2.4
Quality3.7
Difficulty14%
Would Retake91
Reviews14%
Would Retake
91
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
13
4
12
3
12
2
24
1
30
What Students Say
“No reviews beforehand”
BIO211 - 1.0 rating“This has been the worst class I've taken at Shepherd”
BIOL411 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
72%
Textbook Required
50%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
C+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.26 avg changeRatings by Course
BIOL102
5.0
(2)BIOLALL
5.0
(1)NEUROBIO
4.7
(3)BIO0000
4.5
(2)GEO30588
4.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
BIO411
4.7
BIOL411
4.7
BIOL412
4.3
BIO211
4.2
BIOL101
4.0
Reviews (91)
Very nice, kinda goofy great personality. Do not have to attend lectures just study the book. Bio labs are quick and fun they only take about an hour. a few quizes in labs but they are multiple choice and easy. I reccomend taking her!!
No Comments
Great class! Dr. Conley is amazing. Very helpful, wonderful personality, *VERY* knowledgable about the subject matter. Though her lectures roam a bit, she is one of the best professors Shepherd has. Read the text, focus on group activities.
you people are nuts. dr. conely is the best biology professor i could have had.
Dr. Conley is a good teacher. She knows her stuff. But she has a tendency to be boring, so pick her for a 50 min. class. Yeah she's a really good teacher, and she's kinda corny. She tries to be funny.
Its nice to see a female on the biostaff, and for that matter such a knowlegable one. She knows what the brain is all about I mean she came from John Hopkins.
Very nice/unique person and a decent professor. Extremely knowledgable about the info she teaches You don't have to go to lectures, only labs once a week. Find out when the tests are and study the chapters assigned, for a few hours and you can get approx. "C on every test. Fairly hard to get "A".....EASY "C" with minimal hours of study for tests.
Dr. Conley is a very sweet woman. She's a little dorky, but that's what makes her fun! She is very personable when you get to know her. She is knowledgeable and a great teacher; she puts things in simple terms. Tests are easy and multiple choice; if you attend lectures you'll never have to crack the book to ace it. I had fun--and learned a lot!
An infinitely excellent professor. I agree she does have a very goofy personality, but that just made her class all the more interesting. Lectures were clear and concise; Very easy to get the info you need for tests, so you don't even have to read the txtbook. Her labs are also very interesting and fun. VERY approachable and friendly.
Dr. Conley is very knowledgeable about Biology and explains it well. She laughs a lot and tries to make jokes, which is unusual for a Biology professor. Her tests are easy, but I would recommend reading the book.
she is SO nice. she is helpful and clear on what she wants. As long as you go to all the labs and do okay on the four big tests, you can easily get a B in this class. Getting an A is possible, but tough. (not because of conley, but because bio can be very boring and hard at times.) she is definitly the best bio teacher out there. Recomended!
She is so nice and very helpful. Attendance is not required but is HIGHLY reccomended. She tests you on what SHE taught you, basically on your notes. So taking good notes is essential!
She hates my class, she doesn’t answer our questions and she actually yelled at me in Lab (4 no reason). I have had her before but this semester is different. Something is going on with her and she is being unreasonable. She makes the test imposable and doesn’t care at all that most of class is failing. DON’T TAKE HER, for anything really
She's very nice, but loses track a lot of what she is talking about. I would take her again though, she trys to be very helpful.
She is very mean to pretty people and thinks everyone is stupid when they ask questions. She didn't help our class at all and when a student had a funeral to attend she wasn't sympathetic at all. DO NOT take her. Her tests don't even refer to what she teaches.
A nice woman, but absolutely no organizational skills. Her lectures are useless, and the group activites she makes you do are ridiculous. I wouldn't recomend taking her unless you do well teaching yourself material.
she tends to dumb things down most of the time
She sounds like a very dorky version of Sandra Bullock. Vry unorganized sort of lecture style. Goin 2 class is not essential at all if you can carefully read the text. She gives no HW but her tests are a little tough. Many test questions are about small details that she gives no emphasis to. Read the text carefully, show up for the test.Youll pass.
SUPER HARD! She tries to teach the material and tries to be helpful but it doesn't work. Gives 3 tests. No quizzes. Tests are not what she teaches. I failed two tests and had to withdrawal. Wouldnt recommend unless u already know the material.
Warning: never take this professor. She is out to fail everybody. Her exams had absolutely nothing to do with the material we went over. We had a quiz after each lab that had nothing to do with the lab.
I would NOT recommend her. She's goes on and on about the same thing for a week but her test will cover 3 chapters that she never went over. She doesn't review and won't give any guidance about how to study for the final. Attandence is optional, but she's a terrible teacher. Don't take her.
She is extremely knowledgable and has lots of examples and stories to make concepts more interesting. Friendly and always willing to explain things again.
Average teacher. She kinda goes all over the place with her lectures and they are boring. The tests are pretty hard, but luckily lab counts for a big part of your grade so if you go to that you shouldn't have to worry about your grade too much.
Great Professor!!Take her!!She is extremely helpful and is willing to breakdown anything until you understand fully. She does not move on until everyone gives her the ok. There are alot of notes, however they are optional, but rather beneficial.Taking Bio 101 w/ her was a great way to start college and i look forward to taking many more with her!
She is a very nice lady, but she cannot teach. Her tests ask you to know minute details and things not covered in class. Good luck. Make sure you go visit during office hours. Good luck with the class. One of the worst class Ive ever taken
YOU WILL NOT OPEN THE TEXT BOOK ONCE ! dont waste your money its a $250 book that they wont buy back at the end of the semester. Your tests will be ten chapters long and she will only teach you about half of them. There is no guidance in what to review, you basically have to teach yourself. GOOD LUCK!
Terrible! This is a 300-level course but we spend all of our time filling out 8 different kinds of reports and assessments. She can't even keep up with grading it all - keeps our notebooks for a month at a time. Hard to communicate with and dumbs things down in class but then makes the tests very detailed and difficult. She is smart at least
if you are smart, you will do well; if you can't do the work, too bad for you
You absolutely need to study in this class or else you will fall behind. The material is completely manageable, but you absolutely MUST put in the effort to study and understand the material, otherwise you are going to crash and burn. I say this because in class, she tends to go a little fast, preventing you from writing the notes in full detail.
As long as you pay attention, take notes, and study the material you can pass the class. She's incredibly awkward, but I thought she was funny. She's nice and helpful and the lab was actually great. All of her notes are online on powerpoint. I would recommend her for any low level bio course.
you pretty much have to teach yourself in this class. good luck.
Your only grade in the class are exams and in the entire semester you only get 3 exams. There is a lot of material to cover for just one chapter and she likes to fly through chapters. No guidance what so ever on what the exams will be on. The pp don't help with her exams. about 3 people have higher than a D in her class. Good Luck!
PowerPoints cover everything, actually too much because she gives you NO clue as to what will be on the test. There are only 3 plus a final. Don't bother buying the textbook (you do need the lab book though). You basically have to teach yourself...good luck.
Dr. Conley is very vague in answering questions but if you have taken AP Bio in the past, her tests are similar in difficulty. I would recommend getting the suggested materials from the library because they go into more depth than the slides.(Cliff Notes Review especially). Old AP materials can also come in handy. Don't cram for tests!
Conley teaches through ppts and tends to go through them quickly. You will not need the textbook at all, so I would recommend not spending the money on it.
It was a little tough, but she a great teacher.
Lab tests are hard and spelling counts. There are only 3 tests for lecture (4 for lab), so make sure to study hard for all. During class she basically reads off the ppt and does not elaborate. She then tells you to go to tutoring for any questions. Forming a study group is your best chance of passing!
1. Never uses textbook. 2. Uses powerpoints which are very helpful. 3. Buy the lab notebook & atlas. You'll use these. 4. 4 Exams. 1 of them are cumulative. You MUST study for these. 5. Assigns many labs at once; gives 2-3weeks to complete. 6. Lab Reports are DEATH. 7. No Homework ever. 8. Extra credit is worth 1-2 points.
This class was extremely difficult. Conley's lectures are long, fast, & cover tons of material. The tests were hard and she gives no review; you're on your own. The lab reports are super hard, again, you have to seek out help. Making friends in this class is your best bet, mine saved me. Conley is a sweetheart & a great person, but a tough teacher.
Teaches at a middle school level of understanding so everyone gets it and then grades at an unbelievably hard level picking out the most unnecessary details from the multiple 80 slide power points.
Dr. Conley is a professor that is very knowledgeable. Lectures are not mandatory but her labs are mandatory. She does give extra credit at the very end. Teaches from power points and must take notes. Her exams are very difficult, it's unclear what to exactly study for and she does not give any review sessions for exams. Recommend bio background.
She's very understanding and is always there to help, never be afraid to ask.
You're going to fail. I promise.
AVOID AT ALL COSTS. Worst professor I've ever had. The class is a circus. You have to read the entire textbook in your own time to understand what's going on. Classes consist heavily of "group activities" with no concrete lecture. Powerpoints consist only of pictures. Terrible organization and so much paperwork. 47 total assignments. Ridiculous.
This has been the worst class I've taken at Shepherd. She makes her tests purposefully so difficult that you can't get an A. She teaches you absolutely nothing and her power points are just pictures. I've learned more from using Wikipedia than I have from her lecture or book. Do not ever take this class. Also, 45+ assignments.
This is the most ridiculous course I have ever taken at Shepherd. The grading isn't consitant, there have been 47 assignments with more due the week before finals, and the professor is not concerned with student success whatsoever. DO NOT take this professor if you actually want to have a good GPA.
40+ assignments and many are due right before finals week. Lectures consisted of picture powerpoints, group activities, and random animal videos She makes the lecture very simplistic but then the tests are impossible, as she orders them online! Do not take this professor if you have the choice. She refuses to inform you on your progress in class.
I took Conley's BIO 209 class twice and I failed both times. Before taking her class, I had heard from one reviewer on this site that she is out to fail everybody, and I believe that. She doesn't do any reviews, none of the material that we go over in class is on the exams, and honestly, I don't recommend taking her class. Avoid Conley.
I am a biology major, but I havent learned a single necessary thing from Conley. Her lectures have nothing to do with what is on the tests, therefore you wont know what to study. No reviews beforehand. Simply do not take Conley.
Conley is so enthusiastic BUT she gives absolutely no direction on what to review for tests. PPT and lots Mastering Biology is the only review you will have for 4 tests, and the materials are so specific. Pay attention in lab because she won't stop to make people be quiet, (she will just keep talking) but she WILL come and help! Study everything!
Shes a really nice person but sucks as a professor. Her test are so specific and if you ask for help before a test she will literally laugh at you. She only reads off her slides and the information is not presented that way on the test. I would not take her again.
Although there is a lot of homework in the course, it is easily done, and helps with test scores. Lectures are off slides.. but anything she writes/draws on white board is important- you should know for exams.
Shes a nice person, but I truthfully dont know how shes a professor.. the lab tests are decent, but the chapter tests have nothing to do with what she teaches in class, so her lecture isnt even really worth going to. Highly do not recommend.
Just dont take her unless you dont want to learn anything and dont want to pass the class.
Her test are very hard and dont correlate to what she teaches in class. She also doesnt know how to explain her assignments well and cause confusion. I dont exactly recommend taking her.
She gave me a mid-term grade that didnt correlate with the mid-term test or the other grades I had gotten in the class. She also treats you like your a child during class
Dr. Conley seems pretty good and easy at first but once you take the exams you will realize its absolutely nothing that she lectures on. The textbook is the most useful resource for the exam. Labs are pretty easy, she grades hard on lab reports. I do not recommend taking her unless you HAVE to. Shes a nice person, but not a good professor!
Exams are awfully hard. She is very unclear about ANYTHING when asking a question. Like I never feel like I got a straight answer. The final exam was 19 pages! 19 PAGES! I taught myself everything from youtube videos. You have at least 4-5 HW assignments a week. Unclear on grading, ex: one person puts true, the other false... both were wrong.
47 assignments. ZERO feedback. She will not give you your grade until the last lab before finals. Lectures consist of powerpoints with pictures only (no words), group activities (where you sit around and teach each other the material), and awkward silence. Two complete separate exams for the final. 19 pages. Best of luck to you. You'll need it.
DO NOT TRUST THE LECTURES! Make sure to take notes during class BUT also reading the book is extremely important. You won't do good on test with just listening to the lectures, she goes fast so make sure to bring laptops and pull up powerpoints as she lectures.
Lectures do not match up with the material. Ive tried reaching myself with the book but it seems that test questions are on subjects that we arent even learning. Be prepared to teach yourself.
Do whatever you can to avoid her classes. There's so much material she covers in such a short amount of time and her lectures do not help. She takes questions very personal and her responses are condescending. If youre someone who likes organization.. buckle up for her labs. No one ever knows whats going on. I dont have enough space 4 the rest
Dr. Conley is a very nice professor who did care, but her class was the sole reason I gave up on being in the biology major. Me and many others struggled to barely get by because she is an extremely tough grader and her tests are crazy wild. I hate to say it but I recommend not taking her as your professor unless you have to.
I know this is different from all the other ratings, but I really enjoyed Dr. Conley and her lectures. I will admit some extra quizes would be beneficial, but overall if you pay attention and study her powerpoints you should be fine. Ask questions! Ask all the questions. Shes quirky, but very knowledgeable. Labs can be confusing, but again ask!
I will never take her as a professor again and I do not recommend her to anyone. She is very unclear about everything and turns snarky or rude when questioned for help. Her tests were impossible to pass with more than a C no matter how much studying you do. Her labs were awful and I never learned anything from them. Worse professor so far here.
I genuinely don't think it is possible to have firm grasp of anything that is occurring in her class. She rambles with absolutely no point whatsoever. If you feel like you should pay for a course that you will inevitably end up teaching yourself via textbook this is the one for you.
I would not take this class again or recommend it to anyone who organized and likes clear instruction. Her labs are so scattered and disorganized, as well as her assignments and knowing what is due. She is nice enough, but takes offense to questions as if you should already know the answer. Her lecture wasn't mandatory but lab is. Good luck...
I hated this class and will be happy once finals are over. The tests in this class are impossible because she doesn't teach you worth a crap what is on them. The labs are so unorganized and she will not help you without being sarcastic/rude. I had to rely on tutoring so much and learned more from the textbook that I did Conley. Absolutely miserable
Yes, there is lots of homework, her tests are hard, and you will need to do a lot of reading and studying, but you won't die. Dr. Conley is a very knowledgeable and sweet professor and she is always willing to help as long as you are doing your best. Reach out, ask questions, and READ BEFORE CLASS. Her lectures are a breakdown of what you have read
Doesnt grade all work you do. Tests dont corrolate with classwork. Lectures are extremely unorganized. Terrible.
took this last semester and I dreaded waking up each day to go. rude lady, doesn't grade till the very end of semester, tests are pathetic, zooms through lectures without paying attention to us, hard to get in touch with, doesn't answer emails, labs are long and pointless
This class is pathetic. I learn more from the textbook than I do from the professor because she rushes through the Powerpoints so fast and hardly goes into detail on anything. The labs aren't super hard but she isn't helpful at all and constantly leaves to do other things. And she is hardly ever at her office hours when you try and see her.
Her lectures are very unorganized. She rambles and brushes over topics quickly, and the exams aren't relevant to the lectures. Instead of describing something in detail, she would cut it short and say "because that's just the way it is," which I found very frustrating. Lab procedure was always unclear. Lab attendance is graded, lecture is not.
The majority of the ratings for Dr. Conley are from people who complain because they couldnt put the work in. Dr Conley was an amazing professor, and I took her again this semester. Follow the PowerPoints, listen to what she says more than just writing while she lectures. Come to lab and lecture, shes not mean. Shes funny, caring, and will help.
Dr. Conley is very knowledgeable and would probably be great for a upperclassmen research class, however she does not make the content intriguing or understandable for first year biology majors. She will leave her students alone in lab and does not genuinely seem to care about students success.
Shes a nice person but she needs to learn how to socialize with people more so that she can help them rather than ignore. Like some of the other ratings, her lab classes were a complete mess most of the time and she was always leaving for long periods of time. Shes smart but she just reads off the powerpoints and doesnt demonstrate anything.
Bad class, lab is the worst. She leaves at the beginning and doesn't come back till the end most of the time. Good luck talking to her outside of class, she rarely answers emails and is never at office hours. The lecture part of class isn't bad, but she is dry and reads like a zombie. Textbook is my best friend this semester.
Professor Conley is the worst professor I have taken in the biology program. I would not recommend her to anyone. Especially during zoom university, she only goes over figures and you have to read a chapter a week. Animal behavior required 2 group projects at which she didnt grade until the night before grades were due and does not communicate.
tldr ������ 7/10 prof Hard: Reading logs --> chpt outline (wkly). Pt of Learn. Journ. (10%) Grp Port. compile activ. in OneNote (10%) Exams (50%), 4 of em. Each 12.5% w/ 2 on finals wk --> 50% MC+ 50% SA Labs ez (20%) Cricket + Isopod labs occ. multi wks. stress to prep NB (5%) Attend 5% PPT pics w/ captions also read book EC 3-5%
She will not answer emails or show up to her office hours which makes communication with her almost impossible. This semester has been hard using Zoom with her because she does the bare minimum to make sure we are learning, the textbook is becoming a necessity to pass.
Worst class and professor at Shepherd. I hate showing up to class because her lectures are dead and boring. Its just her reading off Powerpoint very fast, and she basically won't take questions. Emails are ignored and not once has she been at her office hours that I have tried going for. I love biology but this class really is a challenge.
Lectures were strictly from PowerPoints from the textbook. Get ready to read the textbook and take practice quizzes from book. It was difficult for me to pay attention in her class, as it was not very engaging. I feel as though I did not learn much. She's not a bad professor, perhaps I had poor study habits as a freshman and this was my first bio
The lectures are not too bad but the labs are what is tripping people up. She distributes the materials, gives us vague instructions and leaves for the entire duration of the lab. It makes it hard to complete the labs and their reports since we can never finish them.
I liked that she was very kind but my biggest complaint is her lack of enthusiasm to teach. During every lab, she would leave after giving instructions and not return till the end. If we needed help, she was not there to provide it. Her classroom lectures are dry as she avoids eye contact and zooms through Powerpoint while ignoring questions.
I did not like Dr. Conley this semester and the other reviews are dead on. She would show up to labs just long enough to give out instructions and then leave to her office to do other things. In the class portion, she zooms through her presentations without bothering to look back and see if we're understanding or have questions. 3/10 at best class.
She is nice, but gives wayyyy to many busy work multiple choice assignments. Long quizzes and tests with time limits, but again, she is nice.
Conley gives TONS of busy work from outside sources like Pearson and Labster. This level 100 class felt like a full-time job. She has constant quizzes and tests every week with inadequate time. The tests and exams range from 200-400 questions. Her grade book is also so complex you have to rely on monthly updates from her to see what your grade is.
I don't like biology sadly my major requires this. I took this class as online synchronous it sucked. I feel like her lectures didn't really teach, not that I was paying attention. I was barely scrapping by all semester but some how made it last minute. Thank you extra credit.
The online version of this class is awful. We met once a week for an hour. Then we were tested on what we learned in that hour, not what we taught ourselves in the book, so what I taught myself didn't pertain to the tests and quizzes she gave. The final was 379 questions. Beware of this class, and by extension, its professor.
My final was 339 questions. Enough said.
I graduated in 2007. Dr. Conley mentored me during my junior & seniors years (neurobio). 2.4/5 is not fair. I'm NOT smart. I worked HARD for the Bs I got in her class & she kindly, patiently, & w/ enthusiasm helped me get them. I have her to thank for my career in sleep medicine. She started it all. If you care, she'll care & have your back.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
72%
Textbook Required
50%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
C+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.26 avg changeRatings by Course
BIOL102
5.0
(2)BIOLALL
5.0
(1)NEUROBIO
4.7
(3)BIO0000
4.5
(2)GEO30588
4.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
BIO411
4.7
BIOL411
4.7
BIOL412
4.3
BIO211
4.2
BIOL101
4.0