I really don't know if she know what she is lecturing in class. The class is well organized but the lecture is horrible. You have to read the whole chapter to do quiz online before the class. Attendance is require since you have to use clicker to answer questions. 2MT 1Final. You go to the lecture really don't learn. I wont recommend this class

She is a terrible teacher. The lecture is hard to understand. She doesn't give us practice midterms and study guide. Don't take her!!

This professor cannot teach at all. I ended up dropping this class because it was so badly taught. Wish the university would help improve the course and would select a professor who knows how to teach the material.

This professor is by far, the worst professor i've ever had. Her lectures are confusing. Lectures are mostly composed of figures and pictures. She often gets confused and tends to make alot of mistakes on her slides and explanation. I would definitely take it in another quarter with a better professor.

By far, worst professor I've had at UC Davis. So monotone, lazy, only 1 hour per week of office hours, requires 2 chapters of reading before every class, test questions are SO poorly worded, she makes TONS of mistakes during lecture and then tests on those concepts she made mistakes on. She truly ruined microbiology for me and so many others.

Worst professor I have ever taken at UC Davis. Lazy, unorganized, boring and not helpful at all. the only reason I went to class was because of iclicker participation points...

AVOID!!!!!!!!

Prof Barlow is by far the worst prof I've had at Davis. Lectures are boring. She gets confused and makes incorrect statements and has long awkward pauses between points. Tests are hard and have mistakes. Clicker points are mandatory. When asked a question she avoids the actual question asked and goes in circles around it. I regret taking this class

The textbook is the only thing that got me through this course. She seems very confused regarding the subject matter and tends to make pauses between every sentence. Students ask questions and she seems unable to answer them. 2 midterms one finals. HIGHLY advise you to take it another quarter. HIGHLY.

It's not clear what we need to know. Her tests are 100% from the book. The only reason to go to class is for clicker points. Lectures are monotoned & unengaging. She takes long pauses trying to figure out what to say. The amount we have to read for every lecture is crazy. She appreciates feedback but is very untimely when it comes to posting things

The book was more helpful than lectures. You can sleep in lecture but still do well if you just read. The class was solely based on the book so as long as you're fine reading like 200-300 pages per MT and final, you'll be okay (somewhat).

Absolutely the worst lecturer I've ever had. For reference, I've had a teacher with a chinese, arabic and spanish accent and they were all better than her and she spoke clear english. Lectures were extremely boring. Tests were confusing and poorly written. No curve whatsoever.

Avoid her at all cost. Trust me I went to this class thinking it was interesting but she made me hate it. She is a terrible lecturer with extremely confusing ppt. She makes you read two chapters and take an online quiz before each lecture. Midterms and final were confusing and poorly written. She doesnt seem passionate and never answers Qs clearly!

Worst lecturer ever-- the lectures are all diagrams and she's not very clear in explaining them. You have to do so much reading every week just to keep up with what she's talking about in class. She is responsive to feedback and did review sessions for the midterms and finals, but those went over like 5 questions each. Overall, would not recommend.

You would hope as you go more in depth in the biological science courses that the professors would be just as good as introductory courses, but naw bro. She trash. Garbáge. Tests are trivial (whereas the lectures barely touch on the topic), lectures are beyond dry (you probably fall asleep), study guides are eh cus no feedback/answers from her.

There's a lot of reading expected and the textbook is very detailed. I love bio but at times I still had difficulty getting through the text or paying attention in lectures because they were very slow & dry. No practice exams or study guides. There was stuff we were told to study that was not on the final.

Need to attend lectures to get participation points via iClickers. Dry & boring lectures. Difficult exams (2 MTs and 1 Final). Daily quizzes before every lecture. 2 or more chapters of reading each night. No curves. She crammed too much info for an entry level upper division class. Don't recommend at all.

Worst teacher ever. Her lectures are boring and you will totally fall asleep. Lectures never helped me and I only went to class for clicker questions. There is a quiz before every class. Book never helped me either. Avoid this teacher.

The worse professor I've taken at Davis, and I've been here for almost 4 years. Her lectures are atrocious, not giving even close to the amount of detail she expects you to know on her tests. I genuinely question the legitimacy of the Microbiology Department for even considering her for the position as professor for this class.

She is an alright lecturer, but she is the WORST at writing exams. Her questions are extremely broad and many answers could be correct. HER EXAMS ARE AWFUL. TAKE AT YOUR OWN RISK.

She just reads it off her slides. TERRIBLE TEACHER, don't take her if you can. Sometimes her study questions reflect what she is going to ask on tests; sometimes they don't. Her jokes are terrible. I only went to class for clickers and nothing else. Her lecture picture are the only thing useful for this class.

Lectures are very dry. She poorly words questions often. Requires a clicker. She is not clearly as to what she expects on the midterms, she says to just look at her study guide however the study guide is so broad anyway it does not cut down on what you need to know at all.

just no

Worst professor I have ever had. Read the book because in lecture all that is done is rephrasing of the chapter. Tests are full of trick questions, which make them difficult to parse and difficult to find a clear answer choice. Truly disappointed in the quality of this course. Pre-lecture quizzes are graded and sometimes unfair. Avoid this class.

I took this professor not by choice, mainly because she was the only class available. But I did look into her rating first and saw that it was pretty bad, but I took the risk. This professor by far is the worst I've taken. The textbook is useless, her lectures are dry and she literally reads off the slides. Exams are hard and the wording is confusi

I have never done so poorly in a class before. My grade relies heavily on how the teacher teaches. Professor Barlow is honestly an extremely horrible professor. I would NOT recommend taking this class with her. Her test material never align w/ her study guides or quizzes. Every test question is so detailed, it's insane. Memorize the whole textbook

Barlow is quite honestly the worst teacher I have ever had. Her voice is so dull and you would have to listen to her voice AT LEAST 1.5 speed on her podcast to get through the lecture. She is also incredibly rude to her students and TAs when they have questions or correct her. I do not recommend taking her class at all. Its better to wait.

Wack. Tests are insanely difficult, need to attend lectures for clickers. Test material based on both the book and her lectures. Boring lecturer, has no sympathy for students. Online quizzes before every lecture, and requires reading of the book to answer the questions. Take if it's your last option, but I'm out here trying to save lives.

Only professor teaching last quarter but wish I had waited. Gives study guides but those are maybe 20% of the tests she gives, so you waste time study the wrong material. Does pre lecture quizzes that she will never discuss and rarely seen again. Constantly contradicts the book and herself. Worst test score I have ever received. Do not take!

I thought she'd be nicer in grading considering the amount of material she wants us to study for each test. I'm so glad I took this class in the spring when it was online or I would have bombed. Each test was open notes but I still got around Bs on them somehow. The final paper is a joke. No matter how hard you work on it, she won't give you an A.

Terrible professor. Structured her class in the least convenient way for students. Very hypocritical, I recall a classmate having to submit an assignment late due to a tragic family accident and she wouldn't allow it as per the syllabus; yet she uploaded her lectures late. 3 unit class, but reading and work makes you think it's 4.

An unreasonable amount of work. She has us read a chapter a day before a 2pt, 4 question, quiz only to mention in her lectures (after the quiz) that she wont be covering some topics. 3 chapters and 3 quizzes a week is pretty rough considering ppl have a life outside of this class. Thought taking MIC would be fun, but its not. She's unsympathetic..

Dr. Barlow was awful as an online professor. She gives absolutely zero leeway to students during this time. She has us read around 60-80 pages per week of assigned readings, then quizzes us on said readings three times per week. Her office hours are unhelpful, and she does not seem to care if there are technical difficulties. Don't take her.

Barlow is the most insensitive professor I have ever taken. She clearly isn't passionate about teaching, it makes me think she's there for a paycheck only.

I hated this class. Lectures are boring and monotone. Provides a bad study guide, expects us to know in depth explanation from book that she doesn't cover in class. Overall the class isn't too hard because there's a lot of buffer points, I just don't like her and wouldn't take her if I had the choice. If you don't have an alternative, she's fine.

STAY AWAY. I took MIC 102 with her this quarter and was ready to do all of the work the class required, but she is horrible as a professor. She lacks compassion for students and is one of those professors who eliminates a student's interest in the subject. She also takes random points off of homework whenever she feels like it.

Terrible. Knocks you points for font size. No practice tests. Her voice is so annoying omfg she literally does not annunciate pure freaking mumbling you will want to bang ur head against a wall. Doesnt take accountability for her crappy teaching. Students tell her what they need and she looks the other way. Shes terrible

It's not the hardest class but she makes it very dull and boring. I lost all passion for the subject. She is completely insensitive to students needs even when you break down the issue to her. Reading is way too much and I stopped reading halfway and just focused on the lectures. Lectures are boring and dry. She's fine if you have no other option.

So much talking with so little info conveyed. Just read the book.

Her study guides are pointless. Asks things on exams that are never mentioned in lecture. Nice lady but terrible lecturer.

This is the most horrific professor I have ever experienced. She is not an elegant lecturer, shes very ill practiced and disorganized in that aspect. Her slides are either way too bulk or way too ambiguous. Her study guides are POINTLESS. She WILL ask you about material barely emphasized. She is a very UNCLEAR professor. Avoid her.

let me apologize on behalf of professor barlow for lacking the couth to realize that learning shouldnt come in the form of trick questions and purposeful lack of clarity. shame on you for orchestrating such a circus of a class and not even having the decency to atleast be straight forward on what you expect. at-least offer open notes

Truly one of the worst classes Ive had on campus. Confusing standards of what to know. Dont bother studying from her lecture slides and basically let the textbook teach you everything. Exams are based on textbook readings/information, not what she teaches in class.

Extremely test heavy course. Exams ask questions about content thats not clearly taught during lectures and on slides. Textbook is better with teaching but is so dense to read and take in. Pre-lecture quizzes are due before EVERY lecture. Study guides are not like exams. Part of your mental health and self-esteem will be ruined after taking her.

attending class is a waste of your time, exam questions are super difficult and nothing like the study guide. Not very helpful, tough grader. If she's not your only option I would not recommend DOES NOT CURVE AT ALL

Do not take this class if you can help it. No curve, no practice exams. She gives a study guide but half of the things on the study guide weren't on the exam and some things on the exam weren't on the study guide.

pls save your life by not taking this class if you can, esp if its during your first quarter. sure it may sound so doable for SOME people to read the textbook, listen to the podcasts, and review the study guides - but its all so DENSE within so LITTLE time. youll have to dedicate most of your time and start reviewing on day 1. even ec won't help

The amount of reviews on RMP and Reddit just shows how bad she is as a professor even though she seems nice. When other people say she's horrible, she's horrible!!! I feel like she makes the exams extremely tricky on purpose and not like the study guide. She only "bumps" up the grades if the average is low, and there's no real curve unfortunately

Professor Barlow is one of the worst professors Ive experienced. Her lectures are choppy and unorganized. She also doesnt lecture on many of the topics she tests on. Bad textbook too. Her tests are intentionally written to be confusing, she tests on very specific details, its impossible to learn everything if youre taking any other classes.

Do not take this class with this professor! The study guides for the tests aren't even helpful and there is so much material in such a little time period. The exam questions are way too in depth and mostly not even covered by her. You have to teach yourself from the book and even then, it feels impossible. There's also no class curve!

Barlow is very textbook heavy and it doesn't help that her lectures just pinpoint things from the book instead of actually explaining topics. Her exams questions are literally paragraphs long and none of it is covered by the study guide. The work she give should not be for an intro class. PLEASE take someone else and save your GPA.

Can't speak for all but how can someone assume that certain people didn't do ANYTHING. I know I lifted EVERYTHING to do my best, it's just dense and time-consuming to know it all. Luckily I passed, some people got >100% bc of her exam grade bumps (only adding points), not curves. Just prepare + stay on top of it if you have no choice, that's all

Yeah...first week and I have been up since 6:30 am studying and now it is 9:30 pm. What everyone said here about her being awful is true. She is nothing but a "memorize everything in the chapter" kind of teacher. This sucks, so like others have said, if you have the slightest chance of getting another professor, DO IT.

Absolutely horrible! DO NOT take it with her! Save your GPA! I am usually an A student and she makes her students fail on purpose with her difficult exams and quizzes. Her lectures, study guides, nor textbook match the types of questions she puts on the exams. I had no choice but to take her, but I definitely would NEVER recommend it. Unhelpful!

If there was a way to fire this professor I would!! She does not know what she is teaching and she has a whole Ph.D. She made me change my microbio major to another major because of how horrible she teaches. She reads off her boring slides, and when she doesn't know what to say she cuts out the sentence by saying "right" and moves on. SAVE UR TIME

If I could give a lower rating I would. Absolutely horrendous tests that do not reflect on the material taught in lectures. The professor clearly doesn't teach the material properly based on almost every review here. Take this class only if you wish for your mental health to deteriorate.

Be ready to teach yourself if you decide to take this professor. There is so much content in the textbook and basically all of it needs to be memorized. The professor's lectures are useless and can make concepts more confusing. Exams are very in depth and specific. Definitely does not feel like an intro class. If possible take another professor.

Prof Barlow's lectures are too ambiguous to learn from. There is not a single thing I learned from her. Without prior experience in a similar class, there is little chances of you doing well. Almost everything I learned is from the textbook. Great class, horrible professor. Please, if you can, save yourself, and take literally anyone else.

listen to RMP, don't take her. Her exam average was literally a 59%. The material isn't hard, could easily be an easy A with another professor. Her questions are worded so weirdly and they are so lengthy that even if you studied hard and know the material you will get it wrong. Worst professor ever. She is so rude & she says "right" a million times

asks questions on things she never went over. Tests are all about reading between the lines. Very hard

I do not recommend this professor whatsoever.

For an introduction class, the class is too difficult. She expects you to go into detail and learn stuff yourself when her lectures are extremely superficial. Not everyone is a microbiologist Ph.D., it's not simple for students to assume answers just because they seem simple to the professor. When you see Barlow, just run.

Took this class with Barlow and Hwang. Lectures were very unorganized and they rambled. Lots of pictures and not much info written on them. A lot of examples we didn't need to know so it made studying for exams difficult. A lot of material you need to memorize. 2 midterms and 1 cumulative final. I'm not interested in cancer bio anymore.

skips/summarizes most of material during lectures but goes in detail of the types of studies different labs are doing on bacteria (which doesn't pertain to what we're doing and isn't on the test). says "right?" abt 150 times which is annoying. "study guides" just list all topics of each chapter so its hard to know what she's looking for on the exam

I have never failed a class before…this is my first fail. This is the worst class I have ever taken. This class completely depends on the textbook which is so DENSE with information. Lecture slides have little information which she goes off topic and talks about random stuff we dont know cause we dont have Ph.D's!

Extremely hard midterms, does not curve. Most of my class got under a 70% on the midterm and did not curve. Do yourself a favor and choose another professor if you need to take this class.

If you can, go with another prof... So much material is tested, but she barely goes in depth or stresses what is important. You truly go in blind for the test, despite the study guides. Does not have proper lecture capture and does not update grades throughout the quarter, making it difficult to understand where you stand in the course.

Dr. Barlow is definitely knowledgable in her field, but that's about it. She doesn't clearly outline what needs to be known in exams, and the study guides are way too broad to be useful. Lectures aren't properly recorded (audio only), Canvas is a mess, and lectures are 95% from the textbook. No curves, barely any extra credit, max 12 pts out of 500

DON'T DO IT!!!!

Genuinely terrible professor, avoid like the plague. No effort put into actually teaching the material, and simply just vomits information onto the students, then expects you to memorize everything IN DETAIL without practice tests, a proper study guide, or “what to know” guidance. No curve, despite most people doing poorly, and almost no EC.

AVOID AND RUN. Expects you to read 50+ pages of the textbook before each lecture quiz, lectures you as if you already know microbiology, and does not give out any study resources besides study guide which barely reflects exam content. Locks your grade the entire quarter and is in all not considerate of students needs whatsoever.

Provided little to no resources for exams - you basically need to memorize EVERYTHING in the textbook. Lecture was completely useless - I learned everything from the textbook myself and I only went for tophat credit and basically tuned her out.

this professor is there worst i have ever taken in this college. do not take her but i unfortunately have to. i felt like having a stroke every time she says right? and there is no way to follow the lecture because she is so boring and insensitive to teaching.

RUN!!!! Worst ever. RUN!!!!!