2.8
Quality3.9
Difficulty17%
Would Retake98
Reviews17%
Would Retake
98
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
19
4
18
3
16
2
20
1
25
What Students Say
“And these are self-splicing right”
MBIOS301 - 1.0 rating“She was honestly the worst Instructor I have ever had”
BIO107 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
58%
Textbook Required
64%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.13 avg changeRatings by Course
BIOL103
5.0
(1)GENETICS
5.0
(2)GEN303
5.0
(1)BIO103
4.0
(3)BIOBIO
4.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
BIO104
5.0
MBIOS494
5.0
MBIOS402
4.5
MBIOS301
4.3
BIO301
4.1
Reviews (98)
No Comments
she's ok. kind of a grouch and not a terrific teacher, but the class is easy.
No Comments
She is really mean, and she thinks she knows everything, and she does not.
No Comments
She is slightly psychotic. She yells at people a lot, but she does teach the information well.
Not a very good teacher. Seemed like she looked down upon the students. Not very nice
Great Teacher! Loved the course. Tests are tough but if you go to class and take good notes you will do fine on the tests.
I love this lady! She's awesome. Go to class, take good notes. Review those notes= A on test. Grades on a curve so the average is a B. She's very helpful and she's Irish, so you can't beat that! Take Bio from her and you will learn and love it!
Excellent teacher. She details all of the exam material in the lectures, drastically reducing the amount of textbook reading needed. Make sure not to whisper during lecture or she'll interrupt the whole class and get pretty grumpy.
She has hand gestures and sayings, "very important" that run you up the wall. Tests are ment to weed the class out. Grade based %80 on exams.
She's Irish, with and irish accent that is hard to understand. With the hand gestures and the lack of pronounciation, she's annoying as hell. ENJOY!!!!
Excellent teacher, really taught the class well. Go to class, take notes, and you will get an A in the class. The fairest teacher I have had so far.
she cares about YOU
No Comments
good teacher, covers lots of material and shows great interest and brings in lots of background with each topic covered
not good at helping explain why or what's happening when things goes wrong in experiments and then expects you to be able to explain in your papers what happened - grades hard
She is a good teacher, but her exams are very very hard. She wants you to know your material. She keeps things hard, but she also is caring and is willing to spend her time to help you understand the topics.
Aside from being a great instructor, she demands respect and it is a pleasure to sit in her classes and learn. Take notes, read the book and you are guaranteed an A. Plus, she is a snappy dresser!
This lady is the most annoying prof. I have ever had. She says everything is important and it pisses me off. I think she may be a ****.
Excellent teacher. Hard class but she tries her best to teach it well.
Go to class and don't miss labs and you will pass the class. Study off of notes and make sure that they are good notes. Other than that, you will pass. In order to get a good grade, you must read the book and go the extra-extra mile. Unless you score 100% on her test, don't plan on getting an A. Labs are easy.
She may have said, "and that is very important and you're going to need to know it," a million times but she had very consistant lectures and was always helpful. Attend every lecture and take good notes and you're guaranteed a B. A's are hard to get.
Tests were way too hard for a 100 level class. In lecture she says all these random vocab words are important, and sure enough most of them are on the tests. Makes it very difficult to study unless you are good at pure memorization. Lectures were good and helpful. Make the tests easier and the class would be alot better.
Take a class from this Irish lady! She is an awesome teacher that explains everything very thoroughly. Exams are a bit tricky, but not extremely hard like everyone says. Just study. If you actually KNOW the material, which you will if you go to lecture and study just for the exam, the tricks in her exam will not work on you.
She is the best
Shes not a bad lecturer however it is nearly impossible to get an "A" out of her class. She requires a 94% for an A and won't budge it even if the class average is 50%. First exam avg 73, Second exam 65...., High score for first exam 2 people got 94, 2nd exam 2 people got 92 (out of about 200 students).... So basically impossible to get an "A".
bio sucks, lots of reading. all memorization! go to class she says little things and expects you to remember for the test. impossible to get an A.. but dont worry there is a curve at the end (thank god for so many stupid people)
She write complicated exams that are tricky and she is not helpful.
She's pretty cool, you might as not well buy the book, you only use her notes for tests. She constantly says the word "important". I kept a tally throughout the semester, She had an average of about 29, a low of 9 and a high of 56
I loved her! If you attend the lectures and take notes, you will be fine on the tests. She was able to make the material very interesting and often tied in relevant stories from the news.
She is a little intimidating at first, but she will respect hard working and thoughtful students. 402 is a writing course and she is strict on grading, but will improve your writing a million fold! This course requires a lot of work, but you will learn a LOT!!!
Lectures ok. Exams were brutal. Asks for more detailed information on tests than provided in lecture. Will do ok if you can read her mind.
Seemed very uninterested in the material she was "teaching". I did not enjoy the lectures at all. She spoke in monotone most of the time. Very boring. Tests were excruciatingly difficult and ridiculous. Be sure to write down EVERYTHING she says. Will be on the test. Was not very prompt when responding to my questions in emails. Not friendly at all!
Worst teacher ever. Can't teach! Is completely rude to the students. Don't bother answering or asking questions because she will insult you! This class is ridiculous!!!!
bad teacher.
If you are looking for an easy A...take a different professor. If you will be taking placement exams, this teacher is for you. The depth and bredth of material covered, and her expectations of you as a student, will prepare you for the placement exam (MCAT, DAT, etc.)
Lectures are detailed, so, make sure you pay attention. Take good notes and prepare for exams early using homework assignments and practice exams. Great Professor with high expectations, her tests should not be a surprise, however they are difficult.
She goes slowly through the easy stuff and flies through the hard stuff. Study hard for the first exam and you'll save your grade for the final if you didn't do well on the second exam - not a lot of people do.
Everything is important if you ask her. Lectures are packed with information. Take your laptop, download the powerpoints and take notes that way, becuase you WON'T be able to write everything down. Exams are VERY DIFFICULT, but if you study you will do ok. I got an A and I studied my butt off and took notes non-stop. Helpful during office hours too
Seems unreasonable during class sometimes but is very willing to help after class or in office hours. Lecture has an obscene amount of info, and if you ask her, all of it is important. Not clear what will be on the exams, and some test questions were arbitrary facts that were only mentioned offhand. Don't necessarily need the book but it helps.
ATTEND CLASS!!! she takes her questions right out of lecture, book is helpful but not necessary. Also she does powerpoint slides (which are online) takes notes on everything she says right on slides and you'll get a B. Love that she curves the class average to a B-. Tests are tricky but reasonable. Go to office for any questions so helpful and nice
Each lecture contains a lot of details that she will tell you are important. And they are. I swear nearly everything she said in class was on the exams. She has a great curve, though. It takes a little bit of extra effort to get an A, but my mediocre amount of studying got me a B+. I'd take another class from her if I could.
Unfortunately, she is both patronizing and demeaning in her conversations with students. She routinely expects knowledge of topics outside of the chapters she bases exams on, which makes preparing for exams somewhat difficult. Unless you have the attention span of Stephen Hawking, expect to miss minute details that you will surely be tested on.
Horrible teacher. Was excepted to know EVERYTHING that came out of her mouth as any of it could be asked on the test. Tests were more about the little things she said then getting the main idea behind things.If you can just memorize the small unimportant stuff then you will do great in this class. But if not, then i recommend finding someone else
Horrible teacher, expects you to know everything that she says although she won't actually test you on half of it. Asks trick questions but denies it. Not very helpful, will tell you not to bother coming to her office to get help, "just go to your TAs thats what theyre there for". No study guides, no exam topic list, no helpful practice exams.
Lectures are packed full of information and she says every little detail is important, and then it's not even on the exam! Pretty hard class overall.
This teacher is not reccomended, lowest quality I have encountered at WSU.
She is super hard to follow!! She follows the book pretty closely but her lectures are a bore. I think you could just do better reading the book
HORRIBLE teacher. The averages for the first two tests were a D. She wont answer you questions, she will just sit there are stare at you and make you feel stupid for asking it. Office hours are help. my recommendation.... do not take Bio 107 from her. just don't do it
She was honestly the worst Instructor I have ever had. Her lectures are next to useless. She sits in front of the class and scrolls through powerpoints and reads the diagrams. I can't even count how many times I heard, "you should already know this". If you ask a question she just stares at you like your stupid. Her tests are full MINOR details.
Her exams were definitely tough if you don't read the questions. She knows her stuff but it was really hard to understand the material. Overall, I liked her but the exams were just tough. Our 2nd exam consisted of a month and a half worth of lecture. Having only 3 exams for the class definitely did not help my grade in that class.
She gives out a practice exam on Angel that has practice questions for all the exams in one document. I've heard from friends who've gotten good grades on their exams say that the practice exam really helped. Reading the book is helpful too to better understand the material.
This teacher is horrible. I have no idea why she is teaching because she doesnt like students. She tells her TAs to keep a low average (around 65%) in the labs and is happy with a D average on the test. She is impossible. She tells you to go home and read the slides because she doesn't have time to go over them in class... so why go to class.
She is a great biology teacher. I absolutely disagree with many of posters here. Her course including exams is as efficient as most of the instructers who teaches these materials can get. She is helpful and passionate about what she teaches.
I went to her office a lot and she was quite helpful. I think she may have been a little disheartened by all the... "less than courteous" students in her class, but like I said, she's very helpful when you're in her office. Ask her an the TA questions when you have them and study the slides that she posts online (all test content comes from them).
I did not have her for bio 107 but I am taking her through the distance program, ie an online class, for genetics. She is not great. The lectures are ancient and don't match the book anymore. It is clear she doesn't want to help. She hardly answers questions and her answers are vague and unhelpful. She is initmidating and uniterested in teaching.
Having McCabe for 107 I honestly thought she was the devil. However, I have grown to realize that she actually knows what she is talking about. She knows she isn't liked, so she just doesn't care. But go to her office hours and she's very approachable. I had to work so hard to get a B, but hey, I learned something and isnt that the point of school?
Dr. McCabe is a great professor. She truthfully cares about each one of the students, as long as you are willing to work hard. Yes, the tests are difficult, but if you do the reading, review the concepts and some specifics, then you are fine. And she says things are important BECAUSE THEY ARE IMPORTANT. She really is a great prof and person!
This professor is pretty much a walking example of how tenure needs to be reformed. She is unresponsive, inaccurate, condescending, boring, and lectures include more dead air and um, okay, like than a text from a 13 year old. Easy class online, but, if you need to know the material go elsewhere.
Dr. N. McCabe is the worst instructor ever. She is so stubborn and really anal when it came to assignments. I'm taking her for my sr. project and I regret it. Not only is her class demanding, she doesn't make science fun anymore. I work so hard to get a passing grade. No wonder half my class left her section. McCabe ruined my senior year at WSU.
I took this class online. I hated almost every part of it. Dr. McCabe was very rude to students on the online discussion boards and hardly ever replied with actually useful information. Her lectures were extremely boring, with lots of pauses, "um"s, "ok"s, and "you really need to read your book". Her exams are also really tedious and long.
This class isn't the easiest but she does tell you exactly what you need to know. It just so happens you need to know a lot. If you put in the time you'll do fine in this class but you DO need to put in the time.
Here is a direct quote from McCabe "Alright, alright, so, and again, these introns you know, they come in two varieties, right? And these are self-splicing right? They come in two varieties and you need to know it, right?" It continues this way for the entire hour and fifteen minutes.
Despite technology issues, she really made an effort to have contact with her online class. Video chats definitely helped provide more of the connection that typically seems lacking in an online class. This also provides a forum to ask questions, so take advantage of it.
Dr. McCabe knows her stuff, but her lectures can be a little dry. Try to stay on top of each day, and go to your recitation section! Your TA can be a huge help here! I definitely recommend reading the book or finding an online source from Youtube or Khan Academy, if you're struggling with the material.
Dr. McCabe's lectures are extremely dry and made me not want to go. I would never ask questions when I was confused because she makes students feel dumb when they ask, and she assumes students know more than they do. Tests are full of minor, specific details instead of broad, big picture concepts. Would NOT recommend.
I think a lot of people take it easy in this class due to the lack of homework. She's an okay teacher that likes to go off on random interesting topics. She will tell you what will be on the exam if you go to class. She does a good job of making the class passable, C is a 60%, but only the in person class, not online.
Dr. McCabe was not helpful as a professor. There were times students asked questions in class and she was condescending back and didn't even answer the question. Perhaps she just has high expectations for students which is understandable but she was not approachable due to her condescending nature in class. Luckily my TA was way more helpful.
McCabe is a poor instructor. Her lectures are vague and lack insight. In addition to weak lectures, the exams are trivial and insignificant. Unfortunately, she is well liked by other professors and will continue to teach MBIOS 301.
This was a very hard class for an intro to genetics course. No homework, but that means your whole grade is based on 3 very difficult exams and recitation quizzes. There is a lot of material, and it's all fair game for the exams. Study everything because things that she barely glosses over on can show up on tests. Big curve, but make exams count!
Went too quickly in lecture and expected that everyone already had an understanding of what she was talking about. Class grade was determined solely by 3 exams (400 points) and 11 quizzes (12 points each). Would be an excellent professor in a smaller/higher level class
She was not very understanding when it came to you saying you were struggling in the course. She only offers quizzes and exams for points so you have no way of getting any additional. Way to much information, not all is covered so its hard to know what to study.
Very helpful in office hours. Do not get behind in this course. It is fine as long as you study regularly. Memorization heavy but welcome to every bio ever. It's helpful to go back through the PP's to catch details you may need to know before exams. I often learned tons of details I was never tested on-she really isn't abut testing every tiny thing
Dr. McCabe is by far my favorite professor I have had. I took her Human Genetics class last spring and the exams were all short answer and very straight forward. The exams are difficult but many of the class activities she does are similar to exam questions. There was an extra credit debate at the end were you earn extra credit even if you lose.
One of my least favorite professors Ive ever had. Not very helpful when asked for help. Quizzes and tests contained many things that were not even remotely discussed in the book. Not feasible to get a high grade when you have no clue what the question pertains to. Makes mistakes on spelling and answer choices far too often.
McCabe is an unorganized professor. She frequently makes mistakes and spelling errors on exam questions. One exam she messed up the order of letter choices and it confused everyone. She asks questions on exams that are much harder than an intro course usually calls for. If you are going to take Bio 301 at WSU take it in the spring, avoid her class.
She is very strict and sometimes can come off as rude or aggressive. This class was pretty hard, as the grades are usually very low. her slides can be very all over the place at times so you would have to pay attention, since sometimes one slide can be missing from what she posted.
Her lectures do NOT prepare you for the difficult questions on the exam, do not believe her when she claims otherwise. The book +online extra homework will help but prepare to study. She speaks down to students and will constantly refer to material as "easy" to discourage students to ask questions. Just take 301 in spring.
This is the most difficult and horrible class I have ever taken. None of the material makes sense and online recorded lectures are dry and have many technical issues. She steps off to the side of the screen and talks to the class so the online viewer has no clue what is going on. General genetics is already a very dense boring subject.
I think Professor McCabe is a really nice person, but I think the combination of classes being online and students being a lot more vocal about their issues with her teaching have made her a little bitter towards her Mbio301 class. I also really dislike her PowerPoints as they are terribly organized and impossible to follow outside of class.
Professor McCabe was nothing more than completely rude to students all semester long. Her answers to questions were back handed and formulated to make you feel dumb even though she constantly messed up on quiz and exam questions. If you are need to take Mbios 301, DO NOT TAKE PROFESSOR MCCABES CLASS!!
Be aware before you take a class with Dr. McCabe. Her lectures are extremely confusing and she is condescending when you ask a question. You learn more with outside resources than her class. Her quizzes are almost impossible to pass and she has unrealistic expectations of what you must know for her closed note and proctored exams.
Dr. McCabe comes off brash and condescending when you ask a question in class. She comes off even worse if you send her an email. Her lectures are confusing. She expects you to know an unrealistic amount of material. She does not care about her students passing, only the integrity of her exams and will constantly accuse people of cheating.
I like her as a professor, however, I didn't think the lectures prepared me for the exams. If something is even briefly mentioned, you will have to spend a ton of time researching it.
Lots of material. Only graded items are exams and weekly quizzes and zoom meetings. Open book quizzes. Closed book proctored exams. No curves to anything. No extra credit. Better get comfy and read that text book, this class is a grind.
Professor McCabe's general genetics class is one of the hardest classes I have ever taken, and I have taken multiple 300 and 400 level STEM classes prior. She expects you to know an unreasonable amount of things, incl. intensely specific examples on closed-book exams. My biggest problem was with her condescending and rude tone in emails and Zoom.
Professor McCabes exams are hands down the hardest ones Ive taken in my college career. I have taken many stem classes and this was ridiculous in the amount of information that is required of you to know for the exams. You have to know every small detail possible in order to get even a remotely good grade. This class should be divided into two.
Genetics is a tough subject but her condescending tone and horrible way of speaking about the subject she teaches are repulsive. She says, "easy, right?!" After every freaking sentence...if there was a better way to discourage people from asking questions this is it.
McCabe has an extremely out of date teaching style. While her lecture style and teaching is understandable to me, she often discourages asking questions about problems she presents at the beginning of class to avoid wasting time. She also will condescend to students and pauses at any minor sound other. She's the biggest obstacle in genetics.
I was very excited to take this class and was very let down by the style of this class. Genetics is already a hard subject to grasp, especially in a basically introductory genetics class. Homework every other day as busy work, mostly graded on the three closed note exams you are given that do not mimic the practice exams. Overall, very disappointed
I was hoping this wouldn't be a difficult class, but I was wrong. She thinks everyone already knows what she is talking about and discourages you from asking questions. I stopped going to lectures, they were a waste of time. Reading the textbook was better than her lectures, so disorganized and hard to understand. Get ready to be looked down on lol
Poorly structured. If you don't have to take this with her save yourself the trouble and don't. If you do, do all the homework, it is on quizlet, set alarms to remember, it is open for 24 hour periods and you CANNOT make it up. Study very frequently, you must do well on every recitation, and every exam, no drops. Just pray for exams tbh.
Incredibly condescending. Demoralizes students with her language and tone. Norah is oddly obsessed with Ireland... *Warning*Avoid At All Costs
For some reason, people find Dr. McCabe to be condescending. I do not quite understand this, as I found her to be very nice and super helpful when I asked her questions. I think people take her tone of voice wrong. You can get up to 20 points extra credit in recitation for turning in the worksheets, the answers do not even have to be correct!
Dr. McCabe is difficult. I wasn't as put off about her constantly asking the class, "easy, right?" as others were, but her constant need for a class of 300+ to engage with her during lectures is stressful, as a TON of content is covered at once and notes are necessary. Exams are difficult, and there isn't much else to help buffer your grade.
Dr. McCabe's class is challenging, but using tools like Unstuckstudy can help with study prep. Attend lectures, do all assignments, and be ready for tough exams - it's worth the effort.
One of my favorite professors.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
58%
Textbook Required
64%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.13 avg changeRatings by Course
BIOL103
5.0
(1)GENETICS
5.0
(2)GEN303
5.0
(1)BIO103
4.0
(3)BIOBIO
4.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
BIO104
5.0
MBIOS494
5.0
MBIOS402
4.5
MBIOS301
4.3
BIO301
4.1