Nessley Craig - University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Professor: Nessley Craig

Department: TBD

College: University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: BIO303
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Craig is a good professor but his stuttering can be difficult to comprehend at times.He explains the lecture material well but it helps to skim the textbook to keep up with what he is teaching.His exams are pretty straight-forward. Memorize his lecture notes and clickers to do well on the exams.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: BIOL303
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

It is true, attending lecture is very mundane with Dr. Craig. He knows his stuff really well though and that shows in his lectures. So understand his lectures, study them, use the book to fill in the blank and you'll do really well on exams. He is hard to follow, but once you get his style, you'll do just fine.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: BIOL303
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

He is not a great professor. His lectures are very hard to follow (he stutters) and he is so BORING! Use his lecture notes for the test because his exams are based solely on the lectures and clicker questions. Material is not that hard just needs to be taught differently.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: FYS103C
• 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:

Issues in Biotechnology? Try just Biotechnology. Or Biology -- with a dash of technology. Don't expect to discuss politics, ethics, or any issues at all. For that matter, don't even expect to get to discuss - Craig basically hijacks the conversations yet expects everyone to participate. Very unclear about what he wants from his students.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: FYS103C
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

A FYS that grades harder than both my 300-lv classes combined. Unspeakably boring. I should have known this class would fail when it had to be advertised.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: BIOL426
• 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:

I have to say, this class is very, very difficult. You have to read many science papers and think about them a lot. If you put in the work you will be fine. The professor is great, sometimes rants but covers all questions and topics as thoroughly as possible, and I appreciated that.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: BIOL303
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

He is not as bad as many people make him to be. Yes he mumbles in class and drones out, but if you pay attention in class, then you are good to go. Definitely focus on his lectures, he hardly uses the book (I personally did not read it). I am currently working under him as a TA, and seems like he is nicer now, but he can be approachable.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: FYS103C
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

AVOID AT ALL COST. TURN BACK NOW

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: BIOL303
• 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:

Doesn't use the book at all, but puts a ridiculous amount of information into ppt slides--approx. 50 per week, so about 300 slides. Has little time or effort to answer any questions about the material. Attendance optional but graded clicker questions are done each class period. Advice: memorize the book. Exams are MC with a low cutoff (50% is C).

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: BIOL303
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Craig is one of the best bio profs. at UMBC. He requires more than simple memorization from his students; he requires understanding. This means his portion of the course was harder for me, but I learned much more from him than Blumberg. His slides are very sparse, so be sure to take extensive notes and record his lectures. Very approachable!

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: FYS103
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

He clearly understands Biology and favors science majors in the class. However, he treats the class like it is a 4th year bio class as opposed to a First Year seminar. Grading is unclear, as are expectations. Students often remain uninterested because he doesn't appeal to the way they learn or really anything beyond lecturing.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: FYS103
• 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:

He's enthusiastic about what he does, but he says the class is a discussion class but will interrupt you and talk for the majority of it. He grades unnecessarily hard and is unclear on exams, he doesn't give much explanation about what he wants when it comes to the group presentations that he assigns.

Rating # 13

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

N/A

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: BIO303
• 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:

He was a good professor, really helpful when I visited in office hours. His exams were hard (just strangely worded). overall he was good

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: BIO303
• 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:

He was pretty good. Reading the textbook didn't help me too much. Material is fun and easy to understand. Overall good professor!

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: BIOL303
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Pros: Prof. is very interested in subject and knowledgable Cons: HORRIBLE lecture notes, they were extremely confusing (even though I attended/payed attention to every lecture). They were really hard to review.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: BIOL303
• 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:

He's a nice guy and decent lecturer (if you stay awake), but the exams are very difficult. He words questions weirdly and some are extremely detailed.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: BIOL303
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

I've warmed to him slightly as the semester went on. He has a dry, dark sense of humor which, unfortunately, are the only interesting parts of his lectures. His lecture slides are also disorganized, so he has to jump around a lot. Test questions are not only awkwardly worded, but tend to focus on minutia not covered in depth in class.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: BIO303
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

His lectures will put you to sleep faster than chloroform. You must know the material inside and out to do well on exams. Not very helpful as a professor but he is not horrible. Prepare to study hard.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: BIOL303
• 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:

He was an awful professor. He is very boring, and his tone just puts me to sleep. He is a really nice person but the way he teaches the material is really bad, I do not think he should be teaching. However there is a huge curve in the class.