NEUR200 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Ana Navarro Cebrian NEUR200 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/16/2024	navarro was an incredibly kind and intelligent professor, i once stayed after to talk to her about her career and potential directions for neuroscience and she was so nice and open to talk. i do think the level of anecdotes is blown out of proportion in other reviews but that could be up to taste, it was nice having a lively professor that doesn't drown you in heavy material without a breath to catch up. she said our section asked a lot of questions, so it could have been to fill the silence for less interactive sections. pros: - great storyteller, brings stuff back to the topic at hand but makes the time pass easy - posts her slides - very patient and waits until people are done writing to move on - well laid out slides for the most part, very digestible and mostly in bullets - lectures mostly off slides but then elaborates aloud - provides study guides and specific anatomy examples - lots of time for questions - all exams are multiple choice cons: - has 3 assignments that make up 12, 6, and 10% of your grade, so missing one question can lose you a few percent on your grade. thankfully, she encourages collaboration and TA office hours were so helpful - doesn't record lectures (easily resolved by making connections and exchanging notes imo) - the way she exports slides to canvas makes videos unable to be replayed, so i haven't been able to rewatch videos watched in class that contained content we were tested on, i wish she would embed the google slides/powerpoint p.s. just finished my exam and checked canvas and had a high A- and as i was writing this i came back to an A... so my advice is: ask questions, say hi after class, try your best, and you'll do well :]
Ana Navarro Cebrian NEUR200 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/10/2024	Dr. Navarro is a sweet person, but this class was a mess. I found it very difficult to follow her lectures, and half of our class was stories from her personal life that had no relation to what we were learning. I do not think she was helpful when people asked questions during class either. Her slides were well formatted for the most part, which did help me when studying for the exams because I basically had to go back and teach myself everything. The exams were very detailed, and it is very possible to do well, but I had to teach myself everything because she often did not cover a lot of the small details in class. She does give resources for exams, a practice test for each, but for 2 of ours she didn't post it until midnight the night before the exam, so it was very easy to miss. We had 3 assignments, and the first had very few directions and took ages to be graded. Mine was graded very harshly and ended up bringing my grade down a lot, so I was really frustrated it took so long to grade. The other two assignments are easy and very interesting compared to the rest of the course. I think I stopped going to lectures after the third exam because I never learned anything and always had to teach myself. The final is also online and she did give a lot of extra credit assignments, which was nice. I won't say don't take her because there aren't many options for neur professors but you will most likely have to do a lot of teaching yourself outside of class, with very little guidance, which was frustrating since this is supposed to be an introduction class. I don't know why her score is so high on here
Evan Hart NEUR200 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/09/2024	While it is true that Dr. Hart is passionate about teaching and does not read off of the slides, it's unfortunate that he does not record his lectures so you're not able to capture everything he's saying as this class is extremely memorization-heavy. He also gives too little assignments which is not the best when you do not do as good on the exams.
Evan Hart NEUR200 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/09/2024	It's true that Dr. Hart is passionate about teaching and that he explains more than what is off the slides, but the downside is that he does not record lectures and gives too little assignments which does not give you that much opportunity to improve your grades if you do not do as well on the exams.
Evan Hart NEUR200 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/03/2024	Dr. Hart is the best professor I have had at UMD. I cannot recommend his class enough if you are taking NEUR200. Dr. Hart is extremely knowledgeable and passionate about neuroscience, and it shows. He teaches through slide shows, like most professors, but he does not simply read off of them, he actually teaches you. He also has recaps at the beginning of each class to briefly review the material covered in the previous lesson. He is extremely helpful and truly makes sure that his students understand the material. He presents information that connects to real life, making it easier to understand and digest. His exams are online and are extremely fair. He gets excited to teach, which gets his students excited to learn. He engages his students well and keeps everyone's attention. The class does move quickly at times, but only because there is a lot of material to cover. There were two homework assignments that you had multiple attempts to complete, and they really did enhance my understanding of the material. There is no busy work or filler lectures. Attending lectures is crucial to doing well, along with studying. This class relies heavily on memorization, so learning all the necessary info may take a good amount of time. Dr. Hart is also a genuine, nice guy who, you can tell truly cares about his students and their success. His material is very interesting and it got me excited to go to class.
Ana Navarro Cebrian NEUR200 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/03/2024	She's really knowledgeable and passionate about neuroscience, so she's very helpful and willing to answer questions. I'm mostly writing this review because of how much people were shitting on her and her exams being too hard but the average was literally like an 85%, so a lot of the people complaining that it's hard or that she doesn't make sense are just salty the class wasn't an easy A. And even when the exam 3 averages were lower than expected, she supplemented with extra credit opportunities, so she clearly wants her students to do well. All the stuff she tests is stuff she goes over in class, so she will never test you on something she didn't talk about. She does not record her lectures so attendance is a huge part if you want to do well. The class itself isn't inherently hard, it's just A LOT of information. But as long as you go to lecture and ask her for clarification (which she is usually more than happy to give), you should be fine. The only issue I had is that her accent is a bit hard to understand at times, and I feel really bad for pointing this out since it's also something she admitted to not being confident about, but I'm still giving her 5 stars because that's something way beyond her control. Overall, the class isn't hard to do well in, it may not be an easy A but this is literally an intro STEM class, so I feel like that's expected.
Ana Navarro Cebrian NEUR200 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/19/2024	This professor made me love Neuroscience and I have yet to find someone who teaches with the same amount of passion. She is very knowledgeable on the topic and her lectures are very engaging. She sometimes goes on tangents to answer questions but they are often interesting and help with the general understanding of the topic. This class might be a little challenging at times with the amount of content covered each lecture but it isn't too hard to keep up with the work if you review the content after class.
Evan Hart NEUR200 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/07/2024	He is the nicest professor I've taken at UMD! He applies concepts of neuroscience to real life scenarios, making them easier to visualize and his lectures are very easy to follow. The way he teaches truly makes you want to learn more and is absolutely interesting. His exam material is fair and does not try to trick you at all. I love that he is very approachable with questions and is always interested in what you have to say, making the classroom environment much more engaging and warm. I would love to take a class taught by him again. Attend the lectures and you should have no problem getting a good grade in this class!
Evan Hart NEUR200 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/01/2024	He is a great professor; I would recommend taking his class. I like his class compared to the other NEUR 200 professors because he only has two assignments: just reading research and asking questions, no groupwork or presentations. Also, his exams are online in the classroom, and you imminently get a grade, which I like.
Ana Navarro Cebrian NEUR200 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/18/2024	If I were to describe Dr. Navarro in one word it would be incompetent. To say my NEUR200 experience was a disaster is an understatement. I was genuinely shocked to learn that she has a 4+ rating on this website because if I could give her zero stars I would. If you plan on learning about the intricate details of her personal life or the upbringing of her children, then by all means take this class. However, If you are genuinely passionate about neuroscience and eager to learn about the human brain, this class will be an absolute nightmare for you. NEUR200 with Navarro will be the hardest easy class you've ever taken. By that I mean the class inherently is easy, the material is not very extensive and/or in depth which is expected of an intro class. However, her lack of teaching skills and her vague exam questions makes it somehow harder than many other science classes. Her slides are very brief with an average of 3-4 sentences per slide and about 10 or so slides per presentation. Even at this rate, it often takes her two 75 minute lectures to go through 10 slides. Even the most detailed explanation for 10 slides would not take more than 30 minutes. The rest is spent talking about her children, her life in Spain, and her pets. Unless you're interested in said topics, you will find it near impossible to tolerate her lectures. Despite her weak, often unrelated explanations, students do ask her great questions all the time. Her responses however, are often completely unrelated to the question and add zero value to the conversation or the lecture as a whole. Her exams are the furthest thing from "easy." Almost half of the question are so vague she has to spend the whole time going around the classroom answering questions. Many questions have more than one correct answer, and many others are completely vague and unclear. Doing well on her exam is a 100% dependent on luck. The neuroimaging assignments are the only engaging/fun part of this course, and they are all without exception created by Dr. Purcell. If you have the option, please take the class with Dr. Purcell. If he is even half as helpful/interesting than he is in the neuroimaging videos, you will have a great experience with neuroscience. The only real learning I experienced in NEUR200 was from watching Dr. Purcell videos. Lastly, the TA's for this course are very unhelpful and often rude when providing feedback on assignments. Review sessions are almost never helpful and it is clear as day that even the TA does not have a clue what they are talking about.
Ana Navarro Cebrian NEUR200 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/14/2024	Dr. Navarro is a very thoughtful and kind professor, and she cares about keeping the course simple enough for us to understand. I think she is good at lecturing and is adept at making analogies to help us learn the content. Her exams (3 midterms and 1 final, non-cumulative), felt like they required rote memorization, but some questions you might be able to figure out if you understand other things. I did not like that the exams were all multiple choice. They were very close to fill-in-the-blank style questions, so if you didn't know the answer, you already lost 2.5 points. I was sometimes taken aback by the level of detail the questions were asking because they felt non-specific. The most important advice I would give myself is to study the disorders more because they come up a lot. You will be given a lesion and asked to identify what problems the patient might have or vice-versa. I also did not like that two of the exams were online, which allowed for people to cheat. She does not curve so the people (like me) who did not use their notes while the exam was online, were hurt by this. There are only 7 grades total - 3 assignments and 4 exams. So it's very important to do well on most of those. I found it very hard to get back up to an A after getting one question wrong on each of two assignments and getting high B's on the exam because the class does not have fluff. If you have taken neuroscience before, this class might be a lot easier, so you might enjoy the assignments more. I don't know whether I would take Dr. Navarro Cebrian again because I prefer classes with more opportunity to connect material and understand rather than rote memorization. But that could be the format of NEUR200 and not the professor herself.
Ana Navarro Cebrian NEUR200 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/24/2024	Dr. Navarro is a very nice professor, and she is definitely passionate about neuroscience. She makes sure to connect the material with daily life, and is willing to go on tangents when something interests her. She also calls on people to share their ideas pretty frequently (but only if you raise your hand, don't worry). I also find her lecturing to be generally pleasant, and her accent is soothing lol. Her exams are all multiple choice, and based on the slides and her lectures, so as long as you memorize + understand the lectures you'll do well on the exams, no textbook necessary. I was not a fan of the project, and it is a decent amount of your grade, but it's not that hard so don't worry about it.
Ana Navarro Cebrian NEUR200 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/24/2023	Dr. Navarro was an amazing professor! I highly recommend taking her class. Like everyone said, she is incredibly passionate about neur200 and has made the lectures very interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed learning from her. Exams: - there were 3 midterm exams 1 final. All exams were non-cumulative (including final). The final for me was online - I believe the exams were fair, class average score for exams were roughly between 75-80% on midterms and around a 90 on the final - There all multiple choice making it fairly easy Lecture: - highly recommend showing up to her lectures, it will be very difficult to be able to know whats on the exam if you skip. She says a lot of important information that is not written on the actual slides themselves. - Her lectures are a bit lengthy, but, Dr. Navarro has made lectures engaging. She engages well with the class and is very encouraging when it comes to questions. She's also likes to make jokes from time to time - She does tend to be a bit slower with her slides at times, (we sometimes would barely get through a presentation because she would just talk) How to study for her exams: - note cards helped me the best when it came to studying for these exams as well as reviewing the notes I had written for the class. - To be honest, I didn't put too much time and effort into studying for this class as I should've, but her exams were personally not that difficult for as long as you showed up to class and understood what she was saying Overall, highly highly recommend her. I really enjoyed neuroscience because of her.
Ana Navarro Cebrian NEUR200 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/18/2023	Dr. Navarro is really sweet, but her lectures are often confusing and unintuitively structured. She's clearly very passionate about the subject, but sometimes has a hard time properly conveying the information. The actual content of the class is very cool if you understand, but I would recommend going through your notes after class to actually understand what she said. Her exams are also pretty detail-oriented which can make them frustrating because she picks out details to test on that were on the slides but were not emphasized in class.
Ana Navarro Cebrian NEUR200 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/18/2023	Dr. Navarro is an amazing professor. She cares about every one of her students and continuously tries to get to know each student. She is very lenient and accommodating to students' needs. I was scared to take this neuroscience course but she made each lecture very interesting. She answers questions to the best ability and posts lecture slides before class. She also posts study guides before each exam. She made me so excited and interested in neuroscience as a psychology major that I am now interested in picking up a minor in neuroscience. She is truly the best cannot wait to take more of her classes!
Ana Navarro Cebrian NEUR200 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/17/2023	She is an amazing professor with so much passion for the subject. She is the perfect professor to be teaching Intro to Neuro. I highly recommend participating in class, you will get all of your questions answered and she is always willing to help you succeed.
Ana Navarro Cebrian NEUR200 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/12/2023	She is a very sweet person and I want the best for her, but she is somewhat scattered and when she lectures it is very hard to follow her train of thought. If you do not have much interest in neuro you won't like this class because it is very difficult. Her exams are worded very difficult and this makes it hard to do well. You will need to study a lot if you want to do well. The final is online, but you do have to log onto zoom.
Ana Navarro Cebrian NEUR200 Expecting an A- lhterp 11/30/2023	she is very interested and knowledgeable about neuroscience and explains most concepts well. however, she would play videos and skip through or pause them. we couldn't get any context this way and they often left me confused. if you don't do well on the exams or group project, there is barely anything left to bring up your grade. the group project was graded way too harshly for the amount of guidance that was given. I'm a psych student so I got lost in much of the more scientific information which is what she loves to talk about.
Ana Navarro Cebrian NEUR200 Expecting a B Anonymous 11/02/2023	Dr. Navarro is an incredible professor. You can tell she is truly passionate about neuroscience and always makes lecture engaging. She is the reason I fell in love with neuroscience. The reason I got a B and not an A in this class is because I was not putting in the time to study. Her exams are based mostly on her Powerpoints. All you have to do is memorize them. She is very kind and laid back. It is really hard not to do well in this course if you go to lecture and review your notes. I 100% recommend this course if you think neuroscience may interest you.
Ana Navarro Cebrian NEUR200 Expecting a B Anonymous 10/24/2023	This review is such bs (below in quotes), let me revise for them since they obviously had a bone to pick... What they said--> "100% lecture. Professor Navarro is a good lecturer, but her classes are long and lecture heavy. If you miss class, the power points don’t give you enough information to be successful on the exams." Revised Note: You can easily survive with a good grade on the exams by memorizing the information on the power points. Rarely was there information that was actually outside of the powerpoints, and usually she sent out a mass email to everyone emphasizing the fact that she wants us to know it and it was not on the powerpoint. Also she doesn't make us memorize strange extraneous information or complex diagrams and it clearly flows and relates to eachother. Also the final exam was not cumulative which cut down my stress and amount of studying I had to put into it. What they said--> "There’s really no correlation between the recommended book and her PowerPoints. There’s no information from her on what information is on what chapter or what chapter the module relates to." Revised note: This is because as she mentioned multiple times, she does not use a book. Although she has a document with links to supporting readings you could look at if you were interested, but it was not needed to understand the material. In my opintion the slides were more than enough of a resource to study with What they said--> "Grades take forever, took almost two months to get grades back on the group project (a large chunk of the grade). " Revised note: The group project (pretty much an individual project if u r worried about that), was the TA's project and therefore graded by the TA, at the TA's own leisure. It was not the prof fault that it was not graded fast, and the project was graded so leniently that I did it and turned it in the day it was due and got an A. Don't be worried about this. And we got our exam scores back immediately since it was multiple choice on elms, so that kinda evens it out. What they said--> "She’s very difficult to get ahold of, and can be quite rude when it comes to ADS accommodations. She will not make an effort to meet with you outside of her office hours, doesn’t give out an email to reach her, and when you approach her after class to speak she just tells you to go to her office hours. " Revised note: She has office hours and can meet outside of them, not hard to get a hold of. She is also a very kind and understanding person and from my experience I had no problem with ADS accommodations. Perhaps this person had a bad early on interaction with her in this regard and that is why they are so violently against her. She will meet with you outside of OH. Her email is literally in her syllabus, which this person must not have read. Also I have asked her questions after class and she does her best to answer, but if its a long question it may not be possible to answer it in that environment. You can just email her to ask or go to OH like you would with any other class, she is not going to mock or judge you, she is too kind for that. What they said--> "Difficult class if you have health issues that cause you to miss a good amount of classes." Revised note: I got sick. A lot. and I still did very well in the class by just memorizing the slideshow presentations before the exam. It was not difficult, don't worry about it. I write this because I don't want anyone to get scared of this class, I would have her again in a heartbeat and that class was one of my favorite classes because of her. TAKE HER
Ana Navarro Cebrian NEUR200 Anonymous 10/24/2023	Really fun class, very engaging prof, genuinely cared and easy subject. Made me fall in love with neuroscience. Take her!!
Jeremy Purcell NEUR200 Anonymous 08/25/2023	Good teacher, very helpful when you ask questions
Ana Navarro Cebrian NEUR200 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/21/2023	This class was honestly very enjoyable and very fair. There were no surprises for any of the exams, there was a big project which helped everyone's grades because it was graded leniently, and extra credit was available. As long as you study the slides and pay attention at least a little in class, you should be fine.
Ana Navarro Cebrian NEUR200 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/18/2023	this prof is very nice and very understanding to students. she will listen to you and resonate a lot with her students. you don't have to worry about anything because you are in good hands. the only thing that was hard was her exams. they can be a little hard and detailed. like what other people wrote, make sure to attend her lecture because there are so many things missing on the slides that would be on the exam.
Ana Navarro Cebrian NEUR200 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/17/2023	Dr. Cebrian is great, I love her. Everything she tests on, is included in her slides. STUDY HER SLIDES, it's your key to success in the course. The content is really interesting, especially if you enjoy neuroscience or abnormal psychology, which I love. The group project assignment is fair, but you need to follow the rubric extensively. Yes, you need to actually do some application on the exams, it's not just purely memorization, but if you understand the content and can apply it, you will not only do well in the course, but will enjoy it as well.
Ana Navarro Cebrian NEUR200 Anonymous 05/17/2023	She is a very passionate professor, which is helpful! But I feel like halfway through the semester her attitude shifted. It can be frustrating to sit in a lecture for an hour and half and cover 6 slides. The material is fairly interesting but the exams can be challenging.
Ana Navarro Cebrian NEUR200 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/27/2023	Very good professor. She is obviously very passionate about the course and the material. You have to attend lecture!! When studying you have to review the slides and the notes taken in lecture.
Ana Navarro Cebrian NEUR200 Expecting a B- Anonymous 04/24/2023	Expectations are clear, and the bulk of the grade is a project which is graded leniently.
Ana Navarro Cebrian NEUR200 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 04/22/2023	If you go to class, just take notes on what she says that is not in the slides. With these notes, combined with just looking at the slides on one's own time, this is an easy A of a class. Also she says stuff about how neuroscience students typically do better in this class; but I was a psyc student, and had no difficulty at all.
Ana Navarro Cebrian NEUR200 Expecting a C Anonymous 02/16/2023	She's awful can't understand her, her exams are not off her slides and she does not provide any other resources besides her slides. She has no other form of resources to succeed, and her questions are based on questions her students hypothetically ask during class. Very unfair do not take.
Ana Navarro Cebrian NEUR200 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/28/2022	One of the nicest professors I have met. Her tests are very predictable and fairly graded. The TAs do most of the grading. Class is nicely structured and doable work is assigned.
Ana Navarro Cebrian NEUR200 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/22/2022	100% lecture. Professor Navarro is a good lecturer, but her classes are long and lecture heavy. If you miss class, the power points don’t give you enough information to be successful on the exams. There are a lot of times she just verbally says “this isn’t on the PowerPoint but it will be on the exam.” There’s really no correlation between the recommended book and her PowerPoints. There’s no information from her on what information is on what chapter or what chapter the module relates to. Grades take forever, took almost two months to get grades back on the group project (a large chunk of the grade). There’s not much homework so not much chance at engaging with the material other than reading the lecture notes. She’s very difficult to get ahold of, and can be quite rude when it comes to ADS accommodations. She will not make an effort to meet with you outside of her office hours, doesn’t give out an email to reach her, and when you approach her after class to speak she just tells you to go to her office hours. Difficult class if you have health issues that cause you to miss a good amount of classes.
Ana Navarro Cebrian NEUR200 Expecting an A- Anonymous 01/24/2022	her tests were very straightforward, multiple choice, always exactly what she taught us from the slides. She was extremely nice and accomodating, offered extra credit, showed us interesting videos during class time that tied into what we were learning. This class was definitely one of the least stressful classes I took fall semester, Dr. Cebrian had a lot of passion for the neuroscience subject which was really inspiring. I highly recommend you take Dr. Cebrian if you can, the only downside (which is also an upside depending on how you look at it) is that the only grades in this class are three multiple choice exams that are around 30 points each, a research project and presentation that is only 20 points and a final that is 30-40 points. This means that even getting 3 questions wrong on one of the midterms will bring you grade towards a 90% and getting 6 wrong towards an 80%, this means that it is really really important to do well on the exams because your grade is entirely comprised of midterms ,a final and the project. It was nice not having to worry about quizzes and homework so I could focus that energy on other difficult classes. Dr. Cebrian helped with this issue by providing some extra credit and also giving a lot of weight to the project relative to the exams. This was nice because the projects are designed to be fun and you get to work with a group instead of by yourself, mostly everyone did very well on them.
David Yager NEUR200 Expecting a W Anonymous 01/17/2022	hard af don't take it
David Yager NEUR200 Expecting a B- Anonymous 01/15/2022	I came into this course with a lot of Neurology knowledge. Not only did I do so well in all of the review sessions that some students thought I should teach the class (LOL no thanks), but I wrote two very detailed essays on some very complex neurological concepts and still barely scraped by with one A and B's on my papers. That being said, I still got a B- because his tests are ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS. I don't mean that they are difficult because the coursework is hard. No, the information is very simple and in fact, it is open note. But the way Dr. Yager writes his questions is extremely frustrating and indirect. The content of the tests are not directly related to the lectures for half the exams with questions about Hamlet, Vampries, random frogs, and three scientists walk into a bar questions - that Dr. Yager erroneously believes to be a better demonstration of knowledge than testing directly over the course material in lecture. He thinks that this is somehow a better test of intelligence or aptitude than directly testing the information she lectures on. I was advised to take this course for a future grad school program and now I have to explain all of this to my future PI and why I got a B- in an intro course that even the TAs said looked ABSOLUTELY NOTHING like their Intro to Neuro course tests/work at other schools. Do yourself a favor and if you're the kind of person that wants an actual, straightforward neuro course, then look elsewhere. I have no idea why this guy is rated as high as he is. I have to wonder if some TAs or whatnot were told to post on here to inflate his rating. Maybe it was the pandemic, and I have no idea how his tests were before but for us the tests were online thru ELMs and I don't know if that is what the difference was. But if you aren't the best test taker for someone who asks confusing, indirect questions a majority of the time, run away!
David Yager NEUR200 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/25/2021	Dr Yager's lectures are incredibly dense and difficult to sit through. The class is purely graded on exams and essays, both of which are hard to score well on. Additionally, I found him to be very disrespectful and unempathetic when I privately met with him to discuss a personal matter that affected my performance/grade. Overall just not a good professor, which is a shame since I really find the course material to be interesting. Please avoid taking him if you can.
David Yager NEUR200 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/21/2021	This class is honestly extremely interesting, however, IT IS THE HARDEST CLASS. the concepts are easy to follow, but his exams are very complex. He really tests you knowledge to apply the concepts learned and the brain's structure. Know what brain regions correspond to what. There are three essays that helpful to boost your grade, but creativity and application IS SO IMPORTANT, and go to the writing center to make sure your grammar/transition sentences/organization are as good as can be. GET BONUS POINTS, there are so many ways. ALSO, do the weekly quizzes, they help prepare you for the exams, and can potentially improve your grade.
David Yager NEUR200 Anonymous 12/17/2021	No. Literally have no idea what he is saying half the time. Nothing in lectures is on the exam. Do not take this.
David Yager NEUR200 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/20/2021	class taken completely online spring 21 This class is not perfect- my main complaint was that the questions on the weekly quizzes are sometimes very specific and vague [but the TAs recognized this on the one quiz it was a big problem and quizzes after that point were better] If you are taking this class you have to take notes and review them. You definitely can't just coast through the quizzes/exams. The exams online were open note/open book/open web but you will not have time to hunt through your notes for every answer if you do not study or at least condense your notes [you hear this a lot but it is especially true in this class] However, the availability of the TAs and Dr. Yager was very great. If you have a question or are unclear on a concept then it is very easy to schedule an appointment with them and they are very diligent about explaining until you understand. Dr. Yager can be vague in his lectures, but the TAs always cleared up the topics I was unclear on [still you definitely have to go if you are unclear on anything] Yager tells you if what he is talking about is not going to be on the exam and everything else can often be summarized with diagrams [that you do have to copy down and study to do well] Additionally, there was a great amount of extra credit in this class and generous curving of exams. As such, I'm rating this class/Yager 5 stars. The support offered in this class was amazing. All in all, not a perfect or easy class, but definitely one that's possible to do well on. (and Yager is hilarious in lecture, which is always fun)
David Yager NEUR200 Anonymous 05/20/2021	I would not recommend this teacher to anyone. Lectures are all online and extremely hard to follow. The weekly quizzes were difficult, and you were tested on small details from hour and a half lectures. Exams were all graded differently by each TA and were unfair 75% of the time. All quizzes are scheduled on non-class days as well. Teacher wants students to make this class their only priority and assumes they have no life outside this class. Stay clear from this class or you will suffer 1 semester because of it.
David Yager NEUR200 Anonymous 04/29/2020	Nice guy, lectures border on boring but are more coherent than expected.

Ana Navarro Cebrian
NEUR200

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/16/2024

navarro was an incredibly kind and intelligent professor, i once stayed after to talk to her about her career and potential directions for neuroscience and she was so nice and open to talk. i do think the level of anecdotes is blown out of proportion in other reviews but that could be up to taste, it was nice having a lively professor that doesn't drown you in heavy material without a breath to catch up. she said our section asked a lot of questions, so it could have been to fill the silence for less interactive sections. pros: - great storyteller, brings stuff back to the topic at hand but makes the time pass easy - posts her slides - very patient and waits until people are done writing to move on - well laid out slides for the most part, very digestible and mostly in bullets - lectures mostly off slides but then elaborates aloud - provides study guides and specific anatomy examples - lots of time for questions - all exams are multiple choice cons: - has 3 assignments that make up 12, 6, and 10% of your grade, so missing one question can lose you a few percent on your grade. thankfully, she encourages collaboration and TA office hours were so helpful - doesn't record lectures (easily resolved by making connections and exchanging notes imo) - the way she exports slides to canvas makes videos unable to be replayed, so i haven't been able to rewatch videos watched in class that contained content we were tested on, i wish she would embed the google slides/powerpoint p.s. just finished my exam and checked canvas and had a high A- and as i was writing this i came back to an A... so my advice is: ask questions, say hi after class, try your best, and you'll do well :]

Ana Navarro Cebrian
NEUR200

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/10/2024

Dr. Navarro is a sweet person, but this class was a mess. I found it very difficult to follow her lectures, and half of our class was stories from her personal life that had no relation to what we were learning. I do not think she was helpful when people asked questions during class either. Her slides were well formatted for the most part, which did help me when studying for the exams because I basically had to go back and teach myself everything. The exams were very detailed, and it is very possible to do well, but I had to teach myself everything because she often did not cover a lot of the small details in class. She does give resources for exams, a practice test for each, but for 2 of ours she didn't post it until midnight the night before the exam, so it was very easy to miss. We had 3 assignments, and the first had very few directions and took ages to be graded. Mine was graded very harshly and ended up bringing my grade down a lot, so I was really frustrated it took so long to grade. The other two assignments are easy and very interesting compared to the rest of the course. I think I stopped going to lectures after the third exam because I never learned anything and always had to teach myself. The final is also online and she did give a lot of extra credit assignments, which was nice. I won't say don't take her because there aren't many options for neur professors but you will most likely have to do a lot of teaching yourself outside of class, with very little guidance, which was frustrating since this is supposed to be an introduction class. I don't know why her score is so high on here

Evan Hart
NEUR200

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
12/09/2024

While it is true that Dr. Hart is passionate about teaching and does not read off of the slides, it's unfortunate that he does not record his lectures so you're not able to capture everything he's saying as this class is extremely memorization-heavy. He also gives too little assignments which is not the best when you do not do as good on the exams.

Evan Hart
NEUR200

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
12/09/2024

It's true that Dr. Hart is passionate about teaching and that he explains more than what is off the slides, but the downside is that he does not record lectures and gives too little assignments which does not give you that much opportunity to improve your grades if you do not do as well on the exams.

Evan Hart
NEUR200

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/03/2024

Dr. Hart is the best professor I have had at UMD. I cannot recommend his class enough if you are taking NEUR200. Dr. Hart is extremely knowledgeable and passionate about neuroscience, and it shows. He teaches through slide shows, like most professors, but he does not simply read off of them, he actually teaches you. He also has recaps at the beginning of each class to briefly review the material covered in the previous lesson. He is extremely helpful and truly makes sure that his students understand the material. He presents information that connects to real life, making it easier to understand and digest. His exams are online and are extremely fair. He gets excited to teach, which gets his students excited to learn. He engages his students well and keeps everyone's attention. The class does move quickly at times, but only because there is a lot of material to cover. There were two homework assignments that you had multiple attempts to complete, and they really did enhance my understanding of the material. There is no busy work or filler lectures. Attending lectures is crucial to doing well, along with studying. This class relies heavily on memorization, so learning all the necessary info may take a good amount of time. Dr. Hart is also a genuine, nice guy who, you can tell truly cares about his students and their success. His material is very interesting and it got me excited to go to class.

Ana Navarro Cebrian
NEUR200

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/03/2024

She's really knowledgeable and passionate about neuroscience, so she's very helpful and willing to answer questions. I'm mostly writing this review because of how much people were shitting on her and her exams being too hard but the average was literally like an 85%, so a lot of the people complaining that it's hard or that she doesn't make sense are just salty the class wasn't an easy A. And even when the exam 3 averages were lower than expected, she supplemented with extra credit opportunities, so she clearly wants her students to do well. All the stuff she tests is stuff she goes over in class, so she will never test you on something she didn't talk about. She does not record her lectures so attendance is a huge part if you want to do well. The class itself isn't inherently hard, it's just A LOT of information. But as long as you go to lecture and ask her for clarification (which she is usually more than happy to give), you should be fine. The only issue I had is that her accent is a bit hard to understand at times, and I feel really bad for pointing this out since it's also something she admitted to not being confident about, but I'm still giving her 5 stars because that's something way beyond her control. Overall, the class isn't hard to do well in, it may not be an easy A but this is literally an intro STEM class, so I feel like that's expected.

Ana Navarro Cebrian
NEUR200

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/19/2024

This professor made me love Neuroscience and I have yet to find someone who teaches with the same amount of passion. She is very knowledgeable on the topic and her lectures are very engaging. She sometimes goes on tangents to answer questions but they are often interesting and help with the general understanding of the topic. This class might be a little challenging at times with the amount of content covered each lecture but it isn't too hard to keep up with the work if you review the content after class.

Evan Hart
NEUR200

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/07/2024

He is the nicest professor I've taken at UMD! He applies concepts of neuroscience to real life scenarios, making them easier to visualize and his lectures are very easy to follow. The way he teaches truly makes you want to learn more and is absolutely interesting. His exam material is fair and does not try to trick you at all. I love that he is very approachable with questions and is always interested in what you have to say, making the classroom environment much more engaging and warm. I would love to take a class taught by him again. Attend the lectures and you should have no problem getting a good grade in this class!

Evan Hart
NEUR200

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/01/2024

He is a great professor; I would recommend taking his class. I like his class compared to the other NEUR 200 professors because he only has two assignments: just reading research and asking questions, no groupwork or presentations. Also, his exams are online in the classroom, and you imminently get a grade, which I like.

Ana Navarro Cebrian
NEUR200

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/18/2024

If I were to describe Dr. Navarro in one word it would be incompetent. To say my NEUR200 experience was a disaster is an understatement. I was genuinely shocked to learn that she has a 4+ rating on this website because if I could give her zero stars I would. If you plan on learning about the intricate details of her personal life or the upbringing of her children, then by all means take this class. However, If you are genuinely passionate about neuroscience and eager to learn about the human brain, this class will be an absolute nightmare for you. NEUR200 with Navarro will be the hardest easy class you've ever taken. By that I mean the class inherently is easy, the material is not very extensive and/or in depth which is expected of an intro class. However, her lack of teaching skills and her vague exam questions makes it somehow harder than many other science classes. Her slides are very brief with an average of 3-4 sentences per slide and about 10 or so slides per presentation. Even at this rate, it often takes her two 75 minute lectures to go through 10 slides. Even the most detailed explanation for 10 slides would not take more than 30 minutes. The rest is spent talking about her children, her life in Spain, and her pets. Unless you're interested in said topics, you will find it near impossible to tolerate her lectures. Despite her weak, often unrelated explanations, students do ask her great questions all the time. Her responses however, are often completely unrelated to the question and add zero value to the conversation or the lecture as a whole. Her exams are the furthest thing from "easy." Almost half of the question are so vague she has to spend the whole time going around the classroom answering questions. Many questions have more than one correct answer, and many others are completely vague and unclear. Doing well on her exam is a 100% dependent on luck. The neuroimaging assignments are the only engaging/fun part of this course, and they are all without exception created by Dr. Purcell. If you have the option, please take the class with Dr. Purcell. If he is even half as helpful/interesting than he is in the neuroimaging videos, you will have a great experience with neuroscience. The only real learning I experienced in NEUR200 was from watching Dr. Purcell videos. Lastly, the TA's for this course are very unhelpful and often rude when providing feedback on assignments. Review sessions are almost never helpful and it is clear as day that even the TA does not have a clue what they are talking about.

Ana Navarro Cebrian
NEUR200

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/14/2024

Dr. Navarro is a very thoughtful and kind professor, and she cares about keeping the course simple enough for us to understand. I think she is good at lecturing and is adept at making analogies to help us learn the content. Her exams (3 midterms and 1 final, non-cumulative), felt like they required rote memorization, but some questions you might be able to figure out if you understand other things. I did not like that the exams were all multiple choice. They were very close to fill-in-the-blank style questions, so if you didn't know the answer, you already lost 2.5 points. I was sometimes taken aback by the level of detail the questions were asking because they felt non-specific. The most important advice I would give myself is to study the disorders more because they come up a lot. You will be given a lesion and asked to identify what problems the patient might have or vice-versa. I also did not like that two of the exams were online, which allowed for people to cheat. She does not curve so the people (like me) who did not use their notes while the exam was online, were hurt by this. There are only 7 grades total - 3 assignments and 4 exams. So it's very important to do well on most of those. I found it very hard to get back up to an A after getting one question wrong on each of two assignments and getting high B's on the exam because the class does not have fluff. If you have taken neuroscience before, this class might be a lot easier, so you might enjoy the assignments more. I don't know whether I would take Dr. Navarro Cebrian again because I prefer classes with more opportunity to connect material and understand rather than rote memorization. But that could be the format of NEUR200 and not the professor herself.

Ana Navarro Cebrian
NEUR200

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/24/2024

Dr. Navarro is a very nice professor, and she is definitely passionate about neuroscience. She makes sure to connect the material with daily life, and is willing to go on tangents when something interests her. She also calls on people to share their ideas pretty frequently (but only if you raise your hand, don't worry). I also find her lecturing to be generally pleasant, and her accent is soothing lol. Her exams are all multiple choice, and based on the slides and her lectures, so as long as you memorize + understand the lectures you'll do well on the exams, no textbook necessary. I was not a fan of the project, and it is a decent amount of your grade, but it's not that hard so don't worry about it.

Ana Navarro Cebrian
NEUR200

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/24/2023

Dr. Navarro was an amazing professor! I highly recommend taking her class. Like everyone said, she is incredibly passionate about neur200 and has made the lectures very interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed learning from her. Exams: - there were 3 midterm exams 1 final. All exams were non-cumulative (including final). The final for me was online - I believe the exams were fair, class average score for exams were roughly between 75-80% on midterms and around a 90 on the final - There all multiple choice making it fairly easy Lecture: - highly recommend showing up to her lectures, it will be very difficult to be able to know whats on the exam if you skip. She says a lot of important information that is not written on the actual slides themselves. - Her lectures are a bit lengthy, but, Dr. Navarro has made lectures engaging. She engages well with the class and is very encouraging when it comes to questions. She's also likes to make jokes from time to time - She does tend to be a bit slower with her slides at times, (we sometimes would barely get through a presentation because she would just talk) How to study for her exams: - note cards helped me the best when it came to studying for these exams as well as reviewing the notes I had written for the class. - To be honest, I didn't put too much time and effort into studying for this class as I should've, but her exams were personally not that difficult for as long as you showed up to class and understood what she was saying Overall, highly highly recommend her. I really enjoyed neuroscience because of her.

Ana Navarro Cebrian
NEUR200

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/18/2023

Dr. Navarro is really sweet, but her lectures are often confusing and unintuitively structured. She's clearly very passionate about the subject, but sometimes has a hard time properly conveying the information. The actual content of the class is very cool if you understand, but I would recommend going through your notes after class to actually understand what she said. Her exams are also pretty detail-oriented which can make them frustrating because she picks out details to test on that were on the slides but were not emphasized in class.

Ana Navarro Cebrian
NEUR200

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/18/2023

Dr. Navarro is an amazing professor. She cares about every one of her students and continuously tries to get to know each student. She is very lenient and accommodating to students' needs. I was scared to take this neuroscience course but she made each lecture very interesting. She answers questions to the best ability and posts lecture slides before class. She also posts study guides before each exam. She made me so excited and interested in neuroscience as a psychology major that I am now interested in picking up a minor in neuroscience. She is truly the best cannot wait to take more of her classes!

Ana Navarro Cebrian
NEUR200

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/17/2023

She is an amazing professor with so much passion for the subject. She is the perfect professor to be teaching Intro to Neuro. I highly recommend participating in class, you will get all of your questions answered and she is always willing to help you succeed.

Ana Navarro Cebrian
NEUR200

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
12/12/2023

She is a very sweet person and I want the best for her, but she is somewhat scattered and when she lectures it is very hard to follow her train of thought. If you do not have much interest in neuro you won't like this class because it is very difficult. Her exams are worded very difficult and this makes it hard to do well. You will need to study a lot if you want to do well. The final is online, but you do have to log onto zoom.

Ana Navarro Cebrian
NEUR200

Expecting an A-
lhterp
11/30/2023

she is very interested and knowledgeable about neuroscience and explains most concepts well. however, she would play videos and skip through or pause them. we couldn't get any context this way and they often left me confused. if you don't do well on the exams or group project, there is barely anything left to bring up your grade. the group project was graded way too harshly for the amount of guidance that was given. I'm a psych student so I got lost in much of the more scientific information which is what she loves to talk about.

Ana Navarro Cebrian
NEUR200

Expecting a B
Anonymous
11/02/2023

Dr. Navarro is an incredible professor. You can tell she is truly passionate about neuroscience and always makes lecture engaging. She is the reason I fell in love with neuroscience. The reason I got a B and not an A in this class is because I was not putting in the time to study. Her exams are based mostly on her Powerpoints. All you have to do is memorize them. She is very kind and laid back. It is really hard not to do well in this course if you go to lecture and review your notes. I 100% recommend this course if you think neuroscience may interest you.

Ana Navarro Cebrian
NEUR200

Expecting a B
Anonymous
10/24/2023

This review is such bs (below in quotes), let me revise for them since they obviously had a bone to pick... What they said--> "100% lecture. Professor Navarro is a good lecturer, but her classes are long and lecture heavy. If you miss class, the power points don’t give you enough information to be successful on the exams." Revised Note: You can easily survive with a good grade on the exams by memorizing the information on the power points. Rarely was there information that was actually outside of the powerpoints, and usually she sent out a mass email to everyone emphasizing the fact that she wants us to know it and it was not on the powerpoint. Also she doesn't make us memorize strange extraneous information or complex diagrams and it clearly flows and relates to eachother. Also the final exam was not cumulative which cut down my stress and amount of studying I had to put into it. What they said--> "There’s really no correlation between the recommended book and her PowerPoints. There’s no information from her on what information is on what chapter or what chapter the module relates to." Revised note: This is because as she mentioned multiple times, she does not use a book. Although she has a document with links to supporting readings you could look at if you were interested, but it was not needed to understand the material. In my opintion the slides were more than enough of a resource to study with What they said--> "Grades take forever, took almost two months to get grades back on the group project (a large chunk of the grade). " Revised note: The group project (pretty much an individual project if u r worried about that), was the TA's project and therefore graded by the TA, at the TA's own leisure. It was not the prof fault that it was not graded fast, and the project was graded so leniently that I did it and turned it in the day it was due and got an A. Don't be worried about this. And we got our exam scores back immediately since it was multiple choice on elms, so that kinda evens it out. What they said--> "She’s very difficult to get ahold of, and can be quite rude when it comes to ADS accommodations. She will not make an effort to meet with you outside of her office hours, doesn’t give out an email to reach her, and when you approach her after class to speak she just tells you to go to her office hours. " Revised note: She has office hours and can meet outside of them, not hard to get a hold of. She is also a very kind and understanding person and from my experience I had no problem with ADS accommodations. Perhaps this person had a bad early on interaction with her in this regard and that is why they are so violently against her. She will meet with you outside of OH. Her email is literally in her syllabus, which this person must not have read. Also I have asked her questions after class and she does her best to answer, but if its a long question it may not be possible to answer it in that environment. You can just email her to ask or go to OH like you would with any other class, she is not going to mock or judge you, she is too kind for that. What they said--> "Difficult class if you have health issues that cause you to miss a good amount of classes." Revised note: I got sick. A lot. and I still did very well in the class by just memorizing the slideshow presentations before the exam. It was not difficult, don't worry about it. I write this because I don't want anyone to get scared of this class, I would have her again in a heartbeat and that class was one of my favorite classes because of her. TAKE HER

Ana Navarro Cebrian
NEUR200

Anonymous
10/24/2023

Really fun class, very engaging prof, genuinely cared and easy subject. Made me fall in love with neuroscience. Take her!!

Jeremy Purcell
NEUR200

Anonymous
08/25/2023

Good teacher, very helpful when you ask questions

Ana Navarro Cebrian
NEUR200

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/21/2023

This class was honestly very enjoyable and very fair. There were no surprises for any of the exams, there was a big project which helped everyone's grades because it was graded leniently, and extra credit was available. As long as you study the slides and pay attention at least a little in class, you should be fine.

Ana Navarro Cebrian
NEUR200

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/18/2023

this prof is very nice and very understanding to students. she will listen to you and resonate a lot with her students. you don't have to worry about anything because you are in good hands. the only thing that was hard was her exams. they can be a little hard and detailed. like what other people wrote, make sure to attend her lecture because there are so many things missing on the slides that would be on the exam.

Ana Navarro Cebrian
NEUR200

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/17/2023

Dr. Cebrian is great, I love her. Everything she tests on, is included in her slides. STUDY HER SLIDES, it's your key to success in the course. The content is really interesting, especially if you enjoy neuroscience or abnormal psychology, which I love. The group project assignment is fair, but you need to follow the rubric extensively. Yes, you need to actually do some application on the exams, it's not just purely memorization, but if you understand the content and can apply it, you will not only do well in the course, but will enjoy it as well.

Ana Navarro Cebrian
NEUR200

Anonymous
05/17/2023

She is a very passionate professor, which is helpful! But I feel like halfway through the semester her attitude shifted. It can be frustrating to sit in a lecture for an hour and half and cover 6 slides. The material is fairly interesting but the exams can be challenging.

Ana Navarro Cebrian
NEUR200

Expecting an A
Anonymous
04/27/2023

Very good professor. She is obviously very passionate about the course and the material. You have to attend lecture!! When studying you have to review the slides and the notes taken in lecture.

Ana Navarro Cebrian
NEUR200

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
04/24/2023

Expectations are clear, and the bulk of the grade is a project which is graded leniently.

Ana Navarro Cebrian
NEUR200

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
04/22/2023

If you go to class, just take notes on what she says that is not in the slides. With these notes, combined with just looking at the slides on one's own time, this is an easy A of a class. Also she says stuff about how neuroscience students typically do better in this class; but I was a psyc student, and had no difficulty at all.

Ana Navarro Cebrian
NEUR200

Expecting a C
Anonymous
02/16/2023

She's awful can't understand her, her exams are not off her slides and she does not provide any other resources besides her slides. She has no other form of resources to succeed, and her questions are based on questions her students hypothetically ask during class. Very unfair do not take.

Ana Navarro Cebrian
NEUR200

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/28/2022

One of the nicest professors I have met. Her tests are very predictable and fairly graded. The TAs do most of the grading. Class is nicely structured and doable work is assigned.

Ana Navarro Cebrian
NEUR200

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/22/2022

100% lecture. Professor Navarro is a good lecturer, but her classes are long and lecture heavy. If you miss class, the power points don’t give you enough information to be successful on the exams. There are a lot of times she just verbally says “this isn’t on the PowerPoint but it will be on the exam.” There’s really no correlation between the recommended book and her PowerPoints. There’s no information from her on what information is on what chapter or what chapter the module relates to. Grades take forever, took almost two months to get grades back on the group project (a large chunk of the grade). There’s not much homework so not much chance at engaging with the material other than reading the lecture notes. She’s very difficult to get ahold of, and can be quite rude when it comes to ADS accommodations. She will not make an effort to meet with you outside of her office hours, doesn’t give out an email to reach her, and when you approach her after class to speak she just tells you to go to her office hours. Difficult class if you have health issues that cause you to miss a good amount of classes.

Ana Navarro Cebrian
NEUR200

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
01/24/2022

her tests were very straightforward, multiple choice, always exactly what she taught us from the slides. She was extremely nice and accomodating, offered extra credit, showed us interesting videos during class time that tied into what we were learning. This class was definitely one of the least stressful classes I took fall semester, Dr. Cebrian had a lot of passion for the neuroscience subject which was really inspiring. I highly recommend you take Dr. Cebrian if you can, the only downside (which is also an upside depending on how you look at it) is that the only grades in this class are three multiple choice exams that are around 30 points each, a research project and presentation that is only 20 points and a final that is 30-40 points. This means that even getting 3 questions wrong on one of the midterms will bring you grade towards a 90% and getting 6 wrong towards an 80%, this means that it is really really important to do well on the exams because your grade is entirely comprised of midterms ,a final and the project. It was nice not having to worry about quizzes and homework so I could focus that energy on other difficult classes. Dr. Cebrian helped with this issue by providing some extra credit and also giving a lot of weight to the project relative to the exams. This was nice because the projects are designed to be fun and you get to work with a group instead of by yourself, mostly everyone did very well on them.

David Yager
NEUR200

Expecting a W
Anonymous
01/17/2022

hard af don't take it

David Yager
NEUR200

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
01/15/2022

I came into this course with a lot of Neurology knowledge. Not only did I do so well in all of the review sessions that some students thought I should teach the class (LOL no thanks), but I wrote two very detailed essays on some very complex neurological concepts and still barely scraped by with one A and B's on my papers. That being said, I still got a B- because his tests are ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS. I don't mean that they are difficult because the coursework is hard. No, the information is very simple and in fact, it is open note. But the way Dr. Yager writes his questions is extremely frustrating and indirect. The content of the tests are not directly related to the lectures for half the exams with questions about Hamlet, Vampries, random frogs, and three scientists walk into a bar questions - that Dr. Yager erroneously believes to be a better demonstration of knowledge than testing directly over the course material in lecture. He thinks that this is somehow a better test of intelligence or aptitude than directly testing the information she lectures on. I was advised to take this course for a future grad school program and now I have to explain all of this to my future PI and why I got a B- in an intro course that even the TAs said looked ABSOLUTELY NOTHING like their Intro to Neuro course tests/work at other schools. Do yourself a favor and if you're the kind of person that wants an actual, straightforward neuro course, then look elsewhere. I have no idea why this guy is rated as high as he is. I have to wonder if some TAs or whatnot were told to post on here to inflate his rating. Maybe it was the pandemic, and I have no idea how his tests were before but for us the tests were online thru ELMs and I don't know if that is what the difference was. But if you aren't the best test taker for someone who asks confusing, indirect questions a majority of the time, run away!

David Yager
NEUR200

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/25/2021

Dr Yager's lectures are incredibly dense and difficult to sit through. The class is purely graded on exams and essays, both of which are hard to score well on. Additionally, I found him to be very disrespectful and unempathetic when I privately met with him to discuss a personal matter that affected my performance/grade. Overall just not a good professor, which is a shame since I really find the course material to be interesting. Please avoid taking him if you can.

David Yager
NEUR200

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
12/21/2021

This class is honestly extremely interesting, however, IT IS THE HARDEST CLASS. the concepts are easy to follow, but his exams are very complex. He really tests you knowledge to apply the concepts learned and the brain's structure. Know what brain regions correspond to what. There are three essays that helpful to boost your grade, but creativity and application IS SO IMPORTANT, and go to the writing center to make sure your grammar/transition sentences/organization are as good as can be. GET BONUS POINTS, there are so many ways. ALSO, do the weekly quizzes, they help prepare you for the exams, and can potentially improve your grade.

David Yager
NEUR200

Anonymous
12/17/2021

No. Literally have no idea what he is saying half the time. Nothing in lectures is on the exam. Do not take this.

David Yager
NEUR200

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/20/2021

*class taken completely online spring 21* This class is not perfect- my main complaint was that the questions on the weekly quizzes are sometimes very specific and vague [but the TAs recognized this on the one quiz it was a big problem and quizzes after that point were better] If you are taking this class you have to take notes and review them. You definitely can't just coast through the quizzes/exams. The exams online were open note/open book/open web but you will not have time to hunt through your notes for every answer if you do not study or at least condense your notes [you hear this a lot but it is especially true in this class] However, the availability of the TAs and Dr. Yager was very great. If you have a question or are unclear on a concept then it is very easy to schedule an appointment with them and they are very diligent about explaining until you understand. Dr. Yager can be vague in his lectures, but the TAs always cleared up the topics I was unclear on [still you definitely have to go if you are unclear on anything] Yager tells you if what he is talking about is not going to be on the exam and everything else can often be summarized with diagrams [that you do have to copy down and study to do well] Additionally, there was a great amount of extra credit in this class and generous curving of exams. As such, I'm rating this class/Yager 5 stars. The support offered in this class was amazing. All in all, not a perfect or easy class, but definitely one that's possible to do well on. (and Yager is hilarious in lecture, which is always fun)

David Yager
NEUR200

Anonymous
05/20/2021

I would not recommend this teacher to anyone. Lectures are all online and extremely hard to follow. The weekly quizzes were difficult, and you were tested on small details from hour and a half lectures. Exams were all graded differently by each TA and were unfair 75% of the time. All quizzes are scheduled on non-class days as well. Teacher wants students to make this class their only priority and assumes they have no life outside this class. Stay clear from this class or you will suffer 1 semester because of it.

David Yager
NEUR200

Anonymous
04/29/2020

Nice guy, lectures border on boring but are more coherent than expected.

Reviews for NEUR200