Salme Taagapera - University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA

Professor: Salme Taagapera

Department: Biology

College: University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: BIOSCI93
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Dr. T is a very passionate and organized professor. Most of the information has to be learned before lecture and lectures are more in depth and application based. The midterms and finals were straight forward and practice tests were helpful.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: BIOSCI93
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Her lectures were pretty basic while the tests, homework & discussions were always much harder. But, there's a lot of resources to use for the tests so I had a lot to study from. You have homework due before lecture every MWF and quizzes due every Sunday. If you took AP bio or did well in high school then tests should feel pretty basic for you.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: BIO93
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Dr. T is a very thorough lecturer with lots of examples. Attendance is mandatory due to clickers. The majority of your grade is based off 3 tests: 2 midterms (20%) and a final (40%). Another 100 points is made up of homework and quizzes. Midterm 1 was not bad, but midterm 2 was considerably more difficult. The final is easy if you put in the work!

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: BIO93
• Grade Received: C+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Doctor T was an amazing lecturer. She always gave feedback after every test. I would definitely recommend taking her, she really does care about her students. The curve in the class got me from a D- to a C+.... just do your stuff. Btw a D- is considerably passing in her class.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: BIO93
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Not an easy ge to pick. If the class is required then this professor may be a good fit. Posts all lectures online & practice tests given for tests (midterms & final curved & cumulative). Hw can be lengthy. Reading questions not graded, but very helpful. 80% of grade based on tests. 20% on hw, clicker questions, discussion, and weekly quizzes.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: BIOSCI93
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

assigns A LOT of preclass assignments, however they were very helpful. Dr. T is sweet, caring, and easy to understand. Also, do practice midterms! They are very similar to her midterms.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: BIO93
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Dr. T is a very caring person, but her lectures hardly helped. They're basically all iclicker questions and she gave way too much time to discuss the answers with partners rather than actually covering material. Application is key; if you just memorize you will NOT do well. Her practice exams are exactly the same as the real ones so study those

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: BIO93
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Nice professor with thorough PPTs. Can better prepare students for exams (iclickers are thought provoking but don't really help when it comes to exams). Covers straightforward material but expects that material to be applied, not memorized. The online hw and reading can take up lots of time (esp. if you're the kind to want to finish every question)

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: BIO93
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Nice and passionate professor, but does not actually lecture. Her powerpoints are basically all iclicker questions. She does post practice exams and her lectures online. But you really need to understand and remember all the material because she gives application problems and expects more than just memorization. The online hw is helpful

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: BIO93
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Dr. T is very passionate about what she teaches! Lots of reading & work to be done since her lectures apply the info you learned as HW. Hefty load but the amount you put into your work is what you'll get out of the class. Highly recommend for Bio majors since she gets very detailed in her lectures! She also posts lots of practice exams (;

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: BIO93
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Dr.T is a really good professor, she is very passionate about Biology and makes her lectures very interactive. In order to pass this class, you need to show up to every lecture and discussion, do the pre-class assignments online, complete the reading guides, and take the quizzes every Sunday. This class requires lots of hard work, but its doable

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: BIO93
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

She is a pretty good professor overall. You can tell she is very passionate about Biology, and her style of teaching is definitely more active / engaging. She gives weekly homework, and one quiz a week, but it is very doable. Her lectures don't really cover the hard facts, but cover more of the real world applications of what you learn through HW.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: BIO103
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

I don't know about the rest, but I find her to be very good at explaining the topic in ways that most professors do not do. Of course, reading is absolutely 100% critical in this class. However, downside is that it takes a lot of your time (2-3 hours) with each reading + assignment. But, it is an interesting class as long as you stay on top!

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: BIO93
• Grade Received: C+
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

A good lecturer can tell she is passionate about Biology, however one thing to note is that she is not considerate on homework policy, she is oblivious to the fact that we are taking more than just her class based on her hard deadline for basically every single day of the week. She also gives out mandatory weekly quizzes on top of the all the hw.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: BIO103
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Despite being a very good lecturer, she does not really consider other students time when she makes us do a quiz basically everyday that has a hard deadline while reading and doing the study guide. The quizzes barely if even covered on the midterm. Class overall is tedious due to the lack of consideration of her assignments

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: BIO103
• Grade Received: B-
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

This class is difficult, she makes this class even more difficult by making us do online courses everyday with hard deadlines no exceptions. The professor herself is good at lectures however is very unfair in terms of grading policy, she basically does not take any late work nor make up exams. Discouraged me a lot on taking any further classs.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: BIO05224
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

I'm going, to be honest, she literally expects way much from students, she makes us buy a code and bio textbook from 60$ to 100%(depending on your package). Makes everything a hard deadline with no late work excepted even an emergency happens. Mastering biology barely even helps and just goes over the basic stuff, its kind of a waste of time.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: BIO103
• Grade Received: C
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Excellent inspiring instructor. Material was very well prepared and understandable. Challenging but worthy of attention. Best teacher I've ever encountered.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: BIOD103
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Here is the most flat out honest review about this professor regarding D103. She is not the best lecturer. Her class is boring (like most other bio classes) and is basically going over the ppt. But she provides A++ quality ppt,THE most detailed and informative ppt I have ever seen. Literally have to memorize everything on ppt to get a solid A.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: BIO9B
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Good professor. I sometimes forgot to do the assignments since they were due every class. Lots of assignments but simple if you do them on time. You have to do a food project too. Lots of info for 24 question tests.