Terrible teacher, incredibly rude and unmannered outside of class, really not worth your time to talk to her. She's the organizer of bio 2960 and 2970, which makes sense because these classes are very disorganized. Doesn't know the material outside of her narrow brain-- thankfully she doesn't teach much of this class.

Prof. Hafer doesn't seem to care about students; I know she manages the grading for two intro Bio courses (Bio 2960& 2970) and therefore has a lot of administrative duties, but her attitude is very much "this is what happens, I don't really care about lack of transparency." She is also a horribly unclear lecturer (she sometimes subs for main profs)

I really, really, do not like Dr. Hafer. She is somewhat condescending to her students and once yelled at me when I went to her office to ask a question. I would avoid her and bio2960 if possible. She is a better lecturer for 2960 than the other professors, although that doesn't say too much, as they are all quite bad.

She's quite rude to students in lecture, and even more so outside of classroom. You get the sense that she does not want to interact with students at all. My friends and I joke that she should be sent to Fontbonne since she's just that awful.

Intro Bio is even worse than before now that she is the main lecturer. As a person she's unhelpful and curt with students. Her exams are horrendus. I studied exactly the same way and felt the same for exam 2 and 3 and I got a 95 and 65 respectively. Semantics on the exams screwed me out of so many points and the regrade policy ignores it. AVOID

A lot of the comments sum up this incredible professor in a nutshell, by which I mean that she is a nutshell. She picks and chooses biology topics to teach, which causes the class to not have a broader theme. The grading policy on tests is arbitrary, so you are better off dumping all the info that you know for each question. I preferred AP Bio.

do not recommend. at all.

Avoid. Horrible at lectures.

Literally just reads the powerpoint slides (which don't contain that much information). You're better off not coming to lecture and just reading the textbook

condescending. dont ask questions unless you want her to call you out in front of the class. not friendly. talks to herself when lecturing more than the class so often you have no idea what is going on. material is easy but she expects you to memorize very specific pieces of information

Awful teacher. It seems like she doesn't even understand half of the things she is teaching about. Reads off slides and is very condescending. Do not recommend.

Hafer does not care about her students at all and seems to go out of her way to make class harder. She is extremely rude and condescending when asked questions (and rarely even gives an answer), and she does not act like she wants to be giving a lecture at all.

Very unhelpful, does not know answers to some relatively basic question, is very not engaging lecturer

Avoid at all costs. She only read off of her slides, word for word. She has a very condescending tone, and beware of asking for help because she will attack you for asking basic questions. I've asked many questions and the only answer she gives is "because that's the way it is." Your best bet is crash course instead of lectures.

You're literally graded on random chance. Example of a question that would be on a test in this class: "List some colors that start with the letter 'S.'" The students answer: "Sandy brown Sangria Sapphire Scarlet Seashell Sepia Sky Blue Slate grey Smalt Spring bud Spring green" The grading: 0 pts. Did not include steel blue.

For a professor that says she's dedicated to teaching, she sure seems to hate her students and TAs. Seems to genuinely dislike her students, and yells at people for asking questions during class. Also seemed to have problems with the TAs and yelled at one on a Zoom call five minutes before class started. Not very accessible outside of class either.

Terrible person and professor. She hates her students and her colleagues, can't lecture without reading off the slides, and can't answer basic questions. Not accessible either in or out of class. When she has a bad day, she takes it out on her students. The tests and quizzes are not terrible but the grading is ridiculously unfair.

For a school that is ranked number 10 for their biology program, I have no idea how Professor Hafer landed a job. It's pretty obvious she enjoys being there less than her students by the way she treats her colleagues and TAs. I think that she would be better off working at a public high school. Also, she overuses the adjective squishy. Not good.

Worst teacher I have ever had period. If 0 was a rating option I would give it.

It's apparent that Kath Hafer hates people and hates her job. All she does is read from a powerpoint slide that is written at a level of bio not understandable for people who haven't taken ap bio. If you're like me and didn't take ap bio, you will have to teach yourself everything.

Absolutely useless professor. I have no idea how she was assigned to be in charge of intro bio. Refused to answer students questions, and often ridiculed students for asking questions when it was clear that she just did not know the answer herself. Should be fired

DO NOT TAKE PHAGE!!! I am warning you guys this class was so bad. They advertise this as a fun awesome class where you get to do research but that is absolutely not the case. She is boring, has no energy, and puts the entire class to sleep. I drink 2 cups of coffee and somehow still fall asleep in her class.

Nonexistent is the only one day that you guys are going on and what is happening in your room lol and I hope youre having fun and enjoying yourself and your life together too bro love and merry thanksgiving to heaven bless your lord bless.

Be ready to study a lot on your own. She reads off the slides and you have to figure out where to go from there.

Not nice

Very unprofessional and not very helpful at all. This is an intro class and she acts like every question is a dumb one. I understand it's a large class but I still wish she would be nicer and more willing to help students. I am a transfer student retaking intro to bio AND I took AP bio, but if I hadn't I would definitely really struggle

She's hurt the souls of every students she has taught

you would be better off watching crash course videos than attending her lectures. Rude and unhelpful 0/10, rounding down.

Does not have the knowledge to answer student questions, and sometimes refused to answer them. The class is run very poorly and is very disorganized.

Im shocked she is a professor considering she literally hates her students and has zero patience, organization, or clarity. Doesn't explain what we need to know for quizzes or exams. She told us in lecture we "didn't need to know" some information then put questions directly related to that material on a quiz that week.

Frankly, I am horrified that Prof. Hafer is still allowed to teach bio 2960. Success is dependent on previous knowledge and the slides provided for lecture. Hafer read off of the slides, did not allow us to ask her questions before or after class, and was disrespectful towards students. I have never experienced a more terribly taught class.

terrible. couldn't care less about teaching. shows up and reads the slides. her voice is annoying.

The way this course is taught is absolutely awful. lecturers may be nice people but they do not know how to teach at all. they read off slides everyday and expect us to soak up a bunch of details and information like we're einstein or something. also it hurts more because my highschool didnt have a strong biology program so im struggling

She is very unapproachable when asking questions. She clearly shows no passion for biology, teaching, or even students so I am not sure why she is a professor. If you ask a question, you will most certainly receive a demeaning response. In class, students can often be seen doing other work. The other professor, Dr. Kunkel, is noticeably better.

The 2960 profs never write anything on the board, and instead read slides (many of which are just blocks of text) at a conversational pace. I genuinely think it's impossible to take decent notes in real time for their lectures. They also used the exams being online/open-note as an excuse to make the questions extremely subjective and ambiguous.

lectures are very fast-paced; impossible to take any decent notes; weekly quizzes do not represent the level of difficulty of the midterm and final exams

Very poor instructor. Simply reads off the (very content heavy) slides and does nothing more. Extremely unenthusiastic, making lectures boring and useless. She also disregards student questions and is very rude towards them, creating an overall hostile and unwelcoming environment. The class itself isn't too hard, but prepare to teach yourself.

Kathy Hafer is not only one of the worst professors, but one of the worst of people. She doesn't care for students or her fellow faculty in the slightest and it shows. She yells at students, denies to answer pertinent questions, and is absurdly arrogant. The class is required for many so push through it, and don't let Hafer define WashU professors.

Kathy Hafer cares so little about this class and about the students in it. Expect monotony, reading of slides, and extremely difficult to understand rambles. I barely made it through this class. Kunkel is better, but not by a lot. Hafer is the worst lecturer I have had at WashU.

HAFER is hilariously bad. She yells at students for her own mistakes. Only teaches the class because no one else wants to take her place for fear that they will also have their reputation tainted. She is not accessible outside of class and her feedback is that you should've known better. Class is so disorganized I learned more in high school.

Sometimes (a lot of the time), reads off of the slides and struggles to explain the material. Cannot explain disputed content well, and the ambiguity of test and quiz questions warrants contesting the 'correct' answers. Attendance should not be necessary and most of the content could be found on public websites. The textbook is virtually worthless.

I have heard people like her when they have her in bio lab but does not excuse her being bad at teaching. You can't just read the slides and expect that to make sense to students who have not taken AP Bio. Do not take this class unless you have enough drive to self teach or need it as a requirement.

Kathy was not a good lecturer, she is pretty monotone and it got kind of boring. She didn't seem happy when anyone asked questions and always brushed them off. Not very invested in students.

It sucks to say that BIO 2960, a core Pre-Med class at WashU has been probably the worst class I have taken in my life. She sounds like she doesn't know what she's talking about in lectures and refuses/dodges people's questions. She is also extremely rude and has no passion for teaching. Exams are poorly worded and contain niche questions.

This class was horrible. Lectures were very boring and she just read off the lecture slides. Very unhelpful and therefore the exams were much more difficult than I expected. Extremely specific and little partial credit.

It's hard to enjoy learning biology when the prof seems to had learning, teaching, and students in general. Hafer constantly brought a bad attitude to class and was very dismissive and rude when asked questions.

Does not seem to love what she teaches... and that is a MAJOR problem. Can't spread inspiration without seemingly caring about the subject...

Reads off her PowerPoint

reads of the slides in slow motion and proceeds to explain absolutely nothing. Baffles me how she is still employed. dont take this class unless you are sleep deprived and want an hour nap per day

Not going to lie, I didn't go to lecture because it was such a waste of time. She read off the slides the whole time. Loved biology until I had to take it with her here.

It's clear that Hafer has a passion for her students, but her lectures are sometimes boring and I find it easier if I just studied in my dorm instead of going to lectures.

she reads her slides

Hafer reads off of the slides and does not add much regarding expertise. Though she will stop and ask questions, she can rarely answer them, which is disappointing. If you have taken AP Bio before, it may be okay that she does not teach the material, but for first-time Bio learners, the lack of actual explanation and guidance makes it tough.

Even during help sessions, she acts irritated at students for asking questions & not understanding content, when all she does in lecture is read off the slides. The material wasn't that bad, but tests & quizzes can be difficult.

had not taken ap bio and this class was incredibly difficult. test grading criteria is super specific to the point where they are actively trying to find points to take off your grade.

So frustrating. Refuses to answer questions about content, during or after lecture. Grading on exams is disorganized, takes forever, and takes off silly points. Impossible to get above a 95 on an exam. Luckily exams are worth very little. I love bio but this made me hate it. I wonder how many kids she turns away from bio.

Professor is extremely harsh and will pick on people in class. Lecture is very boring and not taught well. Avoid at all costs

Awful lecturer - nearly impossible to take notes from her class as she rambles through large amounts of content rather quickly by reading off of slides and no additional explinations. Kinda ridiculous that shes teaching and intro bio course at a school full of premeds. if you didn't take bio in high school, this class is gonna suck a lot

Easy to do well cause its pure memorization of vocab and diagrams. Awful lecturer. I don't think I've ever met a professor who consistently answers questions without answers.

I enjoy biology, and I was able to succeed in it, but Prof. Hafer's teaching style was NOT good. She read right off the slides, which isn't a problem by itself, but her voice is so monotone and she seems very unenthusiastic about teaching. I learnt 5x better when a different professor taught a lecture, even with the same read-off-the-slides style.

Horrible lecturer. Can not explain a concept to save her life. Completely disrespectful during class too. Might be the worst thing I've come across as a student.

she is genuinely only bearable on 2x speed. otherwise, it is not worth going to lectures when she just reads the slides. like i can do that on my own time much faster. exams are doable but you honestly need to study every single slide bc everything is up for grabs. exam averages r in 70s-low 80s.