Jeff Byers
Jeff Byers knows the material well and is very willing to help students to learn. Unfortunalty the learning curve for this class is just really high. It's fast paced and often hard to keep up especially if you fall even a little bit behind. Tests are hard but fair, daily quizzes are challenging if you did not understand the homework.
Byers is tough but he is always available to meet with his students. The exams are challenging but are fine if you do the many unassigned practice problems he gives you on the detailed syllabus. Take this class with Byers and it will firmly cement your knowledge of Orgo II for the MCAT
Jeff Byers chooses to teach this course using a flipped-classroom style, meaning that you watch recorded lecture videos and read the textbook as homework, then work in small groups on worksheets during class. Though the worksheets can be helpful to work out the topics, it entirely depends on your group, which can be frustrating if you get stuck with people who are not willing to go at a pace that works for the entire group. Personally, I did not think that the video lectures were very helpful, so it was often difficult to have to dive right into the material on my own without additional help from Byers. There is also a quiz on the readings and videos at the beginning of each class, which was sometimes frustrating as there was no explanation of the material before we were assessed on it. The exams were hard but I did not think that they were unfair. You do, however, need to allot many hours of studying for these exams if you hope to do well. Orgo II focuses on a variety of different reaction types, and you have to know the specifics of all of them, which can be tedious. You really have to be able to dedicate a significant amount of time to doing additional practice problems outside of those that are assigned to be able to understand everything enough to do well on the exams.
Jeff Byers chooses to teach this course using a flipped-classroom style, meaning that you watch recorded lecture videos and read the textbook as homework, then work in small groups on worksheets during class. Though the worksheets can be helpful to work out the topics, it entirely depends on your group, which can be frustrating if yo …Read more