1.5
Quality4.3
Difficulty10%
Would Retake107
Reviews10%
Would Retake
107
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
5
4
3
3
8
2
11
1
80
What Students Say
“She has blanks in the slides so go to class”
BIOL2010 - 4.0 rating“Class was not interesting and she spoke to fast to get all information written down”
BIO2010 - 3.0 ratingClass Info
Attendance Mandatory
11%
Textbook Required
11%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.04 avg changeRatings by Course
4250
5.0
(1)BIOL2010
3.4
(10)BIO2010
3.1
(7)BIOL2900
2.3
(4)2010
2.0
(2)Difficulty by Course
BIOL1001
4.7
4250
4.0
BIO2010
3.3
BIOL2900
3.0
BIOL2010
2.6
Reviews (107)
Class was not interesting and she spoke to fast to get all information written down.
The course material pretty much consisted of memorizing terms. Bless her soul, she really tried getting the class engaged however the material itself was bland . The lab on the other hand was terrific. If you can memorize terms, you will do okay. I attended a total of 4-5 lectures and did okay. I loved her emails about job opportunities. She cares!
Great prof! Really enjoyed class with her, cares a lot about her students and made the material as interesting as possible. A lot of material, but just have to know what's in the notes. She has blanks in the slides so go to class! Tests are multiple choice, but she has bonus questions and some easy questions on the tests. Easy A with little work
Not very interesting. she does weird things with the class to try and improve her teaching but always makes the class uncomfortable. If you go to her office she will give you very little help. Tests are all multiple choice and questions are very specific. Lab component is well put together and thats where you learn the material. Avoid if you can
I took this class as a bio elective and I regretted it everyday. The course load is so heavy and she flies though the material making you swamped with reading. I have never had to memorize more information in my entire life than for this course. She is so boring and I would never take this course again. AVOID at all cost.
I took this course with Dr. Roncal, and I found it to be pretty easy as long as you put in some effort. The lectures are decent, and she records your in-class participation as 5% of your grade, so be sure to come to class. The tests are not hard; they're based off of the questions she uses in class, so study those thoroughly! It's a good course!
This prof makes you feel very stupid, is very rude to students and "doesn't understand what you don't understand" -actual quote from lecture. She doesn't know how to teach and shouldn't be teaching. The course itself is quite easy, definitely get an A, but she gave 3 of my buddies 79 and refused to give them an 80.
Really did not enjoy this course. I'm not a biology student so I may be bias, however I found the material to be fine but the tests to be of much difficult. She has fill in the blank slides with almost every second or third word, so you pretty much spend the whole class trying to copy notes rather than paying attention.
I don't enjoy plant biology, done this course for a undergrad requirement. BUT, Julissa is not the worst prof i've had.. she enjoys what she does, and she gives great notes! The course is dry and boring, but thats not her fault. Her tests are fair, although I didn't do that well (67 overall), the tests information were from her slides, no surprises
Plant bio is not interesting unless you like plants, im unsure why she has such bad reviews, im not a bio major and dont enjoy bio but her class was interesting and her tests were more than fair! her tests were based off the slides. if you miss a class, she does have blank spots on her slides to fill in, you can get the missing spots from the book!
This is a boring class and there isn't much you can do about that. Her tests are fair as the questions come from the slides but there is so much information that people don't tend to do great (average low to mid 60's) She makes you fill in the slides which is annoying but you can find most of them online so you don't really need to go to class.
All info is in the slides, and if you don't go to class the blanks are easily found in textbook. It may seem like a lot of info but compared to other bio courses it is easy, straightforward, and the tests are very fair and easy to get an A if you put in the time to review and Julissa is very sweet and does give opportunities for some bonus marks
I've taken many Biology courses and this one was really fun! The labs were great and the topics were interesting if you like plants. She is very clear about the requirements and it was a very easy A for a Biology course. I highly recommend it if you're looking for a straightforward course to learn some botany. She wants to do a good job.
I'm a bio major and honestly I don't really find her interesting. Her weekly quizzes (8 in total) can be really wordy and at times incoherent. I feel like she doesn't spice up bland material much. Lovely lady though, she's kind and intelligent!!
As a bio major who loves their courses, I hated evol with Dr. Roncal. All her quizzes and midterms and even the final were questions copied straight from Quizlet even though she said to read the textbook to prep for these which is why so many students failed them. Labs were also very difficult for a 2nd year course and she changed due dates often.
Very rude to students and just read of slides.
Her lectures are ok and her tests are not overly hard but she made huge changes to assessments at the last minute. I took her course remotely during COVID and she was not accommodating. She required a lockdown browser for the final that could not be used on Chromebooks and told students with these computers to "find another computer"
Dr. Roncal is a good prof. She was clear in what she expected throughout the semester and her tests were not difficult. Her lecturing can be slightly uninspired at times but overall I would recommend taking her class. With consistent work a high mark is definitely attainable.
Dr. Roncal was an okay prof. Her lectures were really dry and her notes were confusing at times. Her exams were pretty straight forward and it she was not a tough grader.
The lectures are very dry since Dr. Roncal only reads off the slides most of the time. However, she gives very simple and straightforward questions in her exams so the slides and Quizlets are all you need - I had no incentive to attend class and still did well.
Julissa is a very sweet professor who works to ease the stress of all students and is very considerate surrounding testing or extended dates, etc. She made the final multiple choice only to ease stress. While she is very sweet though she tends to just read her slides word for word so not much extra comes out of the lecture.
Very caring prof, the exams were all multiple choice for this semester which was nice they were very easy and straight forward. Laboratory work was reasonable and no part of it was required to do at home other than 2 quick to do pre labs.
Dr. Roncal is such a sweet prof. I had her for 2900 and 4250. I found in 2900 she was a little less involved but for 4250 she really shined and she was very good at teaching students about important methods in biology. I learned a lot from the course and her, and she was always willing to help me succeed. I personally found her very inspiring!
Professor Roncal just reads PowerPoint word for word. You get as much from attending lectures as you would just reading the slides on your own time.
Fully reads off the slides. Completes 45+ slides per class and leaves no time to take notes. Midterm was awful, I couldn't remember even being taught some things on there. Did not tell us what diagrams to study leaving students having to try and memorize copious amounts of diagrams just to put 2 on the midterm. Very unapproachable.
Julissa seems like a nice woman, but she cannot teach anything. Her lectures are 30+ slides with no time to take notes, she reads directly from the slideshow and adds nothing at all. The midterm was extremely difficult considering it's a 1st year biology course, there are no ways to boost your grade through assignments etc... don't take her class!
I had Julissa for 1001 and she only read off the slides and never added anything to it. Assigned 30+ slides a lecture. Midterms were lengthy and difficult. No assignments to boost marks just 2 midterms and a final.
I had her for bio1001 and she really just goes on and on just reading off the slides. And it is too many slides at once to even retain the information. Honestly could have never went to the course and got the same grade. The midterms are extremely difficult and are worth too much. You study and have to memorize over 200 questions for each test.
Avoid choosing Dr.Roncal. All she does is read off the dozens of slideshows (which contain around 30 slides per lecture) word for word. You'd get more out of the class by just doing it yourself on your own time. You're also only graded by very few assessments, so study hard for midterms. Pick another prof if you can.
During lectures, she READS the slides without adding new information or explaining the material in details. Her PowerPoints are not clear and the information is not complete. She said that we do not typically need the book, but without the book I wouldn't have been able to understand and study most of the material.
Dont take her class
. The lectures are overwhelming with 30 pages of notes, and the teacher mainly reads off slides without adding much value. Attendance isn't mandatory, and the instructor can be rude and unapproachable. The R assignments are also frustrating since coding isn't taught in class. Overall, this course has been a disappointing experience.
Don't take this course,
Wouldn't reccomend for bio 1001, she simply reads lecture slides word for word with no added explanations. Refuses to answer any questions and is very unapproachable, No ways to boost your mark, ive had more success teaching myself and have scored higher marks than people attending lectures. Pick a different prof.
This course is extremely difficult, with no way to boost marks besides your exams… you're basically set up for failure. The prof just reads off of slides and adds nothing of value, so you're better off just teaching it to yourself which is stressful when you have other courses to manage.
Julissa's lectures consist of an hour of slideshow reading. That's it. There are only 4 graded assignments through the year (2 midterms, 2 R assignments) and then the final. It's near impossible to stay awake in the lectures and you're better off just teaching the material to yourself. Good luck if you end up stuck with her.
Unapproachable, rude and condescending. Expects you to have the entire textbook memorized front to back and gives no hints on what could be on midterms / final exams. One of the worst professors I've ever had at MUN.
If you're reading this review PLEASE do not take this course. I'll tell you why; 1.) she just reads off slides 2.) only graded by a few things 3.) she's unapproachable 4.) lectures are so dry 5.) no boosting of marks 6.) expected to memorize entire textbook, with no hints 7.) worst course I've EVER taken in my 3 years at MUN
You get nothing out of these lectures, best to learn it at home…
Worse course I've taken at min. Tests and exams are unfair. Lectures are not helpful at all, had to learn the full course at home on my own.
Impossible to reach outside of class. Worst professor I've ever had at MUN; she couldn't teach a fish how to swim. She will test you on literally anything from the book and doesn't give any hints before midterms / finals (because she doesn't have them made until a week before the test date). Lectures are useless so buy the textbook and memorize it.
First Bio course I've taken, would not recommend this proff. Test Heavy, she reads directly off lecture slides and it is just as useful to read the lecture slides at home. There is coding assignments in this course which was unexpected for a biology course.
You get nothing from the lectures, have to teach yourself everything and to top it off the midterms are such blindsides. Do not take her classes.
Don't recommend taking this course. That is unless you want you're GPA to plummet:)
This course with Julissa is absolutely, and utterly HORRIBLE. Midterm 1: chapters 1,2,3,4,5,6, Midterm 2: chapters 6,7,8,9,10,11 Final exam: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 You have unexpected coding assignments, Julissa is rude and unapproachable DO NOT TAKE THIS COURSE!
Every single biology 1001 review is a 1/5. Shall I say more?
The lectures are incredibly dry, and no explanation is added while she reads the slideshows. You get as much out of the content as doing it yourself. This class is easily the worst I've taken this semester (coming from someone who originally loved biology). If you are doing this course, pick another professor if you can. 
Lectures are very dry, with Julissa reading the (~30) sides per class, word for word, adding nothing of value. We're only graded by a few things, and exams are very difficult being extremely advanced, and not being in her notes. The only way you'd know it is by memorizing the textbook, which is quite hard when we have FOURTEEN chapters on the final
Ode to Professor Roncal Oh, Julisa Roncal, in your ivory tower so tall, You claim to teach biology, yet barely know it at all. Your slides, mere regurgitations from a textbook's spine, Yet you read them aloud, line after line. Questions rise like hands in a restless sea, But answers? None—just your cold apathy.
Just read straight from the slides and give little to no explanation on topics. I loved high school bio and was excited to take this course but with her it made me hate biology.
I used to love biology, now, Julissa has deterred me from doing anything biology related .
Don't do it to yourself…she's a robot who only reads off slides doesn't say a word that isn't on the board. Has the personality and energy of a cinder block. DON'T DO IT.
I really do mean it when I tell you not to take this course with Julissa, genuinely one of the biggest regrets of my life. You're marked on five assessments in this course, two midterms, a final, and two coding assignments. That's it. This would be fine if these assessments were fair but they are far from it. They're complete blindsides.
Do NOT recommend professor Roncal. This class was horrible.
Do NOT take Julissa if at all avoidable. Seriously. Just DON'T
Taking this course, has made my mental health PLUMMET! Due to this course, I have sleepless night, with no free time so hang out with friends and family. This course has made me hate Biology, a subject I once loved
As someone who excelled in high-school biology, I assumed this course would be good. But Julissa has made this course nearly impossible; from just reading directly from slides, to being rude and unapproachable. I would only recommend this course with her, if you have a photographic memory.
Reads directly off the slides. Often seems confused with her own notes and in her lectures? This course took up my entirety of studying, resulting in a horrible mental state and no social life. Gives no ideas for exams or finals, and made them a week before the testing date. Coding assignments in biology? Very difficult to reach outside of class.
This course is ridiculously difficult. Being graded by only the midterms and finals, and coding assignment. The final exam covers 14 chapters, with Julissa just reading off slides, and no ideas of what will be on the exam. The coding “tutorials” are just assistants that say “ask if you have questions” . The labs are also very hard, and long,AVOID
I know what you're probably thinking; this is biology, I can just teach it to myself. That's what I though too, but Julissa makes this course torturous. From endless slides of disjointed information, to CODING assignment, to 3 hour labs… . I can say with confidence this is the worst course I've ever taken in my 4 years at MUN.
I put in numerous hours of study into this course, and I'm still failing. Slides have information that don't make sense, and the final with chapters: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13, and 14 is a complete blindside, considering she also combined chapters.
Whenever I bring up issues in this course, I'm always told, to “go to the help centre” or “go to PAL sessions”, but they don't understand that this isn't the issue, if I had time to read it all and didn't understand it, that would be fair, but I don't even have time to look at it all, and Julissa's slides are disjointed and take longer to read.
I switched classes to avoid Trela thinking she would be better, she was not. Her lectures are incoherent and overwhelming and she's a nightmare to get anything from outside of class. If you don't have to take bio 1001, don't. The course is poorly designed compared to other intro courses and it's hard to excel when you're graded on few assignments.
Run. Do not take this course with Julissa.
If you're reading this, and you're thinking of taking this course. DON'T. I don't even know you, but i care enough about you to save you from this torturous course
I was confused as to why she seemed confused at her own notes. I then realized it isn't even her slideshow of notes, i found the same set online. Notes are extremely hard to read, avoid taking this cousse!
I just did the math and there's ~35 slides per 31 lectures which is about (35x31)= 1085 slides, PLUS the textbook readings. Most science students have 4 courses on top of this, and this course ranges from complex biological processes, to laws of physics, to organic chemistry. This course is just too much, avoid if possible, or find new prof
There is a big issue with the Biol 1001 course as a whole. It basically sets most students up for failure. Julissa does not help at all in the difficulty of this course. Her midterms are absolutely horrible. Studied for nearly an entire month for the second midterm and felt very prepared and still ended up failing. Avoid Avoid Avoid!
I don't even have the words.
Didn't even have her as my prof but J I attended a couple of my friend's lectures. For your mental healths sake, don't take bio1001 if she's your prof.
Worst course ever. Almost impossible to pass. Literally the only way you could potentially do well is if you have a lot of free time to teach the course to yourself and read the whole textbook. DO NOT TAKE JULISSA
There's many issues with this course, there's 14 chapters to memorize, over one thousand slide + textbook readings. I just found out that the other bio 1001 isn't cumulative, but of course this course is… the amount of material, and difficulty of the exams, makes it impossible to do well, I promise you that you don't want to take this course.
This course is extremely difficult for a first year bio course. 14 chapters, 1000+ slides, coding assignments, and no extra assignments to boost your grade. Exams are very difficult. In the multiple choice its a,b,c,d, or e, and all the answered are basically the same, with a small tweak. The only way you'd know it is if you have the textbook known
Very rude and condescending, not approachable at all for questions. Says one thing will be on an exam and then doesn't even touch on the subject. Very reading heavy course (as to be expected) but if you don't have the textbook literally memorized by the back of your hand don't expect success. This course deterred me away from majoring in Biology.
Exam questions are extremely specific and unfair
My experience as a first year student with the prof was not good. She shows no passion for what she's teaching and just reads word for word off the slides without any elaboration. We are graded on two midterms and a final. no quizzes in the year to help us understand and when we want to ask her a question we have to go to a TA instead of her.
As a first year student as MUN I'm extremely disappointed about my my first biology semester went. Julissa shows no enthusiasm for her subject, just reading the 1000+ slides work for word, she gets upset when we ask question and won't answer emails. This course has made me not want to pursue biology. Professors are supposed to spark curiosity. Sad
Lectures are dry. Dr. Roncal cares enough about her students, but it's clear she isn't a fan of teaching BIOL1001. Regardless of her apathy, Biology 1001 is a genuine nightmare. I've taken all first-year lab sciences; biology is BY FAR the most poorly organized. Also; good luck getting in contact. She makes you email a TA who doesn't reply anyways.
She just reads directly off the slides for the entire period of the class it's so hard to sit through, she tells you to not email her with questions, (she dosent do tests or assignments leaving your grad solely based on the midterms and final) midterms have nothing to do with the slides,it's clear she doesn't even wanna be there.
literally horrible. her slides are illegible, they make no sense. she does not elaborate at all, she just reads off of her illegible slides. learned nothing from her except that sometimes textbooks are ten times more useful than a prof. also told us at the start of the semester to email her under no circumstances pretty much
This course is awful and badly organized. There's 14 chapters on the final, all of which are extremely dry. Julissa doesn't help by reading the slides word for word with no enthusiasm. I've noticed with this course, including labs people teaching it seem to hate this course, which isn't very inspiring to young students just entering university.
This course is utterly terrible. ~35 sides a class, 14 chapters on exam ranging from organic chemistry, to thermodynamics, to microbiology and fungus, coding assignment, 3 hour lab, with a final worth 10% of your grade, no mark boosters, disjointed and confusing slides, teaching with negative enthusiasm etc. What a poorly designed course. Shameful
Slideshows are AWFUL, there's no rhyme or reason for any of the information. It will just say something like “this happens when this does this' okay but why? How? When? What???? I'm left with more questions than answers.
Just no, no, no no. Don't even THINK about taking this course
This course is near impossible
Very difficult course, get ready to fail
Found her class absolutely awful, all she did was read out the slides. I really struggled to learn anything in her class.
This is a course that will always make you feel like you're drowning. Drowning in the amount of material, and the fact that it seems that no amount of study and practice that goes into this course gets you ahead.
15 chapters crammed into 3 months of classes 3 times a week is completely overwhelming and unnecessary, especially for a first year course.
This is an extremely difficult course for no reason at all. Julissa doesn't seem to know what she's doing half the time, and the amount of course material she crams into a 4 month first year course is downright ridiculous. There were well over 250 "possible" questions that could be on 1 test, let alone the final.
I would not recommend taking this course with her. It didn't seem like she cared for this course or the student's understanding of it. She didn't bother with any review or practice questions; she would tell people to email the TAs instead of her, and she also just read off the slides word for word with no additional information.
worse prof i've ever had. doesn't respond to emails. been waiting 24 hours for my final grade and didn't even communicate that there would be a delay. no communication, mid terms are unfair. would give 0 stars if there was the option.
Would never take her again. 0 communication even when I asked specific questions no guidance or support was given. Exams were borderline impassable. She's an awful teacher and should not be teaching especially not first year courses.
Julissa's slides barely graze the surface of what you're expected to know for the course. She had two midterms that a lot of the class did poorly on. However, her final was fair, as she said what diagrams would be on there and recycled a lot of multiple choice from the midterms. Wouldn't recommend unless you have the time to read 14 chapters :')
Would not recommend
I won't fault Julissa for the poor course structure, but she did make class unbearable. Her reading word-for-word from an incoherent slideshow made me want to bang my head against a wall. My success in this class came from reading the textbook and watching videos. In other words, her lectures were useless. She's also very unapproachable. Good luck!
This prof was not accessible. We were given 30+ slides a class and didn't teach the material just read it. Not going to this class would not have made a difference. This is a very heavy course however that is not the profs fault. However I would still not advise this prof
This class was terribly organized . The course load was overwhelming, with 14 chapters included in the final exam, consuming most of my study time. While the intensity of the course isn't solely Julissa's fault, her lack of accessibility and reliance on disjointed slides did not aid the situation. At times, I have night terrors thinking about it…
Very, very bad. Had to drop. Literally impossible no matter how much work you do.
She's very rude, and is very difficult to contact. Replies very unprofessionally to emails and does not give any student (first years specifically) any room for error. She does not offer any make-up midterms and is quite unpleasant to students who ask for extra credit after doing poorly on an assessment.
Do not take her class.
Do not take her class. The tests often have confusing wording and its easy to interpret questions as meaning something different then what shes asking. Going to class is basically pointless too as its impossible to take notes and she just reads directly off the slides. I learned more about the subject material from the labs then i did her class.
Julissa spends the class just reading off illegible slides, they literally make 0 sense. Even with referring to the textbook I was so confused. All learning took place outside of class. For this course I did about 30 hours a study a week, and still managed to do poor, due to the heavy material, and useless slides, weighting is also EXTREMELY unfair
It was SO BAD I want to give it a 0, but that's not possible so I give it a 1
Why do you hate your life and take it out on your students? Literally delay your degree if it means not taking her class.
Her teaching style is talking at you by reading off the slides. Not a good prof. She gave us a midterm where we were let into the lecture hall 15 minutes late and kicked out 5 minutes early - we were not given any extra time, very unorganized.
Dr. Roncal was an okay prof - not amazing, but better than her 1.5 rating suggests in my opinion. Not a fan of the BIOL1001 course as a whole, but her lectures were alright and got the job done for me, though I'm sure there are better options out there.
Class Info
Attendance Mandatory
11%
Textbook Required
11%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.04 avg changeRatings by Course
4250
5.0
(1)BIOL2010
3.4
(10)BIO2010
3.1
(7)BIOL2900
2.3
(4)2010
2.0
(2)Difficulty by Course
BIOL1001
4.7
4250
4.0
BIO2010
3.3
BIOL2900
3.0
BIOL2010
2.6