HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE! I can't stress that enough. He's probably the worst teacher i have EVER had. He doesn't bother to teach at all...stay away from any class of his you aren't required to take!!

This class is ridiculous. If you want to learn about Biology, don't take this, because it's literally all chemistry. He doesn't care at all if you pass or fail; all he knows is that HE understands biochemistry, and therefore thinks everyone else should too. The lab practicals are AWFUL. This class is WAY too specific and complex for an intro level.

We have barely learned biology in this INTRO class. I think we discussed kingdoms for one lecture. All we learn is biochem, which is too specific for an intro biology class. He is one of the professors that knows what he's talking about so well he will just talk over your heads. If you want to actually learn biology don't take it with Alan Friedman

I am an A and even an A+ student in college and could not manage to get even a B- in this course. Although he might know what he's talking about, he explains the material in a way that is way over my head. I did exceptionally well in Bio and AP Bio in high school and was confused in this course. I would recommend taking Bio with a different proff.

He gives so much homework/reading that is useless and most of the class is based on the exams and lab practicals so if you don't do well on those tests, you're screwed.

AVOID AT ALL COST! YOUR LECTURE WILL CONSIST OF MOSTLY ANNOUNCEMENTS AND HOTSEAT QUESTIONS THAN ACTUAL MATERIAL. HE READS OFF THE SLIDE THE WHOLE TIME AND THE MATERIAL YOU WILL 'LEARN' WILL BE POSTED BEFORE CLASS WITH PRE AND POST QUIZZES EACH WEEK AS WELL AS QUIZZES WITH THE VIDEOS THAT HE POSTS OF WHAT HE SHOULD BE TEACHING IN CLASS BUT DOESN'T.

Friedman uses 75% percent of lecture time for announcements, hotseat questions, and material that he isn't supposed to cover because it was already "covered" in the pre-lecture videos. He has no idea how to structure a class.

He is literally the worst professor/teacher Ive ever had. He doesnt teach what actually matters. Instead he teaches stuff way over our heads and structures the class in the most confusing way possible (minimizes learning). And when you approach him personally with questions, he is very rude.

This entire class was a mess. The labs didn't match up with the lecture and gave everyone a very basic understanding of the topics at most. I think I learned more quantum mechanics and physics in his Intro to BIO class than biology. He thinks he's funny, so you got to give him credit for that. He's just too smart to teach intro classes.

WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT TAKE FRIEDMAN. He is by far the WORST professor I have ever taken. He spends most of the time on announcements. The class barely has anything to do with biology and the exams are stupid hard. The labs and recitation do not line up with lecture. If you want to be confused, then take Friedman.

He is the reason why I am changing my major. He is literally the worst professor ever and always talks about Yale. the post/pre-quizzes messed my grade up.

Worst professor I have ever taken at Purdue. The class is more about chemistry and not what I signed up for. Friedman is extremely rude if you have questions after class. Very boring, difficult, and irrelevant class. Do not take this class from this professor.

Bio 110 is supposed to be a very basic course, but this professor made it unnecessarily difficult. My friends with the other professor got an easy A while I had to work so hard for a B, that was the only grade keeping me from getting a 4.0.

Your grades are determined by your tests. We are graded only out of 500 points, homework is 100 points of that the other 400 are tests. No participation, no extra credit, hard to catch for help. His help sessions are during the middle of the day. He tells too much irrelevant information not on the exam. Wastes time talking about historic nonsense.

Too many points in the class that are too easy to forget about and lose. Lectures are spent saying announcements instead of actual material, the labs never relate to lecture, the way he writes quiz and exam questions sets you up to fail. Puts way too much chem and physics into a 100 level BIO CLASS!!! Don't take this class if he's the prof!

Assigns at least an hour of videos to watch over the weekend, each with a quiz, in addition to the weekend quiz. There are also videos with quizzes and a quiz during the week. Lectures are pointless. Terrible at explaining, this course might as well be online. One of the worst professors Ive had. Biology should not be half as hard as he makes it.

Extremely text heavy and exam heavy. Also want to add he's extremely detail-specific and I don't mean that lightly. He's essentially rigged the tests by asking very difficult questions with the content that Einstein would second guess himself on. Study minimum 150 hours for each test and you might get a B+ Avoid this course at all costs.

He is a great, intelligent guy but makes the exams extremely hard for no reason. Lectures seem pretty easy and were basic biology but the exams were ridiculous. When I took it, another professor taught another section (for only Biology majors) and most in that section did really good. Many in my section failed due to the exams.

This is a freshman level class but it is structured to where you you learn everything you are tested over outside of class. He give you videos to watch and reading to do that will probably be on the exam but he will not cover it in depth himself. Not a good class at all, hardest class I have taken at Purdue and this is my Junior year.

Straight up dont take this class the dude cannot teach

Not nice at all. I am taking the online class with him and he's using old lectures which have a really bad sound quality and you really have to strain your ears to hear. He keeps pointing at things that we can't even see because the lectures are only the slides. He doesn't teach half the stuff that he puts on the papers and problem sets. Awful!!!

absolutely awful; very unreliable in terms of making lectures and grades available. He overwhelms you with so much information through lectures, readings, and videos that it is difficult to retain anything or narrow down what is most important for homework or tests. He is very smart, but fails miserably at teaching. Switch professors if possible!

Dr. Friedman is probably one of the most frustrating professors Ive had so far. The material in this class is rather straightforward, but he somehow makes the class unbearable. For example, he just reposts lectures from last year a few days after they should have been (I.e. posting mondays lecture on Thursday) and says that it doesnt matter.

Professor Friedman manages to take fairly basic topics and overcomplicate them so that even the most basic material is confusing. He also only assigns large assignments that are graded on accuracy making passing his class difficult. He also NEVER posts lectures on time which makes it very difficult to have a schedule laid out for yourself.

Dr. Friedman gives normal lectures, but tests you on very obscure questions on the assessments. Tests and quizzes are very tough and lots of room for error. It took weeks to get assignments graded too. Overall, I would avoid taking it with him since his exams are not fair and class isnt really even organized either. There are better options.

He is AWFUL! I have never felt so disrespected as a student before. Takes a month to grade anything. Quizzes and test are difficult due to wording of questions. Doesnt respond to emails. SWITCH PROFESSORS IF YOU CAN! I didnt watch a single lecture after he disrespected my major. Purdue should be ashamed for having him as a professor.

Not a great teacher. It seems like everything is designed to trick you - instead of many opportunities to gain points for your grade, his class is the opposite, many ways to lose points, on dumb things. He makes a 100 level bio class so convoluted.. do you really need a 35 page syllabus for a bio class? My 400 level engineering classes have 1 page

The worst prof ever. He's so far up as his own ahem that he doesn't even know how unpopular he is.

This is the most horrible professor I have ever met in my entire existence. This professor uses prerecorded lecture videos from 2019 (the year is 2021) for class. The sound quality is HORRIBLE. Class is so unorganized and he never responds back to emails. He is the only guy I know to make an easy concept impossible to understand.

This class was fully online and he made it more complicated than it should have been. The due dates are all over the place and he never responds to emails. His lectures use audio from 2015 and he doesn't bother taking off slides that no longer pertain to the course. Try your best to avoid him, the other professors are more qualified.

No matter what you do you will fail or barely pass, no matter how well you actually know material. Makes fun of students who ask questions and downright degrading. Absolutely horrible

I do not recommend taking friedman's class. He just reads off his slides in lecture which makes the class very dull. He seems like a nice guy but his quizzes, tests, and homework are very difficult and he does not provide many resources to help. Try to get a different professor if possible. Overall just a very frustrating course and professor.

Test's over most random things

If you can, avoid this professor. His lectures and slides are terrible. He will spend half the class time on something you won't be quizzed on but glosses over material he wants you to know. Some material isn't even in the book, so studying out of class is near impossible. Also won't provide proper study guides even after many requests to do so.

Friedman is a nice guy, but if you can, try to take 231 with a different professor. Has a tendency to over complicate concepts and go on tangents during lectures. Tests are usually fairly difficult with no direction on how to study for them. Dont be surprised to see random size questions on almost anything you do in the class.

If you have the option of taking a different class, do it. This professor does not care at all about students.

lecture heavy, reads off slides, doesn't accept homework through email

My man SUCKS. Everything I have learned has simply been from videos he has posted, i have learned nothing from his lectures, but you cannot skip them because in the middle of his useless class he'll throw in hotseat questions. This is an introductory BIOLOGY class, and we have learned more chemistry. I do NOT need chemistry for my major. ridiculous

He assigns lectures to watch and then take quizzes over as homework before you get to the lecture and then at the lecture he barely elaborates on any of the material and goes on long side tangents about nothing. The lab portions are interesting but still made difficult because the TAs don't understand the labs either. The recitation is given hw too

Very awful layout of the class. I learn little to nothing during the live lectures. All the material I learn is from the online videos he posts. In my opinion, a very lazy way to teach. Still makes you go to lectures just to answer pointless hot seat questions for attendance and for him to teach us nothing.

Literally all I have to say is that I have 17 quizzes for bio110 this week, if that doesnt say something I dont know what does. Its absolutely TERRIBLE and he does anything BUT teach. Get a different professor

An overall sadistic class, led by a professor who enjoys overcomplicating the simplest of things. Friedman can barely speak about anything without bringing up the word Quantum Mechanics to shove down anything worthy of learning. His quizzes are needlessly complicated, badly worded, structured, and leave a bad taste in your mouth. Nothing positive.

Prepare to have too much busy work for however many credits it is. He refuses to accept that he's the problem for low scores and then blames every student. He's strict to his over complicated and pointless rules that he doesn't personally uphold.

Easily the worst professor I've ever had. Reads directly off the slideshows during lectures which makes the lectures extremely boring. Assigns ridiculous amounts of homework and overcomplicates everything. Makes all the exams memorization questions so if you don't have everything memorized you're screwed. Also has 10 exams per semester.

Don't take BIO 110 in the spring. Take it in fall with Sean Humphrey. HW is watching 10-15 recorded 3min videos lectures from previous years. Idk why he doesn't go over this during regular lectures. There are hotseat questions during lectures so you have to go if you want points. The first half is unnecessarily filled with chem/physics.

This guy literally sucks. Class material is easy, but he gives zero effort in any of the lectures. Quiz questions confusing on purpose, and tests over obscure information that he often makes up. Makes us watch hours of low quality videos each week, and I have learned more from them than his actual lectures. The worst professor I have ever had.

Run. Run as fast as you can. The expected median grade every semester is a B-. If that's not enough for you to drop ASAP I don't know what is. Terrible professor. Terrible course. I didn't learn ANY biology this semester whatsoever and I love learning. Exams are set up for you to fail. Way too much useless homework for an intro biology course.

He is the worst professor at Purdue. Does not care about actually teaching the material, but rather reading off slides and asking bologna questions that have no relation to the actual lecture. I think I have learned more from Bill Nye the Science Guy than Dr. Friedman, Nice guy but horrible teacher. Save yourselves and praise jesus

Worst professor ive ever had.

this class gave me cancer

His exams compared to other professors' in the biology department are incredibly difficult, often resulting in a 10%+ difference between his averages and the others' for the exact same class. Gave me test anxiety, which I have never struggled w/ before. Lots of busy work outside class. Group discussions are awful and unrelated. AVOID Prof Friedman!

Take it in the fall with Sean Humphrey. Friedman is not worth the stress. His exams are basically set up for you to fail. I had 2 years of dual credit/AP bio coming into this, and it's the hardest class I've had so far. Makes basic concepts incredibly confusing during lecture and in tests. Otherwise decent guy, tries to make lecture interesting.

The class wasn't too hard if you had a basic understanding of biology. There was just a ton of homework. I would spend four plus hours a week just on his class. And the labs are awful because the TAs don't know what they're doing

This professor is not interested in helping students. Talks down to you / makes TAs feel stupid. I had a death in the family during this course and reached out to see if I could get a 1 day extension on a minimal assignment, and the answer was no. Please take a course with someone else for the sake of your mental health.

just take biol 110 in the fall with humphrey. this guy could care less about your mental health, time managment, and everything in general. recitation packets=nightmare fuel, exams are impossible unless you use practice exams! he wont tell you about them! his class isnt worth it. he brags to students about having the lowest test scores!

awful

This professor is impossible to work with. He takes pride in his class being difficult, and does not teach directly what he tests. Also, the recitation packets are long, tedious, and grade killers. This class is constructed for students to fail. Take bio 110 in the fall, avoid this awful professor!

Just Dont

Absolutely terrible. Sitting in his lecture right now and I would like nothing more than to have listened to the reviews here and taken the course with Humphrey. Legitimately consider changing your schedule to avoid this man. This man is a miserable excuse of a man that has not done a second of teaching for the last ten years of his life.

Please take this class with Humphrey in the fall. Makes you watch 16+ lecture videos dating back to 2015 and substitutes each video for his teaching. Doesn't cover content in class, talked about the syllabus for three weeks straight. Exams are worded extremely difficult. Class average on 1st exam was 60%. Do not take with Friedman.

Do not take BIOL 110 with this professor

He is absolutely the worst possible professor I have ever had. I learned SO much chemistry in this course. He is so passionate about biology that he tries to teach us ALL aspects of chemistry and physics. Do not take this class with Friedman, wait to take it with Humphrey.

For an intro bio class.. ok

The online lectures are pointless. I burned out watching them after just a couple weeks and it is SO SO frustrating to watch TWENTY videos AND have a GRADED quiz after each module???? Hands down 8/10 on frustration scale. I would not recommend this class at all.

I really like biology and find it genuinely interesting. However, this class drained me to the core. It felt like I was actively fighting to learn anything despite the professor. He gives a bunch of required supplemental quizzes and videos and the recitation homework is graded super harshly and is over material we haven't learned.

This is by far one of the WORST professors that I have ever had during my time at Purdue University. He is incapable of teaching actual biology, but instead prefers to teach quantum mechanics and physics in a BIO110 course. It is absolutely horrible. Take Humphrey if you can and steer clear of Alan.

Red flag: The more you scroll, the more bad reviews you see. Nobody likes Friedman because his TA's are not trained, and everything is graded super harsh. The professor often tries tricking students on exams, doesn't lecture on new content outside of his 20+ weekly videos, and manages to put unrelated topics on exams and discussions. RUN FROM HIM!!

Worst professor I have encountered at Purdue. As an introductory Bio course the goal should be to encourage students to learn more about this field of science and, become interested in the topic. Instead Alan Friedman pushes them away with his poor attitude, disorganized course structure, and harsh grading. Would not recommend!

he genuinely does not teach anything. he relies on 15-30 pre-recorded module videos per week to teach the information, making lectures basically pointless. the tests are worded so differently than how the information is taught and the class averages on every exam are around 60%... for an intro to bio course. do what u can to avoid.

He does not reply to your emails/calls/texts, letters even. this class is deigned to fail you, there's 2 proper quizzes each week, about 20 ques of module quizzes, and hotseats. Lab exams are online. Weekly Recitation packets are long af and irrelevant. Truly one of the worst professors, does not care about your well being or progresses.

Avoid this professor's BIO110 class if you can - it's designed to make you fail. The excessive quizzes, harsh grading, and poor teaching make it a real struggle. However, unstuckstudy was a lifesaver for my exam prep.