Reviews of professor Margaret Birney

Rating: 4.0/5, difficulty: 5.0/5
All her tests are based on the homework quizzes! The lab was pretty easy to follow and reports should be good as long as you basically put whatever she said by mouth onto that paper. Listen to her words more than what's on the slides. Use the textbook a lot too. Take her only if you have good enough time to study.

Rating: 4.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
She is AMAZING! She provides you with all the tools you need to pass her class. Before each exam, she holds a review session where you can ask her anything and she'll give you the response she'll be looking for on the exam. Attendance is a must, because we learn valuable information every class. Lab is also a must.

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 5.0/5
Not the best biology professor. She is not straight forward with things. And she only responds to emails when the whole or most of the class is emailing her. She would literally spend half of the class time speaking about Covid. Lastly her tests sometimes covers nothing we learned in lab & lecture. You have to work extra hard on this class.

Rating: 2.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Professor Birney was all over the place and at times her slide shows weren't even clear she kinda expected you to know what was going on. She was very unorganized in my opinion. She made everything more confusing than it was at times. Wouldn't recommend especially if you don't know much about biology.

Rating: 3.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Just take it with someone else...I did well because I had the time and motivation to spend hours on this class. You have to come to class focused and engaged--it's really hard to learn otherwise. MC on exams are modified from the homeworks, and essay questions are from the study guide. It's possible to do well, but she doesn't make it easy or fun.

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
You have to do the weekly chapter readings in order to understand the concepts. DO the study guides as you do the readings, it will really help you out. She makes lectures super entertaining so you'll have some fun. She is strict but will definitely help you out if you're confused or the concept hasn't settled. Most exams are based on the quizzes.

Rating: 2.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
In lab she's great: informational & straightforward, but lab is mandatory- lecture attendance is opt. She's horrible in lecture: tests are really hard; she expects high detail yet gives little detail in lecture, also doesn't talk about the content much. She is knowledgeable & upfront however.

Rating: 4.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Professor briney is a very nice and welcoming person. Her tests are mostly multiple choice, so study hard for those tests. Labs were fun, and she is, understandably, very very strict about lab safety. Lectures and straight forward, and this is an overall enjoyable course.

Rating: 2.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Don't take her take somebody else! Her tests are barely anything we covered! She grades so harsh like its not even worth it I had to withdraw x take somebody else so I wouldnt fail. I suggest you do the same.