Melissa Caras

This professor has taught: BIOL708J, BSCI353, BSCI355, NACS728I, NACS898, NEUR306, NEUR479

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Melissa Caras BSCI353 Anonymous 12/20/2023	I may have to go against the grain here, but if you are taking this class with a lighter course load (that is, you are not taking it alongside MammPhys) and you are interested in pursuing neuroscience related research/internships, I would take it with Dr. Caras. This is typically not the case for many people, since this class is usually taken junior year and is a requirement for the Neurobio&Phys major. Although this class is difficult, you will definitely leave the class having understood the content at a much deeper level, relative to the other biology classes at UMD. Will your grade reflect it? Because of the sheer depth and memorization demands, you are bound to miss something while studying, so probably not. Compared to endocrinology and virology, which are both 400-level bio classes, this class was more difficult. It's not because the content itself is more difficult, it's that Dr. Caras requires that you understand these concepts mechanistically. Furthermore, this class is particularly difficult because the content you learn throughout the semester is compounding. If you don't really understand the electrochemical gradient (which is taught early on), the rest of the class is a struggle. Given that her class demands a lot more depth, here are the pros and cons of her teaching style: Pros: 1. Her slides have no "fat". There is no extra content, every single slide is important and fair game. In fact, if you think of her lecture/slides as a supplement for prereading and taking notes from the textbook, you will be in great shape. That's why this class is going to be difficult for someone taking a bunch of other classes. 2. She is generous with help on the graded in-class worksheets and regrade requests. 3. She is enthusiastic about the science (and about particular topics, which tend to show up on exams more). 4. Midterm averages increased through the semester (83, 84, 95 for Exams 1-3, respectively). 5. Slides are posted in advance. 6. Lots of extra credit (we had ~25 points of extra credit across the 4 exams). This must be a new addition to the course since other reviews said that she does not offer EC. Cons: 1. This semester she tended to finish her lectures early. This is sometimes good because then you have more time to ask questions; however, as other folks have mentioned here, that's 25-30 pages of content in about an hour of lecture. If you haven't done the reading (which happened to me several times), it's very difficult to keep up. I suppose that's why we have the pre-lecture textbook reading quizzes (which you could technically finish without having read the textbook, but then what's the point). 2. Final exam average was a ~75%. 3. No practice exams. You can try to compile the weekly worksheets to simulate a practice exam. The worksheets are quite similar to the practice exams, but about 25% easier. If you make comprehensive flash cards (mentioned below), you can bridge that knowledge gap and really master the content. 4. Slides that are posted are sometimes a little outdated (and the additional diagrams are helpful). 5. Readings can be quite long, a good idea would be to split them over 3 days. If you have Dr. Caras next semester, here are some tips: 1. How to take notes: 1) Type up notes when you pre-read the textbook chapter (before lecture). This takes time, but it is worth it. 2) During lecture, add to your notes the stuff that is in red on the slides and names of scientists. 3. Make an anki deck for that week's notes. 4. How to study for her exams in 2 days: 1) Review the slides 2) Complete your Anki cards 3) Do all the worksheets relevant to that exam (if it's the second midterm, do the weeks corresponding to that exam, since the midterms are not cumulative). 5. In addition to mastering concepts, memorize the examples! Examples tend to be the basis of her bonus questions.
Melissa Caras NEUR306 Anonymous 12/08/2023	I don't understand all the bad reviews on Caras. I'm a neuro major and I was familiar with most of the material she taught, but she is the first professor who was able to understand it in a way where is all just clicked and made sense. She does go through her lectures fast and I like to take elaborate notes so I can't keep up during class BUT she does post the recordings so you can take notes afterwards. A lot of students just sit and listen to her lecture and ask questions to things they are confused about. I really like this because you are really immersed in the material and retain it quickly (especially after reading the chapter). The other day of class is designated for worksheets about the content which I really thought helped. You got to talk about concepts with students and get a grade boost. The content is really interesting and Caras is a good lecturer so I enjoyed the class and really learned a lot. The exams are hard, but if you study enough and fully understand everything you'll be fine. That being said, this was a required course for my major and it was hard so I wouldn't recommend this class if it's not required.
Melissa Caras BSCI353 Anonymous 11/03/2022	The bad reviews are trippin: It's neuroscience y'all it's hard but ask questions and understand mechanisms and you will do fine and learn!!! Caras is an extremely helpful professor
Melissa Caras BSCI353 Expecting a D- Anonymous 01/12/2022	This class was intentionally made much more difficult than other sections with other professors to "prepare us for medical school." In almost every class period she would run out of time, and so we were forced to rely on our own research to learn the material. This professor's policies were strict and nonflexible. When missing class due to a severe illness, she would not provide an extension greater than 24 hours. I suffer from a few debilitating medical conditions and she was intolerant of my health, saying "I expect you to have perfect attendance for the rest of the semester no matter what." Once, with an extension, I sent her the completed assignment but she refused to grade the assignment because I had forgotten to cc her, even when I successfully sent it to her a second time. She would inform the class what information the exams would focus on, but would not include those questions on the exam, so everyone was studying the wrong things. Exam questions were very specific and were graded with the utmost scrutiny. I do not understand what she seeks to gain from her teaching policies.
Melissa Caras BSCI353 Anonymous 12/30/2021	This class was hard. Harder than it needed to be. Lectures were hard to follow because she would not upload lecture slide before class and spoke way too fast that most of the time I felt like I was trying to writer as fast as I can to catch up with her rather than learning the material. Im sure lectures would have been more beneficial if she had uploaded lectures ahead so we could just write down important info that was not presented on slides and actually listen to what she was teaching. She's a very HARSH grader. You have to be super specific in every sentence not to loose stupid points. As mentioned below, I found that watching her Panapto recording was much more beneficial. I would attend every lecture but would not understand much. When I would go home, I watched the Panapto recordings side by side with the slides and I was able to understand the information. You have to read A LOT in this class. Im talking about 30+ pages and memorize every little detail from the book that may see insignificant since she doesn't go over it in lecture. Everything you don't think will be on exams will almost always be. Her exams are also very applicational based so you have to know material inside and out. This was a bit difficult since many of the biology course at UMD are memorization based. This class was work and I dreaded it... I would have multiple meltdowns a week because I felt that that she was making this class harder than it needed to be. She was also very hard to approach and at times it felt like she didnt respect her students based on judgmental comments I overheard her make when someone asked for help. If you are taking this class to check an upper level BSCI course, I strongly suggest not to or choose a different professor maybe. If your a neuroscience major where this class is a major requirement, choose a different professors. At the end of the semester, 6 people failed with Fs, 14 with D's, and 20+ with C's (some students still need to take the final so this will probably change for the worse).
Melissa Caras BSCI353 Anonymous 12/30/2021	Any review stated here that is above 3 stars and that states she is a good professor is honestly shocking to me. Yes - upper level biology courses are very hard; no biology major or neuroscience major picks this as their major and expects 300-400 level classes to be a walk in the park. I was taking a 4 credit biology course that is known to be one of the hardest courses taught here at UMD while also taking BSCI 353 (you could probably guess which one just by me stating that if you're a junior or senior UMD student just because that's the reputation it has). The workload of BSCI 353 alone with Dr. Caras was nearly double the workload of the 4 credit biology class. The hours that it takes to even study and review for her exams was way more than the 4 credit course I was in. She herself made the course so unenjoyable and miserable. She made it as hard as it possibly could be for her students. Yes, the material is difficult and every student who signs up for this course expects that. But that doesn't necessarily mean it should be and feel impossible. That's exactly what she did though; made it impossible. She offered no review material, no study guides, so unapproachable, NEVER decided to listen to her student's suggestions or concerns and actively change little things here and there that could've helped majority of the class succeed. She is by far the worst professor I've ever had. Only 13 students got an A+. A, or A- in the class OUT OF ALMOST 100 STUDENTS. 20 kids got below a C- or failed the course. For someone who did okay in this class, I seriously think she is terrible and a horrible professor. Yes, she can "teach" but that alone shouldn't be a deciding factor as to whether or not you're a good professor. She talks so fast too and her lecture slides are quite horrible as well.
Melissa Caras BSCI353 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/30/2021	If you’re looking to take this class to fulfill an upper level BSCI course requirement, don’t take it if you can’t put in a HIGH amount of effort. Personally I hate reading textbooks, don’t have the time for it, and this class runs completely by the book, so I struggled a lot in that area. I was able to keep up with the readings only for the first unit, and the lecture material wasn’t too bad to understand at that point, so lectures were okay for the first unit. I need to mention she absolutely refused to post the lecture pdfs before class because she works on them up until the last minute before class starts. Majority of the class uses laptops or iPads to write notes and it would have been so much easier if we could write straight on the powerpoint because there’s a million diagrams she refers to with minimal text. On the first day of school SEVERAL students asked her about posting powerpoints in advance, but she refused to comprise to fulfill the needs of her students. Every single step of the way whenever she had the chance, she chose to make our life harder. She acts like this class is our only responsibility. Anyway, after the first unit I started getting behind in readings and therefore getting lost during lecture. I stopped coming to lecture all together because it was just a waste of time at that point. She posts panaptos that are only for students with “excused absences,” but I opened them and watched them all anyway because anyone can open the folder. I don’t know why someone else here said we don’t have access to them. We do, I watched them all. That helped me the most with doing well on the exams. I was able to watch the lecture at my own pace because she goes too fast in class and I can take in the information at my own pace. That is the only thing that helped me pass this course. I don’t remember her mentioning panaptos, and some of my classmates didn’t even know she posted them. She honestly should have encouraged all her students to watch them. Attending lecture, I was overwhelmed with info so I didn’t like her teaching then. But watching her panaptos, her teaching was great I was able to understand everything. Reviewing quizzes is pointless, has nothing to do with exams. Reviewing worksheets have been a little bit helpful with exams. No review sheets or anything, she wants you to memorize every single detail from the chapter and lecture, because all of it is “fair game” for the exams. Interacting with her in person was weird she’s so hard to approach. I was much more comfortable talking to her TA Sophia, she was so kind.
Melissa Caras BSCI353 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/27/2021	I thought Dr. Caras was clear and concise and communicated complex topics in a way that made them easy to understand. This class is HARD, but this is typical for any upper-level biology course at UMD. She was a hard grader, but her exams were fair and covered the material we were expected to learn for class. I really don't understand the slew of negative reviews, except for the fact that she is a hard grader and people were salty that she refused to move the exam online in response to the COVID outbreak, however, this would've made the exam unfair to those who don't cheat.
Melissa Caras NEUR306 Expecting a C- Anonymous 12/23/2021	I'm still in disbelief at how this class went... talking to Caras or the TA Sophia always felt like I was talking to a brick wall. Not only were they insanely harsh graders, but they gave absolutely no room for you to get points back even through a formal regrade it was impossible. I swear they want you to go out and conduct years of ground-breaking research and only then will they consider admitting they were wrong and could give you some points back. This is 100% a class where you read and breathe the textbook. She followed the textbook to a T, where it was either verbatim or she would just rephrase it. She spoke too fast and she never gave access to all students of the recorded lecture. She would expect you to know the textbook by heart to do well. The weekly worksheets were mentally draining and were more so based on external applications of the material we learned that week, but that never came in handy for the exams. The exams were very hard and consisted of such specific detail that she wanted you to know from 4+ chapters each unit. Again, I have never experienced such harsh grading and those exams were one and done. If you don't have a strong foundation in the beginning exams (like getting a B) then you will not end up with a C or higher. She does not curve nor round up grades (yes even if you are .1% away from the next letter grade). She does not consider moving the final exam online amidst a surge of COVID cases on campus, whereas the other BSCI353/NEUR306 class did. This was super frustrating to deal with because I genuinely loved the content of this class but it was contaminated by a professor who does not care about her students. If she could just change the exam style and listen to student feedback, it would have boosted everyone's performance in the class. It honestly made me feel so stupid every time I went in to take the exam because my entire major is neuroscience for goodness sake. I read the textbook, I went to every class, I went to every worksheet class period, I took notes, I studied. This energy just didn't match when it came time for the exam. Overall, Caras has no place in academia. She should stick to her electrophysiology training and auditory research with gerbils where she can't harm a handful of students grades, future, and mental health.
Melissa Caras BSCI353 Anonymous 12/21/2021	Do NOT take Caras for 353/306, you will regret your decision. She seems nice, but she does not care about her students at all and it is very clear. The exams are hard and are graded even harder. You will lose points for the most absurd things, and she does not have any sympathy with curving or extra credit. I have done well in every other upper BSCI class, and this class has completely shattered my GPA. I would highly recommend you take another professor for this class if you care about your grades at all, as I don't know a single person who has above a B+ in this class, and NO it is NOT curved at all.
Melissa Caras BSCI353 Anonymous 12/21/2021	Overall, she did a poor job of teaching this course. Her lectures are very rushed and she tries to cram 25+ pages of content from each chapter, into one lecture. I realized too late that her lectures are really pointless to go too and I wish I could've just spent all that time reviewing the chapters on my own. She records the lectures but they are only reserved for people with "excused absences" like she even takes attendance. When someone asked if we could get a review sheet for the exams, she just said to use the quizzes and group worksheets. These quizzes/worksheets ended up being poor representations of the exam. I'm honestly surprised she managed to make this class more frustrating than mamm phys or biochem for me. If she would have two lectures each week (instead of one) and just make the group worksheets homework, that would have been better. Rushing through the worksheets made it difficult to intake the information, and almost all the time, we would just be using the textbook to find the answers, so it was pointless to force us to complete it and turn it in by the end of one class period. She was difficult to approach because she would just question if you read the chapter or not (sorry for not remembering every little detail from 25+ pages of content). I don't recommend taking her. I had high hopes for this class but it ended up being the most boring, frustrating class I've taken. And also, she doesn't post any exam key, because why would you ever need that right?
Melissa Caras BSCI353 Anonymous 12/21/2021	If giving a professor 0 stars was an option, I would in a heartbeat. I wish I was kidding when I said that this is probably my most dis-liked professor at UMD, and I’m a senior pre-med student so that says a lot. The structure of this class is ridiculously poor; you have basically one lecture PER WEEK to retain information that corresponds to 25-35 pages of textbook material. And this isn’t a normal “textbook”; this is almost a graduate student level textbook. For many students that are not neuro majors like myself, this was the first time taking a neuro class. However, the professor teaches at an unreasonable, insane pace where she thinks you’re quite literally a neurologist yourself. You’d think for a course that sounds this challenging (and i’m not exaggerating), she would show some empathy — No. She has 0 empathy. Despite it being the first time she has taken this class, you would think she might ask other neuro professors who are experts at teaching this class for advice, tips, etc. Nope. She is an extremely prideful professor, which I’m sure in HER LINE OF WORK, she has every reason to be. But teaching a course this challenging and having no regard to help her students really showed our class that she simply does not care about us or want the best for us. Their were moments throughout class where I genuinely thought she was making it harder for us on purpose. I can’t emphasize this enough — do not take her. You will regret it SO MUCH.
Melissa Caras BSCI353 Anonymous 12/21/2021	Professor Caras is a nice person on the outside, but she does not accommodate for students whatsoever. My issue with her is that she thinks that she is doing a good job of preparing us for exams, but the structure of the class has made it difficult for me to retain information in an engaging way. I'm sure the other reviews attest to this too. Perhaps worst of all, her exam questions are not straightforward and her grading is EXTREMELY harsh. She also refuses to curve the class, despite the averages for this class being at a historic low according to planetterp data. One of the worst experiences I've had at umd (only second to Dodson for online chem271)
Melissa Caras BSCI353 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/21/2021	I have to go against the grain here and say that Dr. Caras has been a relatively normal teacher in my experience at UMD. This is an upper-level bio class, so I had high expectations with the workload and textbook dependency of this class. Her lectures aren't that bad, but IMO, what worked for me was doing the textbook in its entirety before viewing the lecture. The information is a lot, but it is doable and certainly not impossible. I had a lot of other obligations at home due to COVID and the stress of medical school applications and other upper-level classes. However, I still managed to (hopefully) squeeze out an A or A-, but you have to maximize how to study for this class because it is a lot of work and it is hard. She has been very receptive and kind to me when I ask her questions and such, so I don't think some of these reviews are entirely fair. Sure the COVID situation was pretty bad on her part, but she has not made the class impossible to pass. It may be more challenging than the other BSCI353 course, but I definitely had to readjust and refine my study habits to keep up with this rigorous class, so I do not regret taking this, even if I don't get the grade I want. Overall, her class was fairly standard in my experiences with upper-level bio classes. Usually, the upper-level bio classes I have taken never got curve, so I didn't feel cheated there either.
Melissa Caras BSCI353 Anonymous 12/20/2021	"There will not be an exam review sheet, you have quizzes and worksheets to use to study" **Worksheets and quizzes end up being a poor representation of the exam Her lectures are pointless to go to. I realized too late I could've just spent that time reviewing the textbook chapters more. She rushes through the topics in her lectures so it's hard to grasp what's going on. The only reasons you would need to come to class are these annoying worksheets you have to rush through and exams. And also, NO EXAM ANSWER KEYS BECAUSE WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU NEED THAT? gg
Melissa Caras BSCI353 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/20/2021	These fools trippin. Professor Caras was straightforward with what she expected. You have one quiz and one worksheet per week, two midterms and a final. If you just go to lecture, read the book and review your notes before the exam you will know everything. There are no trick questions but this class does have a lot of material. Professor Caras answered all questions as best she could but she couldn't get to everything because there's a lot to get through.
Melissa Caras BSCI353 Anonymous 12/20/2021	I agree with everything these people have said about Caras. I talked to people who previously took this class and they said you could get an A with a decent amount of work but she structures the class extremely poorly to the point that lectures are hard to follow. She talks very fast and refuses to slow down. She doesn’t care at all if we actually understand the material and says that we should just look in the textbook when we have questions. I was so excited to take this class but instead because of her this was the worst class I’ve taken in my college career. She designed this class to be harder than biochem and that’s not an exaggeration. She makes questions from textbook material even if she doesn’t go over it in class but the textbook is columns of information that are hard to follow and consolidate. Please don’t make the mistake of taking her for this class.
Melissa Caras NEUR306 Anonymous 12/20/2021	I agree with the other reviews posted recently. This is the worst class I have ever taken at UMD solely due to the professor. I enjoyed the course material and understand the material when I am learning. The professor decided to make the whole textbook chapters "fair game" and write short answer questions that are impossible. She refused to put the final exam online despite COVID cases spiking. Also, the other professor allowed their students to take their exam online that was not proctered. This put them at an unfair advantage before the exam. My friends and I have been studying for 5 days and still have not retained the information required to know on the final. Furthermore, the amount of information in the textbook/lectures equaled about 150 pages of material. Given that our teacher studies the brain for a living she should be smart enough to know that a student is not capable of remembering this much information, but this is not the case. If she did want us to know this much, students should receive a curve. Instead, she said under no circumstance that she is curving. If I could recommend a 0 to this professor I would. Please save yourselves.
Melissa Caras NEUR306 Anonymous 12/20/2021	To preface, like the other reviews left thus far, I have done considerably well in every neuroscience course offered at this university, and have had no negative experiences with a single other professor within this department. But this was a completely different experience; I have despised this course, the professor and the way in which material is presented. The course is structured to be a one-day lecture, one-day in class assignment (which is generally useless in preparing for exams). The expectation is that we read upwards of 25 pages of double-column textbook material, which is dreadful and hard to maintain focus on. Especially when the "lecture" is not beneficial whatsoever, and topics included on the exam have a significant stretch beyond what we discuss in class. That is, the majority of information pulled for exams (which average around 70%) comes from an arbitrary passage in the readings we probably did not cover during a nonessential lecture. Just don't hold a lecture at that point. The worksheets are not applicable to exams in most cases, and the quizzes are too basic to help with preparing for examinations. Now, this would not be an issue if we were provided resources, GSS sessions, or even an actual review day before exams (she just turns the "review time" into office hours, which for many of us in our third or fourth year don't have time for). At the beginning of the semester, someone asked if we would have a review sheet available before exams; the answer was no, that we had quizzes and worksheets to review from. But they have (from experience) no correlation with what will be on the exam. It is near impossible to study for her exams; you can study general themes, sure, but you better remember every definition of every term of every process possible related to the theme if you even hope to produce a proper answer. This is the single worst experience I have had at this experience. She is NOT a good lecturer, NOT a good exam-giver, and is NOT who you should take for this course if other options are available. Oh, and she is blatantly ignoring the soaring cases in COVID-19 cases on campus, and forcing students to take the final examination in person, putting people and their families at risk for severe illness. Horrendous.
Melissa Caras NEUR306 Anonymous 12/20/2021	I have to agree with the other recent review on here regarding professor Caras. I have always loved every neuroscience course I’ve ever taken at UMD and have always done well in them, with the exception of this class. This course slowly turned into one of my most hated classes I’ve taken at UMD. This is her first time teaching this course and while i hoped that would mean she would offer extra credit or curve the class since we have an average of a 70 on exams, it didn’t. Instead it just meant she made the class impossible to do well in. She expects you to read 30+ pages of content rich information, which takes forever to get through and honestly was discouraging to do. Her lectures were fine, but didn’t really prepare you for exams. I put a lot of work in this class but because there is just so much information and the exams are essentially all short answer or essay questions, it’s impossible to do well on them or to even feel prepared. The other section of this course had their final online because of the drastic spike in COVID cases, and also had their final be all multiple choice. I would absolutely not recommend her as a professor for 306. I am now in a position where I have to pass the final to pass the class and that may potentially impact me graduating.
Melissa Caras NEUR306 Expecting a C Anonymous 12/19/2021	I've gotten an A in every neuroscience class at UMD except this one. From the beginning of the course, Dr Caras was judgemental and harsh. I asked her for help one time on a worksheet and she judged me for not knowing the answers to the questions she was asking. She said things like "So you're telling me you don't understand X? You're telling me you don't understand something we have been building on for the past X amount of days?". It is her job to help students through those humps not get angry at them. This created an atmosphere where I did not feel comfortable talking to her, personally or academically. If you devote a lot of time to this course, you will do well, but as a student taking 21 credits, the final will determine if I pass or not. It also will determine graduation for me, so don't put yourself in a bad position with this professor. She refuses to put the final exam online despite a very large spike in COVID cases on campus and is actively putting students at risk. She only lectures once a week instead of two which would maximize retention, and she expects you to read 30-page chapters where every page is columns of text beforehand. You are responsible for everything in the textbook regardless of if she covers it or not; she calls her lectures "summaries". She is trying to prepare students for graduate school, so hopefully, that would come in handy at a later date for you(?). She takes off way too many arbitrary point values on exams when the answer is mostly correct, and the majority of the exams are short answer questions. There are so many short answers it is impossible to perfect each one in the allotted time. She thinks a 70% average on exams is good and refuses to curve the class under any circumstances. She does no one any favors, and sometimes it feels like she is actively trying to make things more difficult than is necessary. I never write reviews for professors and I do not take writing a review like this one lightly. I absolutely love neuroscience and the content in this class IS very fascinating; it is a shame that I grew such a distaste for it given the setup of the class.
Melissa Caras NEUR306 Anonymous 11/20/2021	Super nice teacher; exams are hard, quizzes and lecture assignments weekly that require you to read ~30 pages of text. She does not deviate from the text whatsoever; literally reads straight off the slides, of which the information comes straight out of the text. Questions asked on exams hardly relate to those asked on lecture assignments or quizzes. Would not recommend for NEUR306/BSCI353 if there is another option available.