2.3
Quality3.7
Difficulty18%
Would Retake186
Reviews18%
Would Retake
186
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
186 total ratings5
21
4
32
3
24
2
31
1
78
What Students Say
“I hate this lady with a passion”
BIOL130 - 1.0 rating“Heidi is an interesting creature”
BIO130 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
73%
Textbook Required
46%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.50 avg changeRatings by Course
BIO371
5.0
(1)BIOL371
4.4
(7)BIOL370
4.0
(1)BIOL473
3.6
(8)BIOL273373
3.5
(2)Difficulty by Course
BIOLBIOL
5.0
BIOL130273
5.0
130
4.4
BIOL273
4.2
473
4.0
Reviews (184)
shes a great prof. she makes the content interesting and gives really good examples! exams were fair as well..
First year at UW, but she did a good job. Fair tests if you know what to expect. You have to go to class and write everything down!!! If you have a question, she will explain it as clearly as she can. No question to her is "dumb"so ask if your unsure. She obviously loves to learn about animals herself, and her passion is shown through her teaching.
The class started out a little rocky, but she improved her teaching incredibly by the end. I bet by next year this course will be really good.
Great professor, enthusiastic, knowledgeable and fair. You MUST GO TO CLASS or you will not do well. My grade dropped 15 marks below my average in this course. If you go, the tests are easy, if you don't then you will miss what is emphasized in class but not in the notes provided. Textbook optional. Overall great instructor and course!
enthusiastic about teaching and loves what she does...but she CAN NOT teach!notes are all over the place,really frustrating to study as its hard to figure out what to study.have to go to class and write down everything she says,which is impossible!posts potential questions for exams but it takes ages to figure out the answers. uughhhh :s
The content of this course is interesting.I second the frustrating review below,her notes are easy to follow in class but once you're home and going through them they make no sense!shes helpful though.
An excellent professor. She is both knowledgeable and enthusiastic. Her sample questions are amazing, since they cover her entire test material. Attendance mandatory and worthwhile...easy high 80 if you pay attention.
Extremely interesting and useful class...labs are a lot of fun! Grades a bit harder than her 3rd year class, but understandably so. Awesome prof!
My rating is a bit harsh, but BIOL 473 was a really interesting and useful class! You learn a LOT of stuff which opens your eyes to repro technologies and their pros and cons. Her slides lack fluidity and won't make sense after class sometimes even if you did attend and take notes, but I do recommend this class because it was awesome! Lab was cool!
Did I tell you that she is cross-eyed? really she is.... but, she is an amazing prof and the course is fairly easy if you have a functioning brain and two ears to listen well
Very good prof and a very helpful prof. Will never say no to a question. You kinda have to use her lecture notes in conjunction with the lecture notes but that's not to say that her notes are bad. Just the course itself is a little detail orientated so the textbook is useful. Class isn't mandatory but she gives out a lot of hints for the midterms.
The content in this course was not too difficult, however, her midterms were tricky and many questions were misleading. She takes concepts that are not to difficult and makes questions on her exams that test your comprehension of English rather than the course material. She is enthusiastic but unfortunately says the opposite ofher slide consistantl
The course wasn't that hard at all. She read almost directly off her slides but anwered questions well and I found it easy to study for the midterm because of that. She really enjoyed what she was teaching and had a ton of interesting knowledge, making it a decent class.
She teaches at a quick pace so if you didn't take high school bio, it's hard to keep up. She is interested in her subject, however and happily answers all questions.
The course material is understandable, but does go by very fast. The lectures don't necessarily go into great detail, but the midterm and exam are based on the lectures. The textbook can be used for a better understanding. She does seem to have a big interest in biology.
Very good prof, always had answered questions the next lecture if she couldn't when they were asked. Clearly enjoys the subject, very helpful. Emphasized understanding and concepts rather than memorizing terms. Excellent prof.
Very interested in her subject! Seemed enthusiastic and answered questions well! She does read off of her slides though, and this can make you kinda sleepy. Good course, fairly easy if you took Bio in high school.
Pretty good prof overall. However, her powerpoint slides do not have enough information on them, as she just talks about it in lectures and expects you to write everything down. A bit unfair, as the other prof for the same class provides information on his slides. Midterm is straightforward, but the final exam is much more difficult
99.9% of everything you need to know/study for the exam/midterms is on her slides. Her multiple choice qstns. are tricky but as long as you memorize/understand everything you should be good. She is very dorky about science so class is funny sometimes :P! I would recommend taking this class with her simply because of her slide notes
her lectures were the only ones i didnt attend the whole term and still got an A and did better than the lectures i did attend!
Not worth attending lectures at all.. I basically just read the recommended text book readings for exams. She just reads off slides, I didn't find her lectures helpful at all. And beware for exams, there's a lot of "A, B, C, A & B, A & C, and all of the above" which is awful.
Good Prof, but I would read the textbook if you wanna do well on tests. Her slides are not too detailed (especially cardiovascular unit). Midterm one was easy and midterm two was definitely harder. Personally thought she gave too little time to write midterm two for the amount of questions given, so make sure you know your stuff.
Reads off the slides, exams are unrelated extremely difficult
273 Midterms were brutal. Half of the questions would have options like A, B, A and C, A, B and C and None of the above. She tries to test the students on what they don't know as opposed to other professors who always test the other way around. Class is extremely boring and textbook reading is helpful. I recommend taking it online
Lectures are sometimes entertaining/interesting but useless as her tests are MUCH more detailed than stuff covered in lecture. Her notes weren't horrible but you need to read a lot. Can be quite nasty (esp. online) yet seems fun in person. Didn't really know the material that well, and she got confused often. Had a lot of energy in class though.
Reads off slides, textbook is more clear than her. She tries to be entertaining when she really isn't, and always goes off on a tangent about irrelevant material. Tests aren't too bad ONLY if you study many days beforehand, reading the textbook thoroughly
Very nice professor! Although her slides are not very detailed, if you went to class she explains them fairly well. Reading textbook is mandatory to understand the concepts thoroughly as she tests application on her exams.
What's funny is I was so mad before the final exam, but the final was sooo much easier than the midterms. She really cares about students but make sure you study for midterms beforehand, night before won't cut it. You can do very well in this course, just a little bit of an effort. But it's worth it at the end.
This class was challenging mostly because it was hard to know what was expected of you. Her midterms/exams often test you on nit-picky details, are application based and she tried to trick you with A and B, A,B and C type responses. Not a great professor, in my opinion.
Tests are very difficult, more application based and not a real indicator of actual comprehension of slide material. Goes off on random stories and sometimes points show up on tests even if she says they wont
Midterm and final was killer. Multiple choice answers were designed to trick students. A and B, A and C, all of the above, none of the above. No bonus marks at all. 45% final, 2 midterms each worth 45%, and 5% for clickers.
Said textbook reading is not required for midterms and finals , not true. Lectures are fairly boring.
shes so good
She is a good professor. The course is easy. Two midterms, and one final. All of them are easy if you have studied for it. Tutorial assignments help to boost the mark. Overall, an easy course, and a good prof. I would like her for my future bio courses too.
Hardest midterms and quizzes, such tricky questions that I don't think we ever learned. I didn't enjoy this class or her.
I take it back. Her exam questions consistently trick test you rather than the concept itself. She uses ambiguous wording to toughen up her questions with more brainexplosions like just/most/not TRUE/A or C and D or All of the above. Even though I did well on second midterm and okay on first, this final is ridiculous. Some are easy, others are not.
Really ambiguous questions on tests/final. Her tests are designed to trick you, not to test you on important concepts. Really tough final.
Good teacher! Really makes the course exciting as she's really enthusiastic and down to earth! Exams are tricky but if you study well you'll do fine!
Seriously the hardest Biology I've ever learn, her midterms were just terrible, i failed on and barely passed the second, the final was a killer, like I wanted to die, there's just too much stuff to know in 4 months and she goes by slides too fast in a lecture, gets so boring.... -_- study ahead of time so you know the general ideas
I am disappointed with her method of communication with students. A bad attitude and a lack of understanding with emails. It is also true that concepts should be thoroughly learned and the evaluations assume this and test you instead on ability to decipher her wording. I would suggest another prof if possible or be wary of her respect for you.
She's a good prof. Personally, I felt comfortable approaching her if I needed help, and she even emailed me to clarify something once. Cares for her students. Though some students complain about her tricky questions, it really is a test of how well you know the material. Study throughout the term by going back to your notes (Powerpoint slides).
She's very rude when you go to her office and she's very inconsiderate. Try taking physiology with other professors.
Good Prof, do your best in tutorials. She's pretty good, make sure to study and keep up if you want to do well! Totally possible to get a good mark in her class.
not a bad prof. kind of confusing at some points. midterms and exam is fair. average prof nothing bad nothing good about her.
Excellent prof. Shares her own methods of understanding/remembering concepts. Uses many methods to help you understand a topic (diagrams, tables, iclicker). Tests were very fair, and I learned a lot from her!
Worst Prof I've ever had
The course was enjoyable. Lectures a bit dry but what is truly of note was her attitude. As a student (especially one who was doing well in her course), I found her email style and general attitude incredibly rude.
She spoke incredibly fast, too fast for me to catch up with her in terms of notes. She sped through slides. Her midterms were terrible because they were all M/C but with options such as A, B and C. A, B, C and D. None of the above etc, which would throw students off a lot.I would avoid if I could but unfortunately shes the only prof for Bio 130
Challenging course material, but the best strategy is self-teaching. Reading the textbooks to understand the concepts before lectures cover it is very helpful -- content is plentiful and the prof only touches on key concepts and strategies to help remember and understand systems. Clickers contribute ~5% of the grade. Definitely not a bird course.
Interesting prof, is funny even when she isn't trying to be. Lectures follow the text very closely, helpful to read ahead. Doesn't just recite info at you, tries to give you her own take on the material. Exams multiple choice with annoying options sometimes. Not too hard to get a good mark if you spend a couple of days preparing for each exam.
She's very tricky with her wording and MC exams. She's very rude and condescending through email and office hours. take Biol 273 with another prof
I love this course and Heidi is my favourite prof at UW. The topic is super interesting, but she makes it even more so. The class is constantly laughing at her bluntness and humour. There are two midterms, labs, a lab test, and a final. Her tests are fair, and the lab reports are easy.
Heidi is amazing. She has a great sense of humour and makes material interesting. Her multiple-choice midterms are fair (with a lot of, A, B,C, A and C, or all of the above etc). Her written exams are even more fair (In 473). Overall my favourite prof at UW!
Good prof
Useless prof. Very rude when contacted, teaches way to fast and far above a first year level
Overall the course was not too hard, but she went through the slides very fast, and all of her slides were pictures, no actual explanations, you have to write down everything she says. She seems very interested in the course, and seems nice during lectures but if you talk to her one on one she is extremely rude. Midterms/exams were not too hard.
As a prof she's just okay, nothing out of the ordinary. As a person outside of class, she can be pretty rude and not the friendliest person to interact with. She does seem to have a rather kind side to her every blue moon.
Heidi's alright. She tries her best to entertain the class while teaching. The course isn't hard, it's just that she uses the standard "a, b, c, a and b, or all of the above" trick to confuse you. Tutorials were pretty useless, although it gave out easy marks. 5% iClicker. I got 90 on both midterms but slacked near the end so I ended up with an 81.
She's really enthusiastic during lectures, but dull and sometimes rude during office hours. She does tend to talk a little fast, so writing notes could be a little difficult. The tests are similar to that of 130 (A,B,C,AB,ABC) as well as 5% clickers.
Good Prof. Very good in her explanations. Seems to care about her students, and provides you with quirky & neat ways of memorizing/making sense of tricky concepts. Hope she continues teaching BIOL 373.
She's a good lecturer, but her powerpoint slides are way too simple and confusing. Many of her slides just consists of pictures, so make sure you go to class and actually take notes of what she says...
She explains the topics well enough, but you have to go to class because a lot of the slides are just pictures and don't make sense otherwise. Her attitude towards teaching during class is positive but outside of class can have a negative attitude towards helping students.
Multiple-multiples. Her questions are pretty hard since you doubt yourself so much. You need to be prepared for exams. Other words for exams you must reply on retention instead of recognition.
Her powerpoints have no information on them so you have to go to class and write down everything she says.
ridiculously difficult to understand what she's saying. even in a beginner course
She makes something that could be interesting VERY boring. I enjoyed reading the textbook more than her lectures, and I went to all of them. I guess the midterms aren't impossibly hard but can be tricky because of the multiple choice questions. Her powerpoints are so confusing- most of the slides are just random pictures without any words.
Took this course as an elective. WORST decision of my life. the professor shows interest in class but not at all helpful in person. do not take it UNLESS NEEDED
Straightforward bio class, exams always easier than expected, good explanations by prof, the previous ppl complaining, if u had trouble here switch programs pls (srs). Tutorial was a colossal pain, take that waste out. Overall fair and good base course for upper year, copped a 90 plus with fair effort.
She's not bad at all. She's rather funny and keeps lectures interesting. I would recommend keeping up with class material, and if you do that youll find the course to be a breeze. Midterms were fairly simple, exam was tricky but honestly if you studied you would be fine.
Basic first year cell bio class, no more no less. Very fair for you to do well, midtermsexam were easy. Make sure you go to class, her slides have lots of diagrams that need explaining from a prof. Tutorial was the worst, completely useless component of the course, big nuisance. Heidi explains pretty good, pop some caffeine and your good to go.
Looked forward to this course all undergrad and she really killed my enthusiasm. It's amazing how unhelpful and rude she is. Lab was fun
Her sense of humour is really what kept me engaged. The material was very basic, but I still felt like I learned a good deal without feeling very challenged.
This was the hardest class I have ever taken. The way it was taught was not what is conducive to effective learning in science. She was a great speaker, and gave good examples, but never really used lay terms. I would have never taken this if I knew it was this hard. You need a thorough chem and bio background. Do not take this unless you have too
She is good at teaching, but I did not appreciate here tone and attitude towards students. Had her for Biol 130 as well, and both times dealing with her was a nightmare. Attendance is a must for success in course; labs are mandatory, held every week and make up 20% of the overall course mark, lab assignments are due one week after lab session.
Lectures were quite boring, powerpoints lacked detail which was required for the exams. Exam questions go into specific details.
She is very enthusiastic about mammalian reproduction. However, the course itself is quite a bit of work - 2 midterms, cumulative final, 4 lab reports, 1 assignment, and a final lab/applications exam. The material is interesting but I found the exams tough and her marking tougher. Exams comprised of medium and long written answers. No MCQs at all.
Pretty decent prof. Lectures were a struggle to get through without sleeping through and tests were not easy but fair.
Tough course load, hard tests, but easy labs. Material was quite interesting and she seemed passionate about the material.
The professor makes the trickiest multiple choice exams ever, she is a good lecturer but very rude and doesn't respect her students.
Great lecturer. Is really into the material and her enthusiasm helps you get through the long lectures. Is pretty clear about the content on midterms and the final and gives practice questions in class so you know what to expect. Didn't require any help because the material is pretty clear-cut.
Her lectures were good for figuring out what is on the exam. I'm a Rec student and had to take this course for grad school so I was a total newby to Bio and found the course relatively easy as long as you put in the work. Went to every class, read the text, came out with a 93%. She was very rude to deal with for help though.
Heidi is a great professor overall for all courses the she teaches. Her 373 slides come straight from the textbook so if you don't go to class/if you need clarification you can easily find the information in the textbook. The course itself has quite a bit of content but she does make the lectures interesting. Exams are straightforward if you study.
If you've done well in 273&373 I would recommend taking 473 with Heidi. She is very knowledgeable in this topic and makes lectures very entertaining. For a 4th year course I don't think it is that difficult (especially compared to 308). Exams are written but that is expected for a 400 level course. If you know your stuff and study you will do well.
Powerpoints lack important info & explanations, not well organized, questions on midterms can be tricky.
Sorry to say, but horrible prof i didn't learn a thing taught by the woman. I had to teach everything to myself, I really wish bio profs made lectures less boring and dreadful, bring more energy and enthusiasm. I hate bio so much after taking her class.
One of the worst profs I've ever had. She is lazy, doesn't care about her students, and gives terrible lectures. She has bad time management, and makes simple concepts very confusing. Her tests are unnecessarily hard, but if you study using her clicker questions, you can get a good mark.
She turned into one of my favourite profs at UW. I took all the courses she offered. She wasn't the best at BIOL 130 or BIOL 373, but is incredible at BIOL 473 and BIOL 370. BIOL 370 was my favourite course from her. We had to opportunity to do a poster project, and it was a grade booster. Extremely fair midterms and final if you put in the time.
Her lectures weren't interesting. Didn't explain material very well. I found it hard to keep up with her due to the fact she spoke quickly. She drew diagrams to explain figures on certain slides which was annoying because I couldn't do the same thing on my laptop. Not very good one on one. I found her very rude.
The worst. Simply reads what's on the powerpoint, which hardly has any information. Makes crude and offensive jokes/statements. Not a nice person to talk to. Bad at explaining what's going on. Also really bad with technology. I got more information from the textbook than I did her lectures. Just went to lectures to get participation points
Her lecture slides will not help you. USE THE TEXTBOOK!!
She never truly describes what she will put on a test. You see material that was not discussed on slides in your exam.
She is a little all over the place. It was a little hard to follow up when writing notes on the slides. She is a bit too fast and she does not explain well enough. I recommend recording her lectures on your phone just in case you want to go over what she said during class. I suggest to read the chapters in the textbook that she covered after class.
Heidi is an interesting creature. She has sugar gliders (weird squirrels). She once told a story about the squirrels who apparently like to hang themselves in her presence and run away when she tries to help them. I feel as if this accurately represents her teaching style. Enough said. Also she has a gamete key chain. Ratchet.
Shes a bit all over the place but yoooo her lectures are actually bomb. Shes good at explaining what you need to know and prepares you well for midterms/final.
Goes through material very quickly and had to refer to the textbook constantly since her slides only provide a general outline of what you need to know.
DO NOT rely on just the lecture notes. Read the textbook and make specific notes from there if you wanna do well.
Don't underestimate this course. 373 with her was easy, but you really need to figure out her thought process to identify exactly what answer she's looking for in her short answer -- a lot more difficult to predict versus her multiple choice. Know the info inside and out. Content was super interesting and enjoyable!
This is one of the hardest courses that I've had to take at the University of Waterloo. The lecture slides were always unclear which made it very difficult to study for the midterms and exam. The exam questions were also very specific and confusing to apply class concepts too.
Decent prof - nothing special. Lectures were okay. but terrible attitude over emails and with answering general questions. I emailed her regarding a course override and received a reply that said "I do not know why I am receiving this email", and some ongoing comments about what a wrong decision I'm making. LOL still aced both classes.
I hate this lady with a passion . Her midterms and quizzes are insanely hard . She asks questions on them that she never even taught in class or had in the slideshows. I wish there was a way for me to get her fired because she is that bad. I would not recommend her at all . Todd Holyoak is 100 times better
Really funny. Sometimes a little unclear, but overall, gives great lectures and explains concepts in easily understandable ways. Sometimes midterms ask super specific questions that aren't significant
The exams and midterms were super hard
Incredibly scrambled content, extremely hyper and jumpy for lady in her late 50s. For biol 373 she's not at all interested in the content but just wants to do clicker questions. The tests are mix of easy and hard questions. She loves her is it a b c or bcde kinda questions. Tests are fine, its just that she should explain more than just hop around
She was an okay professor who is obviously very passionate about biology. She does tend to go on tangent talks though and can get easily distracted. Her slides are pretty much useless and only have pictures so it's important to either go to class & take notes or read the textbook.
She was probably the worst teacher I've ever had for Bio 130. Her tests are extremely hard especially if you don't memoize the lectures to the T. She's annoying and makes stupid jokes but kinda funny. She's also a hard marker, her tests were difficult and I received around a 75 but I also didn't memorize much.
Was very disappointed in her as a professor. Does not accommodate, even with valid VIF. Claimed my injury (and reason for VIF) was trendy and therefore wouldnt accept any late assignments. Avoid her if possible. Also, not accessible for help if you need any.
When I was in high school people always used to tell me that university profs don't care about you and see you as just a number. Well, Heidi Engelhardt is that professor. Good luck.
Dr. Engelhardt's lectures are ALL diagrams, and if you aren't paying attention during the lectures, you will be so lost, so I recommend reading the textbook which goes in-depth with the exact same diagrams. She clearly loves biology, and she had a nice attitude. Her meta-cog survey results were very insightful as well.
As long as you come to class with prepared material, its a do-able. Not all of the course info is on the slides, you must attend the lectures.
Heidi is one of the worst profs at Waterloo. Her lectures are confusing and her slides only relate slightly to the lecture material being discussed. Her midterms and the final screwed everyone over. Lot of "A and C", "A, B, and C", and "A and B" answer choices that were all very similar in structure. Thoroughly recommend switching if you have her.
Her slides are really vague, usually just a picture with little or no words. You can find the same pictures in textbook and write down the description from the textbook (this was really helpful for the tests). A better prof would actually take the time to explain things and put helpful info on their slides (she goes too fast to write what she says)
Professor Engelhardt is ruthless.....
I would not take this course again.
I once went to her office hours to review my midterm grade. I asked her why I had gotten a question wrong because I was confused, and she looked me in the eye and said "Because you put the wrong answer." I think that about sums her up.
Worst prof ive had here at waterloo so far. 2.8 Rating is a little much for her. Dont go to UW flow for her rating, its total BS (70% do not like her lmao). She doesnt follow syllabus. Took off marks even when I had the syllabus on my side. Just wouldnt reply to my emails. Dont waste your time, her and todd are terrible. Take with diff prof
She goes out of her way to make the material more complicated. Her slides are unorganized and she is judgemental to high school transitions students. She's often angry as she teaches during the Q and A's quick to denounce questions she thinks are bad.
She goes out of her way to make life harder for high school transition students, angry during Q and A's loves to listen to herself talk. Terribly unorganized and does not make testable material clear, doesn't teach everything tested.
She seems like a nice lady but trust me, it's all an act. Her lectures are so bad I almost always had to watch them twice to attempt to learn something. She focus' more on things that are not testable and ZOOMS past things you actually need to know for the test. Her quizzes do not reflect what's in the lecture. Better off reading the textbook.
During Winter 2021, she had non of the lecture content prepared on time and missed full weeks of content without updating us. Don't bother asking her questions because she will be condescending and give little to no extra detail from the lecture slides. Only answers the easiest questions on discussion boards. No respect for students.
so unorganized! no set lecture/quiz schedule that she followed. made it really hard to manage the workload with all of my other courses.
Having a horrible time in Winter 2021. VERY unorganized & does not follow schedule. Posts assignments & content all around the same time after weeks of absence & makes them due one after the other. Ignores discussion posts, or not prompt or replies in condescending manner. Could have done MUCH better. Says Spring will have set schedule (Haha).
Even though I had her for BIOL 130, Heidi actually taught the course pretty well despite it being online. When you take this course, make sure you emphasize on understanding rather than memorizing. Watch the lecture videos, do the quizzes and assignments she gives, and READ the textbook pls! Otherwise, the midterms and finals are really fair
I was an overachiever in high school, good student, etc. So I thought I could handle any teacher Then I was enrolled in her class. She is is beyond rude and demeaning, so dont bother trying to contact her. Her slide shows are just pictures, so just learn from the text book. You should not pay tuition to be torn apart. Switch classes.
If you dont memorize stuff she talks about for 2 seconds in a 30 minute lecture, you wont pass.
She was very passionate about what she teaches
Stupid class. The lectures are unorganized and need to have more of structure and be more on point you need to watch YouTube videos cuz the teacher is somewhat uses.
She was rude in emails, and her tests were unrelated to her screencasts. Read the textbook.
Very hard grader, was not very encouraging. I asked her what she suggests that I should do to do better in class and she replied with get better in your tests which is a very useless answer since every student knows that. Her lectures were very content filled and hard to stay up to.
A lot of people had complaints I personally had a good experience.
Her lectures are pretty vague and the tests are based on the smallest things she says. Read the textbook to save your mark. Do well on the kirtiks, and you should be good. Her cat is cute though.
This course wasn't great for me and I struggled a whole lot. I wasn't able to get a lot of help and most of my emails had like 3 word replies. Read the textbook, it's like the one thing that'll make you pass.
Her lectures are very vague and barely anything she said would be on the tests. She says to focus on the content in the slides shows but they are not helpful. If you can read the textbook to save your mark. Kritiks are super easy but won't save your mark if you fail a test. She would also send one-worded responses in emails and was rude.
She called me dumb when I went to her for help because I didn't do well on my first midterm and wanted ideas on how I could improve.
She is very rude if you ask her a question, will respond as though she is talking to you like you're stupid. I did okay in the course, just make sure you read the textbook and memorize it.
She definitely knows her stuff, she's qualified for her job. However, that's the only nice thing I can say about her. - Lacks social etiquette with students - Rude - Always urgent in a rush Most importantly, she creates an environment where you get discouraged from going up and asking her questions after class. She'll make fun of you.
Super rude and mean. Bad and irrelevant lectures. The textbook is your lifesaver.
so mean, not suitable for high school transit student at all lmao. 3 quizes before even 1 lecture... not polite to students who ask her questions at all :)
The only way to succeed in her class is to write down everything she says in her videos. and I mean everything word to word.
Very rude and not inspiring when trying to get feedback on how to improve in the course, make sure you are reading the textbook if you want to pass.
Lots of content but understanding content on the slides AND referencing the textbook saved my grades. Some weeks were super busy as a 2 hour screencast would take upwards of 6 hours to throughly understand the content. Developing good study habits and techniques will help. Lectures are not very helpful, only beneficial if you already watched videos
Lectures did not teach material, you were expected to go online and watch videos about the course before attending a lecture where she just would answer questions and review what she thought was hard about the unit. Need to purchase a kritik account and a clicker account. Tests are difficult and averages were low on the tests.
She has posted her entire course online and doesn't actually teach the course to the students, and actually mocks them both in-person and on our Q&A site Piazza for not knowing course content, and will just refer you to a video to watch rather than make sure you understand the material. She is a child who literally storms out of class after lecture
Heavy lecture. Test also heavy and diffcult.
worst prof by far
rude, doesn't take time to help anyone, disrespectful
Material is all online and only summarizes/reviews content in class (rather than teaching it) once a week.
To reiterate the difficulty of the course, content is "taught" through videos as she has decided to reuse her recorded lectures from covid (lazy in my opinion). These are incredibly time-consuming and not accommodating to diverse learning styles. There were 3 midterms (one of which was a week before finals started), and all were hard, period.
I've never met someone more unprofessional or lacking common decency. When I asked her a specific question about the wording of something during the FINAL exam, her condescending response verbatim was: "one goes in this blank and one goes in this blank. that's how a fill-in-the-blanks work" before walking away. unnecessarily rude and sarcastic.
Heidi is well-versed in Biology, however, despite her knowledge, she does poorly in conveying what she knows. Her lectures are useless and the content that was provided was solely online. She is disrespectful to students and makes them feel lesser than. She should not be given the opportunity to teach first year students, if at all.
She NEVER puts in the effort to teach us the content, instead you're stuck for hours on end watching her useless unit videos that don't convey half the content. If you can avoid her please do. Reading the textbook is a must and that's the only reason I even passed. Just aim for a 50. Good luck, I'm so happy this class is over.
Terrible experience! Starting with the first lecture when we were told we would most likely fail because we "weren't nearly as smart as we thought we were in high school" to the final which was full of multiple choice questions in which they were all the right answer and you had to select the answer that was the most right, according to her whims.
She really is the worst of the worst. I can't think of a single redeeming quality she might have as a teacher. I hope she retires soon.
Heidi's class was so bad that I can't believe she's still teaching. I've gone to four of her classes in total and somehow she's always talking about her cat every time. She's practically making passive income because she teaches absolutely nothing. Just get the online textbook. Her videos just rehash the same content in less detail.
poopoo garbage
Did not teach in class, everything is learned online throughout her videos. Boring and bland, and talks about her cat way to much. For the people who have her in the future, good luck.
This was not helpful at all, the midterm was like a week before the final and there was not enough time to prepare. Just overall horrible
Ignore reviews saying that you need to read the textbook to pass. I only read the textbook to enhance my kritiks. Use all the resources she gives you. There were review sheets that people never attempted. There were practice quizzes and unit quizzes you could reattempt for the sake of review. Otherwise, she is just average. I got an A in biol 130.
She doesn't even try to put in effort in her classes. Just stupid online recorded lectures. Least caring and most lazy professor in UW Biology.
Absolute awful prof. Not sure why you would spend all this tuition on someone who should be in retirement and doesn't teach anything at all. The Organic Chemistry Tutor literally teaches 10x better than her. The entire course is basically just learning by yourself.
An awful prof, her tests were unfair and impossible to pass!
Lectures moved to online are not taught in enough detail.
fyi, the fail rate for test 2 is 40%, thats enough said.
Absolutely terrible professor! She does no actual teaching and expects you to learn on your own from lectures she recorded online during COVID.
Did not teach well. All lectures were recorded and not live.
Tests were unnecessarily difficult to comprehend unless you knew the material through and through. The practice quizzes are USELESS. I recommend reviewing her screencasts multiple times or writing down everything she says. But, no matter how much you study, you will not be as prepared. The kritik assignments were the only saving graces to be honest
Most of her teaching was through screencasts so you really had to record whatever she said so you know somewhat was going on otherwise the tests never made sense. Test 2 was miserable.
The professor barely teaches, and sets really high standards, is a really hard marker and has a set of rules with their marking system that sets students up for failure.
prof fully admits of not teaching during class and forces students to teach themselves through watching her online pre-recorded videos. If there's another prof option, run to them. if not, then stay on top of work to get 80+. If you don't stay on top of work, average students get 50-%-60% and you do not want that to be you. Good luck.
If you have Heidi immediately run. Heidi makes the worst test and the way she determines your final grade makes it very difficult to pass the course.
The worst "professor" I've ever had. This course was basically taught to me by YouTube videos, the textbook and TAs. She doesn't teach well and her slides are unorganized. The tests were okay and she expects first years to have advanced knowledge in biology. Exam was extremely hard and unfair compared to tests. Lectures are basically her screencast
Very bad class to take with Heidi. Basically YouTube lectures
Good Luck.
Reads off lecture slides, repeats everything and asks tricky questions on exams. Only good thing is that she uploads recorded lectures you don't have to go to class unless you want the participation marks.
Not a fan. Can't believe she hasn't been fired.
only prof that could accidentally turn the lights off during a midterm and not properly announce when to start
somehow managed to convince herself that talking about her cat steve is involved in the syllabus
You only have one class with her per week, and they are just an overview of the units, basically useless. However, there's attendance taken each class, therefore classes are mandatory. You will have to teach yourself all of the material and there's no other way around it, since Heidi doesn't teach at all. All of her videos are online.
Lectures are not that helpful but she is very nice and approachable!
Heidi's course material is very difficult and her testing is very difficult as well. Also, she usally teaches the course once a week which makes the course very heavy since she has to go everything for that week slides only in one day.
Heidi's class is mostly pre-recorded videos, so attending lectures isn't very helpful. However, the textbook is useful, and Unstuckstudy can be a great study aid. The class is challenging, but manageable with the right preparation.
I took this course in Winter 2023, and was worried upon reading the reviews here but genuinely enjoyed the course content. Her midterms were fair, the questions were not extremely challenging and assignments were easy. However, I had the absolute worst interaction via email prior to the class. She is an extremely condescending and rude professor.
this class built me up to be the woman i am today. goodluck.
heidi is definitely intimidating and can be rude at times. in terms of teaching, her explanations are very good and whatever she teaches in lecture is what you will be tested on. can be fast-paced, I would recommend reading the textbook and using the slides as a skeleton when studying for exams. overall, she is passionate about what she teaches
Overall, the content was very interesting and well delivered. Course expectations are clear and Kritiks can be super helpful for learning. Lots of office hours - the prof doesn't sugarcoat things so focus on the content rather than her delivery. She is very engaging and passionate.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
73%
Textbook Required
46%
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B+
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