3.2
Quality3.3
Difficulty46%
Would Retake91
Reviews46%
Would Retake
91
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
28
4
15
3
15
2
12
1
21
What Students Say
“I am literally paying $500 to teach myself a course”
BIOL311 - 1.0 rating“Everything has been dumbed down for the biology majors”
BIOC304305 - 2.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
59%
Textbook Required
56%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.54 avg changeRatings by Course
BIOL311365
5.0
(1)BIOL420
5.0
(2)BIO265AND311
5.0
(1)BIO200265311
5.0
(1)BIOL420V
5.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
BIOL382
4.5
Bioc305
4.3
BIOL228
3.8
BIOL319
3.7
BIO319
3.5
Reviews (91)
Very clear on what will be on midterms always willing to help outside of class. Textbook was heavily used but that's just how biochem is. Was very fair in terms of marking and told you exactly what needed to be memorized and removed unnecessary material to make studying easier. Definitely recommend Dr. Plunkett to anyone.
Very nice professor! But can be unclear on material that may be tested on exams. Problem Sets are a mark booster, take extremely good notes as powerpoint lectures do not contain all necessary material. Know EVERY little detail, as anything may show up on an exam!
First prof I've had since high school that really wanted the students to do great. Dr. Plunkett spent hours everyday in his office with students. Super nice guy
One of the best profs I have had in university. He is extremely clear and really wants his students to do well. Attend class, ask questions when you are unsure and visit him in his office! Always has some easy bonus marks on exams for grade boosts :)
Plunkett is a good prof in terms of his willingness to help students, his lecture slides and test fairness. He even personally fills in for his TAs during tutorial sessions, if they are busy, and books lecture halls for review sessions before midterms.
He is super helpful and nice when you make an appointment but it is all a facade! When you just stop by outside of office hours, it is as if the Kracken has been released! He completely flipped out at my friend for knocking on his door one time (almost brought my friend to tears). Oh and is lecture slides are also pretty useless.
I've never had Richard before, and I was really impressed. It was his first time teaching BIOL 200, so the dodgey nature of the powerpoints is excusable. Overall though he is clear on expectations and doesn't test cumulatively (which is amazing for any class). Great prof!
His powerpoints are directly from the textbook but are jumbled so you have to read the textbook anyways. His lectures are long, he reads directly from the slides. His tests are short, but there is so much info and detail to know its hard to study for because you have no idea how specific he'll be. Often a chapter per class, lots of material!!
Dr. Plunkett is super unclear about expectations for tests, does a terrible job teaching simple concepts which take a long time to pick up from the text, and is rude in office hours. Most of my marks in the course were lost due to Dr. Plunkett being unable to phrase sentences correctly and his classic ambiguous questions. Thoroughly unimpressed.
clicker, so you have to attend class. Easy assignments to boost grades Good prof, study for the tests based on his review guide (puts lots of extra stuff on the lecture slides that are NOT tested) Gives a practice test for every midtermfinals and a bunch of questions are repeated on the actual test. He's a cool guy, with lame jokes relatively easy
Dr. Plunkett is one of my absolute favourite profs ever! He is adorable and has the cute nerdy jokes. He really cares about students and will do anything to help outside class - go see him in office hours! So approachable! He specifies what to focus on, especially in 311. Always gives practice exams. Definitely attend class and get to know him.
Dr. Plunkett is a great prof! His exam material comes straight from the lectures which is really nice! His exams are easy to do well on if you are willing to put the effort in. I think Dr. Plunkett really wants his students to do well! The lectures are long though!
I took this professor for a genetics course. He is a very good professor and there for his students. If you're struggling, pop by his office hours or make an appointment. The exams aren't difficult if you put time and effort into understanding the materialdoing practice problems. He provides the resources necessary to succeed.
One of the most amazing teacher I've ever had. He genuinely cates about your grade, and he does his utmost to make sure you have the resources to do the best in the course. He's also awesome to talk to, he's very good at answering questions! We'll dressed, fair marker/test writer, very dedicated to his work, highly recommend!
Far too much time sitting around doing nothing. Students have no motivation to come to class aside from on days when testing will take place. This flip the classroom is not helpful and makes class time a waste. No sense in reinventing the wheel. We are paying to be taught, if we wanted to do a distance course we would register for on.
Plunkett is one of the best professors I have come across at UBCO He flipped how he taught biochemistry, even though it meant I had to do a lot of reading on my own, he made class time about reiterating important information through assignments, quizzes and group work, it was a welcome break from mind numbing lecture, though he's a great lecturer
Used to be an awesome lecturer. He flipped the class but it still needs more refining.
Super helpful during office hours! Tests can be tough but with the provided lecture material, Chapter outlines/guides, textbook and additional provided sources, this course is Definitely worth taking for those interested in the subject. Personally, one of my favourite professors at UBCO.
Dr. Plunkett is one of my most favourite professors at UBCO. Went exactly by the textbook we used, except he would only take key information from each chapter, and condensed them into notes for us. Exams were very fair, and were mainly based off the notes in class. Really punny in lecture, and you can tell he's there to help students learn & grow.
Good prof, knows his stuff and makes biochem as interesting as it could be. Great for helping outside of class. Heaps of lecture slides and material and it's no easy take trying to figure out what may or may not be testable. Test questions can be worded oddly and trying to figure out what he's looking for in an answer a challenge.
Hes an okay prof for teaching this info jammed course. Just screwed up my life thats all
Amazing professor, highly accessible out of class. If you attend his lectures and actually pay attention, the exams should be a breeze through. Never surprised by any of the questions put on exams, very fair grading. Highly organized and truly a very understanding professor. Have taken a few times and plan on taking him again!
Plunkett is one of the nicest and most organized profs! He is really funny and cares about students. Flipped classroom is not ideal but if you take notes on provided power points, follow the reading guide, and know the key concepts you'll get an A. Go to class and pay attention to what he says will be on the exams and you'll save a lot of studying!
Great prof. Always available outside of class and will always go over any concepts you don't understand. There is always a lot of reading to do (buy the textbook, trust me) but if you make sure you thoroughly go through and can answer all the points he addresses in his key concepts documents you'll do great in the class.
Biochem wasn't as difficult as I was expecting. Dr. Plunkett flips the classroom in this course, so you have to do all of the readings before class. The course consists of indiv tests that are redone with your team ( 6 ppl) right after. These count for 15% of your grade. 40% are midterm marks and 35% is the final. Just do the Q's, you'll be fine.
flipped class is awful. Tests are unfair, based on vague examples in the textbook you wouldnt normally read because youre trying to understand the main concept which he doesnt teach you. barely lectures and makes a big effing deal of it if he does talk for half an hour. worst class ever
He good
Cares about your performance but stingy with giving marks back. One of those professors that finds reasons to take marks rather than give them. To succeed read the text using his slides and key concepts as a guideline. Midterms are very similar to key concepts, quizzes are ok if you do the guides, final was hard. Lots of work but SHOW UP TO CLASS.
I LOVED HIM! He gets that just straight lectures suck so he broke things up to make things more engaging. We did in class group assignments that I found really helpful, they pull on what had been talked about in prior lectures and brought it all together. For TESTS go over the outcomes and objectives!He's really fair and pulls everything from there
With the flipped class he thinks he has education figured out; he's wrong. He took a class with interesting concepts and made it a joke. Everything has been dumbed down for the biology majors.
This is definetly a teach yourself from the textbook kind of class
Very expensive exercise in how to read a text book.
Since plunkett doesnt lecture its very hard to predict what will be on the midterm/final. Its very hard to study because its unclear whats important
I am literally paying $500 to teach myself a course.
Be ready for RATs, flipped class and group works..
Can't call him a teacher at all because he doesn't teach. Expects you to learn everything yourself and only gives tests. His class is a joke.
Richard makes you teach the course to yourself, but his method of "teaching" does not work for me AT ALL. Horrible
Go to his office hours. Nicest guy around. Will help you with any of the mechanisms and he even told me what the questions were going to be on the exam.
Worst Prof I've ever seen. Never teaches anything. Makes us teach ourselves by reading the textbook. Does weird and super unhelpful team activities (iRAT, tRAT etc.). Run away from his classes...
Online learning/teaching has been a weird transition, so take all recent ratings with a grain of salt. At the moment the class is heavily structured around independent and team based learning, so avoid his online course if you are a lecture based learner. he is a really sweet and reasonable guy though, so if you put in the work youll be fine.
His classes don't have formal lectures and you pretty much have to rely on yourself and a team to learn the material. The class almost followed the textbook EXACTLY, especially the midterms. He is a very caring and kind prof, I can see that he is very sincere and cares that we all succeed. The material in the class was also super interesting!!
EVERYTHING is team based; really sucks if no one in your group participates. He didnt give feedback on any assignments until a week before the final so we never knew how we were doing w the content. Assigns a RIDICULOUS amount of weekly reading (up to 7chapters)! A v kind teacher when he actually teaches, too bad there were only 5 lectures total:(
The class was 100% textbook, NO lectures. You have 3 group assignments a week (even during online learning). His midterms and finals tested us on incredibly basic material. 5 % of grade is from a peer assessment about how 'nice' you are to people in your group. It seems like he cares more about the idea of 'team based learning' than teaching BIOC.
Be prepared to learn by yourself and in your team. Tests are pretty fair and it is nice having the grading spread out over many things instead of concentrated all on 3 tests.
Plunkett is amazing! Would recommend him to anyone. It's a lot of work because you have to teach yourself, but he's so clear about what he expects from you. And if you do the study guide and have access to the internet, his exams are easy. He also obviously cares so much about his students. Only prof I've really liked during online school
I really liked Plunkett and his teaching style. Yes, you have to read and teach yourself - but the midterms are SO EASY. If you put in the effort you will get an A. Would take this style of teaching any day if the tests were always like this. Also, 3 midterms, no final. There is weekly group work (iRATS & tRATS), but they are helpful in learning.
He is a very kind prof who will stick around for questions. However, he does not give lectures. You must teach yourself and modules/homework assignments take a long time to complete. A large portion of the assignments are group projects where you will get graded by your team, so participate! Exams are not too bad, but there's a team portion to it.
Great professor! Focuses on concepts and not minor details and exams are reasonable/fair. Participate, ask questions, be open to learning in a TBL format and you will do very well.
Great professor who genuinely cares for the students. Continually reviews the content material and breaks down important details. Textbook doesnt quite provide all the information to the questions though.
The best professor iv'e had at this school. I loved his biochem 1 class so much I took biochem 2 for fun. He genuinely cares about his students and the quality of their education. His classes are very content heavy but he's excellent at explaining tough topics (uses images/diagrams) and made it fun to learn.
Very frustrating that he NEVER lectures and you're expected to teach yourself EVERYTHING (why am I paying $500 for this class?). The teamwork aspect is fine, although I wish he would dedicate one class to application activities and one class to lecturing each week. The weekly quizzes along with homework and application activities is also a bit much
Plunkett seems like a really nice guy. But, there are quizzes every week which are very difficult. The midterms were very hard considering he doesn't actually teach in the class.... everything you need to know you have to teach yourself through the textbook. The group activities were good, but you will never hear this dude teach at all
AVOID AT ALL COSTS. I was a microbiology major before I took his class. He did not lecture even ONE time, all he did was assign a disgusting amount of reading every week and test us on it. His final exam was open book on the most specific questions about individual diseases, and was 26MC 9 SA in 45min. Legit impossible. You wont learn anything.
He will expect you to read 3-4 chapters a week and you have a quiz every second class, tests you on the most specific things, closed book. The quizzes are worth basically 20% of your lecture grade and be prepared to do absolute garbage on those. He seems like he would be such a great lecturer too, but he only had one lecture in our entire course.
He does weekly quizzes and application activities to help you prepare for exams. He doesn't lecture so expect to read the textbook but he is open to answering questions, discussions and will go over main concepts in class. Lots of group work which was helpful. Midterms were fair and focused on broad concepts instead tiny details.
great guy and a great prof, the courses he teaches are difficult courses but he does a great job explaining and is willing to take time to help you learn! but takes all semester to get grades except exams, those take about two weeks
He does a flipped classroom with reading outside of class time and application activities in class. He gives learning objectives that guide you to what is important in the text and the activities are very relevant and help with learning and truly understanding the material. Tests are very fair and largely based on the RATs and in-class activities.
A gem
Strangest class design I've ever taken. Dr. Plunkett takes the group-based learning approach, which itself is a bit of a learning curve. Same group the whole term, hope it's a good one like mine. I went into the first of 3 midterms literally having no idea what the heck was going to be on the test. Teach-yourself kind of class. No final exam though
The way that Dr. Plunkett teaches this course is completely different from the way he teaches other courses so beware. 3 midterms (drops lowest grade) + cumulative final exam, very content heavy. Exams are BRUTAL...I always listened in class and did well on every assignment/discussion post, but the exams for this class were on another level.
As usual, Dr.Plunkett uses team-based learning so get ready to pre-read before coming to class. I found that the slides he went over in class covered the majority of the material well enough to be able to do well but still take that extra bit of time to read through the text and you should have no problem acing this class
Mr. Plunkett is one of the kindest professors I have had at UBCO. His method of teaching (group based) is not my favourite, but he makes the class better. You can tell he wants his students to learn and is always there to answer questions. This being said- you cannot coast by in his classes and do need to put in the work.
Don't ever take this class. Plunkett does not lecture. "Lecture" is not in his vocabulary. He assigns weekly readings that are multiple chapters long. You teach yourself, then when you come to class he gives you a quiz to see how well you've taught yourself.
He's a nice person, but he can't teach to save his life. He assigns readings each week and then quizzes you on it the next class. He does not lecture or provide any supplemental slides. You literally teach yourself... read the textbook, get quizzed on it, and he provides "learning outcomes" to give us a guideline on what we are needing to know.
Dr. Plunkett is a engaging prof who is passionate about this subject however he DOES NOT TEACH. His "lectures" consist of you having to go home and read 5-6 long content-heavy chapters every week in the span of a couple of days and then get tested on it during class. This class is basically memorizing the whole textbook.
I have not disliked a prof as much as I dislike "professor" Plunkett. He has a distasteful personality, in the sense that he is condescending to students. His learning objectives are useless. Honestly, doesn't seem like he has any respect for his profession or his students.
He tells you what to do, and it is to read 6 textbook chapters and then get tested on them weekly. They are low stake quizzes but failure to learn the content will become apparent on the midterm. Broad learning outcomes provide no guidance on what to know. Must know specifics! Disappointing that interesting content is ruined by a bad professor.
3rd course with him & they've all been AWFUL. He is not a professor. He assigns multiple chapters to read each week, and then tests you on them. NO LECTURES! You go into exams with no idea of whats going to be on it because you're essentially asked to recite a whole textbook. Team based "learning" more like TESTING. Interesting topics are ruined.
This course could be taught by a child as apparently the only requirement to be the "professor" is having the ability to assign chapters of a textbook, and then re-cycle midterms from previous years. NO lectures and often times when you ask him a question you're more confused because his explanation is more often that not wrong. Avoid at all costs.
Really nice professor, but has a different teaching style. You have to read the textbook yourself and then do weekly quizzes with an assigned group. This may work for some people, but not everyone. Really interesting course.
Team based learning style. application activaties class is a total waste of time. But his exams are pretty easy and if you learned each module and every week. his class is piece of cake. But again, self learn class rather then teaching class. You need to be self sufficient and learn by yourself or watch youtube videos.
Great professor. Different style of teaching (team based learning). You will score decently if you will study regularly and follow his learning objectives.
This was my 3rd class with Dr. Plunkett and honestly it was way better than the other 2. We had regular lectures that were VERY rushed and we all had A LOT to study for the first midterm that was sickening. The second midterm was 1 chapter long plus the other materials from midterm 1. No readings for this class! A great prof that makes me think!
This is the best course I have had with him. Once you survive the first midterm (which was ALOT of material) the class is so enjoyable and really interesting. Really kind prof out of the classroom, and his "key concepts" are incredible study guides. The only thing is if you get a bad group then the midterms and finals are hard.
Dr Plunkett, while being one of the sweetest and gentlest people on campus, doesn't really understand basic pedagogy. His flipped class is designed to have the top students teach those who are mediocre. It's not my job to explain to biology majors what hydrogen bonding is (real example). He tries, but I got absolutely nothing from that class.
This guy is SOOOO boring. I've never been so bored yet overwhelmed in one class before. That being said, he went through 50 word-heavy slides on fatty acid and oxidation processes in 45 min. It's so nice too, because he will cancel class to make his life easier and assign us assignments to do. Lazy if you ask me. Just stay away from him if you can.
Dr. Plunkett is one of the most caring professors I have ever encountered. He always comes to class looking to make us laugh or smile and engages with the class at every opportunity he has. I emailed him before a midterm to let him know I was sick and he continued to check up on me throughout the week.
Very nice prof! Passionate about Biochem and explains things well. Yes his teaching style is not like other profs but people need to be willing to try something new
Dr. Plunkett is by far one of the greatest profs at UBC. He tries his best to explain concepts in a team based approach. I genuinely enjoyed this course because of him. He has a good sense of humour. Everyone says he's intimidating, but he is so sweet if you reach out and talk to him! I would 100% recommend him for any course he is teaching!!! :)
He does not teach! He just expects you to read the textbook take in all the information from that and recite it back for exams and quizzes. He also does team-based learning which means you teach the course to the other students on your team. Avoid this guy if you can.
Plunkett does not teach. He gives you chapters of the textbook to read outside of class, then during class you have to do a quiz on those chapters. If you don't learn from learning, the too bad so sad! Hate this class
Richard has an interesting teaching style. There's lectures so he will not be teaching you as he uses team based learning and will ask you to teach yourself and will quiz you on it afterwards. The system works fine if you have a good team, if you don't then I wish you luck on teaching them the entire course and carrying them through the exam.
I don't rlly know how to feel about Dr. Plunkett. His tests are straightforward and easy to do well on, however you have to teach yourself EVERYTHING. His lecture slides are just screenshots of pictures from the textbook and tell you nothing. The content was so interesting but this class would've been more enjoyable if he actually taught.
Dr. Plunkett is such a kind and caring professor! I was initially scared for this course because of the reviews, but it was super easy. Personally the team based learning worked very well for me and I was a huge fan of the weekly quizzes and application activities because they keep you accountable for the information and are similar to the exam.
Doesn't teach at all and expects you to know the whole week's chapter before coming to the first lecture of the week. Only reason why I was able to maintain some decent grade was because of AK lectures. Whatever chapter you're assigned to watch his respective videos on that topic and you'll do pretty well on the exams.
Dr. Plunkett is a very approachable and caring professor, but he doesn't teach in a traditional lecture manner and relies heavily on group/individual tests and "application activities." In order to do well, you have to read the textbook which is 100+ pages/week. His exams were pretty easy though, as long as you read the textbook.
Dr. Plunkett has been by far the worst professor I've ever had. This course would be spaced out a lot better if we didn't waste ENTIRE classes on his tests and application activities. We went through a 70 page lecture in an hour with 20 minutes to spare. He does not teach, I should have been getting paid.
Does not teach, assigns 80 slides to do in 2 days to be tested on (again, does not teach them to you). Insane prof, actually insane experience. He'll do it all with a smile on his face too :)
One of the finest professors of UBCO makes Biochem look easy. midterms were logically based questions.
Prokaryotic Physiology was one of the worst classes I've ever had. Lectures were extremely disorganized, the slides were extremely lacking in content. Homework wanted extremely specific answers, but the question was extremely broad, but nothing gets graded anyways. I have absolutely NOTHING POSITIVE to say about this class or about this prof.
Genuinely the NICEST guy in the world. He tries really hard and he's okay at teaching... when he does teach. You have to pre-learn material on your own, then you get quizzes & application activities in class. He grades easy, but his tests are HARD. He forces you to problem-solve like a med student. When he does lecture, it's 70 slides per lecture.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
59%
Textbook Required
56%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.54 avg changeRatings by Course
BIOL311365
5.0
(1)BIOL420
5.0
(2)BIO265AND311
5.0
(1)BIO200265311
5.0
(1)BIOL420V
5.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
BIOL382
4.5
Bioc305
4.3
BIOL228
3.8
BIOL319
3.7
BIO319
3.5