Fall 2026

Principles of Physiology

Principles of Physiology explores plant and animal physiology, environmental interactions, and regulatory systems.

offering recorded3 credits

Summary

1 / 7

Historical reviews of Paul Bethke: Grading is primarily based on participation, with in-class activity questions sometimes described as confusing.

Grade history

average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

BIOCORE 383

“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
/5Adjusted rating
/5RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 1.00/5 from 1 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 2024: 3.70 GPA, 80.3% A/AB (n=76 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.82 GPA, 87.2% A/AB (n=78 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2024: 3.70 GPA, 80.3% A/AB (n=76 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.82 GPA, 87.2% A/AB (n=78 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.51 GPA, 58.2% A/AB (n=91 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.70 GPA, 80.3% A/AB (n=76 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.82 GPA, 87.2% A/AB (n=78 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Paul Bethke's teaching style receives mixed historical reviews. One reviewer found his lectures disorganized and confusing, while another praised his clarity and passion for plants, noting that participation-based grading mitigated minor confusion in activities.

ANNA KOWALKOWSKI is recorded teaching in Fall 2024, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

ELAINE ALARID is recorded teaching in Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

JEFFREY ENDELMAN is recorded teaching in Fall 2024, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

PAUL BETHKE is recorded teaching in Fall 2014, Fall 2015. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

ROBERT KOTLOSKI is recorded teaching in Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Fall 2025. 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 Instruction52 / 560
DIS 403Classroom Instruction13 / 150
DIS 404Classroom Instruction11 / 160
DIS 401Classroom Instruction14 / 150
DIS 402Classroom Instruction14 / 150

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

Meeting source records

Student experience

the class

Historical reviews of Elaine Alarid: Elaine Alarid is highly regarded for her knowledge and engaging lectures, though some students desire more substantive course materials.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.51 GPA, 58.2% A/AB (n=91 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.70 GPA, 80.3% A/AB (n=76 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.82 GPA, 87.2% A/AB (n=78 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Historical reviews of Paul Bethke: Grading is primarily based on participation, with in-class activity questions sometimes described as confusing.

Historical reviews of Paul Bethke: Paul Bethke's lectures are criticized as disorganized and unclear, with students reporting feelings of shame when answering questions.

Topics

  • Organismal physiology and environmental interaction
  • Neural, endocrine, and hormonal regulation
  • Cell and organ communication

Skills

  • Analyze organismal survival strategies and environmental interactions.
  • Examine regulatory systems for cellular and organ communication.

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 · 0.23 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.

Selected offering source records
BIOCORE 485 · Fall 2026

Principles of Physiology

Recorded 2026-09-07
Raw records
[
  {
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:206:001919",
    "course_id": "BIOCORE 485",
    "course_uid": "course_e34906f35ad367a50665e0b3",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "001919",
    "source_subject_id": "206",
    "title": "Principles of Physiology",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Model & dataset provenance
{
  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "8a8c0d6790dc1443e32f9aecc3dba1c7531c5ec741057d0ae88c82fed99f50d2",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}