What a moron. Doesn't know biology and gives impossible tests full of trick questions. I got a 5 on the AP exam in HS and retook it for an easy A, but I have a B now. He can't even answer the questions I have in class about his vague notes, but rather skirts around the problem and keeps going.

just plain crap- he can't teach and also can't answer questions. reads directly off the slides, soooo boring!

Avoid him if you can. You can pull off a good grade if you study and such. My problem with him was not the difficulty of the course. It was his COMPLETE LACK of caring about helping his students. He goes too fast in lecture and is not very available (or willing) to help clarify subject matter.

I am a Biology major who has credit through the AP. I love Biology, specifically genetics. And all I can say is, Dr. Baer, who teaches the genetics section in BIO 1, is possibly the worst teacher to have ever taught at UF. Avoid him! Take it in the fall, the summer, the spring, whenever, but do NOT take Baer!

He was... pretty bad. I couldn't pay attention in class, and this is a problem I rarely have. I'm not exactly sure what we spent 50 minutes talking about every day. Test questions came out of no where, I thought, but maybe I didn't study enough. He asked for too many useless specifics! At least bio is divided into 3 sections.

Avoid at all costs. Baer doesn't care about his students' understanding of the subject matter, just about proving how smart he is. Though clearly a genius, he doesn't transfer information well. His exam was unnecessarily difficult and didn't reflect lecture AT ALL. No point in studying; praying for a decent curve at this point.

One of the worst instructors I've ever had. Had no idea what he was talking about in class, and most of the time, neither did he. Posted corrections every other lecture. There's no way to study for his test - average was a 48 and he said that it was no big deal. Admitted to having bad questions on the test and didn't care.

Worst professor I've ever had. He "taught" the genetics component of BSC2010. I had no idea what he was talking about so I stopped going to class. Average on the test was a 48, and he was happy with it. He has TAs write his test so that when HE takes it, he can't get an A on it. Whole class was curved so that a 33% was passing. AVOID THIS GUY

This class is titled "Evolution" but it really is "Population Genetics". So open a population genetics text book and you will find that it is very math heavy. There is no assigned textbook but there is a weekly book club meeting for Darwin's Origins and Nick Lane's Life Ascending. Without a textbook to reference you will have no idea whats going on

He is the worst bio teacher!! I don't know why I even went to class because his TopHat questions are so difficult. He doesn't explain anything well and he always goes off topic in class. Avoid taking him at all costs. I haven't learned anything and he can't ever keep my attention during class, his lectures are very boring and too long! AVOID.

Doesn't make any sense in lecture. Goes against what some textbooks and scholarly articles. Cares more about how smart he comes off than teaching the class. Avoid this man at all costs. Purposely tries to trick you on everything.

His tophat questions have right answers but every single time he proves that the right answer is actually wrong with some ridiculous way that goes against the textbook or general biology reading WHICH IS HOW WE LEARN WE DON'T KNOW THE SPECIFIC STUFF YOU KNOW DUDE. avoid at all costs he's ruining my grades

Avoid him at all costs. He contradicts himself and teaches material that isn't supported by any journal or textbook. He makes Tophat questions where he knows what answer everyone will put (the right one) then explains why the wrong one is actually right using his faulty logic. Bad at lecturing, very boring, and can't figure out how to do anything.

Had him for the genetics portion of the class, AVOID AT ALL COSTS! Very unclear when teaching, constantly contradicts himself, tests are impossible, and Top Hat questions unnecessarily hard. Based on his testing style, wants students to fail.

So you're here because you're wondering if it's worth taking Bio 1 with Baer, well it isn't. He's horrible at explaining things, his powerpoint slides are impossible to follow, and his tophat questions sometimes go against general rules of biology (lovely). More than 80% of the class couldn't finish his impossible exam full of trick questions.

Awful. Just awful. Avoid at all costs. May have to retake Bio 1 because of him. makes his exams so that there are multiple right answers, so he has to go in and regrade everything. Exams are tricky. I studied 100+ hours for his exam, have received As in all my other classes except of this class.

Hands down worst proffesor I have ever had. He filled in for another professor who was leaving the country in the middle of the evolution unit. Terrible lectures, test was completely ridiculous and was not reflective of any material covered or in the textbook. The average on the exam was an F, the curve saved everyone.

This was the hardest class I have ever taken. The lecture notes are just lines and lines of him deriving equations that have no meaning to anyone but him. He just reads off the notes so there is no gain to coming to his class. The exams are a free for all & have "many different answers" but only his in his mind are right. Confusing and frustrating

Dr. Baer filled in for a professor when I took this class, and his exam was the most unreasonable exam I've ever taken. It didn't correlate to any of the lectures or the textbook. He also messed up the forms of the exams, resulting in half the class being at an advantage. I don't recommend taking a class with him.

Only good thing about him is that you don't have to go to class. His lectures are beyond confusing and feel disorganized. He rants about nothing and changes subjects out of the blue. You just have to read the textbook on your own and be ready for a super hard exam.

I had a surgery right before the second exam in Bio 1 - this man told me I didnt meet criteria for a make up exam. I was in bed recovering for two weeks unable to move yet my situation wasnt worthy of a makeup exam. If you can skip this course, do it. The most non sympathetic professor alive.

Get ready to teach yourself everything because he's an impotent and useless lecturer, and then fail the exam anyways because he barely covers the textbook material and picks his answers based on his warped logic. Easily worst professor I've ever had.

His lectures are just what he thinks is important and it makes everything more confusing you are better off just reading the book. Worst teacher I have ever had and the exam was horrendous. Lowest grade I have ever gotten the average was extremely low.

The exam was the most poorly written thing I've ever seen, studied over 8 hours for the exam and got a 60%. Lectures are confusing and poorly written. Doesn't use the book.

READ THE TEXTBOOK. This man is useless and the exam average wasn't even a passing score. The worst professor I have ever had and UF is not short on them. Good luck

THE WORST PROFESSOR OF MY LIFE. He jumps to whatever comes to his mind in class, does not give good lectures, and the exam was nothing like what we have learned even with textbook or smokinnotes. He should be very ashamed of himself with his teaching. Hands down THE WORST.

Does not care for student's success.

Test average for my class was extremely low and test was only 23 questions so one wrong is a big hit to your grade.

I am going to lose my scholarship because of this man's exam. I studied for WEEKS and I got a 46 on the exam, which was ABOVE AVERAGE??? I currently have a C+ in his class, but I doubt I could really pull up my grade all that much considering this exam is 60-70% of your grade. Lectures are NOT helpful?? They are random tidbits he puts on slides.

Words cannot describe how insane the exam is for his section of the class. I got an A on the first exam, so I was feeling pretty good with my study habits. I took the actual genetics class during bio too, so I expected the genetics exam to be easy. Boy was I mistaken. I failed it and the test average was a 45%. Avoid at all costs!

Truly awful. Does not know how to teach whatsoever and I'm convinced that this man lives for the pain of his students. Grammatical errors everywhere, useless lectures and tests that don't correlate to the stuff you study. When the average grade for an introductory biology class is 44% you know something's wrong.

Deserves more bad reviews. Clearly passionate about Genetics, but passion does not equal skill - truly the worst lecturer I've had in a while. Cannot get a single straightforward thought out without digressing with random and seemingly unrelated tidbits. You'll depend on the textbook way too much, and even then you won't reach much success.

Where do I even begin??? Powerpoints are pretty useless. He tells us what to study but doesn't correlate to anything on the exam. Not even smokin notes could help me with this God-awful exam. It has to mean something that a 900 plus class, not one person, could achieve an A on the exam; the average was 45%.

HE IS AWFUL his exam is nothing like anything we ever covered. smokin notes doesnt help, lecturers dont help, nothing helps. AVOID AT ALL COSTS

Lectures were unorganized and fast and it was so difficult to try and keep up with the material in the lectures as well as in the textbook which was practically ignored. Not a bad guy and knows his stuff but not a good teacher/explainer. The exam was a nightmare with about a 45% average. Beware.

Funny guy but gets too distracted from his power points. His exam is super hard and our average was 44% out of 800 students. The curve was +30 points which really carried everyone's grades. Honestly, if you have this guy start studying immediately and don't rely on him for what's on the exam.

He has this relaxed, almost carefree personality that, coming from a professor, is worrisome. None of the material he bases his test on is taught by him and honestly, getting a good grade on his test is purely luck. Do not take BSC2010 with Dr. Baer, you will regret it.

Lectures don't make sense in the absolute slightest that so many students have resorted to not going to class at all. He admits that we're tested on things that aren't on the exam and the exam was impossible. The average score was in the low 40s and so many students got even lower. This section was ridiculous and no amount of studying could help.

He was absolutely mind bogglingly awful. Absolutely nothing that he lectured about was on the test.

I made this account specifically to rate Prof. Baer. I did the readings and homework and studied for a week. It made no difference because the exam was all over the place, asking things we never discussed and couldn't even infer. I've never had a professor with such negligence when preparing the students. also his snarky lectures are useless.

Test wasn't anything like the practice exams or any of the prior assignments.

As someone that just came out of his exam 3 for bio 1, I can say with my whole chest that his ability to correlate the exam with what we actual did in class is virtually non-existent. Not only was the test nothing like what we learned- but it included outside concepts that we just weren't ready for or just barely skimmed, with no warning. Yikes!

Worst professor ever. He made me hate bio class. I would never recommend him to anyone. Avoid this teacher at all costs. He doesn't agree with what the bio textbook says and tells the class the textbook is wrong and he's right. So stupid. I walked out of the exam yesterday laughing instead of crying because of how big of a joke that exam was.

Worse teacher of my entire life. SO RUDE. SO ARROGANT. he literally told a kid that was asking a good question to "SHUUSSHH" cuz only what professor Baer matters. i literally have never been so repulsed by a teacher, their demeanor and let alone their desire to bring tears to each and every student. He made an exam that felt like a literacy test.

BRO his evolution exam was the worst test i've ever taken. Had nothing to do with the lectures or the textbook, and made me feel like I was reading a different language. I did well on both other exams so I'm not making this crap up. He should stick to graduate courses or something bc him as a BIO 1 professor is terrible.

Baer was the definition of having a funny professor does not mean they do not suck. At the end of the day his lectures were so disorganized that they seem irrelevant to the actual course matter. His exam for evolution was the worst ever. Brought my high A(VERY HIGH A) down to an A-. His exam was full of terrible questions that made no sense. HATED.

Dr. Baer was a fun guy who clearly loved evolution. However, his exam is by far the most difficult exam I have ever taken. The mean was around 50, but the final grade was heavily curved. I studied a ton and still didn't do great.

This professor had a class average of 53% for his exam. At an institution like UF, this is clearly a professor error rather than student issue. This man is a horrendous professor.

Baer's lectures didn't correspond to the test at all. I had a 94 in the class after the first two tests and needed like a 75 to get an A in the class and I studied way above the average amount. He literally dreamt up the test and I don't think that I was confident in a single answer on the test that he gave out. Avoid him at all costs.

The exam Baer gave out did not correspond to what we learned in the class at all. It was extremely difficult and had to be curved significantly. I would avoid him at all costs regarding BSC2010.

most inconsiderate and horrendous professor I've had at UF. Was out sick for two weeks w a doctors note AND my grandma died, he approved my extension. Emailed him a week later to reopen my assignments, said no and fought me over email as to whether I exhibited 'extenuating circumstances', said I should've asked earlier (I did, w/ email proof) 0/10.

Dr.Baer was very disorganized with his slides and they would NOT follow the book's curriculum so reading was not even helpful. Most of his lectures made no sense at all and everyone seemed to be scared to ask any question, when they did he would give such poor answers to the students. Honestly, I even lost motivation to keep going to his lectures.

In class bro literally just reads off lecture slides, which gives minimal information. There was barely any homework, but the exam was the most difficult I have EVER taken. Bro needs to stop teaching because there's no way anyone learns anything from him. Exam average was a 30%. You have been warned.

Bottom 5 professors at UF. Lectures are absolutely useless, and he doesn't know how to teach the course. Test is extremely difficult

Be very prepared to read the textbook and use tutoring services because his lectures are hard to follow and incohesive. He's incredibly nice and funny, but I fear that is the only thing he has going for him.

Terrible. Would NEVER take again. His tests are so difficult (10 times harder than what he taught in class)

He gave the most difficult test I have ever taken in my life. He was very boring in lectures and the test had such hard questions that even after using Smokin Notes, I did bad. The curve was OK but the test was so bad that I don't even care about the curve.

All I'm gonna say is that if you have a 27% curve on your tests and that the average grade before a test is between 40%-50% then you must be doing something wrong.

Test did not match with anything that was on the exam. Boring lectures. Don't go to the lectures because he strictly reads off of the slides and gives no other information. Got a 65 on the exam. Only had a 10 point curve.

His lectures don't make much sense, and whenever a question is asked in class, he never truly answers the question. The exam was difficult and was purposefully trying to trick you, so make sure you know every definition (tedious ik) Plus, he made some vulgar joke about his wife and trashed on his mom for getting a B in her college class. Avoid!!

DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS WITH PROFESSOR BAER!!! He reads off of the slides in lecture, is not helpful, and gave the hardest/weirdest exam in the world. My mental health really suffered for the entirety of Unit 2 and I will never get my happiness back. SAFE YOURSELF!!!

Sigh. His unit is by far the hardest of the 3 both content-wise and because of the lackluster quality of his teaching. STUDY THE PRACTICE TESTS a lot of questions were very similar. Very good curve since the average is 50%. Smoking notes help but the practice questions aren't very similar. Get ready to study just to receive a lackluster grade ;(

This professor had good intentions but he was a horrible lecturer and his exam was a NIGHTMARE of disorganization and confusion. The questions were indecipherable and unclear, making the average for that exam a 50 or something. The curve was 27 points! Let that do the talking. The other profs were good but Baer's one unit tanked my grade to a B.

Definitely the worst professor out of the 3 for Bio 1. The lectures are disorganized and hard to sit through since he makes everything so confusing. His exam was very poorly written and consisted of paragraph long questions meant to trick you, but I think it was his bad attempt at trying to be funny. Curve was crazy, but won't save everyone.

such bad lectures... exam is so hard and the average is so low. smokin notes did not help me for this exam

His lectures were extremely unhelpful; I had to rely on the textbook + Smokin' Notes to learn the content. The exam for his unit was horrendous, and I ended up with a 60% that was curved to an 87% after weeks of studying. I finished with an A in the class, but that was mainly due to obtaining As on the other two exams. Be prepared to study.

While the professor may have been knowledgeable about his subject, it did not translate into his teachings. He failed to teach basic concepts and rambled on about seemingly unrelated things - 27 point curve; Tests were similar to practice tests (The only hope); Lectures essentially useless

It's somewhat astounding that a course like this even exists. The lectures are just walls of text with no care put into them, they are difficult to read and often don't get the point across. "Tests" are open-response exams where you are given hypotheticals and you must give an answer and explain yourself. Answers can easily be a paragraph long.