Fall 2026

Prokaryotic Molecular Biology

Covers the molecular basis of bacterial physiology and genetics, focusing on mechanisms like transcription, translation, and gene regulation.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 Briana Burton3.6/5

Summary

1 / 6

Historical reviews of Katrina Forest: Exams are open book but very hard, forcing students to understand material inside out and problem-solve on the fly.

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

(BIOCHEM 501 or 507) and (MICROBIO 470,GENETICS 466 or 468) or graduate/professional standing

BIOCHEM/GENETICS/MICROBIO 612 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Fall 2026
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.50/5 from 6 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.49 GPA, 57.9% A/AB (n=57 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.68 GPA, 87.8% A/AB (n=49 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.38 GPA, 64.8% A/AB (n=54 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Historical reviews for Katrina Forest describe her as passionate, though her open-book exams are difficult and require deep problem-solving skills. Students warn that the course can be overwhelming without a strong background in prokaryotic systems.

BRIANA BURTON is recorded teaching in Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

KATRINA FOREST is recorded teaching in Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Fall 2026

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction8 / 800
LEC 001Classroom Instruction7 / 800
LEC 001Classroom Instruction7 / 800

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Historical reviews describe Dr. Forest's course as good but demanding, requiring strong problem-solving skills and a solid background in prokaryotic systems to avoid feeling overwhelmed by difficult open-book exams.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.49 GPA, 57.9% A/AB (n=57 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.68 GPA, 87.8% A/AB (n=49 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.38 GPA, 64.8% A/AB (n=54 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Historical reviews of Katrina Forest: Exams are open book but very hard, forcing students to understand material inside out and problem-solve on the fly.

Historical reviews of Katrina Forest: The class is considered good, but students without a great background in prokaryotic systems may find the content overwhelming.

Topics

  • Nucleic acid-protein interactions
  • Transcription, translation, replication, and recombination
  • Regulation of gene expression

Skills

  • Understanding molecular mechanisms of bacterial physiology
  • Analyzing nucleic acid-protein interactions and gene expression regulation

Grades

Historical instructor

Fall 2026 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.13 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Fall 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Fall 2025 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1320 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
BIOCHEM/GENETICS/MICROBIO 612 · Fall 2026

Prokaryotic Molecular Biology

Recorded 2026-09-07
BIOCHEM/GENETICS/MICROBIO 612 · Fall 2026

Prokaryotic Molecular Biology

Recorded 2026-09-07
BIOCHEM/GENETICS/MICROBIO 612 · Fall 2026

Prokaryotic Molecular Biology

Recorded 2026-09-07
Raw records 
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    "source_subject_id": "192",
    "title": "Prokaryotic Molecular Biology",
    "credits_min": 3,
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    "source_subject_id": "200",
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    "credits_min": 3,
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  {
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
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Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-09-07

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "311767abdf6c12f9178dad31ecc3fd5f5b67e5135456f7cf45dfba2316b25ad1",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}