2.8
Quality3.4
Difficulty26%
Would Retake89
Reviews26%
Would Retake
89
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
24
4
13
3
10
2
11
1
31
What Students Say
“Tells you exactly what you need to get an A”
BIO94 - 4.0 rating“Gives study guide which kind of helps but not really”
BIO94 - 2.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
46%
Textbook Required
51%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.15 avg changeRatings by Course
BIO44
5.0
(2)BIOLOGY3
5.0
(1)BIO11L
5.0
(1)BIO19
5.0
(1)BIOBIO1
5.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
BIOBIO1
4.0
BIO80
4.0
60450BIO80
4.0
BIO3
3.8
BIO94
3.6
Reviews (89)
You will get A in his class if you pay attention and take good notes. His tests are from the notes. You dont have to read the book for his tests. he is very funny. he knows how to teach. I defenetly recommend him.
He is pretty easy and funny. He is very laid back. He puts all his lectures on line so you don't have to take notes. Just print offiine. He's also very attractive and good eye candy.
GREAT GUY, VERY FUN CLASS. YOU WILL ENJOY TAKING HIS CLASS. HIS JOKES ARE HILARIOSE. OUTSTANDING TEACHER.
This guy knows his stuff. He's the coolest, funniest, and the most knowledgeable professor you might find if you're looking forward to take a BIO-3 class.Pay attention to his lectures; make sure you check his power points online, and you'll be doing fine.
was super fun
Just show up to class and take good notes and review the quiz questions for the tests and you will get a B at the least. Only if you are a no show you will fail. All test and quiz questions come from the notes. He is not a tricky teacher!!
Great Prof!! You will definately learn alot in this class! Material is hard but he does his best to explain - there are no stupid questions- He makes the stale material as fun as he can make it with wonderful examples... JUST DO NOT MISS ANY OF HIS CLASSES ALL TESTS ARE BASED ON HIS LECTURE NOTES!!!
Fun class. Easy to understand. Make sure to attend class to do well on a total of three mid-terms.
Excellent professor. Need to take good notes and attend class. Pay attention to the details of lecture. Sometimes hard to get ahold of during office hours though. Overall, a great guy, incredibly intelligent. Knows his stuff.
Awesome teacher, incredible resume, this guy needs to be paid more. Class not to hard either, just show up and think logically.
His Marine Bio. class is great, The fact that it is an Honors class just means there are about 15 or less students and there is a lab. The field trips are pretty tight also.
Great teacher. Very intelligent. His classes were interesting and enjoyable. Make sure not to miss a lecture. I missed one and it set me back a bit. He covers some stuff in class that is not in the book. If you make an effort, he will pass you. Tests are on his lectures, not on the text.
No Comments
Made learning this topic fun
Prof. Kaufman has a great sense of humor and his lectures are interesting. Must attend class to get an A. Does study guides for tests.
If you actually enjoy bio or at least have some understanding of the natural world the mr kaufman is great. If you like lots of study guides and outlines and grades posted and ask a ton of questions, he is not the teacher for you.
Dr. Kauffman was a very helpful professor. He ensured that students understood the information as much as he could. He provided ample time to ask questions and visit him in office hours. Very helpful teacher.
Dr Kauffman was the best teacher I've ever had. He is an extremely knowledgeable, entertaining, and enthusiastic educator. He challenges you to think for yourself, but is there to help you along the way. His tests are very fair. I got and an A in both his lecture and lab; you can too, if you apply yourself.
this guy is amazing. he teaches the material with the utmost sense of humor and clarity. he posts lectures on BB, but it's really important to attend class and take notes because he adds important stuff on his lectures that arent on the powerpoints. no hw, no roll calls, but attend anyway, it's for your own good.
He's a funny and cool guy! Bio and science have never really been my thing and I just took this class for my GE's and he didn't make it very easy. He wasn't one of those teachers where it was like "I hated bio but he made it so easy to understand!" I still struggled and had to retake the class.
HARD teacher. He is brilliant and very knowledgeable but he berates students, and challenges them in a negative way. I feel worse about myself everytime I leave the classroom, and I'm a good student. BE WARY if this isn't your major. Grade solely based off of exams.
Dr. Kauffman is hilarious, he gives you a lot of interesting facts. His test are challenging but if take good notes and write down what he says you will be fine. don't just rely on the not just the power points. I would totally take him again!!!
I took BIO 1 - Life Sciences online. You could probably get by without the book. The tests were actually pretty hard. Study his slides to help with the test. The book is more like background; you're tested on his slides.Also, his exam questions can be vague sometimes which is tricky.You don't have any homework.Just exams.Good for someone who works!
He is always late. Goes off topic a lot. Hard to understand. Do not reccomend.
THIS TEACHER IS REALLY HARD. HIS QUIZZES ARE OKAY BUT HIS EXAMS ARE REALLY HARD. NO GIVE STUDY GUIDE FOR FINAL; OTHER STUDY GUIDES ARE USELESS. HAS ESSAY QUESTION AND EXPECTS YOU TO WRITE A PERFECT ESSAY, WONT GIVE PARTIAL CREDIT. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS, YOU WERE WARNED. HE PROB RATES HIMSELF BECAUSE IT SHOWS HES GOOD, HES NOT.
I was present all the time and ready for the quizzes. At the end none of them counted!!!!!!!!!! I learned a lot in his class, but I wish I could get a good grade from this professor. He was really hard. I am so sad!
Well, the info was grammatically disastrous. Key words were misspelled...drastically. His slides were always screwed up. He obviously doesn't know how to use Microsoft programs. And he just awarded me a grade of 89.2% and refused to give me an A. I never once gave him a hard time. I was always on time with all my online info even though his was often late and scatter-brained. I'm pretty disappointed. :(
He tries to be a "tough guy". His orientation says he wants to be remembered as hard and fair or something like that, but really. He can't spell. period. I wonder how he is a teacher if he can't spell. Why teach if the spelling isn't correct
His lectures are really funny but he goes off tangent a lot. I get the vibe that he definitely knows his subject but is bored. You know.. like he doesn't really care.. he's just there to entertain. His powerpoints are worthless (but funny), you must read the book unless you already know the materials before taking his class. I'd rate him 3/5
Idk why students are saying his quizzes and tests are hard. I took him for biology last semester, nothing hard about it. You just have to put in the effort. He is very understanding, but not if he sees youre a slacker and looking for a bailout. I ended up with a B. Plus you learn more then just bio in his class. he actually got me interested in bio
He doesn't care about students,always late, and rate mid term and lab quiz very late. He doesn't respect students and dislikes students to ask him questions and the worst thing is that he will clearly tell you this, shame on a professor.His lecture notes are not helpful, and it is hard to know which answer will satisfy him as correct one.Avoid him!
I'm taking his online bio class, honestly he doesn't care about his students he never replies! Heres the thing, there a total of 8 exams all the questions come directly from his powerpoints. DONT BUY THE BOOK you never use it, all you need is the powerpoints and your set. There isn't any homework or extra credit he drops your lowest test score.
With his online Bio 1 class, you don't need the book, for each exam he has powerpoints and all the answers come from those powerpoints. You have 8 exams in total and one final worth 100points. each exam is timed for about 45mins and one essay question. Don't e-mail him because he never replies. Don't relay on him to e-mail reminds for exams!
The professor doesn't care about students. The lecture powerpoints are useless. Mistakes.Don't take his class or you will regret.
super helpful. easy class if you just attend lectures. everything he tests on is in his lectures.
Typical online class. You teach yourself from the book and powerpoints. As previously posted, professor is totally unresponsive to emails and takes a few weeks to grade tests that are mostly multiple choice (usually only 1 question with answers that he needs to manually grade).He screws things up regularly and is slow to fix or doesn't fix at all.
I think Dr.Kauffman is a great professor he is a very funny and a intelligent man. His class covers a lot of material so it is very important to show up to class. His exams are not hard and pretty straight forward as long as you study. He is willing to help you as long as you ask questions and take advantage of his office hours. I loved this class!
I have a BA and AA, 3.7 GPA. This guy is the worst teacher I have EVER had. He tests from his PP slides only, which are so littered with significant grammar/spelling errors it is unconscionable and often incomprehensible. In any other profession he would be fired. He avoids all emails. I'm filing a complaint with the school, demanding a refund.
He's super cool and really fun to talk to. But as a teacher he is hard! You gotta show up to class because his tests are based off of anything that comes out of his mouth. You dont need a book, dont bother. the ONLY way to get an A in the class is to Just memorize everything that he says and review the powerpoints. Probably wouldnt take him again.
I do not like him as a teacher whatsoever. you might see him and think wow he is so laid back and chill but when it comes to grading and his tests. No! He is hard and the worse thing is he never replies to your emails. His office hours are packed and is pretty much never helpful. It's a very easy B but a hard A.
Such a hard summer class. Powperpoints quizzes and a midterm and cumulative final. DOn't recommend for the summer. Doesn't reply to emails
Most boring class ever, a lot of content and doesn't explain things well. Does not go over study guides or review whatsoever.
His class was hard, but you will learn anything and everything you need to know about biology. 350 points total in his class. 3 test 100 each and 50 worth of quizzes. Test are hard and his essays have to be perfect. Loved him. He pushes his students to learn the material. buy the bio for dummies, read the text book, watch youtube videos and study!
Just. Don't. You'll be confused EVERYDAY with information overload. Lectures have no structure AT ALL. He expects you to be able to explain and connect concepts perfectly even if he himself doesn't give the effort to explain them in class. Keeps stressing the importance of study groups and he's right, that's the only way you'll learn in this class.
He is a standard college-level professor. Kids think he's exceptionally hard. He's just more professional. His lectures are basically 99% of the exams and exams are 300 pts out of total 350 so..I GUESS YOU SHOULD LISTEN YOUR A$$ UP. Lose the book. Don't miss class, obviously. I can't imagine what my grade would be if I missed even a single class.
Kauffman is amazing!
8 online exams that focus on unimportant information in the book. On campus cumulative midterm and final. No study guides for them either. Not a well- organized online class. Doesn't respond to emails. I've never gotten below a B in a class besides this one. This should not have been my hardest class of two years in college but it was.
PowerPoints AND Module Exams had a multitude of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. Some would leave out *key* words to the point he was trying to make, leaving them completely useless or unanswerable. "Which organ system can we most of when we are lookng at someone?" is an example. Didn't respond to a single email I sent. Avoid this class.
very inspiring, his class is filled with not only bio knowledge but little life lessons and his opinion on many things, which I actually enjoyed. its not a hard class at all. people were just failing because they didnt study. tests are mostly based off his lectures so dont miss class. if you go to his office hours he's more than willing to help
This class is full of memorization of Phylum and classes of different animals. I got an A by putting in the time to memorize. Tests are fairly hard but if you do well on lab practicals and your lab notebook, you can earn the top grade. Just read the lab manual (free) and take good notes in class! Kaufmann doesnt respond to email so don't even try.
If your really smart than this class is for you. There no extra credit, and the test are as tricky as math problems. You really need to work hard to pass this class, there are 12 quizes,two midterms and one finals. The passing grade for this class is 60%. I don't prefer this professor. He does care about his students.
Average teacher. He is tough but has clear guidelines. Prepare to study a lot and don't bother with the textbook, all of his exams are based off of his PowerPoints. He does have a lot of spelling errors and delayed 2 or 3 module exams which was very annoying. He also either replies to emails late or not at all.
So many terms in this course to learn for tests and is just a hard and boring class overall. I never listened in class but studied hard and finished with a B If that helps you guys at all. You really have to work for the A in a 100 level class which I do not care for as I am an A student overall.
He's a pretty cool dude and fun to talk to, but he's a had grader. Took him for BIO1L and it was pretty fun.
Seriously an interesting and FUNNY professor. He is a tough grader, you really have to work hard for an A. Three tests, lots of memorizing. He definitely ignited curiosity and translated some of the bio concepts in English (he compared myalin sheath of neurons to the covering of a cable). DON'T MISS CLASS. TESTS ARE BASED ON LECTURE.
Class is difficult, lots of memorizing, and doesn't give a clear idea on what to expect for lab practicums. Gives study guide which kind of helps but not really. The online quizzes are not that hard. DOESN'T USE BLACKBOARD FOR GRADING. Lectures are hard to follow in class, because you will get overloaded with information.
I spent probably 25 hours a week on this class, never missed a lab or lecture, and struggled very hard. You will learn a lot, but it's frustrating the amount of trivial material he has you memorize (+ hundreds of taxa). He expects you to be an expert and sets his students up for failure, then gets pissed when the mean is a 60 (and doesn't curve).
He was such a rude person. I got an A in the class and I honestly found it relatively easy. However, he would constantly rage at the class for doing badly on the exams and said some things that were inappropriate for a professor to say. He thinks he is the smartest guy since Einstein but he teaches a class no one cares about. Material was BORING
Never listened to his lectures and got an A . Just memorize things on his powerpoints. Tests are easy I don't get why people fail them.
I've actually never written a bad review up until this point. Took his class online and it ruined my GPA. Not helpful whatsoever, doesn't respond to emails, gives incredibly hard exams (your grade is very exam heavy), and every exam feels like he's trying to trick you and grime you in every question. It feels like he is out for you to fail.
You can get an A on every lecture exam and online quiz if you rewrite notes and somewhat pay attention, but if you're not on top of your lab reports or unprepared for your lab exam, don't expect to get an A. The end of the semester lecture material combined with the lab material can feel condensed, so don't slow down or be comfortable with an A.
Very funny guy. Tells you exactly what you need to get an A. He makes his own tests and will never test you on thing he did not cover. His tests are based purely on his lecture and lab manual. If u put in the time to memorize all the phylums, which can be taxing, u can definitely get an A. 8 people out of 42 in my class got A. Gives EC too.
Last day to input grades, 70 points still missing. Very nice guy, but is deceptively laid back. If an A is desired, DO NOT SLACK, his exams get tough REAL fast. Study a week in advance for the later lab practicums, especially if in second lab group. Kaufmann is a hard professor because he mimics the difficulty of a 4-year university, so be careful.
All the tests are lecture based. He puts nothing on slides except pictures. So you better listen. Incredibly boring to listen to. Goes off on tangents and you're never sure if the material is relevant or if hes just geeking out. More often than not, irrelevant. Disorganized. Don't know what i have in the class. MONOTONE. No study guides. No reviews
Dr Kaufmann is a great professor. You can tell he's passionate about what he does. He gets really into his lectures and puts alot of effort into explaining topics and it's makes it very interesting! His lab manual is very very informative and helped me out alot.
I took his online course for Bio1, so all we did was take notes on the 80-slide lectures per part (sometimes multiple parts to the lectures). He NEVER responds to emails. I emailed him about an urgent matter five times before he responded - which was right before the final exam. His lectures have lots of typos vey often, and it gets confusing.
Quizzes and lectures are riddled with typos. He does not respond to any emails or participated in any discussions he posts. I asked a question regarding the midterm over a week ago, mid term is in 3 days, no response yet. Lectures are not clear, textbook is but that is rarely used in tests. Your grade is made up entirely of quizzes and exams.
Kauffman's classes were unenjoyable. He never took attendance & there weren't any in-class assignments. If you have him just memorize the powerpoints and do the study guides in order to prepare for the tests; there's only 3 exams so make sure you study if you want a good grade in the class. It really is all on you if you want an A. He was unhelpful
Not much to say here as I don't think I received but one email response from this professor the entire term. Lectures (and exams/quizzes) are riddled with typos and grammatical errors. Discussion topics are easy enough, no real "teaching" going on here. If you can easily self teach and be organized and focused you'll pass.
Lectures are amazing; he makes hard concepts easy to understand. Very nice guy; office hours so helpful. Drops 2 lowest quizzes. Grade mostly on exams & lab practica. Review your terms list, study hard, and you should do well on the exams (MCQ and short essays). The lab practica are tough; study with a classmate and make mock practica to practice.
Dr. Kauffman is a great choice for BIO 80. He has an amazing personality and his lectures are engaging. Kauffman is basically IMPOSSIBLE to communicate with outside of class. Kauffman is VERY messy and unorganized. He does not grade on time. Despite these things he is a wonderful individual and great professor.
Okay heres the deal, would be a fun person to hangout with, yes. Does he have a nice personality, yes. Is he friendly, yes. Is there guidance and specific instruction for the material, no. I never felt like I was studying the right material, I never felt like I was on the right path for success. 90% of my class felt the same way. Wasnt great for me
Kauffman does not teach AT ALL, doesn't even have pre-recorded lectures (just PowerPoint slides). Your grade depends on 2 exams. No extra credit. I asked how I could prepare myself for the exams he said to memorize all the vocabulary! If you want a class where you have to teach yourself biology the whole way through this is the class for you.
A "pay-check Professor" for sure. Super unhelpful. Grades are based on exams. Unbelievably terrible "lecturers" only does powerpoint, and some are 40 plus slides long. Takes days to answer your email questions, and answers are vague, unhelpful, or even argumentative at best. Avoid if at all possible.
He made me hate bio for how difficult his class is, and wouldn't respond to emails at all. When he finally does after weeks he responds in a way that makes you feel stupid. he has to curve since so many students end up getting really low grades instead of making the course easier. he drops 1 quiz but it's only 5 points so it doesn't help ur grade!
Very hard class, most of the bad reviews got deleted, he never responds to emails, he made us feel stupid for asking questions, everyone I knew was failing the class, and he's not organized at all. if ur really smart and like bio and don't mind studying 600 terms to passing this class is for you, but if not u will fail this class!!!!
he's never accessible outside of class, soooo many worksheets yet they are 5 or 10 points each which don't help ur grade, he never posted our exam answers even after everyone took it so we never really knew what we got right or wrong. he drops a quiz which is only 10 points so not much help to ur grade. we were all confused all the time. not easy A
he would randomly post quizzes out of nowhere, sometime he would forget to remind us of lab practicals and blame it on us for forgetting. he would leave snarky announcements all the time. his lectures were so long, boring and he goes off topic for hours and complains about how no one shows up to his office hours instead of teaching us the material.
most of his exams the average was 50 percent, exams always had errors or repeated questions, everyone hated asking him a thing cause they were scared he would snap at us, clearly he doesn't like his job and is only there for the money, I have never hated bio so much after taking his class, he wouldn't respond to us in weeks, very unprofessional!
class was very stressful for me, boring lectures, always has an attitude, I'm surprised he has good reviews since everyone in the class was struggling to even get a 70 on a practical exam. his study guides didn't help, don't take his class because he doesn't care about his students and will make sure you wont succeed, they deleted most bad reviews
One of the most educational biology courses I have taken in a long time. He makes study guides that are easy to follow along and the test bear a good semblance to it as well. He is readily accessible after class so make sure to ask questions during his office hours. His lectures and presentations are concise, so make flashcards from them. Easy-A
Professor clearly does not care for the work, I am unaware of what his actual teaching methods are as in the online course it was nothing more than him sending weekly powerpoints, youtube videos, and articles. At this point may just be a side hustle that is automated. Uses Proctorio since most likely students cheated before as he doesn't teach.
AVOID TAKING HIM AT ALL COSTS! clearly hates his job and gave up a v long time ago. he'll make u feel stupid if u ask him q's, or he'll ask u the exact same thing back?? nice guy to prob hang w, but horrendous in an academic environ. says he'll provide study guides, but doesn't, and if he does they're completely useless. very hard exams omg. avoid!
OMG, this guy needs to retire. A freind told me he was good but he is really really not. Some people need to get out of the classroom. Take anybody else.
Ok guy. Class had slideshows of about 40 slides per week which took about 2 hours. Weekly quizzes are open book and the three tests were online closed book. Overall not a hard class just a lot of memorization. Professor does not reply that quickly when messaged and has some errors in his quizzes/lectures but gives a small point buffer to compensate
Took him for BIO80 and got an A. It should be an easy A as long as you really invest your time in it and listen to his lecture. Definitely my favorite professor here in IVC EVER. Had a great time last semester and I truly appreciate his effort in his teaching.
Bio's never been my strongest subject, but Kaufmann's class was fun to attend--cracks jokes often. Lots of drawing slides for lab. Be SURE you know what you're looking at on slides so you'll be prepared for the practica (projecting slides/images on the board for you to identify). For lec&lab exams, use the ppts in lecture (on canvas) as study tools
AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!! the study guides did not match the exams at all!!!! the average was D for all exams and he does not respond to emails whatsoever. The only way you can reach him is physically showing up to his office hours (though he is always late anyways). Difficulty in explaining concepts clearly, leading to student confusion. Horrible!!!
DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. I am about to graduate from a 4 year with a 3.94 GPA, this class stands between me and a 4.0. I've gotten high A's in every other class and got a C in this class. I think about this often and regret taking him. Trust me, save yourself! 40-60 slides a week that took hours. Proctored quizzes/exams, average grade was a D.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
46%
Textbook Required
51%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.15 avg changeRatings by Course
BIO44
5.0
(2)BIOLOGY3
5.0
(1)BIO11L
5.0
(1)BIO19
5.0
(1)BIOBIO1
5.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
BIOBIO1
4.0
BIO80
4.0
60450BIO80
4.0
BIO3
3.8
BIO94
3.6