nice, enthusiastic about subject matter.

I love her

she rules. cares so much about students, so thorough, so prepared goes out of her way..an awesome teacher. makes everything interesting and shes the cutest woman ever. i wish she was my best friend.

great professor

She is entertaining. The reason I gave her a "very hard" rating is not because she doesn't teach well (I learned so much), it's because this particular course is VERY competitive and it's extremely difficult to get an A.

She's very clear and she didn't use Power Point. Instead, she wrote everything down on the board, which made it very easy to follow throughout the lecture. The fair exams were representative of the material that she covered in class.

great lecturer and fair tests

Do you notice how fast and loud she talks?

good professor, very entertaining, easy to follow since she writes out everything, gives out study guide for her midterm, knows her stuff

she's great, awesome teacher, easy to follow. Tests are never bad, if you must take lower division bio for some requirement, you have to take this class. It's a lot easier, more interesting and better taught than the other bio lowers i've taken

awesome lecturer- makes things so much easier to understand! her tests are very fair and representative of the material she teaches. uber-nice, too, and will help the student beyond the call of duty. i wish all college profs were like her.

Great lecturer, and very nice outside if you go to her OH. Tests are fair and straightforward, exact replica from lecture notes.

good lecturer, nice and funny. Tests are pretty straightforward

She goes a lil fast during lectures so pay close attention. Always makes mistake making the exams....that was a lil annoying. Other than that she's a fun & really knows the stuff.

Fast talker. Notes on board can get messy. Good professor. I don't like her tests. Don't seem to be testing knowledge. But overall, take her if you have the chance.

make sure you're prepared for A LOT of material. she's very fluent in explaining the material. one of the best @ucsd.edu!

AWESOME professor. Can't describe it. She actually made me begin to LIKE learning bio! O__O She talks really loud and clearly, very nice :D Tests are very representative of the lecture notes. Always go to class!! She manages to hold your attention the WHOLE time, I promise!

She might be a perfect teacher for any 8am class: energetic, humorous, and passionate twrd her job, plus a high-pitched, clear voice that will keep you awake. Lovely personality. Made Bild2 one of my fav classes so far. TAKE HER IF YOU CAN!

She is a great professor who really knows her stuff. However, there is a ton of material covered on the midterm. her last bell curve screwed my class over too, so many people got c's when they coulda gotten b's. but she's still pretty good overall. :)

Great prof, highly recommended. She's very energetic and really knows her stuff. Exams representative of course material. Lectures are structured very well and very easy to take notes. Probably one of the best UD bio profs I've had. Definitely recommended.

good teacher, very interested. i took structural with her my senior year, and felt it was a little too simple. She talked to us like we were 4th graders. easy class, and nice prof... can't beat it

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Made me love biochemistry. She doesn't assume that you know all vocab words/concepts, so she'll always give quick reminders. It's 100% helpful, and she's still one of my fav profs to date. And I'm a freaking fifth year. =)

Mel is one of my absolute favorites. She is so energetic all the time and truly enjoys seeing the results that students get. She has a passion for what she does and it shows. Mel actually takes the time to learn you name and talk to you on a personal basis. Highly recommend her!

The class is easy if you devote the time. Mel is a nice professor, but talks too fast and doesn't write enough on the board. But the TAs for this course generally don't suck and are very good at covering the material, so go to discussion!

Dr. Mel is the best UD science prof I've had so far. She explains everything clearly, talks fast enough to keep you awake at 8am, and is genuinely excited about the stuff that she's teaching. Her TA's are good too. I never made it to her OH's b/c my TA answered all my questions.

Class attendance is a must, since the exams are mostly lecture base. She is very nice and is always willing to help her students. Study well and you will do great in the class.

Mel is awesome. Yes, she talks fast but her powerpoints follow the book. Take good notes, read the book, you'll do fine. She really cares about students. Go to office hours! In general, Mel's TA's are good too, so you don't have to worry about getting a dud...most of the time.

awesome class!!! this class is way better than biochemical techniques. The class focuses on one single project so you never lose track. Nice curve 87-88% is A range, exams weren't that bad, but you must do your work though. Take her class if you have a chance.

also took Structural with her. Never went to her office hour until for final, but i found it extremely important and helpful. She might tell you what will be on the final. tests are very straight forward, mostly MC, 4pts each, so be careful. Book is useless.

She's great!! One of the best Biology teachers at UCSD. Extremely helpful in office hours, has great TAs, lectures are clear and concise. Definitely recommend!!!

She talks so fast it's impossible to think during the lectures, just write down everything she's saying. Tests weren't so bad, but the multiple choice questions are very difficult. Not much of a curve in the end, so study hard if you want an A. Pretty good choice for this class.

This was the easiest class I took. The material is not hard and her tests are easy. However, the final was so poorly written, it was hard to figure out what she was asking for. Midterm was really easy. She doesn't speak to fast, if you know how to take upper-div bio notes. Easy A. Class is a good breadth of biochemistry.

I had no problems with this class. Midterm was fine, final was fine. Mel was great - passionate and interesting - and she just loves the heck out of the influenza virus. I'd take this class again just for kicks I enjoyed it so much. I knocked over a big cup of water at her OH and was really embarrassed. I'm sorry about the mess.

Shes very knowledgeable and passionate about the topic. I recommend you go to class and record her lectures. multiple choice questions are tricky. Pay attention to details about amino acids for final

Good lecturer, a bit fast tho. I'd recommend getting a voice recorder. Read the book before lectures and you'll be fine. Don't procrastinate like I did, study a bit at a time - there's a lot of material.

Structural bio was hard. This was the last bio class I needed to complete my major so I had a pretty decent grasp on bio entering this class. The topics are kinda cool in the sense that it explains structure and function of things. Multiple choice questions VERY tricky. Pretty fair though and great lecturer.

Amazing Prof! She does talk pretty fast but was not a problem for me. Didn't open the book once and got a solid A. exams are straightforward and have a generous curve! Go to OH, she is extremely helpful if you are not clear about something!! Extremely interesting class, most relevant class to biology if you are interested in understanding biology!

Mel definitely knows her bio stuff. However, she talks very fast, so be ready to soak in tons of information. There was a slight curve for the class - she averages the top 10 people and sets that as the 100% - so you get about a 2-3% curve.

Prof. Mel definitely talks very fast. Unless you write fast or filter out the important points, I recommend bringing a voice recorder since she doesn't podcast. Sections are helpful and tests are fair. Everything you need should be in the lecture so I barely used the textbook. A.S. notes are helpful too but don't rely on them too much.

Great Class! Im a bio senior and i still learned a lot! Mel is a good teacher, although you do need to get use to her high pitched voice. she talks moderately fast, it wasnt a problem for me. Take good notes.You can use the text book to get the same info from a diff prospective.I would recommend AS notes.I used those along with my notesand got an A

She has a passion for students. Her lectures were very clear and easy to understand (on the days that I did go to lectures). She wrote down the main points on the board so it wasn't hard to take notes. I barely came to class but just reading the book and going to review session (held by TA) would be enough to nail the class, although going to lectu

awesome professor. really cares for the students and their learning. very friendly during office hours and she attempts to get to know you.

She is the single best teacher I've had at UCSD. She takes really hard topics and makes them really easy to understand. Certain people are really good at getting the point across to students, and she is one of them.

She really made BILD 2 interesting. I learned a great deal in this class.

Dr. Mel is an excellent teacher. You can tell she is passionate about what she is teaching and she makes the topics interesting. The quizzes are representative of the course material and if you go to lecture you can do very well. I definitely recommend taking this class with Dr. Mel.

Mel is such a wonderful professor! I learned so much information and had fun at the same time. It's a great class, she's such a dedicated professor and answers any question you have. Take her class, you will learn so much!! It's a really chill and fun lab you will seriously enjoy it. Definitely worth taking this class with Mel, you wont regret it.

Great professor! Go to class, take good notes, and study them for the exams.

Prof Mel definitely cares about her students. She tries really hard to get people off the waitlist and into her lab. She doesn't assign lab reports, just a few homework assignments throughout the corner. Quizzes are based heavily on class lecture and the lab textbook. She grades all of the quizzes and homework herself. Def recommend her as a prof!

She is very helpful and informative! Going to her office hours wasn't intimidating as I thought it would be. She's super nice! Study her lecture well and make note of the examples she uses!!!

Great professor. Tests are generally fill in the blank or multiple choice. She expects less memorization and more understanding of things. It helps to have the book to supplement her lectures, however, if you are good with using google then you should be fine. Audio podcast only, two midterms, and final can replace both midterm grades.

Professor Mel seems to talk fast during her lectures but she tends to repeat stuff so many times, just worded differently which is great, she spends 10 minutes reviewing what was mentioned in the previous lecture, basically says and summarizes what the book says, focuses on the basic stuff and only tests you on whats mentioned in class. Not hard.

Amazing teacher with a true passion in what she teaches. Makes the class fascinating. However, tests can be somewhat challenging since it's a lot of fill in BUT she drops BOTH midterms if your final grade is higher. Beware: class is filled with smart pre-meds so don't rely on curve-- she makes 100% to the average grade of the top 10 kids.

TAKE HER! She explains the material very well! Sometimes it can be a bit scattered or she won't go into depth but other than that, she is great! She is ALWAYS there for you! She will always answer whatever questions you have, has A LOT of office hours, and the TA's hold 2hr study sessions 2 days before the midterm which are extremely helpful.

She gives study guides and tells you exactly what she wants you to know. Best bio teacher I've ever had

Discussion sections aren't mandatory but if you regularly attend she'll boost your grade if you end up on a borderline. If your final is better than either midterm (or BOTH midterms) she replaces the midterm score with the final. She doesn't expect a lot of memorization, mainly concepts and ideas.

Professor Mel is an amazing professor. Her lectures are clear and easy to understand, and she really explains the material well. The midterms are okay, as long as you read the textbook and pay attention in class, you'll do well. She just makes bio interesting and easier to learn. I would definitely take her again!!

Her class is amazing. I love her energetic and inspirational teaching style. Although her powerpoints do not facilitate note-taking, you can go over her podcast to catch up. She talks really fast, which makes me always concentrated. Your score is dependent entirely on 2 miderms and 1 final. I expect myself to do better. Good luck!

Mel was a good Teacher. That said, tests were really hard. Studied really hard and got a B- on the first midterm. Studied EXTREMELY hard for the second midterm, still got an 89.5. Tests ask random facts from lecture, require in depth understanding. A on finalA in class. KEY: Podcast, memorize figures. I learned a lot, good for future classeslife!

Its a breeze if you vague paid attention during High School bio, if not, just show up and listen. Engaging lecturer, definitely not boring. Need an iClicker tho.

Prof Mel is amazing! Her tests reflect what she teaches.

Very good professor. Highly recommend. She talks fast, but you get used to it. Her lectures very much reflect what shows up on the tests. Pay attention in lecture because she does test on minor details. If you pay attention tho, the tests are straightforward. She's super helpful, kind and sweet. An A is tough but doable if you put the work in.

You have to attend lecture to understand it, especially for tests. Go to discussion for participation points and do the extra activities.

It's a two unit lab class so there's practically no difficulty. But your grade depends almost entirely on your TA (pray you get a chill one) and some random quizzes and iClicker points. It's the easiest class ever but the TA's are very strict when grading projects and lab reports

Fantastic professor. She focuses much more on the big picture rather than minute details. Very enthusiastic every class. Her quick reviews at the start of every lecture are super helpful. Tests are fair and straightforward as long as you're not a paranoid test taker. I definitely feel like I have a strong foundation for upper division bio classes.

I had Professor Mel for my Introductory Bio Lab (BILD 4) and for a DEI course in biology (BILD 60) in the spring. The courses were both started in that year, but she still taught them as if she had been teaching them for years. She engages class discussion in interesting ways, and gets you to think about the course materials in new ways.

Clear lectures (tests are based entirely on it so you don't need your textbook), and most of the material is easy enough to understand but she still explains them very well.

Mel herself is awesome and approachable, but she has nothing to do with your grade. Hope you get good TAs, because mine took off points on lab reports for things they never explained and the two of them contradicted each other often. The labs themselves were fine and it was fun to learn how to do some things in a lab.

She is a fantastic professor! She is very enthusiastic in class and explain things very clearly. Her 10 minute review time is very helpful. Definitely would take her again. An A is not hard if you follow her in lecture and take review. Exam consists of no things other than what she taught. Textbook is not that useful cuz some part she would skip.

Mel was a great professor, but her midterms and finals were SO TRIPPY. Her wordings are so ambiguous that you wouldn't even know you misinterpreted the question. But she is very friendly and does really care if you succeed in her class or not, so try to go to her office hours and you IA's OH too. Lectures go by really fast, so don't fall behind!

A 2 unit class but it's an unnecessary and unfair amount of work and time for a 2unit class. It's a 2 hour lecture and 3 hour lab. There are weekly lab reports and everything is depending on your group, so if you have a bad group expect a bad grade. The topic is soil bacteria which Mel manages to make interesting but at the end of the day it's not.

Pray you get a good IA, they are your lab instructors. Mel just lectures, which she does well. She gives you old tests to study which are super helpful for the 2 midterms and a final. However, her lectures are super key. Her slides are generic and she likes to write on the board. If you don't take notes about what she says, you won't get an A.

Good professor for a bio lab class.

Prof Mel is a very good choice for a Bio class. She is very passionate about her lectures and takes pride in the understanding of her students. The only critique I would say is that there is a lot of material and she goes very fast so spend a lot of time studying.

Labs are run by the TAs and the lectures normally consist of a quiz and instructions for the next lab. The writing assignments are super important and the poster project at the end isn't that big of a deal as they make it seem.

Dr. Mel is a good professor! She explains concepts really well and with detail. I recommend reviewing her lectures again before quizzes because she explains important concepts that might not be on the slides. There are 3 quizzes throughout the quarter, the questions can be tricky but she does give old quizzes to practice with and a group portion.

Honestly, a decent professor as she's knowledgeable and easy to talk to. Her lectures often end up getting boring. Her quizzes and average in difficulty but she words her questions very awkwardly which makes them hard and annoying to break down. The class overall was pretty easy.

She's really passionate about the subject and it shows, she really makes an effort to make sure students understand the core concepts. Tests are fairly difficult, but if you take good notes you can get at least a B easily. Not a hard class, quizzes are online and plenty of participation points.

Mel is awesome. Her lectures were clear, and you could tell that she cared about her students. BILD 4 is so easy, just give an average amount of effort and you can get an A no problem. It's way too much work for a 2 unit class, but the class overall is easy enough.

Prof Mel is one of the kindest profs I've ever had. The class is online via zoom because of covid. Not a lot of work and the quizzes are short and easy. The writing assignments are graded harshly, but it's not hard to get a good grade. The TAs are very helpful and nice. There is no textbook. The final exam is a poster project.

Fantastic professor! She cares so much about her students and just wants us all to succeed. She has definitely made remote learning a lot easier, and I really appreciate how considerate she is with this horrible situation. I would give her more than 5 stars if I could. Definitely recommend!

ProfMel has been so kind and understanding during this remote learning. She really cares about each students and wants everyone to succeed. She explains things extremely well in her lectures and makes sure to set aside enough time to address any questions or areas of confusion. The class is easy since you know exactly what to do for all assignments

Dr. Mel is very caring and makes it easy for you to succeed. She isn't very involved though, so a lot of the class depends on your TAs instruction and lab sessions. The grading and assignments are very easy to do well on.

Very clear structure for the class. The quizzes are fairly easy as long as you pay some attention in lecture. Writing assignments are graded off the rubric and as long as you fulfill the requirements, should be easy points. There is a group presentation, which isn't too bad, and going to Mel during office hours really gives your group good advice.

Super awesome lady, everything is clear, quizzes are super easy, writing assignments need to be followed down to the T. Would 1000% take this class again, definitely the best prof out there.

Nice professor and TA's. They care about your success in the labs and assignments. A good chunk of the class is reaching out for help. Quizzes and group project final are okay.

Her lectures are super clear and concise and match quizzes. Bit difficult to get a hold of outside of lecture. A great person overall but isn't really involved in anything aside from lectures, so your main contact in the class will be the TAs. The most difficult part of this class was the grading... essentially if you get a bad TA you are screwed.

Boring lectures that weren't even on the lab concepts sometimes. Labs were graded on participation with separate writing assignments. TA's that did the lab stuff and grading were very helpful. Many quiz questions came from lecture slides or old sample quizzes. Final was a group presentation. Extra credit was very minimal and made almost no impact.

Professor Mel was vibrant and very supportive in class. If you follow the TA's instructions for labs, you shouldn't have a problem getting an A. Lab reports were difficult to grasp at first, but talk to your TA and you'll get good grades.

She was such a delight. Very enthusiastic about the material and excited to teach. Had her half online and half in person for a quarter and she was very kind and willing to chat during in person lab. The work isn't too bad and she posts practice quizzes with answers to help prepare for the real quizzes. Would love to continue learning under her.

Professor Mel is an interesting lecturer, but she doesn't go through much info in lectures and Prof recorded her lectures so I watched on 2x on my own. Our grade was based on labs (which weren't too difficult), 4 quizzes, and a final group presentation. The labs have a strict grading criterion, and the quizzes were based on lecture and lab.

Her lectures are so good. Pacing is good, material is good, and you can tell she really cares. I would take any of her classes in a heartbeat! I do hear some people complain about the quizzes. But ALL of the info required was on the slides. Just pay attention! I didn't take toooo many notes, but I just listened and the quizzes were fine!

the grading isnt too clear and the quizzes are based heavily on lecture and lab. need to know what ur doing and youll get a B at least. get ready for writing assignments on what you did in the labs

Most lectures weren't related to the labs, but you do a pre-lab to prepare beforehand. Attendance was taken by iClcikers. There are a couple of writing assignments and lab reports to turn in that are graded by the IA (hopefully you get a good one). The quizzes are really hard (study!!) but you are able to bring a cheat sheet.

The professor does not matter as much as your IA, as they grade all your quizzes and writing assignments. The overall structure of the class was too difficult for being only 2 units. Some of the writing assignments and the final project are within groups, so a bad group would not be in your favor. Quizzes are difficult, but you have a cheat sheet.

Professor Mel had clear lectures and quizzes were exactly based on class material. The TA's are the ones that lead the actual labs and grade all assignments. Overall class was not difficult as long as you pay attention in lectures and the labs were fun. Very manageable class!

Great professor. The lectures were helpful for the quizzes, and you could always use cheat sheets. The IAs guided the labs, but the professor was always there in case we needed help with anything.

Prof. Mel seems like a very nice and interesting person with a great understanding of what she is teaching. The projects in the lab were fun and not extremely challenging. The lectures were slightly boring and her slides are kind of all over the place. It is hard to study for quizzes because the info we learned in lectures and labs is disorganized.

I love Professor Mel! She is incredibly approachable and passionate about biology. Lectures provide background info for the lab during the week, and there is a group presentation at the end of the course. In terms of outside work, there were a few weekly assignments as well as lab write ups. I personally didn't find the quizzes to be difficult.

Super sweet professor. You can tell she's passionate about not only the subject but also how the students use the information in their futures. Cares a ton about the TAs too. Uses clickers for attendance and theres one drawing before every lab, and a few quizzes + like 3 papers. Genuinely the sweetest, didn't have a single problem in that class.

Very passionate and kind prof. You can tell she loves what she teaches and cares about our understanding. Also promotes opportunities for students and TAs. This class was huge so she was pretty inaccessible during lab, but her TAs were great so it was ok. The lab was tedious but if you have to take BILD 4, I recommend Mel.

Good lecturer about the material that you will be quizzed on. In the actual lab, though, teaching/atmosphere depends on your TA. Clickers for lecture attendance, and 4 total quizzes. Quizzes can be a little tough but going to office hours gives good insight into the questions that she will ask

Kind professor always willing to speak with students and answer questions. Clear grading criteria and quizzes were super fair. We were allowed to have a cheat sheet which helped too. Clicker questions and group project at end of quarter, but it was not difficult. I would recommend.