2.3
Quality3.8
Difficulty22%
Would Retake93
Reviews22%
Would Retake
93
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
93 total ratings5
9
4
11
3
17
2
24
1
32
What Students Say
“That was never the case with Dowling”
BIO1500 - 3.0 rating“This man does not understand the concept of teaching”
BIO1500 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
4%
Textbook Required
15%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.56 avg changeRatings by Course
BIO6090
4.0
(1)BIO2700
2.6
(8)BIO1500
2.3
(83)Difficulty by Course
BIO1500
3.8
BIO2700
3.8
BIO6090
3.0
Reviews (92)
This prof is amazing. His lectures are straight forward but his pp are a little too long. You don't need the book. His exams are very doable and depends on your understanding of the material not on memorization. Great professor overall.
Lectures are way too detailed compared to the relative amount of questions he asks about them on the exams. His exams are doable, but you never know what to expect. Don't expect any extra study materials or clarifications about exams because you're on your own for those. I would try to avoid, but if necessary he's not HORRIBLE.
He records his lecture so you don't HAVE to go to class. He has pre- & post- PowerPoints. Uses pre-PP as a way to get the class involved with questions. The post-PP has the answers in them. Grade is based on 4 exams wa 5th being optional and replaces your lowest score. To study for exams look over PP since book is never used.
He is so smart and highly enjoyed having him for the second part of the semester. He was very helpful and really cared to help me to do well, I wish he taught other bio classes. He tests based on concepts more than memorization so his exams are super fair! Highly suggest going for office hours so you know what to expect!
I hated his course of the class. You never know what to study because he gives out so much information. i also hate the way he asks test questions and calls them concept based.
I had Dowling for the second half of BIO 1500, and I dearly missed Kashian, who taught the first half. Dowling fills his slides with examples that YOU DO NOT NEED TO MEMORIZE. His questions are extremely application based but sometimes contrary to common sense. Go over the PPTs in depth and visit office hours to get a clear understanding.
Boring as all get out. Tries hard to relate, but everything is basically straight-up memorization. Doesn't present the information in an interesting way, despite the trite cartoons he'll embed in his ppts, and if you're interested in phylogeny, forget learning about it from him in a comprehensible way. I checked out mentally after the 1st exam.
Dr. Dowling is a very intelligent man, but I do not like the way he teaches. He states over and over again that he doesn't want you to memorize ANYTHING, but then half of the test questions are all memorization. Asking for help was like pulling teeth. My questions were answered with questions and I came out more confused than when I went in.
Sometimes I get mad at Santa for not bringing me good presents. That was never the case with Dowling. He always gave me good presents and never coal.
Everything on exams is from his lecture and he does not post study guides to look over beforehand. It is very hard to know how to study for his exams. He reads directly off his PowerPoint slides and does not make it easy to pay attention.
Dowling doesn't seem to make any effort to help us understand what the exams will consist of. He just tells you the number of questions and sends you on your way. 50 out 75 slides on his powerpoints are pointless. Only focus on the blue words of his presentations. Lectures are very boring .
You have no idea what to expect for the tests and on top of that he made our last exam the same day as our final exam! Do not take him if you can avoid it.
It is absolutely impossible to study for his exams. He does not post study guides, and he is no help when asked what the exams will consist of. His lectures consist of 60-70 slides each so it's pretty difficult to memorize every lecture for exams. WAIT UNTIL A LATER SEMESTER TO TAKE THIS CLASS IF HES THE ONLY ONE TEACHING
He is horrible. His PowerPoints are about 40 slides of nothing. He will lecture and start teaching about the topic and somehow ramble for 10 minutes. When asked about how to study for his exams he will say know general concepts and how things work together, but the exam will have very specific questions.
Not a good professor. You can tell clearly that he doesn't want to be there. He gives out way too much information and you don't know what to expect on his exams. DO NOT TAKE THIS PROFESSOR!
Disorganized, Unclear, opinion-based questions
Lectures were pretty boring and compared to Turchyn's exams his questions were more application based. You don't have to come to class since he posts the power points but it does help a along as you're paying attention
Terrible. I got vibes that he does not care about students very much. Many times after he was asked a question his answer was "i'm not sure." His exam questions had little to do with his powerpoints so I was lost when studying for the exams. It is a miracle that I pulled out a B. No curve. SI sessions helped a little bit.
He simply reads off his slides in class, which is alright, but if you ask him to clarify something on a test, he just gives a confusing answer. If the lectures are recorded, going to class isn't really necessary.
Most boring prof ever. Lectures the whole period by just reading word for word off the slides. Says questions are "conceptual" yet they are pure memorization. Very unclear in lectures. Overall i would not recommend to take him for bio1500.
He always told us to not memorize and just understand, but he never clarified on that. His exam questions did require you to memorize some information which was very confusing because students focused on "understanding" the concepts which he poorly lectured on. Profs like him make me hate taking bio classes.
Honestly, I don't understand why so many people dislike Professor Dowling. His exams are very simple, much simpler than Kashian's. While some questions are conceptual, many are memorization. He gets his lecture material from the book and reading the book will help clarify many topics. Overall, Dowling is very understanding and a good professor.
Dowling is one of the worst professors at wayne state. He does not care for his students whatsoever and thinks that an average grade of a 70% is good. Be prepared to decode his ridiculous lectures because nothing her says makes sense. Its a shame that kashian has to split his semester with dowling because kashian is an angel. Dowling doesn't curve!
Hes really not that bad. As long as you go through and understand (memorize) his powerpoints, you should be fine. His tests arent bad but the wording of his wuestions is weird so make sure you read them carefully.
His style is different, but personally found it to be more "fun" and easier. He emphasizes "conceptual learning", and it makes his tests pretty unique, and different from memorizing dozens of facts and seeing it word for word on the tests. If you're having trouble, just attend one SI session and you'll learn how to learn in his class.
He doesn't post his lectures until the night before. I like to take notes on lectures more than a day in advance typically. Plus, sometimes he doesn't post the lectures until late at night, some of us don't want to take notes at 9 o'clock at night, especially on a Sunday. Otherwise, he's very knowledgeable and seems like a nice person.
bio 1500 sucks one way or another. can't blame that one on dowling. that being said, his lectures are pointless because he just reads off of the slides and doesn't add anything to them. everything is on echo 360 so you don't have to go to class but don't fall behind. 4 exams and a third of your grade is your lab. this class is hard, be prepared
King of reading off the slides. Otherwise, he's not bad and his test questions are more "big picture" instead of specifics. Exam Qs are straight from his powerpoint content.
This man does not understand the concept of teaching. All he does is stand up there and read from the slides. If he does add anything more, he will rephrase what was on the slides, and it STILL doesn't help with learning the material. Otherwise, the class isn't terrible if you study hard enough and have a professor like Turchyn instead of Dowling.
Doctor Dowling's lectures aren't necessarily the most interesting, but he tells you what you need to know. If you take notes you'll pass the exams. His test questions are pretty comprehensible if you pay attention. His half of the class isn't hard, it's just a lot of work.
Wow. Just wow. I took Bio 1500 with him and Dr. Turchyn. Dr. Turchyn teaches about 50% of the class and he teaches the other half. When it comes to Turchyn's part, you know what you're getting into. This guy, however, is a horse of a different color. You literally have no idea what he's gonna throw on his tests. His questions are really vague. BAD
His lectures hardly tell you anything about what he's going to test you on. They can be interesting but his exam questions are meant to confuse you and hardly seem relevant to what he taught in class. He doesn't prepare you well for his exams and no matter how many of his exams you take you still are not sure how to study for them.
His tests are very difficult. He speeds through slides and it is very difficult to memorize everything. He claims he does not focus on memorization, but that's all his tests are. If you can take it with someone else do it, if not it's not the end of the world, just study a week before each test at least.
I had him for both BIO 1500 and BIO 6090. In both classes, his main thing is that he wants you to understand the concepts rather than memorize what's in the lecture. I think he is a good professor that knows what he is talking about, but sometimes he might assume that his students already know something - just ask questions if you're confused.
He goes through about 80-100 slides per lecture, and the reason for that is he doesnt explain anything. Just reads right off the slides. Come exam time, you have too much material then the exams are super confusing. The material is honestly not too bad, but the exam questions are worded poorly.
The man is literally just saying a whole bunch of stuff that does not click together. He talks about one topic, and talk about another topic that is really confusing, and not give any background information or explain afterwards. I only took this Professor because when I was registering, I was not shown the name of the Professor. Fire him please.
You would need to be a fool to even consider comparing any another professor to the immaculate Dr. Dowling. He taught me so much and I am so very appreciative. The people who gave Dr. Dowling a bad rating are the same people who dont appreciate his occasional dad jokes.... Dr. Dowling for the win!!
I had my class split with another professor and I found Dowling's section to be a bit harder to understand. He also doesn't give out any practice material before tests so it becomes hard to tell if you're studying the correct information. His lectures are very entertaining and you can tell he enjoys interacting with his students.
My class was split with him and another professor, but I felt as though his section was much easier to understand and his tests came from right off the slides he provided. Since we are all online right now, he posts his lecture slides after class and it was very clear he enjoyed the material he was teaching.
He's a nice person but a very hard/bad professor. This class was split with him and Dr. Hood. His tests are very hard and have information that goes way more in depth than what's presented to us on the slides for lecture. Class only has 5 exams and one drop. Two of those are with Dowling. Hopefully Dr. Hood is better. Good Luck if you take him!
I think he is nice although his example questions are nothing like his test. tests hard and wording confusing. again really nice teacher, personally won't take him again
If you work somewhat hard, you'll be fine. If you don't attend lectures and ask questions, then you'll do poorly. He's a good teacher and passionate about what he teaches. It's up tp you and how much effort you put in if you want to do good in his class.
Loves playing PowerPoint karaoke. Doesn't add much to the class. Seemed nice enough. Enthusiastic about his area and did decent at explaining the material. Taught only half the class. Test questions are predictable. No curves. Had trouble breaking concepts down to students. Tests only. Nothing particularly remarkable about him for this class.
Dr. Dowling literally reads the PowerPoint slides. Each PowerPoint is like 60+ slides and just words; very few with pictures. His exams are extremely hard. Take good notes and create Quizlet. Exams only. He will curve your exams by 3-4 points.
Only grades come from exams, which arent that easy. He literally just reads off the PowerPoint and expects you to suddenly get a deep understanding of the material from 2 sentences. Not the worst teacher ever, but if you can avoid him, I recommend looking into other professors.
Class only has 4-5 exams and that's all your grade depends on, it's split between another professor. Dowling only teaches the animals section and it is extremely confusing. 50 min lectures with A LOT of content, the exam is multiple q's but the answers are extremely tricky. He also basically just reads of the presentation.
Lectures are incredibly boring but necessary if you want to do decent on exams. The exams are quite difficult and packed with critical thinking questions. Not my favorite class. But, Dr. Dowling does his best to explain concepts to students. The lab is a bit easier and carried my grade.
His lectures weren't horrible; however I do feel that he didn't prepare us very well for exams. No hw, class is only out of 400 pts (4 tests). Practice set questions that were given were nothing like the exam (exam questions were harder). He could do a better job of simplifying the lectures. This is the first time the class is being taught at WSU.
People are so harsh! Class was super easy. Didn't even read anything, just took exams. He's extremely passionate, and the questions on exams were so clear. Seriously, you won't get another prof with as straightforward exams. Always willing to meet outside of class. Just a very sweet guy. Recognizes you if you come to lecture. Take this class!
Dr. Dowling is a very friendly and knowledgeable professor. He doesn't try to trick you on exams, and even though it might be a little hard to sit through his lectures, he does give out a lot of helpful information during them. I just recommend really studying the slides if you get him, since they are 100% what his exams are based off of.
His lecture are just general knowledge info, and will not help with exams or studying. His lectures are so dry and boring it's horrible to sit through. No wonder half of the class skips the lecture. The format of his PowerPoints are organized weirdly at least to me. He goes through the slides so quickly you can't take note. go to CC for bio credit.
The class was definitely a reality check. If you want to do well and get good scores you have to put a lot of effort into it. Basically he just reads off his slides so attendance really does not matter. All the content comes from the slides so make sure you memorize and understand ALL the concepts well.
Make sure you memorize all slides and have a decent understanding of what's going on. Try studying at least 4-5 days before an exam.
Awful. All he did was read off of the slides then expected everyone to have a deep understanding of the material. The SI content didnt really help either. He purposely makes the tests hard but gives 0 effort to help students actually understand the material. The class was graded only on tests, which made it worse. Would not recommend.
Dr. Dowling was an ok professor. He would mostly read from the slides and the exams do not accurately represent what was taught in the lecture. No opportunities for extra credit were ever given and the complete grade was based on exam performance. The SI sessions did not help me much, but forming study groups did.
Just reads off of slides but expects you to have an in-depth understanding for the tests. The class is only graded on tests, so that makes it even more difficult. Awful professor.
Good professor, knows his stuff. All you need to do is study the slides and watch videos on YouTube pertaining to the topic in lecture. Also tests are tricky and hard.
Dr. Dowling is a nice professor. His lectures are easy to understand and sometimes interesting, but the tests are extremely hard. Studying his lectures and memorizing the concepts will do you nothing on that test. Also, lectures are only the basics; the test is made to make you think, which the class doesn't prepare you for.
Honestly, even though he reads off the slides, you will still understand and know many things. He teaches very well and I never left his lecture confused or lost. However, his exams are tricky because you must understand all the concepts to answer one question. Branford's section is easier tho
Dr. Dowling is an extremely knowledgable and credentialed professor. However, his lectures tend to consist of him reading from the slides. I recommend hitting the slides hard and asking him questions. Attending S.I. sessions and not just memorizing, but understanding the content got me through this course. Multi-step notecards are your best friend.
It is a pretty difficult class but if you study the lectures and understand the material as soon as possible you will get a higher grade. Otherwise there is barely any curve in the exams despite the average being low.
Professor Dowling has premade lecture slides for each class. All he does is read off each slide exactly as its worded. His class is based off 3 tests and a final. Do bad on even one test its impossible to get an A. Not a good professor especially for a 3 credit class which is supposed to be easy, but rather the complete opposite.
He was a good professor. Anyone that says otherwise didn't bother reaching out to him to help clarify things. Class was a little difficult but he made it as easy as possible for us students to understand. He means well and does care a lot about his students.
Dowling is the worst professor I have ever had. He is unorganized and painfully boring. I learned approximately nothing from his lectures where he, quite literally, only read words from slides. Do NOT take this man's class unless you want to hate your life. Please retire from teaching Thomas Dowling!
His lectures are extremely boring, all he does is read off the slides. His exams are extremely confusing and difficult, he is trying to trick you. You must really comprehend and understand the topic, memorizing slides does not help. Do not take this course! Find a different professor if you want an A!
He emphasizes understanding over memorization. Exams, while not difficult, require in-depth comprehension. Attending class is very important because his explanations are better than the slides. Preparation, with typed notes, is key. I'm used to his teaching style by now and ready for next semester's Evolution course with Dr. Dowling.
Co-taught with Kashian. Dowling is concept heavy so taking notes can be difficult to get used to and what to remember for the exams. He does very often read off the slides, but he does have examples for the concepts he wants us to understand. Some lectures can be boring, and that's my main downside with him.
He co teaches this course. The first half of the class with Kashian was amazing. Then came in Dowling. Purposely tricks you in wording. He thinks an average of 75% for the class exam was good. Talk about priding yourself in failing students. I will never take him again.
His tests can be difficult if you don't understand his teaching style. He is very heavy on learning actual concepts and applying them to situations, as opposed to knowing something like vocab or hard facts. Pay attention in the lecture and ask questions, and you'll do okay!
Just no! He is god awful. Does not explain anything well, and his test might be written by his middle school daughter. I honestly don't even understand how bad he could be. My grade was a 98 before we switched professors, but after him, it dropped to a 90. DONT TAKE IF POSSIBLE. I studied 40 hours + for every exam he gave and still did not get A's.
All he does is read off the slides, it's impossible to study for his exams since there worded so weirdly and are like a pargraph for each question. Even if you study the slides and learn the concepts his questions will trick you, you can't even ask for clarification on the wording of a question on the exam or he will say don't overthink it.
his exams are completely conceptual. memorization gets u no where except for the irrelevant random details that he'll throw on the exam. i studied a bunch of different ways for many hours and still averaged at a 85 on each exam. Dowling is the type of prof who will have a 65% average and still think he isnt the problem. also very condescending.
The exams are highly conceptual and very theoretical, memorization DOES NOT help. Listening to his lectures very, very carefully helped a bit to understand the conceptual concepts. The best thing is to review his pre-exam questions, as similar/identical questions show up. If you don't understand the questions he does try to explain them to you.
I thought that he was decent. Make sure to attend lectures and take good notes. His exam questions were somewhat difficult. Study hard. However, he looks a lot like Mr. Bobinski from Coraline. He was the acrobatic guy in Coraline if you're bad with names. Very cool looking. Same face and build, very interesting. :D
Thomas Dowling is good at teaching this course and very reachable. The only problem is that his tests get very nitty-gritty and it's very easy to misunderstand even if the notes agree with the incorrect answer. I studied countless hours for mediocre marks. I'd recommend taking other profs for this course since Dowling is tough.
Professor Dowling is nice but his class is hard when it shouldn't be. His exams are very specific and even though I studied I did not do that well in his class. Idk what advice to give if you are taking this class but his quizzes did help with the final grading. Do well on his quizzes, his exams are nothing like his quizzes and very difficult tho.
Taught 2nd half of semester after Dr. Thomas. He is nice and all, but his tests are very difficult. Application based questions. His lectures have so much information. He talks too many different topics in lecture and does not clarify what is/is not on exam. Exam worded weirdly. Exam average around 60s-70s.
Taught 2nd half of class. PowerPoints are loaded and his lectures always go past class time. He also talks slow and doesn't really clarify what the main points are and what we should focus on. Exams are mid, definitely not as bad as everyone makes them seem. However, he says he isn't trying to trick you but he does. Be careful. Averaged B on exams.
Nice guy but very confusing. He is very contradictory sometimes in saying what we specifically need to study/memorize. Exams aren't too bad IF you dedicate enough time to studying. I got Bs on most of them, but the class averages were pretty bad. He says he'll adjust grades at the end of the semester though so we'll see.
He is so bad. Trust me.
Worst professor EVER. DONT TAKE HIM!!!! esp if ur just coming out of high school. he will humble u so baddd. exams are very conceptual & confusing. he doesn't explain the content properly and he says his slides are the "study guide" for the exams. he's boring and doesn't care if ur struggling. Personally, I would NEVER take him again.
He switched our class from in-person to online for the last half of the semester and everything went downhill from there. There's 10 quizzes and 4 midterms as well as a final. If you do terrible in the quizzes and exams, ur basically doomed because there is no extra credit in this class and once ur grade drops it is SO HARD TO raise it.
guys trust me when i say, HES SO BAD DONT TAKE HIM!!!!
Only reason why I got a B instead of an A was because I was slacking this semester. With a little bit of studying, earning an A in the class is easy work. Lectures can get boring from time to time as he goes slow, but all questions on the exams are from his lectures. The best way to study for his exams is by watching the lectures over and over.
I dislike him very much, he is the most insufferable man on the planet. He does not want to see you happy, hes also very boring.
He's honestly the worst prof at Wayne. Doesn't give a clear idea what the test will be about and tests r extremely hard. He should get fired Idk why he's still employed here. He taught this with Thomas and I had an A until Dowling took over and it went down to a B.
Dowling is nice and approachable, however he makes his courses difficult. Memorization is not enough and even application is difficult. I studied numerous hours for his exams but there is just too much variability. He doesn't have many assignments so hard to raise mark. I somehow clutched an A- but many weren't as fortunate as me-GL if you take him
Dr. Dowling was alright. He had some medical issues which led to him switching lectures to zoom which was a big disappointment, but i cant hold that against him. His lectures can be boring and exams are very conceptual so you need to actually understand the material. Im sure in better circumstances I would have enjoyed his class more.
Switched to online lectures instead of in person. Will mention something once and put it on the test. Will tell u not to memorize some things and then put memorization based questions on the test. Test averages were horrible and he would say we did "pretty well". Difficult tests, completely conceptual. I just don't understand him.
Bro this dude was one of the worst professors I've had so far. His lectures were boring, his exams were hard, and his quizzes were confusing. He took over the lecture halfway through the semester and made the meetings online when I signed up for an in-person class. He was also passive aggressive and a bit condescending. DON'T TAKE HIM!!!
The class was switched to online when he started teaching, I had a 96% with Dr. Thomas before he came, then my grade went to an 88%. His lectures are all "conceptual", but when you ask him what conceptual means and how to study to do well, he looks and responds to you like you just asked the most stupid question on earth and replies sarcastically.
this guy is so unorganized and made lectures so boring I couldn't even bring myself to attend.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
4%
Textbook Required
15%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.56 avg changeRatings by Course
BIO6090
4.0
(1)BIO2700
2.6
(8)BIO1500
2.3
(83)Difficulty by Course
BIO1500
3.8
BIO2700
3.8
BIO6090
3.0