Spring 2027

Biology of Microorganisms Laboratory

Laboratory course introducing modern techniques for studying microorganism distribution and properties, including microscopy, media prep, and isolation.

offering recorded2 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Betty Slinger3.7/5Jonathan Cabezas Olcoz

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Betty Slinger

Exams were hard and required extensive knowledge of the material, with grading criteria sometimes unclear and points deducted for items not in the rubric.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Demonstrate proficiency in microscopy, media preparation, aseptic technique, and microbiological measurements.

  • Identify representative groups of microorganisms. Those that are important in: antibiotic production, sewage treatment, disease, food manufacturing, and the local environment.

  • Characterize microbial isolates from nature and describe their taxonomy.

  • Create detailed lab notes that describe accurately the experiments performed.

  • Develop hypotheses, design experiments, perform experiments, collect data, analyse data critically, report data to others clearly and accurately, and communicate about scientific topics in a precise manner.

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

MICROBIO 303 or concurrent enrollment

MICROBIO 304 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
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.00/5 from 2 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.

For this course: 3.0/5 raw quality · 5.0/5 difficulty · 1 reviews

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

Past student reviews · Betty Slinger

Betty Slinger is an approachable professor whose grading criteria were not always clear, with points sometimes deducted for reasons not directly in the rubric. Exams were hard and required extensive knowledge of the material, while labs were often interesting but students fought for a good grade.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.05 GPA, 33.8% A/AB (n=130 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.26 GPA, 48.7% A/AB (n=156 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.15 GPA, 38.8% A/AB (n=134 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Past student reviews · Melissa Christopherson

A past student described Melissa Christopherson as the best professor they had, noting she was always available to help with any requests. This feedback highlighted strong instructor support during her previous tenure.

BETTY SLINGER is recorded teaching in Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MELISSA CHRISTOPHERSON is recorded teaching in Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2024. 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
LAB 001Classroom Instruction0 / 360
LAB 002Classroom Instruction0 / 360
LAB 003Classroom Instruction0 / 360
LAB 004Classroom Instruction0 / 360

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 · Betty Slinger

Students described Dr. Slinger as approachable and ambitious, though they noted her standards were strict and sometimes confusing.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.05 GPA, 33.8% A/AB (n=130 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.26 GPA, 48.7% A/AB (n=156 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.15 GPA, 38.8% A/AB (n=134 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Betty Slinger

Exams were hard and required extensive knowledge of the material, with grading criteria sometimes unclear and points deducted for items not in the rubric.

Past student reviews · Betty Slinger

Labs were often interesting and enjoyable, but students reported fighting for a good grade due to strict standards.

Topics

  • Modern laboratory techniques for microorganisms
  • Representative microbial groups in industry, health, and environment
  • Microbial isolate characterization and taxonomy

Skills

  • Microscopy, media preparation, aseptic technique, and microbiological measurements
  • Characterizing microbial isolates and describing their taxonomy
  • Hypothesis development, experimental design, data analysis, and scientific communication

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.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.11 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
MICROBIO 304 · Spring 2027

Biology of Microorganisms Laboratory

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": "1274:192:001601",
    "course_id": "MICROBIO 304",
    "course_uid": "course_799b6ea6c2cf692a040668e2",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "001601",
    "source_subject_id": "192",
    "title": "Biology of Microorganisms Laboratory",
    "credits_min": 2,
    "credits_max": 2,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring, Summer"
  }
]
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": "a2277430a7d96151d79265f19d973b479e97c4f622b6e8a52af53df90de4b7a6",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}