David Ferris - University of South Carolina Upstate, Spartanburg, SC

Professor: David Ferris

Department: Biology

College: University of South Carolina Upstate, Spartanburg, SC

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: BIO210
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

A&P is hard is a hard class but Ferris was fantastic with encouragement and advice. Everything he lectures on is on the test. Take your notes, pay attention and ask questions and you will be fine.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: BIOL244
• Grade Received: C+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

The material is not hard to comprehend, there is just a lot of it. You HAVE to study in order to pass this class, not matter the professor. Ferris does not make this class harder. Print out his notes ahead of time because it makes it much easier to follow along with him. Also, go to his office hours to get extra help, he doesn't mind helping.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: BIO244
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

He is very nice & knows what he's talking about. The class itself is difficult, he does not make it worse. He reads/explains the power points. He asks us every class if we have any questions/anything we want to go over. My mistake was not studying each day. If you put in the time, & go to his office with questions you can pass the class no problem.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: BIO243
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

He is the only reason I passed A&P 1! He is easy going w/ grading when it comes to spelling unlike pretty much every other professor. He gave us as much time as we wanted on lab practicals and let us go back to every station if we wanted. He let us do the lab and leave when we were done, I never stayed the full 3 hours. He is nice and helpful!!

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: BIOL242
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

page 2: call him out on it. You should avoid him at all costs. I can't even get this site to let me write all of how bad this class was. You are set up to fail. Avoid it.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: BIOL101
• Grade Received: WD
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Terrible class. He reads powerpoints and then expects you to havememorized it for the tests. He is head of faculty or something and is more concerned with that than teaching.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: BIO101
• Grade Received: WD
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

He is ridiculously hard. He talks extremely fast and he doesn't seem to care if his students pass or fail. I had to drop because I failed the first two exams. The material is hard and he doesn't make it any easier. He uses someone elses powerpoints and he doesn't make the tests up himself. I would stay far away from him.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: BIO101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

HARD class, it's not the professor. Avoid Dr. Storm, he's harder! Lots of material to learn, but do-able if you want to be a science major. You have to preread the chapters, listen to the lecture, take notes, and read the stuff again. Bio is hard, like chemistry and upper level math. Study and you'll be ok. It's not like a speech class!

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: SBIO101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

He talked about being head of the faculty more than biology. He should do something administrative because he sure can't teach.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: BIO101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

He is a good professor just confusing. His study guides are pointless. He uses powerpoints from one teacher, orders his test offline, and study guides from another teacher. I learned that for his class you HAVE TO READ before coming to class, and study the powerpoints. If you go to see him he will give you the powerpoints which helps Trust me!!

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: BIOL101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Al he does is read from powerpoints. If you can read the book and powerpoints just take this online somewhere and save the drive time.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: BIO101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Dr. Ferris is a really nice professor. He is there to help and provides extra credit opportunities. While he is very tough, he prepares you for upper level courses. I really enjoyed his class. I recommend him to anyone to is ready to study a lot! :)

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: BIO001
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

This was Ferris' first time teaching ecology, and he did a great job with it. He would sometimes go off on tangents when questions got asked, but they were useful. Tests were essay, but they tested your knowledge. If you know what you're doing, you'll get a good grade. The only people who complain about him are non-biology majors or freshman.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: SBIO242
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

he was teaching 2 classes at same time some of us were section 001 and some of us were in section 002. I heard that you take one class and call it 2 sections the professor has to teach 1/2 as much. thats why this school costs so much

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: SBIOW242
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

TO BE HONEST IT WAS A HARD CLASS,HE IS A GOOD TECHER EXCEPT FOR THE FACT HE BLOWS THROUGH THE SLIDES SO QUICK TO CRAM IN ALL THE INFO. THE TEST ARE KINDVE HARD BECAUSE THERE IS SO MUCH MATERIAL HE CAN USE, BUT TO MAKE IT IN THIS CLASS U MUSTTTTTTT STUDY. OH YEAH EVERY TEST IS ACCUMULATIVE -_-

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: BIO101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Really nice guy, but very hard test giver. Flies through the lectures using another teacher's power point notes and then gives difficult exams taken from online sources (Testbank, etc), which is REALLY lazy. Nothing is original. The lecture is from one prof, the study guide from another, and the test from online. Gives a disorganized feeling.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: BIO242
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

MAKE SURE TO STUDY!! EVEN WHEN U THINK YOU'VE STUDIED ENOUGH KEEP GOING. TEST ARE CONFUSING, AND HE'S HE COULD PUT ANYTHING ON THE TEST, DIAGRAMS, ECT. DIDNT REALLY USE THE BOOK. MAKE SURE YOU DO REALLY GOOD IN LAB BECAUSE YOU ARE DEFINATLY GONNA NEED THOSE POINTS.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: BIO232
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

He had hard tests. He would make you print out so much notes and you wouldn't even use most of them. SI was not even helpful. It all sucked, so I dropped out of the class. But he is a very nice professor to a certain extent.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: BIO242
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Very interesting and sometimes has some funny stories to go along with class. Tests can be very difficult, but not impossible if you study really hard. It's an interesting subject. Most of the test is multple choice but they can be kind of confusing. Tests are also pretty much the only grade. He's really knowledgable and happy to help.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: BIO242
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

This class was hard! Study all the time! I wish I wouldn?t hav bought book. Tests can be on anything, know everything on slides, including the charts and diagrams. Tests can focus more specifically on one chapter even though the test may be on many chapters. He is nice, a good teacher, and he wants u to pass.Be prepared for short answer questions!