Incredibly boring to listen to. The lectures will easily put you to sleep. The book is practically worthless. I didn't use it at all during the semester. Most of the information needed for the tests is in the lectures. Boring but easy, with a teacher who can't communicate very well.

The lectures are incredibly boring! If you take the class, don't buy the book- you really dont need it! He gives you no idea what you need to study. Everything on the tests is pretty much in the lectures, but there is so much material that it is impossible to know everything. I hated this class!

This is the worst professor ever. It seems he enjoys seeing how hard he can make the tests. I have a 3.9gpa and took this class and struggled through it like crazy only to get a B-. He asks little facts, and expects you to know details about stuff he never covered in lecture. DONT TAKE!!!!!!!!!!

Evolution- This is the worlds most boring teacher. His lectures are monotone but his tests are okay. I had to use my book - couldntstay awake for class.

I do not reccomend this class AT ALL. He is not helpful at all. Doesn't feel the need to help students who aren't that great at biology. The lectures are soo monotone, and the tests have NOTHING to do with the lectures.

Not helpful at all during his office hours, very boring, do not take this class ONLINE, tests are crazy hard he says he isn't detailed but all his questions are VERY DETAILED, Study the notes, Do not get the book it won't help

HARDEST CLASS OF MY WHOLE ENTIRE LIFE. HE DOES NOT CARE ABOUT YOU OR YOUR GRADE AND EVEN WHEN YOU ASK FOR HELP HE WONT HELP YOU. I HATED THIS CLASS AND BARELY PASSED. I DO NOT RECOMMEND TALKING IT ONLINE OR FOR HALF A SEMESTER. HORRIBLE CLASS.

THIS GUY NEVER SHUTS UP ABOUT ANYTHING AND THEN MAKES THE TEST BASED ON HOURS OF WHAT HE SAYS. I am a dietetics major and have taken ocher, biochem, and the likes and let me tell you THIS FREAKING CLASS took the most time of any. I got an A in Ochem and a C in this class. Put that in perspective. DONT TAKE IT ONLINE IF YOU LIKE YOUR GPA

DO NOT TAKE AN ONLINE SCIENCE COURSE WITH HIM. This was a huge mistake, I took it thinking it was an A+ but i ended with a C+, it was hard, lectures are long and dull. Do not even think of taking a class with him, hard tests. I am a Bio major and it was harder than 212 for me.

Regret taking this class. The lectures are very very boring and tests are hardly ever over what you've learned.

This class was a nightmare. If you suck at biology or anything science related like I do, I would recommend you taking the in class section instead of the online section. He didn't make time to meet with you and when you contact him for help he basically just said figure it out. The tests are extremely difficult and that's what most of the grade is

First weeks are easy. Then it kicks and theres a test every week, the final test had two hours of lecture that I wrote out 8 pages of notes. His study guides are bullet points, and for test 7 it was 22 pages long undetailed in bullets, this is my 2nd time and I have failed both times. He held one review session and covered 50% of the chapter. AVOID

Class is half semester and you better be on top. Idk how he does the test but they are hard. Make sure you have time if you wanna take this class

I took this class because it was basically my only option to achieve full credits at the last minute. It was the hardest class I have taken. Do not think that it will be an easy A. The grading scale is nice but it is extremely difficult.

DO NOT TAKE HIS COURSES. He is a terrible teacher. I am literally failing his course. There are WAY better bio teachers than him. He is so old so he just does not care anymore. Hardest class I have taken at ISU so far.

I HATE THIS PROFESSOR. NEVER TAKE BIO 101 WITH HIM. Worst decision I have ever made was to take his course. TERRIBLE teacher.

f this class. do NOT take bio 101 online with pleasants. tests are impossible and theres no extra credit.

The information from the class was not difficult, but the way that the professor taught the class made this course an absolute nightmare for me. The tests were extremely difficult because he would not test on key subjects, but rather cherry-pick very specific information off his slides.

Do your self a favor and do not take BIO 101 with Pleasants. Honestly don't take any classes with him.

Don't take his class online! The class is very difficult with exams every 2 weeks and lots of homework that is worth almost nothing in the grade book. Exams are worth 70% of your overall grade and exams are 20 questions worth 4 points each. Take the in-class version!

This was one of the hardest classes I've taken and was the first C I have ever gotten in my life. I took the half semester online class, and there was a large workload. There is a test every single week that has to be taken in the testing center and there is so much information for each test (5-10 modules, each 30 minutes long). Would not reccomend

DO NOT take this class. Tests are 80% of the grade. The tests are incredibly hard, he does not post study guides, and the lectures do NOT give an idea of what will be on the tests. He asks incredibly specific questions and doesn't ask key topic questions. This is one of the hardest classes I've ever taken.

His lectures are long, exam notes unorganized and cumbersome, tests unpredictable and solely based on luck. You can work your butt off and still get just above average (which is very low). Unhelpful with questions and concerns. Do not take this professor if you can help it.

This class was literally the death of me. I did about 7 hours of lecture a week. There are exams every two weeks & no matter how hard I studied, most times 10 hours per test, I only got one A of the 8 tests & I actually failed 4 exams. You can make up points for homework, but just take my advice and do not take this class or any other class w/ him.

So rude in his emails, not helpful at all, due dates always were changing for test terrible class

For sure a 0/10. He casually assigns 3-7 hours of lectures per week. Hardly any homework because exams are worth 80% of the grade. Terrible. If you can get into any other section of BIO101 do it, because it can't get any worse.

This is by far the worst class I have taken at Iowa State. Be ready for 30-minute lecture videos (Usually around 8 per unit), no objectives for you to know what to take away from his lessons, and extremely hard exams. There is no excitement in his lectures either, so be ready to sit there and be bored to death. Notes packet doesn't help either.

Do NOT take any class with him. Most of his lectures are at least 10 years old (mentioned the Bush administration in the present tense???). Provides zero learning objectives and tests you on any random detail he mentions in the lectures. The exams make up nearly all of the grades and you aren't given any indication what might be on them.

Genuinely the hardest class I've taken. My pre-med, biochemistry major, roommate would look at the questions given and wouldn't be able to answer it. The tests are at the biol 313 level, there is absolutely no reason for this class to contain the in-depth material it does. Lectures just make everything more confusing so literally no reason to watch

DO NOT TAKE ANY BIO CLASSES WITH DR. PLEASANTS. HIS CLASS IS NOT PLEASANT. I took this class for credit last semester and his quizzes are insanely hard and almost impossible to get a decent score on. Lectures are hours long per week and he does not ask questions directly related to the modules but says he wants you to study each section by yourself

I took online BIO101 because I needed the credits and just wanted an easy course. Literally terrible. His exams have nothing to do with quizzes, homework, or his notes. He asks questions that are SO CONFUSING for an introductory course. I am an A/B student and have done terribly in his ONLINE class. Do not take it with him.

Would email about concerns and had no grace whatsoever with assignments, even if emailed in advance.

Took BIO101 with Pleasants to finish my prereqs for a major change. Jeez, Louise, man, his questions are just from left field sometimes, and I feel like studying the PowerPoint will objectively land you at a C, leaving it up to you to figure out the rest. There is no learning objs and no heads-up on exam content. If you can take anyone else, do so.

The lectures are long and uninteresting, they are difficult to pay attention to which makes taking exams difficult. All of the assignments are busy work and you don't get anything out of them. I'm not entirely convinced that he grades anything and only sees whether or not you completed it.

I'm an engineering student and somehow this was one of the most difficult classes I have taken. There's 8 exams and each exam contains 15+ pages of notes of content. Exams are random and I'm pretty sure there's stuff on the exams we never covered in lecture. Everything else is easy but too bad because exams are the only thing that matters.

I am usually an A/B student, and I took this class online because I needed a science credit and thought it would be easy, but it was the opposite. There are around 8 hours of lecture videos every week. The exams are more than 80% of your grade. The quizzes you take before the exam are no help and there are no study guides as exams are just random.

Avoid this class at all costs. Yes, it's a 101 class and yes it's a half-semester class. Sounds easy right? Not even close. Be ready for 6 to 8 hours of lectures to watch each week, 4 self quizzes to take each week, and exams that are worth 72% of your grade (lowest test score is dropped). As a senior, I've NEVER had to work so hard for an A. AVOID

Never, EVER, under any circumstances, take Bio 173 online. It is horrific. This man puts out 6-8 of lecture videos per unit, throws out one Packback every two weeks, sends a link to a $144 textbook that's not provided by the school, and says "Good luck." Questions on the tests are so random and impossible to remember. NEVER TAKE THIS CLASS!

All this class was was NOTES ON NOTES ON NOTES, and guess what 8 EXAMS FOR BIO 101 is absolutely ABSURD. SOME BS. It was the most challenging class I have ever taken at ISU. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS.

The wrost professor I've had in my life. Refused to round my grade even thought I was 0.02% from the cutoff. He focuses on little things and refuses to meet with you if you need help. After 5 emails, he finally met with me and told me to just try harder - I was putting in 15 hours of studying a week. NEVER TAKE HIM - you have been warned.