Spring 2027

General Genetics 2

General Genetics 2 covers genetic analysis, population genetics, evolution, and quantitative genetics, including mutant screens, Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, and complex trait inheritance.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Nathaniel SharpPatrick Masson

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · William Engels

Exams were challenging for students who struggled with math, requiring independent mastery of derived equations.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Describe the molecular mechanisms that contribute to expression regulation in bacteria and eukaryotes.

  • Apply the tools of forward genetics, reverse genetics and mosaic analysis to investigate the regulatory networks that control growth, development and responses to the environment.

  • Explain the genetic and molecular basis of immunity.

  • Discuss the molecular mechanisms that contribute to somatic mutations and the progression to cancer.

  • Calculate genetic parameters in populations using the tools of population genetics.

  • Analyze the inheritance of complex traits using quantitative genetic analyses.

  • Apply the methods of evolutionary genetics to predict how genes and genomes evolve in the long-term.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

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

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

GENETICS 467

GENETICS 468 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

Spring 2027

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.72 GPA, 85.3% A/AB (n=102 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.78 GPA, 91.6% A/AB (n=83 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.85 GPA, 91.8% A/AB (n=97 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.72 GPA, 85.3% A/AB (n=102 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.78 GPA, 91.6% A/AB (n=83 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.85 GPA, 91.8% A/AB (n=97 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

NATHANIEL SHARP is recorded teaching in Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

PATRICK MASSON is recorded teaching in Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

WILLIAM ROBERT ENGELS is recorded teaching in Spring 2017, Spring 2018. 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

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 1300

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

Past student reviews · William Engels

Students noted that the course relied heavily on self-study, as lectures derived equations without providing comprehensive instruction.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.72 GPA, 85.3% A/AB (n=102 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.78 GPA, 91.6% A/AB (n=83 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.85 GPA, 91.8% A/AB (n=97 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · William Engels

Exams were challenging for students who struggled with math, requiring independent mastery of derived equations.

Past student reviews · William Engels

One student found the teaching style frustrating, stating that the professor did not actually teach the material.

Topics

  • Genetic analysis, population genetics, evolution, and quantitative genetics.
  • Mutant screens, pathway analysis, mosaic analysis, reverse genetics, and genomics.
  • Hardy-Weinberg linkage equilibrium, inbreeding, genetic drift, natural selection, and population structure.
  • Inheritance of complex traits, domestication, and human evolution.

Skills

  • Apply forward genetics, reverse genetics, and mosaic analysis to investigate regulatory networks.
  • Calculate genetic parameters in populations using population genetics tools.
  • Analyze the inheritance of complex traits using quantitative genetic analyses.
  • Describe molecular mechanisms of expression regulation in bacteria and eukaryotes.

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · 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.

6 earlier forecasts · 0.33 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · 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

1280 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.

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Selected offering source records
GENETICS 468 · Spring 2027

General Genetics 2

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:412:024518",
    "course_id": "GENETICS 468",
    "course_uid": "course_d9899ee8a312b1978281a9b1",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "024518",
    "source_subject_id": "412",
    "title": "General Genetics 2",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Spring"
  }
]
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 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "b18de9b859e2b2a4e637d8fcb1041eb6573e63ef5e682e8ea7705f8e262254fd",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}