Biology 1A/1AL Review

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
1

<p>I've actually wanted to write this for a while but didn't get the time until now. I got decent grades in both classes and I learned a lot but these are just some of my thoughts on the class.</p>

<p>This is disorganized.</p>

<p>Bio 1A:</p>

<p>Good class. Before I took this, people told me that it was easier than 1AL. I agree with the sentiment but it's only because 1AL is so freaking crazy. 1A is hard, just not as hard as 1AL.
Malkin was my favorite, he teaches from the blackboard and his disorganized reader. His lectures are like Dr. Pedersen's (from Chem 3) but light. The concepts were straightforward and interesting. Forte was second favorite, I didn't go to a single lecture but it was the most interesting section (physiology). He can't lecture if his life depended on it but the webcast helped to muddle through the uhh.....umm..err's. He is not good at using power point so READ THE BOOK. Fisher was the nicest out of all of them but i liked his section the least (genetics). There was too much to do in genetics that I didn't really like how it overlapped with the genetics portion of 1AL. The word problems were terrible on the exam and the concepts were really obscure and cherry-picked from the text.</p>

<p>Overall 1A was a good class and I learned a lot. </p>

<p>1AL:</p>

<p>You learn so much useless s h i t that doesn't even matter that what you take away from it is...useless. I got the grade that i deserved in this class and I'm happy about it (b/c i put in so much work) but by the end I had no motivation to learn useless things like how hemolymph travels through the crayfish (heart -> arteries->tissue sinuses->central sinus->gill channels->pericadrial sinus-> heart....for anyone who's interested) but most of the class is about things that you're going to forget once you vomit it back onto your quiz and lab exam.
The grading in this class is so screwed up that what you learn (read: memorize) depends on who your GSI is and when your section is. I was lucky enough to have the best GSI ever, she made sure that we memorized everything in the book and she wrote the hardest quizzes/exam in the world. The grading system depends on how you do on Lab Exam 1.</p>

<p>uh...I'm gonna stop here because I don't even want to go into how Meighen tries to rationalize it....i feel tired and dead inside even thinking about how to articulate that.</p>

<p>I'm tired of this...just thinking about bio 1al makes me want to stop writing this review.</p>

<p>Meighen is a good guy who is a great teacher. He teaches you so much stuff in so little time, that you don't even know if you took anything away. Going to the lecture is a useless battle that you won't win. Take my advice and don't go if you're in a lab section that isn't on Tuesday, webcast it.</p>

<p>Lab exam 2 (the lab practical) was the hardest test that I've ever had in my life. It was stressful, scary, rushed, exciting...and fun!. </p>

<p>take the class w/ confidence and don't fall behind. It's actually kind of enjoyable when you understand what's going on (even though the grading system is terrible).</p>

<p>O M F G!!!! Bio 1A/L is over!!!1111!!!!11!!! i can finally die now!!!one!!!!!1111!!!</p>

<p>....crap MCB 102 next semester</p>

2

<p>Bio 1AL was a big **** in the ass…God I hated that class. I gotta say though, the lab practical was pretty cool :D. Most exciting test I’ve ever taken. I feel bad for the girl in my section who got a nosebleed the second it started though. As for 1A, I agree that Malkin’s part was the best, although I liked Fischer’s a lot too (especially the last few lectures about biotech and experimental techniques). Forte was pretty entertaining since he would lecture about various diseases while breathing heavily and coughing up god knows what every sentence or two. I was half expecting him to keel over and die in lecture :confused: lolz</p>

3

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<p>i skipped all 3 of those lectures! I totally forgot until I read Mike’s e-mail and since it was like 2 days before the final I was like “screw it”</p>

<p>I did pretty good on the final though</p>

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lol</p>

4

<p>Malkin > Fisher >>> Forte</p>

5

<p>All of them are probably better than Rine.</p>

6

<p>i think i’ve forgotten almost everything we learned in Bio1AL (after the lab exam).</p>

<p>I was putting my notes away and saw “trematoda” somewhere and thought “what the hell is that?”
after searching google for a minute I realized what it was something in plasthelminthes (or something like that)</p>

<p>what a waste of half a semester, learning nonsense that I will forget in less than 2 weeks!</p>

7

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<p>forte is a terrible lecturer, i just loved physiology so i guess I was really into what he was saying.</p>

<p>I couldn’t get into genetics even though fisher uses power point like a G from da hood.</p>