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Daniel Cohn
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Based on 3 Users
This class was co-taught by Laski and Cohn, but since Laski has retired, Cohn gets the review.
The structure is as such:
Midterm 1 100 points
Midterm 2 100 points
Final (6/6/22) 200 points
Pre-lecture Quiz (16 quizzes x 2 pts) 32 points (lowest dropped)
Clicker Questions (18 lectures x 2 pts) 36 points (two lowest dropped)
Discussion Section (8 attendances x 4 pts) 32 points (two lowest dropped)
Up until the first midterm, everything is pretty much a review of LS7B - lot of Punnett squares and pedigrees and the questions are straightforward probabilities/multiplying fractions. After the second midterm, bacterial genetics is introduced and it's still pretty interesting and easy to do well. The averages for both midterms with 90+. After the second midterm, however, it becomes super difficult to understand Cohn's lectures and people starting flunking the pre-lecture quizzes en masse. The final predominantly covers this latter portion of the class, so many people did poorly and their grades pre-final and post-final were significantly different. There are 4 points of EC on each exam that can help you, but overall, this class started off easy and then the final kicked out butts.
This quarter was taught by my boy Frank Laski (Midterm 1 and 2 Content) and Dr. Cohn (Everything after Midterm 2). I wish Dr. Laski a good retirement and thanks for being a real one.
The first 2 midterms were very fair and straightforward because they posted previous midterm exams and there was a lot of practice that you could use to practice and expect to be on your own midterm. The averages were 90% (MT1) and 88% (MT2) if I recall correctly. It is historically shown and stated by the professors that Midterm 1 is easier than Midterm 2 due to the fact that most of MT1 is review from LS7B. (Both midterms were in person and we were allowed 1 paper of legal cheat sheet)
Since this review is about Dr. Cohn I believe since most of the content starting after Midterm 2 is fairly new content it caused a lot of struggle our quarter. The final was also moved online and since it was a different format to our midterms (which were mostly FRQ) the multiple choices were very conceptual and difficulty raised significantly compared to the midterms due to it being open notes. The average of the final was 72% and thus caused many grades to be lowered.
The professors were very understanding and adjusted the scaling as such
"After this second adjustment, approximately 59% of the class will earn a grade in the A range, 34% in the B range and 7% in the C range."
Dr. Cohn was fairly faster paced than Dr. Laski because he had higher expectations for us when doing pedigrees and understanding material so he would breeze through most of the clickers. I think the biggest thing is to not be afraid to stop him and ask for explanations or you and the class would be lost. I think classes ended much earlier after midterm 2 due to the fast pace.
If you are too afraid to speak out during lecture, it's fine because the professors always stay after class, and you can just walk up to them and they are really friendly and usually the questions are answered quite nicely. I've only been to 1 office hour, but there is hardly anyone in there so it's easy to get in, ask a quick question, and leave.
Discussion is mandatory, but it is definitely super helpful with problem solving!
Shout out to Davis who probably carried me by explaining all of the content after midterm 2 and having extra office hours the day before every midterm/final even if it fell on a weekend!
I think it's a pretty good upper div class if you need it in your major.
TLDR: Do the previous exams that are given and don't sleep on the final difficulty!
I took this class with Cohn and Laski (Laski won't be teaching as he retired), and Cohn was definitely the tougher of the two professors. He taught the latter half of the class, which is harder material, but his explanations did not seem as clear. His pre-lecture quizzes were also much harder. He wrote the final exam, which focused mostly on his material, after two midterms by Laski, and it was almost impossible to finish on time, even with it being online. It was interesting material, but just be wary of his tests.
This class was co-taught by Laski and Cohn, but since Laski has retired, Cohn gets the review.
The structure is as such:
Midterm 1 100 points
Midterm 2 100 points
Final (6/6/22) 200 points
Pre-lecture Quiz (16 quizzes x 2 pts) 32 points (lowest dropped)
Clicker Questions (18 lectures x 2 pts) 36 points (two lowest dropped)
Discussion Section (8 attendances x 4 pts) 32 points (two lowest dropped)
Up until the first midterm, everything is pretty much a review of LS7B - lot of Punnett squares and pedigrees and the questions are straightforward probabilities/multiplying fractions. After the second midterm, bacterial genetics is introduced and it's still pretty interesting and easy to do well. The averages for both midterms with 90+. After the second midterm, however, it becomes super difficult to understand Cohn's lectures and people starting flunking the pre-lecture quizzes en masse. The final predominantly covers this latter portion of the class, so many people did poorly and their grades pre-final and post-final were significantly different. There are 4 points of EC on each exam that can help you, but overall, this class started off easy and then the final kicked out butts.
This quarter was taught by my boy Frank Laski (Midterm 1 and 2 Content) and Dr. Cohn (Everything after Midterm 2). I wish Dr. Laski a good retirement and thanks for being a real one.
The first 2 midterms were very fair and straightforward because they posted previous midterm exams and there was a lot of practice that you could use to practice and expect to be on your own midterm. The averages were 90% (MT1) and 88% (MT2) if I recall correctly. It is historically shown and stated by the professors that Midterm 1 is easier than Midterm 2 due to the fact that most of MT1 is review from LS7B. (Both midterms were in person and we were allowed 1 paper of legal cheat sheet)
Since this review is about Dr. Cohn I believe since most of the content starting after Midterm 2 is fairly new content it caused a lot of struggle our quarter. The final was also moved online and since it was a different format to our midterms (which were mostly FRQ) the multiple choices were very conceptual and difficulty raised significantly compared to the midterms due to it being open notes. The average of the final was 72% and thus caused many grades to be lowered.
The professors were very understanding and adjusted the scaling as such
"After this second adjustment, approximately 59% of the class will earn a grade in the A range, 34% in the B range and 7% in the C range."
Dr. Cohn was fairly faster paced than Dr. Laski because he had higher expectations for us when doing pedigrees and understanding material so he would breeze through most of the clickers. I think the biggest thing is to not be afraid to stop him and ask for explanations or you and the class would be lost. I think classes ended much earlier after midterm 2 due to the fast pace.
If you are too afraid to speak out during lecture, it's fine because the professors always stay after class, and you can just walk up to them and they are really friendly and usually the questions are answered quite nicely. I've only been to 1 office hour, but there is hardly anyone in there so it's easy to get in, ask a quick question, and leave.
Discussion is mandatory, but it is definitely super helpful with problem solving!
Shout out to Davis who probably carried me by explaining all of the content after midterm 2 and having extra office hours the day before every midterm/final even if it fell on a weekend!
I think it's a pretty good upper div class if you need it in your major.
TLDR: Do the previous exams that are given and don't sleep on the final difficulty!
I took this class with Cohn and Laski (Laski won't be teaching as he retired), and Cohn was definitely the tougher of the two professors. He taught the latter half of the class, which is harder material, but his explanations did not seem as clear. His pre-lecture quizzes were also much harder. He wrote the final exam, which focused mostly on his material, after two midterms by Laski, and it was almost impossible to finish on time, even with it being online. It was interesting material, but just be wary of his tests.