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horrible teacher...sincerely speaking, he has NO sense of teaching whatsoever, his "notes" don't help, he cannot teach well, and claims that he is still learning the material--not very helpful at all. avoid him if possible. bottom line: nice guy, horrible teacher

DO NOT TAKE HIM! This is really for your own good, if there are not any other teachers open, wait another semester to take the class. He told me to memorize 20 amino acid stuctures for test when only 1 appeared on the test. (he writes them too) The tests are too hard. 1/4 of the class received an A or B, 1/2 failed.

This guy is hard!!!Do not worry about reading and studying his lectures it will help little. He will tell you if it's in the book you must know it and he is not kidding. You may never cover the stuff which will be on his test. Over half fail his class and he will state this( he seems proud of it) Do not take him.

He is a nice guy, but mostly cares about his research. If you are not willing to put hours of time in his class do not take him and i am serious. I read others comments on this site and thought o it will be ok i am a good student...seriously this is such a hard class and going to class is worthless

He knows biology very well. However, he is a researcher NOT a professor. He can NOT explain when a student ask him question. Sign up early for classes b/c those that sign up late will be stuck with him. It's a freshmen course but he expects you to know all the details like you were going to do research like him.

OMG if you can avoid taking him, do it! His class requires you to teach yourself. Be ready for the soapbox on why religion is stupid. Nice guy, but he's a horrible teacher.

not a good teacher. and he's rude

I already have a degree and was just trying to take some pre-reqs, so I have had plenty of good and bad professors to rate him against and he rates at the absolute bottom of my list in teaching ability. Getting a good/decent grade is not hard if you just study the book on your own. He knows te subject matter well but can't teach it at a 1441 level.

Seems like a nice guy. However, he tends to ramble and mumble at his lectures and doesn't seem to explain things well. I could tell that the students were getting very frustrated. Reading the textbook and using the slides he provides online will help.

Dr. Christensen DOES definitely go on rants. However, he posts his slides online so they can be reviewed. Reading the textbook is absolutely necessary!!! Definitely attend the SI sessions. I studied the chapter questions a little, and read (completely) 4 out of the 6 chapters included on the test and made an 86. It's possible to do well! :)

wouldn't recommend him to my worst enemy.He is a very smart man but some people are ment to teach & others are ment to be in a cave doing research for the school..he would be one.He rambles in several of tangents which he later ends by saying"you don't need to know any of that"And he will try to engrave evolution in your brain.prepare2teach yourslf

Attendance isn't mandatory but he WILL mention very important details about what will be on the test & the short answers on random days. His tests are very detailed/harder comp. to other profs and has a lot of figures. READ the book and do the questions at the end of each chapter. The key to passing his class is comprehending not memorizing.

He does not explain concepts very well and makes it more difficult than it has to be. do not take him!! even if his class is the only one open do not!!

This class is the WORSTTT! Do NOT take this class for the life of you and your health. I studied EVERY DAY, and still only got a C. I even went to his office hours and got help! He is a great guy, very nice, but he is not a good teacher at all. He probably should have stayed doing his research instead of confusing our minds.

I am a Biology major. I received a B. Great guy..horrible teacher. Glad I understood chemistry because he is a biochem. Don't take unless you have already had chem and plenty of biology. I felt bad for the freshman.

This professor is really nice he simply does not know how "dumb" the material down. You WILL need to read, he makes you do an outline for every chapter he assigns. The exams are super hard. He uses a few questions from the end of the chapters and he throws in short answers as well! In general this course has been one of the hardest.

Lectures way over your head. He doesn't explain the little stuff before moving on to tougher information

He is a really tough professor. He doesn't know the difference between freshman biology and his upper level genetics and biochemistry. You will need an upperclassman to help clarify some things for you. His lectures are confusing. You need to read the book religiously. Also, his homework is tedious. You'll learn a lot, but you need to work for an A

He's extremely fond of pictures. He makes you do chapter outlines with ALL of the pictures drawn out. you get a grade for these, mastering biology, and tests. tests are hard and usually made the night before and he takes FOREVER to post grades. he curves A LOT at the end of the semester.

His lectures did not help at all, hard to follow. If you want to pass, YOU will have to do all the heavy lifting, read religiously & study in advance. He's nice, he'll help if you ask but he's hard to understand. You don't have to do chapter outlines anymore. Three tests, final, and 5% Mastering Biology. Would NEVER take again, no offense Dr. C.

Dr. Christensen is nice and tries to be helpful but this class is very difficult. He has a hard time "dumbing" down concepts. The tests are hard, but he curves a lot. If you want an A, you'll have to work hard for it.

Though very passionate and knowledgeable in his field, Dr. Christensen is not a very viable professor to take if one wishes to understand and excel in biology. Lectures are not very helpful and can often put one to sleep if they aren't careful. The textbook and other online sources will be the best resources to use if you take his course.

Be prepared to teach yourself. You will have to read the book, and watch videos to understand the material. Also, there is a Campbell Biology Study Guide book that really helped. The only reason I ever went to class was because sometimes he would say, "this will be on the test". Although I don't prefer him, he does give very good curves on tests!

He specifically told me to take the reviews on here with a " grain of salt" as they were untrue and just submitted from people who failed. TRUST these reviews! His lectures were literally all over the place and totally not helpful. Get ready to basically have to teach yourself from the book. Only reason I got an A was bc of his generous curving !

He is extremely intelligent. He is not able to communicate from a higher level of understanding to an introductory level, but he does try hard to. You will need to read the book and teach yourself. He tracks attendance/participation with Echo360 questions that are a part of your final grade. Make a friend in class who can tell you when to answer it

I took him for BIO 1441 and he was a bad introduction into my college career. I'm lucky I managed to get out of there with a D. It was difficult for me to pass. He crammed so much information into lectures, and there was no review for the wordy tests. Each day of testing, you had to turn in a certain number of pages with notes from book reading.

Prof. Christiansen is a brilliant man, but an otherwise poor teacher, at least for biology freshmen. His lectures are unfortunately difficult to grasp and ultimately pointless in taking the exams, which rely mainly on the course textbook. Take him only if you intend on reading and studying on your own.

Prof. Shawn tends to get ahead of himself when he is lecturing, resulting in confusing his students. You need to read the book to understand even a slight semblance of what he is talking about and maybe even visit his SI. His is very intelligent, just not the greatest teacher of his subject.

This professor was alright at best. He tries but in truth it just isn't enough. If you want to understand, then go to every class. Go to the SI. And form study groups. I think the only reason I'm passing is because my class formed a mass chat on Group Me. We helped one another. This professor is smart, just not a teacher.

A lot of people do not like to take Dr. Christensen, but he's really not that bad. He is not the best, but honestly as long as you read the book and understand the concepts you can make an A. He doesn't require you to come to class but you probably should.

There were 4 tests besides the midterm and does interactive questions online to keep attendance during class. He is monotone and gets off track in lecture very often. READ THE BOOK. The tests come from the book and he will only confuse you in lecture when he skips around.

This class was incredibly rough and me and all my friends in the class failed. Given, I probably didn't try as hard as I could have, but a couple of my friend put in a lot of time, effort, and tears but still didn't pass. Hats off to anyone that can make it through BIOL 1441 with Christensen.

Honestly, all of the bio1441 professors are the same. Unfortunately, Christensen was not the best but his class was manageable. The exams are departmental and there is no real extra credit. If you want an A or a B then you have to work for it. I promise the A is doable. Also, go to his office hours and go to tutoring sessions!!! You got it!

I was self-taught. I relied on lecture slides the most, followed by the textbook. He had in-person "active learning sessions," but they weren't helpful for me. The tests can be difficult, so you need to study a lot. The work in the course is the same no matter the professor, so find a better teacher if you can. The final class average was a mid-C.

Professor Christensen seems to struggle to convey introductory biology concepts given his advanced knowledge in them. I once asked a question that would traditionally have a one-sentence answer, but the explanation lasted about three minutes. I recommend at least 10 hours of weekly study, or as many as it takes to not fall behind.

I'm already good at Biology so I don't consider it hard but for some people I've met, they struggle in his class. He mostly reads off lecture slides and is generally boring except in some rare cases. Just study the lecture slides and texts in the modules + watch YouTube videos to simplify things cuz he's not the best at simplifying things

He's a good professor and knows what he's talking about, but it's just hard to follow some of his explanations. He mostly reads off slides during the lecture, then assigns homework and readings. There's nothing wrong with him as a professor; the class is just hard. I would study for hours before the tests and still barely get a passing grade.