Reviews for David C. Straney
Average Rating:| zhangsta Course: BSCI222 Grade Expected: A May 25, 2011, 2:50 pm | Pretty good lecturer. He teaches off his slides, which are taken straight out of the book, but he goes into pretty good detail about all of the important stuff. Exams were pretty fair and weren't too bad if you kept up with the material. He's one of those professors who wants everyone to do well so he posts study guides on bb and holds review sessions for the exams. Pretty much gives you ample opportunity to do well. |
| Anonymous Course: BSCI222 Grade Expected: A May 22, 2011, 11:38 am | This class was the easiest I've taken so far. I skipped lecture, went to discussion, and read the book. Dr. Straney provides tons of resources including lecture powerpoints, lecture outlines, and old exams. If you have a basic understanding of genetics, you shouldn't have to put too much work into this class. Exams were fair, and you can drop one, which is quite helpful. However, there is no final curve for the class. Regardless, I honestly think they tried to make this class as easy as possible. |
| Anonymous Course: BSCI222 Grade Expected: B- May 21, 2011, 9:26 pm | Extremely nice and helpful, gives you plenty of resources to study from. lectures tend to be boring but he's very passionate about what he teaches. holds weekly q&a sessions. i read reviews saying this course used to be easy with him. it's not anymore. i think they leaned on him to give less A's, so don't expect an easy ride |
| Anonymous Course: BSCI222 Grade Expected: May 20, 2011, 7:54 pm | DR. STRANEY IS AMAZING! He's very easy going and laid back and you can tell he really cares about his students and loves the material that he teaches. He makes class interesting even when some of the material can be dull at times. He's also very willing to help you with anything outside of class. Make sure to do well in discussion (especially on the weekly quizzes) because it will help your grade in the end. Study well for the weekly quizzes in discussion...they are detailed and difficult. Otherwise, the other things you do in discussion are easy points. Your two lowest quiz and homework scores will be dropped. There are 3 exams (the lowest score is dropped). They are detailed but fair...make sure to read the book and review old exams. Overall interesting class. If you can take this class with Straney, DO IT! |
| Anonymous Course: BSCI415 Grade Expected: A May 9, 2011, 10:33 am | Dr. Straney may be the sweetest person to ever grace College Park's bio department. This class is super interesting and very laid back, I enjoyed attending. Dr. Straney just wants everyone to get an A and if you are confused he will help you until you understand even if that means staying late. If you do the work on time you will do well in this class. |
| Anonymous Course: BSCI222 Grade Expected: B+ April 13, 2011, 8:22 pm | He's a really good professor and a super nice guy. His exams aren't that bad if you study. He gives you everything you need to study including the lecture powerpoint, lecture outlines, study guide, and practice problems. My TA's quizzes are pretty hard, but not too bad. Take it with Straney if you can. |
| Anonymous Course: BSCI415 Grade Expected: A February 20, 2011, 11:07 pm | Before I start, let me assert that Dr. Straney is one of the best professors at Maryland!! Anyone that says otherwise must have some sort of grudge against him... I started out taking BSCI 207 and most of the classes I had taken since then were mostly rehashed versions of previous material - I started to find that the classes became very boring. I never really paid attention in my classes after a while and would just cram for exams and do just fine. That's all fine and good - I was getting through everything that I needed to get though - but I totally stopped enjoying biology. The environment that Dr. Straney created in the lab gave me faith in biology again. It wasn't just about memorizing things, doing busywork, and worrying how others do (e.g. curves in organic labs). He cares so much about having students learn the material - and he is able to teach very effectively. If you have any questions at all, you can call, email, or see him before/after class and he is always willing to help. He also understands that sometimes people's semesters are loaded and it may be difficult to get everything done on time and be satisfied with it - he will let you turn things in by what he calls an "approximate date." His quizzes and exams are very, very reasonable - read the rationale for doing the labs and why we do things the way we do before the semester quizzes and make sure to understand your lab reports before the final exam - and everything will go smoothly. He is a big proponent of "big ideas" over minute-you-will-never-need-it-again details. He tests understanding of material. I really, really enjoyed the class and put in (and enjoyed putting in) some effort. I learned a lot and appreciated being able to do so in a fairly relaxed environment. If you're in a class with him right now, don't take him for granted. You should really appreciate what he brings to the classroom. |
| TerpGuide Course: BSCI222 Grade Expected: A June 8, 2010, 2:36 pm | I personally don't see what is so great about Straney. The way he teaches is pretty boring. However, he is very nice and holds a weekly review session and stays however long you need him to. Overall the class is pretty easy. The resources he provides you with are soooo useful for the exams. From what I know, there was no curve, but I'm not sure. Discussion helps a lot with your grade because it's like busy work and fairly simple. However, there's a weekly quiz which you should review your notes for. You can get away with not going to class and reading the powerpoint. The biggest thing to study is the study guides and lecture outlines. With those, you should be fine. Take Straney if you can, he makes the class pretty easy. |
| aralchen Course: BSCI222 Grade Expected: A May 19, 2010, 8:42 pm | This man is a saint! The nicest and sweetest man on earth - period. He tries incredibly hard to help students understand the rather difficult material by posting lecture outlines, study guides, old exams, holding weekly review sessions, and always having his door open to any one who needs help. If you need BSCI222 (or want to take it), take it with Dr. Straney!!! You won't regret it! Exams: they're rather detailed and require you to thoroughly know the information from lecture. Textbook helps a lot, but doesn't determine what will be on the exam. He likes promoters, regulatory elements (that's essentially his research), and math-based problems. When studying ALWAYS reference the study guides and ALWAYS go to review. ALWAYS. Discussion: he has no say about what goes on there, since that's Dr. Shields' domain. It does help your grade a lot. Final: covers half comprehensive and half new material. Comprehensive sections covers only what's been tested on previous exams. This time he had a tricky problem, but it doesn't usually happen on the midterms. Overall: very fair class where you learn a whole bunch. Highly recommended!! |
| Anonymous Course: BSCI222 Grade Expected: A May 16, 2010, 6:18 pm | Dr. Straney is literally the nicest person to have EVER stepped on college park. He actually wants students to learn and do well. He holds review sessions every week and brought cookies/hot cocoa at least once when I went! He makes his tests very fair and just generally likes people. Don't you dare take BSCI222 with anyone else. |
| amgarcia Course: BSCI222 Grade Expected: A May 12, 2010, 5:36 pm | if you have the option of taking bsci222 for your major, TAKE IT and TAKE IT WITH STRANEY!! he is the nicest professor EVER and i definitely thought i was doing worse than i am. i can get an 85% on the final and still have an A in the class (i've gotten 89s on both tests and did kinda poorly on the quizzes in my opinion but the rest of discussion helps your grade SO MUCH!!) the second half of the class is kind of boring, but easy enough if you put normal effort into it. i think i might apply to TA the discussion of this class later on! :) |
| Anonymous Course: BSCI222 Grade Expected: A May 7, 2010, 1:16 pm | Dr. Straney is the best! He is probably one of the best professors at Maryland. He is willing to explain absolutely anything, and is actually GLAD to be able to help. Even in a huge lecture, he encourages everyone to ask questions and get help. He even brought snacks to a review session before our exam. Seriously a very approachable and genuinely nice guy. |
| Anonymous Course: BSCI415 Grade Expected: A March 29, 2010, 5:50 pm | This was a great course. I'm now in grad school, and this course taught me things that are really useful in my courses now. Dr. Straney is also the nicest person ever, and he really cares about students understanding and having enthusiasm about what they are learning. I definately recommend taking this course if you are thinking about going to Grad school for Cell/Molecular Biology!!!! |
| Anonymous Course: BSCI222 Grade Expected: A June 2, 2009, 10:25 pm | Great professor. Really cares about students doing well. Exams stem from lectures and text. Exams are fair and very doable. |
| Anonymous Terp Course: BSCI415 Grade Expected: A April 16, 2009, 2:14 pm | Dr. Straney is solid. Teachers don't get much better than him. He's excited, enthusiastic, willing to help, not afraid to slow down and explain something again, and just plain nice. This class is the epitome of what college classes should be like. There aren't a lot of students. The teacher is passionate. There's a lot of one on one interaction with the professor. Nearly everybody gets A's, but those are actually earned A's. This class is in no way a fluff class - there's a lot of work. But the work is doable and enjoyable. It's the complete opposite of the typical cookie-cutting lab class here at Maryland. Throughout the semester, we worked on four extended projects, which means we jumped around. You do a mutagenesis experiment (on both C. elegans and Arabidopsis), a molecular mapping experiment, a plant transformation experiment, and a DNA sequencing experiment. The DNA one was great - we isolated a highly variable region of our own CYP2D6 gene (it produces the protein that metabolizes nearly a third of the drugs we take) with PCR, sent it off to a lab, and analyzed the sequence results using different software programs. We found out if we had multiple copies, a defective copy, etc. and what that meant. Seriously, if you have the chance to take this course, you won't be disappointed. |
| Anonymous Course: BSCI415 Grade Expected: A December 23, 2008, 3:03 pm | I cannot say enough about Dr. Straney. He is hands down the best professor in the science department and he makes this class one of the best. If you are remotely interested in genetics take this class! He makes it relatively easy and you actually do hands on things that work (compared to most science classes here at maryland). In addition, he is extremely nice and wants everyone to learn and succeed not just in his class but in life. He is very approachable and was always willing to help. The course had a lot of work on occasion, but it wasnt very difficult and he grades very easy. |