<p>I really don’t think Spell’s test are as hard as Eisen’s. However, her test are annoying. For a multiple choice exam, her questions are unnecessarily long on top of being phrased strangely. Once you figure out what aspects to ignore, the questions are quite basic. Eisen asked some legit questions (not MC) that required higher order thinking and an ability to “prove” something (like designing an experiment w/a hypothesis, controls, etc.)
Whatever you do, do not recommend Escobar to anyone, he’s crap (I had him first semester), I really don’t care how easy his exams were. Didn’t learn a thing from the course. After him, it’s a miracle that I’m a bio major today. Always roll w/Spell or Eisen first semester if available. Again, I don’t think Eisen is available first semester due to Cell bio. This means a) no case based section or b) extreme fortune: Passalauqua may teach it. Either way, these two will provide the most meaningful experience. Also, I think Spell’s class may be much easier than it used to be. Either that, or last year was exceptionally strong (there is evidence for this such as performance in gen. chem). She was essentially getting the same average or slightly lower than those in Escobar’s class. Sure her tests were harder, but usually they are “much” harder. She normally yields some exam averages in the 60s before the final rolls around. It didn’t happen this year. It was always more like 75-82 (same for bio 142). Also, her older exams indicate that she was harder/asked trickier questions in the past. Point is, bio really isn’t that hard. The lab, however, is kind of annoying, especially 142.</p>