Attending all lectures is essential. He doesn't post lectures online. Bring pre-labs questions to lectures! Straightforward grade rubric for the scientific papers. Check everything on his guideline, you'll get a high grade. Don't turn it in late! I would've got an A in the class had I turned the 1st paper on time. Go to office hours!

Jimmy is a fantastic lecturer, and genuinely cares about his student's success outside of the classroom. If you get the chance to take your senior exit course with him, use it. He is a great resource and will make you work hard.

Jimmy is a really great professor & one of the few who I feel genuinely cares about his students and wants them to succeed! Go to office hours and he will gladly explain and help with any questions. Make sure you know what the purpose of each experiment is and your papers will write themselves.

Great Professor. Extremely likable and enjoyable. You can tell he loves teaching what he teaches. But the only problem is he makes a 2 unit lab feel like 5-7 unit class. I have to do more work for this class than I have to do with the other 5 unit classes.

Jimmy has been one of my favorite instructors during my 5 years at UCSC. He is extremely caring and wants to ensure we learn and know the material as future scientist. He is upfront but a great guy once you get to know him. He truly had an impact on me. Go toclass, put in the work and he will help craft you into the scientist the world needs.

Jimmy is a great professor. Responds quickly to emails is is willing to work with students. GREAT!

Got the chance to take Jimmy's class online, so lecture and lab vids were posted - very descriptive and easily accessible. TALK TO YOUR TA - best feedback! Jimmy was unclear at times with grading, and he would get annoyed if questions were asked, so a bit hard to approach. Be prepared to dedicate a lot of effort into the lab reports, it's worth it!

I think this class was definitely a workload but class had great TAs and Shanks had accesible office hrs. I think he expect us to know more that what we should know but he literally says it to prepare us for grad school, med school, etc. he does want us to ask questions and pushes students to attend office hrs, I really appreciate that.

Jimmy has a candid teaching style, which I don't mind. He speaks his mind, even if it may sound harsh at times. While the lab is a lot of work, none of it feels like busywork. If you enjoy biology and lab techniques, you will have not a problem with the workload. The TA's are really nice as well, and I found it very helpful to go to office hours.

Professor Shanks was really cool and passionate about biology. This course was especially my favorite because the assignments and readings were super interesting, for a GE I thought it was a good choice but others may think not because it is a BIOL class. I will say that notes are extremely necessary.

Great professor! He can be tough sometimes but that's what's really helpful in my opinion. Get to know him in his office hours, he wants to help his students as much as possible. He is also willing to help you with things after college like writing letters of rec or helping you with your CV.

Amazing professor. Gives off Dad vibes. Bit of a hard ass but really cares about your development. Go to office hours.

There arent any pop quizzes, however its easy to forget to turn in your prelab quizzes 15 mins before lab so just remember that! Really depends on your TA, mine was great, Shanks was present in the lab as well. Fun class, lab reports can be stressful.

Dr. Shanks is a great person who wants you to do well. He is good at teaching and cares about the success of the class. But the amount of stress, time, and sleep I sacrificed for a 2 unit class was absolutely ridiculous! Never a chill day in Bio 20L! Go to office hours (super helpful!) and befriend your lab partner. It'll goes a long way.

Dr. Shanks is a great professor. Although there is a decent amount of work to complete for this class, he is more than happy to help/guide you through it. He has strict grading guidelines but is clear on what you need to do in order to succeed. He can be a bit intimidating at first, but is a really nice guy and will help you if you show you care.

Definitely took some time to warm up to him because he does come off as pretentious. If you go to his office hours and follow his writing guidelines you'll defiantly finish with a A. Honestly one of the most helpful professors I've ever had and he'll help you out with any research opportunities you might be interested in.

great professor who makes it really easy to understand and get into the class material. his lectures are really interesting and engaging!

Prof Shanks was a really great professor, I highly recommend him! He is clearly super passionate about his class and is eager to help you in any way. His class was engaging, and I learned a ton just from listening to him. He is accessible outside of class easily and answers emails really quickly. He adds jokes to lectures and makes it fun to learn.

Prof Shanks cares about his students abilities to learn and understand concepts and makes it a priority in his class. He puts effort into making his class interesting through his material and his humor. He probably knows just as much ab the Kardashains as he does biology and he will mention that without shame. Little homework and no textbook.

Jimmy has been an amazing professor, he is very passionate about what he teaches and that shows in his lectures. The work load in manageable if you stay on top of it and the the midterm and final are very fair. If you go to lecture and spend a little bit of time studying you will do great. He is also really approachable go to his office hours!

If you take Jimmy's classes seriously, you'll find them to be an invaluable learning experience and do well. Some people think Jimmy comes off as difficult or unapproachable, but that's because he's more invested in your learning and future than he is in just rubber-stamping A's. If you don't know something or need support, just ask him.

Very engaging, great professor, If you didn't do well in this class you either didn't do the work or you tried really hard to fail.

Possibly my favorite professor thus far and I only have 1 quarter left. he cares about student success and learning, very engaging, entertaining, reasonable workload. extremely accessible outside class/via email and responds quick. he's clearly passionate about the subject. he goes on tangents sometimes but still engaging, uses class time well.

Was a fun and interactive class. Enjoyed this class a lot.

He is a great professor, he genuinely cares about you beyond the scope of how well you do in his class. I recommend going to office hours for some help on some of the lab report assignments to make sure you do well on those. First impression was intimidating, but he comes from a good place and wants you to succeed in learning lab practical skills.

there were definitely some tough projects and lab reports. i recommend going to your ta or shanks' office hours - don't be put off by his intense demeanor. at the beginning of the quarter he seemed a little pretentious and made a lot of us very nervous about our future, but it turns out he's actually pretty cool. also there was a pop quiz 1st day

Jimmy is a scary guy at first but if you get to know him it comes from his passion for seeing his students succeed. He may come off as intense but it is truly just because he cares so deeply and wants to see us find interest in the field of research (and bio as a whole). Great caring professor who has awesome info-packed lectures. Lab isn't too bad

I know a lot people didn't like his strict grading and teaching style, but I found his class to be quite easy and the "midterm" and "final" are easy if you prepare like an hour before hand. The lab reports were not hard at all and labs were quick compared to ochem. I honestly only watched the procedure videos and read the protocol and was fine.

Definitely a tough course for 2 credits as everyone else is saying. Still very manageable however, just gotta stay on top of assignments by starting ahead of time. He's a genuinely good guy. If you want a future in the field or need general advice, go talk to him in his office hours. His advice helped me find my first internship within 2 weeks.

LOVE THIS CLASS! Yes, he is really difficult and the class should NOT be this hard considering it is 2 credits. But honestly I learned so much. As long as you put in good work you will do fine. It is a LOT of work beware. I really love Jimmy and he is super passionate and caring. Even though he can seem scary, he really is a sweet guy who cares.

Found his class to be easy and his expectations clear. He told us EXACTLY what to include in lab reports and I got good grades as long as I did just that. The midterm is literally some basic C1V1=C2V2 algebra and converting units. He really cares about his students success, so he can be harsh and press certain things that are important.

Professor Shanks is really passionate about the material and does a really good job simplifying the complexities of MCD bio for people who have never seen it before. I am a bio major but I think with a little effort this could be understood and enjoyed by non stem students. super interesting class, I look forward to lecture and hw.

I liked him, he is nice and passionate about the material, I was surprised looking here that he has a lower rating than teachers I hated.

just put in the work and do the reading and you'll be fine. he's great to talk to outside of class and is seriously passionate about what he teaches, definitely will be taking a class with him again :)

Took the neurobiology lab last spring and really enjoyed the class. You can tell he's passionate about the subject and he was always willing to talk and offer any advice.

He was very enthusiastic about the subjects he was discussing and was always willing to go back over any topics needed. Professor Shanks assigned lots of readings but always gave us ample time (up until the midterm/final) to do them and would give us reminders. When I had a family emergency, he was incredibly accommodating, rescheduling my midterm.