Chloe Garfinkel

This professor has taught: BSCI160, BSCI207

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Chloe Garfinkel BSCI160 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/26/2025	She's great. The exams are pretty easy, and they only test you on content covered in the review guide, but they do take up a large portion of your grade. She drops the 3 lowest homework assignments, and none of them take much time. If you've taken AP Environmental Science, this class is very similar and covers a lot of the same content. She covers everything you need to know very clearly, and none of it is truly very hard anyway. The class isn't very time consuming and the content is pretty surface-level. My only issues were that the homework assignments from SimBio weren't very useful, but they were short. The exams also test your ability to apply the content instead of the content itself.
Chloe Garfinkel BSCI160 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/23/2025	Dr. G is a great professor. Her lectures are pretty entertaining, her exams are not super difficult, and she provides resources. For every exam, she gives her students a study guide in which she pulls questions/topics directly from what is on the study guide and she allows students to use the front and back of an index card on the exams. She doesn't do clicker questions anymore, like the past reviews say. She is very nice and I have friends who created meetings with her to discuss their grades and ask for help and she seemed very accommodating. There is a biodiversity project worth approximately 5% of your grade, which takes a maximum of 1 hour and is an easy 100%. The homeworks were usually wekly SimBio's due on friday at midnight that also did not take a lot of time. She also does not do any curves or rounding. The only thing I would say as a negative is that at the beginning of an exam (usually half multiple choice worth 5pts each, half free response) she would say to not write a lot in the free response section; however, she would take off points if you were not specific enough. Otherwise, she is super sweet, and you can tell she really wants her students to succeed. I would recommend her as a teacher.
Chloe Garfinkel BSCI160 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/21/2025	Dr. G is genuinely one of my favorite professors here at UMD. As a first year handling the transition from high school to college, Dr. G really helped me figure things out. I want to point out that if you do bad on the first exam, you can get an A. I am living proof. Although it took a TON of work to make it, I managed to claw my way from a 75% after the first exam to a 90% after the final. Dr. G is genuinely helpful and cares about student success. Yes, she doesn't drop the lowest midterm but who can blame her, it creates magical thinking that you are invincible (you are not). Review her study guides thoroughly and PLUG THEM INTO CHATGPT FOR QUESTIONS. Her office hours are the most resourceful thing you can do. Super helpful and super in-depth. Make concept maps, I did one for each lecture and it made everything so manageable. I had a really good upward trend of exam scores after using concept maps. After the first exam (F), I got As on every exam after, and an A+ on the final. The lectures are super organized and she records them and uploads them to Canvas. Her exams are very very very conceptual, NOT memorization. Highly recommend taking her!
Chloe Garfinkel Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/19/2025	Pros: Honestly, Professor G is one of the best lecturers I’ve ever had in my five semesters here. The way she teaches is very engaging, and she is really good at explaining concepts clearly and connecting different ideas together. The class slides are clear, include key information, and aren’t too dense. She is also super nice and understanding, and I think she is receptive to feedback, which I really appreciate. I also loved how she streamed and recorded every lecture and posted them, so we didn’t have to worry about missing class due to sickness or other complications, and we could rewatch lectures to study. This helped so much, and I wish every professor would do this. The exams, for the most part (besides Exam 1), were very straightforward with no tricks at all. There was also a final project that was meant to be easy and boost our grade, and it was pretty fun because we got to choose an organism and design an infographic about it. She provides us a review guide (but we have to fill in the answers) for each exam, so we get a better idea of what to study for. Cons: Unfortunately, the first exam this semester was a bit too long. I personally was not able to finish an entire page and lost points due to working too slowly rather than a lack of knowledge. Many students didn’t expect this and weren’t able to finish the exam, which resulted in a lower average. Thankfully, the next two exams were much better and more reasonable time-wise. I’m not exactly sure if she adjusted them due to feedback, but if she did, I’m grateful for it. I think exam 1 should've been shorter, or we could've received a more thorough warning about time management/what to expect. Also, the bar for an A in this class is super high because there is no curve. Even with the homework and final project, if you do slightly poorly on one exam, you have to get nearly perfect scores on the next exams to earn an A. I got high 70s on Exam 1 and did very well on the next two midterms (almost perfect scores), but my grade was still barely an A-. The final is weighted heavily, and I had to get a perfect score to boost my grade to a flat A. In addition to this, even though the exams are out of 200 points, even just missing 1–3 questions or losing 1–2 points here and there can significantly lower your score. Another thing is that this class has a ton of content, which can get very overwhelming, especially if you are not keeping up with every class by taking notes and reviewing. Professor G understands this and allowed us to have a double-sided 3×5 notecard for each exam and the final, which was nice. However, I wouldn’t heavily rely on this because the exams are also conceptual, and it’s nearly impossible to fit all the information on the card. There’s also not enough time to scan your size -9 font cheat sheet during the exam, and I barely even looked at my notecard anyway because I remembered most of the information from spending hours writing it. Overall, I’d definitely recommend Professor G. I also think it’s really cool that she’s an entomologist and studied carrion beetles. She even brought us candy and mealworm snacks for the final (yum). My only wish is that there had been at least a slight curve. It was hard to balance this class with my other ones like chemistry.
Chloe Garfinkel BSCI160 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/19/2025	I really liked her. She’s very sweet and genuinely cares about her students. Just keep in mind that she does not curve or drop grades, so if you’re someone who depends on that, this may not be the prof for you. One great thing is that she posts all of her recorded lectures on Canvas, which is super helpful for reviewing. I don’t really understand some of the other reviews, I didn’t think her exams were unfair at all. Everything on the exams came directly from her lectures and slides. The first exam is long, but you get used to the format. The material itself isn’t very difficult, but there is a lot of content. She focuses more on conceptual understanding rather than pure memorization. I’d definitely recommend her
Chloe Garfinkel Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/18/2025	I loved Dr. Garfinkel's class, probably one of the highlights of my semester. There's one homework assignment a week, one or two extra assignments, and her exams are mostly conceptual. The only kind of computational work you really do is exam 2 with maybe a bit in exam 1. There's no curves or drops on her midterms, but she drops the lowest 3 exams iirc, and honestly if you read the study guide and do concept maps or something, you should be fine on the exams. Some of the questions are literally just copy-pasted from the study guide. She's very engaging, and if you go to her office hours she's very easy to talk to. This semester her TA's were great too, usually they gave us some kind of practice exam and hold their own office hours (which I would highly recommend going to).
Chloe Garfinkel BSCI160 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/17/2025	She makes the lectures engaging even though its not the most interesting class. Her exams are not that hard and she gives a lot of resources to help prepare and is overall very helpful. I really enjoyed her teaching style and the homework assignments were never too hard. She records lectures and posts slides, which is great. She doesn't move too fast and the content isn't really difficult.
Chloe Garfinkel BSCI160 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/17/2025	Overall a great professor. Lectures can be a little boring sometimes but she does well at explaining everything instead of just reading off of slides. Not much class work, other then a SimBio assignment every week, a coupe concept checks, and a biodiversity infographic at the end of the semester. They are really just grade boosters as long as you do them. A lot of people complain about the tests. They can be difficult, if you don't prepare. She provided review questions for every topic we discuss, as well as an in depth study guide for each exam. She also lets you have a 3x5 front and back notecard with whatever you want to write on it. You will need to study outside of class, but it's a college class so of course you have to. As long as you pay attention and study, the tests are exactly what we learned in class. The finals was also mostly more recent stuff we had learned and only a little bit of cumulative stuff, and even then the cumulative stuff wasn't the hard stuff. Over a great teacher who makes you actually learn.
Chloe Garfinkel BSCI160 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/09/2025	Very sweet, cares about her students, but she doesn’t curve nor drop any exam grades. She also posts recorded lectures which are great to review before exams. I think her exams are fair and definitely go over what she talks about during lecture.
Chloe Garfinkel BSCI160 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/04/2025	Garfinkel is a really good professor; she provides a lot of resources to make sure you understand the content well, including study guides, random links, and her office hours are so informative- she will definitely break things down and make sure you understand. She's very nice. My personal experience with her first exam was not great; it was lengthy, and I didn't answer everything, but you could honestly say that's because I didn't use enough of the resources she offered. If you intentionally study her exams become way easier to manage, so don't let the workload intimidate you because beyond that, the class is fine. It will surely humble you, though.
Chloe Garfinkel BSCI160 Anonymous 12/03/2025	All the past reviews? They stay in the past. Participation points? Dropping your lowest midterm grade? Not anymore. So don’t go in trusting old reviews (Spring 2025 was her first semester teaching, which is why she was SUPER lenient with grading back then). That being said, her exams are very conceptual, so make sure you truly understand the material rather than just memorizing it. Her recommended study methods include making concept maps and using ChatGPT to generate practice exams, since it can create questions similar to the ones she may ask. She does a really good job making new information more digestible, so I’d recommend going to her office hours if you feel like you’re falling behind. While it’s not impossible to get an A, it is quite difficult and requires extensive studying outside of class. Lastly, if I were to take this class again, I’d choose Garfinkel’s class again. The third exam was much more direct compared to the first two and was truly reflective of the difficulty expected in a 100-level course. She also mentioned in her office hours that she wouldn’t be including some of the math questions on the final exam. This shows how receptive she was to the feedback she received about improving the course.
Chloe Garfinkel BSCI160 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/03/2025	Professor Garfinkel herself is really nice, and she is super sweet. The content though, is another story. There are 70 slides each class, with about 10 review questions for each lecture as well. The exams are not curved, and really hard. Although, I will say if you go to her office hours it helps SO MUCH. If you take her it won't be the end of the world, you will just have to make sure to review the lectures after every class if you want an A.
Chloe Garfinkel BSCI160 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 11/20/2025	I absolutely love this professor; she is super sweet, and her exam study guides are very helpful in reviewing for the tests! This course is a lot of work, but she made me excited every day for biology! Would definitely recommend going to her office hours as well because she really breaks down the key concepts in ways that are much easier to understand, and her office hours leading up to the exams you have to go to! She is deliberate in what she talks about during those review sessions to help prepare everyone for the test!
Chloe Garfinkel BSCI160 Anonymous 11/07/2025	The exams are way too difficult for a 100-level course. This class is structured in a way that makes getting an A 10 times harder than it should be, especially with no curve. This class shouldn’t be the Hunger Games.
Chloe Garfinkel BSCI160 Anonymous 11/04/2025	Listen Professor Garfinkel is a really nice woman. She is great at lecturing and is really kind to all her students. That being said her exams are very hard and lengthy. I know several people who submitted multiple pages blank on the first exam. There is lots of writing portions and each exam covers a ton of chapters.
Chloe Garfinkel BSCI160 Anonymous 11/01/2025	Horrible exams. Does not curve either.
Chloe Garfinkel BSCI160 Anonymous 10/07/2025	Her exams were unnecessarily hard.
Chloe Garfinkel BSCI207 Expecting an A- Anonymous 06/25/2025	She's a good teacher and cares about her students. The class material isn't my favorite, but she makes it more interesting. There are 3 midterms, each covering 10 lectures. She lets us have cheat sheets for each exam because there's A LOT of material. The exams can be challenging, but she doesn't word things weirdly or anything. She provides us with questions at the end of each lecture that, when put together, create a great study guide for her exams. I liked taking her, and would suggest her to other students.
Chloe Garfinkel BSCI207 Anonymous 05/23/2025	DO NOT TAKE HER. Lectures seem fine until the exam where they are extremely hard. All the GAE’s and HW you do BARELY boosts your grade. This class should not have been as hard as it was and I blame it all on her teaching. The exams are HARDER THAN THEY SHOULD BE and super specific considering in class you play with pipe cleaners….
Chloe Garfinkel BSCI207 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/22/2025	Dr. G is so sweet and helpful. The content covered in 207 was definitely not my favorite, but Dr. G honestly made the class bearable. The midterms usually cover 7 lectures and 3 GAE's -- the content is A LOT. I suggest going to office hours because she usually explains topics and it's much more digestible then. She will also not include stupid small things on the midterms, like how does this protist move etc., because she isn't trying to test how well you memorized the content; rather, she is testing how well you understand it. There are 11 homeworks in total, and yes, some are really confusing, but she will literally go through it with you in office hours. The GAEs are very easy too, she doesn't actually want you to submit a worksheet, instead it's a Google form you fill out at the end so she can gauge how well the class understood the content. I highly suggest taking her for 207 because she was a student not too long ago and she knows how we feel as students!
Chloe Garfinkel BSCI160 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/20/2025	I'm not sure why Dr G is getting any hate at all. Dr G is a truly accommodating and understanding professor. She teaches BSCI160 thoroughly, and her passion shines through her teaching, which can sometimes lead to a muddier barrier between required information and course material. Instructions can be a little unclear on assignments or tests, but she is always there to clear things up, whether it be through email or office hours. This was her first semester teaching at UMD, so I'm sure the clarity of the material will improve for the upcoming semester. I recommend taking her, plus she's fun to talk to.
Chloe Garfinkel BSCI160 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/16/2025	Dr. G is a great professor! Her lectures are super informative, and her slides are well-organized and easy to follow. You don’t really need to buy the online textbook to do well in the class. She and the TAs offer several office hours each week, and they’re extremely helpful— they are really beneficial if you are confused on the HW, want clarification on a topic, or are studying for the exam. She also provides study guides, allows a notecard or sheet of paper during exams, and drops your lowest midterm grade. Definitely use these resources to be successful in the class and on exams, as they are worth 25% of your grade. Overall, she’s really nice, clearly cares about her students, and is very approachable and easy to talk to. I’d definitely recommend taking her class!
Chloe Garfinkel BSCI160 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/14/2025	Dr. G has got to be one of the best professors in the bio department! She holds lots of office hours throughout the week and every time I've attended, she was super helpful! She genuinely cares about how well students do in her class and wants to help out as much as she can! There are 7 hw assignments throughout the semester which are pretty spread out and can be a bit hard, but there are also clicker questions every class and exam reflections after each one which are a pretty helpful grade booster. She also provided study guides for each exam that accurately reflect what material will be on the exam. Overall, Dr. G is a great professor and I would definitely take a class with her again!
Chloe Garfinkel BSCI160 Expecting a C Anonymous 05/13/2025	Not really sure what the negative reviews are talking about. Dr. Garfinkel is a very sweet and very passionate professor. She cares deeply about her students and doing well in the course. It was her first semester teaching, so there were a few hiccups here and there, but overall I think she did a great job. The homeworks are usually a couple pages long, but to be honest they aren't hard as long as you pay attention and take notes. There were no practice exams, probably because she hadn't made exams previously as this was her first semester teaching the course. There were however, study guides for you to review and go over that covered pretty much everything on the exam. The exams are tougher earlier on when talking about genetics and DNA and stuff like that, but they get easier once you're in the big picture stuff. Office hours and the TAs were very helpful, as well as the online textbook. As someone who hasn't sat in a biology class in probably close to five years, I was absolutely worried for my grade in this class. But Dr. Garfinkel was super helpful and there are definitely enough resources that even I was able to pull off getting a B. It's a pretty cool gen Ed, especially since it relates to a lot of modern day issues. Would def recommend if you need a science credit.
Chloe Garfinkel BSCI160 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/13/2025	Dr. G is an okay prof, she's nice enough. She has a lot of office hours but doesn't know what she's talking about half the time. She will confuse you. She doesn't have practice exams up and I think most of her exams are written by ai, so use chat to study. Her exams are hard and are very conceptual. There will be fill in the blank question worth 15 points. Good luck.
Chloe Garfinkel BSCI160 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/13/2025	Dr. G is a very nice human, but her tests ARE SO HARD. She will give you so many options to meet with her but she will not explain herself and will often confuse you. Try to study concepts rather than definition, but that might not even help you. Use Chat to study for tests cause her tests are like the exact same (she prolly uses AI test).
Chloe Garfinkel BSCI160 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/01/2025	Dr. G is the sweetest professor at UMD. She is extremely helpful if you don't understand homeworks or concepts covered in class, she gives out participation points with clicker questions, and her slides and explanations are really informative. Her exams are way harder than they should be, and you really have to think critically about how topics connect rather than just what the topic is. Overall amazing professor, and if I could have her for other BSCI courses I would. 10/10.
Chloe Garfinkel BSCI207 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 04/08/2025	Dr. G is incredibly kind and a great professor. Her lectures are interesting and exams and assignments in the class are perfectly fair. Be warned that if you take her lecture, you have to socially interact with people about once a week in lecture hall, but it's not so bad. Overall totally recommend for 207. As for the class itself, it's really quite easy. It just contains massive amounts of information that you have to know. There isn't a lot of hard thinking and there are no puzzles or tricks, it's really more like listening to a long story.