Professor
Patricia Halpin
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Most Helpful Review
Halpin sucks. Seriously, she REALLY blows. Worst professor I've EVER had. I've The fact that I've been pushed here SOLELY for the purpose of reviewing her should speak volumes to that. This review is NOT grade-sourgrapes. I've maintained a 90+% exam average, ONLY because I've retained memories of the upper division coursework I've completed prior. If you're taking LS with Halpin, do your upper divs FIRST. She makes the students buy a license for online lecture "participation". Totally trivial and unnecessary (what are we, still in highschool?) Her exams are LONG and TEDIOUS. Commit EVERYTHING on her lecture slides to memory. Lab grades are iffy. You're gambling on the T.A. there. The only positive thing that can be said about her LS1 class is that you can miss her lectures because they are boring, directionless, irrelevant, and entirely USELESS. Get some sleep instead. Because that's all you would have been doing anyway. ZzzzzZZZzzzzZZZZZzzzz...... To reiterate what has been said by so many others - Halpin is NOT an educator. She does NOT LIKE YOU. She does NOT CARE about YOU. She has NO RESPECT for YOU. WHATSOEVER. The consistency of the student body's hatred of her is a direct reflection of her attitude towards us; We do not like her. We do not care about her. We have no respect for her. As we damn well SHOULDN'T. -------------------------- If you're on the verge of graduating, remembered your upper div material, and just need 5 units you can stay home for, you might consider taking this class, AT YOUR OWN RISK. If this is one of your first biology classes, IT IS NOT WORTH IT. Taking this class leaves a dark cloud of RESENTMENT over your head, the last thing you need to stay with your for your duration as an undergraduate. The sooner ATROCIOUS M. HAPLESS is removed from teaching, the better off the freshmen and sophomore bio students will be. Pipe dream, though, considering the sway she holds with the department.
Halpin sucks. Seriously, she REALLY blows. Worst professor I've EVER had. I've The fact that I've been pushed here SOLELY for the purpose of reviewing her should speak volumes to that. This review is NOT grade-sourgrapes. I've maintained a 90+% exam average, ONLY because I've retained memories of the upper division coursework I've completed prior. If you're taking LS with Halpin, do your upper divs FIRST. She makes the students buy a license for online lecture "participation". Totally trivial and unnecessary (what are we, still in highschool?) Her exams are LONG and TEDIOUS. Commit EVERYTHING on her lecture slides to memory. Lab grades are iffy. You're gambling on the T.A. there. The only positive thing that can be said about her LS1 class is that you can miss her lectures because they are boring, directionless, irrelevant, and entirely USELESS. Get some sleep instead. Because that's all you would have been doing anyway. ZzzzzZZZzzzzZZZZZzzzz...... To reiterate what has been said by so many others - Halpin is NOT an educator. She does NOT LIKE YOU. She does NOT CARE about YOU. She has NO RESPECT for YOU. WHATSOEVER. The consistency of the student body's hatred of her is a direct reflection of her attitude towards us; We do not like her. We do not care about her. We have no respect for her. As we damn well SHOULDN'T. -------------------------- If you're on the verge of graduating, remembered your upper div material, and just need 5 units you can stay home for, you might consider taking this class, AT YOUR OWN RISK. If this is one of your first biology classes, IT IS NOT WORTH IT. Taking this class leaves a dark cloud of RESENTMENT over your head, the last thing you need to stay with your for your duration as an undergraduate. The sooner ATROCIOUS M. HAPLESS is removed from teaching, the better off the freshmen and sophomore bio students will be. Pipe dream, though, considering the sway she holds with the department.
Most Helpful Review
She taught 5 weeks of Ecology in this class and she did many not-so-nice things. She forced everyone in the class to buy a $40-$50 clicker to force students to come to class (attendance based on answering questions). I was extremely ticked off because the class was only 5 weeks long and that was a lot of money wasted to use twice per week. She would read from the slides word for word and not really go into much depth, which made people fall asleep because there's nothing worse than being read to during class. Her exam was fair but the multiple choice was ridiculously hard, probably to lower the overall scores. She is nothing special, just your typical dry professor.
She taught 5 weeks of Ecology in this class and she did many not-so-nice things. She forced everyone in the class to buy a $40-$50 clicker to force students to come to class (attendance based on answering questions). I was extremely ticked off because the class was only 5 weeks long and that was a lot of money wasted to use twice per week. She would read from the slides word for word and not really go into much depth, which made people fall asleep because there's nothing worse than being read to during class. Her exam was fair but the multiple choice was ridiculously hard, probably to lower the overall scores. She is nothing special, just your typical dry professor.
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Most Helpful Review
i took LS 1: Halpin is a pretty good teacher for ls. The class isn't easy so you will have to work for your A. She bases her tests off her lecture notes so don't bother reading the textbook. The book has extra information that she won't even test you on. She goes through concepts rather quickly and will make you stay until the last second of class. Unfortunately I was cursed with a horrible TA who graded so much harder than the other TA's. Lab is about 20% of your grade. The good thing about the class is the clicker questions that are easy points to boost your grade. Her tests are hard and do not consist of very many questions. Each multiple choice is worth 5 points so your grade can easily drop. Her tests consists of short answer so you have to make sure you understand her slides and what she has gone over. [Side note: She's a bit awkward and says umm every 2 seconds haha]
i took LS 1: Halpin is a pretty good teacher for ls. The class isn't easy so you will have to work for your A. She bases her tests off her lecture notes so don't bother reading the textbook. The book has extra information that she won't even test you on. She goes through concepts rather quickly and will make you stay until the last second of class. Unfortunately I was cursed with a horrible TA who graded so much harder than the other TA's. Lab is about 20% of your grade. The good thing about the class is the clicker questions that are easy points to boost your grade. Her tests are hard and do not consist of very many questions. Each multiple choice is worth 5 points so your grade can easily drop. Her tests consists of short answer so you have to make sure you understand her slides and what she has gone over. [Side note: She's a bit awkward and says umm every 2 seconds haha]
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Most Helpful Review
i took halpin for eeb142 and trust me it is not as easy as it sounds. What gets you is that they are too picky on the answers; you have to actually put everything they have as the answers to get full points which is ridiculous since the questions are vague, so basically you have to write down everything she says word for word, come on that's ridiculous. BEWARE of discussion class, the TA is so anal on participation that she actually tallys up how many times you talk. all i got to say is come on seriously? who gives a crap about discussion man some classes dont even care if you go or participate in discussion. totally unfair and onesided. Jesus christ im so pissed off right now my final grade in the class was a 86% but if i had full participation points i would have gotten 90%. MAN i totally got screwed in this class.
i took halpin for eeb142 and trust me it is not as easy as it sounds. What gets you is that they are too picky on the answers; you have to actually put everything they have as the answers to get full points which is ridiculous since the questions are vague, so basically you have to write down everything she says word for word, come on that's ridiculous. BEWARE of discussion class, the TA is so anal on participation that she actually tallys up how many times you talk. all i got to say is come on seriously? who gives a crap about discussion man some classes dont even care if you go or participate in discussion. totally unfair and onesided. Jesus christ im so pissed off right now my final grade in the class was a 86% but if i had full participation points i would have gotten 90%. MAN i totally got screwed in this class.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2017 - I took Aquatic Communities with Dr. Tonya Kane in the Fall. She is amazing lecturer and leaves with you with a greater appreciation for the ocean and all aquatic communities. One of the better EEB courses offered. 2 midterms that she provides a study guide for. Final is little bit more challenging than the midterms but its nothing she hasn't taught or believes you can't do. Loved this class so much and would take it again.
Fall 2017 - I took Aquatic Communities with Dr. Tonya Kane in the Fall. She is amazing lecturer and leaves with you with a greater appreciation for the ocean and all aquatic communities. One of the better EEB courses offered. 2 midterms that she provides a study guide for. Final is little bit more challenging than the midterms but its nothing she hasn't taught or believes you can't do. Loved this class so much and would take it again.
Most Helpful Review
Most of the stuff on here is accurate. Her lectures boring, exams hard, and clickers useless but easy 60 pts. I actually wouldn't mind all this if it weren't for the fact that she could care less about her students. I emailed her her about 4 times concerning grading and she ignored them all except for 1 where she actually told me what she expected out of some assigned online lecture questions she assigns. Sad to say her email was misleading too--she said she did not grade hard on those questions yet she gave me an 5/10 on one of them for no apparent reason. Along the same lines, some TAs could careless about points too. They must figure the class is out of a thousand so 3 or 4 points won't matter. THEY DO! especially when you loose them unexpectedly and for some stupid "guidelines" she will never change. This class is ridiculous and kinda sad if anyone likes it. If you want to avoid listening to an annoying voice for 20 lectures, don't take her. Hope this helped. (memorize the phyla! this will save you tons of points on exams)
Most of the stuff on here is accurate. Her lectures boring, exams hard, and clickers useless but easy 60 pts. I actually wouldn't mind all this if it weren't for the fact that she could care less about her students. I emailed her her about 4 times concerning grading and she ignored them all except for 1 where she actually told me what she expected out of some assigned online lecture questions she assigns. Sad to say her email was misleading too--she said she did not grade hard on those questions yet she gave me an 5/10 on one of them for no apparent reason. Along the same lines, some TAs could careless about points too. They must figure the class is out of a thousand so 3 or 4 points won't matter. THEY DO! especially when you loose them unexpectedly and for some stupid "guidelines" she will never change. This class is ridiculous and kinda sad if anyone likes it. If you want to avoid listening to an annoying voice for 20 lectures, don't take her. Hope this helped. (memorize the phyla! this will save you tons of points on exams)
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