Mairi MacKay - Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, BC

Professor: Mairi MacKay

Department: Biology

College: Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, BC

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: BIO1110
• Grade Received: B-
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Never knew what she wanted. Would ramble about things we didn't actually need to know about. Obsessed with microbiology, which is cool. But not everyone is going into microbio. or cell bio. Was about three lecture behind for majority of the semester, but hey, made our final easier.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: BIOL2120
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

All class notes, powerpoints, and practice questions are online so there is no motivation to go to class. When I did go to class, Mairi only reads off the powerpoint slides (which you already have) and doesn't seem to enjoy teaching.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: BIOL1110
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Lectures were informative but MacKay was a bit disorganized and her lectures were not always in order. There's a weekly online quiz that is worth doing since it's easy marks. Gave lots of extra assignments to get grade up if needed.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: BIO1110
• Grade Received: B-
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Her tests are way too hard for the kind of material that we learn. Her expectations I feel are way too high. So much content we have to know its kind of ridiculous. Her lectures are way to disorganized for students to follow accurately. Unless your a biology genius, taking the course with her will be very very very tough. I suggest you avoid her.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: BIO1110
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

She is the most kind teacher

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: BIOL3300
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Mairi is a great professor, she is brilliant. I would stress that for anyone taking her commBio 2/3 class to prepare yourself for a lot of paper writing. I have taken a few of her classes and she enjoys papers. She is a tough marker, but gives good feedback. She is approachable and the grade you get is determined by the amount of effort you put in.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: BIOL3200
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Good teacher. A little scattered? Fair marker. LOTS OF WRITING AND TESTS!!!!!

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: BIOL4350
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Mairi is a good teacher once you get to know the layout of her courses. She will give you everything you need to achieve an A+. Unfortunately this often translates to an overload of information and notes you need to know. For tests, she will tell you what to review. Do any bonus assignments available, it could very well increase your letter grade.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: BIO213
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Very disorganized, don't fell like she really cares about her students that much. She freaks out in class a lot. I would recommend another prof.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: 2130
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Mairi is an awesome teacher! She is so organized and very approachable. She puts together note packages to follow along with in class which are very helpful. You have to show up to class and listen if you want to pass.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: BIOLOGY3200
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Notes are horrendous. Very disorganized. Arts and Crafts in a third year class. Does she even know what she is talking about? No. She does not.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: BIOL3200
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Way, way too much notes. She provides powerpoints and "summaries" which are pretty large. Her notes, and herself are pretty disorganized. If you study all of the time, and spend a lot of time you can do well. I have had her for two classes and avoid having her when possible.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: BIO1110
• Grade Received: B-
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

I thought she seemed like a decent prof until I bombed the the first quiz with studying. I attended every single lecture, did all of her assigned readings and homework, but when the final came around I understood roughly 25% of the terms and concepts she wanted us to know. I felt her notes and lectures were very unhelpful and don't recommend her

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: 4350
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

I want to like her. This course would be great with any other teacher but she's disorganized, runs through explanations with no pause/logical order, clearly hasn't improved/modified her course through the years. Gives outdated/inaccurate resources from 1995. She's completely fine with lower level courses but anyone would be better in a 4000 course.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: BIOL111002
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

don't be fooled! Mairi packed more into this course than the other teachers (talk to other students). more notes, more tests. Good teacher, too much.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: BIOL1110
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

She is incredibly enthusiastic about biology and explains things well! The most difficult part of her class is the concentration of information given in a short time.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: BIO1110
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Mairi is a great prof. She is enthusiastic about biology and answers any questions with the utmost clarity. Her class is really hard due to the content but that is not her fault. Read the textbooks before class and you should be fine. Know the diagrams for quizzes and study lots, this is a tough course but a great prof!

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: BIOL4350
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Mairi is very enthusiastic about her teaching and provides good notes. I wasn't very interested in the material for this class, but it isn't difficult to get a good mark if you put in some effort. Lots of presentations, but the handouts make it easy to study for quizzes and the final exam.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: BIO213
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

She was okay. I thought that the information got a bit overwhelming near the end of the course. Her notes are really disorganized but they are very helpful. If you know your notes you know everything for the course!

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: BIOL213
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

she is definitely a bit disorganized. And there are definitely way too many notes for her class. I felt like I used a lot of paper for this class. Cell biology is actually pretty interesting but the material can get overwhelming at points. Just study the notes and you'll be fine.