this prof's midterm was extreamly unfair, to put it mildly. the lectures were enough to put cocain addicts to sleep, and the not a feat not easy to accomplish. the midterm did not reflect the lecture, the book, or the notes. overall, it was not fair, and in the words of Stewie "BLAST!!!!!"

Very bad professor. I am a straight-A student but I ended up getting a mere C on his BIO1110 class. I hate him.

He is an unfair prof. We are 1st yr students, some with very poor backgrounds in bio, and find the in depth questions on your exams, dr J, to be mean. please listen to your students and see that we try so hard in your class, and it results in a poor grade. I am sure you can relate from when you were a student, please have some mercy on your student

You are supposed to learn in University, not be tortured.unfortunately Dr. Johnson believes the latter. I was very close to going to the dean to complain about his ridiculous tests that do not reflect class material at all. I wouldn't be suprised if a future student does..he is absurd and should not get away with his crazy methods of "assessment"

I totally agree with other comments! Sadly there is no other prof teaching this course. Midterms focus on the most useless, minutia of biology. I had 90s throughout high school on this material. The worse you do the better he feels about himself. I find his lectures cluttered and unclear. Too bad this class is mandatory for science students!:(

Worst professor i have ever had. I have been getting As in all my other classes and im scared that I might have a near fail in this class! the midterm did not reflect class material or the textbook at all! questions about the most random specific things. boring prof too.

I'm very disappointed. Though I think he knows his material, his ability to teach it and is messed up. I totally understand the material and confirmed it using the textbook but his midterm didn't test us on any of it. I wish he was more clear about how to study it in a way to be test savvy. If you like science stay away from Johnson!

Good guy, terrible prof. I've been to every lecture, read the textbook, and understand the material really well--but still do terribly on midterms. His tests don't reflect what we covered in class. His lectures are very disorganized and it's hard to tell what's important to know and what's not. I'm pretty sure he's used to testing PhD students.

I'm so happy for this pathetic course to be over. This arrogant prof speaks over our heads using obscure terms (often without explanation) and cites labs none of us have heard of. He's forgotten what it is to be in 1st year and loves to use his vast knowledge to knowingly knock us down. I used to love biology; not so much anymore.

This man is awful. Avoid his class. The exams and midterms are ridiculous, he does not make it clear what he wants students to know at all. Avoid at all costs.

Bad prof with bad notes and bad midterms. He seems to get pleasure out of making everything 10 times harder than it has to. He knows alot, and expects 1st years to know the most random and specific things that arnt found in his notes nor in the text. This man should retire already.

Worst prof I've had in first year. Has a frequent habit of going on tangents. Also frequents the terms "THIS, which we saw a few units ago", and "THIS, which we will see in a few lectures". Runs midterms online and states that "it's your responsibility if you disconnect or the server crashes". Impossible to listen to, monotone. Truly a 1/5 prof.

Honestly, worst prof ever. He talks so fast that it's hard to follow and then if you type what he says word for word, you realize your notes are littered with "this goes here then there and it happens". I'm not kidding. Midterms have nothing to do with what you learn.

Online midterms are faulty in so many ways & students get screwed over. Midterms cover material that you've never even seen. Lectures are so boring. Lecture notes & podcasts don't help. Prof doesn't explain things in a way that's understandable. Lots of angry complaints about him. Seriously, do whatever you can to avoid this guy.

HORRIBLE PROF! Run away from this class if you can! If you can't consider yourself screwed! If you think this will be like your Biology class in High School, THINK AGAIN! I had a 99% average in my High School Biology, and now I'm barely passing! This prof gives questions in the midterms that ARE NOT EVEN COVERED IN CLASS!

One of the most terrible profs you'll ever have. Leave his class if you can, unless you want to be tested on material that was never taught, and be expected to know indepth details he doesn't teach. Good luck, you'll need it.

Worst prof ever. Ive never failed a course in my life, and I'm scared to death that I might fail this one. He makes everything ten times harder than it really is. Avoid at all costs, he will make your life miserable.

Don't expect to do well if you have this prof. If all bio courses are gonna be like the ones he teaches then I never want to take bio ever again. Bio used to be my favourite subject. Now I hate it so much. I'm seriously considering switching into chemistry.

Awful, awful prof. SUPER BORING, slides are useless, rambles on about nothing in class, and is all over the place. He section on the final killed. Have fun in this class. Sucks cause no one else teaches it. Podcasts don't help cause it's just as bad as listening in class. Good luck to all of you who have him :S

Terrible prof monotone and boring. Lectures are useless. He can't teach/convey the lecture material. Podcasts are useless because he uses "this" and "that" when we can't see this and that. Jokes are lame. Rambles about things. Online midterms which are bad. Don't expect to do well. AVOID THIS PROF IF YOU CAN. the textbook taught me this course.

I'll tell you why there are 20+ comments condemning Johnson-because his course blows! The material really isn't that difficult-that's the point. He intentionally makes the class obscure. I've got friends at both Queens and McGill who couldn't believe how he runs this class;especially the stupid midterms which teach you nothing. Good riddance!

The material is not difficult, he MAKES it difficult. He throws obscure terms that we have never heard of to explain concepts. I'd like to see him in a class where the professor speaks Japanese, and then test him on Greek. That is how he runs his course- his lecturing is incomprehensible and midterms aren't either.Karma Dr. J, Karma will get you...

He is all about "treating us like upper year students". He is proud of his big philosophy but one thing he doesn't realize it that students in first year don't learn like it. I came out of his section of the course knowing nothing; I taught myself from the book. You can see that Gilmour even thinks he's nuts. She lectures properly and I learned.

His midterms are random, good luck studying. His teaching is awful, extremely disorganized! His final exam section was terrible, it appeared since Gilmour gave us very easy questions because she felt sorry for us. This prof needs to only do research, everything about him destroys first year students. Make sure to use all resources, e.g the textbook

I have reflected greatly on this course and truly feel that the science program at U of O is very mediocre at best. The supercilious attitude exemplified by prof Johnson is indicative of several science profs i've encountered-The arrogance is dripping off them. They wouldn't last in the private sector where results matter! I want my money back!

He's a nice enough guy, he just can't teach. if it can be avoided...drop out of his class. You won't regret it. The other professor could NOT possibly be any worse. On a few lectures he just copied and pasted notes from Wikipedia. I think I could have taught the course..lol.

This professor is simply horrible. The material from BIO1140 is not hard; Dr. Johnson makes it hard! Questions on midterms and exams DO NOT match up with what was covered in class. He brings up random terms in class that we have never even heard of to explain concepts. AVOID HIS CLASS - you will not regret it!

INTRODUCTORY biology - my donkey! Johnson's course is designed to screw you out of grades-plain and simple. It is not simply learning introductory concepts, but rather you are expected to have an ability to mind read. I studied a lot and learned little. I'm just hoping to pass so I don't have to see this guy again. VERY POOR!!

Worst professor I had in first year, bar none. Incomprehensible, dry, and arrogant. The textbook will be your only chance of understanding his material, but even the text doesn't suffice for learning all the material in this course. BIO1140 was THEE worst class, because of this man.

The worst professor I've ever had. He constantly goes off topic in the lecture, causing it to be impossible to know what is required and what's not. He flat-out refuses to help his students, even when it is asked, instead very rudely rejecting them. Besides being a horrible professor, his antics show that he is a very disagreeable old man.

Worst prof! Midterms have nothing to do with lecture material. He refuses to help students, even during "office hours". This course's sole purpose is to steal away everyone's scholarships. Final was brutal. He is monotone and is rants about anything that comes into his mind. You never know, it may pop up on an exam >:(

very unpredictable questions, unreasonable and difficult questions. online midterms are pathetic and crash all the time. Bad class bad prof.

He rambles quite a bit, and his slides do not contain all the information required to accurately answer questions he gives you. The fact that his slides don't have all the answers is fine except that you can't' tell what he is talking about in class.

classes are too boring to attend, cant sit throught htere for more than half the class even when trying to pay attention. midterms are hard. STUDY

Its unfortunate that such interesting material has to be taught in such an awful manner. This is just a terribly organized course and it doesn't help that theres no support what so ever. If you can take this course in french.. please do. Unless this prof goes, this course will continue to be awful.

The only way to pass midterms and exams is to write down every single detail Johnson says. Listen to the podcasts, read the textbook and supplementary info and you should be ok. It's hard to get through one of his classes... he's SO monotone, goes off topic, I just write ever word that comes out of his mouth just in case. The exam was tough...STUDY

His expectations are too high, specially if you have other tough courses. Material isn't that bad but the way he teaches it, and tests you on it is BRUTAL. AVOID if you can

Poor prof. Despite being a pleasant guy and putting up podcasts of the lectures, he fails to explain anything properly - I learnt everything from the textbook/friends/internet. His midterms/exam are hard because he fails to teach the material in class.

Problem: 1) The concepts should be rearranged. e.g. Regulation shouldn't be taught after transcription & translation. I would say he should follow the book's sequence. 2) He assumed we knew too much. Dr. Katie spoon fed us her section but we came out of it understanding everything. Too pass his part, summarize the book before each class.

Run while you can

By far the worst professor I have ever had. I can't even possibly imagine how someone would even be able to top him on that achievement. Worst professor of all time!

nothing was helping. exams and class material run parallel

Brutal... His exam questions are so vague it's unreal. HUGE PIECE OF ADVICE - Don't be a lazy bum, and LEGIT READ THE TEXTBOOK BEFORE CLASS - there's no other way to understand the material, and the assigned readings are like 4 pages per class. Do it. The way he speaks, the way he writes his ppts, and the way his questions are worded are just vague

Worst Prof. So monotone and boring. Arrogant and belittling. Marking schemes are just brutally awful.

This guy will make you hate Biology, very condescending, you have to go that extra mile just to pass. If you want to get an A then you better put all your other classes aside...

Terrible lecturer, you learn more, if any from watching the podcasts. When you have him, you learn more from just reading the textbook. His expectations for the exams are high. Even though you think you do well on an exam, you get your mark back, and you did terrible because whoever marked them was very picky!!!

a very bad prof, hardly knows how to teach and lecture. nice guy tho, horrible teacher. exam questions are SO vague and confusing.

Worst prof ever. His slides are pretty much not even in English (they're that confusing.) run, run as fast as you can!

Could there be a worse prof?

Never take this class. This class will make you despise bio and drop your CGPA. Switch programs if you can.

Dr. Johnson is legitimately the worst professor at OttawaU. I feel like the only reason he's still employed is that he's tenured. He pretty much just talks about whatever's on his mind during his lectures, so they don't make any sense. What's worse is that the random facts will show up on final exams, which are mind-numbingly difficult.

Really nice guy, but horrible at teaching. Stopped going to lectures because I was so bored and he did a lot of rambling; he was confusing. I found that I had to rely mostly on podcasts because he tended to rush through important parts of the lecture and I couldn't catch them. Midterms and final were okay

The whole time I thought Ol' Douggy was going to have a stroke, would have made the class interesting. But actually, the midterms suck, he can't explain a thing. When he talks you know its about bio, but you have no clue what it is about. The bell curve will save you (should have had 91.. got a 99).. skip his class, you won't miss anything

This man does not speak in sentences, but rather strings random words together in hopes it will make sense. He is so difficult to understand, it's not even funny. Good luck my friends, good luck

AWFUL. Rest assured, you are not the only one in lecture who thinks he is speaking gibberish. This is like an actual quote from his class: "so lac operan and x and z and enzyme and blue and it can also not be blue if the substrate is green but it is cleaved so then the molecule."

This professor DOESNOT reply to email; if so just says, "we've discussed it in detail in class". He is very unclear, wikipedia is even more helpful. I totally agree, Dr. Gilmour is best. Everything was crystal clear until this guy came along

Can you say "incompetent"? Dr. Johnson does not speak in full sentences, does not clarify anything, and is about as interesting as watching paint dry...realllyyy boring paint. He also has a bad habit of teaching false information, and making up words, and then insisting you buy into his delusion for the length of the course. Not impressed.

ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE!!! His questions on the midterm were very confusing and u don't really understand what the question is asking of u. Multiple choice is extremely hard... AVOID AVOID AVOID!!!!!!!

Unbelievably useless and incompetent. Never available to talk, avoids admitting his mistakes by diverting responsibility to the coordinator. If the university cares at all about the students they should seriously consider removing him from ever teaching again... do yourself a favor and DO NOT TAKE ANY OF HIS CLASSES. He made me hate my best subject

I'm sorry I had him as a prof. This year's genetics section will be a lot easier to comprehend now that he's gone. His tests don't make sense and his fill in the blank questions are too vague to understand what he wants. I think he should stick to research and not teach again

I don't know where to even start. Basically you will have to learn everything from the textbook and cross your fingers that the bell curve is in your favour.