BSCI450 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Colenso Speer BSCI450 Expecting a W Anonymous 11/03/2024	Class is very interesting, Speer is a terrific lecturer. The exams are horrendous, grades on "half, full or no credit" scale with only "excellent" answers leading to full credit. I was on track to Pass with a C, but he told me if I wanted to hit the B- cutoff I would have to study for 10+ hours weekly OUTSIDE of class. I feel like I learned all the material just to not get the grades I deserved. Decided to save my GPA, take this class with a professor that grades more leniently.
Colenso Speer BSCI450 Anonymous 10/17/2024	There’s a ton of material, and the 4 exams plus final all build on each other. Homework barely affects your grade, and the professor doesn’t record lectures, so you’ll have to do that yourself. The lecture slides are minimal, meaning you’ll need to put in extra work, and reading the textbook is a must, but it takes a lot of time. The exams are too long for the 50-minute time frame, with average scores typically below 75. The professor is a great lecturer, but that doesn’t make it easier to learn from 3 different sources. Plus, every exam is all free response—if you miss one minor detail, you’ll lose points, even if you cover all the other small details.
Lorin Milescu BSCI450 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/22/2024	The worst Professor I’ve ever come across. Lazy, incompetent, arrogant, and unprofessional. The only decent thing I have to say about him is that he’s kinda a chill guy (I guess?).
Justicia Opoku-Edusei BSCI450 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/10/2024	She is clearly very intelligent. However, one is not incorrect to call her a bit lazy. She only teaches one day a week and has not updated slides or lectures since 2019 or 2020. You may ask how I know this, she doesn't update the ELMS either and all of the slides say they were updated in late 2019 or early 2020. Her lectures are useless because of how far behind schedule she is all of the time due to her only teaching one day a week. The other day is just "study hall." Her exams usually have a good amount of extra credit which is the only way to compensate for having to learn everything yourself amidst her ambiguous questions questions requiring very specific answers. On our last day of lecture she sped through all of the urinary system and endocrine system and was just like "you guys can read the rest." Then she took a literal final bow and asked for applause, and I wanted to ask her how it feels to skate by doing the bare minimum and getting away with it.
Justicia Opoku-Edusei BSCI450 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/01/2024	Slides are absolutely the least organized and confusing thing ive ever used. She grades insanely hard. She basically wants you to read her mind. She provides little study materials and doesn't help explain anything. HORRIBLE
Scott Juntti BSCI450 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/20/2023	Such a great professor, his class was very thorough, he communicates very clearly, has very transparent expectations, and is very approachable to ask questions and get extra assistance. His exams are some of the fairest I've ever taken in college thus far, especially within the sciences. Would highly recommend if you are selecting who to take mamm phys with. you won't regret it!
Joshua Singer BSCI450 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/19/2023	Dr. Singer was my favorite professor I’ve had in college so far. Only about 25 of us in the class so he got to know us well and would joke around with everyone. Test averages were really high, and he would move through content very slowly so that you would understand it. Not sure why his reviews are so bad but I think he was a great prof that maybe is misunderstood if you don’t get to know him.
Joshua Singer BSCI450 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/13/2023	Gonna be fully honest. I saw the early reviews. Saw the RateMyProfessor. And I was worried. But wow, what an amazing class. Dr. Singer is really witty with his jokes but also takes the course very serious. He wants you to do well, and you can only do that by participating. I thought he was great at explaining and exams were extremely fair. I really do not know what caused people to tank his review but he was 11/10 this semester and I would recommend him to anyone.
Colenso Speer BSCI450 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/12/2023	I would agree with most of what has been said. Dr. Speer is a great lecturer and makes class engaging, often encouraging student participation which even translates outside of the classroom into discussion boards and office hours. For many pre-meds, they put in the work, lived and breathed Mam Phys and I think did relatively fine because of it. I had class during office hours and other things going on in my life which made it hard to do well, given you can not just rely on lectures and it is difficult to study for exams. He does not give partial credit and exams were often hard to prepare for given we did not have practice problems to study from, aside from the ones he pulled from the book to put in the exam. The format changed a bit each exam as well as how he assigned points. Overall, I would say you can do well in this class, simply be prepared for the time that will take
Joshua Singer BSCI450 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/07/2023	I don't know why his reviews are so bad. This is one of the best classes I've taken at UMD. Singer is a great instructor and repeats himself a lot during lecture - doesn't talk super fast - really easy to follow. Grading is extremely fair, exam averages have been high. Exams are also super fair. I have learned so much in this class and he tells us a lot of cool fun facts about random things. He's funny. Definitely take this course with Singer he's the best.
Justicia Opoku-Edusei BSCI450 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 10/20/2023	I LOVE HER!
Justicia Opoku-Edusei BSCI450 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 10/18/2023	Great professor, I love her
Scott Juntti BSCI450 Expecting a B- Anonymous 10/17/2023	I really liked the class but Dr.Juntti made it harder than it should’ve. Our averages were pretty low and there was no curve or extra credit.
Justicia Opoku-Edusei BSCI450 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 10/17/2023	Overall, this is a hard class. Dr.Opoku is a great teacher and didn’t make anything harder than it had to be. Her exams were fair and I felt as if she prepared me well for the mcat. Amazing professor.
Scott Juntti BSCI450 Expecting an A Daniel5783d 10/17/2023	Great professor but if you are pre med, you should take Dr.Opoku instead. She goes much into detail and has questions that’s are almost mcat level thinking. Also Juntti doesn’t record lectures.
Justicia Opoku-Edusei BSCI450 Expecting an A+ Daniel5783d 10/17/2023	I had the privilege of being a student in Dr. Opoku's BSCI450 Mammalian Physiology class, and it was truly an exceptional experience. Dr. Opoku's passion for the subject matter was evident in every lecture, making the material engaging and understandable. Her teaching style was both approachable and thorough, and she always encouraged questions and discussions. Dr. Opoku's dedication to her students' success was remarkable, and she went above and beyond to provide support and guidance. I can confidently say that Dr. Opoku is an outstanding teacher, and I am grateful for the knowledge and inspiration she shared with us during the course.
Scott Juntti BSCI450 Expecting an A- Anonymous 10/16/2023	Doesn’t record lectures.
Justicia Opoku-Edusei BSCI450 Expecting an A- Anonymous 10/16/2023	Great professor, knows what she’s talking about.
Justicia Opoku-Edusei BSCI450 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 10/14/2023	Great professor, very knowledgeable and great at explaining things.
Scott Juntti BSCI450 Expecting a B Anonymous 10/14/2023	The class was really interesting but the professor made it really hard to succeed. There’s not a lot of resources and on top of this he doesn’t record lectures which I’ve found to be helpful when studying for exams. On top of this, he doesn’t explain confusing things that well.
Justicia Opoku-Edusei BSCI450 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 07/17/2023	Dr. Opoku is an incredible professor. This class was truly my favorite class I have ever taken in college. I still go back to re-listen to her lectures to refresh on select topics. She is very helpful and responsive to emails. My class was hybrid where the lecture videos were posted for us to watch and we would meet Thursday's to review that week's material. The lectures were very long sometimes spanning five hours of lecture per week, but were very interesting. I would suggest breaking the lecture videos into chunks, so that you are not overwhelmed with the material. Also, STARTING EARLY is KEY in order to avoid falling behind in the class. The test questions are application based where you are given a situation and are asked to diagnose the patient based on the information provided. The class is a lot of work, but is definitely worth taking and doable with hard work.
Scott Juntti BSCI450 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/30/2023	• hella chill guy, best STEM prof I've had • incredibly clear lectures + slow enough pace for you to take legit notes in class • class breakdown: 80% exams (4 midterms, 1 final) and 20% online homeworks • exams: very straightforward/doable, and you have plenty of time – just understand the material on the slides • he says to read the textbook, but each chapter has a good amount of info you won't be tested on. I suggest just going through the slides after class and looking up anything you don't 100% understand in the textbook because it explaining it well
Justicia Opoku-Edusei BSCI450 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/27/2023	Dr. Opoku's class is a mixed bag. On one hand I really enjoyed and appreciated the in depth coverage of the material with a focus on learning and applying concepts rather than memorizing random facts, at the same time, her exams were challenging and expectations were often unclearly communicated. Our class was hybrid with lectures primarily being in the form of pre-recorded lectures which could have contributed to the confusion. PROS: - Lectures cover an extremely in depth presentation of the physiology with plenty of applications and examples to hammer home concepts she wants you to know. I definitely learned the most I have ever learned in a biology class from this class. - Dr. Opoku's lecture material will prepare you EXTREMELY well for the MCAT if you are planning on taking it. - Her exams never test you on concepts not discussed in class. - Dr. Opoku is by far the most knowledgable professor I have had in the biology department. You could probably ask her any question and she would give you a thoughtful thorough answer. She is nice when you talk to her and is always trying to help you succeed (even if her exams don't make it seem that way) - Dr. Opoku has built in "extra credit" on every exam: 20-30 extra points/200 points on average. However, see "cons" for why this isn't necessarily why this is always a good thing/helpful. - Dr. Opoku provides a 40 point extra credit assignment that can help with your grade. Note that it was quite difficult to get full points on this assignment, but extra credit is extra credit. CONS: - Exams are extremely time crunched with almost all questions being short answer. I consider myself an extremely fast test-taker typically taking only half time in other class exams. Dr. Opoku's exams took me near the whole 75 minutes. For reference, her exams were often 8-10 pages long (single sided) with at least 75% of the questions being essay questions. This means the 20 point extra points you can earn are often not "extra credit" but rather extra points you can spare to lose. - Few practice problems were provided directly by Dr. Opoku. If you wanted practice, you would have to use GSS practice questions. - Exam rubrics are extremely specific. If you didn't write a specific point relevant to the problem, you can lose a large majority of points associated with the problem. There is also no "follow-through" credit typically for multi-step physiology problems. - Your grade is solely composed of 3 midterms, a final, and the extra credit assignment = high stress. - Opoku's slides are cluttered and often hard to understand without context. - You have to know a LOT of material and there is no discussion section where you can practice. You are completely left to your own devices and if you don't have a good work ethic, Opoku may not be for you. Overall, Dr. Opoku's class is by far the most challenging biology class I have taken, but also the most rewarding. I took away a meaningful understanding of mammalian physiology but sacrificing a lot of time and devotion towards the class as a consequence. I would recommend her class if you want to challenge yourself while learning an immense amount. If this doesn't sound like you, I'd recommend probably steering clear of Opoku at least for BSCI450. Regardless, this is a hard class so whoever you take, you will need to put in the effort! TIP: If you do take her class, don't write full sentences. Use arrows to connect concepts. For example instead of writing, "An increase in A occurs which then causes B to drop which results in C dropping" say something like "Up A -> Down B -> Down C." It'll save you time and TA's do not take any points off for this. In fact, they prefer writing answers out this way based on discussions I've had with them.
Scott Juntti BSCI450 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/24/2023	Juntti is a chiller, and his man bun is killer. He's a super nice guy who talks very slow, if that's something you're into. He doesn't rush through topics and make you memorize millions of things, but instead takes his time on it. At the same time, I did find that prof was not the best at explaining some things, which left me to figure it out on my own. But it wasn't such a problem. I do wish that there were some other way to do the HW other than paying a hundred bucks to do it! I mean, I didn't once use the textbook, but I needed to buy it in order to do the homework, so there goes a hundred bucks I guess.
Justicia Opoku-Edusei BSCI450 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/21/2023	yikes. remember that this is a three credit course, equating to 10-12 hours a week. i spent well over 30 hours every week of the semester on just this class in order to score well. really think hard about it before you pick opoku. she's knowledgeable but literally doesn't communicate with the class (granted it was virtual). her slides conflict with each other, she conflicts with her slides. so many things that went wrong. if you have a bias for her because you took a&p with her and did well, she's a different person in mamphys. good luck.
Justicia Opoku-Edusei BSCI450 Anonymous 05/18/2023	Literally the entire final was on the last 2 lectures and she gave us no warning so student who studied the early lectures did terrible and those who studied the later ones did great. She gave a “bow” at the end of the course which was cringe given she is one of least competent professors I’ve run across.
Scott Juntti BSCI450 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/09/2023	Juntti is one of my favorite STEM professors I've had so far! His lecture style is very straightforward and clear, and he often stops to check if anyone has questions, which I haven't seen many professors do (most will just tell you to go to their office hours). His exams were very fair and would only cover the information he went over in class - no trick questions, just checking comprehension of the course material. I personally didn't find it necessary to read the textbook, I would only occasionally look if I wanted clarification on a particular topic, but some people found it helpful. It's definitely possible to get a good grade if you study and do well on the homework. Genuinely a very enjoyable class.
Justicia Opoku-Edusei BSCI450 Anonymous 03/09/2023	Currently taking her hybrid class. Absolutely terrible lecturer, so robotic and not engaging. Does not provide practice problems and does not leave room for questions during lectures. Class is just a verbatim repeat of her 2+ hour-long asynchronous lectures. Do not recommend her unless you want to self-teach one of the hardest UMD bio classes.
Joshua Singer BSCI450 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/05/2023	Prof: He is funny and loves answering questions. Has very high expectations (he asked us to start reading the book the week before school!). Got to office hours, he's a nice guy outside of class. Class: BSCI450 is hard (comparable to bchm463). Remember, this is a physiology class, not an anatomy class. There is a lot of memorizing you need to do, but also a lot of problem solving. This class is much easier with a study group. Lectures: The first half of each unit is him talking about the book readings (which are very dense). He is not a good lecturer, so I learned the content from the homework. The second half of each unit is review questions. He is much better at explaining how to solve problems than teaching you things from the book. Exams: there are 10 questions, each worth 0/5/10 points. But you don't need a 100% correct answer to get full points. Despite what he says, he is looking for key words. Half of the questions are straight from the book. The other half includes questions he goes over in class during review. So go over the book problems and the review problems again and again and again. Curve: I wouldn't count on it. Averages are low but the upper quartile is pretty high. I guess some people catch on to the predictable exams. Verdict: He's not the best professor, but not the worst either. He gets the job done. Good luck.
Joshua Singer BSCI450 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/21/2022	I will say, he is a funny guy. I would've liked him outside of a classroom setting. He's brilliant and he knows his stuff for sure. Problem is, I think he teaches to show off his knowledge and not to actually teach us. He has no interest in students succeeding. The average in the class in 70ish. If you think a curve will carry you, it wont. Everyone drops the class and if you were 10% above average, you are now 1% above average. You slowly watch your grade suffer as more people drop the class. There are homework in the class but they are barely weighted so you better be a great test taker. I was told by many people to not take the class with Dr. Singer but I didn't listen (spoiler, that was a mistake). He has so much potential to be a great professor but I wish he listened to the feedback of the students. But he's definitely the type to think EVERYONE is the problem before he thinks that the common denominator is him. Not to mention, the waitlist for next semester is flooded because he's not teaching the class in comparison to him having 167 seats open. Don't take him unless you don't care about your GPA or your mental well being.

Colenso Speer
BSCI450

Expecting a W
Anonymous
11/03/2024

Class is very interesting, Speer is a terrific lecturer. The exams are horrendous, grades on "half, full or no credit" scale with only "excellent" answers leading to full credit. I was on track to Pass with a C, but he told me if I wanted to hit the B- cutoff I would have to study for 10+ hours weekly OUTSIDE of class. I feel like I learned all the material just to not get the grades I deserved. Decided to save my GPA, take this class with a professor that grades more leniently.

Colenso Speer
BSCI450

Anonymous
10/17/2024

There’s a ton of material, and the 4 exams plus final all build on each other. Homework barely affects your grade, and the professor doesn’t record lectures, so you’ll have to do that yourself. The lecture slides are minimal, meaning you’ll need to put in extra work, and reading the textbook is a must, but it takes a lot of time. The exams are too long for the 50-minute time frame, with average scores typically below 75. The professor is a great lecturer, but that doesn’t make it easier to learn from 3 different sources. Plus, every exam is all free response—if you miss one minor detail, you’ll lose points, even if you cover all the other small details.

Lorin Milescu
BSCI450

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/22/2024

The worst Professor I’ve ever come across. Lazy, incompetent, arrogant, and unprofessional. The only decent thing I have to say about him is that he’s kinda a chill guy (I guess?).

Justicia Opoku-Edusei
BSCI450

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/10/2024

She is clearly very intelligent. However, one is not incorrect to call her a bit lazy. She only teaches one day a week and has not updated slides or lectures since 2019 or 2020. You may ask how I know this, she doesn't update the ELMS either and all of the slides say they were updated in late 2019 or early 2020. Her lectures are useless because of how far behind schedule she is all of the time due to her only teaching one day a week. The other day is just "study hall." Her exams usually have a good amount of extra credit which is the only way to compensate for having to learn everything yourself amidst her ambiguous questions questions requiring very specific answers. On our last day of lecture she sped through all of the urinary system and endocrine system and was just like "you guys can read the rest." Then she took a literal final bow and asked for applause, and I wanted to ask her how it feels to skate by doing the bare minimum and getting away with it.

Justicia Opoku-Edusei
BSCI450

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
05/01/2024

Slides are absolutely the least organized and confusing thing ive ever used. She grades insanely hard. She basically wants you to read her mind. She provides little study materials and doesn't help explain anything. HORRIBLE

Scott Juntti
BSCI450

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/20/2023

Such a great professor, his class was very thorough, he communicates very clearly, has very transparent expectations, and is very approachable to ask questions and get extra assistance. His exams are some of the fairest I've ever taken in college thus far, especially within the sciences. Would highly recommend if you are selecting who to take mamm phys with. you won't regret it!

Joshua Singer
BSCI450

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/19/2023

Dr. Singer was my favorite professor I’ve had in college so far. Only about 25 of us in the class so he got to know us well and would joke around with everyone. Test averages were really high, and he would move through content very slowly so that you would understand it. Not sure why his reviews are so bad but I think he was a great prof that maybe is misunderstood if you don’t get to know him.

Joshua Singer
BSCI450

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/13/2023

Gonna be fully honest. I saw the early reviews. Saw the RateMyProfessor. And I was worried. But wow, what an amazing class. Dr. Singer is really witty with his jokes but also takes the course very serious. He wants you to do well, and you can only do that by participating. I thought he was great at explaining and exams were extremely fair. I really do not know what caused people to tank his review but he was 11/10 this semester and I would recommend him to anyone.

Colenso Speer
BSCI450

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
12/12/2023

I would agree with most of what has been said. Dr. Speer is a great lecturer and makes class engaging, often encouraging student participation which even translates outside of the classroom into discussion boards and office hours. For many pre-meds, they put in the work, lived and breathed Mam Phys and I think did relatively fine because of it. I had class during office hours and other things going on in my life which made it hard to do well, given you can not just rely on lectures and it is difficult to study for exams. He does not give partial credit and exams were often hard to prepare for given we did not have practice problems to study from, aside from the ones he pulled from the book to put in the exam. The format changed a bit each exam as well as how he assigned points. Overall, I would say you can do well in this class, simply be prepared for the time that will take

Joshua Singer
BSCI450

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/07/2023

I don't know why his reviews are so bad. This is one of the best classes I've taken at UMD. Singer is a great instructor and repeats himself a lot during lecture - doesn't talk super fast - really easy to follow. Grading is extremely fair, exam averages have been high. Exams are also super fair. I have learned so much in this class and he tells us a lot of cool fun facts about random things. He's funny. Definitely take this course with Singer he's the best.

Justicia Opoku-Edusei
BSCI450

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
10/20/2023

I LOVE HER!

Justicia Opoku-Edusei
BSCI450

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
10/18/2023

Great professor, I love her

Scott Juntti
BSCI450

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
10/17/2023

I really liked the class but Dr.Juntti made it harder than it should’ve. Our averages were pretty low and there was no curve or extra credit.

Justicia Opoku-Edusei
BSCI450

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
10/17/2023

Overall, this is a hard class. Dr.Opoku is a great teacher and didn’t make anything harder than it had to be. Her exams were fair and I felt as if she prepared me well for the mcat. Amazing professor.

Scott Juntti
BSCI450

Expecting an A
Daniel5783d
10/17/2023

Great professor but if you are pre med, you should take Dr.Opoku instead. She goes much into detail and has questions that’s are almost mcat level thinking. Also Juntti doesn’t record lectures.

Justicia Opoku-Edusei
BSCI450

Expecting an A+
Daniel5783d
10/17/2023

I had the privilege of being a student in Dr. Opoku's BSCI450 Mammalian Physiology class, and it was truly an exceptional experience. Dr. Opoku's passion for the subject matter was evident in every lecture, making the material engaging and understandable. Her teaching style was both approachable and thorough, and she always encouraged questions and discussions. Dr. Opoku's dedication to her students' success was remarkable, and she went above and beyond to provide support and guidance. I can confidently say that Dr. Opoku is an outstanding teacher, and I am grateful for the knowledge and inspiration she shared with us during the course.

Scott Juntti
BSCI450

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
10/16/2023

Doesn’t record lectures.

Justicia Opoku-Edusei
BSCI450

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
10/16/2023

Great professor, knows what she’s talking about.

Justicia Opoku-Edusei
BSCI450

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
10/14/2023

Great professor, very knowledgeable and great at explaining things.

Scott Juntti
BSCI450

Expecting a B
Anonymous
10/14/2023

The class was really interesting but the professor made it really hard to succeed. There’s not a lot of resources and on top of this he doesn’t record lectures which I’ve found to be helpful when studying for exams. On top of this, he doesn’t explain confusing things that well.

Justicia Opoku-Edusei
BSCI450

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
07/17/2023

Dr. Opoku is an incredible professor. This class was truly my favorite class I have ever taken in college. I still go back to re-listen to her lectures to refresh on select topics. She is very helpful and responsive to emails. My class was hybrid where the lecture videos were posted for us to watch and we would meet Thursday's to review that week's material. The lectures were very long sometimes spanning five hours of lecture per week, but were very interesting. I would suggest breaking the lecture videos into chunks, so that you are not overwhelmed with the material. Also, STARTING EARLY is KEY in order to avoid falling behind in the class. The test questions are application based where you are given a situation and are asked to diagnose the patient based on the information provided. The class is a lot of work, but is definitely worth taking and doable with hard work.

Scott Juntti
BSCI450

Expecting an A
Anonymous
06/30/2023

• hella chill guy, best STEM prof I've had • incredibly clear lectures + slow enough pace for you to take legit notes in class • class breakdown: 80% exams (4 midterms, 1 final) and 20% online homeworks • exams: very straightforward/doable, and you have plenty of time – just understand the material on the slides • he says to read the textbook, but each chapter has a good amount of info you won't be tested on. I suggest just going through the slides after class and looking up anything you don't 100% understand in the textbook because it explaining it well

Justicia Opoku-Edusei
BSCI450

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/27/2023

Dr. Opoku's class is a mixed bag. On one hand I really enjoyed and appreciated the in depth coverage of the material with a focus on learning and applying concepts rather than memorizing random facts, at the same time, her exams were challenging and expectations were often unclearly communicated. Our class was hybrid with lectures primarily being in the form of pre-recorded lectures which could have contributed to the confusion. PROS: - Lectures cover an extremely in depth presentation of the physiology with plenty of applications and examples to hammer home concepts she wants you to know. I definitely learned the most I have ever learned in a biology class from this class. - Dr. Opoku's lecture material will prepare you EXTREMELY well for the MCAT if you are planning on taking it. - Her exams never test you on concepts not discussed in class. - Dr. Opoku is by far the most knowledgable professor I have had in the biology department. You could probably ask her any question and she would give you a thoughtful thorough answer. She is nice when you talk to her and is always trying to help you succeed (even if her exams don't make it seem that way) - Dr. Opoku has built in "extra credit" on every exam: 20-30 extra points/200 points on average. However, see "cons" for why this isn't necessarily why this is always a good thing/helpful. - Dr. Opoku provides a 40 point extra credit assignment that can help with your grade. Note that it was quite difficult to get full points on this assignment, but extra credit is extra credit. CONS: - Exams are extremely time crunched with almost all questions being short answer. I consider myself an extremely fast test-taker typically taking only half time in other class exams. Dr. Opoku's exams took me near the whole 75 minutes. For reference, her exams were often 8-10 pages long (single sided) with at least 75% of the questions being essay questions. This means the 20 point extra points you can earn are often not "extra credit" but rather extra points you can spare to lose. - Few practice problems were provided directly by Dr. Opoku. If you wanted practice, you would have to use GSS practice questions. - Exam rubrics are extremely specific. If you didn't write a specific point relevant to the problem, you can lose a large majority of points associated with the problem. There is also no "follow-through" credit typically for multi-step physiology problems. - Your grade is solely composed of 3 midterms, a final, and the extra credit assignment = high stress. - Opoku's slides are cluttered and often hard to understand without context. - You have to know a LOT of material and there is no discussion section where you can practice. You are completely left to your own devices and if you don't have a good work ethic, Opoku may not be for you. Overall, Dr. Opoku's class is by far the most challenging biology class I have taken, but also the most rewarding. I took away a meaningful understanding of mammalian physiology but sacrificing a lot of time and devotion towards the class as a consequence. I would recommend her class if you want to challenge yourself while learning an immense amount. If this doesn't sound like you, I'd recommend probably steering clear of Opoku at least for BSCI450. Regardless, this is a hard class so whoever you take, you will need to put in the effort! TIP: If you do take her class, don't write full sentences. Use arrows to connect concepts. For example instead of writing, "An increase in A occurs which then causes B to drop which results in C dropping" say something like "Up A -> Down B -> Down C." It'll save you time and TA's do not take any points off for this. In fact, they prefer writing answers out this way based on discussions I've had with them.

Scott Juntti
BSCI450

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/24/2023

Juntti is a chiller, and his man bun is killer. He's a super nice guy who talks very slow, if that's something you're into. He doesn't rush through topics and make you memorize millions of things, but instead takes his time on it. At the same time, I did find that prof was not the best at explaining some things, which left me to figure it out on my own. But it wasn't such a problem. I do wish that there were some other way to do the HW other than paying a hundred bucks to do it! I mean, I didn't once use the textbook, but I needed to buy it in order to do the homework, so there goes a hundred bucks I guess.

Justicia Opoku-Edusei
BSCI450

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/21/2023

yikes. remember that this is a three credit course, equating to 10-12 hours a week. i spent well over 30 hours every week of the semester on just this class in order to score well. really think hard about it before you pick opoku. she's knowledgeable but literally doesn't communicate with the class (granted it was virtual). her slides conflict with each other, she conflicts with her slides. so many things that went wrong. if you have a bias for her because you took a&p with her and did well, she's a different person in mamphys. good luck.

Justicia Opoku-Edusei
BSCI450

Anonymous
05/18/2023

Literally the entire final was on the last 2 lectures and she gave us no warning so student who studied the early lectures did terrible and those who studied the later ones did great. She gave a “bow” at the end of the course which was cringe given she is one of least competent professors I’ve run across.

Scott Juntti
BSCI450

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/09/2023

Juntti is one of my favorite STEM professors I've had so far! His lecture style is very straightforward and clear, and he often stops to check if anyone has questions, which I haven't seen many professors do (most will just tell you to go to their office hours). His exams were very fair and would only cover the information he went over in class - no trick questions, just checking comprehension of the course material. I personally didn't find it necessary to read the textbook, I would only occasionally look if I wanted clarification on a particular topic, but some people found it helpful. It's definitely possible to get a good grade if you study and do well on the homework. Genuinely a very enjoyable class.

Justicia Opoku-Edusei
BSCI450

Anonymous
03/09/2023

Currently taking her hybrid class. Absolutely terrible lecturer, so robotic and not engaging. Does not provide practice problems and does not leave room for questions during lectures. Class is just a verbatim repeat of her 2+ hour-long asynchronous lectures. Do not recommend her unless you want to self-teach one of the hardest UMD bio classes.

Joshua Singer
BSCI450

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/05/2023

Prof: He is funny and loves answering questions. Has very high expectations (he asked us to start reading the book the week before school!). Got to office hours, he's a nice guy outside of class. Class: BSCI450 is hard (comparable to bchm463). Remember, this is a physiology class, not an anatomy class. There is a lot of memorizing you need to do, but also a lot of problem solving. This class is much easier with a study group. Lectures: The first half of each unit is him talking about the book readings (which are very dense). He is not a good lecturer, so I learned the content from the homework. The second half of each unit is review questions. He is much better at explaining how to solve problems than teaching you things from the book. Exams: there are 10 questions, each worth 0/5/10 points. But you don't need a 100% correct answer to get full points. Despite what he says, he is looking for key words. Half of the questions are straight from the book. The other half includes questions he goes over in class during review. So go over the book problems and the review problems again and again and again. Curve: I wouldn't count on it. Averages are low but the upper quartile is pretty high. I guess some people catch on to the predictable exams. Verdict: He's not the best professor, but not the worst either. He gets the job done. Good luck.

Joshua Singer
BSCI450

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/21/2022

I will say, he is a funny guy. I would've liked him outside of a classroom setting. He's brilliant and he knows his stuff for sure. Problem is, I think he teaches to show off his knowledge and not to actually teach us. He has no interest in students succeeding. The average in the class in 70ish. If you think a curve will carry you, it wont. Everyone drops the class and if you were 10% above average, you are now 1% above average. You slowly watch your grade suffer as more people drop the class. There are homework in the class but they are barely weighted so you better be a great test taker. I was told by many people to not take the class with Dr. Singer but I didn't listen (spoiler, that was a mistake). He has so much potential to be a great professor but I wish he listened to the feedback of the students. But he's definitely the type to think EVERYONE is the problem before he thinks that the common denominator is him. Not to mention, the waitlist for next semester is flooded because he's not teaching the class in comparison to him having 167 seats open. Don't take him unless you don't care about your GPA or your mental well being.

Reviews for BSCI450