2.0
Quality4.3
Difficulty27%
Would Retake90
Reviews27%
Would Retake
90
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
12
4
5
3
11
2
16
1
46
What Students Say
“Lab was not clear and study guides were not clear”
150 - 1.0 rating“She calls her class not an ordinary course which means a class with a teacher who on purpose tries her best to trick students”
BIO150 - 2.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
94%
Textbook Required
50%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
+0.04 avg changeRatings by Course
BIOLOGY101
3.0
(1)NAS150
2.5
(2)BIO150
2.2
(35)BIO101
2.1
(44)BIO141
2.0
(3)Difficulty by Course
150
5.0
NAS161
5.0
BIO141
4.7
BIO150
4.5
BIO101
4.2
Reviews (90)
She is a new professor. This is the first time she teach biology. I like this professor. However, the quiz and midterm are not easy. You have to listen to her carefully and make sure to study material before the exam. She is very easy. Homework and lab report are very easy and clear.
Read the book if you want to succeed in this class. Concepts are not explained clearly by the teacher or the notes. It is very hard to understand her.
Dr. Liao is very sweet and helpful. She is difficult to understand because of her accent, but don't let this fool you into thinking about dropping the class!!! She gives her students a lot of opportunities to accumulate points easily and if you have any questions about anything, she will be glad to help. She is a great teacther!
I think she's a sweet and helpful teacher but I don't recommend her for people who expect to ace her class. She teaches subjects that should stay in chemical biology and her tests are hard. I love biology but I doubt I'm getting even a B with her. She's intelligent but she can't teach well. I do like her tendancy to give lots of EC though.
very very THICK accent
Very bad teacher.Unable to clearly explain the material.accent makes her impossible to understand.Questions remain unanswered.Tests and quizzes are often wrong (information&typos),confusing, and difficult. I do not recommend this class to anyone. I highly recommend that you take another teacher.
Horrible and So Boring! She gives out Handouts that she reads directly from her PowerPoint Presentation. I studied of the Packets still got D's. Final Exam was extremely hard! Dont take this teacher unless you are planning to teach yourself! By the way her english is very poor, unfortunately, Class started with 30 people only 11 would come to class
If you have been good at BIO in the past you can do OK. If it's not your thing DON'T take this professor. Hard to understand, hard to know what is important to study. Nice person, not so good teacher
very VERY hard teacher, the test material goes into extreme detail, my advice is DONT take her
The hardest teacher EVER!!! Impossible to get an A or a B!! If you work your butt off you might get a C!! Her standards are way to high. And her class isn't "general Biology" its more like "detailed bio/chemistry"
DO NOT TAKE THIS TEACHER. SHE IS VERY UNHELPFUL, THE WHOLE CLASS FAILED BIOLOGY CAUSE OF HER. SHE WOULDN'T ALLOW ONE STUDENT TO MAKE UP THE FINAL SINCE THEY HAD 2 LEAVE FOR A FUNERAL. THE CLASS IS BASED ON 1 MIDTERM AND 1 FINAL. NO HOMEWORK. SO THE GRADES COME FROM EXAMS. BEWARE IF YOUR TAKING HER CLASS, HER CHINESE IS SEVERELY STRONG!!
She is sometimes hard to understand, but if you put full attention in her class you'll do fine. In the beggining she was very hard on you but after the midterm she makes sure you understand everything. She does have a strong accent but you can still understand what she is saying!Make sure after each of her classes you go over the material.
Great teacher! I've always been BAD in any science class, but she didn't let many of us in class give up! She gave us LOTS OF EXTRA CREDITS assignment that were REALLY EASY!
HORRIBLE HORRIBLE teacher. Could barely understand her and goes WAY too fast in her lectures. Only take her if you're really desperate and you like to fail.
She is the worst teacher I have ever had. She speaks broken English, does not know what she is talking about, and does not answer students' questions. She is always angry, she says one thing in the lecture and gives a different answer on the test. She is a horrible teacher. She is a ****.
She is just an okay teacher. I mean she has a thick accent, and sometimes she is hard to understand. She is not too helpful most of the time. Passing the class isn't hard if you read the directions in the lab manual carefully, but don't expect too much assistant from her. Wouldn't recommend it to somebody else
class sucked. really bad teacher.
Okay. I am going to be completely honest and extremely fair in this rating because I live my life as an honest and stand up individual…so with that said let me say this. This professor, in my overall opinion, should not be teaching. First and foremost, she does not speak the English language clearly AT ALL ( I am not over exaggerating), which is a
Okay. I am going to be completely honest and extremely fair in this rating because I live my life as an honest and stand up individual…so with that said let me say this. This professor, in my overall opinion, should not be teaching. First and foremost, she does not speak the English language clearly AT ALL ( I am not over exaggerating), which is a
dont take over the summer
It's a shame really. You can tell she knows the material very well but she cannot explain it AT ALL. Her English is jumbled, she panics at student questions (and doesn't answer them), and you walk away from each lecture asking yourself why you even attended. Take her as a last resort and only if you're willing to teach yourself from the book.
if this is your first experience in biology, try another professor. OR, FORGET BIOLOGY FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE! you cannot understant what she says...
Extremely hard to understand anything she says. About half the students failed the class.
I am taking her online class and she has no idea how to do it or help students. I had to drop it from personal reasons but the class is difficult, boring and requires over an hour of homework a night. Do not take her if you need a good grade!
bad instructor, thick accent, i personally didn't like her at all.
Worst Teacher I've ever taken at nova. I've never in my life had a professor like her before. DO NOT TAKE HER! In the beginning of the class, she was okay, but towards the middle/end she rushes through everything. She honestly should not be teaching. Very thick accent. I am a A student, and I failed this class.
I took the class in 6 wks in summer & got an A. I don't understand the complaints. Exams are from slides and lectures. Use the textbook & website quizzes & you'll have half the questions. Uses quizzes as study tools. Extra credit questions & assignments.
I do not recommend this teacher for anyone. He hardly understood the English Language, nor was she good at speaking it. She was not helpful at all. She could never answer questions that her students asked about her power points of Biology kin general. If you are looking for a teacher who is easy to learn from she is not the one.
She is a total Biatch. Do not take her. If you want a bad grade, then go for it. She has no sympathy for your circumstances. If you are a working adult, with lots of responsibilities...do not take her.
Really nice teacher but I wouldn't recommend her, Lots of studying involved, you will use the textbook as your main learning source, take notes from it. Also read her powerpoints and PAY ATTENTION in class, she likes to give quizzes at the end of class about what she taught that day. Hard to understand but gives lots of extra credit.
Her english is very poor, she was very hard to understand and when asked a question, she didn't really answer them. She made the class so borring and read the slides to us instead of teaching. I could have done that myself. I don't recommend taking this class at all. Look into a different professor like Professor Keener, he is great!
Impossible to pass exams and "filler" homework. Lots of textbook reading. This is the hardest class on campus by far and hardly any interaction with the professor.
I'm taking her now and I'll be as unbiased as possible. She does have a accent, but you should be able to understand her. It can be a little annoying/painful at times but to be honest you get used to it. As for her teaching, you do get random weird assignments and some random pop quiz at the beginning or end of class but nothing too terrible.
If you want to learn you will need a great home work ethic. She gives lots of work (its all easy) but counts almost 100 points at the end as extra credit. Do the work no matter what you get on the tests and you will pass. She is also hard to understand at first but easier by the end of course.
Dr. Liao is a great professor if you are taking her through ELI. She responds to her emails quickly. BIO 141 is a hard class, and with ELI you have to do a lot of homework and studying, more than in a regular class. I got a B overall and I failed 5/8 tests.
I'm an ELI student, so I teach myself and haven't had the need to talk to her in person. Her emails come across as rude and abrupt. She gets very anxious right before an assignment is due.
DO NOT TAKE MICROBIOLOGY WITH HER. HONESTLY, FROM THE HEART, YOUR LIFE WILL BE SO MUCH BETTER IF YOU TAKE IT WITH A-N-Y-O-N-E ELSE. anyone. anyone. anyone.
This teacher does not understand English & shouldn't be teaching AT ALL. She posted the wrong date for an assignment on her web page and wouldn't give me credit even though I turned it on that date! I gave up trying to communicate with her. Shame on you, NVCC. Your students deserve the quality education and instructors they pay for.
Dr. Liao is tough! She holds her students to very high standards. This is not a class for wimps, whiners, lazy students, or students who may need extra help. The exams are multiple choice, but exceptionally difficult and even tricky at times. I'm a straight-A student and I earned an A in this class, but it required a lot of time and effort.
She is the worst professor I've had. SHe overcomplicated simple things on the test..she has a desire to fail you rather than pass. I would never take her again. Why make things hard when microbiology is not the hardest subject. Wish I didn't waste my money . On top of that this is an INTRO class.
She calls her class not an ordinary course which means a class with a teacher who on purpose tries her best to trick students! She sends rude emails and responds to email the same way. She answers emails on time and Completely unorganized labs. Exams are extremely trick in a way to mislead you toward the wrong answer. don't take her if you can.
Just stay away from this teacher if you can. She is extremely rude and unclear. You won't learn anything and just waste your time.
The professor expects entirely way too much busy work for an introductory course. Poor grammar and oddly worded test questions make no sense. You'll end up guessing for an answer. There is absolutely no feedback regarding which exam questions have been answered incorrectly. You'll never know what you got wrong. I did not enjoy this class.
If you want to ruin your GPA take her. She is a master of making Micro a very hard course.
I took her class because she was the only professor that offered the course online. Don't waste your time if you can only do online classes at the moment. Save your money and wait until you can go to on campus lectureslab. Lab was not clear and study guides were not clear. Pretty sure half the class failed. SAVE YOUR GPA! AVOID THIS PROFESSOR.
this teacher is a very rude one. why did the school hire her to teach in here at all?
Prof. Dr. Liao is very knowledgeable, precise in her work, extremely dedicated, very helpful. Her classes are incredibly well-prepared, but do your part too. She will get you prepared with so many choices of exercises, etc. Not an easy subject. I hope you will recognize and appreciate her efforts to provide you with plenty of info to be successful!
This teacher was TERRIBLE! I took her online and have a 2 weekend class and she wont repeat herself, does not speak english very well, will not explain better if you ask, and what I did not like most is if you ask her a question she will either tell you to figure it out of answer yes or no and walk away or just stare at you. DO NOT TAKE HER!
Nice person. Very intelligent but then has a tendency to want to see you fail. Exams are way too tricky. Almost sinister in my opinion. Why would she set such tricky questions? If you can avoid her, do. No brainer.
She is a very mean and helpless teacher. No student relation. Never shares her knowledge. Never shows any techniques on how to do gram stain, inoculate culture, and streak plate. The exams were tough and long with insufficient time. It is a waste of time and money to sing up with her class.
Her tests are tough and she writes her own questions. Provides class notes and tests heavily on the notes. But she cares about her students, available outside of class to ask for help. More helpful in person than via email or DBs. Just ask for help and she'll be there for you. I highly recommend her.
I took her class for microbiology and I will never take this professor again. Anytime I said anything she would completely ignore me and multiple of my class-mates. She did not explain anything if you needed something explained or help, do not expect it she will either tell you to ask a class-mate or say "you should have listened better" worse exp.
Dr. reaLiao writes her own study guide! Not many professors do that. It's very helpful. She does care a lot! Microbiology is a difficult and precise subject. Exams are tough, but pay attention to the questions! She has a wealth of knowledge. Very meticulous, extremely organized, fabulous lab class. I learned so much from her
First of all, I'd like to say that the rest of the comments posted are very harsh. Don't take the class if you're not ready to put in effort. Dr. Liao is very knowledgeable and is eager to share that knowledge. She tries to answer even the dumbest of questions, you just have to speak up. Her tests are hard but all other course work is super easy.
She writes her own test in very poor English; would benefit from an editor. Frequently test questions are of the "read my mind"-type. Likes to answer your Qs with obscure non-answers, yes, like Yoda. There is one big extra-credit opportunity which is why she probably has fewer complaints. Not a skilled communicator so mandatory lab is tough.
Exactly as stated sometimes if you ask a question, she'll just stare at you, or she won't give you a straight answer. Especially in Lab. She gives NO demonstration in lab, just verbally tells you what to do and if you're confused won't help you or will make you feel stupid. Tests are very hard, and every class a pop quiz, so just expect it. Just NO
Excellent Professor. Took her for BIO 101. Don't miss class, pay attention, and take notes. You'll do great.
If you're taking microbiology WHILE talking it online, you should expect a lot of self learning. Must utilize online excercises although it's not graded and do a ton of reading and memorization. She requires you to be mindful about the pathology of microbes. Not easy and you have to be ready to put in hard work and time in to get an A.
Dr. Liao was an okay professor. You MUST put in the time and the effort if you want to do well. Her tests are a bit difficult but if you really study and know the material then you'll be fine. She gives you a lot of extra credit and her quizzes are not graded>the points go towards extra credit. She gives a lot of pop quizzes so know your material.
This women was not a good teacher but she knows her material really well. she is very educated in bio but is not good at teaching it back. her test were so hard. the lecture was unorganized. and for attendance, never heard of it
This class requires a lot of studying if you want to do well, but youll learn a lot in Dr. Liaos class. USE the Study Guide and do the extra credit.
I took intro to microbiology online. Prior to the semester starting I found her reviews on here. I am an "A" student who puts hard work into classes. This professor is AWFUL. TOUGH grader, exams do NOT follow study guide, very little assignments to help your grade and there is a ridiculous course load. This was the worst semester ever!
If you study her study guide from top to bottom, you will certainly get an A . I did not use the book at all. I got a B because some chapters are difficult and I did not put all my effort on those. It is true that her tests are tricky, read them twice, there is plenty time believe it or not to finish the test on time. Arrive early to her Lab class
she is very very hard to understand
This professor has a horrendous teaching style. She does not care about her students. She tried to compensate for the fact that we cannot have proctored exams by reducing the amount of time we have to take said exams. She also does adheres to very strict deadlines despite the global pandemic. I would avoid taking any class with her.
Dr. Liao's class need your efforts and attention, sometimes it is challenging. However, I learned how to pay attention to the details and work harder to achieve my goals.
If you can take anyone other than Dr. Liao, please do so. She is probably the worst science professor at NOVA. You will have to learn EVERYTHING on your own while taking her class. I don't understand how I paid the college to "learn" from a professor, but I'm taking a class as if it was self-taught! DO NOT TAKE HER!!
She answers questions with questions so you have to think about or look up the answer. Her study guide can be helpful, but if you're used to studying the guide to give you answers on the test, that won't help. You need to understand what you're studying to do well on the test. It's a lot of material to know, so be ready.
She was the ONLY teacher available at the time. If I could go back to in time, I would've skipped this semester. She is the worst. Due to covid, there are no office hours but she refuses to do virtual ones. She doesn't care. It's not about being a tough teacher, she literally can care less if you understand something. JUST DON'T TAKE HER!!!!!!!!!!
I would not take this class. She was my only option for micro this semester but this class was absolutely horrible. I need online courses for flexibility but she does not care about her students and only opens the tests at certain times, very inconvenient. Strict deadlines don't help. Sarcastic and horrible at teaching the material. DON'T TAKE
Do not take this class with this Professor. Makes a hard course almost impossible. Took online and basically told to read the book and had powerpoint slides thrown at me. Exams set you up to fail. Expect to teach yourself becauses you will get no help.
Only class that fit my schedule. Probably the worst professor I've ever taken, level 100 class but treated it like a masters class. Most intensive 7 week class, 5-6 chapters per exam, exam every week. Hard to understand, does not communicate well, holds grudges. Vague syllabus, specific exam questions. Do not take, especially if you value your GPA.
The worst teacher I have ever taken. She is not helpful at all.
I took Dr. Liao's class online and wish I'd done the regular class because she really knows her stuff and I could've learned a lot from her lectures. Microbiology is so tough in general, but she's available to answer questions & is helpful with feedback. She also makes you think. You have to learn and really understand the material to get an A.
She is my first worst professor at NOVA. She does not care about your condition and started to scroll through her PowerPoint. So complicated to understand her teaching style. If you really care about grades and looking for a helpful professor I would not recommend her.
Worst experience I have had with a teacher through my whole student career at NOVA. She does not help at all with your questions or if you have confusion with labs or tests, basically expects you to grasp concepts on your own. The immeasurable incompetence of how she runs her class is almost baffling to be apart of. I cannot believe this is a class
One of the WORST professors! First, she has an accent and is very soft-spoken so it's hard to understand her sometimes. Her zoom classes aren't recorded and there are no captions and is very fast in her zoom lectures. During labs, she just stands on the side and watches and doesn't help. Her quizzes(12) are rigged and her tests (4) are HARD.
THE WORST PROFESSOR PLEASE PLEASE DON'T TAKE HER!
See I've had bad professors in the past.She's ATROCIOUS! Asking questions, she gets irritated.She also has a thick accent, and she's really quiet. For her to have an attitude is insane!.No sympathy for anyone, you are basically on your own.Not how a professor should behave.she is the reason why I failed this class please save yourselves the trouble
PICK ANY OTHER TEACHER IF YOU CAN, she is literally horrible. If you have ANY question good luck because she cannot answer it. Extra credit? not a chance, the exams are hard, and the lectures are not lectures, in mine, she read off of our lab INTRO
Her teaching is tough to understand, it is a very do-it-yourself class. When questions come up we are expected to suffer through until she wants to help. Ignores when people have real questions and stand in the corner the whole class.
thick accent, soft voice, passive aggressive- doesn't answer half our questions during labs. lots of chapter reading/notes only for it to not be on the exams. as the semester went on, our class number reduced by half. i can't imagine how lectures in person would have been. choose any other professor if you care about what you're learning
Probably the worst professor I've had at NOVA. She reads off PowerPoint slides during class and you'll HAVE to learn by yourself. The reason I ended with an A is because I studied A LOT outside of class and watched the amoeba sisters on YouTube. I wouldn't recommend her unless necessary. She also makes the exam questions very tricky and confusing.
The worst professor I have ever had. It is so difficult to comprehend any of the lessons which make the exams even harder. She doesn't communicate well and makes it impossible to ask questions. I am counting down the remaining days until the semester is over. DONT CHOOSE HER!!! Unless you are good at biology, you are going to automatically fail.
IM AN INTERNATIONAL STUDENT AND I WOULD RATHER GET DEPORTED THAN TAKING THIS CLASS AGAIN PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS DO YOURSELF A FAVORITE
She is super smart! Knows what she is talking about and wants to see you succeed! You must put in effort and you will be okay!
With all due respect, I think she needs to be a little more flexible with the students since we're still learning and everything is new to us. The fact that she's very intimidating when someone makes a mistake is a huge lack of respect in my opinion. To anyone looking for this class, PLEASE DO NOT TAKE HER CLASS. She's very complicated.
Professor Liao is not as bad as she is made out to be. The key is to WORK HARD. Do not come into this class expecting to get an easy A. I spent a lot of time studying outside of class. The exams are the big point getters, so focus on those. Labs are easy and engaging. Lectures are long, but she does her best to keep you engaged with questions.
Thick accent makes lectures almost pointless. You will have to learn everything yourself, and she does not communicate well when you ask questions.
i drove to class everyday with no seatbelt hoping id get into a crash so i wouldnt have to take her class
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
94%
Textbook Required
50%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
+0.04 avg changeRatings by Course
BIOLOGY101
3.0
(1)NAS150
2.5
(2)BIO150
2.2
(35)BIO101
2.1
(44)BIO141
2.0
(3)Difficulty by Course
150
5.0
NAS161
5.0
BIO141
4.7
BIO150
4.5
BIO101
4.2