Teaching Ability | Availability | Helpfulness | Workload* |  | | |  | | Opinion: BIO 2401 - Dr. Taylor is very passionate about anatomy and knows the material like the back of his hand. However, this can be a negative aspect since Dr. Taylor wrote the book used in the course and is so knowledgeable that he can expect the same from his students. While Dr. Taylor is extremely available, hosting office hours every day and numerous times, the material is something to take seriously. You can be expected to look at the material daily, especially over weekends, to stay ahead of the class.
EXAMS:
There are 3 chapter exams and a final exam. All of them are cumulative (up to twenty chapters worth of material covered on the final). The exams were worth 45% of the class, with an option to drop an exam in exchange for making the final exam worth more. Each chapter exam is composed of 50 multiple-choice questions answered on a scantron. The questions are supposedly made up from the "study statements" provided by Dr. Taylor, a lengthy document of over 200 true statements from the chapter. When studying for the exams, Dr. Taylor advises the study statements as the best way to study, but I rarely utilize them. It is impossible to memorize 200 statements per chapter, so I recommend doing practice questions (End of Chapter Questions (EOC) are provided, and the Connect Homework (although not made by Dr. Taylor himself, and albeit covers more material than required) allows for good practice tests). If you just read over the statements, you'll go into the exam thinking you know more than you do. I got a 62 on the first exam because I did not study till the last minute, and I scrambled to read the study statements the night before. For the following exams, including the final, I redid the Connect homework, answered the EOC questions, and covered the key concepts highlighted by Dr. Taylor in his test reviews (in which he covers the key terms for every question on the exam). You could say I enacted negative feedback (preview for the class lol) by then getting an 84 (exam 2), 72 (exam 3), and 83 (final) on the following exams. The exam results are usually out the same afternoon as the test, and review sessions are held afterward, with students allowed 20 minutes to observe their exam and ask questions.
QUIZZES AND PPTs:
Much of the lecture and lab relies on clickers (required purchase). The clickers are used to take attendance and give quizzes. Attendance is taken for lecture (taken on the dot, not a minute early or late), lab prep, lab, and theory lab (recitation). I cannot stress enough how pertinent timely attendance is; if the class starts at 8:00 am and you arrive at 8:01 am, you are late. Attendance is part of the 50 participation points (worth 5% of your total grade) that can help magically boost your grade at the end of the semester alongside following instructions on the assignments and participation. Dr. Taylor gives roughly four chances throughout the semester to regain lost participation points by completing crossword puzzles. The lecture quizzes consist of 5 multiple-choice questions, and you drop one quiz for every four taken. Towards the end of the semester, once at least twenty overall quizzes have been taken, replacement quizzes will be given to replace bad quiz grades, which only helps your grade. These quizzes are quick, and even with less than 10 minutes left in class, Dr. Taylor will squeeze in a quiz. If the weekly schedule mentions a quiz, study for it.
LAB:
Some chapters for the book are not covered in class but are focused on in the attached lab section. The lab was originally worth 40% of the overall grade, but Dr. Taylor stated it was bumped up a bit to help our grades. The lab includes weekly clicker quizzes (10 multiple-choice questions) over the material covered in the previous class and midterm and final practical exams. Utilize the time in the lab to familiarize yourself with the models since you will most likely not get to see the models in person until the exam. The midterm and final practicals are HARD; you must study the PowerPoint extensively. I recommend using flashcards to study the muscles and bones, and taking pictures of the models is especially helpful since those are practically the exam questions. The practicals are 50 free response questions covering mainly identification-type questions, with the models tagging specific parts or an image printed on the test paper. Be as specific as possible when answering these questions because you can lose points by not being detailed enough: the more written, the better. To help your lab grade, the final practical can replace the grade of the midterm practical if it is better. The lab grade is significant, worth 40%, and can help raise your overall average, especially when the lecture portion may drag you down.
EXTRA OPPORTUNITIES:
Despite the groans of my classmates, my section performed better than previous semesters (Dr. Taylor legitimately showed us graphs proving the statistics haha), which put the idea of a curve in jeopardy. A CURVE IS NOT GUARANTEED, AND IT IS NOT MENTIONED IN THE SYLLABUS. In Dr. Taylor's own words, when compared to previous semesters, if the final grades are not as expected, "modifications will be made." The total grade calculation is restricted on Canvas, and Dr. Taylor occasionally posts your calculated grade "without modifications." Dr. Taylor also does not look at nor release the averages of any of the exams and instead waits till the end of the semester to determine whether a curve is justified. The average final grade of the class was 82, with 52 out of 169 receiving an A. After slight changes, new graphs were revealed, with 55 people receiving an A, so something was modified. Right before the end of the semester, Dr. Taylor provided ten extra points (never specified what the points go toward) to students who printed out proof of their completed course evaluations. Dr. Taylor also stated that those bonus points have helped people get to another letter in the past, so these points might have been the "slight curve" we received despite performing much better than in previous semesters. When I calculated my grade following the totals provided in the syllabus, I was at an 87, but according to Dr. Taylor, my final grade was a 92.
Anatomy and Physiology is a difficult but rewarding class; if you put in the effort, you will come out of the class a different person. Be prepared to sleep, eat, and breathe anatomy because although Dr. Taylor is tough if you can conquer this class, you can succeed in almost anything. - Grade In Class:A | | Date Listed: 2024-05-17 |
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