Ibrahim Ades

This professor has taught: BSCI330, BSCI338G, BSCI338P, BSCI339Q, BSCI433

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Ibrahim Ades BSCI330 Anonymous 12/15/2020	The sweetest old man who cares about you very much. Took this class online because of the virus and exams were fair. Remember the specific details and you will be good
Ibrahim Ades BSCI330 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 11/18/2020	Ades is one of my favorite professors at the University! He is so passionate about the topics and this makes lecture interesting! I took him for 330 and 433 and ended with a 98% and 100% respectfully. This is because he provides extra credit on the exams so you can lose points and still get 100% in the course. You have to study hard in this course but if you do you'll do well. Attend every lecture and RECORD every lecture. Review your notes several times and UNDERSTAND the details. This is what we will test on! The midterms were super straight forward but the final is much more difficult but if you prepare well, you can still get a great grade. If I could take Ades for a 3rd course I would.
Ibrahim Ades emilyes 11/11/2017	Great, informative class. Ades is a good at lecturing and makes the class more interesting. His tests were sometimes a little long, mostly short answer, but fair. The labs were pretty easy, but they have probably been changed, now that the class is being offered as BSCI330.
Ibrahim Ades BSCI330 Expecting a W Cpowers 12/18/2016	I do not recommend this professor. He seems like a very kind man who would be willing to go to great lengths for his students, but his lectures and exams were irreparable terrible. I unfortunately had his class for 1 hr 15 mins, and almost every time I nodded off, even though class would start at a reasonable hour. This may have been the sound system, but I could not make out what he was saying due to the slurring/lack of pronunciation. This made taking notes extremely difficult since he does not provide ANY substantial information on his slides. I absolutely hated going to class, made me more frustrated than anything else. His exams, no matter how hard I prepared, always took me off guard. He doesn't test on actual material that you can study for, but rather he tests you on specific things he's said in lecture that are not included anywhere in his slides. One of his exam questions this semester was literally asking the species of animal examined in a specific case study mentioned once during a random lecture. If you happen to miss that one lecture, you missed 10% on the exam. Lab is extremely easy, got 100% on every lab report. Only counts for 20% of the grade, so didn't make a difference. Ended up dropping because I couldn't take it any more and didn't want this to influence my GPA because of a bad professor. Want to take BSCI330? Don't take Ades.
Ibrahim Ades BSCI330 Expecting a C Anonymous 11/22/2016	All of the below reviews are spot on: Professor Ades is incredibly intelligent and difficult. I am new to the university and transferred here from community college. To say the least, this class has challenged me to my core. While I have A's in the rest of my science classes, I am maintaining a mid-C in BCSI330 currently... and the final isn't even here yet (pray for me?) His teaching style is definitely new to me. There is no book, only one that he recommends if you feel you need it. The slides are all pictures and only contain words if it's a chart describing a cellular process. I cannot stress enough how important it is to record all of the lectures. Without this, you're more than likely to miss many of the small details that he is bound to exam you on. His exams are the hardest that I have ever experienced. I got a D on the first exam because I simply had no idea what to expect of a university exam and this was my first. The second exam I did about ten points better and received a mid C. I am currently waiting on the third exam grade to come back. Essentially, the lab portion of this class is saving me (I have received all A's in it). You may be wondering now why I'm giving the Professor five stars... Well, it's because he is a phenomenal one. Sure, he is incredibly difficult, but it challenges you and makes you grow. Without a doubt, I've grown into a better student because of this class. The man is a genius and I take everything he says as a piece of gold. And not the colloidal gold he always talks about (take him and you'll get this joke).
Ibrahim Ades BSCI330 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/01/2016	You won’t get an A unless you work your ass off. His exams are difficult, and if you slack on studying it will completely reflect in your grade. Write down everything he says in class, and record lectures, because he goes pretty fast. But the man knows his shit. Good prof to take if you’re premed. I’d take him again if I had the chance- he’s a hit or miss with some people, but if you know how to work hard, you’ll do very well. I actually looked forward to this class at 9 AM. Lab isn’t hard, it’s up to your TA’s niceness to determine your grade, but I haven’t heard of anyone having issues with it. He curved final grades by about 4% this semester because the average on the final was a D. But DO NOT rely on the curve, because rarely does that happen in a biology course. Questions? Go to office hours, he’s super nice. Good luck :D EDIT: I also took him again for BSCI433. Any class Ades teaches, you have to work for that A - that was to be expected. I learned a ton from this class and enjoyed it. However, in classic Ades fashion, he wrecked everyone on the final, but for final grades, he was really lenient. I had an A+ before the final that dropped to an A-, but he still gave me an A. I had a friend who even dropped from an A to a B+ but he still gave him an A. Honestly, study really hard for the first two exams and you’ll have a bit of a buffer for the final. Three exams determine your grade. If you did well in BSCI330 with him, I’d definitely recommend this class. If you're interested in cancer, I would also recommend it – you learn a lot of cool stuff! Its format is the same as BSCI330. To do well, write down pretty much everything he says in lecture and memorize it. Old exams probably won't do much for you other than get an idea of the format, because Ades creates his exams from scratch. Great prof, love that dude. It’s not too bad! Good luck :D
Ibrahim Ades BSCI330 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/27/2015	Ades heavily emphasizes the experimental basis behind what he teaches--it's really interesting and useful. He doesn't read off a powerpoint (the power-points are largely graphics and pictures). Some students struggle with this but I think it makes lecture more interesting and makes it easier to focus on what he is saying. He also shows interesting videos fairly regularly. If you need to miss a class or two it's okay because chances are you can find at least 10 people who have a recording you can listen to. In my opinion the midterms were very straightforward. He gives you study guide questions and 2 practice exams. If you do this with a buddy (or as a friend for their old guides) there is no reason you can't get 100 on the exams (especially since 10 points are pretty much added to every exam...for our second exam 15 points were added). Let me repeat this: if you do the study guide completely and verify your answers are correct you will be completely fine on the midterms. The final is very detailed and a little vague but flash-cards really help for memorizing small things. The terms and specific wording he uses are important. Overall, if you're reading this review because you can't decide if you want to take Ades or not I would suggest do it. He is the nicest guy ever (I asked a question at the final exam viewing and he spent a while showing me the explanation for the correct answer and looking up pictures for me). He makes himself very available as well. Just remember to focus on details and complete the study guides and you'll get an A.
Ibrahim Ades BSCI330 Anonymous 12/22/2014	Ades was an amazing professor. He was very knowledge of the subject and BSCI330 was one of the very few bio classes I looked forward to attending MWF at 9AM. Beginning of each lecture, he reviews the material he went through last lecture and then gives a quick of summary of what he is teaching us today. Class is total of 700 points (500 points come from lecture, 200 points come from lab). Doing well in lab totally depends on your TA and how hard he grades. If you have a hard TA, your lab grade will suffer. IF you have an easy TA, you will do tremendously better in lab. Lecture- there are 3 exams each worth 100 points and the final is 200 points. There is NO curve in the class (because for each of the 3 exams, there is a total of 110 points but he makes it out of 100 points only, so there are 10 point curves for each of the 3 exams). The final exam is very extremely difficult. Almost everyone going into the final pulled an all nighter. The final exam asks very, very specific details, so start studying early! But overall, Ades was a pleasure to have as a Cell Bio professor.
Ibrahim Ades BSCI433 Expecting a B MSJ 05/16/2014	I took Cell Biology with Dr. Ades a year and a half ago, and found that course exceedingly difficult for me to maintain a B in the class. After some time had passed and I was looking for electives to fulfill, I decided to take the Biology of Cancer course with Dr. Ades again, thinking perhaps I wasn't educationally mature enough the first time a took a class with him. By this time, I had really developed myself in this regard. Yet, a couple of classes in, there it was, the same feeling I had when I took his Cell Biology class. It's interesting to me that so many people rate him so highly. I've been thinking that maybe his teaching style and my learning style simply don't coalesce or something. I do agree with many of the other posts made here, in that he is a nice professor who is very knowledgeable. I also agree with the number of people saying to write down everything that he says, maybe even record and relisten to the lectures. His slides are rather lacking in substantial information. It's hard to supplement the missing information with outside sources because it's what he says the lecture that really matters, and it seemed that if what was said in the lecture wasn't caught and verbatim regurgitated onto the exam page in front of you, you would undoubtedly be marked off. Out of my entire undergraduate career, I have never had so much difficulty with a course. My confidence in what I thought to be appropriate and relevant to the topic did not in any way correlate with my performance on the exams. I have hardly ever felt confident going into one of his exams despite protracted studying, and have subsequently scored within the A, B, and C ranges. The one time I actually did feel very confident going into one of his exams, I nearly failed it. At times I felt his questions were inappropriate, irrelevant, and arbitrarily finicky. At times I felt some questions were very relevant to the topic, and I assuredly respected those. I'm the kind of student that likes to come to class to study and learn the material through the coherency and forth-flowing logic of the teacher's lecture, and not feel as though I am entirely occupied as a scribe for his lecture that he could have preparedly articulated and have written it down so that, if need be, I can return to that material to supplement the lecture. In summary, I was very disappointed with the learning experience in the teacher's class for both Cell biology and the Biology of Cancer.
Ibrahim Ades BSCI330 Expecting an A sheena 01/07/2014	Okay, so based on these reviews I came into this class thinking Ades was some demi-god or something. He wasn't superhuman or anything, just really chill. Out of the other professors at UMD, I think I liked Ades the best so far. I was aiming for an A+ in the class but the final was still a little too low, so it dragged me down just enough so I got an A. That being said, the class was NOT super easy. I think that it was moderately difficult. I invested many, many hours into studying for this class, as I do for all of my bio classes, but I wasn't freaking out about bombing like I did for some other bio courses. Exams were not focused on details as much as I've seen in some bio courses that I've taken at the 300 level. I didn't listen to lectures in 330 because I never got a recorder, but it wasn't absolutely necessary -- I just wrote down EVERYTHING that Ades said. Ades likes to post slides that are mostly pictures, with very little text. This was frustrating for me, because he can be very repetitive, yet contradict himself in lecture, so you can't always just "check the slide" to see the right answer. Office hours are held twice a week, usually right after class or a few hours after. These are group sessions where he meets with students in a conference room across from his office. I went several times to ask for clarification about his confusing/barely-touched-upon statements. Ades does NOT try to trick you. That actually made me mess up a little on the first exam, because I wasn't sure what to expect really. All short-answer for the 3 midterms, and all-MC final, ether 80 or 100 questions....I can't recall. Ades is a very gentle, polite, and nice man. He listens to you when you talk to him and lets you speak first, and is extremely respectful. He is very reasonable and I really enjoyed taking a class with him because he was so much more approachable than any of my other bio professors. He is not intimidating whatsoever. P.S. the lab is annoying and late labs (6-9 pm) is awful, but everyone has to take the lab section, so whatever. You'll survive. Averages on the practical were around a 40/50 or so, and yes everyone feels like they failed it.
Ibrahim Ades BSCI330 Expecting a C Anonymous 08/23/2013	Ades was a pretty good lecturer. His lectures were straightforward, but definitely pay attention to the details. I found that his exams focused on details, often from one individual slide. The final was terrible. Despite being multiple choice, the questions were ridiculously hard. So definitely don't rely on the final saving you.
Ibrahim Ades BSCI330 Expecting a B+ terpade 02/28/2013	The best teacher I've had at UMD. I definitely learned more in this class than any other class. You absolutely must record the lectures and write everything he says, or be able to get every word he says in class. I did not do this for the first exam and got a C. I did do this for the next two exams and got 100% on both of them. The lab is a little harder than I expected, but it all depends on how hard your TA grades. The final is impossible. Do work on the 3 exams and the lab, to set yourself up so you can still get an A after the final.
Ibrahim Ades BSCI330 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/18/2012	Ades is a great lecturer. His exams are doable if you study hard. Make sure you take good notes and record the lecture or make friends with someone who does both. You can also play his lectures at 1.5x speed when relistening because he speaks so slow. Final is 100 multiple choice which covers everything so study early for that, especially if you're borderline. Lab was straightforward and easy but it can bring your grade down if you have a bad TA. Ades didn't offer 20 points extra credit this semester although the lab offered 7 points extra credit.
Ibrahim Ades BSCI330 Expecting an A umdcattree 08/16/2012	Terrific professor! Great lecturer and a fair grader. He even gave students to submit an extra credit video worth a maximum of +20 points (my group got +15, which definitely helped pull up one of my exam grades). It's very important to take good notes during lecture since the slides don't have all the details and he covers things that are not in the textbook. Make sure to learn all the details about the processes and structures he goes over! Also, don't take the final for granted; it is multiple choice but very comprehensive and brought a lot of people's grades down. Lab portion obviously depends on the TA but I didn't think it was too bad. Assignments seemed to be graded pretty easily (at least in my section) and we weren't penalized when procedures didn't work as planned.
Ibrahim Ades BSCI330 Expecting a B+ Mentok 04/27/2012	Great professor. Very straightforward. I took him last fall and I really did enjoy his lectures. 330 is definitely a challenging class but is an enjoyable one. He gave us an extra 10 percent on the exams, and the average my semester was really high (class average in the A's or something). I would have had an A if I didn't get lazy around the final. That's what brought a lot of people down, I think. It was multiple choice and very hard. The way to do well in this class is to attend the lectures and pay close attention. What helped me was to record and listen to the lectures later on, re-writing the things I missed in my notes. This guy was so boss that he just talked like a living textbook, so every second of audio was useful and clear. Get some sleep so you can pay attention during lectures and ask questions! That's the way to get an A! If you understand all the concepts, it becomes easy. The lab was pretty challenging too, but, like the lecture and any other challenging class, it was definitely doable. Definitely possible to get an A.
Ibrahim Ades BSCI330 Expecting an A Anonymous 02/02/2012	One of the most straight forward biology classes taught at UMD. BSCI330 by Ades is a class that if you put in the appropriate amount of effort, you are guaranteed to receive the grade you desire. There were three written exams (short answers) and a multiple choice final exam. All of the exams were incredibly straightforward (only if you studied all the material) and the questions tied the subject material together. There was a bonus project given where you could send a media presentation or anything to illustrate subject material. I believe the highest rated project was given a 20 point bonus. Teacher: Ades is a straightforward professor with a classy sense of humor. You can expect to come to class every time and get all the material you need. He does not go off on nonsense tangents and explicitly lets you know if something is going to be or not going to be on the exam. A lot of people missed a problem on the first exam where you had to draw the exact structure of a phospholipid because they thought Ades was joking. His lecture pace was comfortable for me, but I still used a recorder because there was so much information given out each lecture. If you had questions about material, Ades had two office hour times per week. These are really Group style office hours where he goes in a circle answering everyone's questions until no one has any. Ades is a nice professor that is willing to help those who need it and wonderfully clarifies cloudy material. But I did notice he got a little annoyed when people would come in with simple questions that were clearly and explicitly clarified in lecture or even asked already by someone in lecture. He also posted old exams with keys and review questions on blackboard, all extremely helpful material. Material: The material is not hard but it is challenging; it just takes an effort on your part to keep up with material and take it all in. I highly suggest a recorder so you can go back on iffy spots and get clarification. If not, use office hours. Do not wait till the last minute to study as there is too much information unless you are aiming for a C or D. The overall class did extremely well this semester . For one test, I remember 50% of the class got 90 or above. But do not mistake that as a assumption that it is easy to get an A. 50% of the class did work hard and got the grade they wanted. It's as simple as that. Some exams were long and most students did not finish sometimes but the average was so high for those instances that a curve wouldn't be justified. Lab Portion I would say that a large percentage of your lab grade depends on which TA you get. Some are easy going while others are unnecessarily harsh. There wasn't enough time to complete several labs but we weren't penalized for that. Do all the work and complete assignments on time and there should not be a problem on getting an A in the lab part (unless you get a bad TA or you turn in horrible quality lab reports). Overall So there you have it. An straightforward class with resources like old exams and office hours as well as bonus opportunity to help you succeed. Based on this, there is absolutely no reason you can't do well if you want to. Great professor, great class, and the pay off of getting an A after all the work you put in at the end is enormously gratifying.
Ibrahim Ades BSCI330 Anonymous 12/21/2011	Very friendly and approachable guy. He tries to make himself available to students when they need help. During lectures, he often pauses to ask if students have questions The class was very content heavy, but he tests mainly on lectures. It might help to record him since he has a bit of an accent. Details from reading the book help a lot- especially because he always has a bonus question at the end of midterms that are based on readings
Ibrahim Ades BSCI330 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/15/2011	Dr. Ades is the man! He's an adorable little old guy who kind of looks like Professor Farnsworth from Futurama, but despite that he's really got it together. 330 is not an easy class, but if you work your ass off and go to all of Ades' lectures, you should get an A. The averages on his exams were in the high 80s-90 range. He's very fond of going into excruciating detail on processes, so if he does, learn them. If you can absorb all of his lectures and everything they contain, you should have no problem in the class. Be careful about diseases he mentions- he usually puts a question about them on every exam. No matter what, all the stuff he says makes sense and is building on previous bio classes, just in so much detail that if makes your head hurt. In summary: Dr. Ades is a cool dude, and it isn't all that hard to get an A, assuming you work hard. Very hard.
Ibrahim Ades BSCI433 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/18/2011	I took his Biology of Cancer class. His lecture style might be a little slow paced for some but is very easy to follow. The tests focused a little too much on details but they are fair. He curved the class at the end. The material he presents are very up to date and kept me interested.
Ibrahim Ades BSCI433 Expecting a C UMDfutbol3 05/14/2011	Nice enough guy, but incredibly tough class. He is clearly very knowledgable on the subject, and goes into incredible detail. This is a strength as well as a weakness as he goes into so many tangents, that it becomes difficult to follow the overall story. While the exams(he'll give you ones from past years) don't look too bad, be warned that if things are not in the exact way described in the answer key, you will lose the majority of the points. For example, when he asks for the pathway by which PAH can cause cancer through monooxygenase activity, it will not suffice to just draw the structures of each compound that leads to a carcinogen. You must also know the exact name of any given structure he posts on his slides. Finally, while it's not directly asked in the question, you will also need to explain how the carcinogen(epoxide-diol structure) causes an adduct in the DNA that the repair system can't fix. In short, the problem has nothing to do with not knowing the information taught, but rather not knowing what exactly he's asking. Making just one mistake like this will cost you 10-15 points in a 250 point class. This is one question among maybe 3 that completely shattered my grade, and there's just no coming back(no curve). This was my only C in my college career , and it had nothing do with a lack of effort. I put in several hours re-listening to all of his lectures (some twice), making study guides, getting into study groups. I threw the kitchen sink at this class, got A's in my other 400 level bio courses with a tenth of the effort. Like you guys, I check these websites to see what the inside scoop is on profs, and I'll dismiss reviews that just seem like bitter kids trying to blow off some steam, but this isn't that. Be prepared to invest a lot of work into this class, learn a lot of really cool stuff about cancer, but not neccessarily get the reward for it at the end in terms of the grade.
Ibrahim Ades BSCI330 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/20/2011	Dr. Ades was easily the best professor I have had on the UMD campus. He is extremely intelligent and knows the material like the back of his hand. He is good at making the material applicable to an undergraduate level and his tests are fair (often provided extra points on the midterms). I definitely recommend going to every lecture. You will not regret taking him - he is very entertaining and you'll learn so much!
Ibrahim Ades BSCI330 Expecting an A crazystudent 12/20/2010	This is probably the most intelligent teacher I've had on campus. He is just so interesting! The best way to get an A in this class is to record lectures and transcribe everything he says with his lecture slides. NEVER MISS CLASS! The only time you need the text book is if he specifically sites something he wants you to read. If he tells you to read something out of a book that's pretty much a promise that it will show up on the exam. His exams and grading are very fair. His midterm exams usually have 20-30 extra points on it. If you score over 100pts on the exam, you just get the score of 100. It also helps because if you don't know everything you can pick and choose which ones you want to answer. Now since he does this, don't depend on him curving his class. He doesn't really curve unless you are like 10 points away from a grade. This semester he gave 22% A's, 38% B's, 27% C's, and the rest D's and F's.
Ibrahim Ades BSCI330 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/18/2010	Ades is a great professor! His lectures are interesting and I hear that he's really helpful during office hours. As other people said, recording lectures is really helpful and something that a huge chunk of the class does. The first 3 tests were relatively easy but the multiple choice final was really hard.
Ibrahim Ades BSCI330 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/18/2010	Professor Ades was a fantastic professor. I wish all the rest of the biology professors cared as much about teaching and taught as well as he does. Yes, he does go into great detail about things, but you actually learn. It's not just memorizing facts. He always gives examples so you can remember and he always repeats himself. He even tells you "this will be on the exam." After every concept he stops and asks if anyone has any questions. He even builds in extra points for the midterm exams (more points possible than 100 and only takes your grade out of 100). However, yes, it is a difficult course. All the other reviews who whined about it being hard obviously this was their first upper level biology course. It's not Ades' fault you are lazy. My recommendation is to 1. Go to every class and take notes 2. If possible, record him. He has a bit of an accent so sometimes you may miss one or two words. Also, all of his midterms are open ended so you can literally quote him and get full credit. 3. Go over any old exams...he likes to repeat questions :)
Ibrahim Ades BSCI330 Expecting a B zhangsta 05/14/2010	one of the best professors i've had. his lectures are very fast-paced so make sure you record his lectures and listen to them again. also helps if you read the book.
Ibrahim Ades BSCI433 Expecting an A Anonymous 02/07/2010	This is a very interesting class, and Prof. Ades teaches the subject very well. Be prepared to study and memorize a lot of facts though!!! Doing the practice exams and review questions definitely helps, and you get to drop one exam. He is very approachable and will explain things over and over again for you if you ask. He also makes you interested in the subject by relating several stories and scenarios. The lectures were rarely boring. Learned a lot in this class!
Ibrahim Ades BSCI330 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/03/2010	Dr. Ades is by far the best professor I have had so far in my college career. He is really engaging, he knows the material very well and is very helpful in providing office hours and seminar review sessions in addition to answering questions in lecture. He is a nice old man who wants you to learn the material. Not some sadist who is out to ruin your social life-just leave your attitude at the door, and you will do just fine in the class. I found the exams to be vey straightforward and fair, albeit very thorough (memorize only lectures-book only for background i.e not too helpful and the lab was very cool and you actually learned things unlike in other lab courses. I have one piece of advice: go over every single slide in the lecture and memorize things that are not intuitive. You should also record all his lectures.
Ibrahim Ades BSCI330 Expecting an A Biology Major 12/22/2009	Dr. Ades is one of the the most engaging professors I ever had. He makes the lecture interesting. Similar to how the other reviewers have said, he does expect alot from the students. There is so much material for each exam, and everything is fair game. On the flip side, his exams are doable-there is no problem of not finfshing an exam- and partial credit is possible. His final exam is very hard. In constrast to his previous three midterms, which were all essay format, his final is all multiple choice. It is very specific, and anything he has said since the beginning of the year is fair game. This is a very hard class. But if one is willing to put the effort in, it is very rewarding. Dr. Ades goes into so much detail, but he is there if anyone needs help. Personally, I liked the class because we went into depth about topics such as cellular respiration, receptor-mediated endocytosis, and other areas that other science classes generally brush over. All-in-all, if you want to learn, take Dr. Ades, if you want to get the class over with, take another professor.
Ibrahim Ades BSCI330 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/20/2009	All the other reviews about memorizing everything he says are wrong. I never brought my computer to class and never went to an open session (I had class every Wednesday at 10) and I still earned an A. His class is like every other, you have to take notes and then actually study for the exams. All the other reviews about kids who got C's are because they've never actually had to study for a challenging class before. Dr. Ades was really good about meeting with students to discuss previous exams and I always responded quickly to e-mails. If you try in his class, you'll do well. You don't need to put in a ridiculous amount of effort like the other reviewers said- they're just whining about getting bad grades.
Ibrahim Ades BSCI330 Anonymous 12/18/2009	Dr. Ades has a PhD and MD. I am a junior biology major and i am scrambling for a "C" in this class. His expectations are ridiculous for undergraduates! You cannot miss one lecture! You must record them! Memorize everything he says, verbatim. Predicting what material will show up on his exams is IMPOSSIBLE. He gives no hints in class. After having 3 exams in this class that consisted of 8 Essay Questions the final was 100 multiple choice questions, unlike any of the previous exams. I would not recommend Dr. Ades, for cell bio (BSCI330) because he has the lowest percentage of A's. The lab reports are highly time consuming and can potentially hurt your grade. ( the lab sections were not normalized, and it was very frustrating)
Ibrahim Ades BSCI330 Anonymous 12/17/2009	be prepared to spend about every waking hour you have studying or worrying about his exams which are painfully specific. forget one concept, there's one fifth of your grade right there. cell biology sounds like a trivial concept, this class is not. i'd admit, i unwittingly took this class as a sophomore in a sea of juniors, maybe if i was more experienced in developing my "type as quickly as i can", and "go back to my room immediately to rewrite, reread, and compare slides to notes and recording before i forget" skills i wouldn't be scrambling for a C. as a person, he's great- he cares and knows a lot about this subject but the whole class is one continuous monologue you have to pick apart.
Ibrahim Ades BSCI330 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/17/2009	Wow...what a GREAT professor. For sure, this class is no joke, the lab is the part that kills most people, 8-12 pg lab reports, literature reviews, lab notebooks, etc. However, although lecture is not fully attended all the time, those are the ones who do poorly. I'll be honest, I'm the type who works hard for my grade and I'm not the "naturally smart ones." But, I didn't read the book, unless if I was really confused. I recorded lectures, typed them 2 times (once in class, once after class) and memorized things he said in lecture, went to EVERY "open session" where he gave hints about exam stuff, and did exceedingly well. My averages on the exams were in the 80-81s, and they were always curved to 85-95% depending on how bad others did. The final is ALL multiple choice, and very detailed, but manageable if you kept up with the study and didn't cram all semester. He's a nice old man, a bit soft-spoken, but very very knowledgable and adorable. Take him!
Ibrahim Ades BSCI330 Expecting an A azn12icefarme12 04/08/2009	EXACTLY what LunarFlower said. Write EVERYTHING. Memorize EVERYTHING. Rewrite EVERYTHING on the exam. Must attend class or get someone to give you their notes. He was generous on his 3rd exam. Exam is taken out of 120 but there were 150 possible points. (No bonus points from it though)
Ibrahim Ades BSCI330 Expecting an A LunarFlower 12/14/2008	How to do well Dr. Ades' BSCI 330 Class: Without Recording his lectures: -either bring a laptop to class and type everything he says verbatim OR write it down..which ever is possible. -Memorize everything.. especially relevant to his study questions from your notes.. he usually presents the answers to his study questions during lecture, but these questions are usually posted around examtime If you do record his lectures: -type everything verbatim and complete the review questions Attending class is essential..can't really do well without attending. Also, attending isn't your ticket to an A. You have to really know EVERYTHING he says.
Ibrahim Ades BSCI433 Expecting an A terpjunkie 07/27/2008	Ades is a wonderful proffesor. This class was def. challenging, but sooo interesting. I came into the class wanting to know the information, so it probably made it easier to get through. The exams are based solely off his lecture slides, and cover 3-4 lectures, each with 60-80 slides. He takes a lot of exam questions off graphs and the tests are mostly conceptual. It's in short-answer format, and asks you to explain things he went over in lecture. You will NOT do well in this class if you don't go to lecture, because his slides don't explain much-- he tells you the important things. In SP08, he made the final optional if you were satisfied with the first three midterm grades. I didn't take the final, but I heard it wasn't bad compared to the midterms. The midterms were all curved a good 2-4%. Take this class if you want to be challenged and think you'll be interested in the material, bc you will learn a lot.
Ibrahim Ades BSCI330 Expecting an A vdawg 12/31/2007	He goes over each process at least three times, tweaking and adding/removing details every time. This can get extreeeemely frustrating when you're studying for a test. And the tests don't seem difficult but are graded in the most arbitrary manner possible. (He does curve the tests though, and all the questions are pulled from the review questions/previous exams he puts online. But the review questions don't have answers. Also, a big fan of multiple multiples.) Going to class is absolutely imperative because of the arbitrariness of exam grading. Dr. Ades is not a particularly scintillating lecturer, in fact he can be lame beyond belief, but he's not deathly boring. And everything he says in lecture should be treated as gospel. Even though half the time it'll be contradicted in the text book.
Ibrahim Ades BSCI330 Expecting a B+ nkredible2009 12/21/2007	Lectures were sort of interesting in the beginning of the year, but when you realize that alot of the things he says conflict with what is written in the book, it starts to get annoying. Exams would never seem hard, but they would be essay based and the TAs cant grade for sh**. They would be so stingy with points and then when you ask for a regrade he almost never gives you anything back. I can think of three instances in which what he said COMPLETELY deviates with what is written in the text. And if you don't go to class there is no way to know. He also made it seem like he was curving the class in the beginnning of the yr, dropping the cut offs for As and Bs by almost 10%. Then, even after everyone BOMBED the almost IMPOSSIBLE final, he curved by only 2%!!!!! The final had about 20 pts worth of questions on Noble prize winners!!! Something on which we did not cover at all in class and that was not on the review guide he gave us. The man lost his mind this semester and I would advise you to avoid him. Getting a B is easy because the lab is B.S. But don't count on getting an A unless you focus most of your energy on this class.