Sara Via

School: University of Maryland
Department: Biology
Location: College Park, MD
Overall Rating
rated by 20 students
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Easiness
Rating Comment
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Pros: easy to understand
posted lecture day in advance
Cons: lots of things to remember, may not be the most interesting if you are not interested in evolution
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Pros: Material is pretty basic to bio so it is easy to understand. Easy Homework and tests. The lab is also pretty easy
Cons: There are two big assignments done for the lab. Also it is a lot of material and the class moves at a fast pace
Overall the class has been interesting and pretty easy
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Pros: -very enthusiastic about her subject
-bright/energetic even early in the morning
-easy to prepare for tests with lectures, very rarely gives from the book
-a lot of extra credit opportunity
Cons: -lectures are sometimes boring/too basic
-repeats a lot of points often
It's a good introductory biology class if you don't know anything about biology. She breaks it down really easily and takes it fairly slowly.
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Pros: Exams are based strictly on notes
No need to read textbook
Lots of extra credit
Cons: Lots of information on tests
tests are specific
Make sure you get a good TA, lab grade can effect letter grade
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Pros: Good lecturer, provides plenty of extra credit opportunities and study questions. Fair tests.
Cons: Condescending and rude to students, very unapproachable.
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Pros: Extremely knowledgeable about subject and offers easy clicker points
Cons: Very unapproachable and flies through her slides
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Pros: An interesting class
Cons: Slides can get to be extremely boring, sometimes tests are formatted poorly
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Pros: Good teacher, puts up outlines on blackboard and gives out extra credit.
Cons: Tests are extremely long for a 50 min class.
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Cons: A lot of material to memorize for exams. It's hard to keep up in lecture if you haven't thoroughly read the book. The midterms were tricky, and sometimes things we never covered in class or lecture or lab gets squeezed into our exam questions. The exams were so obscure and sometimes pointless because she would ask you what the name of the ship Darwin rode on was called, and what his book was titled. Useless information like that gets stuck in the exams and actually counts for normal test points so if you don't know that, you just lost like 8 points right there from the exam. The exams have a variety of questions from fill in the blanks to multiple choice to short answer essays. Either way, you have to know the textbook in and out to even think about passing the class.
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Pros: She is a very interesting lecturer and seems to really want the students to do well. She spend the first class giving studying tips for Biology.
Cons: She is very opinionated and will try to state her views as fact and you are tested on them.
I greatly enjoyed Via's class.
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Pros: She is very enthusiastic about what she teaches.
Cons: Her tests are hard; they contain multiple choice where some answers can be more than just one answer.
She is an interesting teacher.
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Pros: BSCI 106 was fairly interesting. Not as hard as some others.
She held reviews before test.
Cons: Does not explain what you should learn for test. Lectures at a fast pace, lumps lots of information together in presentations in a format that isn't consistently effective.
No scheduled office hours, only holds them by appointment.
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Pros: Awful lecturer; extremely unorganized lectures.
Not an awful professor, but avoid her if possible.
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Pros: gives a lot of extra credit and she's a really interesting teacher in lecture, keeps your attention
Cons: her tests are difficult, but you do have homework and extra credit to help buffer a bad grade
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Pros: she is very knowlegable
Cons: her exams are not hard. They are just random. she only focuses on one aspect of the whole unit
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Even though her teaching style and exams take a while to get used to overall shes an efficient teacher who is enthusiastic about biology and has alot of knowledge on the subject. Her exams were more difficult due to her "multiple-multiple choice questions" but were still manageable and it is not too difficult to get an A in her class.
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Professor Via is very enthusiastic, but only what she believes is right. If you believe is Special Creation over evolution, you're WRONG, as well as many other topics. She's very derogatory when answering questions, and doesn't really answer them anyway. She also dislikes when people use laptops during class, and often stops class when she feels like people are on the internet rather than taking notes.
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I love this teacher. She is hilarious and you can tell she really loves what she is teaching. I would highly suggested talking to her after class. She is very helpful. Do not take her class if you want an easy A. But if you love Biology she is a great teacher.
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Via is a horrible, horrible teacher. There is no point in going to lecture since she has the day's outlines available online, but even then, her attitude towards students is very deterring and will make you want to leave the room. She gets off-track many, many times during the lecture, often to crusade for the environment or something that will never be on any of her tests. She speeds through her lectures by reading off the Powerpoint, and god forbid you came to class with nothing but a pencil and paper because you won't to be able to write any complete sentences at the rate she goes. And don't bother asking any questions during the lecture, as she will make you feel like a dumbass in front of <75 sorry-ass students who bothered to show up. She is extremely condescending, rude, and treats the student body as little idiot monkies. You will have to do a ridiculous amount of work in the class - 1 weekly lecture quiz, 1 weekly pre-lab quiz, a 7 page lab report, a lab practical, three midterms, and a bunch of other crap, so you better keep track. Also, she mentions at the beginning of the class that she doesn't curve, but hell, she does. I had a C without the curve, but left the class with an A-. I came into UMCP eager to learn biology from a college-level perspective, but this woman did her best to ruin it. Don't take her class unless you 1.) have to for your major requirements and you're unlucky enough that she's the only one teaching it or 2.) happen to enjoy listening to a pretentious woman go on and on about topics that have no bearing on what you need to know for organismal, ecological, and evolutionary biology.
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She is not that well at teaching. She just reads her powerpoint directly without adding anymore information. You really don't need to go to class to understand the material.

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