Steven Pennings - University of Houston

Professor: Steven Pennings

Department: TBD

College: University of Houston

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: BIOL4368
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

If you skip class, you will not have enough information to pass a test. His powerpoint lectures that he posts online do not contain any information. They include a couple of words and lots of pictures with no captions or explanation. If you do not take good notes from the lecture, you will not pass the class. Good luck and choose carefully.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: BIOL4368
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Dont ever think to take him. He is tough grader and doesnt care about your situation, however beginning of class he says come and talk to me before it be late, but dont listen he is lying. He doesnt use textbook and his stuid tests are in casa that makes more difficult to pass.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: BIOL4368
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Dr. Pennings is genuine and friendly. He cares about the subject and encourages students to question/give insight. Clickers questions for extra credit. I recorded his lectures to study for exams. His lectures cover almost all questions on exams. If students pay attention in class and at least study his powerpoints, passing should not be hard.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: BIOL4368
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Be sure to actually read assigned papers and the material posted as lecture prep, and you should be fine. Lectures are interesting, and he is very receptive to questions, even stuff tangential to material being covered at the moment. Seems to really care about the subject.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: BIOL4368
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Dr. Pennings is awesome His tests are really hard though. The only way you will get a good grade in his class is if you record the lectures and listen to them and look at the powerpoints while you study If you look at the powerpoints right before the test you shouldn't have a problem Make sure you understand the information in the research papers.

Rating # 6

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

Attendance is mandatory, in class participation is worth 15 pts (which can drop your grade an entire letter). Ok class, his exams can be tricky and the participation is crap. I was excited for the class but feel like I was tricked. Avoid unless you like speaking in front of people.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: BIOL4368
• 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:

Honestly, this guy is just not a good teacher. Lectures aren't engaging at all and whatever he talks about is inconsistent with what shows up in the exam. P.S The review is not going to be of much help. His class will put you to sleep. RUN RUN RUN!

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: BIOL4368
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

I just showed up and paid attention since prof was very clear. I didn't bother taking notes as I felt like it would be a distraction. Before each test, I quickly look through the slides for the section to jog my memory. I made As on all the tests and finished each one within 15 minutes. Having experience interpreting studies helps a lot.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: BIOL4368
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

You have to go to his lectures, it's the only way. His slides don't contain the notes, they're only there as a rough guideline. Take good notes and you're all set. The rest is just making sure you understand the concepts behind the scientific papers he assigns. Only took the first 3 tests, he dropped the last, and got one of the top scores.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: BIOL4328
• Grade Received: C
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Honestly, this teacher does not know how to teach. His grading scale is dumb and the questions on the test have nothing to do with his notes. Don't take this teacher.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: BIOL4368
• 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:

A difficult class. Pennings is someone you should take if you're a good verbal learner, as there is no textbook to rely on for info & his slides are mostly pictures. You need to record lectures & listen to them multiple times to do well in class, since the questions he asks on the test are very random. A great guy though, and he curves a lot.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: BIOL4368
• 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:

Interesting class. We don't use a textbook, and the "review" he posted has missing information. We read research papers. He curves, which is great. Test questions are very detailed, but his lectures, not so much. He told me to "think" of questions he might ask, which is DUMB. Overall I'm a little frustrated with the class.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: BIOL3305
• 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:

Class wasn't easy. Record lectures because the powerpoints are not detailed. Listen to lectures, and do the essays he gives out for tests beforehand, and go over the practice questions he gives out and you'll be fine for tests. The worst part for me was discussion. We had to read papers and were graded on how much we talked in class. I made an A.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: BIOL3307
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Excellent professor who made you study and work hard. Come to class, discuss, take notes and you will do well in this class. Amazing curve with 80=A!!Take him

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: BIOL3305
• 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:

Class is extremely vague. Asks random facts on exams that just mentioned vaguely. Would not recommend taking this class as advanced BIOL elective.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: BIOL4368
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

There are no study resources available for this class so you have to go to lectures and take very good notes to do well on exams. That said, he gives a great curve at the end of the semester (70=A) and he's a good lecturer. I would recommend the class if you are interested in the subject.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: BIOL4368
• 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:

He didn't use the textbook this semester. Test was based off scientific reading which assigned to us and didn't realy explain in class. Do NOT ECOLOGY as an elective. Worst choice to do on yourself. STAY AWAY FROM THIS CLASS

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: BIOL4368
• 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:

I loved going to his lectures. He's funny and quite good looking. Tests were kind of hard though.

Rating # 19

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

the class requires a lot of reading from the textbk. Try to attend class bc it'll help when u read the book. The subjct can b interestin at times. 2 tests, 1 final. Very detailed but do-able.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: BIOL3305
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Great Professory, very helpful. Don't waste your $ buying the textbooks though. They were only to reinforce what you learn in class, but if you learn & take notes in class you can save yourself $. I recommend this Professor.