Susan Halsell - James Madison University

Professor: Susan Halsell
Department: Biology
College: James Madison University
Rating # 1
Overview:
  • Course: BIO240
  • Grade Received: B-
  • Overall Rating: 4.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
I've had her for BIO 140 as well as BIO 240. She is an amazing teacher and available to meet up to go over questions. If you take her for BIO 240, PREPARE FOR THE CHAPTER YOU WILL BE GOING OVER IN CLASS BEFORE YOU ATTEND BECAUSE OF IN CLASS ASSIGNMENTS. Your grade will thank you :) (Use learning objectives as well as any work in class to study)
Rating # 2
Overview:
  • Course: BIO140
  • Grade Received: A
  • Overall Rating: 3.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: No
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
This is a really hard class. Dr Halsell is nice and knowledgeable, she's just not very good at teaching. You end up having to teach yourself a lot with the textbook. She also assigns TONS of homework on launchpad, most of which I did not find helpful. At least with all the grades if you mess up on some things your grade wont tank.
Rating # 3
Overview:
  • Course: BIO240LAB
  • Grade Received: B+
  • Overall Rating: 4.0
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
First off I took her lab. Lab really started to pick up towards the end of the semester but all the work is done (except for the final paper) in class. She is a very tough grader on the research paper but all the other activities are doable and will boost your grade. She is also there to help you and is happy to hear from you (but she is very busy)
Rating # 4
Overview:
  • Course: BIO140
  • Grade Received: A-
  • Overall Rating: 2.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: No
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
The textbook was my best friend in this class. Dr. Halsell seems nice enough but I did not get a lot of value out of her lectures or supplemental assignments, and she assigned a lot of them. This class is doable but it takes a lot of diligence and hard work to score highly on the exams. There was also no curve, so what you see is what you get.
Rating # 5
Overview:
  • Course: BIO140
  • Grade Received: A
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
Halsell is one of the best professors I've ever had. She makes you learn on your own, but is more than willing to fill in any gaps. Her lectures truly show that she loves what she does and wants every student to succeed in BIO. You won't pass on lectures alone so reading the textbook is critical. The so exams are hard, but there are many grades
Rating # 6
Overview:
  • Course: BIO240
  • Grade Received: C
  • Overall Rating: 2.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: No
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
She's not a bad person, but she was very dry in her lectures. When I went to her office it was pretty much "in the book" but mostly driven off of previous knowledge she did not offer. She's funny from time to time, but not worth your genetics grade.
Rating # 7
Overview:
  • Course: BIO324
  • Grade Received: C+
  • Overall Rating: 1.0
  • Course Difficulty: 5.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: No
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
This was the worst class I've ever taken at JMU. I worked so hard and barely managed to scrape by with a C and I'm usually an A student. She handled the switch to online classes horribly and left us all hanging for a week withouth any material. The tests are impossible and the final project was graded so harshly it tanked my grade.
Rating # 8
Overview:
  • Course: BIO140
  • Grade Received: A-
  • Overall Rating: 2.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: No
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
Halsell is a nice person however she depends on her pass sessions to teach students, and reads off the slides for lectures. The lectures are very confusing and not worth going to. You have to read the chapters before attending class. I learned everything from reading the chapters, not from her teaching. Her tests are IMPOSSIBLE
Rating # 9
Overview:
  • Course: BIO140
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.0
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
Shes not as bad as people make her seem. Shes a pretty easy professor and if you put in the effort youll get an A or B. She does rely on the powerpoint lecture but its not too bad and PASS is an extra boost to better understand the material. She also gives extra for every exam which helps a lot !!!
Rating # 10
Overview:
  • Course: BIO324
  • Grade Received: C+
  • Overall Rating: 1.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: No
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
I had this teacher for both Bio 140 and Bio 324. She's not very good at teaching anything as she just reads off of power points every class. She seldom gives any kind of practice before exams. Especially this last semester in quarantine she didn't do anything to help accommodate students, she gave even less instruction and basically went silent.
Rating # 11
Overview:
  • Course: BIO140
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 3.0
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: No
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
If you are going to take BIO 140, find another professor. She may be very knowledgable about Biology, I don't know, but her lectures are pointless because she reads right off the powerpoint without going in depth and relies on PASS sessions for students to actually learn. Only useful thing in this class is the extra credit.
Rating # 12
Overview:
  • Course: BIO140
  • Grade Received: Not sure yet
  • Overall Rating: 2.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: No
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
This class is a lot of reading material. If you don't read the entire chapter before attending lecture you will be very confused. I also think she relies too much on her pass sessions to explain information, and goes quickly in the actual class. There is a lot of outside work in this class. Her tests are almost impossible.
Rating # 13
Overview:
  • Course: BIO140
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 3.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
Dr. Halsell is one of the sweetest and funniest professors I have ever met. She knows her class is hard so she definitely tries to do things to earn easy points to keep grades up. Her class does involve a lot of group work but it isn't bad at all.
Rating # 14
Overview:
  • Course: BIO240
  • Grade Received: Not sure yet
  • Overall Rating: 4.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: No
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
Dr. Halsell is very cool, but I would rethink taking her class. Her tests are very difficult. They are only made more difficult by the fact that the learning objectives given don't match tests. You end up either studying way too much, but not in depth enough or too few things, but to the correct level. All in all, a very frustrating class.
Rating # 15
Overview:
  • Course: BIO230
  • Grade Received: Not sure yet
  • Overall Rating: 3.0
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: No
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
Halsell is really sweet! But she really needs to do better with exams because every exam taken the average was always no higher than a 70 which says a lot about how she teaches. Even tho I did bad on all exams I still passed because she assigns things to balance out your grade for the most part but if you want an A? Well good luck.
Rating # 16
Overview:
  • Course: BIO140
  • Grade Received: B+
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
Susan doesnt get enough credit. She is teh sweetest, most passionate prof i've had and explains things so well in office hours. Tests are tricky, but side assignments and group quizzes make up for it and a lot of her activities are done in groups. Only thing is she calls people out to answer questions in lecture.
Rating # 17
Overview:
  • Course: BIO14O
  • Grade Received: A
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
Take her for 140!! The material is hard, but she makes it easier to get a good grade. There are group quizzes and also part of the tests (and final) were with your group. The lectures could get boring, but there are clicker questions that make you come to class.
Rating # 18
Overview:
  • Course: BIO140
  • Grade Received: B
  • Overall Rating: 4.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
She is a very nice professor and tries to teach us what matters. Her tests are nearly impossible, since they all seem to be trick questions. She added a group element this year, so you do quizzes and part of the test together, but I would rather do it alone with easier tests. If you get a bad group, you'd do very badly.
Rating # 19
Overview:
  • Course: BIO14O
  • Grade Received: C
  • Overall Rating: 2.0
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: No
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
Do not take this class if you do not want to teach yourself. Her lectures were so long and boring they made no sense. She does clicker questions almost every day, so missing class will eventually affect your grade. Her tests do not really correlate with lecture, so study a lot for them in order to get good grades. She is really caring though!
Rating # 20
Overview:
  • Course: BIO140
  • Grade Received: A-
  • Overall Rating: 4.0
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
Take Halsell for 140! Bio can be tough but she makes it easy to get a good grade as long as you put in the effort. All tests (even the final) have a group portion which really raises your test scores. She can be funny during lectures. Just make sure to do all assignments and read the book
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