The lectures are boring and she moves painfully slow through the material. She does not appear to know everything she lectures on and is not the greatest at lecturing in general. Additionally, because she lectures so slowly, she will move around test dates and is unwilling to compromise when the new test date is very inconvenient for the students.

She does fill in the blank style notes so you could easily get them from someone else and not go to class. Occasionally does iClicker for extra credit. Attendance isn't mandatory as long as you can get notes from someone. Lectures consist of her reading directly off the slides and begging to be respected. Tests come straight from notes.

Lectures are soooo boring. I would come in prepared to camp on instagram and twitter or be productive in another class during the lecture. I would attend class tho because she gives a decent amount of extra credit through iclicker which helps a lot. Tests are not too hard just make flashcards of the terms in the notes and youll be fine.

Probably one of the easiest biology classes I have taken at Clemson. I usually went to class and worked on other classes while filling in the blanks for the notes. Usually studied the night before the tests and I got A's on all of the tests. Doing the bare minimum will get you at least a B.

She does have some difficulty maintaining a large class. People get loud and rude. The content in her lectures is very interesting, but she delivers it pretty deadpan. The exams (if you actually STUDY (flashcards are a must)) are really easy. Every question is straight from the slides. She's very sweet one-on-one, and it's a cool class.

The exams were quite hard & mostly applicationmake sure you keep up with the lecture notes. The weekly quizzes/hw assignments were easy grade boosters, so that was nice. She gave 3 extra credit discussion questions that were difficult, but would help boost your grade a lot

The professor herself is very enthusiastic and seems lovely, but this class, considering it's a 3000 level course, is entirely too dense. You are expected to know everything on the PowerPoints, and each PowerPoint is typically 30-40 slides. The material is interesting though and focus more on the anatomy of vertebrates and their phylogeny.

For a 3000 level class, she is not the best. 9/10 times a student would ask a question, she wouldn't know the answer. Lectures are incredibly boring and she pretty much reads straight from the powerpoint. Tests can be difficult if you aren't doing in depth studying.I definitely learned a lot though, and her weekly quizzes are a great grade booster.

Professor Abernathy was nothing special in terms of professors. She was a nice lady and did a great job of teaching the class but you only are given two tests to show what you know of the material and I don't think that is necessarily fair. The tests aren't too bad but you do need to study for them in order to get at least a B or higher.

Not sure why so many of these reviews are so harsh. If you actually enjoy learning about the anatomy/evolution of vertebrates it's a great class. There is a lot of info on exams, but if you stay on pace and get the study guides down it's very doable to at least get a B. Quizzes and a little bit of ec also (should) help your grade.

Professor Abernathy is really not bad at all. She expects you to know the material. Her lectures can get boring but the content isn't hard. All I did was fill out the study guides and granted they are very long but I never made anything below a 97 with that study strategy. I remember everyone else complaining but she tells you what's on the test.

Be ready to type every second and fall behind if you miss one day. You will get a 50-60 on the first test, even honors students do. Advanced knowledge of species names and synapomorphies. Quizzes are open note (but don't help much), tests require you to know 120+ Powerpoint slides and complex scenarios. (Teacher is fine, class is very hard.)

Dr. Abernathy expects you to remember a lot of material, almost word for word. Many exam questions are select all that apply questions, so if you don't know each fact then you wont do well. Expects memorization of specific species name in scientific format. Class was super difficult with loads of material, however she does tell you what to know.

Pretty mediocre professor. She only reads from slides, and you have to follow along and fill in blanks in the notes. However, she is very passionate about the subject, and the class structure is pretty simple. Only graded on lectures and quizzes, but she gives extra credit that helps quite a bit. VERY MEMORIZATION HEAVY!!!

Memorization-heavy class!! It was a boring lecture as she just reads off the slides. Tests aren't too difficult if you are good at memorization; it's just a LOT of material. Wouldn't take her again based on the amount of outside studying I had to do (way more than other courses), but kind of an interesting class for sure.

Dr. Abernathy is very knowledgable about what she is teaching. The class was just difficult because of the amount of material in each unit. The exams are pretty difficult, so I recommend basically studying every word of the class powerpoints. Her exam questions are detailed and require that you know everything discussed in lecture.

DONT TAKE THIS CLASS. listen to the rate my professors. its so test heavy.

there is so much material to study. do not take this class unless you love animals because that is the whole class, and it is so much infomration.

Nice professor, she seems very knowledgeable and I enjoy her lectures. However, the class itself isn't great because you have to memorize so much information. There also isn't any final replacement. If you miss the lecture and didn't watch the video you HAVE to get notes from someone because she doesn't post answers for notes.

This class was way more difficult than I expected. The exams are extremely detailed and cover an insane amount of content. The final was genuinely obnoxious and weighted more than other exams. If you memorize the cladograms, you can get an A. The only positive is the extra credit. Overall, I would not recommend taking Dr. Abernathy's class.

While Dr. Abernathy is a kind person, her class was simply overwhelming in the sheer amount of content that was expected of students to know. The class grade is almost entirely comprised of exams, none of which are dropped/replaced with the final, which is cumulative. Pretty rough class with way too much info to memorize per unit/exam.

Decent professor, notes are fill-in-the-blank, which helps. In-class activities are mandatory in person, but normal class and outside-of-class activities aren't. Tests are hard, cover so much material, and there are only three exams. The final has 68 questions, so be ready to study and pay attention. Lots of information, but easy to understand.

if you have to take her you'll be fine if you stay on top of lectures. her final SUCKS and i mean SUCKS just bc it's all of the last unit & everything you covered thru the semester. however she did give my class over 12 extra credit points over the semester so def take advantage. overall would not want to take this class again.

There is a lot of information, I've yet to take the final, but I've heard it's hard. I had to study a week ahead for each exam to get an A, but I feel like that's normal difficulty in a college class. You've just got to put a lot of work in but its not THAT bad if you're a hard worker.

There is so much content within this class, but its purely memorization. If you figure out the way she tests you'll be fine. Super nice lady, but really boring class if not interested in vertebrates. Also does give points back on exams, two chances for quizzes, and very detailed study guides.

This class is A LOT of work ngl studying in advance and active recall while studying will be the best thing. Interesting info but she reads everything so fast in class you can't learn much. I just watched the zooms and sped through to fill in her fill in the blank notes. Gives 15 point of extra credit for assignments and points back on exams

DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE FIRST EXAM. Even if you've always felt like you've been good at bio. I did not do good on the first exam and it's the only reason I don't have an A. You need to memorize the summary cladogram for each exam and make a quizlet from basically every word on all the notes. I did those the night before for exams 2-4 and did well.

Her lectures can be a drag to sit through because it's a lot of information all at once, but just make sure you know the cladograms. Also, the review sessions she holds right before exams are so helpful