Brian Downes - Saint Louis University

Professor: Brian Downes
Department: Biology
College: Saint Louis University
Rating # 1
Overview:
  • Course: BIOL4700
  • Grade Received: A-
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
Definitely in my top 3 favorite professors at SLU. He's super concerned with the success of his students, he is excited about what he teaches, organized, and still makes the lectures interesting w/ jokes etc. I was encouraged to take 4700 even w/out the genetics pre-req, and he made sure I had the tools to succeed if I put in the effort.
Rating # 2
Overview:
  • Course: BIOL304
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
Dr. Downes is one of the easier MCB profs. He locked himself out of his lab, so he had to climb into the ceiling ducts. He fell through the ceiling into his lab just in time to turn off his the time sensitive experiment he was running. Honestly, what a man.
Rating # 3
Overview:
  • Course: BIOL304
  • Grade Received: A
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
Dr. Downes was an excellent professor for MCB 2. He is a very nice man who definitely cared about his students and if they learned the concepts and could be really entertaining at times. That said, you'll definitely want to study tegrity because his exams are detailed. Only complaint is that he rambles in some lectures, making them long at times.
Rating # 4
Overview:
  • Course: BIO304
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
Downes was probably the best bio teacher I have had yet, he genuinely wants you to know the material. He tries to make his lectures fun and throws in corny jokes all the time that help make the class more interesting. He is awesome at simplifying things but sometimes he simplifies things to the point of misunderstanding. Overall awesome professor
Rating # 5
Overview:
  • Course: BIO304
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Dr. Downes was by far my favorite biology professor I've had at SLU. He lectures well and is able to clearly communicate the material. He's also a great guy (and funny) which makes it that much more interesting to listen to him teach. Given the chance I would absolutely take another bio course at SLU taught by him.
Rating # 6
Overview:
  • Course: BIOL4700
  • Grade Received: A
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
Dr. Downes is one of the best professors SLU biology has to offer. He is a good lecturer and works hard to make the material interesting to his students. He is more than happy to answer student questions during and outside of class. That being said, his tests can be fairly challenging, I recommend tape-recording his lectures to make studying easier
Rating # 7
Overview:
  • Course: BIO3040
  • 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:
A really nice guy. He wants all of us to do well. I took him in the summer where he only taught the last two weeks of the course, and he adjusted us all well to his was and was extremely fair with grading and keeping the course in line. He lectures a lot and it can get boring but he cares for his students and loves this subject. Great Guy!
Rating # 8
Overview:
  • Course: BIO304
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 3.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
Good guy, but very boring. Had trouble staying awake in this class. Tough tests but definitely doable. Practice tests are your friends, he reuses questions. Tests are always curved 2-4 points normally. Hated his homework quizzes.
Rating # 9
Overview:
  • Course: BIOL304
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
He's a real personable and nice fellow and is always willing to answer questions. Make sure to take detailed notes while in lecture, many of the concepts are heavily stressed on tests. His tests are very difficult and you need to study for them well in advance, but the curve and clicker extra credit help a bit.
Rating # 10
Overview:
  • Course: BIOL304
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 2.5
  • Course Difficulty: 5.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Passionate about the material. not the best at teaching: he's a bit boring and it's easy to get distracted from the lecture. he pretty much just lectures the entire hour with a few awkward questions. tests=pretty difficult. He's a pretty good professor at SLU, but not among the best I've had.
Rating # 11
Overview:
  • Course: BIO304
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 2.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Very difficult professor (the harder out of the two for MCB). His test questions are unclear, and very specific. Had to curve his first test 10 points just so that the class average was a C.
Rating # 12
Overview:
  • Course: BIO304
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.5
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
He is a very sexy man. He is easy to understand but his test are very hard.
Rating # 13
Overview:
  • Course: MCB344
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 2.5
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Very passionate about what he teaches, but very boring monotonous voice that invites you to doze off. Tests were more difficult than Spencer's. Not impossible, but definitely something you should be studying for at least a week in advance.
Rating # 14
Overview:
  • Course: BIO304
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.5
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
He's a great professor. yes his tests are very challenging but he is extremely willing to help. He really cares about the individual student and their future.
Rating # 15
Overview:
  • Course: MCBII
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 5.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Such a nice man! his tests were definitely not easy, but if you studied all the material thoroughly and listened to the lectures then it was totally fine, way better than spencer
Rating # 16
Overview:
  • Course: BIO304
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.5
  • Course Difficulty: 5.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Downes is an excellent teacher, his PPTS are well organized and he's really approachable. He owns his subject, cares about his students, and shows a sense of humor. He is also good with clicker pts. Overall, I liked him MUCH more than Spencer. But, his tests are *pretty hard, like our last one had a 13pt curve so we wouldn't all fail.
Rating # 17
Overview:
  • Course: BIOL304
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.0
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Nice guy. His lectures aren't very direct or as clear as Dr. Spencer's. He also tends to fall behind and cram it all in at the end.
Rating # 18
Overview:
  • Course: BIO345
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 3.5
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Dr. Downes was made hard tests and covered more advanced material than necessary for my class. However, he is easy to understand in lecture and makes learning molecular bio as interesting as it can possibly get. Not the best teacher I have had at SLU but definitely not the worst.
Rating # 19
Overview:
  • Course: BIO304
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
He is a good lecturer. He focuses on the logic and concepts mostly. His tests are detail oriented, and somewhat hard. However, you can drop a test, and there a clicker questions to help your grade.
Rating # 20
Overview:
  • Course: BIO304
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.5
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
He is a very nice man and a good professor. The material is difficult, but go to class and you should be able to do fine in the class.
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