Reading the reviews for my semester, they definitely seem very polarized and I do agree with some of their comments, but I don't think they are being entirely fair to Parichy.
The entire course is based on 4 exams, with one drop. The final can be taken and will replace your midterm average if you score high enough. The exams themselves are 10 mcqs and 2 long frqs. Yes you do get all the questions before hand (he does change some of the wording of the mcqs)
You can tell that Parichy is super knowledgeable about genetics, and I will say that you will learn a lot about genetics. He is very much into making sure we can apply our knowledge, as he brings in many research papers, case studies, and examples about diseases. It is a lot of information and is definitely not an easy class that you can study the night before the exam. But I did truly enjoy the content.
Regarding the grading, I can agree it can definitely feel arbitrary and unclear what exactly they want from us.
BUT Parichy was so generous with extra credit this semester. We 9 points added to our final grade for submitting handwritten notes, and I think one or two points extra for submitting a survey. I got an 85% average on the exams, but I only took 2 midterms out of 4. This was because one exam was canceled the day of bc the printing service failed us, and the other was canceled due to snow. But Parichy gave us a free 100 for one of the missed exams and averaged the three exams for the remaining exam. So in the end, I earned a 102% in the class.
But even if these exams were not canceled, you did not have to do amazing to get an A in this class. But if you are not a fan of this style of exam, I can guarantee that this will be Parichy's last semester of doing this. He may go back to the full mcq format.

I can't speak for previous semesters since they were open-note, online exams, from what I've heard, but this new format of having different TAs grade separate long-answer questions EACH WITH DIFFERENT RUBRICS makes this class incredibly frustrating. As a few reviews have mentioned, this class is exam heavy: 4 exams, one drop, and a somewhat optional final if you didn't like how your exams averaged out. The format is that you get 50 minutes to complete 10 multiple-choice and 2 long-answer questions. You get all of the questions beforehand; sounds super easy, right? Except that even if you answer every part of what the questions ask you, if you miss a mark off of an imaginary rubric not disclosed by anyone beforehand, you're almost certain to get about 3 points off, which, if you calculate it, is almost a whole letter grade knocked off your exam score. I've gone to so many OH to argue my score and ask for insight from different TAs, and half the time the TA says, "Yeah, I don't understand why you got points taken off for that." The class average is near 60%, and Professor Parichy doesn't seem fazed by it.

There’s zero standardization. You never see the rubric until it’s too late, so the whole thing feels like blind guessing. You can spend hours memorizing every prereleased question and still lose points for not using the exact buzzword that particular TA wanted. At that point, it stops testing your actual understanding of biology and instead rewards whoever can best reverse-engineer how each grader thinks.

What makes it worse is the lack of meaningful feedback. You’re told to go to office hours with the TA who graded your question, but even if you rearrange your entire schedule to do that, you’ll get vague comments like “missing detail” with zero explanation of what was missing or how to improve next time. Office hours become an exhausting game of trying to decode hidden grading patterns rather than actually learning the material. And because exams are weighted so heavily, one or two small deviations from an unspoken rubric can tank your overall grade — even if you genuinely understand the content.

Honestly, don’t take this class unless you absolutely have to. And if you do, try to wait until they (hopefully) fix this system or take it with a different professor. This is mentally draining and extremely discouraging, especially considering how many students have complained and nothing has changed.

This class killed my passion.

The professor doesn’t want to teach the class, in my opinion. As the previous post mentioned, there’s no rubric, no guidance, nothing for the exams. And that exam was the day after break, I spent my whole break studying for it instead of spending more time with my hometown friends.

Prof. Parichy, if you see this post (and I hope you do), please make the grading less harsh. I was very passionate about this class at the beginning of the school year, as I’m interested in genetics, and this is the kind of subject I want to focus on after school for my PhD. But this class has given me no hope. I kept telling myself after the first exam that if I studied harder, I would get a good grade or at least the grade I deserved, but it turns out the TAs just slapped me in the face with the Exam 2 grade.

TIP: Don’t take this class. It will kill your passion and completely burn you out.

No homework, just 4 exams and a kind of optional final exam, so your grades rely fully on your exam scores. Meeting three times a week, you cover A LOT of information in short 50-minute increments.
You have 50 minutes to complete 10 multiple-choice and 2 long-answer questions; you are given no rubric or expectations for your long answers, which makes them really hard to write well.
The TAs literally don't even have a rubric, so they are grading off literal vibes and their own personal biases and answers, and even if you copy the words that come out of his mouth and cover the given vocab, you will still get 6/10 points for the question. You don't get your graded exams back, so you don't get feedback.
Many students in my section were left feeling genuinely confused about what they want for full credit with one exam having an average score of 63% and him saying that "Score distribution is about where we would expect to see it", WHAT you expect a 63!!!!
Going back to the final exam, it is optional and also a comprehensive exam worth 90 points, if taken and the score is higher than the best three midterms combined then the final will be the baseline for calculating the course letter grade, if not taken or if the score is less than the midterms, than the midterms will be the baseline. BUT again, we don't get a rubric, so do you want to waste your time and mental space studying for an exam you aren't given clear (if any) standards for? I don't know, maybe I will, maybe I won't, depends on the mental bandwidth I have left.
At the end of the day, unless anything changes, I would not recommend this class if you don't have to; people in ORGO had higher grades. It is truly frustrating to spend so much time studying and not know if what you are studying is right because you aren't given a rubric. It's exhausting to partake in a class where you don't know what's expected of you. The hopelessness I felt was at an all-time high. If you have any friends taking this class, reach out and check on them.

Honestly, this class can be difficult and the content is not always easy to grasp, but Parichy is fair and aims to help students more than weed them out. There are 5 online, open-note exams, with one of them being a cumulative final that has some repeat questions from earlier midterms, and he lets you drop the lowest score out of the five. The trickiest thing about the course is the exam time. Just like some of the other comments say, 50 minutes for 40 questions is not a lot of time, so make sure that you are familiar with the material because you won't have a ton of time to go through notes.

Recommendations
-Go to class, or if you can't go, watch the recorded lecture for that day
-Make sure you understand the study questions because they help to serve as a recap of content for the lecture
-KNOW EXAMPLES ON SLIDES: he likes to ask very specific questions so being able to understand examples from the slides is very key
-For exams, make a merged pdf that has the slides for the exam content you are covering; this helps save time and you can control F to find certain key words

Dr. Parichy is extremely, almost scarily, knowledgeable about genetics. His passion and knowledge truly come across during his lectures, and he is very open to answering questions both during class and office hours. As others have stated, his lecture style can be very dry at times, so if you do not dedicate 100% of your attention to what he is saying, it is often easy to tune out.

This class is known for having open-note exams, but with all honestly it is quite a meaningless designation due to the length of the exams (40 multiple-choice questions (some are select all above) in 50 minutes). In fact, some questions were actually a paragraph long and may take half a minute to read. So, if you go into an exam thinking that you will be able to flip through your notes and answer all the questions, think again. You actually need to know the material very well to finish the exam, and this is by design. Additionally, Dr. Parichy in his lectures likes to introduce information from primary literature and research, which is very difficult to find clarifying information on, so being present in class and asking questions are a must. I essentially went over the lecture recordings and made sure that no details were missed, because he does ask questions on that material.

Overall, I really enjoyed his class and the information that he presented in it.

This course is very challenging. Dr. Parichy is nice and will work with you for family emergencies and difficulties throughout the semester. He seems to have a very laissez-faire attitude toward his class, however. On the first day he said that we could purchase any genetics textbook we want and stated that he had a discussion section but that no one shows up. He didn't even remember when the discussion section was. There are five exams and one gets dropped. The exams are very challenging though. You have 50 minutes to answer 40 multiple choice questions. There are often multiple correct answers and not enough time to go through your notes. He took away homework this semester, so the four highest exam grades comprise your final grade for the class. This was tough as my exam grades averaged around 29/40. He did provide a curve to bump the highest performing students up to an A. Since there is no official textbook, no homework, and no discussion section, you really don't get any practice with the material. Don't take this class unless you have to.

Class facts:
-4 open-note, online exams (50 minutes, 40 multiple-choice questions) plus a cumulative final.
-One exam drop to account for your lowest score.
-Optional attendance, with lectures recorded on Zoom for easy access.
-Study questions provided for each lecture to help with material recall.
-Grade distributions finalized at the end of the semester, with Dr. Parichy being notably generous.

About Dr. Parichy:
Dr. Parichy is incredibly knowledgeable about genetics and genuinely wants to see his students succeed. He’s approachable and open to questions, especially during office hours, where he’s fantastic at breaking down difficult concepts. However, his lecture delivery can feel slow or disjointed at times, making it easy to zone out if you're not fully engaged.

Tips for Success:
- Go to class. Even though attendance is optional, being physically present makes a huge difference in grasping the material, especially when Dr. Parichy elaborates beyond the slides.
- Don’t underestimate the exams. While they’re open-note, the time crunch (40 questions in 50 minutes) leaves little room for flipping through notes. You need to know the material well.
- Take detailed notes during lectures. Focus on what Dr. Parichy says rather than just copying down the slides. Many exam questions come from small details he mentions in passing. My notes were essentially a transcript of what he said.
- Rewatch lectures before exams. This helps refresh your memory and catch anything you might have missed.
- Ask for help when needed. Attend office hours if a concept is unclear. Many topics are complex and not easily searchable online, but Dr. Parichy is excellent at explaining tricky material.

Overall, while the lecture style might not be everyone’s favorite, the class structure and Dr. Parichy’s support make this course a rewarding experience if you put in the effort.

Dr. Parichy is very friendly and it is clear that he cares a lot about what he teaches. While there was an optional textbook, I don’t know of anybody who used it, and all of the test material drawn from lectures.

Our grade was entirely made up of four midterms and one cumulative final (the lowest being dropped). The tests (as of fall 2024) were online open note/book, but had 40 questions in 50 minutes, which made them a bit challenging.

From what I hear I think this Genetics class is much more of a challenge than spring genetics. After Intro Bio, this was a big step up both in terms of complexity and sheer amount of material. That being said, I thought Dr. Parichy made the material interesting, and if you are interested in Genetics I would highly recommend taking the class with him. If not, just take it in the spring.

This course is pretty killer on you. Parichy changed up the exams this semester from the open note online exams to the closed note paper scantrons, so prepare for that increased difficulty in exams. He doesn't give any opportunities for extra credit to boost our grade, so it's only the exams (4 midterms and a final) plus 4 homework assignments and he doesn't drop any exam grades anymore. That means if you do bad on even one exam, you're pretty much screwed.

I'd recommend looking at the practice homework questions he posts, as they do pop up on the midterm exams. Also look at his slides, as they have key information that and you can't afford to forget even one detail on those, as his questions are super detailed on that specific information and help add to how hard his course is.

I didn't do awful, but getting in the A-range for this class is super difficult.

Only take this if you need to fill your major requirements. Otherwise, avoid it.

#tCFF23