M. Cathy McElwain - Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA

Professor: M. Cathy McElwain

Department: Biology

College: Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: BIO101
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Just review the power points before the test and the notes she puts on the power points such as "know this" and you will be fine. Her practice tests are very similar to the real ones. So many people didn't like her, but this class was so easy.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: BIO101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Her lectures move at a turtles pace and youll probably be quickly bored out of your mind 10 minutes in. She constantly misspeaks while lecturing which only confuses you more. The practice tests she uploads online are absolutely useless and the answer keys make no sense whatsoever. Avoid her.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: BIO101
• 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:

Honestly I liked her bio class. she posts her power points and they essentially tell you everything you should know for the test. it takes some studying as should be expected but her class goes kind of slow and covers a lot of the same stuff high school bio covers. she does her best to make class interactive with lots of different activities.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: BIO101
• Grade Received: C
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Dr. Mac has no talent as a teacher. Her power points were ridiculously long, and her lectures were confusing. Her tests were really difficult and sometimes didn't even cover lecture material. She also made us buy a $150 textbook that we never used. If you don't mind having a low GPA and wasting your time and money, take this class.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: BIO101
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Her tests were often very difficult and free response which isn't fair compared to the other biology teachers who give multiple choice tests.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: BIO101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Worst biology teacher ever. Avoid

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: BIO101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Lectures unclear, makes you study unnecessary facts then puts random questions that don't have to do with what we had learned on the exams. All exams are 7-8 pages mostly fill in the blank. Hard ass grader. Worst part: During the lectures her shirt was too small so whenever she would point at the screen her fat would hang out from under her shirt.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: BIO101
• Grade Received: C+
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Class expectations were unclear. Her lectures are very confusing and tests were on weird concepts. She has not taught this class since 2013 and expected everyone to just know what she was talking about. She always made sure to relate her lecture to fruit flies. Take bio, but not this professor. Spent 4 days studying for final, but final was hard.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: BIO101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Dr. Mac is a sweet, caring person, but not the best professor. Her lectures are very confusing, and she goes over material so quickly that it's hard to take notes on her class. I probably wouldn't take her class again if I had the option.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: BIOL101
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Professor McElwain is the sweetest, nicest, most confusing professor I've had to date. She would start class well, but would inevitably go off onto tangents related to fruit flies (which are her true passion) that had nothing to do with the lesson. She also liked to ramble incoherently. She did post PowerPoint slides online, which were helpful.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: BIO101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Dr.Mac tends to get sidetracked and doesn't always know how to run her technology. However if you study the slides and do the practice quizzes it is easy to do well and learn a lot.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: BIOL101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Dr. Mac is the worst teacher to take if you want to understand Biology. She is disorganized and gets sidetracked during class more than half the time. It is unclear what will be on exams. Exams are difficult. I studied from the slides and did the practice tests over and over again until I was able to grasp the material. Horrible teacher.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: BIO101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

She is not a very good teacher at all! She expects you to know many things prior to entering her class and if you do not know them it is difficult to succeed in her class. Her tests are difficult and she usually tells you what will be on the tests and then changes her mind and puts different questions on the tests and completely screws you over!!!

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: BIOL101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Easiness: The tests are pretty hard. Luckily, I took AP Bio. I feel bad for those who didn't. Helpfulness: Scatterbrained to hell. Her lectures are half useless, good luck understanding her. Here's my grade in a nutshell: take the online practice quizzes 10x, and look over the slides (and try to figure out what's on the test). Awful at teaching.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: BIO330
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

The class had no organization and you never knew what was going on or how to do the lab. The students last semester made the class enjoyable which is probably the only reason people stuck it out. The quizzes are basically little exams, the website you make is a joke, the chick quiz is beastly, and the lab points are all about luck. Lots of fun!

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: BIOL330
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. Half the class has agreed to approach her personally about this offensively burdensome workload. Current class average is around a 76% on a standard grading scale.

Rating # 17

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

genetics. nice lady, passionate about those flies. impossible to understand gives homework on material that you havent gone over in class yet. very confusing, &sometimes better to stay home &sleep rather than go to class. with her teaching abilities aside, not too hard thanks to subject material and the book

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: BIOL202
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

I'm a person who likes to read corresponding chapters for the lectures and she completely vague about where all of her information comes from within the textbook. You MUST do readings to understand/attempt the homework, even then, finding the corresponding passages is a challenge in itself since the textbook is also confusing as well.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: BIOL202
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

She is a nice lady, but is NOT organized in any way, shape or form. Her lecture power points are crap, you must take notes along with them to understand! She assigns homework on concepts that she teaches the next day and she makes a lot of errors. I can't tell you how many times we've had to re-hand in our hw/tests for corrections.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: BIOL202
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

She is a total joke. I have absolutely NO respect for her. Her lectures are very unclear, she confuses everyone, including herself. makes mistakes on everything, answers, not posting things, explaining things. Everyone leaves her class everyday angry at her and no one wants to go to her class. I am I am actually doing okay in her class too.