Cell Biology and Genetics

Spatafora is an extremely kind and enthusiastic professor who has extensive knowledge about cellular biology. That being said, she almost exclusively teaches very high level courses and as a result, this already difficult class is taught literally at a 300 level instead of as an intro level class. There’s an obscene amount of information we need to know that is only increased because of Spatafora’s knowledge and enthusiasm on the subject. Overall the Spatafora is a brilliant person but so out of touch on how to teach an introductory level class. I feel I would have learned substantially more with a different teacher and would have had less stress and a better end grade.

Spatafora is an extremely kind and enthusiastic professor who has extensive knowledge about cellular biology. That being said, she almost exclusively teaches very high level courses and as a result, this already difficult class is taught literally at a 300 level instead of as an intro level class. There’s an obscene amount of informa …Read more

Professor Spatafora is extremely knowledgeable and extremely passionate about biology. She is also a very effective teacher and makes good use of videos to explain things when she cannot. With that said, she also has extremely high expectations for her students, and grades accordingly. Her class and exams are not for the faint of heart, particularly if you don't have a lot of experience in biology, but I would recommend her class nonetheless because of all the content you learn.

Professor Spatafora is extremely knowledgeable and extremely passionate about biology. She is also a very effective teacher and makes good use of videos to explain things when she cannot. With that said, she also has extremely high expectations for her students, and grades accordingly. Her class and exams are not for the faint of hea …Read more

Pask is awesome! Absolutely loved this class and learned a lot in a very chill and low stress environment. Will definitely be taking more classes with him in the future. The effort-based grading system was an extremely refreshing take on the typical STEM class at Midd. 10/10 would recommend

Professor Spatafora's Cell Biology class was very challenging. It is very hard to get a good grade in her class. She grades the homework strictly and her exams are also very difficult. Granted, Professor Spatafora is incredibly smart and is really passionate about the material that she is teaching. However, this is not a class to take if you have other heavy work/class load. You will need to study a lot for the exams if you want to do well on them. I personally found her class very discouraging. However, if you work hard, the grade will work out in the end as lab is 50% of the grade.

Professor Spatafora's Cell Biology class was very challenging. It is very hard to get a good grade in her class. She grades the homework strictly and her exams are also very difficult. Granted, Professor Spatafora is incredibly smart and is really passionate about the material that she is teaching. However, this is not a class to tak …Read more

Spatafora is a great biologist but not a great teacher, especially for an entry level biology class. She goes into an excrutiating amount of detail about every little thing which is not only extremely overwhelming but it inflates the amount of material in the class. She also does not take into account student feedback about her exams. They're extremely difficult and she is unable to prepare her students well enough to face the challenge of her exams. She, does, however offer test corrections but that only adds to the amount of time and effort dedicated to the class with little gain.

Spatafora is a great biologist but not a great teacher, especially for an entry level biology class. She goes into an excrutiating amount of detail about every little thing which is not only extremely overwhelming but it inflates the amount of material in the class. She also does not take into account student feedback about her exams …Read more

I really liked this course and this professor. He is very accommodating and we let anyone take the exam on their own time up until a little over a day later. He is a great professor and very interesting. The class is exam based with a heavy portion of class being the lab which is almost like a separate class. The class itself wasn’t very hard but the lab is definitely challenging.

I really liked this class with Professor Putnam. she is very clear in her lectures and will look things up and get back to us if there are questions that she doesn't know the answer to. She is very accommodating of student needs and understanding. the content itself was not that hard, but you should do the readings to ensure you know everything before class. It was a lot of time mostly because of the lab section, but that is to be expected with lab courses and the labs themselves are super interesting.

I really liked this class with Professor Putnam. she is very clear in her lectures and will look things up and get back to us if there are questions that she doesn't know the answer to. She is very accommodating of student needs and understanding. the content itself was not that hard, but you should do the readings to ensure you know …Read more

Greg is a fantastic professor. He uses effort-based grading, so as long as you do the work in a meaningful way, you get full credit. He's super chill and understanding, and he doesn't give exams. I also took the lab with Lauren Ash, and she is very sweet. If you're gonna take Cell Bio, I highly recommend you take it with Greg!

This course was a worksheet-based class meaning that we were split into groups, and we had to work on a worksheet with the help of TAs. The Prof only commented on the word document, and there was hardly any teaching on her part besides having to watch video-lectures before coming to class. The TAs were doing the professor's job, which was odd. The readings and tests were durable.

Prof Ward is a great lecturer, making the material feel relevant to potential career paths you may not be aware of. This is arguably more important than learning about material like the cell cycle, especially if you've already taken a cell bio course previously. Prof Ward is super respectful of your time and great to chat with!

He was the best great course; definitely take it if you can. No exams all semester. Two or three homework a week and reading. The class is engaging and not stressful. Best experience with cell biology.

The course largely relied on lectures and reading for learning. There were no exams, as he used ungrading methods for the course. There were wednesday group work sessions every week for this course. Highly recommend taking this course with Greg.

Professor Spatafora is extremely smart and knowledgeable about Cellular biology but she takes it to the extreme. She explains everything very fast and expects you to piece it together on your own and in many cases confused me more during office hours.

Hardest class I have ever taken. Requirement to know pointless, arbitrary material of unimportant biological processes that are only explained in lecture and not found anywhere else. Exams were extremely challenging and predatory. Do not take.

There are a lot of readings for that class. Prof ward is a very nice guy and he wants everyone to succeed. Tests are hard but they are take home. There is no homework for that class but I would def do the readings

Great professor. Draws on the applicability of learned content. Exams are difficult but fair; his grading (especially for the written portions of exams) is chill, almost easy. Do the readings and you will have a pleasant experience in this course.

Professor Ward is the best. He makes the nitty gritty material super engaging and will also help you with life guidance and advising even if he isn't your advisor. Go to his office hours to make a personal connection and I'm sure you will benefit.

Class lectures were super interesting but had little relevancy to the actual material on the exams. Better off reading the book than attending lecture. Exams were fair and consisted of multiple choice and short answer sections. Super friendly guy who knows his stuff.