Way too hard of a class for a GE. Difficult quizzes in section every week that everyone does poorly on. Powerpoints are online but dont help much. No study guides given. 2 midterms and cumulative final. Tests are short answer, matching, multiple choice, and true false but if its false you have yo correct it. Avoid this class take dinosaurs instead.

This class if brutal. I only passed because I transcribed and listened to her lectures online... and wrote EVERYTHING down. I didn't open the textbook. Be sure to write down every single detail because she will briefly mention one topic and there will be a 20 point question on the exam. She is a cute little lady, but don't let that deceive you.

Fun class, TERRIBLE professor. Lectures are incredibly fast and not well taught at all. The first exam consisted of almost ALL "which of the following is true?" or "which of the following is false?" questions... 51% average. everyone I know failed, even while knowing all the material. Intro bio should not be harder than ochem

Goes at a machine gun pace to teach you volume upon volume of information at the surface level, then tests you in depth on those same topics. It's almost as if she thinks that we should immediately be masters on any given topic that she brushes over on a slide or two. Most unnecessarily difficult course I've taken in college so far.

One of the worst classes at UCSB. This class is made to be much harder than it needs to be. She speaks so fast that you can't keep up even if you tried! Be prepared for a failing grade on the midterm and then for Low to tell you that it's because you're dumb and the test is "totally doable".

Low moves really really fast. I feel like her portion of MCDB 1B can be an entire one of itself. Sometimes she can be hard to understand and is not really good at explaining things, but she can be funny which is an upside. Overall would not recommend, take the other mcdb professors if you can.

Low appears to be nice and funny at first, but that changes throughout the quarter. She insults the students' intelligence. She makes attendance and iClicker mandatory, but the points amount to pretty much nothing. She lectures fast and will not slow down, even after students express their concerns. An extremely difficult class, would not recommend

Dr. Low knows her stuff. There is no doubt about that. However, she expects the students to be just as smart as her and will not slow down, answer questions, or try to explain concepts in a different way. Basically, just be prepared for this, and READ the book. Her lecture slides are straight from the book, but the book actually explains it.

Dr. Low knows her stuff. However, she expects the students to be just as smart as her and will not slow down, answer questions, or try to explain concepts in a different way. Basically, just be prepared for hard tests that are nothing like the practice tests. Read the book its easy but the class itself is very misleading and tricky.

Honestly I hated this class. At first I found her funny, but increasingly I got frustrated with her. The average during my quarter for midterm 1 was a 57, and for midterm 2 a 62. Her lectures move incredibly fast and are hard to follow, her class is boring. She blames the students for not succeeding and doesn't explain answers to questions.

Prof. Low was my most difficult professor at UCSB. She is extremely difficult to understand and talks very quickly. She will mention a word in lecture and expect you to know every detail about it come test time. Lectures confused me more, but there are iclickers. Test averages are always below failing, but she curves.

This woman will ruin your life. Shes evil. Her tests involve way too many concepts into one question and one word can make you get it wrong. Most people in this class are taking it for the second time, its only offered in fall. She doesn't care when we fail and blames us. Her averages were 57 and 62. She curves off the highest grade (85 and 93).

Seng Low should NOT be teaching intro bio for PBS majors. I understand that it's a lot of material to cover, but she literally just clicks through the slides at lightning speed and doesn't even allow time for questions, and gets annoyed in the rare event someone does ask a question. She was very condescending to students. Don't recommend.

Just no. Horrible attitude to students doing poorly. RUDE during office hours. Like I know no ones perfect but really? Making fun of one doing poorly during personal office hours is wrong. Read the book, she regurgitates everything. Powerpoints include small details (one bullet point) that are on exams. Reviews do NOT lie.

Uses iclicker but only counts if you are correct. Two midterms and a final, both are extremely hard. If you do not study every day you will struggle I am not over exaggerating. I took this class twice and studied as hard as I could but still did not pass. When you ask for help she gets annoyed. Avoid it if you can. The hardest class I have ever had

Worst class I have taken at UCSB. Prof expects you to memorize way too much info in such a short amount of time. Lectures are extremely boring. Her tests are way too hard!!!!! (especially if you're a non-bio major. I am not exaggerating when I say she made this class miserable. Would not recommend. Avoid at all costs

PBS majors: I also thought that this would be an easy class to take since it's SUPPOSED to be tailored to our major, but you're better off taking 1A. Her lectures are so hard to sit through and she's just generally not an approachable person. If you're struggling (like I did) good luck cause you have to teach yourself. Extremely hard midterms/final

worst professor ever. laughs when you get things wrong and likes to watch you suffer. very rude and not approachable. very hard to get a good grade in this class

The exams were rough.

Worst professor I've had. She reads the slides word-for-word, goes pretty fast, and doesn't explain or go into depth about the material at all. She really made bio uninteresting and more confusing than it already is. Just having to listen to her voice for an hour every other day bugged me. And not to mention her midterm was extremely hard.

Hard to understand. Grading on tests is really tough and not too clear. Obvious lack of communication between students and professor on whats going to be on the test or what should be studied.

Really frustrated with how this course went. Your entire grade is essentially two midterms and a final. There is very little room for error in this class. Test questions are often written very vaguely but will want a specific answer. Also, took this during the pandemic and was my only class where there was no curve and no accommodation whatsoever.

I'm usually an A student, look what I got. AVOID AT ALL COSTS- taken during pandemic/fires, 3 million acres on fire/air is hazardous. Good: funny, knows material well Bad: unapproachable, uncompassionate, unclear grading, condescending, doesn't answer emails, makes fun of people, DOES NOT CARE ABOUT YOU AT ALL. Curve helped by 1%.

Her test questions are purposefully made to waste your time. She's degrading and rude to students. Marks things incorrectly. Her lectures online are just prerecorded laid over powerpoints (sometimes they don't even match up). Asks questions about material that was never taught (oftentimes not even in the textbook). Worst STEM teacher I've had.

If I could rate her worse I would. She is by far the worst professor I have ever had. She is degrading and does not care about her students. Her tests are awfully specific and sometimes covers materials that aren't even covered in her lectures or in the textbook. When asked to clarify material or questions, she completely disregards her students.

Our grade is basically 2 midterms and a final. The midterm tested us on things that were not in the lecture, in the textbook, or verbally stated. She is very condescending and quite frankly the worst professor I have had at UCSB.

For all of the reviews stating how she's funny and all, you're just falling for the bait. She is narcissistic at the core and condescending to her students. Her lectures during the pandemic are just pre-recorded lectures from the regular school year. She is incompetent for this job because quite frankly she doesn't work at all. One of the worst.

Low's recorded lectures are from live class pre-pandemic audio and therefore not adapted to online learning at all. Gave rarely any clarifications or communication all quarter. She ghosts students' questions on Nectir and email. Tests are more complicated and nuanced than they would be irl. The absolute worst and most uncaring prof of all my 3 yrs.

complete disregard for pandemic. 2 midterm 1 final, equal weightage. tests fully misaligned from lectures. used old live lecture recordings and overlayed with ppt. unresponsive to emails. tried to raise concerns after 1st midterm and was ignored. friends took with another prof and did not struggle half as much as i am. avoid when possible.

She is one of the worst professors I have ever come across with. She does not accommodate for students needs and quite literally calls people stupid when she is approached to clarify something. Her lectures are just audio recordings from pre-covid classes with distracting background noise. DO NOT TAKE HER IF YOU CAN

Took her for online fall quarter. She uses pre-recorded lectures that are of bad sound quality and she moves away from the recorder sometimes which makes her thick accent harder to understand. Seemed to be no communication b/t her and TAs for material covered. Pulled review pdfs from many years prior that had info that was not in main slides. 1/10

Truthfully, just dont.

Online lectures are prerecorded from last year in class so they are very difficult to learn from. Lots of background noise and lecture doesn't match up with the slides she gives us. Tests are difficult and super specific. May be different in person, but it seems as though she put no effort into the class. Had to teach myself everything before exam.

Gotta work really hard for it and had to self study almost all of it. On my part I hear she is good during office hours and her TAs were helpful. Her tests were very specific which made self studying the textbook a requirement to get an A. Her lectures and structure is confusing and largely unhelpful. Focus on textbook and OH if u wanna do well.

She was a terrible professor and person. she completely disregarded the entire pandemic and didnt not care for students at all. this class was 95% based on test scores which didnt even match with the lectures. her exams were so specific yet her teaching was so vague since she was lazy enough to use previously recorded lectures. DO NOT TAKE LOW.

Low is one of the worst professors I've faced at SB so far. I ended up getting an A just from watching + notetaking the lectures. You should write down every part of the slides and what she's saying out loud too. I took the class remotely bc of COVID, so open-notes were helpful during exams, but without that the class would've been 100x harder.

Just... don't. Unreasonably hard midterms and final, and they're worth almost all of your grade. She put little to no effort into the class and it was clear that her goal was to make the class as hard as possible, not to have her students learn. She expects you to know more than she teaches, so I recommend self studying from day 1.

she doesn't answer all your questions thru email when you need help. she's super lazy and tests on things that she went over for 1 second. seng babe if u reading this, either make the tests make sense or dont teach at all, we don't mind :)

taken F2020 One of the worst professors ever. Does not care about students at all and shows no effort into teaching, she didn't even review her lectures before posting them when they were recorded precovid. Lectures were way too long. Contradicts herself in lectures and tests. Both midterms and final were ridiculously hard

Worst Professor Ive had yet. If it werent for Wilton in the second portion of the class, I would have definitely failed. Her lectures are very unorganized and she tests you on obscure facts. She cares more about making sure she weeds a bunch of people out of the biology major rather than actually helping us learn and succeed. Avoid at all costs!

Her lectures are extremely long and dense. The lecture slides are all over the place and you have to pay close attention on what she is saying because they will appear on the midterms/ final. Her teaching style is like "if this does that, then that does this." For the midterms and final, she does not give you a lot of time and harsh grader. 0/10

why does UCSB hire these people? seriously? worst professor ever. AVOID AT ALL COSTS. so disorganized, all over the place, convoluted, lectures make 0 sense. turns simple concepts into a complicated mess because she has no idea how to coherently teach a concept. PLEASE ORGANIZE YOUR LECTURES DR. LOW FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. PLEASE HAVE SOME STRUCTURE.

Professor Low clearly does not know how to write proper and fair exams that encourage critical thinking in biology students. Her lectures are all over the place and she tests you on things that she will mention only in passing during a lecture video, so if you miss anything she says you will fail the exam. It's amazing how UCSB hires these people.

Overall, I found this class to be intolerable. I would choose to take classes with any other professor but that was not possible. Majority of your grade is based entirely on test. There was a small extra credit opportunity that saved me from a C. I found the test to be extremely difficult and often not on material in lecture or the book.

Lows exams are literally impossible. I reviewed the lectures several times and even read the textbook thoroughly. She included content on the exam that she explicitly said we wouldnt be tested on! Had to drop this class and will take it in the summer with hopefully a better and more fair teacher

I have never been more offended by an academic professional than I have by Professor Low. I'm in her nutrition class and she literally LAUGHED when talking about how some people need to get surgery to help with obesity. She is not sympathetic at all and makes people feel crappy if they're not in perfect shape and eating vegan. -5000/10

If you see this comment, then stop thinking about taking her class. Her lectures are so tedious and her PPTs are quite not organized. She only follows a bunch of notes on her PPT during class and speaks so fast. Her exams are unreasonably difficult although exam grades are 90% of the score. She doesn't know how to help students understand biology.

Awful lecturer. All of her lecture notes are copy-pasted from the textbook, and she goes through slides at lightning speed to the point you can't even keep up taking notes. Either she reads the slides directly or she explains complicated points that aren't written down without elaborating anything. You're better off just reading the textbook.

Such an awful class, take it from ANY other professor if you can. Low reads slides word for word in class, taken directly from the textbook. The worst part is the exams (almost the entire grade). All mc questions extremely specific/includes trick questions so even when you know the material, you will probably fail the exams. IDK how anyone passes.

she is very bad at explaining things, I went to every lecture, did every reading, and still couldn't get an A. her exam questioning is very misleading and she is quite literally praying your downfall. for your own good do not take her

Tests are insanely difficult. She is very bad at explaining things, lectures are simply a copy and paste of the textbook. Study guides hardly even help, just all around a very difficult course especially being so test heavy with tests that make no sense.

This class was rough. Exams were impossibly detailed, and lectures were long and dense. Pay attention to every little thing she says out loud during lectures (which are recorded) and don't assume that they won't show up on the exams. The curve is really good though. Take advantage of the TA's office hours and the practice problems from the book.

She tested the question that she barely mentioned in her lecture, you would never know which info she will test. Exams are extremely difficult and hard to understand.

Lecture slides are word for word from the textbook with little additional detail from the professor. Test questions are on the smallest details not even covered in lecture and exams are over 80% of your grade.

read the textbook!!! you basically have to memorize the whole thing in order to do well on the tests. she makes the questions extremely specific, so make sure you know sizes, functions, and all the little details you didn't think you'd need to know. khan academy was my bff in this class, as most of her lectures and textbook didn't make much sense

The tests were impossible no matter how hard you studied unless you could memorize the entire textbook. Her lectures were very rushed and confusing. I studied for two weeks for the final and still got a D because of how specific her questions were.

Professor Low was bad, but you can survive. Be prepared to learn completely independently, and low test averages. The tests are insanely unfair and take like one sentence from the textbook and make it a question. I recommend memorizing every word of the slides and understand it super well and you'll pass. Curve was 4 pts for me bc I had a B-

This class was incredibly hard, but you will get through it. Harder than chemistry for me personally. No matter how prepared you feel from studying the lectures and textbook, her midterms were unrealistically challenging and would pertain to one sentence of the textbook. I recommend to self-study as much as you can and memorize the lectures.

Honestly AVOID at all cost. 66% was average on midterm 1 and the class is scaled not curved meaning your grade is determined by the top 5 highest scoring students (and only benefits the people who are already doing well). take small bio the majority of people get As and Bs

This professor is unprofessional when students approach to ask questions. She is very abrasive and aggressive and is known for making fun of her students during class. I was forced to drop the class because of a conflict with one of the test dates and she has no flexibility and will accuse you of trying to help others cheat.

WORST PROFESSOR EVER! Avoid at ALL costs. Professor Low is genuinely praying on the downfall of her students. Her lectures are completely copy and pasted from the textbook and she covers very surface level concepts but tests you on random/specific topics. Have a questions? Don't even bother trying to ask (she will either ignore you or flame you).

Worst prof I've had here. Lectures disorganized/hard to follow, tests insanely specific/difficult no matter how you study. After MT1 I resorted to studying only from the textbook because it was far more helpful than any of her lectures. Unfriendly, acts like your questions are an inconvenience. Made this class WAY harder than it should have been.

Professor Low is hard. Passing is possible, only if you study, study, study! And study right. Her syllabus says to study from her slides, but you should read the book and use her slides as a guide. Tests are SUPER detailed and are usually specific details from the text. You should really focus on this class if you take it.

Horrible. Test questions are extremely difficult compared to the practice tests and quizzes.

No matter how hard you study, redo the practice tests, and review material, you will not pass midterms and final. Tests are very specific and what is tested is often random, specific. I even resorted to outside sources such as youtube videos and problems to study yet I still failed. I have never failed a class in my life until this one. Avoid her.

pros: -professor: n/a -course itself: the material is informative and interesting cons: -professor lectures too fast and does not use the full allotted time of said lecture window -prep for exams provided is minimal and misleading, midterm/final exam practice tests are much easier and simplistic than the actual exams -class averages quite poor

The professor lacks the skills to effectively teach the material in a way that helps students learn and succeed in the course. Study often and thoroughly. To pass the course you need to go to office hours, rewatch lectures, use Quizlet, watch Youtube videos for further explanation, and most importantly READ THE BOOK!

She calculated my grade incorrectly by 80 points, which came out to about 20%. Every single one of her tests had an average of a failing grade. Her quizzes were nothing like her test questions (tests were 100 times more difficult)

This course was extremely hard, it was impossible to get a high grade on the midterms and final because you have no idea about what she is going to test. The lectures are unorganized and barely helped your learning, most of the slides were copy and paste from the reading.

this class made me miss the gen chem series, which i never thought i would. the tests are insanely difficult and off of the smallest details, rather than general concepts. i only started to pull my grade up after skipping lectures and entirely self studying by the textbook. there's a curve, but it isn't as generous as she advertises it to be tbh.

The most nit picky test questions ever. Her slides are poorly organized, hard to follow and she jumps around often. I learned more watching youtube lectures from other teachers than in her class. She is kind and passionate I will say that, but thats the only good thing about this class. 10/10 would not recommend or take again.

grade was determined by weekly section quizzes, two midterms, and a non-cumulative final with averages around 60-65. exams are insanely specific, the frqs are decent in that you can get half credit but the multiple choice section is impossible. go with another professor for this already difficult class

Just don't take this class. trust.

I'm typically an A/B+ student but I had to withdraw from this course after the first two midterms were graded so difficultly that I was going into the final with a D+. The worst part is, when I asked her about my exams that I felt were marked down incorrectly, she took away MORE POINTS from other questions on my tests and my grade went down more.

Quizzes and practice exams are NOTHING like the actual exams. The exams are very difficult and be prepared to be tested on topics that are only covered in the textbook or briefly in lecture. Lectures are also very dense in material. The article summaries are an actual assignment that counts for credit, not extra credit like she makes it seem.

Exams are ridiculously specific, questions comes from obscure concepts touched on during lectures so you have to memorize every word she's saying on top of lecture slides. When asked about the wording/ambiguity of the questions during the exam, she seemed annoyed and gave brief, dismissive answers that offered no help. Would not recommend.

Looks at student as though they are beneath her. Expects you to memorize everything she says. Anything heavily emphasized will not

Anything emphasized in class will not be in the test. The questions are designed in very ambiguous ways an often times will compare most to least correct. Also seemingly frustrated at questions.

The stuff you learn in MCDB 1B is super complicated and hard, and Low isn't the best person to explain all this content to you. She expects you to know the content as she's lecturing, and one of her favorite things to say during her lectures is, "I told you already!!!" She's low-key kinda funny, but funny doesn't make good professors.

Emphasis material, when this is done it is not on the test. Material is 50/50 slides and lecture material, but tests heavy things barely talked about. don't take.. do this class with anyone else. She's also not very accessible outside of class.

DON'T TAKE THIS CLASS. Advertised as an easy GED but consists of extremely hard upper div bio chem concepts. Everyone in my class struggles and the tests have things we hardly talked about in class. Don't take it.

Average for the first midterm was 58% Half the class dropped. I studied a lot and never went to lecture. She is not approachable at all. Annoyed when you ask her a question, acts as if you are wasting her time, so be prepared to just rely on yourself for this one. Take a different Prof if you can. Needed if you're pre med

First Midterm average was 58% second was 54%. Low is unhelpful and often crass. Despite a multitude of grading errors on both midterms (due to use of AI to grade [supposed to be just students copping out of their work]) she fumes at any regrade request. While I am sure she is capable in her field, this class is a waste of an interesting subject.

literally hands down the worst professor I've ever had for a class I didn't even need to take. she knows her stuff but makes you memorize so much it's impossible to retain every little detail. failing grades for both midterm averages (and probably final) and yet only curved the final grade by one letter. avoid at all costs and take with thrower

ive never had a prof who made me hate school before. until Low. she was so hard to understand (and not necessarily bc of her accent) and did not allow for questions. she was not particularly nice either. lectures were confusing and tests were hard.

tests have nothing to do with what you learn/read. she doesn't teach, she just reads the slides to you and yaps about it. for what sounds like it should be slight work, this prof. is just not it.

DEMON INCARNATE DO NOT TAKE BIO WITH HER DO NOT DO IT. SHE IS LITERALLY THE RIDDLER. "what cells do _____" is it.... A) right answer with a number off B) right answer with a word off C) right answer. D) right answer but the word is ambiguous so it hints at something else E) C+D F) None of the above Save yourself from her I can only pray for you

If I could have her license as a teacher removed I would. She's a poor teacher during lectures, just reads off slides which the slides are just the text book readings she has you do before class so she's not teaching anything. Doesn't offer good help outside of class/office hours. Your tests = stuff she didn't teach. Tests are poorly written.

the final highest score was a 74 with an average of 48. Majority of the tests had averages under 60. No one is passing and she does not curve. What does this say about the teacher? If the whole class is scoring poorly?

would not have gotten an A if it was just her teaching the class. bad lecturer and worse tests. shes the weeder prof for a reason. just dont

if you want a C, take this class. if you want to feel incompetent, take this class. if you want to study for days on end and still fail, take this class.

OMG IVE NEVER LEFT TWO REVIEWS BEFORE BUT SENG LOW DESERVE INFINITE SHE IS AWFUL literally evil