NEUR305 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Amanda Chicoli NEUR305 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 08/07/2024	Neur305 as a class was ok. I found it boring compared to Neur200, and a little harder - definitely more fast-paced - but overall not terrible. The exams had some annoying tricky questions, but were plenty doable if you study thoroughly. Dr. Chicoli, however... my friends and family are probably delighted they don't have to hear me complain about her anymore. Basically, she is extremely condescending. She is not good at answering students' questions (she often does the thing where she misunderstands a question and answers something different than what was asked), and she frequently says things with a tone of voice and facial expression that say very clearly "I think you are so stupid." (I've witnessed this many times directed towards my classmates, not me specifically). I've never had such a condescending prof before. She was very unwilling to be corrected by students or admit when she was wrong, which led to some funny moments in class (she got very upset when the class convinced her to change the answer to one of the test questions), but overall it's just very annoying. I do not recommend her, if you have the chance to avoid her. Also, her teaching on some things (especially the paper "Creating a False Memory in the Hippocampus" by Ramirez) was questionable. I will stop ranting now, but really, if you don't want to be condescended to all the time, try to avoid taking her classes.
Amanda Chicoli NEUR305 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 04/13/2024	Dr. Chicoli's teaching approach has its advantages and disadvantages. She makes an effort to engage the entire class through discussions, which is a positive aspect. However, she seems unaware that most students prefer not to have assignments due on Fridays and Saturdays. While some assignments are brief, others are unexpectedly complex. Her exams are quite unpredictable, featuring questions that are often perceived as irrelevant. The presentation slides she uses are not very engaging, necessitating substantial external research to fully understand the material. Additionally, she holds mandatory classes on Fridays.
Amanda Chicoli NEUR305 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/23/2023	I heard a lot of horror stories about this class before and even after joining it. So, I thought to give me review of opinions, and I hope to give you some perspective through the process. First off, Dr. Chicoli is really nice as a person always willing to help, but you have to be the one to reach out to her, especially if you are falling behind. She is pretty good at learning names, even amongst about 100 students, and she tries to be as personable as possible in a larger setting. She is good at taking questions, and wants to strengthen our understanding of neuroscience. I will not lie, her exams are hard to ace with full points (I believe there was one MCQ as a part of a test where no one was able to score full points), but she gives you an extra credit opportunity of 5 points, which can boost your grade up to the next letter grade). The exams are mostly MCQ with some FRQ, and the FRQ is easy to score on. This semester, some of her announcements for new assignments were hard to reach, but she was able to listen to our feedback and changed a project to be announced earlier. Expect to work several hours outside the class, as it is assignment heavy as well. You can definitely learn lots about neural circuits, and can definitely ace the class if you have an interest toward the subject. To conclude, reach out if you ever feel overwhelmed- you should be able to get help!!!
Amanda Chicoli NEUR305 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/23/2023	Ngl was prob my least favorite class in conjunction to taking genetics and orgo. While I understand that's subjective, I think that it took quite a bit to understand what was happening in class. I think the content was pretty hefty and with good studying you should be fine. I am not great at multiple choice and her exams are mc heavy so it hurt my grade a lot. Be prepared for lengthy projects that are due around the time of an exam. Also exams are exactly every 3 weeks. It was difficult to only find out your previous exam grade just about a week from the next exam. I wish the grading could've been expedited. If you like neuroscience you'll probably enjoy this class. If not, you'll want to drop the major which is what I'm doing lol. Best of luck for those of you who take this class. You won't fail but it's not an easy A.
Amanda Chicoli NEUR305 Expecting an A- Michaelgersten 04/20/2023	Really, really good prof. She's hard but fair. She provides you with SO many resources that you should use to do well in the class. the course itself is very interesting and if you ever have any questions she's always available to answer them. Of all the professors I've had at UMD, she is the only one I can confidently say will email you back within the day or at least 24 hours, no matter what for. below are some bullet points - take notes in class and read over the textbook briefly for a better understanding of the topics. sometimes for the exams you need a little bit more of an understanding than what is on the lecture slides - go to class and ask questions. interact with her more than once or twice and she'll learn your name hands down. ive gotten to know her a lot and it truly feels like a person-to-person teaching experience. - if you are struggling on a topic... just ask her to explain it again in office hours or after class, she won't bite, and she's not mean. she will gladly explain it to you because she really does love the material. Tips I wish I knew starting out that I use now: - for content, maybe break it into categories such as... Anatomy, function of each area discussed, pathways/circuits, and pathology. these are the main groups of information she gives you. the act of active-categorization is also proven to be one of the top learning methods (just google scholar active-categorization if you want a reference) - use anki or other active recall methods like quizlet. im telling you do NOT JUST READ OVER NOTES for these exams. I did for the first one and didn't get a good grade, but did on subsequent ones by using anki. a side note if you want a leg up on some exams is to make sure you use the practice quizzes that she provides you, just do it you'll see why. - you dont need to study every single day, but several times a week is probably a good idea as you have exams basically every 3 weeks. - ASK QUESTIONS ON THE MIDSEMESTER PROJECTS AND SCHEDULE APPTS TO GO OVER WHAT YOU HAVE. I misread the rubric on the first project and got a C, it was bad. but for the second I made an appointment with a TA to review it a day before the deadline and it turned out much better. - take time to actually understand every single graph or picture she gives you, especially the ones that involve an experiment. they will be on the exam in one way or another trust me. Basically she's a really good professor, just make sure to connect the dots on your own, and do work outside of the class. it's a 3 credit class so expect to put in around 3-5 hours of work outside class a week minimum including assignments and studying.
Amanda Chicoli NEUR305 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/23/2022	Generally a straightforward class but sometimes instructions are unclear. She generally works with students but can sometimes be rude, especially over email. The main issue with this class though is the TA had no neuroscience background and graded incredibly harshly. Overall an okay class but just be prepared to know everything even if she specifically says she will not test you on it because she will.
Amanda Chicoli NEUR305 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/21/2022	I barely studied for her class because of how cohesive her lectures were. Paying attention in lecture was more than enough. Without a doubt, she is a great professor. She is a fair grader. All of her assignments are straight forward and she's more than willing to help.
Amanda Chicoli NEUR305 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/10/2022	Great professor overall. She records her lectures to make reviewing the material easy and had us read some pretty interesting articles. The midterm and final projects were a bit time consuming but since they are due before the next exam, you are really familiar with the material by the time you take the test. We also had a lot of freedom when it came to choosing our topics for the projects so that was nice! She provided a couple extensions for me when I was sick and basically said to turn it the work whenever which was cool.
Amanda Chicoli NEUR305 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 08/09/2022	Took neur305 with her last semester and it was one of my favorite classes!!! Dr. Chicoli's professionalism is greatly complemented by her positive, affable, and engaging personality, meaning (personal opinion) I was able to reach out for help when needed and engage in discussions with her. She truly wants her students to succeed, which is a big reason why she often holds discussion sections for some of her courses. Some students think that "active learning sessions" are a bit of a time-waster but it was very beneficial to my understanding of the concepts by being able to work through the concepts in a different manner aside from the lecture slides. She allotted us one hour each week to work with peers and teaching staff to answer and understand the assigned questions. If you're looking for "an easy class", Dr. Chicoli is not a very easy grader. In light of this, she comments on your submissions and provides actual constructive comments that point out areas that you (student) may need to focus/brush up on, allowing you to really build a knowledgable foundation of the course that can be used in future courses instead of just learning the material for the grade. If you genuinely want to learn and retain the information, I would highly suggest taking a course with Dr. Chicoli. If you find yourself to be struggling in the course, Dr. Chicoli is always willing to work with you and provide you the resources to succeed. If you're looking for an easy A, you might want to consider other options.
Amanda Chicoli NEUR305 Anonymous 05/18/2022	GENUINELY AMAZING. BEST PROFESSOR EVER. SHE ACTUALLY WANTS HER STUDENTS TO SUCCEED.... AND IN STEM!!!!! there are a lot of assignments so get ready to work, but it really helps your grade so be appreciative. USE THE WRITING CENTER. Her exams are pretty fair and her lectures are SOOOOOO interesting. BEST TEACHER AT UMD. you actually learn.
Amanda Chicoli NEUR305 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 09/23/2021	Dr. Chicoli is a great professor! I took her NEUR305 in Spring 2021 and was initially pretty nervous about the material and workload. Dr. Chicoli made the class engaging and manageable. She was very helpful in class and provided resources for us about academics, opportunities on campus, and support options. The semester project looked daunting but it really helped me with my understanding of the material. I met with her once to discuss getting involved in the neuroscience community on campus and she was so kind and helpful! 10/10 would recommend taking a class with Dr. Chicoli.
Amanda Chicoli NEUR305 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/08/2021	Dr. Chicoli is not like any other professor at UMD. She was constantly making sure that we were doing okay when crazy things were happening over the semester in the outside world. She was extremely understanding and caring and flexible when it came to our circumstances and even those that were not in our control. She also disseminated information that was relevant to psych/neuro that we may be interested in. She was also really organized with all of the material when teaching an online class. The way the course topics were broken up into (memory, emotion, motor, etc) also followed the order of the chapters in the book. Also, many of the graphics and information that were presented in the lecture were also taken straight from the book. For these reasons, I would recommend using the book as a supplemental resource to look at things that you did not understand from the lecture. We had three exams that were pretty easy and were not a big chunk of your grade. We had about four reflection assignments in which we had to either watch or read about something and write a short (about a page) answering some questions on the rubric that was mainly opinion based. I really enjoyed these because the topics were on things like ethics and racial issues in the field of neuroscience. Every Friday we had synchronous classes in which we usually spent the time going over a research article either in groups or as a whole class. There were low-stake assignments accompanied by these that we completed during the class. The most important thing to take note of is the semester project. There is no final exam in the class it is just your final project. This can definitely take a big punch to your grade as it did mine. Make sure to put effort into it early on in the semester so that when it comes time to your final, it will be one less thing to worry about. Dr. Chicoli has set it up in a great way in which she breaks down the project into different parts that have different deadlines. This way, you are working on it slowly throughout the semester and when it comes down to the final you don't have to stress. I had an A+ the entire semester but was so crammed during finals week that when I was working on the final project during the allotted two-hour window, I did not finish one part of the project in time. I scored a 100% on every other part of the project but because that one part was worth a good amount of points, it bumped my final grade down from an A+ to an A. So I would definitely recommend not taking three finals back to back in one day and manage your time. Overall, I would absolutely recommend this class with Dr.Chicoli no matter the circumstance. The class may sound intimidating but the way that she has structured it and the way she is as a person is definitely catered towards student success.

Amanda Chicoli
NEUR305

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
08/07/2024

Neur305 as a class was ok. I found it boring compared to Neur200, and a little harder - definitely more fast-paced - but overall not terrible. The exams had some annoying tricky questions, but were plenty doable if you study thoroughly. Dr. Chicoli, however... my friends and family are probably delighted they don't have to hear me complain about her anymore. Basically, she is extremely condescending. She is not good at answering students' questions (she often does the thing where she misunderstands a question and answers something different than what was asked), and she frequently says things with a tone of voice and facial expression that say very clearly "I think you are so stupid." (I've witnessed this many times directed towards my classmates, not me specifically). I've never had such a condescending prof before. She was very unwilling to be corrected by students or admit when she was wrong, which led to some funny moments in class (she got very upset when the class convinced her to change the answer to one of the test questions), but overall it's just very annoying. I do not recommend her, if you have the chance to avoid her. Also, her teaching on some things (especially the paper "Creating a False Memory in the Hippocampus" by Ramirez) was questionable. I will stop ranting now, but really, if you don't want to be condescended to all the time, try to avoid taking her classes.

Amanda Chicoli
NEUR305

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
04/13/2024

Dr. Chicoli's teaching approach has its advantages and disadvantages. She makes an effort to engage the entire class through discussions, which is a positive aspect. However, she seems unaware that most students prefer not to have assignments due on Fridays and Saturdays. While some assignments are brief, others are unexpectedly complex. Her exams are quite unpredictable, featuring questions that are often perceived as irrelevant. The presentation slides she uses are not very engaging, necessitating substantial external research to fully understand the material. Additionally, she holds mandatory classes on Fridays.

Amanda Chicoli
NEUR305

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/23/2023

I heard a lot of horror stories about this class before and even after joining it. So, I thought to give me review of opinions, and I hope to give you some perspective through the process. First off, Dr. Chicoli is really nice as a person always willing to help, but you have to be the one to reach out to her, especially if you are falling behind. She is pretty good at learning names, even amongst about 100 students, and she tries to be as personable as possible in a larger setting. She is good at taking questions, and wants to strengthen our understanding of neuroscience. I will not lie, her exams are hard to ace with full points (I believe there was one MCQ as a part of a test where no one was able to score full points), but she gives you an extra credit opportunity of 5 points, which can boost your grade up to the next letter grade). The exams are mostly MCQ with some FRQ, and the FRQ is easy to score on. This semester, some of her announcements for new assignments were hard to reach, but she was able to listen to our feedback and changed a project to be announced earlier. Expect to work several hours outside the class, as it is assignment heavy as well. You can definitely learn lots about neural circuits, and can definitely ace the class if you have an interest toward the subject. To conclude, reach out if you ever feel overwhelmed- you should be able to get help!!!

Amanda Chicoli
NEUR305

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/23/2023

Ngl was prob my least favorite class in conjunction to taking genetics and orgo. While I understand that's subjective, I think that it took quite a bit to understand what was happening in class. I think the content was pretty hefty and with good studying you should be fine. I am not great at multiple choice and her exams are mc heavy so it hurt my grade a lot. Be prepared for lengthy projects that are due around the time of an exam. Also exams are exactly every 3 weeks. It was difficult to only find out your previous exam grade just about a week from the next exam. I wish the grading could've been expedited. If you like neuroscience you'll probably enjoy this class. If not, you'll want to drop the major which is what I'm doing lol. Best of luck for those of you who take this class. You won't fail but it's not an easy A.

Amanda Chicoli
NEUR305

Expecting an A-
Michaelgersten
04/20/2023

Really, really good prof. She's hard but fair. She provides you with SO many resources that you should use to do well in the class. the course itself is very interesting and if you ever have any questions she's always available to answer them. Of all the professors I've had at UMD, she is the only one I can confidently say will email you back within the day or at least 24 hours, no matter what for. below are some bullet points - take notes in class and read over the textbook briefly for a better understanding of the topics. sometimes for the exams you need a little bit more of an understanding than what is on the lecture slides - go to class and ask questions. interact with her more than once or twice and she'll learn your name hands down. ive gotten to know her a lot and it truly feels like a person-to-person teaching experience. - if you are struggling on a topic... just ask her to explain it again in office hours or after class, she won't bite, and she's not mean. she will gladly explain it to you because she really does love the material. Tips I wish I knew starting out that I use now: - for content, maybe break it into categories such as... Anatomy, function of each area discussed, pathways/circuits, and pathology. these are the main groups of information she gives you. the act of active-categorization is also proven to be one of the top learning methods (just google scholar active-categorization if you want a reference) - use anki or other active recall methods like quizlet. im telling you do NOT JUST READ OVER NOTES for these exams. I did for the first one and didn't get a good grade, but did on subsequent ones by using anki. a side note if you want a leg up on some exams is to make sure you use the practice quizzes that she provides you, just do it you'll see why. - you dont need to study every single day, but several times a week is probably a good idea as you have exams basically every 3 weeks. - ASK QUESTIONS ON THE MIDSEMESTER PROJECTS AND SCHEDULE APPTS TO GO OVER WHAT YOU HAVE. I misread the rubric on the first project and got a C, it was bad. but for the second I made an appointment with a TA to review it a day before the deadline and it turned out much better. - take time to actually understand every single graph or picture she gives you, especially the ones that involve an experiment. they will be on the exam in one way or another trust me. Basically she's a really good professor, just make sure to connect the dots on your own, and do work outside of the class. it's a 3 credit class so expect to put in around 3-5 hours of work outside class a week minimum including assignments and studying.

Amanda Chicoli
NEUR305

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/23/2022

Generally a straightforward class but sometimes instructions are unclear. She generally works with students but can sometimes be rude, especially over email. The main issue with this class though is the TA had no neuroscience background and graded incredibly harshly. Overall an okay class but just be prepared to know everything even if she specifically says she will not test you on it because she will.

Amanda Chicoli
NEUR305

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/21/2022

I barely studied for her class because of how cohesive her lectures were. Paying attention in lecture was more than enough. Without a doubt, she is a great professor. She is a fair grader. All of her assignments are straight forward and she's more than willing to help.

Amanda Chicoli
NEUR305

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/10/2022

Great professor overall. She records her lectures to make reviewing the material easy and had us read some pretty interesting articles. The midterm and final projects were a bit time consuming but since they are due before the next exam, you are really familiar with the material by the time you take the test. We also had a lot of freedom when it came to choosing our topics for the projects so that was nice! She provided a couple extensions for me when I was sick and basically said to turn it the work whenever which was cool.

Amanda Chicoli
NEUR305

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
08/09/2022

Took neur305 with her last semester and it was one of my favorite classes!!! Dr. Chicoli's professionalism is greatly complemented by her positive, affable, and engaging personality, meaning (personal opinion) I was able to reach out for help when needed and engage in discussions with her. She truly wants her students to succeed, which is a big reason why she often holds discussion sections for some of her courses. Some students think that "active learning sessions" are a bit of a time-waster but it was very beneficial to my understanding of the concepts by being able to work through the concepts in a different manner aside from the lecture slides. She allotted us one hour each week to work with peers and teaching staff to answer and understand the assigned questions. If you're looking for "an easy class", Dr. Chicoli is not a very easy grader. In light of this, she comments on your submissions and provides actual constructive comments that point out areas that you (student) may need to focus/brush up on, allowing you to really build a knowledgable foundation of the course that can be used in future courses instead of just learning the material for the grade. If you genuinely want to learn and retain the information, I would highly suggest taking a course with Dr. Chicoli. If you find yourself to be struggling in the course, Dr. Chicoli is always willing to work with you and provide you the resources to succeed. If you're looking for an easy A, you might want to consider other options.

Amanda Chicoli
NEUR305

Anonymous
05/18/2022

GENUINELY AMAZING. BEST PROFESSOR EVER. SHE ACTUALLY WANTS HER STUDENTS TO SUCCEED.... AND IN STEM!!!!! there are a lot of assignments so get ready to work, but it really helps your grade so be appreciative. USE THE WRITING CENTER. Her exams are pretty fair and her lectures are SOOOOOO interesting. BEST TEACHER AT UMD. you actually learn.

Amanda Chicoli
NEUR305

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
09/23/2021

Dr. Chicoli is a great professor! I took her NEUR305 in Spring 2021 and was initially pretty nervous about the material and workload. Dr. Chicoli made the class engaging and manageable. She was very helpful in class and provided resources for us about academics, opportunities on campus, and support options. The semester project looked daunting but it really helped me with my understanding of the material. I met with her once to discuss getting involved in the neuroscience community on campus and she was so kind and helpful! 10/10 would recommend taking a class with Dr. Chicoli.

Amanda Chicoli
NEUR305

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/08/2021

Dr. Chicoli is not like any other professor at UMD. She was constantly making sure that we were doing okay when crazy things were happening over the semester in the outside world. She was extremely understanding and caring and flexible when it came to our circumstances and even those that were not in our control. She also disseminated information that was relevant to psych/neuro that we may be interested in. She was also really organized with all of the material when teaching an online class. The way the course topics were broken up into (memory, emotion, motor, etc) also followed the order of the chapters in the book. Also, many of the graphics and information that were presented in the lecture were also taken straight from the book. For these reasons, I would recommend using the book as a supplemental resource to look at things that you did not understand from the lecture. We had three exams that were pretty easy and were not a big chunk of your grade. We had about four reflection assignments in which we had to either watch or read about something and write a short (about a page) answering some questions on the rubric that was mainly opinion based. I really enjoyed these because the topics were on things like ethics and racial issues in the field of neuroscience. Every Friday we had synchronous classes in which we usually spent the time going over a research article either in groups or as a whole class. There were low-stake assignments accompanied by these that we completed during the class. The most important thing to take note of is the semester project. There is no final exam in the class it is just your final project. This can definitely take a big punch to your grade as it did mine. Make sure to put effort into it early on in the semester so that when it comes time to your final, it will be one less thing to worry about. Dr. Chicoli has set it up in a great way in which she breaks down the project into different parts that have different deadlines. This way, you are working on it slowly throughout the semester and when it comes down to the final you don't have to stress. I had an A+ the entire semester but was so crammed during finals week that when I was working on the final project during the allotted two-hour window, I did not finish one part of the project in time. I scored a 100% on every other part of the project but because that one part was worth a good amount of points, it bumped my final grade down from an A+ to an A. So I would definitely recommend not taking three finals back to back in one day and manage your time. Overall, I would absolutely recommend this class with Dr.Chicoli no matter the circumstance. The class may sound intimidating but the way that she has structured it and the way she is as a person is definitely catered towards student success.

Reviews for NEUR305