Jessica Mutz

This professor has taught: BSCI103, BSCI222

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Jessica Mutz BSCI222 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/27/2025	READ THIS REVIEW. She is not as bad as all these reviews are making her seem. In fact, I think she is a pretty good professor. PROS: Spends a good chunk of class doing practice to help students understand the concepts (which a lot of reviews don't mention because they dont go to lecture). Spends time after class talking to students and helping them understand exam concepts. Records all lectures. Cares about your success, sends out study plan assignments which are free points (although they are pretty useless). The quizzes are not that hard and four lowest of them get dropped. NON CUMALITIVE final which is HUGE for such a content heavy course. Also has a very organized canvas. Very well put together slides. The discussion is pretty straightforward, just groupwork and a lot of exam review sessions which are very helpful. MIDS: Exams are pretty hard but that can be a good thing. If you are someone who relies only on memorization then you will not do good on these exams. You need to be able to understand and APPLY what you have learned, which can be helpful for people who dont want to only memorize. The FRQs are fair and often similar to the practice set and exam review problems. The multiple choice are usually harder in my experience. If you like to use your brain and not just mindlessly memorize things then this exam structure is for you. Her curve is okay, most exam averages were around 60% and the cutoffs for final grades were 87 for an A 77 for a B and 65 for a C. Quizzes, homework's, and lab assignments will help boost your grade . CONS: Oftentimes it felt easier to read off of her slides than go to lectures. She is a decent lecturer but nothing special. Her grading policies were kind of obscure during the class, we always knew what exam scores corresponded to what letter grade but it was pretty unclear on what the actual "curve" would be. She isn't the most warm and welcoming professor, but isn't rude or disrespectful either. Overall, take Prof Mutz if you want a genetics class that doesn't have a cumulative final and midterms that are more than just memorization. Her lectures feel optional but the practice in them can be very helpful. Make sure to stay on top of lab assignments and pay attention to the plethora of exam review material she gives.
Jessica Mutz BSCI222 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/22/2025	Her lectures were completely pointless to attend. She confused herself often and would have to spend a few minutes collecting her thoughts because she didn't understand the content on her own slides. She would read off the slides and didn't add anything to them, and often made them more confusing. Throughout the year, she said in multiple emails that an "A" average on each exam was a 110/140 (78%). I finished the semester with an 86.7% total. I thought I was certainly well into the A average based on what she had been saying throughout the semester. I got an A- and an 87% would have got me an A, so I guess she also does not round up for future reference. She made it completely unclear throughout the year what the cutoffs for each grade were. I honestly am still not sure what exactly determined the cutoffs. I think on each exam I got roughly 20-25% higher than the average and did very well on all other assignments, and still got an A-. I would STRONGLY advise any other professor for BSCI222. I would rather be the first person in line to fight the gorilla or the last person in line with Bonnie Blue than take a class with Dr. Mutz ever again.
Jessica Mutz Expecting an A Anonymous 05/19/2025	Reads off of the slides and often seems like she has no idea what she is talking about. She has to refer to slides even sometimes if she is confused about the subject which is not good. I would say she is not super welcoming, talks very monotone, and acts like she does not care about teaching at all. Does not answer any emails at all, pointless to go to class because she records them all and posts the slides. Exams extra hard for no reason, multiple choice were frustrating questions with options A-F. Awful communication too
Jessica Mutz Expecting a B Anonymous 05/19/2025	Genetics is a course that contains a lot of information and that's something you have to understand from the start. While Dr. Mutz does read directly off the slides during the actual lecture, if you go to her office hours- she's GREAT. I wish I had known this from the beginning. The averages for the 3 midterms were 59, 60, 61, and that's pretty low compared to the other BSCI222 classes with different professors. Her exams are on the harder side for sure. Her homeworks, practice quizzes, and tutorial assignments help a lot. She hasn't been very direct with how she is going to adjust grade cutoffs. The discussions helped me a lot especially when it came to exam review. Overall, she is not a good lecturer but you can definitely get by in this class if you put in the time and effort.
Jessica Mutz Anonymous 05/18/2025	A very bad lecturer. If you have a passion for genetics and biology, she would kill it. Perhaps she is a good student but she can’t teach to save the day. If UMD wants to build a reputable program biology program, they need to eliminate poor instructors like her.
Jessica Mutz Expecting an A Anonymous 05/11/2025	All other reviews that mention her lack of teaching ability are entirely true. She arguably got worse throughout the semester. Some of the reviews saying she is nice are true, but only sometimes. There have been multiple times throughout the lecture where she has made really sassy remarks to people about either not knowing the answer to something, whispering to their friends, or leaving the lecture 5 minutes early. These remarks are made with her microphone turned on in front of the entire class, and although none have been said to me, they clearly publicly embarrass the people she says it to. Some of my friends used to sit in the front row until she shamed them in front of the entire lecture for whispering about one of the slides, and now they sit in the back out of shame and embarrassment. I think it really depends on the mood she is in that particular day.
Jessica Mutz Expecting a W Anonymous 05/11/2025	The professor is nice however the structure of the class is not the best. I agree with the other reviews saying her teaching style did not improve. Averages on exams were way lower compared to the other professor teaching the same course. She was also very vague about her cutoffs and wasn't really clear about what her curve would be (she makes u calculate it yourself). Overall the class isn't horrible but I hated not having clear understanding of her curve so I withdrew. If you could I would recommend taking another professor.
Jessica Mutz Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/07/2025	I'm pretty surprised at now negative all of her reviews are. I'm personally a big fan of her lecture style. She often begins the lecture with warm up questions that relate to the last lecture, and then throughout the lecture provides practice problems to help us better understand the material she's going over. It's true that most of what she says is covered in the slide but she does describe the content more in depth as she lectures. When I've missed lecture I've tried to catch up on the material by just reviewing the slides she posted but I always find it hard to understand and end up watching the recorded lecture, which helps. She also engages with students by asking questions during lectures, which is great and more then can be said about many professors. With that being said, her exams are very difficult (in my opinion) and often times have confusing wording or format. Sometimes content that we heavily go over and is prominent on provided study material is covered on the exam as much as content that we barely ever learned. From what I've heard, her class averages are lower then other bsci222 classes which I'm not surprised about because they are very hard. She does alter the cutoff at the end of the semester to more accurately represent class performance which is good. Also there are lots of other assignments in the class as well as the discussion section that act as a buffer incase lots of points are lost in exams. She assigns study plans before exams which provide different effective study methods and are also graded, which give some basically free points. Another major plus is that the final is not cumulative. I believe she really does care about the success of her students, and any negative feedback in other reviews can most likely be attributed to the fact that it is her first semester teaching.
Jessica Mutz BSCI222 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/06/2025	I tried to give her grace because it's her first time lecturing, but they are not good at teaching. No improvement at all throughout the semester. Lectures usually consist of Mutz rambling and just reading off slides. Going to lectures was no help, I learned everything on my own. Exam averages are over 10% below other BSCI222 classes. Typically, they are 70-80%, not 60%. Exams are not hard, they are fair, and the final is just a 4th non-cumulative exam - the only reason why I'm giving 2 stars.
Jessica Mutz Expecting an A Anonymous 05/01/2025	Dr. Mutz is new to teaching, and it is very evident. Her lectures consist of her reading straight off her slides, and very fast. She does not add anything to the slides that are posted, except to confuse you even more. Some days she decides to breeze through 70 slides in the lecture, while other days she gives us "warm-up" problems that last an hour. We often do not get to the content that we are supposed to in lectures, and then she does not go over it ever again. Her exam averages were always a 60%, which, according to my TA, was historically low. I would suggest taking other professors, whose averages on the same exams are closer to 80%. She loads you with several assignments due a couple of days before the exams, with the idea being that you can look at the answers and use that to study. This would be nice except for the fact that she often forgets to post the answer keys. She goes over a lot of content, and she often seems not to know what she is talking about. There have been a few times when she has yelled at students for leaving the lecture 5 minutes early or whispering to their friends. I would highly suggest avoiding taking her at all costs, as you will likely end up trying to switch to another class anyway. She seems to try her best, but it ends up not being very good.
Jessica Mutz BSCI222 Expecting an A- Anonymous 04/24/2025	You should ignore the reviews made on 3/30 & 4/1 2025. BSCI222 is going to have harder exams (averages are low in every class regardless of prof) and content regardless of which professor you take and more work than previous BSCI classes. Dr. Mutz is a very good professor, helpful at office hours, and responds quickly to emails. All lectures are recorded and assignments don't take that long so long as you pay attention in lecture/look at slides. Exam questions specifically are easy so long as you use the very large amount of review material / practice problems that she gives you. Just come into the class expecting to work slightly harder than previous BSCI classes and A/B with Mutz is not hard to get. Also she gives a decent amount of free points, drops many lower quiz/assignment grades, and none of the exams are cumulative.
Jessica Mutz BSCI222 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/24/2025	This was Dr. Mutz's first semester teaching, and it was very evident. Unfortunately, she did not get any better at teaching as the semester went on, and lectures actually got even more confusing. The lectures are honestly pointless to attend. Dr. Mutz adds nothing to what is on the slide shows (which are posted), and she often confuses herself throughout lectures and takes minute-long pauses to wrap her head around what is on her slides. Some lectures she will speed through 70 or so slides in an hour, and other lectures she will go way too slow, and repeat the same thing over and over. Often, she will give warm-up problems, which can be helpful in giving us an idea of what might be on the exam. However, multiple times she has spent the first 45 minutes of the lecture going over them, and then won't be able to get to what we were supposed to learn that day. My TA, who had taught the class multiple semesters, told us that our test averages were historically low. The averages have never been higher than a 60, while the other professor's averages are in the mid to high 70s. Some of the multiple-choice questions on the tests cover things that were briefly mentioned on one slide in small text. Before the exam, discussions would consist of 2 two two-hour exam review sessions. Despite this, some of the content that was on exams was never even mentioned in discussion, and my TA seemed to have no clue that certain content was being tested. She also sometimes will get a little sassy and annoyed when people in the class get questions wrong, or no one knows the answer to something she is asking. She assigns multiple assignments to be due two days before the exam, with the idea that we can use the answers to study. However, she often forgets to post the answer keys to many assignments, which makes them kind of useless. Overall, I would strongly suggest avoiding her if you can and taking any other professor that is available.
Jessica Mutz BSCI222 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/24/2025	Extremely unorganized. She often does not seem to know what she is talking about and just reads off the slides. The slides are posted, and she doesn't add anything to them, so it's honestly completely fine to skip lectures. She has multiple assignments due a couple of days before each exam, with the idea that we can review the answers to help us study. However, she sometimes forgets to post the answers. In lecture, she either breezes through 70 slides in 45 minutes or decides to spend an hour on ten slides. She often has warm-up questions to start off lectures, but then she will spend 45 minutes on these questions without getting to any of the content we were supposed to learn. She is not good at explaining things, and if it weren't for discussion, I would personally have no idea what I was doing. My TA told us that our averages on exams were significantly lower than any other time he had taught the class. This was her first semester teaching this class, and it was very evident. However, she did not seem to improve her teaching skills at all over the course of the semester. I highly recommend avoiding taking her if you can.
Jessica Mutz Expecting an A- Anonymous 04/23/2025	You should Ignore the reviews made on 3/30 & 4/1 2025. BSCI222 is going to have harder exams (averages are lower in every class regardless of prof) / content regardless of which professor you take and more work than previous BSCI classes. Mutz is a very good professor, helpful at office hours, and responds quickly to emails. All lectures are recorded and assignments don't take that long so long as you pay attention in lecture/look at slides. Exam questions specifically are easy so long as you use the very large amount of review material / practice problems that she gives you. Just come into the class expecting to work slightly harder than previous BSCI classes and A/B with Mutz is not hard to get. Also she gives a decent amount of free points / drops many lower quiz grades.
Jessica Mutz Expecting an A- Anonymous 04/17/2025	She is one of the best professors at UMD. While her exams can be difficult, she always give us practice in class for us to work through and is always willing to help us. She uploads her lectures on canvas and is always willing to help! I would highly recommend you take this class with Dr. Mutz.
Jessica Mutz Expecting a B+ Anonymous 04/16/2025	This review is based off of Dr. Mutz's first year teaching. Although for most of the lecture she just reads off of the slides, she incorporates many activities to reaffirm ideas learned, and she actively asks questions to the class—something many professors don't do anymore which I find helpful. Her two biggest benefits, though, are her office hours and the fact that her exams aren't cumulative (but they are pretty difficult). She makes time for students who need help (another thing lacking in many professors) and her personality is really welcoming in her office hours. She goes over my notes with me and will even go through my exam answers question by question to make sure I understand the content. She's super accommodating to any circumstances you might have. If you put in literally any sort of effort in getting help, she'll put that effort back into you which is something that isn't as common as it should be at UMD. She definitely has a few kinks to iron out in her lectures and exams, but if you want a Professor who actually cares about their students success (and doesn't just say they do); then I would definitely take her class, especially if you are interested in genetics.
Jessica Mutz BSCI222 Anonymous 04/01/2025	I would give zero stars if I could. Honestly don't even know where to begin. I used to give her some slack at the beginning of the semester because she's new to the University but taking her class is basically a death sentence. Her averages for tests are usually not higher than a 60% for the class. There is no guidance on the test you get like a practice set with a couple questions, you have the weekly quizzes to study from I guess but not even that helps. No matter how much you study, go to office hours, you are probably still cooked for the test. TAs are essentially useless when it comes to asking about the test too so don't even bother. Save your time and take a better prof.
Jessica Mutz BSCI222 Anonymous 03/30/2025	If I could give her zero stars I would. DO NOT TAKE HER. Her tests are extremely difficult and her lectures are practically pointless to attend. I spent so so much time studying for her tests and you will still not do good. She's new so at first I would give her some slack but this class has just been consistently awful. Genuinely nothing positive I can say about her and the TAs are pretty useless.