His tests are much more information then he presents in class, but he usually does give you the essay question ahead of time. He has a strange sense of humor, and he tries to make bio funny and relate it to strange everyday things. It's not worth the non-lab requirement.

every time i see the man i want to say "hello Newman" very strange man. spends a lot of time on some things (mostly chem since he's a bio-chemist) but most of that time is spent in some obscure tangent about doors or water heaters or something. tests focus on chem of body, not over all anatomy and are more in depth than classes.

Boring! (which is extremely painful when class is from 5-6:15 pm) Explains things really simply in class then asks very detailed questions on exams and doesn't let you see your exam paper after it's graded. Also, very irritating to listen to because he emphasizes every biology-related word. In his words, "WHAT THE BLAZZES?"

boring class, you'll try your hardest not to fall asleep but will anyway. very broad discussion in class, but the exams are details. MAKE SURE YOU READ THE BOOK/HANDOUTS he doesnt tell you the short answer question but if u ask him after class he will. not as easy of a class as i thought it would be

Very unclear in his teaching, exams were very hard and unfair.

Worst Professor Ever!

Worst class I have ever taken. His lectures are pointless and don't help on the tests.

He is...Interesting. Don't even bother going to class, just study the lecture notes online. He runs around the classroom like a crazy person, telling wierd jokes and tangents, and writes one word notes on the board. Nice guy, just not very helpful.

Prof. Mitchell definitely knows his stuff, does his best to be funny and clarify the material for the students. However, this class is no cakewalk! The tests were moderately difficult but fair but homework was pretty easy. He makes all of his powerpoints downloadable on the web-- they basically WERE the test material, I barely had to read the book.

This professor doesn't know how to teach. He talks off topic all class, jumps around trying to be funny. Tests are extremely hard, the only reason I survived this course because I had a nice Lab professor. You gonna hate this course..

This class is NOT an easy A. You have to either memorize the textbook word for word or already know half the subject material. He doesn't teach to the test at all and when you go to see him for extra help he doesn't help he just shrugs you off. I advise taking this only if ABSOLUTELY necessary.

I really dislike Mitchell's teaching style. He doesn't teach with his textbook, so don't bother buying it. He thankfully writes out notes for each chapter. His powerpoints are good, but some times his exam questions deal with just one slide. He is really entertaining and made me laugh many times. He tries hard, but he isn't the greatest teacher.

Not a fan of Mitchell whatsoever. He banters and swears, fights with the microphone and half the time you can't really hear him. His test questions were hard to understand and most of them pertained to small details. He's smart, but he doesn't know how to teach.

The only way to do well in this course is to essentially memorize every word of his online lecture notes. The class itself is painfully boring and hard to understand- he's hard to hear even with a microphone and he trails off the ends of his sentences. I HIGHLY recommend taking something else. This class is quite a GPA-dropper.

This man is out of his mind. I had to withdraw from this class last spring because it was so hard, and here I am getting bad grades this spring. Not for lack of trying! I still haven't found the trick. Unless these things come easily to you, be prepared to work your ass off. I have to take 255 with him next fall and I'm already dreading it.

Have now had Mitchell for 004, 001, and part of 002. He is pure nuts. Not a bad guy, but just nuts. Makes exams basically directly from slides (on Bb). Hard to describe how nuts this guy is. You'll see.

This guy is the stereotypical absent-minded professor. He spends most of class incomprehensibly muttering "keep it simple stupid" and other odd stories that don't relate to the topic at hand. He is a nice guy, very smart, but should stick to research. I had to teach myself everything in this class.

He tries to be funny, but isn't most of the time. It was easy to fall asleep in that class.

Mitchell is smart but he's a terrible teacher. Class is supposed to be mandatory but only takes attendance one time/semester. Nothing you learn in class is on an exam and you have to learn his notes by heart in order to do well. Not an intro class by any means. He is old, boring, and tries to be funny but isn't. Not easy, avoid this class.

I had to take a science class for a requirement so I chose biology over chemistry. It was one of the hardest classes I have ever taken. He doesn't tell you exactly what's going to be on the exams (just a bunch of random info) and 4 exams make up your grade. He also tells you way to many personal stories.

Easy subject, very hard class. He is very disorganized and rambles on about nonsense during class. His online notes are even worst and I constantly found myself spending hours in the library trying to keep up. I spent an absurd amount of time reading his notes and studying for his incredibly broad tests.

Very difficult if you are not a well versed biology or health science major. He does not teach efficiently or effectively.

I can tell that John cares about his students, but he is very hard to understand during lecture. I found it nearly impossible to take notes because he often went on tangents. He is a nice professor and will try to help during office hours if you seek him out. Unfortunately, I would definitely not reccommend this class.

Basically Mitchell goes on random rants about everything and doesn't actually teach bio (unless you want to count pathways as having a specific character voice). Your time is better spent studying his BB powerpoints than actually going to class.

Would never take this Professor's class again. Unfortunately it was mandatory for my major but the class was difficult and the exams were extremely hard. Do not recommend this class to anyone ever.

Did not like this class at all. I feel like he's a nice guy, but not great at actually teaching. The material was pretty dry most of the time, and he makes weird jokes to try to break it up. Try to pay attention - it's hard, but the tests were clearly based off of the lectures. Attendance was randomly taken.

Professor Mitchell was very lenient with us. I missed an exam and he let me take it no questions asked. However the class itself was ridiculously hard. 4 exams, 1 project and quizzes. Quizzes were impossible unless you learned the whole entire unit before lab. Professor is awesome but don't take this class if you don't have to. I'm hoping to pass.

DON'T BUY THE TEXTBOOK FOR BIOL004. YOU WILL NEVER USE IT. Professor gives you all the notes you need to know on blackboard, lectures make you want to sleep, and always goes off on weird tangents.

This was the hardest class I've ever tried to take. I bought the $250 textbook to not use it once the entire semester, the tests were extremely difficult, and if you didn't take extremely thorough notes at every single lecture and then study them for hours on end, you would not pass the tests (which are on multiple units and HUGE by the way)

Pretty bizarre guy, his lectures were all over the place and he couldnt get out a complete idea about something without going off on a tangent. His notes are helpful because his lecture slides are way too crowded with info.

He's an ok guy, but always goes on tangents. His slides are packed with information and very difficult to read. It was very difficult to determine what we needed to know for exams, and there were often questions on the exams with material I hadn't seen before. Easier to teach yourself from the textbook.

Every single piece of content is shared with students at the beginning of the semester, including slides and notes. During lectures, John frequently seems to go on random tangents that have nothing to do with the course content. He is a nice guy for sure, but I don't think I would take another course of his again. I am a CS major for context.

BIOL013 is simply the online lab for BIOL003. The labs use Adobe Flash Player, which is outdated and almost obsolete. I found all the labs to be time-consuming but painfully easy. I got an A+ with very little effort. This course should definitely be updated with more modern online content because the software used was buggy and inconsistent.

His passion is very evident, but sometimes he is so passionate he goes on rants that are unrelated to what we are learning. He has a dry sense of humor and changes his voices a lot. It can be a little strange and distracting. I basically taught myself from reading the book.

Although he is smart, he talks rather than teaches. He posts all material and notes on the lectures at the beginning of the semester and expects you to know all of it for exams, which are worth almost your entire grade, but doesn't address half of it in lectures. I found his lectures to be very dry and he goes off on a lot of random tangents.

So many typos on his exams. You only get a grade back so you don't get to see what you did wrong. I understand it's an online class but it's just unfair in my opinion. also you are only graded on the mastering homework and exams so it's hard to get a good grade if you do bad on one thing.

Professor Mitchell is knowledgeable, if a little boring, and there were more than a few occasions where I thought someone should educate him about eating disorders and being mindful of his language around that. Grading was only based on four big tests and a few assignments, and we never got tests back, so that felt a little unfair.

He is a great guy and was so helpful in ensuring that I finished strong but I found his lecture style extremely confusing. I suggest talking to him as soon as possible if you are struggling since the accommodations helped to save my grade.

Super boring lectures and you are only graded on the labs, homework, and exams. If you have the discipline, his class can be easy enough, but I would recommend taking regular biology or some other science for your requirement.