Plan ahead for courses where students have earned lower grades.
Lowest historical GPA first. At least 100 letter grades over the five years through the selected term. Grades reflect past outcomes, not workload or a guaranteed result.
15 courses
Ranked courses have at least 100 recorded letter grades.
General Botany introduces plant biology principles, focusing on evolutionary sequences and structure-function relationships from molecules to communities, with lectures, labs, and discussions.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Linda Graham
Weekly quizzes included specific details only covered in lecture, making attendance necessary despite the textbook-based teaching style.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026Introductory Biology covers cell structure, cellular metabolism, information flow, genetics, and selected topics in Animal Physiology.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Simon Gilroy
The course was moderately difficult and memorization-heavy on exams, which some students found tricky. Labs required outside class hours, but TAs were helpful in guiding students through completing lab reports.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026General Ecology covers the ecology of organisms, populations, communities, ecosystems, landscapes, and the biosphere, focusing on interactions with the physical environment.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Thomas Givnish
Exams were heavily based on memorizing old research papers from the readings rather than lecture material.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026Biology of the Fungi covers growth, development, variability, and dispersal of saprophytic, parasitic, and symbiotic fungi, considering their ecological and economic significance.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2023–Spring 2026Examines the structure and function of microbial communities living inside and on plants, animals, and humans, focusing on their relationship to nutrition, health, and disease.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Jean-Michel Ane
Exams were challenging due to numerous multiple-answer questions, while the research project was described as easy, with most students receiving full points.
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2023–Spring 2026Introductory ecology covering organism-environment relationships, population dynamics, community organization, human-environment interactions, and action programs.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Tony Ives
Anthony Ives used quizzes worth 20 points each, with a 60-point final. A student warned that even a couple of wrong answers lowered scores, but extra credit could raise a grade.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026Evolutionary biology course emphasizing how modern scientists study evolution, covering microevolution, macroevolution, systematics, quantitative genetics, and phylogenetic analyses.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · John Hawks
Assessment consisted of ten-point weekly quizzes based on lectures and readings, which one student found manageable enough to earn an A without reading the book.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026Introductory Biology covers plant physiology, the five major kingdoms, speciation, evolutionary theory, and ecology across biological scales.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Kate McCulloh
The course demanded plenty of memorization for the botany portion, while lectures were noted to be dense in content.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026Survey of Botany explores the roles of plants and microbes in global ecology and their historical and current uses by humans, including biotechnology applications.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Linda Graham
Reviewers reported more than 50 pages of reading per week and weekly quizzes that drew from specific textbook sections.
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2023–Spring 2026A taxonomic survey of Wisconsin's vascular plants with emphasis on in-forest identification, local flora features, and field documentation.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2023–Spring 2026This course explores the interaction between society and plant-associated microbes, covering the Irish potato famine, pesticides in agriculture, crop disease economics, and genetically engineered organisms.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Caitilyn Allen
Under Professor Allen, labs were easy but reports took time. There were very few readings or work outside of the lab, which comprised about 33% of the final grade.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026In-depth study of plant growth, development, respiration, photosynthesis, mineral nutrition, and water relations using experimental approaches.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2023–Spring 2026Ethnobotany course exploring interactions between human cultures and plants, covering topics like traditional resource management, crop domestication, archaeobotany, indigenous knowledge, and phytochemistry.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Eve Emshwiller
The course was rated as extremely difficult, with students reporting that grading was opaque and weekly assignment feedback was never released, leaving them unaware of errors.
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2023–Spring 2026Special Topics course focusing on specific subjects or groups of organisms of plants, algae, or fungi.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Anne Pringle
One student rated the course difficulty as 3 out of 5, though no specific details about workload or assessments were provided in the feedback.
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2023–Spring 2026Limnology and Marine Science Seminar covers sections in various fields of zoological research.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026