Be. Warned.

This professor reported 1/3 of our 2020 class to the dean and accused them of cheating on the final exam (which was an online CCLE multiple choice quiz due to COVID-19). From what I've heard, most of the students did well on the test and he took that to the dean. Total jerk, makes some very strange comments in class and definitely writes hard tests. If you're a neuroscience major, you don't have a choice in taking this class so good luck, just be careful. Do not post anything on course hero either because he routinely checks that and reports students. I'm assuming it's the same for chegg. The discussions are so pointless but you have to go for points. My TA was super helpful though.

Babiec is honestly just not a nice person. I highly recommend that you just study as hard as you can for his section and never bother to interact with him. I'm not sure what made him into an angry or mean person, but I hope he gets the help he needs. He yells at students in OH for asking questions, and is truly someone who should not be a professor. I don't think I've ever said that about anyone before.

As far as class content, it really is not too difficult. His sections were straightforward. Grading is a different story, but that's always a mixed bag. Just get through 101B so you can have a better time in 101C. Good luck!

Overall I think the class was definitely fair and not too bad for a GE. There is a lot of material to cover and the lectures can feel long sometimes, but Dr. Babiec gives a break in the middle, can sometimes be funny, and is clearly passionate about what he's teaching. As some other people have said there are 4 non-cumulative tests that are weighted equally, so you don't have to worry about cramming for a final or anything, and as long as you study the slides you're good. There's no discussion for the class and some coloring assignments for homework, which can admittedly take a while but are really easy ways to boost your grade. It's a decent class and I definitely felt like I knew what was expected throughout the quarter.

The professor is a great lecturer and tries to make the material as entertaining as possible. However, unless you enjoy neuroscience, it's likely that you won't find this class too interesting. Since the class was bruincasted and the lecture slides were available online, not that many people showed up to class. Personally, I found the material extremely boring, but not particularly hard to learn. If you actually attend lecture, takes notes, and study the notes and lectures slides, it shouldn't be hard to get an A. The tests are extremely straightforward. They consist of multiple choice, short one-word answer questions, and a couple short responses (1 paragraph). For the tests, you either memorized the material or you didn't, there's very little hard thinking involved.

Homework consisted of some easy (but tedious) coloring pages, but are an easy way to boost your grade. He also offers a small amount of extra credit for doing clicker questions in class. Tests usually had an median of 79-83%.
In conclusion, this is probably a little too much work if you want a super easy GE, but if you are interested in neuroscience, I think this class is worth taking.

I think that Walter changed the class since last year because the 4 tests now have a mix of multiple choice, very short answer, and short answer. This course is definitely not the easy A that the reviews above mention. There is a lot of material to process and the lectures get pretty boring sometimes. By the end of the quarter, barely half the class showed up on any given day. Overall, I would not recommend anyone to take this class for a GE.

Of the three modules for 101B, Babiec's was my second favorite, next to the neurodevelopment module. I thought Babiec seemed friendly and very knowledgeable and helpful. I will say that lectures can seem to drone on for a while because he often spends sooo long on one slide (like using the entire 2 hours for only like 15 slides) so it makes it go by slow sometimes. The bright side to this is that when it comes time to study for the exam, you don't have all that many slides to study. I found the material of this module to be pretty interesting, for the most part. As for the exam, it was actually quite nice and very fair, in my opinion. I was expecting it to be more challenging than it was, and I was pleasantly surprised. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't super easy...there were definitely some tough questions that I had to pause to think about for a few minutes, but overall, I'd say it was the easiest exam of the three modules.

If you're great at memorizing minutiae, this is the class for you. This professor's lectures are very long and boring, and you're better off skipping lecture and just memorizing all his slides a couple days before the exam. He also assigns 6 useless coloring homework assignments (yes, you will need colored pencils for this class) that didn't contribute to my understanding of the material at all. He has four non-cumulative exams that consist of multiple choice, very short answer, and short answer. If you take this class, be warned to memorize EVERYTHING on the slides. On an exam, this professor asked for things like who said that quote on one of the slides and the diameter of a synaptic vesicle. Overall, not the worst GE out there.

*** COVID-19 Review ***
Babiec does host a lot of office hours and can be very helpful when you reach out to him. However, do NOT buy the book for this class. It is over $100 and he blatantly says later on that exams do not reference the book, but rather will reference the module videos he supplies.
The content itself was very interesting, but Babiec is very monotonous in delivery and also has moments where he makes it incredibly difficult to understand what he's referring to (big words, although it is manageable when you take a second to understand it).
Exams kinda blindsided me if I'm being honest, I took this class as a GE for an easy A and it was far from it. There are 4 exams 25% each and they definitely get extremely hard and you need to be careful when reading answer choices.

I hope to retain the information I learned in this class, as it is all so applicable and interesting considering how it gives context as to how the body functions.
I took this class during COVID, and all the lectures are recorded. They are ridiculously dense, and you will need to pause every 10 seconds to digest what you just watched.
I got an A by taking notes on OneNote as I watched the videos. The exams are open note, but you won't have a lot of time to look back at them to find the answers.
The best way I can describe this class is that the lectures are way too hard for the easy exams.
You do not need the textbook, don't waste your money.

I took this class online, but I’m pretty sure it’s similarly structured to in-person classes. The class is divided into four units. He posts prerecorded videos on CCLE (it’s 4-5 videos per unit) at the beginning of the unit, and you have two or three weeks to watch them before the test. The videos, although short, can be very dense. It sometimes took me over an hour and a half to get through a thirty minute video. The material itself is interesting though and the units and material are organized in a logical manner.

Personally, I never met the professor since the only time you actually get to see him is in his OH and I never went to them. I heard that he was chill, good at explaining, and understanding though.

Your grade is made up of four tests at the end of each of the units. Each test only covers the material for that unit, so there are no cumulative questions. In order of difficulty, I’d say the third test was the hardest of the four, so watch out for that one. Each test is twenty questions and you have thirty minutes to complete them. He gives you a day to take the test, but once you start it, you only have thirty minutes. He also gave extra credit for answering a survey from the department before and after the course.

Overall, though, I feel like this course was dense but interesting and the grading wasn’t too bad. I would definitely take it again!