Todd Cooke

School: University of Maryland
Department: Biology
Location: College Park, MD
Overall Rating
rated by 20 students
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Clarity
Easiness
Rating Comment
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Pros: Wide variety of information covered
Forces students to learn in a new format
Cons: Boring material
Group work encouraged
There is no way to make the content in this course interesting, but Dr. Cooke tries his hardest. He is a very kind man and professor that tries to make the content as exciting as possible, but sometime of the stuff is just dry as anything. The first 3 months of the semester are pretty lame in terms of class material; after the third exam, the material actually gets interested (too bad it’s only for a few weeks…) His exams are challenging, and I never really figured out how to study for them. Group work is encouraged in this class, which unless you’re a very social person, is annoying. As a bio major, this class made me really rethink my choice, because I didn’t enjoy it much. Dr. Cooke is approachable for office hours and tries to help your grade out as much as he can; he drops the lowest exam and homework grade.
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Cons: They had several professors that lectured for this class, and it was very boring.
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Pros: Expects students to learn "big idea" big concepts
Great teacher, all information on slides, never needed the book.
Cons: Harder to learn this way because takes more effort and thinking
Great Professor, approachable, wants to get to know you and talk about the subject.
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Pros: He was really enthusiastic about the material and like Professor jensen who we co-taught with was always very enthusiastic
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Pros: He's interesting
Easier to understand
Nice and approachable
Cons: Information presented in an unorganized way.
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Pros: Cooke is really enthusiastic
Don't have to learn details- just concepts
Drop an exam
Cons: Lots of busy work
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Pros: The GAEs make everything easier to understand. Posts lecture slides online. Lots of opportunity to make up points if you don't do well on an exam. Drops an exam.
Cons: Lectures can be boring.
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Pros: Really good at making us understand what he is talking about, no matter what the subject.
Cons: The subject was generally boring.
Overall a great professor.
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Pros: U WILL LEARN A LOT
Cons: NOTHING
HE A GREAT ACADEMIC ADVISER IF YOU HAVE HIM.
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Pros: enthusiastic about the course and material taught
very helpful if you have questions or concerns
bsci207 is a very difficult class and no one seems to know why... but cooke is one of the better professors teaching the class. he's enthusiastic about the material and really wants everyone to do well. he is a great help at office hours. there is homework due almost every week which is to be completed in study groups that you form on your own.
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Pros: Knowledgeable
Flexible
Helpful
Cons: None
Overall, he taught the class along side with Jeffry Jensen and together the two provided a very thorough understanding of organismal biology. Although it takes some time getting use to their exam style. In general they're a good pair of professors who know what they're talking about.
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Pros: interesting at the end of the semester
Cons: usually he didnt teach the lectures
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Pros: good professor, funny, explain everything very well, very willing to help his students
Cons: a lot of reading and memorization... exams are pretty hard
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Pros: Nice teachers
Great mood and talking manner
Cons: Difficult to understand what is going to be on the test
The teachers are great people. However, the professors sometimes dont make it clear as to what is going to be on the exams. Many people use the book to self teach but the teachers also post online lectures to help.
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Pros: Makes lecture interesting
Puts up powerpoints online before class so you can print them out
Homework is worth as much as the midterms, so there's a nice cushion
Cons: There's way too much material learned
The tests are very specific in what they look for in an answer, it's all essay questions
This class is very detail oriented and you need to write all of the diagrams and notes down
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Pros: He knows what he's talking about and he is very enthusiastic and willing to help students.
Cons: His lectures are a bit bland, and his tests can be confusing with many open-ended questions that force you to think outside of the box.
Pretty good professor, I recommend taking BSCI207H with him.
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Pros: Great teacher, interesting course material, not difficult course load
Cons: absolutely none
Probably my favorite class so far at UMD, take as an elective!
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Pros: Good teacher, good at communicating.
Cons: The notes he gives are not really good, and tests are hard but curved.
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Jensen's lectures are more interesting than Cooke's, since Cooke reads directly from his PowerPoint (I'm literate: I don't need someone to read them for me!). The exams are okay (one is dropped), but the class is not really curved (maybe 1-2%). Make sure you're thoroughly prepared for the exams.
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Okay heres what you need to know: this class is very hard, and for you to get an A, you need to study ur @$$ off. First off, he co-teaches with another teacher; for me it was Dr. Jensen. They give 3 exams and 1 final, and he drops one of the exams. He also has like 5 lab benches that are a waste of time but it is an easy 50 pts. The notes they give are online, but you need to print them out because they leave stuff off on purpose so you can fill it in class. Dr. Cooke's notes are pretty good, but Dr. Jensen's notes are just terrible, and tell you no info. The info given in the class is so tedious and boring, I fell asleep once every week becuase it was an early class. For you to do good on the exam, you have to study for each test like a week in advance to get an B or A, but do this only if you haven't been paying attention like I was. but luckily the average in our class was around a 65, so there is a major curve at the end of the class. The final has 50 pts worth cumulative and 100 pts on the final portion of the class. It was hard, but I did way better than the average, which was around an 85 out of 150. I ended up with an A- in the class, but I consider myself lucky to even getting that. To get an A in this class you need to be on top of ur shit so study hard you suckers!

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