Reviews for BSCI150

Information Review
Kimberly Paczolt
BSCI150

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/06/2023
Professor Paczolt is not a good professor. She honestly does not contribute much to the class. When she gives lectures they are very unorganized and confusing. She isn't good at giving lectures and has a horrible attitude towards her students. Do not take BSCI 151 or 150 thinking it is an easy course that fulfills gen eds the coursework is much harder than it used to be. The exams are no longer open notes and are written on paper. The term papers are easy but are extremely time-consuming. I recommend avoiding this class if you are a STEM major that already has a large work load.
Kimberly Paczolt
BSCI150

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/25/2022
makes things confusing, i personally don't like her lecture style and her exams are unfair.
Kimberly Paczolt
BSCI150

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/18/2022
First of all, she just doesn't explain things well. Her slides are so confusing and she just can't explain the concepts well without stuttering and rephrasing the same sentences that isn't even answering the question. Second of all, she is kinda rude to student. She expects you to know things so if you ask her question, she gave you the "how can you not know this" look. Overall 150 class is fine but she made it really hard. She said she would never trick students but LOTS OF THE LECTURE QUIZ QUESTIONS PLUS FINALS QUESTIONS ARE TRICK QUESTIONS.
Nicholas Fletcher
BSCI150

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/18/2022
Dr. Fletcher is one of the best professor you can have. He explains things well. NGL this class has lots of workloads but if you are willing to ask questions and go to office hour, you are pretty much fine. Fletcher really cares about his students can is always nice and sweet.
Nicholas Fletcher
BSCI150

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/14/2022
This professor is a godsend compared to Paczolt as he wants you to understand the material and won't respond to you in a condescending way. Fletcher teaches Bsci 150 alongside Philip Johnson and Kimberly Paczolt, Fletcher was easily the best professor out of the three. When he taught, the topics were much clearer to understand as his examples were much more related to real-world concepts and his experiences which made it easier for the information to stick. The assignments were weekly quizzes, daily clicker questions, a term paper about your family history, 3 midterms, and an optional final. The midterms are mainly application based while relying on examples instead of memorization. At a minimum, you should start studying at least 3 days before the exam to make sure you are getting a well-rounded understanding of the material and have any chances to ask questions about the study guides they post with each exam. Utilize the example questions in the study guide as many of those questions will actually be on the exam. They don't give out the answers to the guide so make sure you ask fletcher for the correct answer before the exam and you're golden. The labs were tedious and involved a lot of waiting around. If you are anything like me and not a natural sciences major, some of the tasks can be unnecessarily confusing and complicated for no reason. But they give you a week from the day it's assigned to complete the lab so you can ask your TA any questions. Overall this class had some interesting topics and the content wasn't outlandishly difficult. But don't expect this course to be a cakewalk as you can easily earn a bad grade if you don't put in a fair amount of effort.
Kimberly Paczolt
BSCI150

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/12/2022
I personally did not like Dr. Paczolt as a professor. BSCI150 is a class for non-STEM majors, and I felt like she made it more like a class for STEM majors. Some of the lecture quizzes were so hard, even though I took thorough notes in the lecture. The lab this semester was lowkey a mess, as there are NEW PROFESSORS! I seriously think the grade average in this class will drop after the Fall 2022 semester. She made the assignments a lot harder than they had to be. I studied for so long on the material and still found it confusing. She also isn't always helpful when asking her about things you do not understand Personally, if you need a science with a lab and you are not a STEM-major I would take BSCI103. I think it would have been so much easier than this class was. For a gen-ed for most of us, if not all, Paczolt made it so much harder than it should have been! Also, an 8 page paper is given around the middle/end of the semester, which was a lot of work when every other class has a lot too.
Kimberly Paczolt
BSCI150

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/09/2022
In my opinion, this professor wasn't that great at explaining overall concepts. There are 3 teachers who are supposed to be teaching the BSCI 150 class but it looks like a lot of the work falls on her most times. Some of the questions on the exam can be pretty murky in their answer and kind of confusing to understand. If you study for them passively you can get at least an 70-80 on them. The exams were a mixture of multiple choice and short answer. The exams also come with extra credit at the end. There is a lab in this class, which is possibly the worst part of this class. A lot of the work is tedious and can be extremely confusing if you have never really worked in a lab before. Conclusion; Some of the content in this class was interesting but some topics were either not explained well or were just boring. If you like biology go ahead and take this class if you don't I would suggest you look elsewhere.
Kimberly Paczolt
BSCI150

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/07/2022
There were a few long papers but they were fairly manageable and we had more than enough time to get them done. If you have taken any other bio courses, a lot of the content in this course will be a simplified review. A lot of extra credit is also offered on the exams which was really nice. I personally really loved Dr. Paczolt as a professor. It was obvious that she is passionate about what she was lecturing on and the lecture content was engaging and fun. She is also very receptive to questions and will offer further resources if you are interested in the content and want to go more in depth.
Philip Johnson
BSCI150

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/07/2022
Good lecturer, he doesn't do much in BSCI150 lectures. When he does lecture, he's good at it and interesting.
Nicholas Fletcher
BSCI150

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/07/2022
Good lecturer, funny person. Class is easy and gives 3 gen eds. Not much HW, optional final, exams are allowed a cheat sheet.
Joelle Presson
BSCI150

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/16/2021
Pretty straightforward class. The exams are in person, but it's also open-note and on your computer. There are two writing assignments that are pretty doable. The second writing assignment is divided into three parts, the first draft, the final draft, and the presentation. I would recommend this gen-ed for anyone. This fulfills the DVUP, SCIS, and DSSP or DSNL (Your Choice). Dr. Presson and her TAs give out constructive feedback for each writing assignment. They are also very understanding, especially during the pandemic. Just try not to be late to labs.
Joelle Presson
BSCI150

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/16/2021
Was a little scared taking this class because of some of the bad reviews, but this class is one of the best geneds you can take. The exams are open note, and you were also allowed to use her lecture slides. There are only two writing assignments: a 3 page paraphrasing paper where you summarize an article and an 8 page paper on your own ancestry. Dr. Presson is very kind to her students, and is also a very flexible grader. Testudo says labs are 3 hours, but never went over 2. Overall, great class.
Joelle Presson
BSCI150

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/18/2021
I'm in this class right now. I expect an A; Dr. Presson is great. She will talk to you. She will email you back. She truly cares. I would take this class. It's a nice intro to bio I'm taking before I take 170 and so on to see if it's meant for me. Oh, also, the TAs are excellent; overall, this is a great class.