great prof. if you ask for help he'll help you out. offers bonus mark based on work load grade. for our 1001 psyc class we had 2 midterms. each of them were supposed to be counted as 25% of your final mark but instead at the end of the semester he took our best mark out of those 2 midterms. that's like a freaking christmas gift. very helpful.

great prof! extreamly helpful. understands that you have other courses too unlike other profs. very nice and inspiring and funny.

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Awesome prof! My favorite of my first year - I would take him again in a heartbeat. Really fair on all tests, and concerned about peoples issue - he took the best of two midterms this year. He also asks fair questions on his exams - no surprises. My fave prof! -Take especially if you are interested in science.

One of my favourite profs from first year. Reasonable amount of readings, useful power points and clips. Interesting and funny. Take his class!

So great! Helpful funny, interesting, young.. definitly one of the best profs Carleton has to offer. Thanks Matt :)

I absolutely love Dr. Holahan. My favourite teacher my first year by far.

Matt is a good prof. He emphasizes important points and gives you ample opportunity to improve your grade. He provides entertaining and informative lectures and writes fair exams. I have him next semester for drugs and behaviour, I am looking forward to being in his class again.

Let me start off by saying that Matt is a great prof, and by far my favorite at carleton. He really knows the course material and keeps everyone engaged with occasional witty/silly jokes. He is always willing to help and cares about your success. I enjoyed going to lecture and am looking forward to being in his class next year.

Good Prof, worth going to lectures. Informative, and obviously knowledgeable in his field. He teaches like he wants his students to learn and do well. Unfortunately, there aren't more Holahan- like profs teaching at carleton

Matt is a really great professor! I originally went into this course thinking it would be really difficult but he breaks it down in a way that makes sense and easy to understand. He really wants you to do well and also often tells you "this would be a good exam question" and has in-class quizzes so attendance is a must. One of the best profs here!

He's a really nice guy. Very knowledgeable and he is one Prof who does care about your success! I was nervous about this class because of its bio side but he made it very manageable! Lots of easy marks, hints for exam content and uses videos to put things into perspective = class worth taking!

One of the best professors I have had in the psychology department. He really knows his stuff but isn't arrogant. His exams are very fair but you do need to study. Textbook isn't a must but I recommend it for any material that isn't clear. Matt does a good job at explaining but some topics are a little tough to grasp from just attending lecture.

Excellent Prof. Explains topics very well in many different ways with lots of examples.

He explained things really well I found and made me almost enjoy a biol class.

He is one of the reasons I love being a Neuroscience major.... he's actually pretty awesome, and very genuine... one of the best profs ever :)

One of my favourite professors! Matt made this class so very interesting and included great examples and video clips throughout the course. This was the only class where I was actually eager to watch the next lecture online ASAP! He is an extremely fair marker and very lenient. Highly recommend.

I loved this class and Matthew was engaging. He explains the concepts fairly well and his slides are fantastic. The best part was the organization of the course: makes sure you understand the basics before taking it one step further each time. I'm in Arts so the course was challenging for me but I did very well on both midterms so far (80 and 86)

I took this course with a different prof last year but had to drop it because failure was imminent; nothing was making sense. I tried again with Prof. Holahan; the difference was night and day. He will not just go through the teaching points but will explain in-depth the why and how behind it all...last time I was memorizing, this time I learned.

Awesome professor! Outlines the course in a very clear and concise way. Attending lectures is a must - exam questions are heavily lecture based. Text is good to further clarify some difficult topics. Exams are fair. I have now changed my major to neuroscience, he really makes the subject interesting!

Prof.Holahan is easily one of my favorite. He made his class so interesting. I have no background in science and was worried about the class but he explains everything so well and provides excellent examples. I ended up being highly successful and will be taking more classes with him in the future. Great Prof!

I had Matt for Drugs and Behaviour and he was my thesis supervisor. He does everything he can to make sure every student does well and understands the material. He's funny and knows how to balance teaching and relating to students. That being said, he can be... awkward and difficult to talk to in person at times. E-mail him if you want to talk.

This guy is the best! He cracks jokes all the time, and hammers home the important aspect which he will be testing on. He really wants everyone to succeed. Very knowledgable when it comes to answering a slew a random questions.

Just show up to class, listen , take notes and you will easy get an A. Best class ever !!, but you must know the material well for the midterms

He's a really easy grader. Doesn't test on anatomy or anything very specific (e.g. names of nerves, specific nuclei,etc...). Test are multiple choice and short answer, often included bonus points. Online quizzes that let's you change your answer so guaranteed 100%. Prof is nerdy and funny in an awkward kinda way. Very approachable, nice guy.

I didn't read the book but I read and watched all the lecture. It really helps that he post his drawn slides on culearn so even if I didn't watch the class I know what's going on. His lectures are hilarious. I recommend getting his lecture on vod so you can pause in between to get down all the important things he says. Great prof.

It's obvious that Matt's passion is his teaching. He goes the extra mile to make sure everyone understands the concepts (even bringing playdough to class to explain action potentials). Don't miss lectures, take good notes and you'll do great

He is an amazing professor. He does a very good job at including all details during the lecture!

Fun guy and makes the course content really clear. Just pay attention to the lectures. The textbook is used exclusively for the online quizzes. Enjoy!

New course, hard to organize. More work than usual classes, expect a lot of in class and online tests, papers and a presentation. I learned a decent amount of the techniques but I felt a bit disconnected from the lectures. I am sure lecturing is hard but sometimes I feel like Matt has forgotten how to have fun. Too serious which made class long.

Easy A course.

for an American he's alright. he is willing to help students succeed. sometime u might get the impression he is not interested or listening but he is. he's clear with what he wants, very student friendly, willing to be flexible but does expect quality work. had several courses with him; always good.

Awesome class!! Super clear about expectations, and review sessions are amazing! Test are hard enough, but extremely fair if you've gone to class!

He's brilliant. I could listen to him talk all day! Helps that hes really hot. Go to class, very visual guy, he draws out everything as hes teaching it and his commentary is hilarious. His style of teaching was very compatible with my learning style so I LOVED this class. Highly recommend him. There is a 10 % worth of bonus you can earn.

Great Prof! Very clear, good explanations. Exams are very challenging, and very fair. It is a tough class, you do need to go to class, pay attention to details. Good at elaborating, showing pathways/ processes. Clear expectations, what he lectures is what he tests on. Details are important. NEUR majors, this class helps with all other courses.

Easily one of the best professors I've ever had at Carleton. He is absolutely hilarious and always manages to throw in a joke every few minutes to keep you attentive. Going to class is a must, but you'll want to. As long as you take notes and pay attention you'll succeed!!!

He's and amazing professor, took his class and was blown away at how much detail he puts into his lectures and his ability to make hard concepts seem like nothing by the end of the lecture. I'd take him again any day.

Holahan is an amazing prof. He makes class interesting and relevant. I used the textbook (pdf), and it helped. Do the essay if you can because the final exam is very difficult even though it may seem easy. :)

Lots of critical essays (3 total) which were marked tough. Class was very interesting! :) Lots of bonus points and participation marks. Show up to all classes and you'll get more than 100% for participation. Exam was more difficult than expected. Great prof overall!

He's a great prof and I'm sure he's passionate about his research and all of neuroscience in general, however he gives off the attitude as if he doesn't care for the student's education. He's a cool guy to talk too and he will clarify things in class. Textbook and readings are a must.

Absolute best professor ever! Not only is the content kick ass, but Holahan is an amazing teacher. He draws diagrams as he goes in class and they are SO helpful, take this class if you get the chance!! Easy exams and bonus quizzes to boost your mark!! Absolutely no complaints, I cannot say enough great things about him!

Best instructor of all neuro faculty at Carleton. His classes are structured in a way that naturally facilitates learning. I find I learn smoothly even without much review. If you're engaged you'll do well, and he makes it easy to be engaged. His passion for neuro is contagious. Don't listen to the haters, Matt. You do you, boo boo. Keep on drawing

Nice prof, kinda dry though which didn't help with the fact that class started at 8:30. There was a lottttttt of material to learn, but if you study properly his exams were not too hard. Overall, I would retake his class.

Matt is the best! Highly intelligent (which may seem overwhelming sometimes but don't worry his exams are fair). Hilarious, interesting lectures, great slides but also draws diagrams for people that are more visual. Take a class w/ him, he's amazing!

Great lectures, great content, gives good feedback, marks fairly.... all around AWESOME prof! Matthew and Kim are the diamonds of Carleton's teaching staff!

he very much cares for the success of his students. he spent his summer making on online textbook with detailed notes and quizzes, the only prof I have had who cares this much hope to have him again

He has very fair midterms/exams that are based on the lecture slides. I found his drawing very helpful to understand interactions of neurotransmitters and receptors. He has a good sense of humor. The course content is a bit dry, but Matt does a good job of explains the material. Take the VOD section and draw out some of the interactions yourself.

Easy on the GPA and on the eyes

This class was originally a third year class, and 3rd years had difficulty with it. He mentioned from the beginning tha this would be a difficult class. He cared that we did well and worked hard to make sure we understood. I have a limited knowledge of bio which is required for this class and he made it so I could understand. Hope i get him again

I really enjoyed this class and found that it really broadened my understanding of neuroscience. While some of the topics were quite detailed and complex, Dr. Holahan made it easy to understand. I found his drawings and Top Hat very useful. However, I didnt use the textbook at all, so save your money!

He is an all-around amazing guy! He is very knowledgeable, caring and funny. It genuinely makes me happy to hear him nerd-out about the brain and how cool he thinks it is. This class is a little science heavy, so be aware of that if you do not have a biology background. Other than that I loved it! Fair grading, TopHat was pretty much free marks.

Holahan offers a very straight forward and informational course. He is very engaged in his lectures and is readily available outside of lecture. 2 midterms and a final exam - all of which are multiple choice and contain only lecture material (no textbook required). A+ is easily doable.

Love love love Matt. NEUR3204 was the third class I've taken with him and yet again he was the best prof of the semester. His drawings are super helpful, he takes the time to really explain things and is overall wonderful at teaching students the material. If you pay attention in lectures and keep solid notes, his classes are an easy A.

Prof. Holahan is a really amazing instructor to have this was the second class I ever took with him and I really loved it. He gives clear descriptions and is always willing to answer questions if you need them. Just make sure you keep up with the course material and all his diagrams and you'll be fine.

Matt is generally a great prof and I really enjoy his teaching style and the way he presents material. However, when I took this class I found the grading for SA questions to be unfair - questions would be worth 5 points but he would want like 15 points for full marks. He gave more hints for the exam once people complained about the midterm though.

if you like detail, you'll enjoy the class. he's awesome and a good prof compared to most.

Prof. Holahan is a good teacher, however the content to know for the quizzes was a but confusing. I found he expected a little too much for a second year class. He is fair with his exams. If you attend the class and listen carefully you should pass!

The lecture notes are important and additional information from the textbook isn't on the exams. If you can wrap your head around what he says in class, then you're all set. Holahan tends to repeat the same things and rephrases them a 100 times. I didn't mind as it helps to stick. Decent prof :)

Enjoyed being in his class. His lectures are great and interesting. He's caring and really does take the time to explain things to you. Also great at communicating outside of class. Really recommend taking this class with him!

Engaging and very fair tests. Tests are based on lecture material but textbook does help clarify concepts. Quizzes are based on lesson notes mostly. Non-cumulative which is really nice but tests are 90% of your grade. Interesting prof, a good choice, rephrases things in different ways which is really nice.

i highly recommend this prof. Holahan is one of the best professors in the neuroscience department. He makes the learning objectives clear, plus his expectations and tests are reasonable. Its just that if your not used to molecular neuroscience/ biology, some of the material can get confusing. luckily he has a good way of breaking concepts down.

Dr. Holahan is passionate about what he is teaching, and it really makes a difference. If you don't come from a science background, some of the material may be a little difficult, though he breaks the material down in a really understandable way. He is such a great professor and really cares about his students. I would 100% recommend his class

Really wants you to understand and is passionate and realistic about his course. Adjusts courseload and adjusts deadlines reasonably. Midterms always reflect his lectures, if you study you'll do well.

Go to class and study the slides, you will do well. Dr. Holahan breaks down the complexities of cellular functions in an accessible way - yes, you may need to look up a definition, but this is neuroscience! His drawings are helpful to further clarify concepts. I'm an arts major and LOVE neuro due to Profs like Dr. Holahan. Great prof!

amazing professor. the final was a shock to everyone because it was VERY hard. The reason I did good is because I did not a skip a word he said in class and wrote down EVERYTHING. probably one of the top profs of Neuro

Great professor, classes were engaging and time just flies by. Tests were very fair, and you're only tested from lecture material for midterms and exam. It was very clear what he expected us to know. He has a big brain. Makes sense.

Great guy, quite funny but the lecture material was so heavy it was exhausting. Grading is clear enough. Quite accomodating. As someone who doesn't have a strong science background, he was pretty good. Love his drawings!

Extremely well organized class. Every lecture has a purpose and he breaks the topics into very logical sections. I learned a lot from him. The class was all graded on 4 exams.

Amazing lectures, sometimes tests had unfamiliar material but it was likely in the textbook

overall this was a solid course! fascinating content taught throughout the term. the course assessments were comprised of weekly quizzes and/or writing assignments (so 24 in total throughout the term) and then a final at the end of the term. i would definitely recommend this course to anyone who is interested in aging and neurodegeneration

The best part of the Neuroscience Department is that the tests are usually very fair. Dr. Hollahan only tested things that he covered in the lectures. There is a TON of difficult material, but its essential and he does good explaining it and has detailed slides. Fair tests are more than could be said for the biology or chemistry department.

I really enjoyed Dr. Holahan's class! The course was very well organized and extremely fair. The course content can be quite dense and I found that I had to beak down the lectures to get through them, but that's more due to the nature of the content. Easy to get a good mark if you digest the content! Also seems like a great guy

He makes you work for it, and the first two exams were exactly what you'd expect if you properly studied however the final was out of this world. He put questions that he did not explicitly teach us. However, he made up for it when he realized how low the class average was compared to the first two exams. Teaching style isn't my type but take again

One of my favourite profs out of my 3 years at Carleton. Content is obviously difficult and complex as it is neuroscience, but he teaches it very well and in a way that makes it easier to understand. Quizzes are fairly straightforward, and if you watch the lectures and review your notes the exams aren't too difficult.

Dr. Holahan is one of the best in the Neuroscience department. He is very detailed when going over concepts and uses visual aids for reference. As long as you attend the lectures (instead of being lazy and reading the slides), and take notes on his explanations, the tests are straight forward and all material is covered that appears on tests.

honestly love this professor! i find his tests are super fair and they are short answer heavy but the questions give you a lot of guidance on how you should formulate your answers! overall a very caring professor and its clear he puts a lot of time into his classes and a lot of thought into how he teaches!

There were quite a few issues with this class following exams, but thankfully, Holahan understood our concerns and eventually provided us with some options. Without this, my opinion would have been far different. I found the exams did not line up much with lectures, which was stressful as we didn't know what to expect. Teaching style wasnt my fave.

Pretty easy course, just make sure you understand the lectures and content, it would be hard to do unwell in this course.

Professor Holahan is super chill, funny, and keeps the lectures funny and a bit entertaining. He ensures that you can visualize the steps of systems by drawing them out which was helpful for me as a visual learner. It was easy to approach & discuss questions or uncertainties that I had on lecture content or general questions about neuroscience.

Best professor ever! He explains things extremely well and i love his drawings -makes everything come all together and makes so much more sense. He obviously cares about his students and very knowledgeable about what he is teaching

I love himmmm!!!

Overall he was a great teacher, clearly knew what he was talking about. Although tended to steer off from lecture material quite a bit. We had a total of 4 online tests, plus an online final exam so very test heavy but they were fairly straight forward. Does use a textbook and I recommend reading for further understanding!

Can't think of a single complaint. Dr. Holahan is knowledgeable and passionate about the subject matter and is very approachable outside of class. He even took the time to record audio of the lectures which is greatly appreciated. Clear explanations. Slides formatted well. 4 online multiple choice tests, not cumulative. No real exam.

I had trouble sitting through the lectures. I did not like the formatting of his slides personally. I found he repeated concepts a lot which was good for understanding but sometimes redundant. He also got sidetracked easily. The testing in this class was very manageable as it was all online. Overall, he was a good prof who is passionate.

Matt is pretty dope. At first I really disliked him, but he turned out pretty cool. He holds students to high standards which is fine, but some of his tangents are confusing. He says things like "don't worry about this" then gives a 3 minute speech making things more unclear. I wish he gave more clear boundaries. Could be really great

Tough but doable.

Holahan is so funny. He's a great professor and clearly enjoys teaching. He's super fun to talk to and someone you wish you could be friends with. His exams are super fair. If you pay attention and take notes you'll do really well. Cares about his students success, and would be an AMAZING prof to work for.

His lec. are a little confusing, so I suggest reading the associated textbook ch. because he gets stuff directly from it - helpful if he confuses you in lec. Lec. material is good... he just jumps around a lot and says "We'll come back to that" but then it's unclear when we have "come back to it" so... not always obvi when to write things down...

The class is marked entirely on 4 tests, but they are online and clearly reflect the lecture notes. The lectures can be fairly confusing, so it helps to read the associated textbook even if not necessary. There are practice tests for each lecture, and these questions are often reused on the tests. His drawings are hard to understand, even in class.

Professor Holahan can be a bit unstructured, but his passion for teaching is evident. The workload is manageable if you stay on top of things. Using Unstuck ai alongside the course materials has been helpful for exam prep.

Clear, well spoken professor. Lectures are wonderful to attend and makes the information extremely digestible despite sometimes being quite heavy.

Awesome guy! Tons of fun, understood everything!

Definitely recommend taking his class. I found his lectures were easy to follow and he posted voice recordings as well, so if you miss a lecture it's easy to catch up. Loved his drawings, they helped things make sense. Funny guy.

Amazing prof! Super passionate and goes out of his way to explain things as best as he can until everyone understands. Super kind and caring and I found his exams to be very fair. Loved the layout of the course and his teaching methods. Recommend!

Really great prof! His lectures were always interesting and he is funny. Tests are very fair as well as his final. As long as you go to class you are good.

Prof. Matt Holahan is engaging and his lectures are generally fun. The final exam is difficult, but the marking scheme makes it so that you don't have to do incredibly on the final to do well in the class. He also will take the time to talk to you if you book meetings with him and is very friendly.

Very sweet and engaging, attend lectures as he asks 5 multiple choice questions each lecture (very easy and he'll ask right after saying the answer usually too or even just tell you)

Dr Holahan clearly likes teaching the course and knows how to make it easier to understand. Overall, great prof, involved in the lectures, doesn't read off the slides and cares about you doing well. The outline says the book is needed, but he tests us on the lecture slides, and the book is for supplemental reading. Be ready to study thougth.