BSCI462 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Karen Lips BSCI462 Anonymous 05/18/2021	I’ve had her for two classes during the pandemic and she was very encouraging and created a good, stress-free environment. She assigned weekly papers, videos or recording to write about but they were all very interesting and taught me a lot on the work done in the field. In both of my classes with her she also made a point of bringing guest speakers to talk to the students about what they do and how they tackle projects, which also taught us about their daily work routines and the good and the bad of the field. I strongly recommend this teacher, she listens to the students and makes sure to better her class throughout the semester using the feedback making her very accommodating during the difficult times. I’m very thankful to have had her as her understanding and support during the semester was something that I needed during some very difficult times at home.
Karen Lips BSCI462 Anonymous 05/28/2020	I definitely think Lips has improved since the past reviews. I really liked the structure of BSCI462. Each week you read 3-6ish recent scientific papers and have to write a 1 page summary paper which is graded for completion. That took me about 3 hours each week. Then there are “activities” each week that I didn’t think were that useful, but they didn’t take too long and were supposed to be completed during class (usually had to finish them for homework). So about 4 hours each week of homework. Then there is the research paper assignment which is a huge chunk of the grade, but you have lots of freedom to do whatever you want which was fun. It took me about 30 hours of work on the paper. I did find it very frustrating that it was due so close to finals. The single exam was not too bad. Just study the concepts of the weekly papers and make sure to have lots of examples memorized. Karen Lips was very kind and forgiving. She loves biology. She wasn’t always super engaging, but most days were decent especially since it was a small class. I’d recommend BSCI462 with Lips.
Karen Lips BSCI462 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 04/25/2019	Requires an insane amount of work for no reason. There's a weekly assignment to read 6-10+ articles and write a 1-2 page paper finding common themes between them. The lecture then goes over these papers, but the focus is on the methodologies. The midterm asked questions from the methodologies only - no bigger picture questions. Think "what species of tuna did they catch" instead of "why was it important they caught tuna". In a room of 16 senior biology undergrad and graduate students, the average was a 73%. There was no hint of a curve. The in-class assignments are all the same - design an experiment within the narrowly defined example provided. Is your idea outside of the box? Not technology-focused? Did you not spend 90% of the write-up discussing how you would collect data? Too bad - instead you get a follow-up email asking you to review the assignment. I still haven't learned anything about population ecology. The final project is 30% of our grade. Its due date was set two weeks after the rubric/description was released, and is absolutely insane. Prepare for a major lab report where you have to find and analyze data relating to species' population. A big chunk of students had their project proposals rejected, even after sitting down with her to verify they were on the right track. Her expectation that we have nothing else but this class is consistent and frankly there's a group of us prepared to fail the project. We cannot put in the time for a 15+ page lab report within the last two weeks of the semester. She's nice in person, but should not be teaching. Avoid.
Michele Dudash BSCI462 Expecting a B Anonymous 08/31/2012	Use the book! Dr. Dudash lectures extremely quickly, and it is very hard to copy down everything that she says. If you study hard, it's difficult to do poorly on an exam as her exam review sessions consist of telling you what slides/concepts to study. Her exams are entirely short answer and essay, so be prepared to have a sore hand following the exam. Much of the course grade is based on a discussion where ~3 papers are discussed each week.
Michele Dudash BSCI462 Expecting a C Anonymous 04/13/2011	She is a very nice person and helpful. She goes through lectures very fast so I ended up teaching myself out of the textbook. Her exams are very long but overall her class isn't too bad.

Karen Lips
BSCI462

Anonymous
05/18/2021

I’ve had her for two classes during the pandemic and she was very encouraging and created a good, stress-free environment. She assigned weekly papers, videos or recording to write about but they were all very interesting and taught me a lot on the work done in the field. In both of my classes with her she also made a point of bringing guest speakers to talk to the students about what they do and how they tackle projects, which also taught us about their daily work routines and the good and the bad of the field. I strongly recommend this teacher, she listens to the students and makes sure to better her class throughout the semester using the feedback making her very accommodating during the difficult times. I’m very thankful to have had her as her understanding and support during the semester was something that I needed during some very difficult times at home.

Karen Lips
BSCI462

Anonymous
05/28/2020

I definitely think Lips has improved since the past reviews. I really liked the structure of BSCI462. Each week you read 3-6ish recent scientific papers and have to write a 1 page summary paper which is graded for completion. That took me about 3 hours each week. Then there are “activities” each week that I didn’t think were that useful, but they didn’t take too long and were supposed to be completed during class (usually had to finish them for homework). So about 4 hours each week of homework. Then there is the research paper assignment which is a huge chunk of the grade, but you have lots of freedom to do whatever you want which was fun. It took me about 30 hours of work on the paper. I did find it very frustrating that it was due so close to finals. The single exam was not too bad. Just study the concepts of the weekly papers and make sure to have lots of examples memorized. Karen Lips was very kind and forgiving. She loves biology. She wasn’t always super engaging, but most days were decent especially since it was a small class. I’d recommend BSCI462 with Lips.

Karen Lips
BSCI462

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
04/25/2019

Requires an insane amount of work for no reason. There's a weekly assignment to read 6-10+ articles and write a 1-2 page paper finding common themes between them. The lecture then goes over these papers, but the focus is on the methodologies. The midterm asked questions from the methodologies only - no bigger picture questions. Think "what species of tuna did they catch" instead of "why was it important they caught tuna". In a room of 16 senior biology undergrad and graduate students, the average was a 73%. There was no hint of a curve. The in-class assignments are all the same - design an experiment within the narrowly defined example provided. Is your idea outside of the box? Not technology-focused? Did you not spend 90% of the write-up discussing how you would collect data? Too bad - instead you get a follow-up email asking you to review the assignment. I still haven't learned anything about population ecology. The final project is 30% of our grade. Its due date was set two weeks after the rubric/description was released, and is absolutely insane. Prepare for a major lab report where you have to find and analyze data relating to species' population. A big chunk of students had their project proposals rejected, even after sitting down with her to verify they were on the right track. Her expectation that we have nothing else but this class is consistent and frankly there's a group of us prepared to fail the project. We cannot put in the time for a 15+ page lab report within the last two weeks of the semester. She's nice in person, but should not be teaching. Avoid.

Michele Dudash
BSCI462

Expecting a B
Anonymous
08/31/2012

Use the book! Dr. Dudash lectures extremely quickly, and it is very hard to copy down everything that she says. If you study hard, it's difficult to do poorly on an exam as her exam review sessions consist of telling you what slides/concepts to study. Her exams are entirely short answer and essay, so be prepared to have a sore hand following the exam. Much of the course grade is based on a discussion where ~3 papers are discussed each week.

Michele Dudash
BSCI462

Expecting a C
Anonymous
04/13/2011

She is a very nice person and helpful. She goes through lectures very fast so I ended up teaching myself out of the textbook. Her exams are very long but overall her class isn't too bad.

Reviews for BSCI462