisted of a 10-15 minute review portion before he introduced new content, which is usually presented through him hand-writing his notes on his laptop. The lectures themselves have always been recorded, but the microphone quality for a lot of his lectures are pretty bad. His handwriting isn’t very legible, and often I find myself struggling to make out what he writes. Generally, Dr. Paukstelis’ notes consist of broadly encompassing points (which can often be scatterbrained and disorganized), but the details of the topics presented are left to his spoken words, so be sure to pay attention to the questions he asks as well. BCHM 465 feels much closer to a biology class than a chemistry or biochemistry course. If memorizing facts over reaction mechanisms is your strength, this class will probably be easier for you than it was for me. The chemistry which was discussed in this course was simple, but the topics were more focused on the structural aspects of biological macromolecules, which personally I did not find particularly interesting.
Theodore Dayie BCHM465 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/19/2021	Not an organized person. Did not go into depth on the actual biochemical processes, but instead rather focused on the history and the scientists that made the discoveries. Slow grader and makes the class extremely boring despite the challenging and interesting potential of this course.
Theodore Dayie BCHM465 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 01/28/2020	Content on exams and quizzes is literally taken from the study guides he gives out a few days before assessments, so it can be hard to stay motivated to actually learn the content. His slides are disorganized, and he can be a little slow and easily confused. He seems friendly and nice, but he can also be ignorant and rude.
Dorothy Beckett BCHM465 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/29/2016	Hmm for some reason, all of Beckett's reviews (here and on ratemyprofessor) disappeared. Luckily for her, I am going to say some good things about her unlike all her past reviews. I honestly do not think Beckett is too bad of a professor unlike what all her reviews say about her. Each exam has tons of material and when I say tons, I mean tons! She makes you memorize many mechanisms (e.g., DNA polymeration, amino acylation, all the types of DNA repair, etc) and structures (e.g., the different subunits of DNA polymerase I, II, vs III, the significance of each subunit, etc). She loves asking about old experiments too. If you are good at memorizing material then you should be fine in her class. For all the exams (including the final), I studied the night before and pulled all nighters, and I always ended up getting significantly above average. I think I ended up with a 78%+ and she made a 70% an A. Huge curve. The great thing about Dr. Beckett is that she actually wants her students to learn and she is genuinely interested in the material. I talked to her a few times after class about some interesting questions related to lecture and we spent approximately an hour each time, discussing and searching for potential answers. Her exams were challenging not because of the content but because of the way she asked her questions. She also gave us old exams to practice but even after looking over her answer keys, my friends and I would always be disappointed of some of her answers. Some of her answers were short and vague and others were just wrong. Her exams are also EXTREMELY LONG!!! Our second exam was 12 pages long in a 50 min lecture period!!! Luckily for me, I was able to finish it (had to guess on a question) but many of my peers would leave the last page completely blank. Then for the third exam she told us that she would make it shorter. And she indeed did.. to 11 pages... To get on her good side, definitely participate in class and/or go to her office hours. She definitely favors those who participate in class though. Even if she asks a very simple question, if you answer it, she will love you forever. She will pick on you in the class and will probably consider your participation in the class when thinking about your final grade. Your classmates will probably hate you but if you are doing poorly in the class or if you are worried about the class then you have to be that person. I for one rarely participated in class but I occassionally talked to her after class and asked her good questions. She called me out a few times and I answered questions but I never voluntarily participated. In conclusion, stray away from the rumors you heard of Beckett. She is a little unorganized and she sort of has a childish personality, but she is very welcoming and wants her students to learn. If you work hard in her class you will get an A.
Douglas Julin BCHM465 Expecting a B Anonymous 06/03/2015	My method of studying in this class was to rewrite lecture notes, supplement lecture notes with book notes, and do previous exams. In the upcoming paragraphs, I’ll try to explain my mistakes. First, I did poorly on the first exam because I was not used to Dr. Julin’s exams. His exams are 6+ questions for the midterm and 11+ questions for the final, with the questions being free-answer, and sometimes multipart. To better prepare for the first exam, I should have done all of his practice exams and gotten a better feel for how he asks questions. Better understanding the material by going over all of his lecture notes would have helped too (the book is a supplement to the lecture notes; he only tests on stuff from his lectures, and the book has too much information.) I did average (mean) to a few points above average on the rest of the exams and got the grade I got (he implemented some kind of curve). If I were to take another Julin-type class, I would look out for the following. His exam questions can be tricky in several ways. The type of question I had difficulty adjusting to was the question that required a “key”, or something we learned about during lecture. The question would seemingly be about something we did not learn about and would be asking you to extrapolate based on given information. I would guess the answer the first few times, without using the correct or any learned concept; these responses would turn out to be wrong. To fix this, I had to have a list of all the concepts (e.g. the specific DNA type’s handedness, the specific DNA type’s major and minor groove properties, the stability/energetic property of a bond) ready to be recalled and “placed” into the problem to see if it would answer the question, and an understanding of the definition of every part of the processes (e.g. DNA repair processes, DNA replication’s trumpet model) he talked about. The most frustrating part of his exams was that his questions were often unclear to me. In the questions I got wrong, I often had to guess what the answer should contain, as seen previously about the questions seemingly about something we did not learn, or I would misread a part of a question that I knew the answer to. Overall, I felt that while the regular professor’s exam question contains one part (know the answer to this question, perhaps through extrapolation of what you already know), Dr. Julin’s questions contained two parts (know what the question is asking about through careful reading and thought; then, know the answer, perhaps through extrapolation.) To fall for this would be my own fault, however; more careful reading comprehension would be a fix, perhaps through increased sleep. Here are some other useful pointers. Study the experiments by being able to recall what the experiment variables are. They were tested moderately. If you want a letter of recommendation, go to his office hours regularly. He explains concepts well, and will answer questions specific to things we learned (not usually questions about the exam, like ‘Is this on the exam?’” For the final, review everything, including experiments and In summary, Dr. Julin is a good lecturer and professor, and his exams tested less on a wide scope of knowledge, and more on how well you can understand questions and work with the material taught. I noticed that a decently sized group of students had B to A averages on the exams, meaning they probably got As after the curve (the uncurved exam mean was around a C.) Somehow, they were able to avoid the trickiness of the questions, perhaps by taking a class of his before, or perhaps through reading comprehension better than mine.
Theodore Dayie BCHM465 Expecting an A+ zhangsta 05/30/2014	Dr. Dayie's class was one of the best classes I've taken. He presents the material clearly and has a genuine passion for the material. However, the textbook is a really good reference if anything is unclear. Pretty much, the only homework he assigned were questions on certain journal articles you had to read. His exams were very fair and straightforward; there were some computation questions, which were easy points. Other questions would ask you to design or analyze a sequence. A lot of it was really asking you to apply some of the basic principles that he would go over in class. Overall, great professor and very approachable outside of class.
Theodore Dayie BCHM465 Expecting a B Anonymous 04/07/2014	Horrible. Absolutely horrible. If you are looking for a class in which: -The professor rambles on for 50 minutes every lecture, going off on wild tangents with no coherency or central point -The lecture slides are so horrendously prepared, that a three-year old could have organized them better -The exams are much more challenging than the lecture slides would indicate --then take this class. If you want a straightforward, engaging, and fair class, then BCHM465 with Dayie is not for you. This class had so much potential--the material is inherently interesting, but Dayie bogs all of it down by emphasizing obscure papers from the 1950s and just throwing information at you with no conceptual framework in which to organize it. Avoid this class with Dayie if you can, you will regret taking this class with him.
Douglas Julin BCHM465 qwerty 05/17/2010	One of the most outstanding lecturers at the university. Dr. Julin has a great personality, his lectures are on point and well structured. He truly wants you to learn as much as you can and do well in his class. A lot of the course material was genetics review, but more in depth and interesting. There were a total of 5 problem sets, not difficult to do, but required some thinking. It really help me stay on top of the material. Exams were fair, first exam's average ~80%, then 60-65% for second and third exams. He really likes to ask questions about experiments and hypothetical situations on the exams. Go to lecture, take notes, attend review sessions, you will do well. He's a keeper.
Douglas Julin BCHM465 terpityterp 05/22/2008	Fantastic lecturer... one of the best in the biochemistry department. He demands a higher level of thinking than just memorization. His problem sets and exams usually involve him giving experimental results and asking you to explain mechanistically how the results are possible. Tricky but a fair professor. Never went to his office hours, but he was kind of a jerk when I went to pick up a graded problem set that I wasn't in class to get.