Rolf Christoffersen - University of California Santa Barbara

Professor: Rolf Christoffersen

Department: TBD

College: University of California Santa Barbara

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: MCDB101B
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

great professor to take for 101B covid edition. All recorded lectures with question embedded in. Tests are 80% of the grade but the midterms were very doable and easy if you solved all the practices tests and the homework problems. Professor was very assessible outside of class. 55% of the class got an A or A-!!! Great class.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: 101B
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

101B in general is a hard class and requires a lot of time to do well. Some concepts he dosent explain clearly but he tries hard to make sure you can do problems. He curves pretty well too. I think hes the best option for 101B profs.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: MCDB101B
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

He's very smart and knows genetics well. His lectures are dense and it was nice to be able to listen at a faster speed (online due to rona). He was not very accommodating during this time, which is why I'm rating him lower. It's hard material and even harder during a pandemic, so I think he could've been more understanding

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: MCDB101B
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Not really sure how I feel about this guy. He clearly is a master of genetics and is a good lecturer, but I feel like he cared more about his dog than his students. Especially during this pandemic he refused to be flexible and kept a heavy work load--understandable because its a weed out class but a lot of students were going through things.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: MCDB101B
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

I wish I knew that this class is not curved whatsoever. IMO the class is so dense with information that no matter how hard you study, the exams are always so picky and graded on so many details too. Rolf is very unapproachable and sometimes makes you feel dumb for asking questions. He is not understanding of student's situations either.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: MCDB1A
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

He spends much efforts to ensure students understand what is going on. He gives much review problems and answer students' questions very seriously. The final review session also does great help.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: MCDB1A
• Grade Received: C
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Just a bad prof. Lecture is incredibly boring and goes off on tangents constantly. Writes out lots of examples but doesn't explain them. Refuses to answer student's questions, even when a lot of people ask for a problem to be repeated. Talks to you before lecture and is the most boring person ever. Teach yourself using KhanAcademy. He sucks

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: MCDB101B
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

One of my favorite professor in the MCDB department. Had Low for 101A and hated him. Low was terrible at transitioning from one concept to the next so it was hard to make connection and understand the big picture in his class. Rolf, on the other hand, is a much better lecturer. He also record his lectures so if you don't get it in class you can lis

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: MCDB101B
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Ralph is a really boring lecturer who just reads off of most of the slides. Concepts are all mashed together so most of the time it feels like a very disconnected jumble of random information. Had Low for 101A and loved him, wish he taught 101B as well.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: MCDB1A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

painfully boring. horrible at explaining things. his part (genetics) of MCDB1A was so hard on the final. his in class examples and online videos of him working through problems helped a lot but he really just can't teach.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: MCDB1A
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Although I'd normally love learning about genetics and viruses, I felt a strong urge to skip his lectures in the morning. They're just boring and hard to pay attention in. As others have said, he does seem to act condescendingly sometimes. However, he gave us lots of practice problems to work on (for ec) and posted explanations for some of them

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: MCDB1A
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

He rushes through things that are really important and the way he solves problems can make them seem more confusing than they are. Also his handwriting is absolutely abysmal which is tough because he writes all his examples. Doesn't really try to keep the lecture interesting.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: MCDB101B
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Just like 101A, 101B was only possible with Emily Bryant in CLAS. Rolf is a really nice guy, and not a bad lecturer (especially once you're used to Thrower). I took this in summer, and it was nice to get done in 6 weeks, but got a B cuz I completely screwed up the first midterm. Still was nice enough to ask me to be a Biomentor, so take him.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: 101B
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

One of my least favorite teachers of all time!!! I have had more challenging class be much more fun. He is very removed from what it means to be a student and no longer understands how to communicate with people. On multiple occasions he turned students down during office hours, while he sat in his office.... This was during summer too.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: MCDB1A
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

A lot of students don't like Prof. Christoffersen or genetics in 1A. However, he is actually very willing to help, but he makes you figure things out (doesn't just give you the answer). He gives extra credit genetics quizzes (and these are GREAT practice for genetics problems). His part of the final was pretty easy if you learn how to do genetics!

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: MCDB1A
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

In my opinion his lectures were the best of the series because it takes more thinking than straight memorization, which I prefer. He is straight forward in that he gives you book problems, quizzes, and in class questions to practice from and also straight up tells you he likes trick questions. Use the resources he gives you and you will do fine.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: MCDB1A
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

He is a great teacher who wants you to pass. He has online quizzes for extra credit & is one of the two main people in charge of Biomentors (which is super helpful and I would 100% recommend). Some problems can be a little tricky but do enough of each type of question and you should be good for the final.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: MCDB1A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

His voice makes me sleepy. His lecture is sooooooooooooooo boring!

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: 101B
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

The only way to get a good grade in this class is keeping up with lecture everyday, doing all of the assigned practice problems, all of the old tests, and GOING TO CLAS. Without those, I cant see how you could get an A, as his tests are extremely difficult and require you to know everything. He does give you everything you need to succeed though.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: MCDB101B
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

He is a good lecturer but you do need to study a lot from the lectures. You also should read the book if the concepts are not that clear from his lectures. He had iclicker questions so going to lectures was helpful. Mostly I studied from old exams but still got a B because the questions require you to know all the details.