his a great guy and he knows his stuff.Best advice, just read the book and memorize everything and make sure u listen to him when he say he will focus on certain topics, bc his exam dont reflect everything u read. Lecture is not necessary.

He's good at Bio, but his test are hard. ADVICE: Don't just read the book, memorize everything, mostly the pictures in the book. Use the CAMBELL book; it's better.

forget about lecture. read the book and memorize everythin, i mean everythin. u do that, u get easy A. lecture is optional. exams are tricky, and not so well worded, but ask questions and he'll give u a hint. most importantly, read and memorize

Dr. Samms is very demanding, but he is willing to help out when asked, you have to work really really hard. The exams are not straight from the book, but if you ask questions and show interest you will be able to do well in the exams.

He works you very hard and have to keep up with the lecture and the lab. Alot of times the lab and lecture are not in sync. But if you take good notes and listen, he tells you whats gonna be on the exam. He's very cute and approachable if you have questions he answers them. People have past class.

Dr Samms is very involved and tries his best to make sure that they succeed.

very thorough and encourages thinking on your own and also teaches us to apply our knowledge

Cool guy, lectures are fun, you just have to listen to them....no need to take notes, just read the book....but if you read the book and listen to the lecture , then it helps.

Great Pofessor. he is passionate about the subject and is always available to help. keep up and you may get an A/B

Great Prof and a super nice guy...the best I've had so far at City College!!! The class is a lot of work, but if you are willing to do it you can do well.

had him for cell bio lab back in 2000. Great guy. Fair, smart, cool.

Mike is one of the best professors at CCNY. If you put in the effort, so will he. He knows his stuff. You'll have a great foundation for further study. And he's a great soccer and cricket fan!

hes a great teacher who knows what hes talking about. if you can read the book and tune into his lectures you will do fine. texts are a bit hard but doable.

The best bio teacher, he is the man!!!!

If you show Prof. Samms that you want to work, he'll reward you. The tests are difficult but Samms is so respectable that he makes you WANT to do well in his class.

Be prepared for class. Take notes, and study everything for the exams (which are a bit hard)

I have taken bio before, A long time ago. Taking this class has made me reinvigorated. CLASS=questions, be prepared. He is sharp!

He is the best professor i had so far. He knows what he teaches and he is very approachable. He will answer any question u need. If you show effort he will help u out with any problems in the class. I say it from personal experience. Take him!!!!!!!!!!!

Prof. Samms Is the best professor I ever had my entire life. Only lazy people think his exams are hard, everyhting he does is to motivate students. Unfortunately he doesnt teach 102 so I'm done with Biology:( Thanks Prof. Samms

funny guy! loved his class. pay attention in lecture, he gives a lot of hints about the exam questions.

Among the best Professors I had. Well above many at supposedly superior universities I attended. His enthusiasm is contagious, he will inspire you, invigorate you & challenge you. Not an easy class, but the best experiences in life seldom are. Be prepared: read & study. Eloquent, dedicated ..and he gives Science a heart.

I think he really sees through his students. He doesn't judge you from the outside. And he really likes to know his student. He'll give you a grade that he thinks you deserve; based on test grades and your overall effort. He is really kind and helpful. And extra credits are in excess!!!

Likes to relate class topics to current research. Tries his best to relate to his students. I learned a lot from this class even though it was a summer session and topics were covered at lightening speed. Students always come back to visit. Great professor; makes things simple, but does not insult our intelligence. Also an easy grader.

GREAT Prof, one of the best I have ever had. There is a ton of material, but if you do the work you will learn and can do well. Dr. Samms cares about his students and will help anyone that asks.

He's an awesome professor. He uses Powerpoint a lot and you need to read a lot from the textbook as well. Always there for questions you have. Dedicated professor! I personally found that I was not interested in bio, and I changed my major, but if you're going to take it, take it with Professor Samms.

Coolest Professor I have taken so far!

Dr. Samms is great. Take him if you have the chance.

Professor Samms is great. His approach to teaching is not particularly novel, but he teaches thoroughly and in a manner that keeps class exciting. He cares ALOT about his students, and he shows it by being a PASSIONATE academician and by his eagerness to ignite the minds of young scientists. If you want to be a champ, learn from one- Dr. Samms.

He is very detailed in what he expects. Test your knowledge. Doesn't want anyone to give up, wants to have every student do well. Will answer questions if asked. Dedicated to his work and the topics he teaches. Very smart.

Awesome Professor

I only had him for a recitation instructor, but this guy was one of the most wonderfully intriguing professors I've ever had the privilege of taking. During the 50 minutes of class, he was able to clarify so much that the professor of the genetics course was unable to accomplish (not to mention he kept me interested in the subject til the end)

Best professor i've ever take. His very smart, clear and he knows his biology very well he will always have the answer to whatever you ask. Take him, he will make you love biology

An absolutely brilliant teacher, he ignites passion in his students and guides them in the right direction. If you are interested in biology and want to learn then take his class. He has to follow the CUNY syllabus so if you want to learn more then just ask questions! He is very accommodating in answering your questions.

he is a very nice and smart guy. the class is very hard and he goes through the slides very fast. but if you make it through the class you will pass and read the text

Awesome guy! real smart and knows his stuff. Loves soccer and is a huge fan of the soccer club Arsenal. The key to pass his course is to Ace his lecture exams even if you do horrible in his lab exams. Dont miss any of his classes and dont cut his lab classes!!! he will fail you. I recommend him his great! I passed with an A-

This was my favorite professor so far in my academic career attending CUNY.He has a job in research besides CUNY so can give insight on what working in the field will be like if you are a science major. Attend every lab and lecture on time, the review is exactly like the exam mostly, read the textbook! Gives extra credit, not stingy on grading!

Easy A, he gives review questions a week before the test and they are exactly the same on the test and he doesnt even change it at all, so if you get anything below an A, then college is not for you.

I learned alot. If you work with the prof, who's really good at teaching and actually wants his students to learn something (unlike many profs), you will get a good grade and actually learn some science. Go to class or read the textbook REALLY CLOSE but the classes are better anyway. He gives the test questions out for review if ur in class.

Professor Samms is one of those professors who loves what he does and wants to make sure you love it, too. He tries to bond with as many students in the lecture class as he can and wants you to apply what you learned in class to real-life scenarios. Yes he's hard, but then again college ain't easy. HE GIVES GREAT REVIEWS FOR EACH TEST, don't worry.

Solid choice for Bio101. Lab is 50% and Lecuture is 50%, SO make sure you get a good TA for lab!! Samms reviews are the TRUTH! KNOW them and you can't get a terrible grade on his exams. He is kind and easy going, especially to those that are struggling! Reads off powerpoint slides in lecture so its dry BUT stay cuz he tells you whats on his tests!

Not only he does full justice with his job but also is going to inspire you to do better and have higher expectancy of your own strengths. Lovely professor, would take him again and again and again.

Dr. Samms is a great teacher. Inspiring, and heart warming personality. Makes class easy for you. I saw the glimmer in his eye when he explained his thesis to me. Thank you for sharing your story with me, I won't forget.

He's the best professor everr! He cares so much about students, and if you show up to his office he'll tutor you and explain hard concepts. He motivates you so much! 10/10 would take again. The thing is people expect to be spoon-fed biology but its college and that doesn't work. Gotta put in the effort to read, understand, learn, apply concepts!

Simply the best!

One of the best teachers I've ever had, funny and caring professor. His exams questions are taken straight from his review sheets just be weary that lab is 50% of your grade.

Dr. Samms is one of the most caring professors at CCNY. He gives students review sheets and goes over questions in class too. Overall, consider yourself lucky to sit in his class.

It is not necessary that you go to his lectures. I only attended a handful. Go over the reviews because the questions are exactly alike on the exam. Exam only consists of 5 chps max. I got MCQ answers online and memorized them and read the textbook/ youtube to understand the short answers. Super easy professor. Focus on lab instead of the lecture

Make yourself noticed. Read the textbook and do all the test reviews! His tests are heavily based off of what he says in class and whatever he presents on his slides and reviews sheets. Respects his students and his lectures for the most part are interesting because he's very passionate about what he does. *Note: His fave soccer team is Arsenal*

Make sure you read every chapter before coming to class. Gives review sheets and you must complete them in order to pass your exams. Puts the exact multiple choices on the exam. Must study and understand all the experiments in the textbook and the review sheets. Gives a lot of extra credits. Loves Soccer and his fave team is "Arsenal".

Very kind man. This class is difficult because its really only exams and lab for a grade. He is there to help if u visit during office hours. Exams are fairly difficult.

This is a good BIO class. One, study and memorize all the review sheets-literally the same exam(4 Exams). Two, do easy online quizzes. Three, lab is hard, but do-able. Two lab reports(can re-do for better grade), two presentations, two lab exams. High grades on exams and lab reports are KEY to passing the class. Take these tips for A or B.

DON'T WASTE MONEY ON TEXTBOOK. Everything is on slideshows and posted on Blackboard. FOCUS hard on review sheets, all answers are online or in presentations on Bb. Attendance not mandatory. 4 lecture Exams, not cumulative(Finals was all multiple choice:)) 2 Lab exams, 2 lab reports--MUST DO WELL ON THESE TOO! DON'T CHEAT, WILL GET CAUGHT! STUDY!!!

Straight forward BIO class in CCNY. The most important thing to know is majority of your grade is based on lecture exams(40%) and lab reports and exams(40%). Attendance DOES NOT MATTER for lecture. 3 of lecture exams are short answer and multiple choice, Finals is MC. PLEASE MEMORIZE REVIEW SHEETS. EXPERIMENTS ARE IMPORTANT. Drops lowest grade :)

One of the nicest professors in ccny. If you end up in this class consider yourself lucky. Just memorize the review sheets for the multiple choice and spend a lot of time practicing the short response. He is really strict when it comes to short response. If someone does bad on his exams its because of the short response questions.

I got an A- from doing all the packets. Make sure to fully understand the experiments, he puts those as part 2s. Multiple choice from the review packets match the exact mc from the real test, so just do it brah.

The key to pass this class with a decent grade is to memorize all the multiple choice given on the review sheets and the all the short answers as well. His lectures aren't great you won't get much. Let's get one thing straight bio has a lot of material & it can not be condensed into a few lectures. You have to teach your self. Not a easy A prof.

I don't understand why people here are telling you to run from this class. Honestly, IT'S NOT THAT BAD compared to other BIO classes. Samms BARELY asks you to do any work besides 4 online quizzes and 4 lecture exams. Literally memorize the review sheets and you should do well. Finally, do well in lab--it's also not that bad, just time consuming

He great, Literally if you get anything lower then a B then thats all your fault, Trust me... Do the question packets, look online if you need help.

Took this in Spring 2017. I will admit it's not easy, but like he literally provides you the answers in the review. Lab class was long and time-consuming, but you will earn a decent grade, even on lab exams. My lab instructor-he was hot, so I liked lab. Trust the reviews, plus 1 exam is dropped! After it's all over, YOU WILL MISS THIS CLASS & SAMMS

I took A&P 247 & 248 with him over the summer & I would take him again especially if he taught immunology.. haha. Getting an A is achievable as long as you completely understand the slides and attend his lectures. Lectures were long and we were taught one chapter per day (100+ slides)with an exam & quiz every week, so yeah.. summer was really heavy

Don't listen to people who put no effort into a class and think that they are entitled to an A. It doesn't work that way, especially in a biology course. Dr. Samms is very passionate about teaching and loves to make the course interesting especially during online learning. He WANTS to see students succeed. Take his course! It'll be a good time.

Prof Samms is very passionate and you can tell during his lectures. it was also clear he wanted the best for us. class is very lecture heavy but if you pay attention, there's no way you wont do good on the exams. the exams are very long so be prepared for that. the lab is also really simple and my instructor calvin was nice and understanding.

Samms is an amazingly helpful professor. He is very understanding and always makes sure students understand the course material. Hes super big on second chances, so if you ever have any issues then talking to him would absolutely help. As for the course, his exams are entirely based on slides. If you read them over youre guaranteed an A!

He is nice and talkative, but lecture is not that really helpful. We would have to study by ourself for everything. It is very true that he just read the lecture slide to us and it is not vivid lecture and useful lecture. Exam is really heavy and every time you have around 130 questions for 2hrs and 20 mins.

This class was ALOT of work in 4 weeks so just be prepared. Overall exams were fair, everything on the slides was on the exam. Lab exams were so much labeling but pretty easy. You cannot reach him outside of class so say what you need to say in class. A solid option for this class

Get prepared for lots of reading and long lectures. He read off slides however if you ask a question he'll answer. Studying the material is essential as there is a lot of information to cover. There is 1 textbook that was about $100 and thats were the homework is. Homework isn't too important but its good for review. E-mails are a hit or miss.

Straight to the point when it comes to grades. His exams are very long but he gives enough time for them. Great lectures. Understanding and lenient with the students as long as you communicate with him.

Dr.Samms was a kind and entertaining professor. However, the lecture is kind of boring. He spends his class hours reading slides, which are available on the blackboard but those slides were very helpful for learning. Emails are sometimes missing. Just do your best, and you will be fine. Good Luck!