Wonderful, helpful made this class the best!

very helpful! Definetly made the class more enjoyable and fair. Excellent!

Very fun class! She's sort of lenient with the class exercises and lab reports, so the course isn't hard at all. She is also very helpful both in class/lab and outside of class. Provides final exam practice questions that are similar to the actual exam. End up doing pretty well but too bad it's only 1 credit.

She's pretty helpful and easy to understand! She makes the class really fun and interesting. Best lab course I've ever taken :)

Super nice, easy to talk to. The only thing she could improve on is her level of technicality in her explanations. Her answers to questions seem very "hand-wavy" sometimes, which is annoying, but I understand that she is only trying to cater to as many people as possible. Thanks :)

Karen was very clear in her expectations of your learning. They laid it out exactly what you needed to know so you could focus your studying. I probably studied the least I ever have and came away with an A. She asks the class if they understand before moving on, unlike some of her peers who just assume you know everything. She's funny too :)

She's an easygoing person who loves Clicker questions and in-class activities. She likes to laugh and make jokes, so class was usually entertaining. Really tried to make sure everyone was on top of things, I felt. Great prof!

This is a tough course; Karen is a good prof but sometimes I got the feeling she didn't really know what she was talking about.

Good professor, but have to do prereading before her class. Nice person!

Nice and interesting! Certain concepts she should prepare more for; she gets flustered often. She loves her laser pointer, but it's not too distracting. Do try to get to know her as I think it'll help; she tends to spend more time answering questions for people she likes/knows.

She was really good at explaining the concepts of the material, though she went over quite a few each lecture so it was hard to remember them all. She was very helpful during office hours and had office hours pretty much everyday.

Explains concepts clearly. No complaints.

She tries to keep you entertained and interested in class. Not really clear on what is going to be on exams. I would say her biggest flaw would be she refuses to scale.(I know bio is not supposed to be "scaled" but she objects to even taking out a few questions to upgrade the class avg)

Highly recommended prof! She is the course coordinator for Biol 112. She's pretty funny... she makes us laugh a lot! She's a good instructor if you listen to everything she says, so pay attention! This course covers a LOT of detail - also use lecture slides and textbook reading to help you study. Review sheet allowed, so this course is pretty good.

Very nice, fun and engaging! I found tests quite fair and had about equal amounts of material from both lectures and textbook.

Best Prof in my 1st year at UBC (science)

Kare Bear is a super cool prof and has great style! Sometimes I go to class just to see what she is wearing!! Her lectures are interesting and she is a funny lady with platinum blonde hair!

The tests are extremely tough. You have to be extremely pedantic and know how to apply all the concepts from lectures and online assignments, which is pretty normal for a university-level class. Classes are useful to go to if you want to reinforce the knowledge you already have from pre-reading quizzes, and also if you want participation marks.

This class was the class that I dreaded going to the least. Lectures were not always the most interesting but she told bad jokes sometimes that were, to me, funny. At the end of the term she gave us chocolates and even sang us a song, she was such a sweet prof.

Responds well to student feedback to tailor her lectures to students weaknesses. Very funny and sweet (gave us all chocolate on easter and sang for us on the last day of class).

Very sweet and kind. Lots of information in the course and it isn't particularly interesting, but she made lectures bearable. Exams were easy if you made a good cheat sheet and had a basic understanding of the concepts. Willing to help, but I'd recommend seeing her outside of class instead of asking during lecture because she tended to be brief.

One of the best first year profs in my opinion. She tries her best to make the course content easy to understand. To be successful in her Bio 112 course, you need to attend class, listen carefully in class, do the pre-class quizzes, do the weekly readings posted online, and lastly review the lecture notes online before midtermsexam.

Dr. Smith's lectures seemed slightly unorganized, but she is definitely there for you. The textbook is virtually useless (besides pre-reading quizzes) since the content on the exams is exclusively from her lecture slides and in-class activities. Uses the LaunchPad for weekly quizzes.

Great prof! Her lecture notes are amazing! Super nice and always willing to help.

If I could retake her class I would. Dr. Smith is beyond amazing and hands on the best prof I had in my first semester in UBC. So much respect for her, she was truely amazing.

Sometimes her lectures can seem boring or unorganized but overall she is a fun prof. She calls you out if you sleep in class, but generally keeps things lighthearted. If you study her lecture slides thoroughly, you can do well on your exams. I would recommend her to those who can't focus on lengthy reads. Attend class for clickers/class activities

SHe was super kind and had easy homework and midterms. The final was also simple. The readings can get a bit annoying but the reading quizzes help you figure out whats important and whats not.

Karen is a great prof, I wish I liked Biology more. She can be confusing, so see her outside of class and she is more than happy to help. Bio of a Cell is a detailed class and she tries to make it as interesting as it possibly can because students will sleep and she does call you out on it. I recommend her was a prof.

Kind and caring prof that really tries to ensure that the class understands the material. The occasional worksheets we get in class are super helpful as well, they encourage you to discuss the topics with your surrounding peers and grasp the knowledge yourself. She cracks nice jokes too!

Karen was an amazing BIO 200 prof! 10/10 recommend her lecture. I was scared of this class because I heard it was hard but got 10% above average on first md (hint: go to office hours for this class if you dont understand what going on).

Amazing teacher! Made Monday mornings great again! Very cheerful and happy attitude really grabs your attention, the exams were tough across all sections but with her teaching/slides, it was definitely doable! Recommended!

Amazing! Would recommend her section 10 times over. I hope I have her for my other biology courses.

A solid professor. You can tell Karen cares about her students. Her voice was a bit annoying at 9 am, but that can be dealt with. She posts her slides online and there are no surprises in the class.

I really liked Karen for this class! I find she explains concepts really well and there's a ton of in class activities to clarify everything. She's also really entertaining hahaha we're doing cellular respiration right now and she made a Maroon 5 mashup to SUGAR and sang it to the class. And then gave us chocolate. Really caring and I'd recommend!!

She's the honestly the sweetest prof in UBC. Super nice and super caring towards her students. Shes very flexible with her assignment deadline depending on your current course load, but you still have to work hard in her courses.

It was an absolute pleasure having Karen as my prof. The course overall is not a hard course but for those topics that were a little difficult, Karen explained with ease. She is so enthusiastic and I love how passionate she is about the material she teaches. She cares a lot about her students and wants them succeed. Highly recommend her!!!

she was absolutely awesome. explains everything really well. her lecture slides were great. super engaged and funny. love her a lot. entertaining and caring. exams weren't very hard.

I took this course as my science elective, and I think she's a pretty good prof. She's really nice and explains concepts well (she does make corny jokes though). It is also not too difficult to do well in her class if you're willing to put in the work. If you can, attend class for those easy participation marks (they can boost your grade a bit).

Karen is one of the most caring professors at UBC! She is easily approachable and her lectures are very straight-forward. She posts her lecture slides after class but attending class is an easy way to get a good mark!

Karen makes her lectures interesting and easy to understand. She is an enthusiastic professor that is willing to help students! Her iclicker questions and in-class worksheets are great because they help me know where I need to improve. If you put in the effort for BIOL 112 you would do well in her class :)

She often makes mistakes with her iclicker questions. Sometimes she is a bit unclear with explanations. She's very nice and caring but I honestly found her very boring. It might also because I found the course itself rather dull. But overall she's a decent prof.

She's a wonderful professor that conveys the lecture material well. Her slides could be better, though; it's hard to distinguish the lecture material from all of the random clicker questions she puts everywhere, and sometimes, especially at the end of the term, they were straight up wrong (so she would fix them during lecture). Easy class though.

Very sweet person who loves bacteria! Didn't really keep up with the lectures and crammed for the exams but her slides are very clear and straight forward easy to use for review. Really tried to keep the class engaged through lots of clicker questions and worksheet - "half sheet" - activities.

Karen was funny and tried her best to keep the lecture material engaging. Her slides were a little confusing when you go back to review (especially if you've been skipping class), but other than that I enjoyed it. Although I'd say going to class isn't mandatory to understand the material, clicker questions and worksheets are for marks

Karen is a fantastic lecturer or first and second year courses! After BIOL 112, I took her BIOL200 class, even if it was at 8am :( She is super accessible, very wiling to go through the practice problems for you in office hours and tries her best to be helpful, engaging and funny (she is.)

While her lectures aren't always the most organized, she really makes an effort to explain things clearly and is especially helpful outside of class (go to office hours). You can tell she cares about her students and wants them to do well.

Lectures can be confusing and a little hard to follow sometimes but she always takes questions and keeps class engaging with the activities/jokes/singing (AMAZING)/etc.. Yeah, she's pretty cool and really nice!

Really cute, caring, and engaging prof. She wrote a song and sang in the lecture for us! She made her own slides. The information is straightforward enough and mostly everything is covered in the slides. But practice from question sets is necessary for better grades. What I hated was the wording in the exams - really confusing sometimes so watchout

Karen is so nice, she loves teaching and she always has a way of keeping you awake in class! Her lecture slides are super helpful to study for midterms and she loves to have students in her office hours. Don't hesitate to take a class with her. You won't regret it.

Karen is an amazing prof! As long as you spend time doing the practice questions she posts on canvas, and attend class most of the time you will do well. She is super caring and is always there for extra help if need be. There are 3 TA's that always host tutorials right before the midterm.

I love Karen!! She just makes going to lecture so fun and really cares about first year students adjusting to university. Added bonus that she teaches the material really well too.

Karen is a real gem! She is so quirky and so cute, she loves to write little songs to sing for the class. She expects you to do all the work assigned, but it is in your best interest to do the work she tells you to. She really wants her students to succeed, and this is clear through her in depth slides which tell you everything you need to know.

Karen Smith is such an adorable professor! She's so sweet and friendly, and everybody loves her. Attending lectures is hardly necessary since all her slides are extremely detailed and online, but sometimes there will be the unexpected "half sheets" that we fill out to get participation marks. Also, prepare for a lot of pre-reading.

She does a great job of explaining concepts in lecture. She has a fantastic personality and is often cracking jokes or making fun of herself. The only issue I had was that she sometimes seemed to not understand student's questions in lectures and went off on an only semi-related tangent without directly answering the student. Overall, a great prof.

SUPER kind person and great teacher! We had midterm that ended pretty late and she cancelled our 9am class the next day. Excellent slides and in-class activities will be similar to exam questions. She also has more office hours during exam weeks, which is really helpful as well.

Although she takes quite a while to start class and her humour isn't great, Karen's lectures are easy to follow and informative. Pre-readings are a joke, and her exams are based almost entirely on her lectures and class activities. Activities are graded loosely. Her regular office hours are helpful. However, she does try to make you think on exams.

amazing teaching style! this class is insanely fun & karen's slides are so good

karen is very catering to her students and willing to tailor her lectures to what her students want. she's very passionate about biology which helps spark my interest in biology too. she's very sweet and caring and her office hours are helpful

a great prof and person in general. she's funny and caring and an effective teacher

Lectures were online so things were rusty in the beginning but overall, she's a good prof and has excellent slides!

Make sure to pre-read! She's a really good prof but you'll do well if you come to class prepared. You'll be extremely engaged if you complete all the pre-reading quizzes and ask questions in class. She's always willing to help. Also provides a lot of practice worksheets which are the key to doing well in this class.

Karen is an amazing prof!!! She's funny and kind. You can tell she really cares about her students and always tries to make sure everyone understands the material. Office hours are super helpful!!! Lots of opportunities such as clickers and mini-homework assignments to get participation marks.

Great prof, better person. However I found a lot more value doing the class prep as opposed to attending lectures. Very content heavy, and lecture pace is fast, so make sure to really study/learn when you do the pre reads (there is A LOT). Course design is probably best structure I've ever seen, with clear class prep schedule/resources to practice.

Karen's slides are extremely useful, covering the exact content on the midterms and finals. Studying her slides alone is much more effective than reading the textbook in my opinion. I found the course itself to be pretty boring (I am not a huge biology fan), but Karen taught it well and provided more than enough resources to succeed on the exams.

Karen is an awesome prof! She has funny jokes to make zoom class less boring, and in the last two classes, she transformed lyrics to songs to help us understand harder concepts, and EVEN SANG THEM for us!! Her lectures are focused on learning objectives, so you will never miss a thing that will be tested as long as you attend class:))

Prof Karen is a great prof with lessons that outlines ideas you will need to know for midterms and exams. There is quite a bit of reading for the course in order to gain good understanding. Overall she is great and creates a good class atmosphere even online!

Prof Karen is amazing! Bio 112 Is pretty easy if you do the readings in advance, and if not she's always there after lectures to ask questions. She also breaks up her lectures with jokes here and there, and occasionally gives out prizes for assignments. Sometimes she'll say... questionable things in class but other than that she was an amazing prof

Probably one of the best profs I've ever taken. Karen is easily accessible and makes her office hours very clear. She is easily approachable and provides individual effective guidance on how to do well in the course. Her teaching team, exams, and policies are largely in favor of the students, and I couldn't be happier taking this course with her.

Karen generally cares about her students wellbeing. This course requires a lot of pre reading and preparation before class but I find her canvas site very organized and easy to follow. Her office hours is usually quite helpful and she offer good exam studying tips.

Overall, Karen was great. She would cover all the testable content and tell you what you could skip over and what you needed to focus on. Her lectures were extremely organized by content and by chapter which helped a lot when studying. She was also HILARIOUS and brought prizes to class.

Dr. Smith's class was something I actually looked forward to. Although bio can be a heavy subject, she clearly outlines exactly what you need to know, and is always available to answer questions/re-explain material. Her slideshows were good and all the content for the course was easily accessible and well organized. Absolutely take her class.

Compassionate, caring, and knowledgable, Karen was a great prof for first semester transition to Uni. As the course coordinator she made all learning objectives and testable content clear. Midterm avg was low, but final avg for my section was 84. Tutorials were mandatory but easy. Group project also easy and grade booster. Take Karen if you can :)

The grading for this course was very fair --> a lot of engagement marks, pre-reading assignments, small assessments that make up a big part of your grade. Don't worry about your grades as soon as you put the work into it. Her lectures are enthusiastic, not monotone so morning classes are no problem.

Genuinely cares for students, not a tough grader but is fair. Sends grades out as soon as possible. Only thing is, there's a lot of reading before each class but its not that hard!

Don't get me wrong, Karen is one of the kindest most caring profs I have had. But! She isn't a very good teacher, her slides aren't helpful and if you ask difficult questions she isn't totally knowledgeable. You aren't at a major disadvantage being in her class but there are better alternatives.

Great prof! In BIOL 112, her slides were very detailed and were all you needed to study for the midterm/final. Very funny in lectures and was always available to answer questions.

The kindest prof EVER!! Her lecture slides are helpful but make sure to pay attention while she is teaching since it is easy to fall behind in course material. She provides a lot of worksheets online for you to practice for the final and midterms which is nice. Also funny during class too. 10/10!!!!

Prof Smith was very caring and provided a lot of practice for success

Dr. Smith is a hillarious and caring prof. I had her for BIOL 112. She offers tons of free participation marks for things like iClicker, and a good bit of the course is just weekly reading quizzes. The only criticism I have is that for BIOL 112 in general, the wording can be vague on mt/final questions which makes them easy to get wrong

Nice prof. Bio 112 has an insane amount of content for a first-year level course, but she breaks it down into different grading criteria (e.g., midterms, MLM tests, etc.) for a chance for you to get the highest grade possible. Lectures can be dry at some times because of the topic.

Very fair. Must attend 80% of lectures. One midterm and 3 easy tests. Weekly textbook readings and pre class quizzes every Monday. No lecture Fridays! Kind of slow lectures - sometimes had trouble getting through all the slides in adequate time, which resulted in topics being carried into the following week.

Very sweet and caring prof. Loved her energy and enthusiasm for the content and her personal stories at the start of class. Iclickers were helpful, and midterm was very fair. Would recommend her 10/10!

Best prof I had the entire semester. BIOL 112's course content can get boring, but her lecture slides + recordings go pretty in detail about what you need to know for the midterm + final. Such a sweet person, had frequent office hours, and all-around a great prof to have.

She is very sweet and funny. I had her BIOL 112 class and I found she gave a lot of helpful resources and I could stay on track the whole term.

Great prof who explains the concepts well! As long as you attend lectures and keep up with the content, everything should be fine.

Karen is sweet, engaging, and humorous. She hosts frequent office hours every week and does an excellent job explaining questions. Her lectures can be heavy but with a bit of work and pre-reading it is very easy to follow. Plenty of grade-boosters (such as the MLM quizzes) - amazing prof to have!

Professor Smith is a caring and engaging instructor. The course has a lot of content, but she provides helpful resources like slides and practice materials to succeed. unstuckstudy was a great study aid alongside the textbook. Overall, an enjoyable class.

Probably my favourite teacher out of all my first year teachers. Shes funny, caring and an overall great teacher. If you took Bio 12 in highschool, then you pretty much know like half the material. The weekly readings and quizzes were kinda meh, but honeslty not bad. Her lecture slides were fun and not boring. I would def take her class again

RETIRED PROF, Karen was pretty decent and a gem to be missed from the MBIM dept. She did struggle with time management but the most important for you to know is that she's retired now! SHE's RETIRED