Tammatha O'Brien

This professor has taught: BSCI103, BSCI103M, BSCI155, BSCI202, BSCI222, BSCI279P, BSCI279T, BSCI361, BSCI447, CLFS609I, CPSP218L, CPSP219L, ENTM701, ENTM710, ENTM740, ENTM769, HESP305, HONR289A

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Tammatha O'Brien HESP305 Expecting an A Anonymous 03/26/2024	Overall, there is no denying that Dr. O'Brien is very intelligent and is a good presenter on information. She allows you to bring notecards to the weekly quizzes which work well to prepare for the exam (we got a full sheet of paper). This class is a lot of work and fast pace. However, Dr. O'Brien is probably one of the least understanding and unempethetic professors I have had. She has a blatant disregard towards any of her students needs. I dealt with medical problems and even with doctors notes struggled to gain any sort of accommodation, or even any sort of empathy. When I asked for an extension on an assignment because of an unexpected death and funeral, I was basically just informed that I should have done it already because the assignment was open, even though I let her know about the extension multiple days before the due date. Additionally, not to discredit Dr. O'Brien's research and education, but I would have really enjoyed to take this course with someone in the HESP department, such as an SLP or maybe an ENT.
Tammatha O'Brien HESP305 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/13/2023	honestly one of the best professors ive had. she is a very analytical person that is a "get in and out" type of professor but she has set up this class for you to do well. it is anatomy so it can be difficult but every quiz you can have a note card, some are dropped, muscle quizzes are completely open note and for the exams you're allowed a sheet of paper with notes. her teaching style may seem a little chaotic but i ended up with an a in an anatomy class so like something worked. she may seem blunt when answering questions but there isnt really any ill intent. like i said, shes a very analytical person. overall i liked her a lot.
Tammatha O'Brien HESP305 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/12/2023	She’s a nice lady and is super educated about the topics, but the exams are super specific and hard to get all points. Work a lot outside of class for notes and everything and you’ll be okay
Tammatha O'Brien BSCI202 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/11/2023	I absolutely love this class and Dr. O'Brien does an amazing job at explaining the hard concepts. While there is a lot of information to memorize, it is Anatomy 2 so what else can you expect? I'm not sure why a lot of the reviews say she is rude, if you go to her office hours she is extremely helpful and easy to talk to. She gives many opportunities for extra credit and you can get one every class just by answering questions which she asks a lot of (you do not have to answer correctly). She drops some of the assignments at the end of the semester which raises your grade. The only thing is this class is at 8 am, so be sure to be prepared for that.
Tammatha O'Brien BSCI202 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/28/2023	she's kinda weird. Her exams are extremely specific and its loads of memorization (but I mean it's anatomy so what can you expect). her lecture exam averages were mid 70's which I'd say is pretty ok for this level of class. she does give group assignments and extra credit which helps your grade a ton. You need to show her you are actively listening and participating for this extra credit. She drops a few assignments here and there which also boosts your grade. Her lecture exam dates would always fall the day before or after the lab practicals though which was super inconvenient. She is rude at times but you don't interact with her too much. Her voice is extremely annoying. Worst part of this class is the final. Her midterms were typically a 6/10 for difficulty, but the final is completely a 10/10, it delves into topics you have not learned and does not cover at all what is taught in class. I took this class at the same time as orgo and it was super difficult to balance both.
Tammatha O'Brien BSCI202 Expecting a B Anonymous 04/30/2023	Not sure why reviews are so negative! She's a really strange lady, and her voice is definitely too loud and obnoxious for when I had it at 8am. But she's really really smart, gives you opportunities to rack up extra credit points during lectures just by answering questions, and there's a lot of filler assignments that make it easier to get a decent grade. The lecture assignments are kind of annoying, but it's NBD. Exams are hard but you really just need to memorize the slides. She gives out the slides, along with video recordings of her lecturing. pretty good
Tammatha O'Brien BSCI202 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 04/27/2023	Her exams are unnecessarily specific and you literally need to memorize everything she says in lecture to be able to pass them. When asking her a question she makes you feel dumb for even asking and will cut you off when speaking. She gives extra credit coupons in class for answering questions but you have to know the answer and raise your hand within 0.5 seconds or she won't call on you. The only reason I did well in the class was due to my own out of class dedication.
Tammatha O'Brien Anonymous 03/06/2023	Awful awful awful Professor. Has no regard for her students, no care about their success. Literally sets the course up for your failure with fast-paced lectures, graded discussions that depend on whether or not you can reply on a post when there are an uneven amount of students in the class, and basically implies that you are dumb if you don’t understand something. Please why is she even a professor I don’t know.
Tammatha O'Brien BSCI222 Expecting an F Anonymous 03/01/2023	Very rude, short, not understanding, not empathetic. Get ready to race to answer discussion questions since she lets students only type “hello” until they decide to finish answering the discussion question. (You’ll see) Claims she allows us to start early but opens the course while we’re literally taking finals. I’d give 0 stars if I could. Talks super fast in lecture recordings and is just pressed and over the top…also has the nerve to teach a class as hard like genetics and doesn’t offer a curve. There are assignments dropped but the assignments that are dropped barely hold any weight compared to the exams.
Tammatha O'Brien BSCI222 Expecting a B- Anonymous 02/27/2023	My mental state literally depleted due to this course— not only was Dr. O’Brien unavailable to students, whenever someone tried to make contact with her, her replies would have 0 empathy. Whenever there was an issue in the class, rather than solving her reply would be “we’re all adults” and to learn to just handle the situation. Not to mention, her exam averages would always be around the 50s, yet she provided no curve for the course, and rather only some meager bonus points that in the end had barely any effect on the damage those exams would do to the rest of the class. I dedicated 30-40 hrs a week towards this course, too bad Dr. O’Brien couldn’t spare even some empathy for her students.
Tammatha O'Brien BSCI202 Expecting an A Anonymous 02/23/2023	Worst professor I’ve ever had by a mile
Tammatha O'Brien BSCI222 Expecting an A- Anonymous 02/04/2023	Just awful. Unavailable, unwilling to help, and a nasty attitude to top it off. I woke up each morning dreading the day ahead. Cannot believe UMD allows professors of this horrendous quality. Do NOT take.
Tammatha O'Brien BSCI222 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/28/2023	Overall, I think that taking a class with Dr. O' Brien is a pretty solid decision. She drops a decent amount of assignments and assignments tend to be pretty relevant to the lecture. I took this asynchronously over winter break, and it was really manageable. She posts everything early, so if you start the class around a week early, it makes the class extremely easy. You are graded on posting unique discussion questions / answers and can have those done by literally the first week since she drops so many of them, and if you start those early, you don't have to worry about having no answerable questions left in the discussion board. Her lecture quizzes are HARD due to the tight time limit, and can tend to be inconsistent in difficulty. The expectations however are consistent throughout the whole class and overall it was a pretty easy 4 credits for three weeks of work.
Tammatha O'Brien BSCI222 Expecting a C Anonymous 01/22/2023	I wanted to give you a zero but that's not possible so I give you a one. Probably the WORST professor I have ever had. She is not understanding at all and seems to lack the ability to act like an adult.
Tammatha O'Brien BSCI222 Anonymous 01/22/2023	I wanted to give you a zero but that's not possible so I give you a one. Probably the worst professor I've ever had.
Tammatha O'Brien HESP305 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/23/2022	I found the class takes a lot of time and dedication, but is very doable. The weekly quizzes are five questions, and you get to bring a handwritten notecard. At the start of the year, there are weekly group assignments that help you prepare for exams. Then, at the end of the year, there are group presentations, which are straight forward if you follow the guidelines, and there is the chance to give feedback to the groups in class for points. I felt the exams (there is 3 and a final) were very tight on time, but they were strictly on the content covered in the class. For the exams (including the final), you get to bring a handwritten piece of paper, which can take a long time to make, but I found the time I spent on the sheets was worth it and important to succeed in the class. Overall, I thought the class was very satisfying, as I learned a lot and was able to do well.
Tammatha O'Brien BSCI202 Expecting a C Anonymous 11/27/2022	Doctor Obrien fails to understand life outside of the classroom. During the semester things happen outside of school that are not within our control. I have had countless family issues which greatly affected my performance within the class and i have tried countless times to justify myself but it just felt as if there was no remorse at all. Its always just "no", here is the UMD counseling if you need help. There was never a moment when she would try to understand where I am coming from. I found it frustrating because at times I felt hopeless in the class. But I guess it just doesn't matter because I am a college student and feelings dont necessarily matter.
Tammatha O'Brien BSCI447 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/14/2022	Pros: Is this class manageable? Sure. The real key to doing well in this class is just making flashcards of every single thing on her powerpoints. She takes everything directly from her powerpoints, in a lot of cases word for word. Sometimes even what seem like really small details will be on quizzes. I appreciate that she has assignments other than the exams and I also appreciated that we only had two exams. There's a lot of information to take in (11 topics, roughly 80-90 slides per topic). Cons: Despite many positive reviews, I actually found Dr. O'Brien to be quite rude. She was dismissive of questions that she felt had obvious answers. I also thought it was overkill for her to give people different questions for exams, even though we all took exams in person. For one, I feel like it would be pretty hard to cheat when you're sitting in the classroom and she's straight watching everyone, some questions could work on one persons strengths and not another persons. That said, the distribution of questions is totally random, so it probably balances out. She also doesn't curve. Now, is it possible to get an A without the curve? Absolutely, but I feel like in a class where none of our exams had a high score of 100%, that doesn't totally make sense. Overall, if you are taking this as an elective, there are benefits in terms of medical school preparation (if that's the path you're going down), but there are many easier electives that I would've chosen first had I gotten the chance fit them into my schedule/gotten higher priority during scheduling. I probably wouldn't recommend this class or professor to my friends if they didn't absolutely have to take it.
Tammatha O'Brien BSCI202 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/11/2022	Great professor, I was worried because of the other reviews but she really cares about this class and her students. She gives snacks on exam days and lets you get 10 extra points for doing exam reviews. She gives LOTS of extra credit during lectures and on the exams and lets you drop a few assignments if you missed them. The class was tough and I had to study A LOT but it was worth it for the exams. Overall I would recommend her for sure. Everything you need to know for the exam she goes over in her lecture and her slides. (The practice exams help a lot!)
Tammatha O'Brien BSCI447 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/05/2022	Class is manageable, memorize the power points and you’ll do fine but the teacher herself is very rude. Don’t expect to get any help given the fact that she talks behind her students that receive lower scores. Not sure why she became a teacher given her outlook on receiving help and education.
Tammatha O'Brien HESP305 Expecting an A- Anonymous 01/10/2022	I found this class to be extremely stressful. Quizzes were weekly and only 5 questions (10 points total) so if you missed one question it did drop your grade some. Most of the content on the small quizzes consisted of 50 slides at least, which was very hard to put into a 3x5 notecard, even when I was paying attention. Like another comment stated, it felt like so much of the information I would never think to use again as it seemed more medical than anything. At times it felt more like Biology class than what my major is. Her teaching style was very difficult to follow as she read directly from the slides and only stated a few examples here and there. For her exams, there were extremely specific and in depth. Most of the exams I got an average of an B/C due to short answers on exams. I also found that the short answers that if you didn’t write what was in the notes you got points off, but if we did write directly from the notes you got points off because it was said to be plagiarizing. The thing that allowed me to get an A- was mainly due to doing well on the weekly quizzes and doing well on the final exam, though it was cumulative but I got lucky with my one piece of paper. Overall, the teaching style was just not fit for me and was overall just a lot of information that seemed to be too much. (This was also in-person)
Tammatha O'Brien BSCI447 Expecting an A- Anonymous 01/06/2022	BSCI447 is a real brick of a class. With that said, Dr. O'Brien was a great instructor and made success reasonably obtainable. As long as you attend lecture, engage in the discussion and go to office hours as needed it should be a relatively alright time. I write this with respect to how my peers did in the same class with other professors and Dr. O'Brien for sure seems like the best option. Beyond leading a good class and teaching a hard subject well, she was very personable and communicative during the semester, something that is for sure not a given at the higher level BSCI classes. I would definitely recommend her for 447.
Tammatha O'Brien HESP305 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/25/2021	She was very nice and responsive as well as accomodating throughout the semester. However, I felt the depth of information she gave was too much for an undergraduate class. At times it felt like I was in medical school and I found some of the info to be too in depth or not relevant/repeated. She reads directly from slides, so I didn’t even bother taking notes and did fine. The tests are pretty challenging, and we had a 3rd test 10ish days before our final which felt like too much. The information on tests and quizzes was weirdly specific and would focus on one small topic in depth, but if you make a sheet or note card you will be good. For essay questions, she said not to use word for word from slides, but takes off points if you put it in your own words. Overall my hardest HESP class yet but very rewarding.
Tammatha O'Brien HESP305 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/21/2021	Dr. O'Brien is a fast talker, and might catch you off guard with her banter at times. Nevertheless, she provides you will all of the information needed to succeed in this course. For weekly quizzes, she will allot you a filled out 3x5 note card, and for exams you are allowed a hand written front and back piece of notebook paper. The only thing I did not like is that the exam questions were more in depth than the weekly quizzes. Otherwise, the grade is there for the taking as long as you put in the work.
Tammatha O'Brien BSCI222 Anonymous 07/06/2021	Best professor ever! She taught with Dr. StLeger and they were a dynamic duo!! Loved them! She gives you literally everything you need and more to succeed and her office hours were so amazing. 11/10 recommend!!!
Tammatha O'Brien BSCI222 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/01/2021	Dr. Obrien was pretty solid. Had her for online asynchronous BSCI222 and she made it pretty easy. She covered all the material in her lectures instead of requiring text book reading. There were also a lot of light assignments that give you the opportunity to boost your grade, and there's enough of them that if you miss some assignments it balances out. I straight up didn't do like 10 assignments and was still able to get an A which is really awesome. As long as you take notes and pay attention to class it should be pretty smooth sailing. She also gives practice questions for pre test review which are very helpful.
Tammatha O'Brien BSCI222 Anonymous 04/22/2021	Good lecturer. One thing that really made me not rate her higher was her lack of empathy. Taking an online exam I accidentally hit the "submit" button instead of the "next page" button and she would not allow me to reopen the exam. Ended up losing out on like 30 points from an exam and she could not have cared less. Totally ruined my grade for the class. I understand that its a large class and that catering to every student may be difficult, however it still sucks that the one time I needed to ask her a question all year, she blatantly disregarded me and refused to help.
Tammatha O'Brien HESP305 Expecting a B Anonymous 01/19/2021	The lecture videos were very fast paced and a lot of information gets covered in each so I had to watch them more than once which took up a lot of extra time. All of the info for the quizzes comes straight from the textbook so unfortunately it was a necessary purchase. A lot of study time was required to do well on the exams even though they are open note because of the time limit. If you're a HESP major, you have to take this class so just get through it.
Tammatha O'Brien BSCI447 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 06/01/2020	Dr. O'Brien is very entertaining and outgoing. It's an easy class to participate in and she's very easy to talk to. This makes it really easy to get a letter of rec as long as you go to her office hours and participate she'll write you one. I personally did not see her intelligence come through in this class. Everything was prepared in advance and the material was repetitive to a fault. She doesn't give any info outside of the slides which makes paying attention in class difficult. There was very minimal critical thinking in this class and I found myself on cruise control for majority of it. But the material was interesting and it's easy to do well.
Tammatha O'Brien HESP305 Anonymous 11/29/2019	Wonderful lecturer - very intelligent and has interesting things to add about the lecture. She is super nice about grading and permitted students to turn in homework a little after it was due. I wish there was a better way to take notes in this class. She asks you to print out each lecture's PPTs, which feels expensive and wasteful, and typing on the PDF is simply less effective for note taking. I wrote the slide page number in the margins of my notebooks and took notes per slide, but that was cumbersome. Perhaps 2 PPTs, 1 super in depth and 1 more basic, would be good. However, this does stop you from needing to buy the textbook! I wish she had said in the syllabus or at the first lecture that we didn't NEED it so I could have saved money but it's really nice that she does that. I liked the group project (group of 4-5, short presentation) and the muscle quizzes (8 of them, do them on your own time, 5 attempts per) but did not love the Tuesday quizzes. They were sometimes a little too hard or very specific even though she lets you have a 3x5 card for each quiz. You're allowed an 8.5x11 in sheet of paper (front and back, handwritten) for each exam. Exams vary - you need to have the big picture of concepts. Know vocab, even the stuff she didn't really emphasize in class.
Tammatha O'Brien BSCI222 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 06/03/2019	Dr. O'Brien is very kind and wants to make sure you understand the material. Her exams are very conceptual, try to understand the bigger picture when studying, and then focus on the smaller details. She has past exams uploaded, they are very helpful and gives you a sense of what to expect for the exam. Lots of extra credit opportunities. Lab practicals are also very conceptual. Make sure you understand how different systems connect, and you will get an A!