John Buchner | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/23/2025	Not the worst professor I've ever had, but I do agree with many of the other reviews. This class definitely had the heaviest workload of all my classes this semester, and not because it was hard. There was a lot of unnecessary busy work that didn't really deepen my understanding of the material or help me prepare for exams. The upside is that the PAKs are graded for completion and TAs tend to grade leniently on the lab assignments, so the busy work helps to pad your grade. In lab time, there are no assignments you have to complete and turn in for a grade, but some of your results or presentations might be needed for assignments you turn in later, so I'd recommend taking pictures of your results. We usually leave lab 30 min-1 hr early. Other than the exams, there are 2 other major grading assignments, which are part of the lab portion. These are the lab report and research poster presentation, both of which are really easy as long as you follow the rubric. Almost all the lab assignments are done as part of a group that gets chosen at the start of the semester, so make sure you pick your teammates wisely. I also disliked the flipped classroom format, where you watch recorded video lectures on your own time and do clicker questions in class. If I wanted to learn by staring at a screen, I'd have gone on YouTube instead of paying thousands in tuition. I'd recommend double speeding the videos. The clicker questions were graded on completion but most were kind of useless for the exam and we had to pay for PointSolutions. Besides clicker questions, the lectures consisted of talking about current scientific research or topics related to microbiology, like the 2025 US measles outbreak. These are nice to know but useless for the exams. I'd much prefer it if they were included in the additional reading section for those who are interested instead of presented during class time. Near the end of the semester, Dr. Buchner had a more traditional lecture style since we finished all the pre-recorded content. I took notes in these lectures, but a lot of it was him reading off of the slides. Dr. Buchner does record his in-person lectures but I've never watched them. Overall, lectures were useless for the exam, but I attended for the clicker points. There were 3 exams (2 midterms and a final), with the final worth the same amount of points as the midterms, but with more questions and cumulative. The exam content was all from the recorded video lectures (and traditional in-person lectures once those ran out) AND lab procedures. Studying the textbook was unnecessary. I wouldn't say the exams were unfair since all the content was covered in the class, but since Dr. Buchner didn't provide any study materials, many people didn't know what the exam format would be like. It was also his first semester doing an in-person exam instead of online, which may have contributed to the low averages. His exams include drawing diagrams, interpreting diagrams, short answer, some multiple choice, and logic questions (Ex: you have a procedure and you forget one of the steps; how does that affect the final results). If Dr. Buchner prints out a handout and goes over it in lecture, make sure to pay attention because it's going to be on the exam. Each exam has one free question thrown in, where you get points as long as you answer it sensibly. I studied for exams by rewatching the recorded video lectures, reading my notes, and looking over lab procedures. Dr. Buchner said he doesn't give out any previous exams, but that he won't stop students from sourcing them themselves. We couldn't do this since we were the first semester to have in-person exams with Dr. Buchner, but I would recommend finding previous in-person exams as study materials. Other notes: - I've heard that Dr. Tran had easier exams than Dr. Buchner. - Dr. Buchner seemed like a pretty chill guy when I talked to him. - If you've taken BSCI222, this class should be a breeze. - I don't think this class was harder than BSCI222, but it has more busy work. - I've heard that Dr. Buchner is lenient about extensions, as long as you email him before the assignment is due. - Dr. Buchner is strict about late work. - If Dr. Buchner provided practice exams and there wasn't so much busy work, this would be a free class. - I didn't learn as much about microbiology as I expected. If you're interested in microbiology as a subject, take BSCI283 instead.
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/22/2025	Oh boy Spring 2025 BSCI223... going to talk about the course first: This class had the highest volume of work I have had in a class here yet. Probably 3-4 assignments per week, which is a lot, especially when some of them are lengthly writing assignments. Often, the assignments seemed like busy work as well. The discussion post series felt like a poor use of time, especially with the arbitrary word minimums. The element of using and discussing a research article could have easily just been incorporated into the final poster presentation, without four additional writing assignments. The PAKs are a bit tedious, but they are at least somewhat connected to course material. I really did not like the structure of the class but maybe I just don't get along with flipped classroom. There were a few hours of lecture videos to watch each week, 2 hours of "lecture" (going to the lecture hall to listen to Buchner talk about measles and answer clicker questions), plus 4 hours of lab, plus all of the assignments. BSCI223 is definitely a time suck no matter who the professor is. Lab was honestly pretty fun and we usually got out early. My lab group was chill and we had a good system for getting group assignments done on time. Shoutout my TA Anna, the legend! She was so kind and helpful and always answered everyone's questions. She also held long exam reviews on zoom. Now about Buchner... He isn't as bad as people are saying. I think the comments on his mental state are unfair. Microbiology IS related to the measles outbreak, because types of vaccines are a component of a lecture video and are on the syllabus. It's hard to talk about scientific research in microbiology without mentioning the current state of affairs in scientific research. You really cannot fault Buchner for providing current context. However, I will acknowledge that it took up more time of lecture than it really should have (i.e. mentioning it every day). Exams felt uneven. First one was hard and average was a 66. He gave zero prep materials for it, did not even say what topics would be on it. It included lab stuff which threw everyone off. I know we are in college and we don't need study guides anymore, but it caught everyone off guard. Second exam was better. The final though also had an average of 66. He said it would be cumulative but it really was not. No curve for the class. Essentially: exam 1 = biochem, exam 2 = genetics, exam 3 = immunology. Hopefully you've taken some of those classes and it might help. His "lectures" were sometimes related to the videos, sometimes not. Some were PAK reviews which I found a bit useless. I think this course would work MUCH better if he lectured during lecture, and we answered the clicker questions in a post lecture canvas quiz format. It feels a bit ridiculous to go to 2 hours of lecture just to sit there and do clickers. A moment that is burned into my memory is Buchner flipping out (literally screaming and menacingly walking towards) about an admitted student who came into the lecture hall and took a picture. He started screaming and going off about his intellectual property and how it was against copyright to take pictures of his lecture material. Miss girl I promise you no one wants pictures of your crappy clicker slides.
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/20/2025	This class was more challenging than I anticipated, no doubt about it. Still, I think a lot of the super low reviews are from people who didn't put in the necessary time for this class or people who don't know how to adapt to a different classroom style and got a nasty awakening. Yes the flipped classroom model sucks, lectures always felt disorganized because it was literally just clicker questions, but that just means this class is more of a self-study type which isn't SO unusual in college. I wouldn't say the exams were necessarily brutal, yes, they were riddled with small typos/mistakes, but a lot of it boiled down to whether or not you could apply the knowledge learned from lab and lecture. The lab aspect of this class really helps to buffer your grade, while there's a lot of busy work, the small 10, 15, 20 point assignments add up and help you out in the end. I didn't do great on the first exam (low C), did slightly above average on the second exam (high B) and final (low B), but was still able to end up with an A- due to lab assignments. It's really important to have at least a basic understanding of lab tests and experiments, since they make up at least 20-30% of exams, but my TA always provided lab slides, and the protocols are all posted on ELMS. It also helps if your lab group is competent. I got lucky and we were able to divide work evenly, so no one ended up completing the entirety of an assignment on their own...but I heard some horror stories from friends in other sections. My TA was a godsend, and Dr. Buchner's TAs are half the reason why I decided to give him three stars. Along with checking in with groups during labs, she was always willing to stay after lab if we ended early to answer questions, was a quick grader, and responded quickly to emails. This may be more of a Dr. Buchner thing, since he was also understanding with extensions, but my TA was super lenient on late submissions, even for major assignments, and would help walk me through the rubric if me or my group mates were confused. The one thing that was kind of frustrating was that none of the TAs had a good understanding of what exams were going to be like, since this was Dr. Buchner's first semester lecturing since exams were switched back to paper. I think future semesters will be better since the TAs will have more exposure to the in-person exams, but the exam blindness, especially going into Exam I, was extremely stressful. I think it's insanely unfair for people to make comments on Dr. Buchner's mental state. While this class was disorganized at times, like him forgetting to print at least 30 final exams, he is understanding if he sees that you're making an effort in the class. Not my favorite professor of all time, but he's not a demonic, hellish tyrant. If you put in the effort and have a good TA and lab group, you'll do fine.
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/20/2025	I would give this man 0 stars if I could. Average is 66% for the final exam and he is not curving. The exams are absolutely atrocious and so hard to read cause they feel like a word vomit. Do not take this class if it is not required for you to graduate. It is not worth the mental toll it takes on you. I regret it so much.
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/20/2025	Whether or not I remember anything about the complement system or taxonomy, the collective crashout of BSCI223 in Spring 2025 will not be forgotten. Reading the reviews below, you'd think this class was a battlefield—Professor Buchner committing some kind of academic treason and students having to sacrifice their souls to pass. But honestly? It's not 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 bad. I promise. Yes, the flipped lecture style sucks. It's hard to stay motivated to watch the videos or show up to class just to answer clicker questions that are usually very unhelpful in actually understanding the material. Like many others, I signed up for an in-person class—not two mandatory discussions a week + learning the actual content on my own by myself. And exams were tough, but not necessarily because of the material. The issue was the lack of guidance provided to help us prepare. There were no practice exams, no review guides, and barely any clarity on what to focus on (and again, the lectures in class often did not correlate to the videos AT ALL) until the TA's stepped in with some reviews. Professor Buchner's exam format leans heavily on drawing and description questions, which personally caught me off guard. Paired with disorganized and dull lectures, this wasn't exactly a fun class. All that said, getting an A is definitely doable if you put in a modicum of effort. If you've taken genetics, exam 2 should be a breeze, and if you go in having actually studied the material, exam 1 and the final should go well enough that you're in good territory (note: I didn't put enough effort studying for exam 1 and studied the wrong things, which again, was both my fault as well as the course's for NOT TELLING US WHAT TO STUDY but if you go in expecting it to be hard, I guarantee you that you'll do better). Additionally, the lab portion of the class offers a MASSIVE grade buffer. There's a lot of busy work (designing the cow transformation experiment was fun, but making us do like 3 discussion posts/essays/lit reviews each was too much), and bad groupmates will make you curse your life, but the TA's grade really generously, the labs are short and often end early, and they're easy to understand and even a little fun to do. Point is: this class isn't the free ride you think it will be, but it's not that bad. Maybe 3-6 hours of studying per exam plus keeping on track with assignments, and you'll be okay.
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/20/2025	I feel like all the reviews talking about his mental state are both very mean and very wrong. Dr. Buchner might be one of the smartest professors I've ever had teach a course. When he was passionate about something (measles, HIV, disease prevention, etc), you could tell, and I think his best lectures were genuinely those that he was passionate about. Unfortunately, this class wasn't about any of those topics. It was about microbiology. And he failed, miserably, to teach anyone anything meaningful about microbiology. Some of this can be chalked up to that terrible flipped classroom model (people generally come to lecture to learn things, not to go through clicker questions as "review") but some of that is just due to poor classroom management on his part. The first exam had unreasonably low averages (in the 60s) and that was less because the exam was difficult and more because no practice exams or supplemental material was provided, and the emphasis on lab material was not communicated well. Lab was managed well, and I think the TAs and UTAs did their best to provide us with self-made practice exams, review sessions, and other supplemental material that the professor should have provided. Would I recommend this professor? Honestly, probably not. You are probably better off taking that microbio elective or core class with Tran or someone else. But he seems like a genuinely nice person, and if you're good at self-studying, you'll probably be fine.
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 05/19/2025	Unfornatly he seems to be having a mental decline or somthing going on which is sad. I dont think hes all with it. overall he is a nice man though
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/19/2025	He's awful. His exams are genuinely incomprehensible, and he goes off on tangents during lecture. His flipped-style lectures are insane, and he doesn't provide any help. The only good thing about this course is that the TAs are great people. He is incredibly bad at teaching.
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/19/2025	All I have to say about Buchner is that he might actually be losing his mind (as proven during the Spring 2025 BSCI223 course). If you're taking microbio take it with Tran or at least any semester Buchner isn't teaching. No help reviewing for any of the exams (all 3 of which were wack) and flipped-style lectures that are comprised of 50-minute in-person rambles about measles, HIV, and other unrelated BS. He sucked this semester good luck doing well in this class if you take him
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/16/2025	This is genuinely the first time I have been prompted to write a review for my professor in all my years out of genuine concern for his mental state. The reviews below basically sum up everything about Buchner and his teaching style, so I won’t elaborate too much on that. A lot of busy work and wasted time lecturing about measles and other topics, rather than reviewing concepts and ensuring that students understood what they were learning from his lecture videos. In terms of doing decently in this class, I would try to do as best as you can on the busy work/lab assignments as they make up a good portion of your grade. They were extremely time consuming and felt like a waste of time sometimes that could’ve gone towards actually preparing for exams, but the grading wasn’t too harsh. Also, I would try to remain on top of watching and taking notes on the pre-lecture videos as it was very easy for them to pile up, and there would be multiple videos to watch that were over 30+ minutes sometimes. In terms of exams, one of my regrets was not attending/watching the exam review videos that the TAs posted until the final because these were extremely helpful and often went over the exact concepts tested on the exams. I would also recommend doing the practice exams. If I had spent more time studying for the midterms, I definitely would’ve done better in the class. Labs are also very easy and fun, especially if you have a good TA. They often didn’t consume too much time, I would recommend just reading over the procedure ahead of time. As for the finals themselves, Buchner provides no study guide, past exams, or any material to get an idea of what they will be like. The first exam averages were very low and Buchner refused to curve. The second exam was much better, but I also believe it was written by Tran. As for the final, it wasn’t too bad but it did bring my grade down to a B and I studied much more for it. The only good thing about this class were the TAs who were amazing at explaining and simplifying concepts, providing a general study guide, hosting review sessions, etc. The only reason I’m giving this professor a star is because of how incredible the TAs were, genuinely the best I’ve ever had.
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/16/2025	I don’t even feel like wasting my time trying to review this professor. But I second every grievance that has already been stated. I wanted to chalk up past negative reviews to the occasional bitter student, but I have never encountered a more unprofessional professor who is so profoundly antithetical to the definition of a teacher. To the UTAs, I’m not even religious, but god bless you. You all worked so hard to make sure we succeeded, and I am incredibly grateful for all you did for us this semester. Please take this course with Dr. Tran if possible.
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/16/2025	If I could give negative stars I WOULD. This class is alright but the professor is absolute garbage at his job. Ive seen plants more useful than this man. He makes you do his stupid clicker questions that are mostly irrelevant towards what he is trying to teach which im still trying to figure out even after taking his bs final. He rambles in class about his political views and useless information that has nothing to do with microbiology. He obviously made his final exam last minute as it was completely void of anything related to what should have been on it and not only that, he ran out of tests to give students so we had to wait 30 minutes before getting our actual final and beginning. Most unprepared "professor" (if you can even call him that) I've had in my entire life. He is a horrible teacher and I am amazed that he has over 1 star. He says he isn't going to curve anything even though the averages are so low. The 20 year old TA's were better than this man with a degree which is insane. Do not take him if you're actually trying to learn anything related to microbiology, you're better off teaching yourself on YouTube shorts than this trash "teaching". Absolute fool of a professor.
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/15/2025	Spring of 2025 was the test run for Dr. Buchner's first semester doing in person microbiology exams, and I think this contributed to why the exams were like /that/. I think Dr. Buchner does know a lot about microbiology, and he is clearly passionate about it. He was nice (at least in my experience, though I have heard from others getting not so nice emails) and some classes were funny. So for that, I will give 2 stars. But, he falls a bit flat when it comes to teaching. I have mixed feelings about the flipped lecture format, because there are some benefits and some downsides to it. However, my biggest gripes with this class was: 1. We were blind when it came to exams. There was 0 preparation when it came to the first exam, besides a heads up on the drawing, and the average was failing. There are no curves (not even a little) despite this. The second exam was prepared for us by some nice TAs. With the final, again, it was prepared for us by some nice TAs. I think the TAs did a lot of the heavy lifting. Props to them, but not to Buchner. I think I did okay on the final (at least above average, just estimating) but it was objectively bad. 2. Sometimes in lecture he went on to ramble about things that did not matter. Oh, and he added bonus content to the exam (stuff about HIV and COVID) which was not in the syllabus whatsoever and was only added because we happened to be a couple classes ahead of schedule. So, instead of using those classes to do a proper review, he just talked about the things he liked. I will admit I do find this stuff interesting, but I believe that being tested on it and wasting valuable class time on it is unfair. Unrelated to Dr Buchner: Lab definitely helped boost my grade. It's very important to have a good lab group for this class. My lab group started off pretty iffy at the beginning and I felt like I was doing a lot of the heavy lifting, but halfway through they started doing more. So whatever. I am likely getting an A-, with a small chance of me keeping my A based on that last exam. Sucks that the final might bring my A down to an A-, but at least an A- is a 3.7. Most of my friends were at A's too, and that final exam knocked some of us down to A minuses. rip
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/15/2025	i do not like saying this but i found this class to be more difficult than my biochem class!! the content is not difficult, but he teaches in a way that overcomplicates each module. as mentioned in the other reviews, he rambles a lot. although the flipped classroom learning style is deemed as a wonderful technique, i do not believe he implements it well as the slides are wordless and half of the information he says is not on them. A lot of the tas even had mentioned how he was not the best at teaching and that the final was hard-- they tried to fight for our grades. very grateful for the tas who taught me most of the content and for my lab group. i had high hopes for him, but they were not met unfortunately.
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/15/2025	a joke of a professor. he doesn’t teach, doesn’t provide practice exams, no study guides, no kind of help for exams but he expects you to know everything on them. Like why are STUDENTS the ones who made the final exam practice test, instead of the actual teacher. This guy knows nothing about microbiology and he’s the laziest teacher i’ve ever encountered. DO NOT TAKE HIM. If you can take microbiology somewhere else!
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/15/2025	Like everyone this semester has said, I would give zero stars if it was an option. The recorded lecture videos are outdated and do not explain the content well. In class time was wasted as the prof would ramble on about measles, vaccines and whatever he felt like tbh, instead of going over useful material. Half the clicker questions he just told us to figure out on our own. None of the lab/homework assignments supplemented the material we were actually tested on, not to mention they were sooo many of them. The average was horrible on the first exam (which he refused to even mention) but better on the second only because of the amazing TAs. The final was absolutely traumatizing. He was also not helpful when asking clarification questions, just gave some long winded response that didn't make sense. If I didn't have a great lab group and amazing TAs, I would've dropped this class. Please do yourself a favor and take it in the fall with Tran.
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/14/2025	Like the person before me said, If I could give a class 0 stars, I would. The lab is not hard and your assignments are based on completion. However, the learning style for this class is not suitable for the amount we pay to be students here. He uses videos from the pandemic and you spend the entire class either talking about his science interests or doing clicker questions that he does not post the finals answer for. There is absolutely no instruction in class. He provides no study guide, practice exam, no old exams, no review session, or any other preparation to help you prepare for exams. He writes exams a few days before the actual exam so he can never really answer questions about it, neither can the TAs. He is a nice guy, but I hated the way this class operated, but its possible that's a personal problem. Its no longer covid, its time to transition back to regular learning since this class is not listed as a hybrid class.
John Buchner BSCI223 Anonymous 05/13/2025	Would give zero stars if I could. Dr. Buchner is an extremely lazy professor that "teaches" by posting lecture recordings from 2020 containing outdated information. He then rambles in lecture about Measles for the entire time, and giving a few clicker questions. First exam was very difficult given that he gave zero practice problems and did not speak on the exam content in class. He then proceeded to not mention the failing average, and keep yapping on about Measles. Second exam was better thanks to the lovely TAs who made review sessions and practice questions because you would never catch Buchner doing that. THEN he proceeded to zoom through exam 3 content, finishing about 3 lectures ahead of schedule so he decided to lecture about HIV and Covid for the remaining three lectures then tell us it would be on our final exam. Mind you this is nowhere in the syllabus. When I signed up for this class, I expected to learn about Microbiology, but instead we spent over half the time learning about Dr. Buchner's personal biology interests. Take this class during a semester Dr. Tran is teaching if possible!!
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/13/2025	bruh I took this class because I thought the exams were take home (based on previous reviews) but they were not. I felt like I worked really hard in this class but still fell a bit short. I hated the flipped-class style. having to watch 2 hours worth of lecture videos, go to 2 hours of lecture (which were unhelpful for exams), and then 3-4 hours of lab in one week ON TOP OF the insane amount of homework really sucked. the lab was cool though and loved my TA (kari). I think Dr. Buchner could be decent at teaching if he slowed down and restructured the lecture portion. first exam was hard af tho and we do not get any practice problems from him. the TAs and UTAs held this course down fr
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/12/2025	If I could give Buchner a 0 I would. After attending lectures this semester I'm convinced he doesn't actually know anything about microbiology and escaped from some mental facility. He provides outdated and messy videos for the flipped-style lecture and during actual lectures rambles on about random unrelated stuff. Only thing that's nice about this class is the lab section and your TAs.
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/09/2025	I learned the most from my TA. She was exceptional and understanding and clarified concepts kinder and better than Dr. Buchner. Honestly, Dr. Buchner was condescending in emails and just assumed students knew all the material. I felt like there was a power imbalance, and it often discouraged me from doing my best in class. He also didn't teach during lectures, he'd crack unprofessional jokes and state facts without reason then move on. All our learning was expected to be done from pre-recorded videos from years ago that contained outdated information and did not always align with the exam content. He also emphasized asking previous students who took the class for exams or notes, which is really unfeasible for a lot of students who don't have this kind of access or connection-making it a severe disadvantage for a vast majority. I liked the content of this class, and I read the textbook for my own personal learning, which is why I can say I learned a good amount of information. But this credit cannot go to Dr. Buchner, it goes to my TA and maybe him providing a nice textbook. An unnecessary amount of assignments, they taught me nothing.
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting an A Anonymous 08/27/2024	Miserable old man. I thought he was nice and chill at first but I was wrong. Accused half the lecture of cheating on homework and exams when everything is open note and we are allowed to use the internet. And when trying to contact him about it he refused to discuss the matter with any of his students due to a "power imbalance". He put all of these students at a risk of receiving an XF in the course or worse only for the honor council to also not understand what the issue was and dismiss the cases after weeks of investigation. Lectures are also waste of time and have nothing to do with exam content. So much busy work and the multiple part at home exams take hours.
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/18/2024	Super fun and chill class. The labs are actually really hands on and fun, and you don't really need to know much information from lecture to complete the labs. There is a lot of busy work but the majority of it is jut graded on completion. Exams can be a little tricky but they don't impact your grade too much. If you have a good/chill TA for lab, you should be totally fine! Lecture is flipped classroom style which can be helpful for some, just have a basic idea of what is being taught and you should be fine. Dr. Buchner is really sweet and responds quickly to emails.
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/24/2024	This class was easy but had SO much busy work attached to it. It was flipped lectures, except Buchner didn't do anything useful in class and instead read scientific article abstracts out loud during lecture. I would recommend watching the lecture videos, but not actually going to class and just keeping the clickers open during class time (you need to do 2/3 of them every lecture to get participation points). The lab homework and the PAKs are graded for completion. The graded assignments were not difficult, but you have to THOROUGHLY read the rubric. The instructions and the rubric at the bottom sometimes differed and you have to make sure to hit all the requirements to get an A. The exams are multi-part take home ones open for a few days. They test conceptual understanding rather than memorization and take HOURS, so be careful during finals season. I learned a lot more during lab than I did during lecture, mostly because I had an amazing TA. However, you're in the same lab group for the entire semester and do all of your projects with them, so if you get a bad group you're gonna have to do all of the work yourself. If you have the time to dedicate to completing the sheer volume of assignments for this class, then it's an easy A.
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/21/2024	This course is very chill and honestly really fun. Dr. Buchner taught lecture while Dr. Tran oversaw lab (although I didn't really interact with Dr. Tran). I really loved this course. Lab is super fun: you get to make friends in lab and do really cool things with microbes. Also, it is cool that lecture and lab are synched together into one class, as lab TAs are helpful for general class content. In terms of lecture, class takes a flipped-classroom approach. You watch Dr. Buchner's online videos and during class go through review-question slides. (Although Dr. Buchner likes to go off-topic with microbiology current events snippets at points). Class is very chill. You can do it in person or on zoom. And you don't need to get the questions right, you just need to provide some sort of an answer for 2/3 of the questions per day. However, the class is not very 'right/wrong' oriented. Most projects are open-ended responses and Dr. Buchner often likes many different multiple choice answers during the class clickers. In terms of workload, it is actually really intense. Between PAKs and homeworks (both graded only on completion), lab reflections, research boxes, and our 'exams' (which I will get to in a minute), it is a lot of work. The 'exams' are very time consuming, although not really exams. You are assigned 5-6 sets of open-ended, multiple choice, and other projects on Canvas that are due in 1 week. So in short, you don't really need to "study" for exams. But when you fall behind on notes, it makes the exams much harder to complete. In terms of resources, definitely don't get the textbook. The videos that Dr. Buchner posts should be more than plenty to help you. Plus, this course is so time demanding that after attempting to watch Dr. Buchner's videos, attend class, and do assignments, there is no use studying out of a textbook, unless you do nothing else during the semester.
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/15/2024	He says the classroom is a flipped classroom....it's really not. Rather than doing homework in lecture and learning the content at home, you watch lecture videos at home, do homework at home, and go to class just to go over the homework (it won't tell you correct answers) via clicker questions. It's just busy work honestly. The lab is super cool though and easy as well as long as you get a good TA ofc. Do all the assignments as best you can, make a study group, and you'll do fine in the class. Pretty generous grading by the prof (he grades some assignments himself) and the tas too. The midterms and final are take home and open note but that does make them wayyyy harder so make sure before the midterm/final you have watched all the lecture videos and read over the lab protocols/slides. Overall, not a bad class just a lot of busy work which annoying but not the end of the world.
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/11/2024	Take this class with this professor if you are trying to get out of genetics. His labs are so fun and so awesome and amazing, at least in the section I was in. However, there is a insane amount of homework so plan time accordingly.
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/08/2024	My only advice to you is to put off this class until you can get a different professor for it. At the beginning of the semester I thought he was cool and chill but oh boy was I wrong. First off, he does not teach in class; he only does clicker questions for assignments we have already done and reads about the bird flu and measles which isn't even relevant to the content we were studying. He expects you to watch videos he made from several years ago to keep up, and there are MANY of these videos. You shouldn't choose him as a professor because towards the end of the semester he sent out reports with LONG lists of names (and I mean LONG, as in pages) accusing people of cheating on a 4 point homework assignment graded for completion, and we were allowed to use the internet and work with others. His excuse was that we "used a similar clover shape" for a protein or "used similar colors and shapes". For context, this was an assignment where he PROVIDED us with a template, and there was only one right answer and a list of things we needed to include, so how would everyones look different?? When peers challenged his accusation to the honor council, even they said that they don't understand what he thinks was cheating, AND noted that he never even provided the template to them or informed them that we all got the same one, which would have changed everything. Now, I've heard he is sending out more accusations to even more people on an exam, and refusing to reply to people's emails due to a "power dynamic issue", he quite literally copied and pasted this response to everyone. I really would like to know how working this out with him directly is more of a imbalance of power than reporting someone to the honor council and risking them getting an XF and expelled or suspended. So, essentially, don't take this class unless you want to spend months proving that you didn't copy just because you drew a red circle on a 4 point homework completion assignment! Sorry not sorry Dr. Buchner, you did this one to yourself. Stop being like that.
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 02/13/2024	Super chill professor, you don't do much in class besides clickers/point solutions. I gave him 4 stars only because of the insane amount of homework he gives. He typically grades on completion rather than accuracy though and the assignments are relatively easy.
John Buchner BSCI283 Expecting an A florm 12/26/2022	Dr. Buchner made all of the labs for 283, while Drs. Stein and Winkler taught the lectures/made the exams. I don't think I've ever enjoyed a lab more than this one. Culturing bacteria, looking at them under the microscope, and doing all these different tests on them was so much fun. The procedures were all available online and very clear to follow, so as long as you read it, listened to the TA, and used some common sense, you wouldn't have any troubles. There were a couple of labs where we had these "Microbial Olympics" where our bacteria would compete in different ways, like which one could grow the farthest in the presence of E. coli. We also got to make drawings with different colored bacteria which was super cool. There were short 2-3 question quizzes (BLQs) due before every lab which every now and then had a notoriously difficult question, but you get multiple attempts and they're only worth 3 points so it's fine. Occasionally there were after-lab assignments (ALQs) which were longer and required a lot of explanations, but I think we only had 4 of those the entire semester. There is a lab final that takes place over two days and requires you to demonstrate your abilities with different techniques (streak plates, dilutions, Gram staining, microscopy, etc.) and explain why you're doing them. We were allowed to take notes on the protocol ahead of time, though, which really helped make it less stressful. Overall, the lab for 283 (which I imagine is almost identical to the lab for 223) was incredibly well put together and organized, and let us do some really cool things with microbes.
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/22/2022	Dr. Buchner is a great professor who provides many resources to help you succeed in class. This class is not very difficult content-wise, but the work can be tedious and time-consuming. If you attend lectures and go over the slides, you should be able to get an A or B. Dr. Buchner is a funny professor who is extremely helpful. He goes over assignments and questions in class, and after exams, provides an opportunity for individuals to request their tests to be regarded. If you can provide evidence to back your answer he will give it to you. Buchner likes to relate a lot of the course content to current events, making this class interesting. This class is pretty straightforward, but the workload can be overwhelming sometimes. The class PAKs can take a while to complete depending on the questions. The lab is very simple, but attendance is necessary. In the lab, you follow directions and have a couple of group assignments and presentations, which are pretty simple. Overall the workload in this class can be a lot especially since you have 2 lab sections each week.
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/15/2022	easiest bsci class there is, im not even gonna hold you I may end up with an A or very high B in this class and if you ask me what I've learned?????? LOL bruhhh, take this class with a friend and you're good. On your own with no friends? um maybe not so much of an easy A or B for ya but make some in class lol. Buchner is s chill and so sweet as well. Very accessible and willing to help.
John Buchner Expecting an A Anonymous 12/08/2022	Boring and lectures are absolutely useless. Learned nothing. Got an A tho!
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting an A Anonymous 10/12/2022	I dont need to wait til the end of the semester to give this course a review. If there is any class or set of professors that COULD CARE LESS that you're taking other classes that also require your effort and attention. Its these guys!!!
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/03/2021	Loved taking Buchner's class. He is by far the coolest professor I've had yet. He seems like a very kind and understanding person and makes lots of accommodations due to COVID. His lectures can be helpful because he just goes over questions most students didn't understand. Many bad reviews I've seen said he gives too much busy work which I agree with but MOST of it is participation points. As long as you put in some effort, you will get full points for completion. For exams there are a few parts to it but you also get 1-2 weeks to complete it but some questions can be tricky. Lab was good in person. Very minimal effort. You just have to read directions and follow them. I had an awesome TA and he was very lenient with grading so lab helped bring my grade up. There are a few assignments where you have to present but they are very informal and less than 5 minutes as a group. I had to take this class for my major and was super worried about it but it was pretty straightforward. A good amount of effort but easy A for the most part.
John Buchner BSCI223 Anonymous 12/19/2020	Maybe because the course is online due to COVID, but his way of teaching does not make sense at all and he assigns too many assignments per week. His major assignments (PAKs) are genuinely useless and needs EXTRA (I mean whole new) research just for those assignments. His lecture videos are very brief and not at all detailed, so basically useless for all the assignments. His research box assignments, which we have to read a research article per week and analyze, are way out of our league and not at all related to the course. So, basically I have wasted my semester reading and doing shits that are not even related to the college-level GENERAL microbiology. I don't know who else teaches this course and about their ratings, but DO NOT (I MEAN IT) DO NOT TAKE BUCHNER IF YOU WANT TO LEARN ABOUT MICROBIOLOGY.
John Buchner BSCI223 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/06/2019	Buchner makes lectures very interesting and connects material to real-life examples, which made everything easier to understand. It definitely helps to have at least a little background in biology, because a lot of it I've seen before. His first exam was really hard and I failed, but after that, I got As on the second exam and the final. Study the PAK material. His exams are so long and you have to budget your time really well if you want to finish. The lab is a decent amount of work, but it's an easy boost to your grade if you submit everything on time. It's not super hard to get an A in the class, you just have to focus on the bigger concepts when studying. I do recommend Buchner, just be ready to put in the time for a 4 credit class!

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/23/2025

Not the worst professor I've ever had, but I do agree with many of the other reviews. This class definitely had the heaviest workload of all my classes this semester, and not because it was hard. There was a lot of unnecessary busy work that didn't really deepen my understanding of the material or help me prepare for exams. The upside is that the PAKs are graded for completion and TAs tend to grade leniently on the lab assignments, so the busy work helps to pad your grade. In lab time, there are no assignments you have to complete and turn in for a grade, but some of your results or presentations might be needed for assignments you turn in later, so I'd recommend taking pictures of your results. We usually leave lab 30 min-1 hr early. Other than the exams, there are 2 other major grading assignments, which are part of the lab portion. These are the lab report and research poster presentation, both of which are really easy as long as you follow the rubric. Almost all the lab assignments are done as part of a group that gets chosen at the start of the semester, so make sure you pick your teammates wisely. I also disliked the flipped classroom format, where you watch recorded video lectures on your own time and do clicker questions in class. If I wanted to learn by staring at a screen, I'd have gone on YouTube instead of paying thousands in tuition. I'd recommend double speeding the videos. The clicker questions were graded on completion but most were kind of useless for the exam and we had to pay for PointSolutions. Besides clicker questions, the lectures consisted of talking about current scientific research or topics related to microbiology, like the 2025 US measles outbreak. These are nice to know but useless for the exams. I'd much prefer it if they were included in the additional reading section for those who are interested instead of presented during class time. Near the end of the semester, Dr. Buchner had a more traditional lecture style since we finished all the pre-recorded content. I took notes in these lectures, but a lot of it was him reading off of the slides. Dr. Buchner does record his in-person lectures but I've never watched them. Overall, lectures were useless for the exam, but I attended for the clicker points. There were 3 exams (2 midterms and a final), with the final worth the same amount of points as the midterms, but with more questions and cumulative. The exam content was all from the recorded video lectures (and traditional in-person lectures once those ran out) AND lab procedures. Studying the textbook was unnecessary. I wouldn't say the exams were unfair since all the content was covered in the class, but since Dr. Buchner didn't provide any study materials, many people didn't know what the exam format would be like. It was also his first semester doing an in-person exam instead of online, which may have contributed to the low averages. His exams include drawing diagrams, interpreting diagrams, short answer, some multiple choice, and logic questions (Ex: you have a procedure and you forget one of the steps; how does that affect the final results). If Dr. Buchner prints out a handout and goes over it in lecture, make sure to pay attention because it's going to be on the exam. Each exam has one free question thrown in, where you get points as long as you answer it sensibly. I studied for exams by rewatching the recorded video lectures, reading my notes, and looking over lab procedures. Dr. Buchner said he doesn't give out any previous exams, but that he won't stop students from sourcing them themselves. We couldn't do this since we were the first semester to have in-person exams with Dr. Buchner, but I would recommend finding previous in-person exams as study materials. Other notes: - I've heard that Dr. Tran had easier exams than Dr. Buchner. - Dr. Buchner seemed like a pretty chill guy when I talked to him. - If you've taken BSCI222, this class should be a breeze. - I don't think this class was harder than BSCI222, but it has more busy work. - I've heard that Dr. Buchner is lenient about extensions, as long as you email him before the assignment is due. - Dr. Buchner is strict about late work. - If Dr. Buchner provided practice exams and there wasn't so much busy work, this would be a free class. - I didn't learn as much about microbiology as I expected. If you're interested in microbiology as a subject, take BSCI283 instead.

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/22/2025

Oh boy Spring 2025 BSCI223... going to talk about the course first: This class had the highest volume of work I have had in a class here yet. Probably 3-4 assignments per week, which is a lot, especially when some of them are lengthly writing assignments. Often, the assignments seemed like busy work as well. The discussion post series felt like a poor use of time, especially with the arbitrary word minimums. The element of using and discussing a research article could have easily just been incorporated into the final poster presentation, without four additional writing assignments. The PAKs are a bit tedious, but they are at least somewhat connected to course material. I really did not like the structure of the class but maybe I just don't get along with flipped classroom. There were a few hours of lecture videos to watch each week, 2 hours of "lecture" (going to the lecture hall to listen to Buchner talk about measles and answer clicker questions), plus 4 hours of lab, plus all of the assignments. BSCI223 is definitely a time suck no matter who the professor is. Lab was honestly pretty fun and we usually got out early. My lab group was chill and we had a good system for getting group assignments done on time. Shoutout my TA Anna, the legend! She was so kind and helpful and always answered everyone's questions. She also held long exam reviews on zoom. Now about Buchner... He isn't as bad as people are saying. I think the comments on his mental state are unfair. Microbiology IS related to the measles outbreak, because types of vaccines are a component of a lecture video and are on the syllabus. It's hard to talk about scientific research in microbiology without mentioning the current state of affairs in scientific research. You really cannot fault Buchner for providing current context. However, I will acknowledge that it took up more time of lecture than it really should have (i.e. mentioning it every day). Exams felt uneven. First one was hard and average was a 66. He gave zero prep materials for it, did not even say what topics would be on it. It included lab stuff which threw everyone off. I know we are in college and we don't need study guides anymore, but it caught everyone off guard. Second exam was better. The final though also had an average of 66. He said it would be cumulative but it really was not. No curve for the class. Essentially: exam 1 = biochem, exam 2 = genetics, exam 3 = immunology. Hopefully you've taken some of those classes and it might help. His "lectures" were sometimes related to the videos, sometimes not. Some were PAK reviews which I found a bit useless. I think this course would work MUCH better if he lectured during lecture, and we answered the clicker questions in a post lecture canvas quiz format. It feels a bit ridiculous to go to 2 hours of lecture just to sit there and do clickers. A moment that is burned into my memory is Buchner flipping out (literally screaming and menacingly walking towards) about an admitted student who came into the lecture hall and took a picture. He started screaming and going off about his intellectual property and how it was against copyright to take pictures of his lecture material. Miss girl I promise you no one wants pictures of your crappy clicker slides.

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/20/2025

This class was more challenging than I anticipated, no doubt about it. Still, I think a lot of the super low reviews are from people who didn't put in the necessary time for this class or people who don't know how to adapt to a different classroom style and got a nasty awakening. Yes the flipped classroom model sucks, lectures always felt disorganized because it was literally just clicker questions, but that just means this class is more of a self-study type which isn't SO unusual in college. I wouldn't say the exams were necessarily brutal, yes, they were riddled with small typos/mistakes, but a lot of it boiled down to whether or not you could apply the knowledge learned from lab and lecture. The lab aspect of this class really helps to buffer your grade, while there's a lot of busy work, the small 10, 15, 20 point assignments add up and help you out in the end. I didn't do great on the first exam (low C), did slightly above average on the second exam (high B) and final (low B), but was still able to end up with an A- due to lab assignments. It's really important to have at least a basic understanding of lab tests and experiments, since they make up at least 20-30% of exams, but my TA always provided lab slides, and the protocols are all posted on ELMS. It also helps if your lab group is competent. I got lucky and we were able to divide work evenly, so no one ended up completing the entirety of an assignment on their own...but I heard some horror stories from friends in other sections. My TA was a godsend, and Dr. Buchner's TAs are half the reason why I decided to give him three stars. Along with checking in with groups during labs, she was always willing to stay after lab if we ended early to answer questions, was a quick grader, and responded quickly to emails. This may be more of a Dr. Buchner thing, since he was also understanding with extensions, but my TA was super lenient on late submissions, even for major assignments, and would help walk me through the rubric if me or my group mates were confused. The one thing that was kind of frustrating was that none of the TAs had a good understanding of what exams were going to be like, since this was Dr. Buchner's first semester lecturing since exams were switched back to paper. I think future semesters will be better since the TAs will have more exposure to the in-person exams, but the exam blindness, especially going into Exam I, was extremely stressful. I think it's insanely unfair for people to make comments on Dr. Buchner's mental state. While this class was disorganized at times, like him forgetting to print at least 30 final exams, he is understanding if he sees that you're making an effort in the class. Not my favorite professor of all time, but he's not a demonic, hellish tyrant. If you put in the effort and have a good TA and lab group, you'll do fine.

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/20/2025

I would give this man 0 stars if I could. Average is 66% for the final exam and he is not curving. The exams are absolutely atrocious and so hard to read cause they feel like a word vomit. Do not take this class if it is not required for you to graduate. It is not worth the mental toll it takes on you. I regret it so much.

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/20/2025

Whether or not I remember anything about the complement system or taxonomy, the collective crashout of BSCI223 in Spring 2025 will not be forgotten. Reading the reviews below, you'd think this class was a battlefield—Professor Buchner committing some kind of academic treason and students having to sacrifice their souls to pass. But honestly? It's not 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 bad. I promise. Yes, the flipped lecture style sucks. It's hard to stay motivated to watch the videos or show up to class just to answer clicker questions that are usually very unhelpful in actually understanding the material. Like many others, I signed up for an in-person class—not two mandatory discussions a week + learning the actual content on my own by myself. And exams were tough, but not necessarily because of the material. The issue was the lack of guidance provided to help us prepare. There were no practice exams, no review guides, and barely any clarity on what to focus on (and again, the lectures in class often did not correlate to the videos AT ALL) until the TA's stepped in with some reviews. Professor Buchner's exam format leans heavily on drawing and description questions, which personally caught me off guard. Paired with disorganized and dull lectures, this wasn't exactly a fun class. All that said, getting an A is definitely doable if you put in a modicum of effort. If you've taken genetics, exam 2 should be a breeze, and if you go in having actually studied the material, exam 1 and the final should go well enough that you're in good territory (note: I didn't put enough effort studying for exam 1 and studied the wrong things, which again, was both my fault as well as the course's for NOT TELLING US WHAT TO STUDY but if you go in expecting it to be hard, I guarantee you that you'll do better). Additionally, the lab portion of the class offers a MASSIVE grade buffer. There's a lot of busy work (designing the cow transformation experiment was fun, but making us do like 3 discussion posts/essays/lit reviews each was too much), and bad groupmates will make you curse your life, but the TA's grade really generously, the labs are short and often end early, and they're easy to understand and even a little fun to do. Point is: this class isn't the free ride you think it will be, but it's not that bad. Maybe 3-6 hours of studying per exam plus keeping on track with assignments, and you'll be okay.

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/20/2025

I feel like all the reviews talking about his mental state are both very mean and very wrong. Dr. Buchner might be one of the smartest professors I've ever had teach a course. When he was passionate about something (measles, HIV, disease prevention, etc), you could tell, and I think his best lectures were genuinely those that he was passionate about. Unfortunately, this class wasn't about any of those topics. It was about microbiology. And he failed, miserably, to teach anyone anything meaningful about microbiology. Some of this can be chalked up to that terrible flipped classroom model (people generally come to lecture to learn things, not to go through clicker questions as "review") but some of that is just due to poor classroom management on his part. The first exam had unreasonably low averages (in the 60s) and that was less because the exam was difficult and more because no practice exams or supplemental material was provided, and the emphasis on lab material was not communicated well. Lab was managed well, and I think the TAs and UTAs did their best to provide us with self-made practice exams, review sessions, and other supplemental material that the professor should have provided. Would I recommend this professor? Honestly, probably not. You are probably better off taking that microbio elective or core class with Tran or someone else. But he seems like a genuinely nice person, and if you're good at self-studying, you'll probably be fine.

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting a C+
Anonymous
05/19/2025

Unfornatly he seems to be having a mental decline or somthing going on which is sad. I dont think hes all with it. overall he is a nice man though

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/19/2025

He's awful. His exams are genuinely incomprehensible, and he goes off on tangents during lecture. His flipped-style lectures are insane, and he doesn't provide any help. The only good thing about this course is that the TAs are great people. He is incredibly bad at teaching.

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
05/19/2025

All I have to say about Buchner is that he might actually be losing his mind (as proven during the Spring 2025 BSCI223 course). If you're taking microbio take it with Tran or at least any semester Buchner isn't teaching. No help reviewing for any of the exams (all 3 of which were wack) and flipped-style lectures that are comprised of 50-minute in-person rambles about measles, HIV, and other unrelated BS. He sucked this semester good luck doing well in this class if you take him

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/16/2025

This is genuinely the first time I have been prompted to write a review for my professor in all my years out of genuine concern for his mental state. The reviews below basically sum up everything about Buchner and his teaching style, so I won’t elaborate too much on that. A lot of busy work and wasted time lecturing about measles and other topics, rather than reviewing concepts and ensuring that students understood what they were learning from his lecture videos. In terms of doing decently in this class, I would try to do as best as you can on the busy work/lab assignments as they make up a good portion of your grade. They were extremely time consuming and felt like a waste of time sometimes that could’ve gone towards actually preparing for exams, but the grading wasn’t too harsh. Also, I would try to remain on top of watching and taking notes on the pre-lecture videos as it was very easy for them to pile up, and there would be multiple videos to watch that were over 30+ minutes sometimes. In terms of exams, one of my regrets was not attending/watching the exam review videos that the TAs posted until the final because these were extremely helpful and often went over the exact concepts tested on the exams. I would also recommend doing the practice exams. If I had spent more time studying for the midterms, I definitely would’ve done better in the class. Labs are also very easy and fun, especially if you have a good TA. They often didn’t consume too much time, I would recommend just reading over the procedure ahead of time. As for the finals themselves, Buchner provides no study guide, past exams, or any material to get an idea of what they will be like. The first exam averages were very low and Buchner refused to curve. The second exam was much better, but I also believe it was written by Tran. As for the final, it wasn’t too bad but it did bring my grade down to a B and I studied much more for it. The only good thing about this class were the TAs who were amazing at explaining and simplifying concepts, providing a general study guide, hosting review sessions, etc. The only reason I’m giving this professor a star is because of how incredible the TAs were, genuinely the best I’ve ever had.

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/16/2025

I don’t even feel like wasting my time trying to review this professor. But I second every grievance that has already been stated. I wanted to chalk up past negative reviews to the occasional bitter student, but I have never encountered a more unprofessional professor who is so profoundly antithetical to the definition of a teacher. To the UTAs, I’m not even religious, but god bless you. You all worked so hard to make sure we succeeded, and I am incredibly grateful for all you did for us this semester. Please take this course with Dr. Tran if possible.

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/16/2025

If I could give negative stars I WOULD. This class is alright but the professor is absolute garbage at his job. Ive seen plants more useful than this man. He makes you do his stupid clicker questions that are mostly irrelevant towards what he is trying to teach which im still trying to figure out even after taking his bs final. He rambles in class about his political views and useless information that has nothing to do with microbiology. He obviously made his final exam last minute as it was completely void of anything related to what should have been on it and not only that, he ran out of tests to give students so we had to wait 30 minutes before getting our actual final and beginning. Most unprepared "professor" (if you can even call him that) I've had in my entire life. He is a horrible teacher and I am amazed that he has over 1 star. He says he isn't going to curve anything even though the averages are so low. The 20 year old TA's were better than this man with a degree which is insane. Do not take him if you're actually trying to learn anything related to microbiology, you're better off teaching yourself on YouTube shorts than this trash "teaching". Absolute fool of a professor.

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/15/2025

Spring of 2025 was the test run for Dr. Buchner's first semester doing in person microbiology exams, and I think this contributed to why the exams were like /that/. I think Dr. Buchner does know a lot about microbiology, and he is clearly passionate about it. He was nice (at least in my experience, though I have heard from others getting not so nice emails) and some classes were funny. So for that, I will give 2 stars. But, he falls a bit flat when it comes to teaching. I have mixed feelings about the flipped lecture format, because there are some benefits and some downsides to it. However, my biggest gripes with this class was: 1. We were blind when it came to exams. There was 0 preparation when it came to the first exam, besides a heads up on the drawing, and the average was failing. There are no curves (not even a little) despite this. The second exam was prepared for us by some nice TAs. With the final, again, it was prepared for us by some nice TAs. I think the TAs did a lot of the heavy lifting. Props to them, but not to Buchner. I think I did okay on the final (at least above average, just estimating) but it was objectively bad. 2. Sometimes in lecture he went on to ramble about things that did not matter. Oh, and he added bonus content to the exam (stuff about HIV and COVID) which was not in the syllabus whatsoever and was only added because we happened to be a couple classes ahead of schedule. So, instead of using those classes to do a proper review, he just talked about the things he liked. I will admit I do find this stuff interesting, but I believe that being tested on it and wasting valuable class time on it is unfair. Unrelated to Dr Buchner: Lab definitely helped boost my grade. It's very important to have a good lab group for this class. My lab group started off pretty iffy at the beginning and I felt like I was doing a lot of the heavy lifting, but halfway through they started doing more. So whatever. I am likely getting an A-, with a small chance of me keeping my A based on that last exam. Sucks that the final might bring my A down to an A-, but at least an A- is a 3.7. Most of my friends were at A's too, and that final exam knocked some of us down to A minuses. rip

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
05/15/2025

i do not like saying this but i found this class to be more difficult than my biochem class!! the content is not difficult, but he teaches in a way that overcomplicates each module. as mentioned in the other reviews, he rambles a lot. although the flipped classroom learning style is deemed as a wonderful technique, i do not believe he implements it well as the slides are wordless and half of the information he says is not on them. A lot of the tas even had mentioned how he was not the best at teaching and that the final was hard-- they tried to fight for our grades. very grateful for the tas who taught me most of the content and for my lab group. i had high hopes for him, but they were not met unfortunately.

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/15/2025

a joke of a professor. he doesn’t teach, doesn’t provide practice exams, no study guides, no kind of help for exams but he expects you to know everything on them. Like why are STUDENTS the ones who made the final exam practice test, instead of the actual teacher. This guy knows nothing about microbiology and he’s the laziest teacher i’ve ever encountered. DO NOT TAKE HIM. If you can take microbiology somewhere else!

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/15/2025

Like everyone this semester has said, I would give zero stars if it was an option. The recorded lecture videos are outdated and do not explain the content well. In class time was wasted as the prof would ramble on about measles, vaccines and whatever he felt like tbh, instead of going over useful material. Half the clicker questions he just told us to figure out on our own. None of the lab/homework assignments supplemented the material we were actually tested on, not to mention they were sooo many of them. The average was horrible on the first exam (which he refused to even mention) but better on the second only because of the amazing TAs. The final was absolutely traumatizing. He was also not helpful when asking clarification questions, just gave some long winded response that didn't make sense. If I didn't have a great lab group and amazing TAs, I would've dropped this class. Please do yourself a favor and take it in the fall with Tran.

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
05/14/2025

Like the person before me said, If I could give a class 0 stars, I would. The lab is not hard and your assignments are based on completion. However, the learning style for this class is not suitable for the amount we pay to be students here. He uses videos from the pandemic and you spend the entire class either talking about his science interests or doing clicker questions that he does not post the finals answer for. There is absolutely no instruction in class. He provides no study guide, practice exam, no old exams, no review session, or any other preparation to help you prepare for exams. He writes exams a few days before the actual exam so he can never really answer questions about it, neither can the TAs. He is a nice guy, but I hated the way this class operated, but its possible that's a personal problem. Its no longer covid, its time to transition back to regular learning since this class is not listed as a hybrid class.

John Buchner
BSCI223

Anonymous
05/13/2025

Would give zero stars if I could. Dr. Buchner is an extremely lazy professor that "teaches" by posting lecture recordings from 2020 containing outdated information. He then rambles in lecture about Measles for the entire time, and giving a few clicker questions. First exam was very difficult given that he gave zero practice problems and did not speak on the exam content in class. He then proceeded to not mention the failing average, and keep yapping on about Measles. Second exam was better thanks to the lovely TAs who made review sessions and practice questions because you would never catch Buchner doing that. THEN he proceeded to zoom through exam 3 content, finishing about 3 lectures ahead of schedule so he decided to lecture about HIV and Covid for the remaining three lectures then tell us it would be on our final exam. Mind you this is nowhere in the syllabus. When I signed up for this class, I expected to learn about Microbiology, but instead we spent over half the time learning about Dr. Buchner's personal biology interests. Take this class during a semester Dr. Tran is teaching if possible!!

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/13/2025

bruh I took this class because I thought the exams were take home (based on previous reviews) but they were not. I felt like I worked really hard in this class but still fell a bit short. I hated the flipped-class style. having to watch 2 hours worth of lecture videos, go to 2 hours of lecture (which were unhelpful for exams), and then 3-4 hours of lab in one week ON TOP OF the insane amount of homework really sucked. the lab was cool though and loved my TA (kari). I think Dr. Buchner could be decent at teaching if he slowed down and restructured the lecture portion. first exam was hard af tho and we do not get any practice problems from him. the TAs and UTAs held this course down fr

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/12/2025

If I could give Buchner a 0 I would. After attending lectures this semester I'm convinced he doesn't actually know anything about microbiology and escaped from some mental facility. He provides outdated and messy videos for the flipped-style lecture and during actual lectures rambles on about random unrelated stuff. Only thing that's nice about this class is the lab section and your TAs.

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/09/2025

I learned the most from my TA. She was exceptional and understanding and clarified concepts kinder and better than Dr. Buchner. Honestly, Dr. Buchner was condescending in emails and just assumed students knew all the material. I felt like there was a power imbalance, and it often discouraged me from doing my best in class. He also didn't teach during lectures, he'd crack unprofessional jokes and state facts without reason then move on. All our learning was expected to be done from pre-recorded videos from years ago that contained outdated information and did not always align with the exam content. He also emphasized asking previous students who took the class for exams or notes, which is really unfeasible for a lot of students who don't have this kind of access or connection-making it a severe disadvantage for a vast majority. I liked the content of this class, and I read the textbook for my own personal learning, which is why I can say I learned a good amount of information. But this credit cannot go to Dr. Buchner, it goes to my TA and maybe him providing a nice textbook. An unnecessary amount of assignments, they taught me nothing.

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting an A
Anonymous
08/27/2024

Miserable old man. I thought he was nice and chill at first but I was wrong. Accused half the lecture of cheating on homework and exams when everything is open note and we are allowed to use the internet. And when trying to contact him about it he refused to discuss the matter with any of his students due to a "power imbalance". He put all of these students at a risk of receiving an XF in the course or worse only for the honor council to also not understand what the issue was and dismiss the cases after weeks of investigation. Lectures are also waste of time and have nothing to do with exam content. So much busy work and the multiple part at home exams take hours.

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting an A
Anonymous
06/18/2024

Super fun and chill class. The labs are actually really hands on and fun, and you don't really need to know much information from lecture to complete the labs. There is a lot of busy work but the majority of it is jut graded on completion. Exams can be a little tricky but they don't impact your grade too much. If you have a good/chill TA for lab, you should be totally fine! Lecture is flipped classroom style which can be helpful for some, just have a basic idea of what is being taught and you should be fine. Dr. Buchner is really sweet and responds quickly to emails.

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/24/2024

This class was easy but had SO much busy work attached to it. It was flipped lectures, except Buchner didn't do anything useful in class and instead read scientific article abstracts out loud during lecture. I would recommend watching the lecture videos, but not actually going to class and just keeping the clickers open during class time (you need to do 2/3 of them every lecture to get participation points). The lab homework and the PAKs are graded for completion. The graded assignments were not difficult, but you have to THOROUGHLY read the rubric. The instructions and the rubric at the bottom sometimes differed and you have to make sure to hit all the requirements to get an A. The exams are multi-part take home ones open for a few days. They test conceptual understanding rather than memorization and take HOURS, so be careful during finals season. I learned a lot more during lab than I did during lecture, mostly because I had an amazing TA. However, you're in the same lab group for the entire semester and do all of your projects with them, so if you get a bad group you're gonna have to do all of the work yourself. If you have the time to dedicate to completing the sheer volume of assignments for this class, then it's an easy A.

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/21/2024

This course is very chill and honestly really fun. Dr. Buchner taught lecture while Dr. Tran oversaw lab (although I didn't really interact with Dr. Tran). I really loved this course. Lab is super fun: you get to make friends in lab and do really cool things with microbes. Also, it is cool that lecture and lab are synched together into one class, as lab TAs are helpful for general class content. In terms of lecture, class takes a flipped-classroom approach. You watch Dr. Buchner's online videos and during class go through review-question slides. (Although Dr. Buchner likes to go off-topic with microbiology current events snippets at points). Class is very chill. You can do it in person or on zoom. And you don't need to get the questions right, you just need to provide some sort of an answer for 2/3 of the questions per day. However, the class is not very 'right/wrong' oriented. Most projects are open-ended responses and Dr. Buchner often likes many different multiple choice answers during the class clickers. In terms of workload, it is actually really intense. Between PAKs and homeworks (both graded only on completion), lab reflections, research boxes, and our 'exams' (which I will get to in a minute), it is a lot of work. The 'exams' are very time consuming, although not really exams. You are assigned 5-6 sets of open-ended, multiple choice, and other projects on Canvas that are due in 1 week. So in short, you don't really need to "study" for exams. But when you fall behind on notes, it makes the exams much harder to complete. In terms of resources, definitely don't get the textbook. The videos that Dr. Buchner posts should be more than plenty to help you. Plus, this course is so time demanding that after attempting to watch Dr. Buchner's videos, attend class, and do assignments, there is no use studying out of a textbook, unless you do nothing else during the semester.

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/15/2024

He says the classroom is a flipped classroom....it's really not. Rather than doing homework in lecture and learning the content at home, you watch lecture videos at home, do homework at home, and go to class just to go over the homework (it won't tell you correct answers) via clicker questions. It's just busy work honestly. The lab is super cool though and easy as well as long as you get a good TA ofc. Do all the assignments as best you can, make a study group, and you'll do fine in the class. Pretty generous grading by the prof (he grades some assignments himself) and the tas too. The midterms and final are take home and open note but that does make them wayyyy harder so make sure before the midterm/final you have watched all the lecture videos and read over the lab protocols/slides. Overall, not a bad class just a lot of busy work which annoying but not the end of the world.

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/11/2024

Take this class with this professor if you are trying to get out of genetics. His labs are so fun and so awesome and amazing, at least in the section I was in. However, there is a insane amount of homework so plan time accordingly.

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/08/2024

My only advice to you is to put off this class until you can get a different professor for it. At the beginning of the semester I thought he was cool and chill but oh boy was I wrong. First off, he does not teach in class; he only does clicker questions for assignments we have already done and reads about the bird flu and measles which isn't even relevant to the content we were studying. He expects you to watch videos he made from several years ago to keep up, and there are MANY of these videos. You shouldn't choose him as a professor because towards the end of the semester he sent out reports with LONG lists of names (and I mean LONG, as in pages) accusing people of cheating on a 4 point homework assignment graded for completion, and we were allowed to use the internet and work with others. His excuse was that we "used a similar clover shape" for a protein or "used similar colors and shapes". For context, this was an assignment where he PROVIDED us with a template, and there was only one right answer and a list of things we needed to include, so how would everyones look different?? When peers challenged his accusation to the honor council, even they said that they don't understand what he thinks was cheating, AND noted that he never even provided the template to them or informed them that we all got the same one, which would have changed everything. Now, I've heard he is sending out more accusations to even more people on an exam, and refusing to reply to people's emails due to a "power dynamic issue", he quite literally copied and pasted this response to everyone. I really would like to know how working this out with him directly is more of a imbalance of power than reporting someone to the honor council and risking them getting an XF and expelled or suspended. So, essentially, don't take this class unless you want to spend months proving that you didn't copy just because you drew a red circle on a 4 point homework completion assignment! Sorry not sorry Dr. Buchner, you did this one to yourself. Stop being like that.

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
02/13/2024

Super chill professor, you don't do much in class besides clickers/point solutions. I gave him 4 stars only because of the insane amount of homework he gives. He typically grades on completion rather than accuracy though and the assignments are relatively easy.

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/22/2022

Dr. Buchner is a great professor who provides many resources to help you succeed in class. This class is not very difficult content-wise, but the work can be tedious and time-consuming. If you attend lectures and go over the slides, you should be able to get an A or B. Dr. Buchner is a funny professor who is extremely helpful. He goes over assignments and questions in class, and after exams, provides an opportunity for individuals to request their tests to be regarded. If you can provide evidence to back your answer he will give it to you. Buchner likes to relate a lot of the course content to current events, making this class interesting. This class is pretty straightforward, but the workload can be overwhelming sometimes. The class PAKs can take a while to complete depending on the questions. The lab is very simple, but attendance is necessary. In the lab, you follow directions and have a couple of group assignments and presentations, which are pretty simple. Overall the workload in this class can be a lot especially since you have 2 lab sections each week.

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/15/2022

easiest bsci class there is, im not even gonna hold you I may end up with an A or very high B in this class and if you ask me what I've learned?????? LOL bruhhh, take this class with a friend and you're good. On your own with no friends? um maybe not so much of an easy A or B for ya but make some in class lol. Buchner is s chill and so sweet as well. Very accessible and willing to help.

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting an A
Anonymous
10/12/2022

I dont need to wait til the end of the semester to give this course a review. If there is any class or set of professors that COULD CARE LESS that you're taking other classes that also require your effort and attention. Its these guys!!!

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/03/2021

Loved taking Buchner's class. He is by far the coolest professor I've had yet. He seems like a very kind and understanding person and makes lots of accommodations due to COVID. His lectures can be helpful because he just goes over questions most students didn't understand. Many bad reviews I've seen said he gives too much busy work which I agree with but MOST of it is participation points. As long as you put in some effort, you will get full points for completion. For exams there are a few parts to it but you also get 1-2 weeks to complete it but some questions can be tricky. Lab was good in person. Very minimal effort. You just have to read directions and follow them. I had an awesome TA and he was very lenient with grading so lab helped bring my grade up. There are a few assignments where you have to present but they are very informal and less than 5 minutes as a group. I had to take this class for my major and was super worried about it but it was pretty straightforward. A good amount of effort but easy A for the most part.

John Buchner
BSCI223

Anonymous
12/19/2020

Maybe because the course is online due to COVID, but his way of teaching does not make sense at all and he assigns too many assignments per week. His major assignments (PAKs) are genuinely useless and needs EXTRA (I mean whole new) research just for those assignments. His lecture videos are very brief and not at all detailed, so basically useless for all the assignments. His research box assignments, which we have to read a research article per week and analyze, are way out of our league and not at all related to the course. So, basically I have wasted my semester reading and doing shits that are not even related to the college-level GENERAL microbiology. I don't know who else teaches this course and about their ratings, but DO NOT (I MEAN IT) DO NOT TAKE BUCHNER IF YOU WANT TO LEARN ABOUT MICROBIOLOGY.

John Buchner
BSCI223

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/06/2019

Buchner makes lectures very interesting and connects material to real-life examples, which made everything easier to understand. It definitely helps to have at least a little background in biology, because a lot of it I've seen before. His first exam was really hard and I failed, but after that, I got As on the second exam and the final. Study the PAK material. His exams are so long and you have to budget your time really well if you want to finish. The lab is a decent amount of work, but it's an easy boost to your grade if you submit everything on time. It's not super hard to get an A in the class, you just have to focus on the bigger concepts when studying. I do recommend Buchner, just be ready to put in the time for a 4 credit class!