Raymond StLeger | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Anonymous 05/22/2025	I am not sure as to why the reviews are so high. While I agree with others that this class is hard, it is made extremely more complex than needed. His lectures are always jam-packed with material containing like a paragraph of information on more than 3/4 of the slides whereas everything else is just pictures of books and animals. This doesn’t help in his exams either as the exams are so detailed specific that literally ANYTHING this professor says could be on the exam. The exams ended up being overly complex even if you do understand the concepts since everything was so “nitty-gritty”. And while I do agree he is blunt, if you can’t handle being the subject of his jokes, I would suggest moving to the back of the class. If you want a good grade I HIGHLY recommend taking another professor. The only thing that prevented I believe the majority of students from dropping out was the “lab” grade which cushioned everyone by A LOT.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/22/2025	Super interesting professor and class. Rewatch lectures and take notes carefully, do every practice exam, and you will be fine, also participate in the discussion. Getting an A in this class is very feasible with effort
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Anonymous 05/17/2025	There's a review that gave this man 5 stars and said the people who don't do well didn't study enough...NOT TRUE. He's a very smart man for sure but his lecture slides and speech are very disorganized and have no flow to it. Very hard to understand him and keep up with him in lecture, and his recordings aren't much better. His exams averaged low 70s and high 60s, which is just a reflection of his teaching because a majority of us would make Quizlets based off his lecture slides so we had all of the info, but he would still put questions that were so incredibly specific that you can't really know what the answer is unless you're a genius. He was also very disrespectful and condescending to students, would often tell them to "Shut up" or ask "Are you dumb" in lecture. I don't recommend if you want a good grade.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/16/2025	To preface, this man is very British. He is blunt, can seem scary, and says things like "and Bob's your uncle" and "Yippee" on a daily basis. However, he is a very passionate lecturer and definitely knows what he is talking about. At first, I hated his lecture slides because they are a little all over the place and have a lot of random pictures on them, but I found a system of studying that worked for me. The first exam was really easy and honestly, all of the midterms over all were very fair. He asks you things that he explicitly mentions in class, so the people who complain about him asking random fill in the blank questions either didn't pay attention in class or study enough. I lowkey cram studied for every single midterm, and I would go over all of the lecture slides and create a review guide that I would memorize. Overall, StLeger is a very good professor, and I definitely recommend because his exams aren't hard (people just don't study enough).
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/16/2025	To preface, this man is very British. He is blunt, can seem scary, and says things like "and Bob's your uncle" and "Yippee" on a daily basis. However, he is a very passionate lecturer and definitely knows what he is talking about. At first, I hated his lecture slides because they are a little all over the place and have a lot of random pictures on them, but I found a system of studying that worked for me. The first exam was really easy and honestly, all of the midterms over all were very fair. He asks you things that he explicitly mentions in class, so the people who complain about him asking random fill in the blank questions either didn't pay attention in class or study enough. I lowkey cram studied for every single midterm, and I would go over all of the lecture slides and create a review guide that I would memorize. Overall, StLeger is a very good professor, and I definitely recommend because his exams aren't hard (people just don't study enough).
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/15/2025	His lectures are boring and unorganized. By far one of my least favorite classes to go to. He throws so much information at you and most of the time, talks about the most random information that won't even show up on the exams. It's so hard to sit through 75 minutes of him going on and on about monkey testicle, female orgasm, and Francis Galton's daily routine. The first exam was fairly easy but it goes downhill from there. Don't do what I did and get a high score on the first exam and then think you never need to study again. Even if you generally do well on multiple choice, the free response and fill in the blank completely screw you over. Overall, I don't recommend him for this course and you are better off with another professor.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/15/2025	No idea how his rating is so high. His lectures always have at least 1 story that is really interesting & attention grabbing, too many slides on monkey testicles, a small section on unethical or offensive content, and the rest is really boring & hard to pay attention too. He asks the most randomest of questions both in class & especially on the exams. Even if you think you do well on his multiple choice section, it doesn't matter because you are screwed for the short answer & especially the fill in the blank. No word bank given, it could literally be about ANYTHING from the slides, & if it was mentioned once in a sentence it will probably be what is on the exam. His slides are impossible to read, are weird colors, are always long paragraphs, and are on top of images. One girl turned all the slides into quizlets. You NEED to attend lecture if you want to understand what all the images on his slides are about, because the recordings you can't hear him. The homeworks are due at 7pm instead of 11:59, so make sure to do them ahead of time otherwise you will miss the deadline & there is nothing the TAs can do. His exams are HARD so do not slack off especially if you did well on the 1st exam. You can do well if you study every week, even if you feel like taking a break.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/14/2025	There are two words that come to mind when I think of St. Leger, "mad" and "cheeky" (those must be read in a British accent because he is British). At the beginning of the semester I surely thought this man was crazy and this class was going to be the death of me, but it wasn't and towards the end of the semester he is a really funny guy. However, he rambles so much (he is very passionate) and he talks for the entirety of lecture. Some of his rants seem pointless, but they aren't and make sure you pay attention because that stuff will show up on the exam. Also, go to the review sessions he offers before an exam, they are a great way to see if you need to know something (it saved me so many times). Please study so much for exam 2, it was really hard and much harder than the first one. His final is all multiple choice so it should boost your grade overall. One last thing, if you don't want to hear about chimpanzees testicles and penises throughout the semester, do not take him lol
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/13/2025	Not exaggerating to say that StLeger is definitely one of the smartest professors on campus. He is very knowledgeable in everything concerning genetics and is clearly very passionate about the topic. During review sessions, he'll often answer questions with more questions and can come across as condescending- he is a very blunt man (and he also mentions primate erections and evolutionary penile dynamics a lot...) . This class can be very difficult, regardless of the professor that you take it with just because of the sheer amount of content that there is to cover, but if you're able to learn by previewing lectures slides and re-watching recordings to take notes, you'll do alright. I enjoyed this class because of the complex content and found it very interesting, but be ready to spend about 6-7 hours per week studying content.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/11/2025	Very knowledgable in genetics and very passionate. He will cold call you if you sit in the first 5 rows and prepare to be insulated occasionally. He has no clue what goes on in the discussion so just don't expect him to care about it. Exams were straight forward and everything he says in lecture will be on it. Just put the work in and youll pass.
Raymond StLeger Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/03/2025	One of the most interesting classes I've taken at UMD. That being said, the professor is very arrogant and can be unprofessional and condescending. He seems to be fed up with the students and thinks they are absolutely worthless. Also, he spends a lot of time on things that are interesting but easier to understand and less time on the boring or complex things that are a bit more difficult to understand. Going into this I thought this class was going to be lots of statistics (as typical for genetics), but instead this class is like a lot of other biology disciplines combined, perhaps unneccesarily (albeit that is what makes it so interesting). The reason why it is very hard to get an A in this class is that this class pulls from things like behavioral neuroscience, embryology, microbiology, psychology, endocrinology, evolutionary biology, history of science, cell biology, chemistry etc. and you must memorize all of it.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting an A- Anonymous 04/24/2025	Holy crap... I don't know where to start with this guy. He has a sense of humor, but I recommend not attending his exam reviews unless you yourself wish to be the subject of his mockery. If you ask him anything, he leans forward and acts like he couldn't hear you, just to go, "Oh, that is what you asked." I guess this is what tenure does to a guy. I highly recommend asking your TA any and all questions you have regarding material covered in class. His lectures are so informative to the point that they tend to be filled exclusively with seemingly throwaway information and tangents that are never touched on again (until you see them on the exams!) I know very few people who can spend more time discussing monkey testicles than the functionality of certain gene complexes. His exams can include questions about literally anything he talks about during his lectures. He has two screens running, one with the presentation and one with a document camera (the document camera is sometimes utilized to draw examples of key ideas). Additionally, the due dates for assignments often have very arousing and arbitrary 7 pm deadlines. All this being said, the man is insanely smart and very well-versed in his field. He has a lot of experience with teaching genetics and can break down certain concepts very well to make it easier for some students to digest. I don't think I have ever seen him stumped with a question before, and he is very quick. Like many, I saw the PlanetTerp reviews and thought he was going to be the dream teacher for a notoriously difficult class, but the man's ego makes it difficult to fully appreciate the wealth of knowledge he has. Some of these other reviews feel like paid promotion, but his teaching style works for some, just not everybody.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting a B Anonymous 04/24/2025	For people with a passion for genetics, this class will be heaven for you. St. Leger is one of the most knowledgeable professor I've ever had and will spend 75 minutes two times a week continuously unloading interesting information. I found none of the individual concepts to be too difficult to understand, however the sheer amount of concepts he includes on the slides that you will have to memorize to do well on exams makes the course difficult, especially for someone who struggles with memorization. His exams cover topics hidden inside 400 slides worth of mostly dense, paragraph-style slides and to add insult to injury anything that comes out of his mouth can be on an exam even if it wasn't put on the slides. I would say he's a great to learn from but not great if you want to get a good grade in the class.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/29/2024	This is a challenging course, but I don't believe anything is unjust or unfair in the class. You need to watch all lectures thoroughly, and quite literally anything can be on the test, but this is expected and stated clearly by the professor. He's a very passionate speaker, and if you enjoy learning about genetics, there's a lot of lectures that include how real world research and how they connect to the material, and I found lots of the research very interesting. There is unfortunately LOTS of material, the lectures are very long and you need to put lots of time and effort to study. Also no curve.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/23/2024	Dr. StLeger is a very intelligent professor. He explains a lot of cool history and research beyond the main content of BSCI222. Overall, it was a very interesting class; however, it often got difficult (especially the content between the third exam and final) to prioritize concepts/information to study because he unloaded a LOT of information. Honestly, I enjoyed his class even though I underperformed, but if you're excellent with memorizing a LOT of information then you will do fine. He also will spend every second of the lecture talking, so be prepared for him to speak for 75 minutes straight.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/22/2024	This class requires a lot of work but St Leger is a great professor! He is a really good lecturer and he tells you about the coolest genetics research. However, as many other people have said, whatever he says during lecture is fair game on the exams. I was scared about that, but honestly it wasn't that bad if you review the slides and watch his lectures. He tends to not include the super minute details, but don't count anything completely out. He does record lectures which is super helpful, so I recommend watching those. There are three exams, and a cumulative final. The first three exams are a mix of multiple choice, short answer, fill in the blank, and/or true or false. I highly recommend doing all the past exams to get a feel for the format. Exams are all fair game, but you have to study a ton for this class if you want to do well. Between the recorded lectures, discussion reviews, and past exams, there is ample resources to help you. The class has no curve, but if you are within 10 points of the next grade, he will round you up.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/18/2024	Dr. St. Leger is honestly a great professor. If you really like genetics or have always had good grades in your science curriculum, St. Leger's genetics won't be any different. However, if you don't like the subject very much or are just taking genetics to be done with it, definitely take it with another professor. His lectures can be confusing at times, especially when you don't have the background. Also, there is a 25pt extra credit in his final exam so ig there is a 2.5% "curve" to the class.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/17/2024	Lectures are recorded and posted online, no curve. discussion portion is 25% of your grade, and is a lot of busy work. Exams are not bad, but as the professor has said "every word that comes out of my mouth may be on the exam." Leger talks a lot about the newest and greatest tech / research papers in his lectures. There's a lot of filler. He knows what he's talking about though.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/05/2023	I agree with the person before me: if you really (and I mean really) like genetics, he is the guy to take. I loved his class because he always talked about the coolest research that was going on. But, if you just need to take this class for a requirement, I would suggest you take someone else because it is so much information that he expects you to know. I loved him and the class so I did very well, but if you do not like the subject you will find the exams very hard because anything that comes out of his mouth can be on the exams.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Anonymous 06/06/2023	Let me keep this short, I highly recommend taking him if you want to learn deeply about the subject, but take someone else if you are concentrating on getting good a grade.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/16/2023	I love this man so much. While I got made fun of practically ever lecture (he loves to pick on the kids in the front), every lecture was so fun. He made genetics such an enjoyable class and even made my friend change his major to cell bio and genetics. He is quick, witty, hilarious, and so incredibly smart. While he moves pretty quickly in lecture, he records his lectures and watching the lectures back the second time always did the trick for me. If you're willing to put in the time you can do great in this class; re-watch the panoptos, memorize his slides, and try your best to pay attention in class, you won't regret it.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/16/2023	I have heard that St. Leger is better than Koppel, but that doesn't make him good. Exam averages were in the low Bs or high Cs, except for the second exam which had a D average. He is funny and incredibly smart, but not a good teacher. You can actively listen to his lecture and take notes but he rambles and makes concepts extremely complicated, even when he's introducing them, so it is hard to keep up. His canvas page was messed up so the links are mislabeled, which is honestly just really irritating and confusing. Regardless of this, I did enjoy his class. He makes the material really interesting, if you can keep up with what he's saying. You HAVE to study for this class. Study every week, maybe even after every single class. Don't pay attention to the comments saying that if you start preparing a week in advance, you'll be fine and get an A. That's not true for most people, even really smart ones. You have to put in the work. I didn't do as much as I should have, hence my B, but I had a lot on my plate this semester and couldn't give this class as much time as required. There is a discussion section worth 25% of the final grade that can save you. Go to class, use the recorded lectures, take practice exams, do practice questions, go to office hours, etc. Keep up with the material as it is presented. You'll be okay, but this class is going to drain the life out of you while you're taking it. Good luck
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/16/2023	Whoever said StLeger is too smart, is right. He's extremely knowledgeable about the course content. Sometimes he mentions a very specific example in class that very well could show up on the exam. However, his exams weren't too unfair. The three midterms had a few bonus points. The final was all multiple-choice with a lot more extra credit. There's no curve but if you're within 10 points of the next grade he'll bump you up. Lectures were always recorded but the drawings and annotations (which are really helpful in terms of understanding the concepts) he did in class weren't. Do his past exams!! His format and questions are usually pretty similar.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting a B Anonymous 06/22/2022	He's smart but honestly too smart. He expected us to understand things we didn't, and never went into enough detail. Also, his rule for exams was "Anything that comes out of [his] mouth can and will be on the exam" and boy oh boy was that true. Take anyone else
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting an A+ florm 05/21/2022	St Leger is a very smart and funny chap. He enjoys calling out people in class (mainly in the front rows) for not "keeping up with the material" and things like that. All of his quirks and idiosyncrasies made class very entertaining. However, the lectures were remarkably difficult to follow. He would have two screens set up, one with Powerpoint slides and one with a document camera that showed an outline of notes, but the information between the slides and the outline often did not line up well at all. It was a scramble to keep up with these two sets of information, as well as with whatever random facts that St Leger might mention that very well could wind up on an exam. To make matters worse, he would post all the slides and outlines on ELMS, but they would be numbered in an arbitrary way that didn't line up with the lecture numbers. In fact, when you'd click on the link for "Topic 11 Material," for instance, it would take you to a page titled "Topic 10 Material," so not only were the topics not well defined, but the links to the pages were all mislabeled. Trying to go back and find the slides from a specific lecture was quite the challenge. Aside from the poor organization of lecture material, the biggest problem with 222 was actually not really St Leger's fault, but rather the fault of whoever designed the course. While St Leger taught lectures, a separate professor (Dr. Paczolt) organized the discussions. As a result, the assignments for discussion often didn't coincide with material from the lecture, which was incredibly frustrating. There'd be weekly quizzes that would have questions about stuff St Leger simply had never said. The pre-exam review discussion quizzes were especially terrible, and required an excessive amount of time to figure out what was going on with them. That being said, the days when the TAs would review for the exams in discussion were very beneficial, and helped to clarify so much stuff that St Leger didn't explain too well. But they would sometimes introduce new stuff (like the 5 groups of amino acids) that wouldn't have shown up on the exams, as if it was critical for us to study. As for the exams themselves, they were tough and certainly required a lot of studying. There is an insane amount of material in this course, and some of the questions St Leger wrote would ask very specific things about specific genes he may have only mentioned once or twice. He did provide some practice exams though, which were useful for seeing what small details might be important to study. There were no curves on the exams (nor on the overall grade), but there were extra credit questions on them, and there was also a 10 points extra credit assignment just for watching a bunch of videos he created for his online Coursera course. And on the final exam, he actually added 32 extra points from the original 200 it was supposed to be out of, so we basically got an 8-question buffer of things we could get wrong without dropping below 100%. There's no guarantee that he'll do all of these things in the future, but it's clear that St Leger has no issue giving a bunch of extra credit.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/18/2022	So I don't know who said st leger was a good professor because the way he teaches is just all over the place. I think half the reviews on here were students who took him well into the past, so I'm not sure if he was a better teacher back then. However, when I took him I had to do a lot , a LOT of self studying. And thank god he records his lectures because you basically have to remember everything he says. I also found it really helpful whenever he starts drawing diagrams to focus on those. One more thing is he really likes to include some history into his lectures, and the content does show up for a few questions on his exams, so either memorize those historical events or try to use common sense to figure them out, which is what I did because I literally had no time to learn about the American eugenics movement or whatever on top of all the content I had to memorize. The good thing about him is he does give chances for free points like exam corrections and really is the only indication he doesn't want his students to completely fail. Overall, if you already have great memorization skills and enjoy dry British humor you should take this professor. For me, this class was just not it.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/12/2022	i read these reviews before registering for Leger this semester and was actually excited to take his course - i was HIGHLY disappointed. genetics is my favorite topic in bio and all of the information was interesting but his disorganization and detailed exams make the whole course so stressful. during lecture he switches back and forth between two different presentations, making it difficult to take fluid and organized notes. his exams pay attention to the smallest details mentioned in lecture one time. the only way to do well on his exams are to memorize every word thats come out of his mouth. he also brings examples up in lecture and goes into the most miniscule detail, spending at least 10 minutes on them, then never brings them up again in exams or homework. the extra assignments for the class are a lot but they help your grade a TON if you can spend a decent amount of time thinking them through. my best advice would be to make friends with your TA and ask them for as much help as you can get - they did well in his class and probably have the best advice as to how to learn from someone so disorganized. i would recommend any other professor if you really enjoy or are interested in the topics of genetics because leger has seriously made me rethink my major
Raymond StLeger Anonymous 05/09/2022	Look, St Leger is smart asf. But he is such an interesting professor to have. Such a weird british dude. Exams are fine if you study through all the content. Best way is to form a study group, talk through all the material a week before the exam. As long as you know everything youll do amazing
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Anonymous 04/04/2022	Idk what these reviews are talking about but this man actually SUCKS. The lectures are so disorganized and impossible to keep up with, a million assignments a week, and the exams are HORRENDOUS and ask for the most minuscule details. Literally take anyone else. He’s also so so rude and unhelpful. No class has ever stressed me out as much as this one.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/01/2021	Probably a good guy and definitely smart and organized, but I just didn't get the point of him being there. I had him in conjunction with Dr. Obrien we only had one lecture from him a week and each lecture seemed pretty disconnected from the actual course material. At a certain point I just straight up stopped showing up and it had zero impact on my grade. It is pretty enjoyable to hear him talk though, proper British accent talking about evolution and whatnot. He says some things that still crack me up but not because he was trying to be funny. Take from that what you will.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 09/17/2020	I love him so much and genetics . He may seem condescending but I believe it is just his british humor. He really wants kids to learn and his exams are super manageable. I made a quizlet for each one and went to his review and was fine.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Anonymous 05/12/2020	I love this man . He is super knowledgable and his exams are very straight forward. A lot of people may say hes mean , but they just dont understand his snarky british humour
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Anonymous 05/03/2014	He is extremely knowledgable in Genetics and knows almost everything. He talks very quickly and lecture is fast-paced. It's very intimidating to ask questions because he's very unapproachable. Keep up in this class- it's a lot of material to know. Exams are difficult but manageable if you study for a few hours each day the week before.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting a B ocon 04/22/2013	hard course but he had me engaged the whole time. never boring
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Anonymous 05/15/2012	This man is so smart, it's intimidating to the point that you won't want to ask questions. He answers your questions in a way that makes you wonder why you asked him in the first place. He comes off as a cold cold person but you can tell he loves what he does. Tests are not easy but not impossible. Study well in advance because there's absolutely no room to fall behind. He talks really fast but the course has so much material that you have to stay on top of things. Quizes every week based on lecture, drop the three lowest scores. Labs/Case Studies/Homework - one due every week, doesn't always coincide with lecture but easy points. Two exams and a final.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting a B Anonymous 01/13/2012	Professor St. Leger is genius. I took BSCI222 with him last spring and I thought he was hilarious. His British accent and commentary/jokes made the material 10x more interesting. This man is incredibly smart. Tests were fair and of appropriate difficulty. Overall, I'm glad I took St. Leger.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting an A+ trex 12/11/2010	took him a couple of years ago. he is a very effective teacher. pay attention during lecture and review your notes. he is very helpful if you go to his office hours or after class. i think this will be his last semester teaching this course so definitely take his class if you can!
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting a B PossePrincess 12/07/2010	Dr. St Leger is one of my favorite professors ever. He's a wonderful lecturer, and was very accommodating about meeting for alternative office hours. He's nice, funny, and almost intimidatingly intelligent. I recorded all his lectures and recopied them later, which proved extremely helpful. There's no room to get behind in this class, because there's a lot of material and he tests you on details. That being said, if you attend lectures and keep up with studying and practice problems, there's no reason not to do well in his class. Discussion was difficult, but they are coordinated by different people than the lecturers.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting a B Anonymous 10/11/2010	I found it hard to pay attention, especially whenever he wore an open collar shirt. Meow.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Anonymous 01/29/2010	this man is a genius.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Anonymous 12/18/2009	I'd say if you need to take genetics, you should take it with StLedger. He is Amazing hands down. Knows what he's doing, entertaining, cares, is a little hyper at times, and gets a large volume of material across very easily. He's a fantastic lecturer. I do agree with anonymous that he writes and talked extremely fast, but that's because he's got so much to share. He puts the skeleton of his lecture notes online so if you print or copy that out before class you can take notes on that and save yourself some wrist. Tests weren't so bad once you figured out what exactly he's asking for. Remember case studies. Discussion actually kinda screwed me over. I had a hard TA so wound up with a lower averaging discussion than on my exams, but hey it happens. I actually like how there are weekly quizzes it keeps you on track since 222 is a class that's really easy to fall behind in. Also, I think its fairly safe to say that at least 1/5 of the girls who go into that class had a crush on him by the end of it...
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Anonymous 06/05/2009	I would recommend not taking st. leger for genetics. If there is another prof teaching the course, take that one. Although a lot of people like his lectures, he talks way too fast and its hard to take notes in class. he does have the lecture outlines online but do not rely only on them. There are quizzes almost every week and something due in discussion every week. The two hour discussions are pretty pointless. Quiz difficulty depends on your TA. Exam difficulty goes up from the first exam and is about equal on the 2nd and 3rd exam. On the exams there are essays, short answers, multiple choice etc. Don't start to study the night before the exam maybe a week or two before and you'll be fine.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting a B cninferno 05/21/2009	Professor StLeger is an excellent professor. He really knows his stuff when it comes to lecturing and he talks about current events that may (or may not) pertain to the topic at hand. He is very witty and funny; he makes a few jokes during lecture that gets the entire class laughing. Out of class, he is a very nice person, though he is a bit insane (in a good and funny way). His tests were rather hard, though. All the material in his exams come STRAIGHT out of his mouth during lecture, so it will behoove you to tape record his lectures and rewrite your notes afterwards since he talks VERY fast. But, if you think you can keep up, then just make sure you write down almost everything he says (including the examples he gives in class - he will ask questions about specific examples in his exams). He usually posts his lecture notes online before lecture, so these will definitely help you take notes.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/27/2009	Entertaining, goes realllly fast. Exams are from notes over the textbook. No room to get behind; sometimes two hour discussion isn't even helpful.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting an A rbterp 03/08/2009	I loved Dr. St. Leger's class. He was extremely entertaining and clear during lectures, and always included very interesting current events. He is very strict about people attending class so he will purposely include questions from class not originally on the note outlines to reward those who come to class. He recommends using a tape recorder b/c he speaks quickly. The exams are difficult but doable, just study the material well and you'll be fine.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting an A+ vdawg 04/25/2008	He knows everything there is to know about genetics. Extremely well-read in anything remotely scientific and quotes everything from Alice in Wonderland to Proust in class. Every lecture is extremely interesting, but also chockfull of information. You'd best be good at taking notes and a recorder has never been more appropriate. Exams are not ridiculously hard, only one or two questions require any amount of writing, and they are always straight out of his lectures. If he says something is important or spends more than 10 minutes on something, it'll be on the exam for sure. And you drop your lowest grade anyway. The final exam was unbelievably specific.
Raymond StLeger BSCI222 Expecting an A- reysa 04/17/2008	I loved Dr. StLeger. If you have a choice, TAKE HIM! He is the most engaging professor. He gives plenty of examples and tells lots of jokes. His first exam was an easy freebie, it was 75% stuff we have learned before and I got a 95.5% (my in GPA avg as a Bio major is 2.5). I just studied once a week with a classmate. Second test was harder, I got an 80.5, but he drops one. I take the third test tomorrow, and he is like all teachers and has a ton of material on his exams, but he does honestly make them interesting. He also has LECTURE OUTLINES ready before class, and takes notes on overhead copies so if you are a bad notetaker you have a place to start. Ive never missed a class and dont plan to!

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Anonymous
05/22/2025

I am not sure as to why the reviews are so high. While I agree with others that this class is hard, it is made extremely more complex than needed. His lectures are always jam-packed with material containing like a paragraph of information on more than 3/4 of the slides whereas everything else is just pictures of books and animals. This doesn’t help in his exams either as the exams are so detailed specific that literally ANYTHING this professor says could be on the exam. The exams ended up being overly complex even if you do understand the concepts since everything was so “nitty-gritty”. And while I do agree he is blunt, if you can’t handle being the subject of his jokes, I would suggest moving to the back of the class. If you want a good grade I HIGHLY recommend taking another professor. The only thing that prevented I believe the majority of students from dropping out was the “lab” grade which cushioned everyone by A LOT.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/22/2025

Super interesting professor and class. Rewatch lectures and take notes carefully, do every practice exam, and you will be fine, also participate in the discussion. Getting an A in this class is very feasible with effort

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Anonymous
05/17/2025

There's a review that gave this man 5 stars and said the people who don't do well didn't study enough...NOT TRUE. He's a very smart man for sure but his lecture slides and speech are very disorganized and have no flow to it. Very hard to understand him and keep up with him in lecture, and his recordings aren't much better. His exams averaged low 70s and high 60s, which is just a reflection of his teaching because a majority of us would make Quizlets based off his lecture slides so we had all of the info, but he would still put questions that were so incredibly specific that you can't really know what the answer is unless you're a genius. He was also very disrespectful and condescending to students, would often tell them to "Shut up" or ask "Are you dumb" in lecture. I don't recommend if you want a good grade.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/16/2025

To preface, this man is very British. He is blunt, can seem scary, and says things like "and Bob's your uncle" and "Yippee" on a daily basis. However, he is a very passionate lecturer and definitely knows what he is talking about. At first, I hated his lecture slides because they are a little all over the place and have a lot of random pictures on them, but I found a system of studying that worked for me. The first exam was really easy and honestly, all of the midterms over all were very fair. He asks you things that he explicitly mentions in class, so the people who complain about him asking random fill in the blank questions either didn't pay attention in class or study enough. I lowkey cram studied for every single midterm, and I would go over all of the lecture slides and create a review guide that I would memorize. Overall, StLeger is a very good professor, and I definitely recommend because his exams aren't hard (people just don't study enough).

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/16/2025

To preface, this man is very British. He is blunt, can seem scary, and says things like "and Bob's your uncle" and "Yippee" on a daily basis. However, he is a very passionate lecturer and definitely knows what he is talking about. At first, I hated his lecture slides because they are a little all over the place and have a lot of random pictures on them, but I found a system of studying that worked for me. The first exam was really easy and honestly, all of the midterms over all were very fair. He asks you things that he explicitly mentions in class, so the people who complain about him asking random fill in the blank questions either didn't pay attention in class or study enough. I lowkey cram studied for every single midterm, and I would go over all of the lecture slides and create a review guide that I would memorize. Overall, StLeger is a very good professor, and I definitely recommend because his exams aren't hard (people just don't study enough).

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/15/2025

His lectures are boring and unorganized. By far one of my least favorite classes to go to. He throws so much information at you and most of the time, talks about the most random information that won't even show up on the exams. It's so hard to sit through 75 minutes of him going on and on about monkey testicle, female orgasm, and Francis Galton's daily routine. The first exam was fairly easy but it goes downhill from there. Don't do what I did and get a high score on the first exam and then think you never need to study again. Even if you generally do well on multiple choice, the free response and fill in the blank completely screw you over. Overall, I don't recommend him for this course and you are better off with another professor.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/15/2025

No idea how his rating is so high. His lectures always have at least 1 story that is really interesting & attention grabbing, too many slides on monkey testicles, a small section on unethical or offensive content, and the rest is really boring & hard to pay attention too. He asks the most randomest of questions both in class & especially on the exams. Even if you think you do well on his multiple choice section, it doesn't matter because you are screwed for the short answer & especially the fill in the blank. No word bank given, it could literally be about ANYTHING from the slides, & if it was mentioned once in a sentence it will probably be what is on the exam. His slides are impossible to read, are weird colors, are always long paragraphs, and are on top of images. One girl turned all the slides into quizlets. You NEED to attend lecture if you want to understand what all the images on his slides are about, because the recordings you can't hear him. The homeworks are due at 7pm instead of 11:59, so make sure to do them ahead of time otherwise you will miss the deadline & there is nothing the TAs can do. His exams are HARD so do not slack off especially if you did well on the 1st exam. You can do well if you study every week, even if you feel like taking a break.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/14/2025

There are two words that come to mind when I think of St. Leger, "mad" and "cheeky" (those must be read in a British accent because he is British). At the beginning of the semester I surely thought this man was crazy and this class was going to be the death of me, but it wasn't and towards the end of the semester he is a really funny guy. However, he rambles so much (he is very passionate) and he talks for the entirety of lecture. Some of his rants seem pointless, but they aren't and make sure you pay attention because that stuff will show up on the exam. Also, go to the review sessions he offers before an exam, they are a great way to see if you need to know something (it saved me so many times). Please study so much for exam 2, it was really hard and much harder than the first one. His final is all multiple choice so it should boost your grade overall. One last thing, if you don't want to hear about chimpanzees testicles and penises throughout the semester, do not take him lol

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/13/2025

Not exaggerating to say that StLeger is definitely one of the smartest professors on campus. He is very knowledgeable in everything concerning genetics and is clearly very passionate about the topic. During review sessions, he'll often answer questions with more questions and can come across as condescending- he is a very blunt man (and he also mentions primate erections and evolutionary penile dynamics a lot...) . This class can be very difficult, regardless of the professor that you take it with just because of the sheer amount of content that there is to cover, but if you're able to learn by previewing lectures slides and re-watching recordings to take notes, you'll do alright. I enjoyed this class because of the complex content and found it very interesting, but be ready to spend about 6-7 hours per week studying content.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/11/2025

Very knowledgable in genetics and very passionate. He will cold call you if you sit in the first 5 rows and prepare to be insulated occasionally. He has no clue what goes on in the discussion so just don't expect him to care about it. Exams were straight forward and everything he says in lecture will be on it. Just put the work in and youll pass.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
04/24/2025

Holy crap... I don't know where to start with this guy. He has a sense of humor, but I recommend not attending his exam reviews unless you yourself wish to be the subject of his mockery. If you ask him anything, he leans forward and acts like he couldn't hear you, just to go, "Oh, that is what you asked." I guess this is what tenure does to a guy. I highly recommend asking your TA any and all questions you have regarding material covered in class. His lectures are so informative to the point that they tend to be filled exclusively with seemingly throwaway information and tangents that are never touched on again (until you see them on the exams!) I know very few people who can spend more time discussing monkey testicles than the functionality of certain gene complexes. His exams can include questions about literally anything he talks about during his lectures. He has two screens running, one with the presentation and one with a document camera (the document camera is sometimes utilized to draw examples of key ideas). Additionally, the due dates for assignments often have very arousing and arbitrary 7 pm deadlines. All this being said, the man is insanely smart and very well-versed in his field. He has a lot of experience with teaching genetics and can break down certain concepts very well to make it easier for some students to digest. I don't think I have ever seen him stumped with a question before, and he is very quick. Like many, I saw the PlanetTerp reviews and thought he was going to be the dream teacher for a notoriously difficult class, but the man's ego makes it difficult to fully appreciate the wealth of knowledge he has. Some of these other reviews feel like paid promotion, but his teaching style works for some, just not everybody.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting a B
Anonymous
04/24/2025

For people with a passion for genetics, this class will be heaven for you. St. Leger is one of the most knowledgeable professor I've ever had and will spend 75 minutes two times a week continuously unloading interesting information. I found none of the individual concepts to be too difficult to understand, however the sheer amount of concepts he includes on the slides that you will have to memorize to do well on exams makes the course difficult, especially for someone who struggles with memorization. His exams cover topics hidden inside 400 slides worth of mostly dense, paragraph-style slides and to add insult to injury anything that comes out of his mouth can be on an exam even if it wasn't put on the slides. I would say he's a great to learn from but not great if you want to get a good grade in the class.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/29/2024

This is a challenging course, but I don't believe anything is unjust or unfair in the class. You need to watch all lectures thoroughly, and quite literally anything can be on the test, but this is expected and stated clearly by the professor. He's a very passionate speaker, and if you enjoy learning about genetics, there's a lot of lectures that include how real world research and how they connect to the material, and I found lots of the research very interesting. There is unfortunately LOTS of material, the lectures are very long and you need to put lots of time and effort to study. Also no curve.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/23/2024

Dr. StLeger is a very intelligent professor. He explains a lot of cool history and research beyond the main content of BSCI222. Overall, it was a very interesting class; however, it often got difficult (especially the content between the third exam and final) to prioritize concepts/information to study because he unloaded a LOT of information. Honestly, I enjoyed his class even though I underperformed, but if you're excellent with memorizing a LOT of information then you will do fine. He also will spend every second of the lecture talking, so be prepared for him to speak for 75 minutes straight.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/22/2024

This class requires a lot of work but St Leger is a great professor! He is a really good lecturer and he tells you about the coolest genetics research. However, as many other people have said, whatever he says during lecture is fair game on the exams. I was scared about that, but honestly it wasn't that bad if you review the slides and watch his lectures. He tends to not include the super minute details, but don't count anything completely out. He does record lectures which is super helpful, so I recommend watching those. There are three exams, and a cumulative final. The first three exams are a mix of multiple choice, short answer, fill in the blank, and/or true or false. I highly recommend doing all the past exams to get a feel for the format. Exams are all fair game, but you have to study a ton for this class if you want to do well. Between the recorded lectures, discussion reviews, and past exams, there is ample resources to help you. The class has no curve, but if you are within 10 points of the next grade, he will round you up.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/18/2024

Dr. St. Leger is honestly a great professor. If you really like genetics or have always had good grades in your science curriculum, St. Leger's genetics won't be any different. However, if you don't like the subject very much or are just taking genetics to be done with it, definitely take it with another professor. His lectures can be confusing at times, especially when you don't have the background. Also, there is a 25pt extra credit in his final exam so ig there is a 2.5% "curve" to the class.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/17/2024

Lectures are recorded and posted online, no curve. discussion portion is 25% of your grade, and is a lot of busy work. Exams are not bad, but as the professor has said "every word that comes out of my mouth may be on the exam." Leger talks a lot about the newest and greatest tech / research papers in his lectures. There's a lot of filler. He knows what he's talking about though.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/05/2023

I agree with the person before me: if you really (and I mean really) like genetics, he is the guy to take. I loved his class because he always talked about the coolest research that was going on. But, if you just need to take this class for a requirement, I would suggest you take someone else because it is so much information that he expects you to know. I loved him and the class so I did very well, but if you do not like the subject you will find the exams very hard because anything that comes out of his mouth can be on the exams.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Anonymous
06/06/2023

Let me keep this short, I highly recommend taking him if you want to learn deeply about the subject, but take someone else if you are concentrating on getting good a grade.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/16/2023

I love this man so much. While I got made fun of practically ever lecture (he loves to pick on the kids in the front), every lecture was so fun. He made genetics such an enjoyable class and even made my friend change his major to cell bio and genetics. He is quick, witty, hilarious, and so incredibly smart. While he moves pretty quickly in lecture, he records his lectures and watching the lectures back the second time always did the trick for me. If you're willing to put in the time you can do great in this class; re-watch the panoptos, memorize his slides, and try your best to pay attention in class, you won't regret it.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/16/2023

I have heard that St. Leger is better than Koppel, but that doesn't make him good. Exam averages were in the low Bs or high Cs, except for the second exam which had a D average. He is funny and incredibly smart, but not a good teacher. You can actively listen to his lecture and take notes but he rambles and makes concepts extremely complicated, even when he's introducing them, so it is hard to keep up. His canvas page was messed up so the links are mislabeled, which is honestly just really irritating and confusing. Regardless of this, I did enjoy his class. He makes the material really interesting, if you can keep up with what he's saying. You HAVE to study for this class. Study every week, maybe even after every single class. Don't pay attention to the comments saying that if you start preparing a week in advance, you'll be fine and get an A. That's not true for most people, even really smart ones. You have to put in the work. I didn't do as much as I should have, hence my B, but I had a lot on my plate this semester and couldn't give this class as much time as required. There is a discussion section worth 25% of the final grade that can save you. Go to class, use the recorded lectures, take practice exams, do practice questions, go to office hours, etc. Keep up with the material as it is presented. You'll be okay, but this class is going to drain the life out of you while you're taking it. Good luck

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/16/2023

Whoever said StLeger is too smart, is right. He's extremely knowledgeable about the course content. Sometimes he mentions a very specific example in class that very well could show up on the exam. However, his exams weren't too unfair. The three midterms had a few bonus points. The final was all multiple-choice with a lot more extra credit. There's no curve but if you're within 10 points of the next grade he'll bump you up. Lectures were always recorded but the drawings and annotations (which are really helpful in terms of understanding the concepts) he did in class weren't. Do his past exams!! His format and questions are usually pretty similar.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting a B
Anonymous
06/22/2022

He's smart but honestly too smart. He expected us to understand things we didn't, and never went into enough detail. Also, his rule for exams was "Anything that comes out of [his] mouth can and will be on the exam" and boy oh boy was that true. Take anyone else

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting an A+
florm
05/21/2022

St Leger is a very smart and funny chap. He enjoys calling out people in class (mainly in the front rows) for not "keeping up with the material" and things like that. All of his quirks and idiosyncrasies made class very entertaining. However, the lectures were remarkably difficult to follow. He would have two screens set up, one with Powerpoint slides and one with a document camera that showed an outline of notes, but the information between the slides and the outline often did not line up well at all. It was a scramble to keep up with these two sets of information, as well as with whatever random facts that St Leger might mention that very well could wind up on an exam. To make matters worse, he would post all the slides and outlines on ELMS, but they would be numbered in an arbitrary way that didn't line up with the lecture numbers. In fact, when you'd click on the link for "Topic 11 Material," for instance, it would take you to a page titled "Topic 10 Material," so not only were the topics not well defined, but the links to the pages were all mislabeled. Trying to go back and find the slides from a specific lecture was quite the challenge. Aside from the poor organization of lecture material, the biggest problem with 222 was actually not really St Leger's fault, but rather the fault of whoever designed the course. While St Leger taught lectures, a separate professor (Dr. Paczolt) organized the discussions. As a result, the assignments for discussion often didn't coincide with material from the lecture, which was incredibly frustrating. There'd be weekly quizzes that would have questions about stuff St Leger simply had never said. The pre-exam review discussion quizzes were especially terrible, and required an excessive amount of time to figure out what was going on with them. That being said, the days when the TAs would review for the exams in discussion were very beneficial, and helped to clarify so much stuff that St Leger didn't explain too well. But they would sometimes introduce new stuff (like the 5 groups of amino acids) that wouldn't have shown up on the exams, as if it was critical for us to study. As for the exams themselves, they were tough and certainly required a lot of studying. There is an insane amount of material in this course, and some of the questions St Leger wrote would ask very specific things about specific genes he may have only mentioned once or twice. He did provide some practice exams though, which were useful for seeing what small details might be important to study. There were no curves on the exams (nor on the overall grade), but there were extra credit questions on them, and there was also a 10 points extra credit assignment just for watching a bunch of videos he created for his online Coursera course. And on the final exam, he actually added 32 extra points from the original 200 it was supposed to be out of, so we basically got an 8-question buffer of things we could get wrong without dropping below 100%. There's no guarantee that he'll do all of these things in the future, but it's clear that St Leger has no issue giving a bunch of extra credit.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/18/2022

So I don't know who said st leger was a good professor because the way he teaches is just all over the place. I think half the reviews on here were students who took him well into the past, so I'm not sure if he was a better teacher back then. However, when I took him I had to do a lot , a LOT of self studying. And thank god he records his lectures because you basically have to remember everything he says. I also found it really helpful whenever he starts drawing diagrams to focus on those. One more thing is he really likes to include some history into his lectures, and the content does show up for a few questions on his exams, so either memorize those historical events or try to use common sense to figure them out, which is what I did because I literally had no time to learn about the American eugenics movement or whatever on top of all the content I had to memorize. The good thing about him is he does give chances for free points like exam corrections and really is the only indication he doesn't want his students to completely fail. Overall, if you already have great memorization skills and enjoy dry British humor you should take this professor. For me, this class was just not it.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/12/2022

i read these reviews before registering for Leger this semester and was actually excited to take his course - i was HIGHLY disappointed. genetics is my favorite topic in bio and all of the information was interesting but his disorganization and detailed exams make the whole course so stressful. during lecture he switches back and forth between two different presentations, making it difficult to take fluid and organized notes. his exams pay attention to the smallest details mentioned in lecture one time. the only way to do well on his exams are to memorize every word thats come out of his mouth. he also brings examples up in lecture and goes into the most miniscule detail, spending at least 10 minutes on them, then never brings them up again in exams or homework. the extra assignments for the class are a lot but they help your grade a TON if you can spend a decent amount of time thinking them through. my best advice would be to make friends with your TA and ask them for as much help as you can get - they did well in his class and probably have the best advice as to how to learn from someone so disorganized. i would recommend any other professor if you really enjoy or are interested in the topics of genetics because leger has seriously made me rethink my major

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Anonymous
04/04/2022

Idk what these reviews are talking about but this man actually SUCKS. The lectures are so disorganized and impossible to keep up with, a million assignments a week, and the exams are HORRENDOUS and ask for the most minuscule details. Literally take anyone else. He’s also so so rude and unhelpful. No class has ever stressed me out as much as this one.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting an A
Anonymous
06/01/2021

Probably a good guy and definitely smart and organized, but I just didn't get the point of him being there. I had him in conjunction with Dr. Obrien we only had one lecture from him a week and each lecture seemed pretty disconnected from the actual course material. At a certain point I just straight up stopped showing up and it had zero impact on my grade. It is pretty enjoyable to hear him talk though, proper British accent talking about evolution and whatnot. He says some things that still crack me up but not because he was trying to be funny. Take from that what you will.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
09/17/2020

I love him so much and genetics . He may seem condescending but I believe it is just his british humor. He really wants kids to learn and his exams are super manageable. I made a quizlet for each one and went to his review and was fine.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Anonymous
05/12/2020

I love this man . He is super knowledgable and his exams are very straight forward. A lot of people may say hes mean , but they just dont understand his snarky british humour

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Anonymous
05/03/2014

He is extremely knowledgable in Genetics and knows almost everything. He talks very quickly and lecture is fast-paced. It's very intimidating to ask questions because he's very unapproachable. Keep up in this class- it's a lot of material to know. Exams are difficult but manageable if you study for a few hours each day the week before.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting a B
ocon
04/22/2013

hard course but he had me engaged the whole time. never boring

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Anonymous
05/15/2012

This man is so smart, it's intimidating to the point that you won't want to ask questions. He answers your questions in a way that makes you wonder why you asked him in the first place. He comes off as a cold cold person but you can tell he loves what he does. Tests are not easy but not impossible. Study well in advance because there's absolutely no room to fall behind. He talks really fast but the course has so much material that you have to stay on top of things. Quizes every week based on lecture, drop the three lowest scores. Labs/Case Studies/Homework - one due every week, doesn't always coincide with lecture but easy points. Two exams and a final.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting a B
Anonymous
01/13/2012

Professor St. Leger is genius. I took BSCI222 with him last spring and I thought he was hilarious. His British accent and commentary/jokes made the material 10x more interesting. This man is incredibly smart. Tests were fair and of appropriate difficulty. Overall, I'm glad I took St. Leger.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting an A+
trex
12/11/2010

took him a couple of years ago. he is a very effective teacher. pay attention during lecture and review your notes. he is very helpful if you go to his office hours or after class. i think this will be his last semester teaching this course so definitely take his class if you can!

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting a B
PossePrincess
12/07/2010

Dr. St Leger is one of my favorite professors ever. He's a wonderful lecturer, and was very accommodating about meeting for alternative office hours. He's nice, funny, and almost intimidatingly intelligent. I recorded all his lectures and recopied them later, which proved extremely helpful. There's no room to get behind in this class, because there's a lot of material and he tests you on details. That being said, if you attend lectures and keep up with studying and practice problems, there's no reason not to do well in his class. Discussion was difficult, but they are coordinated by different people than the lecturers.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting a B
Anonymous
10/11/2010

I found it hard to pay attention, especially whenever he wore an open collar shirt. Meow.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Anonymous
01/29/2010

this man is a genius.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Anonymous
12/18/2009

I'd say if you need to take genetics, you should take it with StLedger. He is Amazing hands down. Knows what he's doing, entertaining, cares, is a little hyper at times, and gets a large volume of material across very easily. He's a fantastic lecturer. I do agree with anonymous that he writes and talked extremely fast, but that's because he's got so much to share. He puts the skeleton of his lecture notes online so if you print or copy that out before class you can take notes on that and save yourself some wrist. Tests weren't so bad once you figured out what exactly he's asking for. Remember case studies. Discussion actually kinda screwed me over. I had a hard TA so wound up with a lower averaging discussion than on my exams, but hey it happens. I actually like how there are weekly quizzes it keeps you on track since 222 is a class that's really easy to fall behind in. Also, I think its fairly safe to say that at least 1/5 of the girls who go into that class had a crush on him by the end of it...

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Anonymous
06/05/2009

I would recommend not taking st. leger for genetics. If there is another prof teaching the course, take that one. Although a lot of people like his lectures, he talks way too fast and its hard to take notes in class. he does have the lecture outlines online but do not rely only on them. There are quizzes almost every week and something due in discussion every week. The two hour discussions are pretty pointless. Quiz difficulty depends on your TA. Exam difficulty goes up from the first exam and is about equal on the 2nd and 3rd exam. On the exams there are essays, short answers, multiple choice etc. Don't start to study the night before the exam maybe a week or two before and you'll be fine.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting a B
cninferno
05/21/2009

Professor StLeger is an excellent professor. He really knows his stuff when it comes to lecturing and he talks about current events that may (or may not) pertain to the topic at hand. He is very witty and funny; he makes a few jokes during lecture that gets the entire class laughing. Out of class, he is a very nice person, though he is a bit insane (in a good and funny way). His tests were rather hard, though. All the material in his exams come STRAIGHT out of his mouth during lecture, so it will behoove you to tape record his lectures and rewrite your notes afterwards since he talks VERY fast. But, if you think you can keep up, then just make sure you write down almost everything he says (including the examples he gives in class - he will ask questions about specific examples in his exams). He usually posts his lecture notes online before lecture, so these will definitely help you take notes.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting an A
Anonymous
04/27/2009

Entertaining, goes realllly fast. Exams are from notes over the textbook. No room to get behind; sometimes two hour discussion isn't even helpful.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting an A
rbterp
03/08/2009

I loved Dr. St. Leger's class. He was extremely entertaining and clear during lectures, and always included very interesting current events. He is very strict about people attending class so he will purposely include questions from class not originally on the note outlines to reward those who come to class. He recommends using a tape recorder b/c he speaks quickly. The exams are difficult but doable, just study the material well and you'll be fine.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting an A+
vdawg
04/25/2008

He knows everything there is to know about genetics. Extremely well-read in anything remotely scientific and quotes everything from Alice in Wonderland to Proust in class. Every lecture is extremely interesting, but also chockfull of information. You'd best be good at taking notes and a recorder has never been more appropriate. Exams are not ridiculously hard, only one or two questions require any amount of writing, and they are always straight out of his lectures. If he says something is important or spends more than 10 minutes on something, it'll be on the exam for sure. And you drop your lowest grade anyway. The final exam was unbelievably specific.

Raymond StLeger
BSCI222

Expecting an A-
reysa
04/17/2008

I loved Dr. StLeger. If you have a choice, TAKE HIM! He is the most engaging professor. He gives plenty of examples and tells lots of jokes. His first exam was an easy freebie, it was 75% stuff we have learned before and I got a 95.5% (my in GPA avg as a Bio major is 2.5). I just studied once a week with a classmate. Second test was harder, I got an 80.5, but he drops one. I take the third test tomorrow, and he is like all teachers and has a ton of material on his exams, but he does honestly make them interesting. He also has LECTURE OUTLINES ready before class, and takes notes on overhead copies so if you are a bad notetaker you have a place to start. Ive never missed a class and dont plan to!