Sergei Sukharev

This professor has taught: BIOL704, BIOL708M, BIOL709R, BIPH704, BISI712, BSCI329, BSCI330, BSCI338O, BSCI339R, BSCI404, BSCI406, BSCI440

Sort By:

Information	Review
Sergei Sukharev BSCI330 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/23/2024	Would I take him again? NO. But is this class doable? Yes. Dr. Sukharev is a super sweet, nerdy, passionate guy! If you go to his office hours and ask him targetted questions (after doing your own HW) he will answer and explain the concepts. What makes him hard is HOW MUCH CONTENT HE PUTS. He definitely expects us to know significantly more than Frawurth (this is after discussing our content with Frawurth's students in BSCI330). As another person said, his exams feature all free response (drawing and question answer [explain how this works.. etc]). This is hard because he asks us to recall super small details that we would not notice in lecture. Our class was lucky enough to convince him to record, so he started recording mid semester. OH did I mention there are essentially no words on the slides. Meaning, you really need to either watch the videos or focus in lecture to understand what is going on. Alright, so you have to take Sukharev. What do you do? - Mark any slides or topics he says will be on the exam. He is very honest with this. Make sure you understand the math inside out. - He puts the location of the figures in the TB on the slides. If you do not understand a figure, look in the TB. If you still don't understand, ask chatGPT. And if you are still lost, go to his office. If you tell him what you know he will not be condescending towards you - Practice drawing figures rapidly and concisely, he usually tells you what he wants you to be able to draw - Understand the mechanisms well as he may ask the role of specific things in a mechanism or ask you to explain the mechanism and significance - Go through the slides on your own and use the study guide as flashcard questions. I know the class will probably work on the study guide together (bec it is hella long), but if you do it on your own you will retain the info much better and it will not just be rote memorization. Feel free to reference the class version if you are lost, but try to do it on your own as much as possible and then seek help. I know it seems like a lot of work, but it is worth it in the end. You'll come out knowing the material better than the rest AND you do not have to worry about failing ht final if you got super good grades on the midterms (yes, he does curve a good amount). You got this soldier. 💪
Sergei Sukharev BSCI330 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/17/2024	DO NOT TAKE. Take ANY other professor for this class. This professor does not care if you do not understand content, and he expects you to already have the background knowledge on the subject. On top of that, he does not teach general cell biology topics, but incredibly specific topics that do not need to be taught in order to understand biology. He also includes topics from other classes including BCHM461/463, PHYS132, and CHEM231 even though they are not required before taking the class. His slides will not help you learn the material, they are just diagrams copied and pasted from the textbook with no explanations or supplementary text to help the student understand what they are looking at. I spent hours upon hours reviewing material for this class for exams because he expects you to remember very specific details from his 40-page slides in order to write the exam. His exams are also COMPLETELY free response. The professor also turns away students from office hours, claiming to be busy, without an announcement in advance that he would not be available. In general, this class was time-consuming and I did not learn anything valuable.
Sergei Sukharev BSCI330 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/17/2024	Please take frauwirth, the material in this class is easily so much harder than the other sections. Along with the fact that his study guides are not transparent at all and the exams are 40-60 free response questions with no Multiple choice or matching. Final exam was 75 questions all free response with 15-20 questions of material he never taught, expected us to memorize the codon table without specifying.
Sergei Sukharev BSCI330 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/17/2024	Truly a horrible professor. Basically 0 organization to his lectures, 0 opportunity to practice any of the random concepts that he expects students to master, 0 concern for any of his students. It's crazy that a person can care so little about his job. Exams do not test material that was covered on the lectures because he doesn't even remember what he taught. Do not take a class with him if you can help it.
Sergei Sukharev BSCI330 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/16/2024	Good professors just use the study guide to do well in the class. He is passionate about what he teaches but tends to overcomplicate things.
Sergei Sukharev BSCI330 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/16/2024	He is not that bad of a professor, just the way the class is structured is hard because it is very exam-heavy and has very little supplemental work other than the quizzes. As long as you do well on the exams and lab you will be fine. He is a good at explaining certain things but tends to overcomplicate them, but you can tell he is passionate about his work and what he teaches. Overall would take it again, I took it with other heavier courses and it was not that much extra work. The study guides are word for word on the exam.
Sergei Sukharev BSCI330 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/16/2024	I would not recommend this professor to anyone. He explains concepts very poorly, expects students to memorize far too much information, and does not provide adequate resources to prepare students for classes. Expect the lecture to start about 5 minutes late, and to run about 5 minutes over. He does not care about students' time. I know him to be a very nice individual, but being nice is not what makes a professor good. He really should not be teaching this course as this is at least his 3rd year teaching it and is still getting the same comments. He teaches it like he's teaching graduate students who have nothing else to do other than memorize everything he tells them ... or doesnt.
Sergei Sukharev BSCI330 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 03/27/2024	Easily the worst professor I have ever had in my life. This guy is actually the devil. Exams were insanely hard and tested us on extremely specific and niche information that is barely talked about in lecture, not to mention that the whole entire test is free response. Our last test was 7 pages of free response questions that we were expected to finish in 50 minutes. The test averages are always in the 60's, and although sukharev is a nice guy, he is the worst at explaining concepts and often leaves students feeling more confused after his explanations. He does not assign readings or give any supplemental materials, and there are no TA's to give you guidance either. Would not wish this guy upon my worst enemy
Sergei Sukharev BSCI404 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 12/14/2023	He's generally generous about due dates which is nice, but other than that, he's a horrible professor. He rushes through a lot of his explanations and often fails to fully explain things. He then provides problem sets without ample feedback.
Sergei Sukharev BSCI330 Anonymous 04/06/2023	Awful professor. Says "I will only give extra credit to students that deserve it" after everyone completed it. And the extra credit was by no means easy. You have to use an outdated program to analyze molecular structures, and he gives you no support or help. Also at the end of the semester, the grade distribution was absolutely bonkers. Some people got a lower percentage in the class, but they somehow received a better grade. Mentions nothing about the curve, completely disorganized, and cannot teach to save his life. DO NOT TAKE!!!!
Sergei Sukharev BSCI330 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/08/2023	I took this class very late in my college career, so I had already taken mammalian physiology, genetics, molecular genetics, biochem, and many other very hard classes. You could imagine my surprise when this class, which only prereq was one intro chem and bio course, ended up pulling from all of those classes and more and was one of the hardest classes I've taken. Luckily I was able to get an A due to the knowledge I gained from previous classes, but I couldn't imagine what it must've been like for the younger students who had no prior knowledge of any of these concepts before. I understand it was his first year teaching this class and he is used to teaching like 700-level courses, but the students shouldn't have to suffer for that. I think he was nice, but i hope if he teaches next semester, he tries to clean up and simplify the course because it was way too advanced for what the course should have been. I do think that ppl didn't take advantage of his office hours enough tho, if you went after you got an exam back he was very generous with giving points back if you explained and fought for your case, it definitely gave me to boost to get the grade I got.
Sergei Sukharev BSCI330 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/03/2023	His teaching style was not really the best for my learning. Although I did well in the class, I had to spend an insane amount of time preparing for exams. Although I hated every second of this class, I did learn a lot. He is a nice, quiet guy.
Sergei Sukharev BSCI330 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/27/2022	He is such a sweet guy!!! But, he's not the best professor. He packs so much information in just one lecture and each exam we have covers about 9-13 lectures each. He was not consistent in recording lectures which was frustrating because I would miss so much during each lecture and could not go back and see what I missed. The only reason I did well was that I went to every lecture, every review session, and every office hours he held before an exam. You have to be willing to put in the work by looking through his lectures and taking extensive notes.
Sergei Sukharev BSCI330 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/23/2022	very hard, extremely time consuming, nonetheless, I learned a insane amount of useful information regarding cell biology, if ur schedule is already stacked this professor is definitely not ideal but if it's easy you'll be fine just be ready to study a ton and make time to go to his office hours and any exam review sessions he host's outside of class time.
Sergei Sukharev BSCI330 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/21/2022	Dr Sukharev is a nice guy, can be a bit rude at times, but is nice nonetheless. His lectures were hard to follow at first due to his stuttering, however you get used to it kind of like white noise. Dr Sukharev steadily became a better lecturer throughout the semester, slowly but surely. His exams were not extremely difficult but that averages were always in the 65-70 range. All in all, he’s a nice guy but needs to work on lecturing skills, I must say I did learn a lot from this course by putting in countless hours of study time.
Sergei Sukharev BSCI330 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/18/2022	terrible class
Sergei Sukharev BSCI330 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/18/2022	This class was awful. The exams were super difficult and he was unclear about the content that would be on them. I feel like I worked so hard for nothing because my grade doesn’t reflect the effort I put into this class. His lectures are terrible and difficult to understand. Overall, would not recommend this professor AT all.
Sergei Sukharev BSCI330 Expecting a D+ Anonymous 12/18/2022	I will start by saying he is a very nice person, however nice doesn't exactly equal good. For his first time teaching in undergrad, I feel as this class had been nothing but a social experiment. His study guides for each exam before the final did not prep anyone for the exam, whatsoever. He literally released them 1-2 days before the final, and sometimes he forgets to add tings, so when we think we have it all, there is still more, and it made it worse when the extras he added did not show up in the exam. His quizzes that are also supposed to help us with exam prep were released the day before the exam as well, so no help there. I say that they were useless homework materials that were not graded. He literally said in class, "Don't worry guys, next semester I will get it right." So I wasted a good chunk of time and money trying to do well in a class, he's teaching for the first time, and said he would put in effort next semester. The biology department has been no help either, even after a class full of emails, I was the only one to get a reply and they said they were looking into this. Nothing changed. We are supposed to receive extra credit, yet someone in the class group chat announced, he will only get extra credit if he feels like we earned it. While we were promised for Exam 2, all that showed up would receive extra credit. There was also an extra credit assignment, that when we asked for help because it is a program he uses, he told us to call the IT department over Thanksgiving break. Only a few students got it to work, and when they did, most didn't know how to use the program to find the answers. This course had been a displeasure to take and I wish I dropped in when I had the chance to.
Sergei Sukharev BSCI330 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/17/2022	-The course consist of material that are not prerequisite to this class. For example, genetics (from BSCI222) and biochemistry (from BCHEM461/462). -Rarely record any of his lectures. (only recorded about 20% for this semester) -Always show up 10 minutes late. (No, I am not joking. Lectures do not start after 10 minutes into the class EVERYDAY). -Lecture slides: 80% consists of diagrams that you have memorize and know how to DRAW them. Very brief explanation on each topic. -Lab is the only thing that is keeping up your grades and it is with another instructor/TA. Easy lab grade as long as you complete your assignment. -Quizzes: Literally posts them the night before the midterm and it won't be open until late afternoon. -Midterms: No multiple choice. All short answers and some of them you have to memorize and draw the diagrams. You have to label them as well. Early this semester, on the day of midterm, he allowed students who arrived early to get a head start of the exam (about 15 minutes head start). Which is very unfair to the people who have classes before this one. -Extra credit assignment: Little to no instructions. People complained about technical difficulties with the app that we were suppose to run. When we emailed him about the issue, he would asks you to refer to an IT. -Midterm study guide: (sigh) Not very helpful...only about 10% of the stuff will be on the midterm. On the third midterm, he even send out annoucements about the things that we were suppose to remember yet none of the related question showed up. -Final exam study guide: For this semester...two parts. About ten pages combined. After completing the questions you will get about 41 pages of information. (Not joking)
Sergei Sukharev BSCI330 Expecting a B IfCourseEvalsWereHones 12/16/2022	If you get to know Sukharev, you'll find that he's pretty decent and nice with a bit of humor. He does, however, seem to carry around a condescending & lackadaisical attitude. But, he is NOT a good professor. He is terrible at explaining concepts, and he teaches new material by using even more convoluted and complex terms & principles. He almost expects us to already have a background in cell biology, biochemistry & mammalian physiology, even though these courses are not prerequisites for the class. There is also some math & physics that you'll have to know. Expect to learn a lot of material on your own or through the textbook. His study guides are always loaded and are either a hit or miss. There are 4 exams (3 during the semester & one cumulative final), and what was on the test is COMPLETELY different than what he puts on the study guide. He even admits that his study guide was too loaded at one point, and then for the next exam, he proceeds to double the information. In addition, there are no practice exams, he doesn't release an answer key, and doesn't go over the correct answers. He also spends a day reviewing for an exam and specifically tells us to memorize certain topics, then proceeds to not even put them on the exam. Also, the exam is ALL free-response. No multiple choice, true/false, etc. The course is loaded with insane amounts of material & detail (just under 40 lectures with each lecture being at least 30+ slides - also I forgot to mention 95% of slides are diagrams & pictures with barely any words, so you'll have to record on your own because he'll only record maybe every other few lectures for whatever reason), and oftentimes, he doesn't even finish the lecture. Transitions between slides are nonexistent, and it feels like you're jumping every all at once. You're also better off betting the over on class time as he starts class late and ends the class late because spends the last few minutes + more quickly going over 10 slides that he didn't get to. I hope you find a way to stray far far away from him. Sukharev is a good person, but he is an awful instructor and is extremely disorganized, unprepared, and seems to not give an F about his students. He claims to give out an extra credit assignment that he calls easy, and then we find out that it's a whole coding program that researchers & graduates use in which we have to learn by ourselves to create molecules and answer difficult questions on it (the program is called VMD). His stutter and accent don't help the situation any better. He promises he'll go easy on the exam, and it turns out to be twice as hard as the previous. There are no TAs for the class, no discussion, no guidance, no nothing. I had a very difficult time getting used to his lecture style. He has no grade determination/cutoff at all, so you won't know where you stand until past finals, in which by then is already too late to inquire about grades. Granted this is his first time teaching BSCI330, but that's not an excuse to be a complete troll. 1/10 would not recommend.
Sergei Sukharev BSCI330 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/12/2022	too much content for exams. not good at explaining concepts
Sergei Sukharev BSCI330 Anonymous 12/06/2022	Bruh he’s nice but too rogue. The averages for the exams are in the 60s……. Meanwhile the other teachers have averages in the 80s
Sergei Sukharev BSCI330 Anonymous 11/12/2022	He is a sweet guy... unfortunately he is not the best teacher. Its his first time teaching cell bio at UMD, so there was nothing that could really help students prepare for his exams. He releases a study guide which not very helpful because it just lists LITERALLY EVERY TOPIC that was in the lecture slides. His slides are also not enough to review material because it's mostly just pictures, so make sure to record if you like retaking notes. Exams are all written response, and you have to know EVERYTHING to do well on them. It's an insane amount of detail and lecture material. I have a C in the class rn, and there is an extra credit assignment but lets hope he curves...
Sergei Sukharev BSCI440 Expecting an A impart 08/04/2016	Pros: -Reuses old exam questions. Get some from your friends and buy the purple book for $10 at the book store. -Explanations of concepts were not bad though. Teacher engaging with good sense of humor. Heavy Russian accent and very noticeable stutter. -Teacher receptive to student concerns and flexible. Available during office hours -Usually gives you back points on exams if you argue for it Cons: -Slides are disorganized. Titles on first slide should be continued throughout presentation to divide the slides up. -Little context given for material. We all felt like large volumes of information were being explained and tossed at students without good context to memorize them. -Teacher arrived late, started class late, and ended class late, which was inappropriate and not good for students who had a class afterwards. -Reviews for exams were disjointed. Consisted of professor speeding through slides and realizing that it was a lot of material unfairly given to us. There should have been a better emphasis on big picture and better organization. -Many errors in answer keys and poorly designed, reused questions. Always had to get points back for every single exam. Disaster.
Sergei Sukharev BSCI440 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/29/2016	Extremely knowledgable profesor but not a good instructor. You will get used to his "uh's and um's" but you will not get used to his lecture style. His transitions between slides are poor and the way he presents the material is not ideal. Literally, all the TA's told me that they do not understand how we are learning from this guy because of the way he teaches. He is a very nice person though and if you go to his office hours, he will make sure you understand the material. And like the reviews below, yes, Dr. Sukharev does re-use questions from old exams. He re-used a lot of them for the second and third exam. They were pretty much identical actually so if you have old exams, you will get an A. The final exam was incredibly difficult. I pulled an all nighter studying for the final and I guessed on approximately 70% of it. luckily, the exam was out of 200 points but had 230 possible points. He also does not do the +/- system so you have to aim for that 90%. Overall, if you want an A on your transcript for BSCI440 then take Sukharev. If you actually want to learn the material and be prepared for medical school/MCATS, then take Singer.
Sergei Sukharev BSCI440 Expecting a B Anonymous 06/08/2015	Solid professor. You learn soooooo much information and it's really cool to be able to apply it in real life situations. He doesn't curve at the end. But there are built-in curves with his exams. There are 4 exams (3 mid-terms and 1 final). Each are 200 points (so total of 800 points in lecture). With each exam, he gives extra buffer points (i.e. for the final, he only counts it out of 200 but there was a total of 253 points!!!! which helped soooooo much in boosting my grade). Discussion is 200 points (based on an individual 20 minute presentation, 4 quizzes, attendance, and participation). So there are a total of 1000 points. No curve. So 900 is an A, 800 is a B, 700 is a C. He doesn't do plus/minus either. Super, super, SUPER generous with regrades (but make sure you use pen!). Basically look at the answer key he posts outside his office and then go to his office hours and explain why you think you should get more points, and he is super generous with giving back points. He doesn't regrade the entire exam like most professors, but only looks at the questions you ask him which is super nice. This was definitely one of my favorite classes at UMD (the other one being BSCI330 with Dr. Ades).
Sergei Sukharev BSCI440 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/03/2015	This class is no joke. I spent sooo many hours studying for it, and in the end it was worth it. The material is interesting beyond belief and is incredibly relevant for premedical students. It is the sheer magnitude of material that makes it difficult to wrap your head around, but if you are diligent and keep up with lecture it isn’t too bad. The material itself is not hard to understand, it’s merely the ordeal of memorizing it is what makes the class hard. Sukharev isn’t the best lecturer but his exams are fair and he is very generous with giving back points if you see him after an exam (do try to have a valid argument for why you should get points back though, nobody likes the kid who just wants points back because he just thinks he deserves them, and he’ll call you out for it). Sukharev is straightforward in his exams, which are very memorization-oriented, unlike Higgins and Singer, who are more application/case study based. Sukharev likes details and will ask you to recall things like the pressure value of the valves going in and out of the heart. He also doesn’t give out +/-‘s for final grades. He will give out extra points on exams so it is possible to get over 100%. Go to discussion, I got lucky and had a ballin TA (yay Amol!) and you can usually get freebie points in discussion for showing up and giving a decent presentation. Quizzes in discussion are also given, which are harder than exam material but my year the last two quizzes were allowed to be taken in groups. This class is a ton of work though; be aware when going in that this class will and should take up most of your time during the semester. Khan academy helps tremendously, but keeping up with (and attending) lecture will take you a long way.
Sergei Sukharev BSCI440 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/27/2015	Honestly one of the best professors at UMD. He is very receptive, extremely fair and understanding. Lectures are great and he does a great job of keeping everyone's attention. Go to office hours and use the purple manual. ever exam has a built in curve so they don't curve the class at the end. he also doesn't do +/- grading so be mindful of this. his exams are straight from his slides and the things he says in lecture - so go to class! very generous with extra credit on the final - i pulled up my grade by 4% just because of the final and got an A in the class. prof sukharev is the bomb! take bsci440 with him!
Sergei Sukharev BSCI440 Anonymous 01/24/2012	One of the most receptive professors I have met at this university. Unlike with other teachers I've had I felt as though he cared about his students and really just wanted them to learn the material. It can be kind of intimidating to speak with professors, but he is always willing to meet with you. The class is by no means easy, there is a lot of material to cover and you will be asked about everything. But there are no tricks and Dr. Sukharev is very open to discussing mistakes made and giving points back when deserved.
Sergei Sukharev BSCI440 Anonymous 12/20/2009	I really enjoyed having Dr. Sukharev. He's a really great lecturer and even manages to get a few chuckles in the middle of a class filled with tense students trying to copy down everything he says! I can't believe he covered all that information in one semester. He's very fast paced but is very responsive to students. So don't hesitate to ask a question during or after class, no matter how hurried he seems, he'll take the time to answer. He may not smile much but he's very fair and has a very good sense of humor. Plus he cares, he's not one of those professors who would just give you the basic facts, he wants you to understand why (even the circuits part of neuron excitation. I loved that part of his teaching style though. As a student who can't memorize, I think that helped a lot for me. You can also tell that he really cares about his students learning, which is always a fantastic thing to have in any professor. He uses lecture slides with summary topics he makes himself, when he could've saved himself the trouble and just gotten them from the book. But that means it's reciprocal as well. If he took the time to make the slide, you should take the time to appreciate and learn it! Plus its pretty much certain that the subject is going to be on the exam in one way or another. Did I mention that he doesn't like to "dumb it down" too much? Its something that is really important in a processor, that means he's not given up on our learning capacity (yet)! A sign that he truly respects his students and would rather see them try than give up and hand out free points. Of course, this means I didn't do as well as I would have liked on my first exam (too much memorization for me) but I saw myself improving through my efforts in the class, which is pretty rewarding really. If you want to learn physiology, you should definitely take 440 with Dr. S!!
Sergei Sukharev BSCI440 Expecting an A rbterp 03/08/2009	Dr. Sukharev is a good professor - don't be scared off by his accent at the beginning of the semester. Focus on his notes and past exams rather than the book. Take good notes, as his slides are mostly just pictures and he will explain the important concepts verbally. There is a lot of memorization (esp. the receptors, circulatory system responses, etc) but just use the study aids provided by the TAs to help you memorize. This class is extremely helpful for the MCAT, and is very interesting, even if there is a lot to memorize!
Sergei Sukharev BSCI440 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/28/2008	Nice, funny, makes lecture entertaining sometimes. Exams are fair and doable, not many surprises.
Sergei Sukharev BSCI440 Expecting an A spanishpearl05 10/26/2007	Professor Sukharev is an extremely engaging and straightforward teacher. He is adorable and makes jokes during lecture to keep the class entertained. He stutters sometimes but always gets the point across clearly. His exams are difficult but doable if you study exactly what he tells you to. Extremely willing to talk to you and is fair with regrades. Highly recommend!!