Excellent prof. Lively lectures

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He's a great prof, who manages to make intro bio fun...

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not easy, but good notes

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Awesome prof. Tests were very detailed though.

his notes are very clear and helpful.

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Always made his class fun. Gets very excited about everything!

hard class, but he makes the lectures fun

good lecturer but hard exams

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makes intro bio interesting, he loves those enzymes though.

very clear in lectures! His notes are great and he is very good at explaining concepts, make sure to listen to what he is saying, very valuable. Makes bio interesting

good lecturer, fair exams but a bit too detailed

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Dr. Punja is a great prof. He makes the lectures fun and easy to understand.

what can i say about his exam...he failed almost the entire class

Very clear notes, though there are many to take. Exam questions were fair, but the answer key was kind of bizarre.

Dr. Punja's fair and you can tell how passionate he is about what he's teaching! He makes boring topics much more interesting

GREAT PROF! YOU CAN RELAY ON HIS NOTES..

Awesome teacher!!! Everything makes sense when he teaches....wicked guy. He explains things very well.

He's an awesome teacher and has great notes! He's very organized and approachable.

Awesome! Knowledgeable & approachable.

very similar to bio12. he spoon feeds u his notes! midterms are fair!

awesome professor! makes class enjoyable and interesting.

very passionate about wat he's teaching. u learn about plants but he makes it quite interesting. his midterms was practically a photocopy of the practice midterm. he's very friendly n tries to b funny :P

he gave very good notes, in where they outlined all you needed to know. he was very friendly and answered any questions asked in class. he was also alvailable for extra help. he made the class very interesting. if you have a chance to take any class with punja take it--its a good experience!!!!

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He's passionate about what he teaches and he's very willing to help you. Do the practice midterm and practice final because he take most of the stuff out from the practice exam. Great prof.

Mr. Potato Head is great! He's so funny, it makes the class so much more interesting. He gives out notes high-school-style & that works for me. And his exam Qs r pretty fair. I had him b4 we switched over to Kennedy & I missed Punja a lot.

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HE's just sooo great

Spoonfeeds his students. Sets exams based on past midterms - inflated averages.

An excellent teacher. His notes are clear, and his pace is reasonable. Also has a cute coffee mug.

Awesome Prof! Learn a lot in class that helps to avoid text. Course is general/review bio 12. Memorize notes word for word to easily ace exam. Plus Punja's a funny guy that makes you want to attend his early class and even get there early! Even though he uses same jokes year to year, you still laugh each time...you know about the 3 grandmas

He is AWSOME!! very clear on what he's talking about, he also funny. He really makes you want to go to lecture ^^. Just study his notes and try practice before the test then you will do good.

The best biology proffesor ever!!! I love Dr. Punja's creative, enthusiastic teaching style! The final exam will have some questions off the practice exam!!!!

Great professor who made biology fun, even in the morning. Enthusiastic and likes carrots. Easy tests that even have some questions right from the practice test.

Very good prof!! Loves teaching and makes the note-taking very accessible to first year students. Spoon feeds the notes on the overhead and tells students exactly what to study for the final. Easy course and enthusiastic prof!

His notes are clear and precise and his lectures are interesting

Great Teacher!

Amazing Prof. Lectures were very informative and interesting. Notes were extremely helpful. exams were lengthy but fair. Very enthusiastic.

Great prof! His notes are clear and easy to understand. The textbook isn't really necessary and is used only for reference. Learn and memorize his notes and you'll do fine.

A great prof. He is organized and very clear. His notes are all you need. His exams are easy and straight from the notes. I totaly recommend that you take any of his classes.

They should really call him Dr. Fabulous. He is awesome! Incredibly straight forward and a downright awesome teacher!

Awesome professor. Classes are fun and entertaining =)

awsome amazing prof..the questions were soo easy on the exam that you are completely thrown off, worth getting up in the morning to go to his lectures

Best Bio prof ever. =)

Has all the ingredients of the perfect prof: clear yet effective notes, tries to crack you up at 8:30 in the morning,and even attempts to write you a bio poem at the end LOL. Goes quick but to the point. Make sure you do read the book as he does not go very in depth. Other than that, he is SOLID maybe likes his plants a little too much

Amazing prof. Some of his lectures made my day, very humorous. Can speak and write very clear simultaneously, but his notes don't go very in depth. Exams somewhat difficult and requires mostly detailed regurgitation of the material in textbook. I might even call him an inspiring prof, will try to get u interested in plants =)

BEST professor in the entire face of the planet. I basically lived and breather for his lectures. Crystal clear lectures. Fair exams. Top notch prof.

Excellent prof! He demonstrated intense knowledge of what he was teaching, and tried to engage the class in every lecture. He was very charismatic, and I'm sad I won't be having him again in the future. If you need 101, sign up for his class!!

Dr Punja is the best prof EVER!

Great Prof and interesting lectures. I would like to take him again

Very nice and funny prof! Definitely recommend him. Lectures were not boring, good handwritten notes (however its not enough to help you ace the course, use textbook?) Exams are fair. He only taught plants for us though.

Teaches you what you need to know, then tests you on it. Awesome prof. and wonderful class!

humorous and intelligent prof, very helpful and knowledgeable

Very fun and knows how to keep you interested...the nature of the subject is what makes the course hard, he just makes it more enjoyable

Hardest course ever! Great prof, keeps you interested. Talks fast. Throws in a couple jokes once in a while. He even wrote the class poems to keep our heads up for exams. Really kind and thoughtful. He has the most amazing simplified notes which gave me a reason to go to class!

Awesome prof ever. Keeps you interested in class no matter what subject. Great entertainer and poet. But the tests are very hard but the class is scaled.

Damn!! he is a bio wizard!!

Really good Bio prof! funny, smart, and knows how to teach the class. Take his notes down and you'll b fine! though lotsa stuff to know, he makes the class much more interesting to attend!

My tip is basically just use his notes, thats all. Dont bother reading textbook you can do really well by just using the notes he gives you during lecture. I didnt use the textbook at all and did really great in this class

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS GUY! His notes are amazing. However do NOT follow the tip provided below. Reading the textbook is crucial to do well in the course. Memorization is not the key, its understanding the material. Read the text, do the notes, complete ALL the labs and do your tutorial question and you'll pass with flying colours.

Lecture is fun despite it being an introductory course, he is surprisingly enthusiastic -- a nice change from other classes. Office hours are extremely fun if your knowledge and application is superb because he's very knowledgeable and an interesting person to hold a conversation with.

He flies too fast and expects us to do the same in midterm - 100 points in 50 minutes, 9 pages of mostly short answers. Illogical MT terms such as "definition" when he wants function and structures. Yes, enthusiastic, helpful, encouraging, but unclear and unfair exam. Typical biology pickiness with details whether requested by question or not.

Dudes a boss! His classes were actually interesting and worth going to because his notes are GODLY. You don't need to read the textbook because of his notes. Also cracks jokes to keep you entertained. His tests are generally fair (just read his ntoes to do well) but the marking is picky. Thats about the only downside to this guy. Highly Recommended

His notes are all you need to know for tests. If you can memorize what he says you should do well. Make sure you provide a lot of details though as the marking can be extremely picky. Even if you don't think it's important write it down anyways.

Awesome!!!!!!! Best prof eva

very helpful and funny proff...always starts the first class with poem and ends the last with poem and jokes alot in class...very helpful lecutre slides and the questions which he sends in email are extremely helpful so do it and read the text you will be fine...

He makes the lectures really interesting and clear. You don't know how good a professor he is until the course switches to another terrible prof. The only thing is that there were some really weird questions in the midterm about little details that you have no way of memorizing. Great prof!

Most amazing Biology prof. at SFU. If you attend classes and study his notes you'll do well. Fair exams.

Most amazing and caring prof ever! Truly wants everyone to succeed and gives you the tools to. Also has an amazing sense of humour. Gives you review questions. Overall I loved his part of the course!

LOVED THIS PROF. super CLEAR and ORGANIZED notes. interesting and funny prof made lectures enjoyable and easy to pay attention. exams were quite easy!

Very good prof with brilliant notes, but he waited until the very end of term to teach us all the confusing cycles that we needed to know on the exam. that was super stressful!

Amazing Prof. I would recommend him to anyone! He is extremely passionate. However, we did lack time near the end learning photosynthesis with tones of cycles which is manageable. There are no surprises with his exams however, Kennedy had lots of surprises... He puts tiniest and most useless questions.

AMAZING PROF.incredibly funny.the best part of bio 101. the only hard parts were photosynthesis (the last unit) and the lab exams, those were tricky! Kennedy loves his graphs, memorize ALL of them for the final.(for real, you'll ace his tests) over all, if you see punja's name on the course, TAKE IT

Great Prof! Really funny, makes coming to class worthwhile. Midterms and Finals are strictly from the notes. Dont even need the textbook, his exams are from the notes he writes in class. Would LOVE to have him as a prof again!

one of the best professors if not the best professor I have ever had. He is funny, and explains things so well, as well as reviews the things from the previous lecture to hammer in important points.

GREAT prof! Clear and concise notes, very funny. Clear about what to study and what will be on the exam. Enthusiastic, positive, encouraging, and very helpful.

One of the funniest profs I've ever had! He gives review questions every week, which are very helpful because he gives similar questions on his exams.

Punja is a BEAUTYY such a great prof with an amazing passion for biology, can't say anything negative about him!

At first glance, an amazing prof. He is clear with explanations but when it comes to exams, watch out. He looks for KEY WORDS. If you do not have the key words he is looking for, you can get a 0 on that question, no matter how much you know and wrote about it. He doesnt mark you on what you have, he deducts you from what you dont have. BRUTAL

Dr. Punja is an amazing professor. If you ever get the chance to take 101 with him I absolutely recommend that you do. His exams are tough and the definition questions can kill you but if you really study all of his notes you'll be fine. Most, if not all the questions are straight out of his notes and they're pretty much the same as previous years.

We ALL love him!! His class is very interesting, but make sure you attend to every class because his exams are based on his notes. He hand write the notes in class. The exam was long so make sure you well prepared and memorize every detail.

He is such an amazing prof if u need to take 101 just take it with him you will end up understanding everything and also getting a good grade. His lectures are crystal clear and you would love to go to his lectures lol which u kinda have to :)

take bio 101 with him!! you won't regret it

AMAZING prof! I adore his teaching style and he engages everyone in the class. 100% straightforward, makes jokes, and the material is handwritten by him in lecture, then put onto the exams. The textbook is an ESSENTIAL supplement if you want to understand everything and clarify specifics, but otherwise, would love to have him again! Just STUDY.

Dr. Punja is awesome! Super funny and entertaining. 1010 WOULD RECOMMEND.

So I had a midterm and he said if you study the notes you'll be fine. Guess what? I wasn't fine. Memorized all the notes word by word and still did not get anything as close as I had expected. Otherwise nice. funny guy. Really engaging lectures and worth coming too. Knows how to deal with first-years.

My favourite prof at SFU so far. Sure he makes you memorize his lecture notes completely and is very picky as to what he will give you marks for on the exam, but his lecture notes are all you need and he is a very good lecturer. He makes the content interesting and adds in some fun stuff here and there. Be prepared to memorize though.

Zamir is a good pro. He makes lectures interesting, also he is a good poet since I can never write a poem about exams... However his handwriting is unclear. He doesn't use ppt or give out slides so if you miss a lecture you are screwed. Exams are difficult... you did the review and you came to the gym to take the test, then you found omg wth

Punja is one of the best profs I've had at SFU. His lectures are very clear and engaging, his exams are straight from his lecture notes. DO NOT MEMORIZE TEXTBOOK ONLY HIS NOTES WORD FOR WORD. If you do that then you will get good mark. Would definetly take a class again if he was teaching it, recommend 100%.

By far the best prof I've ever had! The course isn't particularly easy, but Punja definitely makes lectures fun! He writes all his notes down, so make sure you attend all the lectures! The text book is helpful to have!

Absolutely amazing prof. Very clear in his notes and manages to make it entertaining as well. His poems aren't too bad either

He was my prof when I was a first year student at SFU and he's one of those profs that you tend to remember long after you've finished the course! Totally knew how to handle 1st years, made the concepts interesting, and always went above and beyond to give the class a fun time! Exams are SO FAIR!! As long as you read the textbook you're good to go!

He's enthusiastic and friendly but he gets kind of lost when I ask him specific questions beyond the lecture. His notes are ALMOST all you need to study. I found them to be too brief at times but his notes alone should get you at least a B+. Test is just pure memory work . Textbook is only used for lab worksheet or as reference pictures. no scaling

Excellent prof that knows how to maintain lecture interest. You must attend lectures to get the notes you need to study for exams. I did not like how this class had three separate instructors though. It's a terrible approach and completely threw me off. Labs had zero guidance/instruction, although that has very little to do with Dr. Punja.

Good prof. Lectures are informative and tests are fair. Lots of writing.

Make sure you attend his lectures because his powerpoints aren't detailed so it's good to be in class to take detailed notes. The fungus material is not difficult, and you get graded by a paper, lab exam, and final exam. The final exam is very fair and he may even give you the format if you ask nicely. All in all, definitely worth taking again.

You can't miss Dr. Punja's class because it is too much fun! He is a really funny prof and exams are fair as long as you memorize the notes! He writes his notes so you can't miss lecture either since he doesn't post them. That however makes you catch up more easily because he writes as he talks. He even did a rap for us on the last day! Love him!!

You probably have to go to classes since he writes his notes and doesn't post them online. He is really funny and his tests are fair. He lets you know what to expect on them and writes figures from the text for you to look at. The notes are brief sometimes, so you should get info from online or the textbook to complete the notes & to do better!

Zamir was a good prof. He writes notes on two ancient overhead projectors, and then the tests are based exactly off of those notes. Just memorize the notes and you will do well. He's a pretty funny guy, and tries hard to keep lectures engaging.

Dr. Punja is one of the best BISC profs at SFU. Clear lectures, clear format of the class and just such a knowledgeable guy. Extremely approachable, welcomes questions, and explains everything very clearly. He still writes his notes on the overhead and doesn't post them so class attendance is absolutely mandatory.

Dr. Punja was by far one of my favourite biology professors at SFU. He is kind and cares about the success of his students. His notes are old fashion but clear and his exams are extremely fair. I was very nervous as it was my first 400 level course but it ended up being one of my favourite courses because of Zamirs teaching ability! (:

during covid, professor Punja couldn't have done it better. he made lectures enjoyable and it was easy to learn. very content heavy but he gives a lot of hints for his exams and takes feedback and changes his formatting accordingly. He was very kind and understanding of our circumstances and it was evident that he cared for us and loves his job!

What an amazing prof! His lectures are engaging and his exams are straight forward. His slides contain a lot of photos so be sure to attend lecture and write detailed notes when you need it. Other than that, I really am enjoying having him as my Bio prof! I hope Im able to take another class with him in the future.

Dr. Punja is a great prof. The notes are easy to understand along with his explanations and he makes the lecture videos very enjoyable as he cracks some jokes here and there. If you ever have the chance, take bisc 101 with him!

Amazing prof and person, very funny and keeps lectures very engaging. Best biology prof I've ever had, made me more interested in biology, especially plants. Only thing is his first midterm was wayyyy too long, couldn't finish it. However, the material on the midterms are exactly like his lecture slides and instructor questions. Love him

best prof, every on exam is in lecture, explains concepts very well and also very entertaining

Prof. Punja is one of the best profs I have had so far. His exams are all based on what he teaches. The lectures are all easy to understand and require no book reading. I would definitely take his class again!!

I have no idea who gave him a 5 star difficulty, because man was this the easiest class I have ever taken. He is such a genuine and funny dude and SO passionate about fungi. Read poems he wrote in class. Really knows his stuff.

Really good prof! Engaging lectures, loved his poems and he played a song for us. Sometimes I found the slides to be disorganized since some topics overlap across lectures so it wasn't clear but I liked how there was less text and lots of pictures. The final was a lot of memorization, including small details so study lots.

Absolute beauty. One of the few profs actually good at his job. 11/10 recommend.

The GOAT

He clearly knows his stuff, he cares a lot about his students, and his lectures are really engaging. THE END OF SEMESTER RAP WAS AMAZING!!! He is an awesome teacher!

Funny prof. His exam questions are not bad

His slides are full of pictures and very colourful. They are some of the best slides to look at. He also had some entertainment going on at the end of the semester to wish me good luck on my exam. Arf-arf.

funny guy, boring lectures but he did a rap for us at the end of the sem

Great rapper!

Super fun and passionate professor. He makes an obvious effort to engage students and has colourful engaging lecture slides. Definitely get ready to memorize for the tests!

Very good prof. Attend lectures do his practice and you will be fine. Great lectures and prioritizes understanding

A really passionate professor who seems to really care about his students. The lecture are entertaining and you get useful practice questions every week. His exams though aren't great. They contain questions that are unrelated to the field of bio and are rather for example what he said is a good study tip. He looks for very specific keywords to.

He is a great prof! He explains the material in a clear and concise manner, and never fails to make and us laugh with his poems and rap. He tests fair, but memorize all the content that is in his slides as his exams are more memorization than applications of specific processes. Overall if you have to take any biology class, take one with him!

was really nice

Awesome teacher who is clearly passionate. Really funny and generous, overall my favourite teacher I've had here. Definitely memorization heavy for tests but they're still fair.

Zamir is a fun and passionate prof who makes biology engaging with his raps and jokes. While the exams focus on memorization, using resources like Unstuckstudy alongside the textbook can help you ace this class.

Dr. Punja gave really engaging and approachable lectures. He is friendly and funny, and goes through concepts in a slow and clear (but not boring) way. You can tell he really wants students to get a good idea of the material and gain a broad appreciation for fungi. Exams were memorization-based but pretty reasonable. Great lecturer and fun course.

for labs just be super creative with the projects and how they look and what you include to do good. Exams ask very small things and theres very little content taught in the course. different from other bio courses. gives lots of exam hints. easy class if you memorize small facts and can explain broad concepts. For labs just go all out and be extra

memorize the names of the species and know what they are involved in. He is very transparent on what will be included in the exams. The final took an hour and half max which was very kind of the prof. The lab had stations you rotate between then lab work outside of class which are bigger assignments that you submit . lab matters a lot so do well