2.3
Quality4.1
Difficulty27%
Would Retake109
Reviews27%
Would Retake
109
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
9
4
19
3
16
2
18
1
47
What Students Say
“Everything before the midterm is easy-peasy lemon squeezy”
BIOL361 - 3.0 rating“Textbook barely used--recommended to share with someone”
BIOL325 - 4.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
69%
Textbook Required
50%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.12 avg changeRatings by Course
BIOL361
4.0
(5)BIO121
4.0
(1)BIOL125
4.0
(1)BIOL121
3.8
(6)BIOL364
3.5
(2)Difficulty by Course
BIO204
4.8
BIOL204
4.6
BIOL201
4.4
BIO325
4.0
BOIL204
4.0
Reviews (109)
Loves to use Simpson sound effects in class. Not very hard but often spends a lot of time on irrelevant information. Also loves to read off slides during lectures.
Not a great lecturer, pretty much as monotone voice, so students usually just get lost in what he says & lose track. Not very good at explaning concepts, tends to go in circles, takes several tries. Typos in powerpoint.
I hate to say negative things about this guy because he seems really nice but he's a terrible teacher. Avoid if possible. He'll probably leave you more confused than you were before.
can't pay attention more than 5 minutes. Should've switched out after first day.
He's decent.. got better as the year went on. Give the guy a break, he's a first-time prof and I'm sure he'll improve with more courses under his belt. He really took our recommendations to good use..
He is an awesome prof for a first timer. He really wanted to know about what we wanted to learn and how. He asked frequently and tried his best to improve his teaching. I bet he ll be even better next year
One sentence summary: friendly prof who tries his best (in most areas - see below) but ultimately leaves much to be desired. He doesn't always post notes on time (more often than not), and he rambles on and not always in the same direction (no accent, at least). Overall, the course is interesting, especially after the midterm, but not that great.
He's a very funny guy, not the best prof tho. He is new tho, so i'd give him a chance. I emailed him with a question the day before the final and he responded with a very helpdul thorough answer. He's very helpful if you to him for help...lectures can get boring tho...but whats new there for a bio course?
really disorganized prof... notes dont get posted in time.. rushes through everything when he realizes hes out of time.. doesnt cover all the slides in his lectures (and these are STILL included in his midterms)
Prof was interesting in the beginning, but started to drone on and on later in the course. VERY boring and VERY disorganized. He decides to not provide the answers to previous final exams, which threw out all possibilities of practicing for the exam, since his notes don't integrate with the exams at all.
started out interesting and got boring really fast... his notes tend to be scattered and it's hard to tell what's important. also likes to answer "riight....." when you ask a confusing question. best advice is to make your own notes from his and the text, the stuff he said in lectures confused me more than it helped me.
He will keep rambling on and on (boring), attempting to explain concepts but will make you even more confused in the end. Plays random clips from movies that are supposed to demonstrate the concepts in class (they don't). One good thing is that he posts audio files of his lectures.
Could have learned what he taught in a day in 5 min. Spends way to long on useless asides. He recycles his slides so once you've seen one lecture you've seen them all. likes to make "you" the animal says stuff like "if you were a fish". No I am not a fish! find a better example or go home. over all the course material= 3 review articles and a book.
Awesome prof. Really tried hard to help us get the best mark possible. He's funny and gives great examples.
Very fair prof - always willing to lend a hand, more than willing to help out students who ask for help. Puts in way more effort to help students succeed than any other prof I've had.
Considerate and fair. You will not be disappointed if you are willing to work hard in his class. He always helps students who come into his office hours. Great course
His lecture is easy to follow, good clicker questions, fair exams. Really good prof, who cares about everyone's success (especially marks, which is good thing).
Terrible professor, extremely unfair exams and marking scheme. Material was very easy comprehend but still somehow managed to screw people over with his marking scheme. Doesen't respond to emails and is unreliable. Strange lecture structure and way to convey information
Avoid this class if he is the proff!!! He is a nice guy but horrible teacher. He doesn't reply to emails and comes to each class late and disorganized. Nobody knew how to study and we were tested on useless information such as pitot tubes instead of animal locomotion. I learned nothing and dreaded his lectures.
He is not bad, make sure follow and pay attention to his lecture and what he emphasize is important.
I think he's getting better at teaching, this year he posted voice over lectures on connect which was super helpful. The marking isn't consistent in this class because most of the people helping him mark have to be taught some of the material, this should improve over time. Overall he was a bit disorganized but made it super interesting.
He seems like a nice guy but his lectures are very confusing and i never know what the important parts of his lectures are. They just kind of ramble on .. and theyre not clear. I leave more confused than ever.
Really tries hard to make this course as easy as possible. About 75% of the midterm and final exam questions were from practice questions. The content is hard to get, but he's really helpful during office hours and is very patient. He goes out of his way to make his students get the concepts, not just memorization.
Lectures are hard to get but powerpoint video recordings of the slides plus voice-overs by him are posted up. I found him to be better composed in the videos and easier to listen to. In lecture, he shows so additional videos that are somewhat helpful in understanding course material. Textbook barely used--recommended to share with someone.
This isn't an easy course, but it's an incredibly interesting one. Ken is a great prof. His online notes are crystal clear about what you need to know, and he himself is a great guy. Really goes out of his way to help you understand. Go to his office hours if you're having trouble! He's super helpful and very patient.
I love Ken Savage as a person. He's funny, genuinely caring and very personable. Additionally, he's dedicated and he designed Biol 325 from scratch. He's also an above average lecturer in terms of fun but not clarity. The big picture of the class is often shrouded and it's very challenging to determine what he wants you to get out of his lectures.
He tried to be funny in class, and tries to make the course a less dreadful than it already is. Everything before the midterm is easy-peasy lemon squeezy. But then right after the midterm, you get whacked with a ton of information, and barely any time to digest it, before he goes on to the next topic. So many pathways, and he isn't very clear
The content of the course is interesting but there is a lot of it to learn. He goes extremely fast in lectures which makes it hard to learn the new concepts, but there is so much to cover so he has to go fast.
I really enjoyed this class. He makes the classes very engaging and gives you a ton of opportunity to practice and really focuses on the important stuff. Recommended
He's a good prof and makes the subjects interesting. With him as prof, the whole course is based on just a few worksheets and if you learn how to do them well, you're set. Grades are based off midterms and final which is pretty standard. Would definitely recommend him as a prof, especially if you like worksheets.
Great prof, really funny lectures. Tells fun stories.
Okay prof. Didn't have an accent, but the way he spoke made it hard for me to follow along in lecture. Gave a lot of time for group worksheets in class which I thought was kind of pointless since people just gave up and did other things. Tests were all written and grading criteria were often strange. Looked for specific things but was not explicit
Nice prof with good lecture slides. However, he spends a lot of class time on a few worksheets that he doesn't give clear answers to. His midterm had a bunch of questions that were based on examples he mentioned in class but weren't on his slides. Overall a decent prof but be careful with the exams
My favourite first year science prof, he is very very caring and understanding towards his students. His explanations are thorough if you follow along (they can get a bit confusing -but I felt as if that was a presenting or communicative issue). If you go to him directly he explains things perfectly. Look at the keys!!!!!!!!!
He explains things clearly, he provides work sheets, pre-reading quizes and homeworks and many useful materials. As long as you pay attention to his lectures and do all the works, you should be fine.
His lecture slides were really well made and clear. He delivered his points well and the material was overall pretty easy to understand. He seems to care a lot about his students and tried to give as much marks as he could to improve grades. He was really passionate about what he was teaching and made it easy to listen to in class.
Lectures were very thorough and easy to follow. Available outside the classroom. Very approachable and funny. However kind of a hard marker because he always looks for very specific way of explaining things.
Dr. Savage is a decent lecturer and attempts to make the course more interesting with videos and activities. However, he is a strict marker.
Nice professor, super patient, and genuinely cares about students. Will sit with you till you understand concepts and is not condescending at all. Lectures are pretty good - he mentions a lot of key concepts and tips for how to answer exam questions so attend, pay attention, and take notes. Course is pretty easy to pass.
Why is it only my 3rd class with him and I already am on rate my professor? Anyways this guy is so boring. Lecture slides are useless. He is ALL over the place. Reminds me of my high school bio teacher who can't teach at all. This is so annoying
Super strict grader on tests. Somewhat of a convoluted grading system. 3 marks does not always mean 3 discussion points and no clarification on when it does and doesn't. Took him almost 5 days to answer an email about the midterm, answered it in an unhelpful way at 6pm the night before the exam. I wouldnt take this class if you can avoid it
Tests were very hypothetical and questions were extremely misleading
He seems to be a knowledgeable prof, but the students need to understand his message and what he really want and expect them to know. His tests are extremely difficult, he cares about very specific details for an introductory class. Tests and exams were brutal with less than 50 percent average on the first midterm. Hard class and not enjoyable.
LOTS OF MATERIAL!! he covers stuff very quick and brief so it is hard to follow along. His questions are okay, but when you answer them he expects a lot of information. The class was dreadful!
He is a TOUGHHHH grader. First midterm average was like 50 percents. He explains ok and his lecture slides are really useful but he looks for VERY specific pieces of info on his tests. Over all if you avoid him def avoid him. If not work your ars off haha
Other than the lab portion, your grade comes from one midterm and the final. Super hard class. The test questions are so specific, which makes studying so hard since you feel like you have to know every tiny bit of information.
This is the hardest class i have ever taken, the class average on the first midterm was 43%. the kind of answers he want on test for short answer questions are usually like 3 paragraphs long and the criteria is unclear at best. this is the only class i have ever regretted taking.
Hardest class ever. So much lecture material and we did not even get through everything we were supposed to. The answers for his tests are insane as he expects you to remember every single small detail (i wish i was exaggerating). I don't even know why his score is as high as it is...
Probably the hardest class I have ever taken in my life. Org chem, first year calculus (math 100 +101), first year physics, any of the courses you consider hard will be NOTHING compared to this class. The grading criteria will absolutely destroy you. For example, the written questions will be out of 4, but you only get 0.5 for each sentence.
this class was the hardest class I ever took. The amount of content covered in one term was ridiculous. His lectures are very dry and his voice is very monotone. The class average for the first midterm was like 43%. The final was worth 55% because everyone did so bad on the midterm. His marking schemes are horrible, required to know everything.
Dr. Savage's exams are indeed tougher than most and there is a lot of content to cover. But after the midterm he took a class going through long answers and how he marks them to give you a better understanding of the grading criteria. He also gives loads of long answer practice questions with feedback for exactly what he looks for in an answer.
BIOL204 was a very hard class, I had to take it online, which was worse. I feel that Dr. Savage is not very connected to his students in the sense that he had seemingly no idea how hard this class was on us. On the class discord, everyone had similar stress and felt class content was too much. Short answers on tests overly specific for full marks.
BIO 201 not 204. Nice guy but has no idea how to clearly define what he expects you to know in the course material. Midterm averages are just above or below 50% in all his classes. His grading criteria is like trying to solve a 1000 piece puzzle but you're only given a third of the pieces. Lectures are useless and textbook is massive.
If you want a class that seems straightforward in lecture and then has mind boggling midterms... this is the one. The rubric for his midterms are SO INSANELY specific, and he expects you to mention the most random of things in order to get full credit. Would never recommend this course, an evolution course midterm shouldn't be in the 50's
Avoid one UBCO science prof: Savage. His exam criteria is INSANE, easy marks lost if you do not mention THE MOST RANDOM THINGS that aren't in the question. Exam will say BREIFLY define 'x y z', then his rubric will say "+1 mark for defining x y z but -3 marks if they dont say things that are irrelevant to question that only PhD students would know
I have taken two classes instructed by Dr. Savage, BIOL 204 and BIOL 201, both of which were an absolute dumpster fire. It is impossible to know what is expected of you in his classes. You may as well just not go to class and wing the exams because no amount of studying can prepare the average student for his exams and midterms.
I've taken Savage 2x now(204 and 201) since Savage is usually the prof for credit classes, your best bet is to ask for his worksheets. This man throws a lot at you and expects PhD level answers but if you go through his worksheets with him, they are most likely on his exams in that format and if you get proper answers from him it will save your a*
I would personally not take this course
I wish I redirected all my studying to my other courses instead, this class was a lost cause. The final exam was 3 days after the last day of class and I still studied for other courses instead of this class because no amount of studying can prepare you to do good on the exams. If I had more time studying, it would have made no difference.
Savage had all of our weight put onto 2 tests, which he marked very strictly. He gave no indication of what was expected for marking before the midterm, hence why people get low marks on the midterm and increase for the final. Lectures are done well and include videos and examples, but he is the toughest marker I've ever had.
Exams are extremely difficult and there is virtually no review material or any expectations of what is required of you. With his written questions you could get it right but lose over half the points fir not including one minor detail or even wording your answer in a different way than he would.
I found this class to be pretty easy. Savage was a good professor, and it was clear that he is passionate & knowledgable about the course material. Make sure you practice the mathematical concepts, because Savage has a tendency to breeze through calculations quickly. Overall, interesting class and very friendly/approachable professor.
I've heard that he is terribly hard, but I think it's simply because he was new to teaching the course. To be honest, many people did badly on the first midterm and completely made it back up by the end of the course. He doesn't give much time for tests, so you must write fast. Overall nice guy and interesting course!
I love Dr. Savages lectures they are interesting and keep me engaged! It is a lot of content but nothing unreasonable for a senior bio course, he clearly tells you what he expects from you and could not lay it out on the table more simply. You will know exactly what is on the exam , just put in effort and your fine! He is also reasonable and nice!
Dr Savage is a really nice professor and gives pretty entertaining lectures. The practice exams are extremely similar to his actual exams and a great reference for what to study. He even sometimes puts in some of the exact same questions. Go take notes in every lecture and you should be fine.
Ken wants the most in-depth answers ever. He says he wants exams to be "lab report" levels of definition when we do not have enough time to do so. He doesn't cover important stuff in class enough and goes through calculations maybe once and expects you to know it. His slides are also very lacking in information, DO NOT RECCOMEND
Easily the worst course I've ever taken specifically because of the prof. Dr. Savage is a perfectly nice guy, but he is so incredibly disorganized and does not explain info in a way that is at all easy to understand. I found the textbook a good resource, attending class felt entirely useless. Do not take a course with him if you can avoid it
His lectures are hilarious but he gets lost very easily. Be mindful of the words used to answer his exam prompts because marks will be taken off. Time is spent a lot on examples and digressions and the concepts that matter will be expressed with only one sentence out of a hour and a half lecture.
Worst prof I have ever had (204 and 201)! He's a super nice guy outside of class but awful at lecturing. His lectures are all over the place and he is constantly contradicting himself. He expects you to know content without teaching it to you. Exams are a nightmare, no amount of studying will help you! DO NOT TAKE THIS COURSE!
He is a nice guy and you can do well on his midterms as long as you show up to class and take notes. His practice midterms give a good sense of what will be on the actual midterms. He grades very specifically though which isn't super great. For the final, you need luck by your side. I recommend not taking it if it isn't a requirement.
You cannot argue Ken is very sweet. I found his lectures to be good, but sometimes a bit out of order. He had practice exams - which were good but you need to pay attention to his answers and follow them to a t to get a good grade. Make sure you copy his language and over explain even if you think its enough it probably isnt.
Horrible class. I was counting down the seconds for it to be over. Horrible lecturer, can't stay focused, goes off topic, talks about one small thing for the whole class and zooms through the important stuff. Not organized. Lecture slides lack a lot of material. I really like evolution and ecology and this reallllllly killed it for me.
Took this course as an elective, not a good idea for my gpa but honestly was a super interesting course that I learned a lot in. Ken is a super nice guy but his teaching style is not for every one. He is a hard marker, taking off marks if you dont use specific language. Be ready to write as fast as possible on the final tho, super long lol.
He could be worse. His lecture slides are okay, but he draws a lot of stuff on the document camera that he doesn't post, so don't skip class. Midterms were tough, but fair for the most part. He does use a very specific rubric though. Final was a nightmare. 8 pages doubled sided, all written. He is nice in emails though if you're struggling.
Bro says so much yet so little at the same time. Nice guy, but what is going on?
He is alright, tests are not too difficult, you know what to expect if you do the online sample practice + exam and class worksheets because they are very similar to those. Zoomed through calculation content the day before the midterm and then said "oh btw that could be on the midterm" (it was) but he said the cut-off was the previous class....
He is a nice guy, the content does not feel heavy or difficult to understand, I attended most classes (probably missed 3 classes the entire semester), did the worksheets, practice tests, and although what is on tests seems easy, the rubric is so specific that I never got over a 70%. In an all written test, It shouldnt be so specific
The class and midterm questions are straightforward forward but the marking is crazy specific, your answer could be completely right but if it is not in the specific wording he wants, you will not get full marks :(
He makes thinking look hard; jump scare; you will learn nothing new but if you don't think like Ken you are wrong; would have been a great course with someone else though
His classes dont seem hard content wise but the test rubric is so specific for written exams which is just unfair
Super frustrating to listen to. If you don't think like he does you're out of luck, because "it's intuitive". Material isn't that tough, but the marking is super specific and the course is marked on only a few things. Overall just a frustrating course, wouldn't recommend it.
The exam portion of the course is worth 90% of your overall grade. He is a very hard marker and looks for very specific answers. His practice exams are similar to the real ones but the actual exam often has questions we did not do before. Avoid this professor if you can. He also doesn't scale even when the midterm average was barely passing.
VERY hard marker and his actual exams are 50% like the mock exam and 50% topics we didn't even do. Did not scale even when midterm average was in the 60's. Talks A LOT like 40 minutes not stop when its just a simple question. Avoid this prof if you can he truly does nothing to show he cares about his student and their performance in his course.
Ken Savage is a very hard professor. Grading criteria is extremely unfair and so specific it's impossible to know exactly what he wants from students. He constantly says things are intuitive that simply are not to many people. Exam was very difficult and many students felt unfair with not much communication from Ken following the exam.
His grading is unbelievably specific and if you don't think exactly like him you will be wrong. He is condescending and he always says everything is simple and "intuitive" when it is not to people seeing the content for the first time. He seems nice at first, but just wait.
Will never take his class again, he does not know what he is talking about and leaves you more confused even after you ask a question. WOULD NOT RECOMMEND
Nice person, passionate about his job, but expects you to already know everything, so he doesn't explain concepts, which is very confusing. Class is lecture heavy, with few other grades besides the exams and final. His notes are very unorganized, when he posts them at least. Nice person to talk to but I wouldn't recommend this class to anyone.
Dr. Savage is passionate and he is a nice person and before the first exam you might even say hes an alright lecturer, but ive never had such specific and harsh grading for a 200 level class. You must answer the long answer abundant exams within his criterial standard or you will struggle to do well. If you dont need to take this class do not.
The worst part is that you can't avoid him if you're taking a Biology degree. He talks forever, and doesn't have a clue how to reduce concepts and make them more palatable. He says he wants you to know big concepts, but you only get half the marks on his exams if you don't support the big ideas with the minor details that aren't in the slides.
are you kidding me right now? I cannot wait until this man is out of my life, i want to give up.
Where do I start? He is unexplainable but I can promise you, not a good prof. He talks so much but cannot explain or articulate anything. He thinks we should already know everything and the fact that people complain to him and get bad grades baffles him. He says everything is common sense or intuitive. Avoid if possible.
Insanely difficult marker. You have to have every exact word he wants and if not it's wrong, even if you use a synonym. Many correct answers on the midterm were marked wrong because they weren't exactly how he wanted them. Even if you talk to him he will say well A.I. got every answer so you should be able. Overall just frustrating.
Dr. Savage is one of the best teachers I've ever had. His engaging, discussion-based lectures make attendance crucial for understanding the material. With a good imagination and a solid background in math and science, the concepts are intuitive. He is a tough but fair grader. His midterms closely resemble the practice exams and the problem sets.
Very disappointing professor. Avoid at all costs.
Dr. Savage had really interesting lectures, but the class was really only graded by 2 MTs and a final, plus small marks for canvas quizzes and participation. His exam marking is super specific (looks for key words/phrases), so you need to build your answer from the ground up and don't assume anything is "common knowledge."
I dont even rate professors but he was just so terrible I had to.
Although he seems to be a kind person, TERRIBLE PROF! Your grade is solely based on the exams, and trust me no one performs well on them. He didn't even tell us our average for the first midterm because it was so bad. His marking rubric is absolutely INSANE. The only way to get full marks on most questions is by reading his mind. AVOID IF YOU CAN!!
Mama the worst biology prof behind you
The exams in this class are WAY too difficult for the course content. I'm not sure how he expects us to write so many pages of only written-response questions in less than an hour and a half for the midterms. However, I will say that I heard he improved between sem 1 and sem 2 for this course by adding a formula sheet so hopefully he improves more
AVOID AT ALL COST
The course structure and assessments didn't always reflect what was taught in class, which made it difficult to prepare properly for exams. It often felt like we were being tested on material we hadn't been fairly taught
Do not take this class unless you absolutely have to. If you need to complete a science course for your degree, do any other science course offered at UBCO. The exams were nearly impossible to get half-decent grades on. The exams were so long I could barely finish them. He expects too much from a second year class. His marking is very specific too.
I took both BIOL 204 first term and BIOL 201 second term. It was honestly horrifically upsetting learning from him. He doesn't really teach any content. BIOL 204 he PROVIDED all the content and marked strict. BIOL 201 is a joke though, teaches nothing, provides nothing and expects you to read his mind, both midterms had a upsettingly low average.
Took both 204 and 201. Doesn't actually teach during lectures for either. Provides all info for BIOL 204 in slides, I did well after emailing on how to answer his stuff. BIOL 201 on the other hand is a complete joke, no content provided, non taught, stupidly hard rubric (have to read his mind for full marks). Both midterm averages horrifically low.
i took 204 first semester and 201 second semester. very disorganized, very sporadic and rubrics for test was so meticulous that you could be technically correct but lose marks for specific wording. lecture slides and format was a hot mess and more time was spent on stressing that the course was inherently simple than actually explaining concepts.
DO NOT take Biology 201 unless you're required to for your degree, or if you're genuinely interested in the subject. You are graded almost solely on exams. Even if your answer on exam is correct, he takes off marks for using the wrong word. His lectures are difficult to follow cause he's easily sidetracked and often forgets to finish his thoughts.
Very ADHD. Entertaining lectures. Textbooks were mandatory but all material tested on were taught verbally in lecture and slides.
He does not teach!! He diverts too much from the topic and is not clear about most of the things.
He is unable to teach lecture material, the slides are not easy to look back on and during lecture's he goes off on tangents about unrelated things that it's so difficult to follow him. He is very disorganised in general.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
69%
Textbook Required
50%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.12 avg changeRatings by Course
BIOL361
4.0
(5)BIO121
4.0
(1)BIOL125
4.0
(1)BIOL121
3.8
(6)BIOL364
3.5
(2)Difficulty by Course
BIO204
4.8
BIOL204
4.6
BIOL201
4.4
BIO325
4.0
BOIL204
4.0