2.6
Quality3.7
Difficulty40%
Would Retake96
Reviews40%
Would Retake
96
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
14
4
13
3
22
2
24
1
23
What Students Say
“Difficult to talk too”
BPK140 - 1.0 rating“Everything about this course is torture”
BPK142 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
52%
Textbook Required
36%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.40 avg changeRatings by Course
KIN375
5.0
(1)KIN140
4.0
(2)BPK310
4.0
(1)KIN143
3.5
(2)140
3.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
KINKIN
5.0
KIN305
4.7
BPK304W
4.3
140
4.0
KIN810
4.0
Reviews (96)
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Looks down on graduate students. Not recommended as a professor,
The notes from Dr. Walsh's class are the only ones I go back to for reference.
He never responds back about anything you email him about, as well as just races through our lectures without actually going over everything. You MUST Copy down ALLLLLLL diagrams, 2/3 of them are on his tests
Must attend all classes. Diagrams which are not included in notes is all he tests on. Overall, not enthusiastic about teaching and always goes on about his love for his graduate students.
Okay prof. His lectures aren't very interesting but you have to go because he draws a lot of diagrams and he tests on them. Midterm was very hard. Not all that helpful.. no textbook for this class so no way to reference. Annoying printed notes.
TERRIBLE TEACHER WITH GOD COMPLEXION AND THINKS WHATEVER HE SAYS IS RIGHT.
hes a really nice prof, and as long as you go to the lectures you'll be fine! he also manages to keep your attention with his tangents, which unlike other peoples tangents, are actually RELEVANT to what you're learning
Unprepared and does not use his own notes. His notes are copied and pasted into a powerpoint meanwhile lacking knowledge with using computers. He never fullscreens the powerpoint. Instead he spends most of the time scrolling up and down, trying to find the notes or diagram that he pasted into the powerpoint. He simply gets paid for doing nothing.
Lectures consist of him scrolling through pages and pages of unorganized notes. Midterms consist of complete memorization of pathways of some protein you spent 2 minutes of during day 6 for 30% of the mark. Memorize everything completely in your notes, do not learn anything, and you may do well in this class. May. But probably not.
Worst instructor ever. Nice enough fellow but is completely unorganized, scrolls through pages of random notes and then tests on obscure numbers (no concepts) and irrelevant facts. You write 2 midterms worth about 30% and then your final is would the other 70% but he puts a guise on it calling it a combined midterm with 2 finals.
He is a great prof that tells interesting stories about all kinds of subjects throughout the lecture to capture your attention. Although his exams are pretty tough, if you know his notes inside and out, you'll do fine.
Mike was a great prof. He is def one of my favorites. If you attend class and study you will do great in the class. He is super helpful and makes funny jokes during class that are not nerdy awkward jokes. Super interesting guy. Take another class with him? Absolutely.
Unorganized, gets side-tracked often, notes are sometimes confusing, all and all, not the best. I stopped going to lectures half way through the semester.
So this is supposed to be an easy class! This prof makes it incredibly hard!!! We must learn every little detail in his notes that comes up in the exams, even his TA's don't know that much detail!! The lab attendance is a must!He wont reply to your emails, and ALMOST EVERYONE barely passed and many failed this course. KEEP AWAY!!
The course itself is pretty interesting, labs are great. Walsh...not so much. Emailing him for help was a waste of time, but the TA's for the course were some of the best TAs I've had. Midterm and Final exams were ridiculous, major concepts were missed while small rather unimportant details were required. Take the course, not with Walsh.
His jokes are funny alrite, but that is the only thing i remember from his lectures. he would tell a bunch of jokes and then slightly touch on the course materials. BEWARE! REALLY HARD EXAMS! failed miserably on the midterms, and only barely passed the finals. if your gonna take kin142, take it other profs; this prof is bad at 142!
I found the material pretty boring and Walsh didn't help, if you skip a few it won't matter. Just read over the notes.The exams were a lot harder than expected. Since they're fill in the blank you have to memorize EVERYTHING. Labs were alright, but you really need to read over the lab manual for the quizzes.
worst prof ever. Some of these comments seem like its him commenting. strongly advise staying away from him.
Seems like a nice guy and knows his stuff, but unfortunately that doesn't really matter unless I learn the stuff properly. He just doesn't have very good notes and sometimes he's hard to follow. It didn't help that Claydon taught the first 2/3 of the semester and his notes were great.
He just emailed us the notes and told us to print it out and he read over the notes with his ppt slides in class. No need to attend lecture cause all he does it read the notes to you. 3 midterms, 1st was super easy and the others start getting harder. Final was pretty hard. In terms of assignments, he was a super easy marker. Def a GPA booster.
Michael is an excellent teacher, but is one of the type who gives you less than you need... meaning you will have to explore on your own, even out of the textbook for information that will be on midterms and finals. Great teacher nonetheless.
worst teacher I've ever had. Do not take it with him, especially if deciding on as an elective. Notes are unorganized and don't really make sense. Only positive was you don't have to come to class as exams are word for word from the notes., which he emails out prior to class.
Mike is a stand up guy, however, I would not recommend taking this course with him. He's teaching style is very unique, he uses slides and printouts ONLY. He doesn't use a textbook, saves you money but it actually would've been useful to have one so I could've taught myself the material. Finals were extremely difficult, even for me.
Course material was great but he ruined it for me. Tests are based on specific and sometimes useless details while concepts are ignored. Lectures were useless--had to remake all the powerpoints myself. If you're taking his course, MEMORIZE EVERY THING ON THE WORD DOCUMENT NOTES.Labs for this course were pretty fun.
AVOID!! i have never had such a horrible professor in my three years of university. the material is dry to begin with and he does not help that situation. extremely boring to listen to and just reads off his lecture notes. the exams are outrageously hard and do not focus on the major concepts. fill in the blank midterm and final.trust me, avoid him
Tough class. First two midterms were fine if you studied, but the final sucked. There were a few questions on it that made no sense, that weren't in the lecture notes or even covered that much in class. My advice: study hard, real hard. This guy loves his percentages and details too, so heads up.
extremely difficult class, very dry material, boring lecture. Midterm/ final are fill in blank formats, you need to memorize A LOT of stuffs. Try to avoid him. btw, lab is fun!!!
This class is really easy if you are an Arts student wanting to take a science class for your requirements. Dr. Walsh is boring, he just reads off his power points you don't even need to go to class. Tutorial is so lame but mandatory. You have a DEBATE and presentations. NO. His tests are so lame too. Avoid him if you can.
His lectures are very boring and not engaging. Less that half of the students showed up for lectures. I took this class as an easy elective, but turns out his exams are brutal. The TA only marks directly off the answer key, and questions on the exams were very difficult to understand. Overall bad prof, avoid taking classes with him.
This guy is seriously confusing. He has a very dry sense of humor and it almost seems like he's making it up as he goes along. We have a lab book for a reason and he'll often change procedures without really explaining why
If you're an auditory learner avoid completely. He's a very intelligent person, however in terms of being a professor and efficiently communicating this information he's not great to say the least.
Great teacher. He likes to tell stories in class to keep lectures interesting. Tons of memorization but exams are fair, straight from the lecture notes and lab manual. He's very approachable and helpful so don't be afraid to go to office hours. Labs are simple and fun. It is NOT a hard class if you keep up! Took as an elective and did fine.
Don't know why Mike has such a bad rating. Straight forward prof, exams are straight from the notes and are very easy to get a good grade in if you put it the time to study. His humour is subtle but enjoyable. Would definitely recommend taking BPK with Mike! Side note: this is a great class to take if you need a science requirement.
Material ranged from dry- interesting. the tests focused on very specific details like random percentages and memorizing certain words for fill in the blanks. Lots of math errors on tests in terms of marking, always double check your mark. What kind of prof has a "midterm" on the very last class? thats just cruel. Wouldn't take his class again.
Mike is a great prof. If you show up to class, you will do fine on the midterms. The tutorial isn't for marks, and is somewhat pointless, but the class is extremely interesting and is a great science requirement.
Ratings don't do justice describing his abilities as a Professor. Though passionate and clearly knowledgeable of the course content, wording is VERY crucial when writing his exams. Totally unprofessional markings and grading system; heck, no system at all! Fight for your marks people, because this course is about how well you MEMORIZE his notes -.-
Mike is blunt but highly humorousnice prof. He provides notes, and only test from them. Unfortunately no one seems to visit him during office hours. (Please do he seems lonely and will welcome you :). I sent in some questions for the midterm he actually used a couple, definitely aced those! Lovely B-sci-elective.
Tough class to get a good grade. Lectures are dry, as well as the notes. Notes happen to be unclear and confusing. Exams are based word for word on the notes but don't make sense. labs are easy, but material is confusing and isn't explained properly (lab and lecture notes)
Although the course is very tough in terms of the amount of facts/concepts to remember, Mike does a great job of explaining them and making sure you understand them (given you ask for help). There's a lot of reading and memorizing, but if you work for it, the course teaches you a lot and is highly recommended with this prof.
Mike's lectures and labs were fine and quite enjoyable with his sense of humour, but the exams were where he lost points. They are mostly fill in the blank questions word-for-word from the notes, which focus too much on small details and not enough on important things. Very toughly marked course. Would recommend taking this course with another prof
Good professor. Pretty simple if you read the material.
Exams are directly from notes. Be sure to memorize everything, including the number values for things.
Mike is awesome! He makes lectures interesting even though the material can be extremely dry. He gives clear instructions on how you'll be tested and what his expectations are. Make sure to study lots for this course because it is loaded with information.
Awesome prof, just read his notes and powerpoints, and do the questions he gives out for you guys. He literally tells you whats gonna be on exam. If you study you will recieve an A that simple. He is out there to help you as much as you are willing. The labs are awesome very straight forward. Rock on brother let the good times roll
I wish Mike changed his formatting on tests. The fill in the blank portion is horrible in the sense that it tests your memorizing skills. He's a great prof... funny, intelligent and present when you need help. I just wish he changes a few things for future courses.
hardest elective i've ever took. had the worst time. would not recommend
great guy, really cares about his students. His exams are really fair and if you read the word doc notes he posts you should do great! the projects are fun and final was very fair as well if you study hard you will do great!
Lectures are dry and very boring, he gets off topic very easily. Labs are fun. Exams are straight up memorizing from the notes, because they are all fill in the blank (so its very hard to get a good grade) I would avoid taking a class with him. Don't take this as an easy elective (it is the exact opposite), it is impossible to get a decent grade :(
Mike is a really caring person. He is easy to get along with because he has a very cool attitude. However, you need to work hard to get a good grade. Dont fall behind in your lectures and youll do amazing on his exams which btw are fair but tough. He also gives some of the questions beforehand which helps a lot. Overall, an amazing prof!
Dr. Walsh is just an amazing professor. Couldnt have asked for a better prof to be honest. He is so caring towards his students and he honestly provides so much help that it is extremely possible to get a good grade. Review his notes every week and youll do amazing. His exams are fair and he gives most of the written questions beforehand!
For some absurd reason Mikes class is a science elective. Unless you have at least SOME math / science background, DON'T take this class. He's nice and he is intelligent and knowledgeable. His test however ask questions that require you to know arbitrary concepts from his notes. you need to memorize EVERY SINGLE WORD of his note to pass his exams.
took this last year, in the summer, and i gotta say dude was a solid prof, explained everything pretty well and added in his own humor plus he had interesting stories, which i liked. If you did ever have questions, you could always approach him after class, he was always up to help.
My least favourite prof, exams are fill in the blanks and short answer, questions can be unfair and he isn't helpful. Difficult to talk too. He is passionate about what he teaches, but I would not take a class again with him as it feels like Im just memorizing his notes. he does quizzes in lecture and tutorial, every single one.
The exam format is brutal, it is all fill in the blank for the lecture exams. He sometimes gets off topic and talks about himself too much. Otherwise he is a okay guy. Teacher wise though, I would not recommend him, or the course. It is not a GPA booster for sure.
If youre gonna take Kinesiology dont take it with him. Lectures are brutal and its impossible to memorize the material that he expects you to know.
Very nice prof. Cares a lot about if his students understand. Always available for questions after/before class if needed. There is a small lecture quiz every class tho so be prepared to read, though it is very easy. Midterms were pretty easy with very short essay questions and fill in the blanks. Would 10/10 take again. Lenient marking.
Mike is really accessible for help outside of classes. If you are unsure of a topic or need help preparing for the exam, shoot him an email and he is super accommodating. Pretty dry course, but it never lasts 3 hours and he does his best to make it interesting.
Doesnt answer question from students clearly. A close book. Brags a lot. Has to be EXACTLY the words he said on lecture or else you wont get a point even if you have the idea. Never taking another course with this prof.
Expects you to know the facts to the smallest detail,don't expect easy marking if you miss a word no marks. Avoid taking courses with this prof at all cost.
take this class if youre willing to memorize handouts that are 3-11 pages word per word. if u have a question, have ur recorder ready coz he wont answer straight to the point. he expects u to know stuff. final and midterms would probably be easy if u were able to memorize his handouts down to the smallest detail. definitely not a gpa booster
Made the lectures and topics more complicated than they are. STRICT marker! Expects you to remember the smallest details on his notes, also has fill in the blank questions on his tests, so unnecessary. Prepare to READ and MEMORIZE EVERYTHING. AVOID this prof at all cost.
Unfortunately, as much as I would like to avoid Mike Walsh in the future, he does teach a lot of upper year BPK classes. This class was just memorization- remember your lecture notes inside and out, and your lab manual. His exams are fill-in-the-blank and short answer. It felt like a lot of content to remember (and it was), so start early!
AVOID. Gave us 2 hours for a 3-hour online exam, where one of the LONG answer questions we couldn't even do because he never gave us enough information and didnt scale. Grading criteria is not clear at all and he expects absolute perfection. Lectures were rushed and meh at best. Nice enough but bad for this class.
Very mixed feelings about him. He's funny and he knows his stuff, clearly cares about the topics he's teaching. However, his teaching style needs support, there are endless quizzes without adequate time, labs are not at all well made for online. I don't think he put in any effort to make the online experience a good one. It became awkward a lot.
Seemed nice, but was very disorganized, usually didnt know the answer to Q's & did little to help. Quizzes weekly, but they all varied from time of day & time limit, so the class did not have much structure. We were not given enough time for the final exam and the last Q was worth HALF (50 marks) of the entire final (no warning of format before).
Mans makes up rules on the spot really does not care about students
All readings are in Canvas modules. Mike himself had zero contact with students, apart from Zoom proctoring during exams which were open-book anyway. The work wasnt hard but the class was heavily curved. I finished with 92% overall which was only an A- so ����. Not really worth the work from two papers, midterm and final.
I don't know why he gets such a hard rep., the guy really cares and sets students up to succeed. He's quiz heavy but they're not worth all that much, the point is to constantly check your knowledge. He's quite funny and very understanding if you approach him. His reviews scared me, but DON'T worry, approach it with an open mind, he's delightful.
Get ready for 5hr studying per week, tightening the f out of those hamstrings, and prepare to learn every detail down to a t and strength those neuro connections. O boi this is still mid-quarter I'm already burnt out.
He's a horrible teacher, but he does know his stuff. He seems passionate about it, he's often funny, and he's a pretty chill guy. I've talked to him outside of class and he's really great as a person, just not a lecturer. I will say that he does make time for students outside of class. He's just a horrible or the worst explainer.
Very kind and intellectual guy, but an A in this class with his teaching style is virtually impossible. This course has nothing to do with BPK. Its a statistics course. There are so many graded components to this course; essentially all of which are difficult. Lectures are long and its very tough to stay engaged. Wouldnt recommend
The course is very easy. The way that he curves the course is the problem. Got 87% yet only a B+
Super good guy. Course is difficult and the lectures are long, but he is very knowledgeable, caring, and reasonable. Holds consistent office hours and is very approachable. Highly recommend attending them if you have questions. Exams are tough, but he scales them. Overall, a solid choice.
Worst professor I've had at SFU and I've been there for five years. Completely unprofessional, did not give one lecture (all lectures were pre recorded by other faculty members) thus the only contact I had with him was during the midterm and final exam. The course was extremely disorganized, no clear assignment instructions, unclear deadlines etc.
Mike is not very accessible when it comes to Office Hours and is disorganized. Would not take him again and TA's are hard markers. Marking criteria is also very weird and the curve will mess with your grade.
Hilarious guy that gets along with all the students and tries to explain the concepts in a simple manner for it to be easier to digest. Class has a lot of info but the tests are easy enough to get through. Very much high school gym teacher energy
Absolutely awful professor. This is the worst teacher I've ever had at SFU, he is lazy and reuses lecture material. He doesn't help, he is quick to give you a 5-word answer during office hours and dismiss you as soon as possible. Lecture quizzes were next to impossible to do well in because of the time restraint. Final exam avg was 50%.
His redeeming quality is he's a funny guy. His teaching sucks. He uses a textbook, manual, videos, PPTs and Word docs that don't match up with each other. So much work. I made sure to email my TA wayyy before deadlines for clarification, she saved me from his careless & unclear instructions. I enjoyed the content but wouldn't reccommend this prof.
Mike is honestly a nice person but just shouldn't teach. For most of the semester, we would have in-person lecture where we watched his old recorded zoom lectures individually and the lectures weren't great. He didn't care to make sure that the class understood the material, especially after the class got a 50% average on the lab midterms.
I was scared prior to taking his course because of his ratings, but he's not that crazy bad except for the fact that he didn't give any lectures. The weekly quizzes were fairly easy but the midterm and the final exam were hard. I didn't use the textbook and still got a B, but if you want an A, you probably should read the textbook.
I may be an outlier because I actually liked prof Walsh. I've heard some pretty negative things among peers but I found this course really interesting, he provided lots of material (powerpoints, docs and extra videos) to help me better understand the material. I think Mike is a decent prof though his exams are challenging but you can find success.
I was scared taking a course with Dr. Walsh prior to this class. However, he is one of the most kindest and most understandable profs that I have ever had. His lecture materials is kind of disorganized(there is bunch of information on PP, word, video)but he puts an effort to teach and he is always accessible outside of the class or office hours.
Everything about this course is torture. Be prepared to memorize a crap load of content because he expects you to know the smallest details of his lecture notes, powerpoints, and the lab manual (I mean it). Exams are full of fill in the blanks, short & long answer questions (no mcq).
I am not sure how he is still teaching fr. He gives students a crap tonna information and expects us to memorize the most useless parts of it. He brags about himself all the time and most of the marking apparently depends on your TAs so if you end up with a strict one like me you'll end up failing 3/4 of the exams. So get a guy TA.
BPK142 is honestly one of the most difficult courses I have taken at SFU, because of Mike. Although he is very fast with answering emails, and gives straight forward answers he includes the most random information on his slides and expects you to memorize it for tests. Brags about his accomplishments too much to teach sometimes.
First BPK140 is the most underrated course. A course content that should have been mandatory during high school. The truth is many people don't take the time to learn about modern health and managing your wellness. This course provides insights into these topics and will definitively increase your awareness to make better decisions in life.
Very disorganized prof, docs don't match his hour long slides at all. Things he says don't match the docs or the slides. it's like 3 lectures combined into one. BPK140 is interesting, but taking it with any other prof would be more beneficial. He also brags about himself a lot, really think he should just retire at this point
I would've preferred lecture slides with more words than just images. LOTS of memorizing tidbits of information, lots of time put into the course, but the midterms are fair. This course is information overload but I'd highly recommend it for any student doing sciences since the material expands all across the board. Lectures are very fast-paced!!
overall good proff. he includes tons of info in lec but so does every other stem proff and as a HSCI major this was not that bad. I did put lots of time towards this but I do that anyways. Although he adds lots of info to lec's, the MT/Finals are VERY BRIEF STUFF. I did wayyy too much studying for this course. exams are super light. good man
Mike's lectures can be hard to follow, but so long as you make an effort to take notes and ask questions, you'll do alright. You will likely face a few surprises in the exams, but they are definitely fair. This course is very information-heavy, so pay attention and study outside class, and you'll do alright. [but fr, do study outside of class]
The exams felt fair to me but the quizzes were difficult. I liked mike as a professor and he was entertaining and relatable.
Not as bad as I thought he would be. You really have to pay attention in lectures though because he'll use random things he said in lecture on the tests. The tests weren't too bad, but the quizzes were.
you need to go to lectures to do well. firstly he gave quizzes at the end of every lecture and before too. his tests he will bring up something random he said during lecture and put it on there, but he also does ask for question to put on tests from students and does a handful of them. labs were easy. mike lectures just werent all that great tbh
Professor Mike's class is a lot of work, but using tools like Unstuck AI alongside the lectures can really help. Be ready to memorize details, but the exams are fair if you put in the time to study. Not the most engaging lectures, but worth pushing through.
Professor Mike's class is an information overload, but using Unstuckstudy alongside the lectures and studying hard can help you do well. Exams are fair, if tough. Definitely attend class!
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
52%
Textbook Required
36%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.40 avg changeRatings by Course
KIN375
5.0
(1)KIN140
4.0
(2)BPK310
4.0
(1)KIN143
3.5
(2)140
3.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
KINKIN
5.0
KIN305
4.7
BPK304W
4.3
140
4.0
KIN810
4.0