If you are going to take this course, I recommend it be with this professor for the most part. I think it is nice to have the same professor the entire semester since you get used to their testing style. This class was mainly online with 4 midterm exams and a cumulative final. I think what bothered me most about this course was his inflexibility and lack of transparency with grades nearing the end of the semester. More specifically, in the beginning with midterm 1 and 2, he allowed for regrades and released specific statistics regarding questions on the exam. Towards the end of the semester, he stopped doing that and thus you would not be able to get a question back if you interpreted it differently. I liked his lecturing style and the exams were not terrible overall. We had one midterm and I do not know anyone who did well, but he did not do anything regarding this. Don't get me wrong though, he is a great lecturer and is practically a genius. You can tell he genuinely cares about you and making sure you are learning and he is extremely passionate about what he teaches.

Overall the best part of the semester was Professor Parichy. He is 100% the most understanding and considerate professor I have had at UVA. Your final grade is based on 4 midterms and a final, each worth 20% of your grade. Although this makes it difficult to achieve an A, it is possible. If you attend lectures and rewatch the lectures before each midterm then you should do fine. You have to take notes on everything he says though or you will miss all the information that is necessary for the exams. The exams are open notes which is very helpful since the content is so detailed and specific, but again if you do not take thorough notes during his lecture then you will not be prepared for the exams. Some questions are more difficult than others, but some are fairly straightforward. In the end, Dave will help you out. Whether it is giving back points for bad questions, or bumping you to the next letter grade at the end of the semester if you are on the edge. He really cares about his students and their mental well-being, so don't be scared to reach out to him! It won't be an easy class, but if you put in the time and effort than it shouldn't be your hardest upper level biology class.

Dave is the man. He is very fair with his exams and most test questions are directly related to the "study questions" for each lecture. He was very approachable and responded to emails and concerns pretty quickly. I personally don't love genetics but I believe he made the learning experience pretty easy and painless. Grades just made up of exams, but he removes unfair questions so if you study it is pretty easy to get a B in this class.

Dave is very clear cut and is very effective in teaching genetics. This semester, I believe we were lucky to not have to switch to another professor halfway through. Dave's exams were difficult but fair if you studied hard and understood the material. There were some questions on each exam that the class overall did not get correct but Dave was super flexible in giving points back alongside being aware of his own mistakes. He also allowed us to submit regrades for questions if there was ambiguity given the nature of multiple choice exams. Overall, super reasonable guy and has a good sense of humor in my opinion. Would recommend Dave if you plan on taking the class!

This was the most reasonable biology class I've taken at UVA. The assessments were fair, quickly graded, and I can confidently say I learned material. Dave really wants to help his students and understands he makes mistakes (he would let us dispute exam questions and remove unreasonable ones.) After each class (which you could participate asynchronously to my delight) he published extremely helpful study questions. I used the compiled questions as a study guide and this allowed me to do well on exams. While the grade is composed of just exams, there's quite a few of them so they aren't weighted as heavily.

I was really worried about taking this class and am so glad I took it with Dave. He's funny, able to explain difficult concepts clearly, and definitely cares about his students.

Note: the textbook is optional and I didn't feel like it was necessary (unless you prefer to learn via reading)

Professor Parichy is such an awesome instructor. He has a lot of knowledge and he is very effective in teaching genetics. I personally went to his office hour a lot and he really wants to help students. Exams are difficult but manageable if you do transcripts like any other biology class. I definitely missed him for the second half of the semester which was taught by Professor Galloway. #tCF2020

The professor for this course switches halfway through the semester. Because I took this course virtually during COVID, exams were open note but definitely not easy. Parichy's lectures were prerecorded and often went over time, but he was as concise as possible and generally his lectures were solidly related to the exam content. For his half of the course, don't bother with the textbook unless you are confused about a topic he mentions in lecture -- but even then, going to office hours is a better bet.

I took this class with Parichy and Galloway with 4 equally weighted exams. Both of these professors have completely different exam writing styles, so prepared to be disoriented. Parichy's exams are straightforward and direct to the point -- it's clear that he isn't trying to trick you at all. Exam averages are pretty high (85ish). Didn't need the textbook. Do the study questions and the section is borderline easy. The transition is something else though, so I recommend getting a free copy of the textbook for the latter half with Galloway. #tCF2020

This class was half taught by Parichy & half Galloway. Parichy was great; even though all his lectures were pre-recorded and I couldn't attend office hours, his slides are very complete and you will always know what you need to know for exams. His exams were very straightforward and not difficult if you studied. Galloway is a completely different story. Her lectures were a lot harder to understand, and sometimes she will stop and say "I didn't explain that very well". I agree with other reviewers that her exams were cryptic; I studied far more for Galloway's first exam and did 20 pts worse than my highest score on Parichy's. I really wish the bio department would choose one professor for this course because it is super disorienting to have to change your study methods halfway through the semester.

Great professors. don't buy the textbook.