Worst instructor in Biology department.

Terrible professor. Doesn't know how to teach and doesn't know the material. 100% do not recommend for bio220.

Manages to be simultaneously one of the most condescending professors at the UW while still struggling to grasp the material herself. Gives snarky and terse answers to online questions, and is rude in class. Test grading is insane and requires a crystal ball so as to guess exactly what she wants you to write.

She's a ridiculously hard professor with such convoluted diagrams she requires you to put on the test and the material is so hard, you are at a complete loss unless you completely study by yourself. She has no clue what she's doing sometimes and puts it on her students to figure things out themselves. do not take with her.

This professor forces study models on you to incorporate on the test. It's not a matter of knowing the material to succeed, it's a matter of using the words that she wants (but doesn't specify) and using the models she makes (but few find useful). Got an 80 on the exam but knew the material? Probably got marked down for extremely specific details.

I believe anyone who had taken the test this morning should find out that Most of the revision done so far are in vain. She taught about basic physiology concepts yet test you about pathophysiological symptoms at the level of professional medical students in medical school. She loves biology but what's the usefulness of that fact...

You can show up to every class, study extremely diligently, and walk into the test feeling prepared but the tests are so unclear and the answer key so specific that you have only probability on your side for if you guess the correct thing she's asking for. Her tests are not fair and do not test for your knowledge of the course material.

One of the worst professors I have encountered. Loves biology, but instead of actually teaching, she'll assign Khan Academy (or other) videos and readings. Reading quizzes often have trick questions. Tests are very poorly written, and points poorly distributed. Obsessed with ridiculous diagramming. Condescending, wastes time, snaps at people.

If I could give this woman zeros, I would. She is probably the worst professor that I have ever had and not only because of her incompetency in teaching the material. I feel very degraded every time I walk into lecture because she has a very obvious attitude of not caring for our learning. I love bio but she makes me dread it.

Dr. Doherty is by far one of the least helpful professors I've had at UW. Avoid taking BIO 220 with her if you can, she'll assign you videos from youtube instead of teaching, and test you on topics she never covered. Regardless of how much you study or prepare, you can't guarantee strong exam grades. The only reason to go to class is clicker points

Of the professors that I have had for the Introductory Biology series at UW, she has probably been the worst. Dr. Doherty assumes that most of the learning can be done by doing the readings/watching videos that lectures do not go over topics in detail at all. She is also often condescending when answering questions, and tells people to "look it up"

I didn't pick very many tags because she does not fit any of them. She isn't inspirational, she does not give good feed back, she is not respected by students etc. I am known to ask many questions and she has 9 times out of 10 directed me to google scholar. She is paid a 6 figure salary and she is too lazy or indignant to answer questions.

Ask students to look things up and forces topics into these case studies that do not fit. Do not expect clear questions, they will be oddly worded and be expecting a simple concept you more than likely know but the wording lead you in a different direction, clarifications are not given in these cases as the answer is usually simple. AVOID

Horrible teaching methods. Assigns videos for you to learn the material which can be very vague. She turns BIO 220 into how to make flowcharts 101. Tests questions are poorly phrased and worded.

Compared to the other biology series professors, she is the worst. Although she is quite enthusiastic about biology, her teaching methods are quite questionable. She makes this class horrible by discussing unrelevant scenarios that take up the whole class period.

Worst Professor Ive ever had the misfortune of having. Took a subject I had a real passion for & squashed it into a million tiny pieces. She is a rude, condescending woman who fails to effectively communicate her expectations, let alone the material. She will waste class time making you draw circles & bathtubs as her ridiculous thought organizers..

Seemingly open-ended questions on tests have a specific answer so you better be able to read her mind because if you put anything else, even if it's correct, if it doesn't match the answer key, ZERO points. Inflexible, and causing students huge headaches with a time-wasting regrade form that asks you for self-reflection,

Arguably one of the worst professors I've had at UW. She does not care if her students are learning, and answers most questions with "look it up". She wastes time in class calling on unprepared students while ignoring others raising their hands, willing to answer. If you can avoid taking the class with her, do!

Test and quiz questions were often vague - it was difficult to understand what was being asked, resulting in what felt like multiple correct answers. Also placed an absurd amount of grading emphasis on "thought organizers" that she never clearly explained. Lectures were boring and unclear but exams and grading were confusing and difficult.

AVOID!!! Biology doesn't seem to matter much when it comes to this class. She focuses all too much on her precious flow-diagrams, and not enough on the material. She spends most of lecture speaking on things that you will not be tested on, but there will be "clicker" points. I've never had such a condescending teacher as to say "just google it."

Terrible instruction about irrelevant topics. most of the material that is covered is not pertinent to what shows up on exams and you best know how to use "thought organizers: and all kinds of other "learning objectives" to articulate that you're following her orders. Definitely discouraged any inclination for biology and physiology.

She randomizes her attempt at teaching to the extent that one day she's testing students about convoluted physiological symptoms only professional medical students would know, next she's trying to teach one simple concept to no end. Her only purpose is simply to experiment her randomly generated teaching styles on students, resulting in mass mayhem

Hardest class I've taken at UW yet. Jennifer Doherty is a terrible professor and if you don't know her general reasoning tools, you won't pass the class. She makes you think only in her way of thinking.

When I told Doherty that her pronoun usage was wrong, causing students to misinterpret the question, she told me she'll look at it. When I turned my back, within seconds she sent me an email that I was wrong. However, I'm a published author, and I think I know something about the subject...

I have had bad professors in college before. I am used to that. There will always be professors that simply don't care about you and don't care about their class. However, they are at least competent in teaching. Doherty forces you to do these stupid flux/flow diagrams and learn how she wants you to. It's awful and she makes it hard to learn.

Professor Doherty doesn't fully utilize class time and advocates for "fairness" in her classroom by using random call. The concept of random call isn't a bad one, but she has spent mass amounts of minutes calling on people just to have 8 people pass ,and all that class time is lost. Be ready to answer tests in very specific ways to get points.

She wastes a lot of time in class and expects people to write answers on tests exactly the way she wants it. If you don't do things the way she wants it it is wrong. She spends a lot of time talking about politics (only presenting one point of view) for no reason when we are here to learn biology. She doesn't let students finish responding

Arrogant, and all it implies in a professor. Can't seem to control her emotions, and is rude to students. Totalitarian in teaching style; you will be graded on how well you regurgitate catchphrases. Attempts to invade and dominate student conversations both in person and online. Turns many students away from biology.

Do not take biology 220 with this professor. She is very rude to her students, random call (no option to opt out or skip), tests are impossibly difficult. The material is very interesting but there's not curve so you're just screwed overall. Do yourself a favor and take this class with a different prof!!!!!

She tells you at the beginning not to take notes on the book.. this is a lie. She cares about how you learn and is a good teacher. But her tests are impossible to pass. You have to write exactly what the answer key says and most of the test is making predictions on what happens. Even if you get the answer right, if you explain it wrong you get a 0.

I just took the first exam for her biol220 course and we only had 50 minutes too complete the entire exam! Many of my friends in the class didnt even have time to finish. I have never not had time to finish a test in my entire academic career until now. Very unfair to those who studied for the exam.

Doherty knows the information but the way she sets up her class is extremely irritating. She imposes her ideas of how to study upon you, uses stupid general models that make you focus more on regurgitation of random stuff as opposed to actually learning the information. She's all over the place and hard to follow, an irritating professor.

You can study diligently, watch every Panopto, read every page twice, go to every class, memorize the practice problems and still not do well on the exams. Because of how specific the grading of exams is and how your wording needs to be nearly identical to the key you can know the material and know it WELL, and STILL do poorly in the course. AVOID.

The worst. BIOL 220 is often referred to as the "easiest class of the intro bio series" and Doherty thrives on making it the opposite. Very little practice is provided before exams and answer keys are more inconsistent, wrong, and unintelligible than a Trump speech. Lectures are all over the place and poorly structured.

Horrible professor. Heavy emphasis on learning biology through her structure, with point penalties for not doing so. Had a cumulative 3.95 in the bio series coming into 220 and really loved biology. She made me reconsider my major and I'm reapplying to neurobio

Took BIOL220 with her and it was horrible! The class itself wouldn't have been so bad if she didn't require you to learn /HER/ way. If you don't mold to her methods you won't pass.

She is very knowledgeable in what she is teaching. However, her lecture skills are sub par. She will shush the class a lot during the lecture and will treat student answers as childish.

I had a meeting with her telling me that I would not be able to look at the specific grading scale that they use to assess their student's work because it would "do more harm than good". Excuse me? You're telling me I am not able to see why I receive the grade I do? That's a snakey period. Plant biology is far simpler and doesn't need to hard.

Decent lecturer, but awful at working with Berk. Workload was also heavy, even during test weeks. Exams were odd. Some exam questions were great, but others were vague and caused confusion on how to answer. People getting high % were getting low projected gpas. They refused to release a grading scale, although the phys dept (and others) did.

Homework assignments were all just busy work and I learned nothing from them, also you have to do them in her specific style so if you learn bests by taking notes in a different format you're out of luck. Test questions and their grading criteria were very inconsistent and it was hard to know what was expected from you.

I had Doherty for a remote class, she hardly interacted with the class at all. All of her lectures were uploaded from previous quarters and she had only an hour of office hours a week. Her tests formatted in an incredibly odd manner and often inflated to the point where most students had no clue what it was asking. look for a different prof

Worst teacher ever. What she teaches in lecture is a HUGE disconnect from what she asks on exams. You absolutely will not pass her class even with amazing notes from lecture. She will give you basic concepts in lecture and ask what feels like to be grad student questions on exams. I have neglected my other classes and I am still failing hers.

If I could give a professor a rating below 0, it would be for Doherty. I spend days studying for her tests and still manage to get test grades that do not reflect on my understanding and work I put into this class. She creates poorly written tests that are impossible to do in a time crunch. Do yourself a favor and take ANY other professor.

Absolutely do not take Doherty. Concepts fo the class are easy yet the way she words the questions make it impossible to know what she's asking for. She also uses old homework assignments and lectures yet says that it's a courtesy to know the concepts of each day of the two part exams more than one day in advance. Lectures have to be watched twice

One of the worst professors I've ever had. The workload was insane, especially online during a pandemic. Wording on the exams was very confusing-- you'll take more time trying to understand what she's asking than actually answering the questions. The grading scale was so messed up and didn't accurately reflect your understanding of the material.

The amount of work in this class is absolutely insane, even compared to upper-division classes. Expect around 11 assignments a week, with a completion time of around 2 hours for each. Concepts are not clear, and with online classes there is no room for error. Unless you have one of the top 5 grades in the class, do not expect a good grade.

Amount of work assigned would've been impossible if in person. Ex. exam weeks: two-day exams + FOUR lectures assigned. Taking 18cr + this 5cr class was 75% of my workload. She didn't respond to student feedback. Students could be rude but she was often rude back + unhelpful too. Can't believe a prof would abuse online pandemic learning like that :/

The workload each week is very high, tests can be extremely confusing and the amount of detail required on the tests are poorly taught in lecture. The good thing was that the topics/cases were interesting.

Please avoid her unless you want to sell your entire soul to this 1 class. I did well in 180 & 200, but I'm barely passing this class. Beware of the intense workload, it is more than my other classes combined (lots of busy hw). Exams are convoluted, hard to know what exactly she is asking for. Grading doesn't accurately reflect your understanding.

DONT TAKE THIS CLASS. Professor Doherty seems like a nice lady, but the way her class is structured is HORRIBLE. Theres an insane amount of busy work and her tests are so strangely worded. Gradings extremely inconsistent as Ive written p much the exact same thing as my friends (collaboration is allowed) and weve gotten wildly different scores

Very unclear about what's expected of us. Grading system is the most confusing one I've seen so far at this school. Doesn't write exams till the night before. Will mark you down on every little thing even if you have the right idea.

Worst Prof Ive ever had. Communication and engagement with the class is not there. Workload is absolutely insane and she abuses the online platform giving a greater workload than typical for the course in an in person format. Shes not understanding in any regard and doesn't listen to or respect her students. Wouldnt recommended with her at all.

Cares very little about her students. The curve in this class is awful and harms students. You can put in a ton of work and know the material in and out and still get a bad grade just because her grading is so unclear and awful.

I was excited to learn physiology, and this class completely ruined that for me. I absolutely hate the UW bio dept. now, mainly because of their appalling grading policies. Dr. Doherty's teaching style is counter productive, and your tests are graded based on how well you can emulate her lecture examples. Do NOT expect to enjoy this class with her.

i made an account just to flame. honestly, the worst professor, like why come up with collaborative exams? it completely wrecks the curve and is unfair. regret studying so hard if i just have smart ppl carry my grade. it forces u to form groups to take exams but u also end up giving free ans to ppl. the grading of exams is basically hit or miss.

She makes us do so many external brains which do not even help with the exams, when all the time put into doing external brains could be used just taking notes in our own methods. Her lectures are so much fluff that never reach an actual point. When it comes to mathematical bio problems, she never shows her work and skips through the process.

This professor was the worst I've had in a while. Incredibly difficult to communicate with and treats her students with much disrespect. Has no interest in actually helping and is unaccommodating of your situation. On top of it all, she assigns an insane amount of busywork, as if her students are not taking any other classes at the same time.

She is passionate about the content but is horrible at teaching it. I have never done so horribly in a class! Get ready to do a bunch of unhelpful busy work.

This is probably the worst class I have taken so far, no exaggeration. The class was self taught with lots of busywork instead of allowing students to just take notes and learn their own way. The lectures do nothing to clarify questions, tests will probably blindside you, and instructors rely too much on Piazza instead of actually teaching you.

I was excited for physio and now I despise the subject. Doherty's lectures are all over the place and she expects you to know material before she even teaches it to you? Every problem seems like a trick question and she never shows work for equations or math concepts. I was left frustrated after every lecture no matter how much I studied.

excited for physio and now I despise the subject. Doherty's lectures are all over the place and she expects you to know material before she even teaches it to you? Every problem seems like a trick question and she never shows work for equations or math concepts. I was left frustrated after every lecture no matter how much I studied.

This is the worst class and teaching team at the UW. Yeah, i did bad on the first exam, but for my TA to tell me its too bad that I started harming myself and they said its just a weed out class, so maybe you should leave its totally messed up! Professor is mean, rude, and unhelpful

will always remember this as the class that made me not want to teach physiology or drop biology all together. However, because of how terrible of a prof she is, it motivates me to become a good professor for others. unorganized, recommends UTA sessions unhelpful, TA don't know anything, everyone is afraid to use Piazza because evil Kyle, horrible!

Dont do this. Take at a CC or just dont. Scary, mean, and not good. GPA dropper and no curve, which is bad. Anything 70%+ is failing. No means to get help and only cheating strategies during exam taking discussed during tutoring. CRAZY CLASS!

WORLD's worst professor. she is so terrible. she offers no exam review sessions and is very unapproachable. i wish there was another professor to take this with. she is so terrible and the setup of the class is HORRIBLE. she does not want to teach and is just there to stand and randomly talk about 1-3 topics that MIGHT show up on the exam.

Epitome of harshness in bio department. Harsh grader and hard to get help. Would rather complain than teach and was an absolute disgusting experience. Watch yt videos and rely on crash course, crazy class! Take at cc.

Dont do this! Unclear grading criteria. No hints on what to expect from exam or eb from class. Only rely on textbook. Teach yourself entire time. Unknowledgeable tas with harsh grading criteria. Probably failed exams themselves. No knowledge of physiological mechanisms.

Doherty and also the teaching staff single handedly made the class hate physiology. When she answers a question she brings up a question, there is no clear answer. Really difficult grading and curves in this class despite her saying its not like that. First year of bio in person, and all profs make online exams but she prefers making us suffer!

Went to her after class today to ask a question. If she doesnt know the answer, she will aggressively state that you dont need to know this for the exam. Dont know if it was bc of my color that she answered so aggressively. she has something against certain students, favors others and this should be checked by the department. Will fill out request

HORRIFIC CLASS! my classmates and i always ask questions on piazza but never receive answers! Barraded by lies!! can never receive a straight answer just so frustrating and horrible. take it somewhere else pls i'm trying to help you this will not be good for you your studying, your biology interest. it will make you hate phys and yourself! i warned

super unhelpful and inconsiderate. she only wants to see our gpa drop below 1.7. She doesn't care and is going to be the reason i'll probably need to repeat the class. i dont know what made her want to become a professor, enjoys tanking the gpas of all the students, difficult ta graders, no help, inconsiderate, HARD EXAMS! DONT TAKE HER!

WORST PROFESSOR for bio! I was assigned to a take home group and no one contacted each other. Working on it by myself and am sure the other classmates quit bc they dont show up to lab and no one wants to work with each other. GPA BREAKER CLASS! She thinks giving take home will improve grade but hard graders, no help from her, no TA help, suffer!

High level of neglect on her behalf for the students. Extremely difficult exams and obscures concepts. Class and content is not difficult, but SHE is difficult. Makes things extremely hard and office hours during bad timings, unaccommodating. Restless and seems a bit frustrated as well, wonder why

Honestly the worst class Ive taken here. First off, the environment as a whole is super snobbish and no one wants to study with anyone, making it ultra competitive. Lectures arent relevant to the exam, and she gives bits and pieces but not the whole picture. Would be helpful if we had quiz sections w/ entire flow diagram check ups. Not worth it.

Terrible class experience overall. Irrelevant lectures and Take home exam proved to be just as useless. Useless and no effort comments on their part, just to get it done with, dont know how theyll grade. Set it up as free points, but difficulty increased, so did stress and workload. No effort, just what seemed like vague comments.

Wh why why why why why Professor do you have to be so hard! care for the students! Offer some help! Just dont break the gpa so much! Just dont be like this and try to adjust your teaching. We just want to learn physiology.

Why isnt she doing review sessions? Honestly she seemed more helpful online. Review sessions before the exam would be so helpful. She doesnt care nor want to help her students. Inconsiderate and harsh policies to say the least.

The only beef i have with this professor is that she reused the EXACT same exam questions for exam 3 from the online exam, during covid times. Those who had access to it scored almost perfectly and significantly better. And it wasnt like it was easy. Im not sure about exam 1 and 2, but those with discord access unfairly had access to exams.

Someone LEAKED the final in the discord chat and was trying to merchandise the other exams throughout the quarter. Turns out the questions were the exact same. Gives other students an unfair advantage while we are studying for the final. Is she going to address this?

A good professor, but Sanchika or someone posted on a discord channel about the gathering of exams over chegg and docsity which is cheating. This person was a TA. Whoever is cheating should turn themselves in before they get caught. These online past exams were exactly the same as the ones we are being tested on right now. Departmental failure.

She has a CATASTROPHIC way of communicating with her students. Moreover, the TAs are horrible and she needs to know how to hire people who know the content and know how to teach. They complained that they dont know the content because they are too advanced in their concepts. If youre too advanced, shouldnt you know the content of INTRO bio?

lazy instructor and TA hired too. Concepts presented in a non-sequential, convoluted fashion. Poor knowledge of subject. She is unable to connect different aspects of the class and explain biochemical pathways. Don't be fooled by her helpful lady appearance, she is actually turning out to be a terrible teacher. difficult to get help like any weeder

The last three reviews were most likely posted by the same person, as evident by their writing. This professor doesn't know how to teach, the same case was with mary pat, both should take classes on how to teach concepts. don't assume the student knows EVERYTHING about phys. strict prof, hard TA graders, and a negative atmosphere to say the least.

Not much about biology in class, most of the time used for in-class meaningless discussion, and meaningful content is not clarified but simple models are emphasized over and over. 4 midterm and 1 final per quarter, not much feedback is given for anything.