Current instructor

Lauren Riters

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

Raw average: 4.15/5 from 52 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.

What students say

Original student reviews · all captured dates

ZOO101 · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 4/5
Professor Riters was the best of the three lecturers. She is very passionate about the material and covers all the necessary exam information. Attend every single lecture, as her test is the hardest one out of the four. Attend her office hours and the learning center to do well in this course.
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BIO101 · course not matched
Quality 3/5Difficulty 3/5
Dr. Riters was the second Bio 101 prof. She went through slides way too fast and all her lectures were disconnected from each other. It was like reading a textbook but in lecture form. It was very hard to take notes while following along because of the amount of text on the slides. She had the hardest of the exams so study hard for that one
Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 3/5Difficulty 5/5
Second of the three professors that teach Bio 101. Lectures were very informative and she has accessible office hours. Test questions were very hard, worst of the four exams during the semester. Study a LOT for her exam (Learning Center, textbook problems).
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BIO101 · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 3/5
Cared a lot about continuity between her organization of class and Prof Thoma. She even reopened a lecture quiz after recieving feedback that it was confusing. She is clearly passionate about what she teaches, but this would also lead to confusing tangents in class. Although I wish Thoma taught all semester, I did not mind having her.
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BIO101 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
Straight forward exams, posts full slides, passionate about her topic
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BIO101 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Such a sweet woman. You can tell she cared about us and wanted us to do well. She related her topics to modern-day things and kept the class engaged. Told you exactly what you needed to know, and didn't throw any surprises on the exam. My favorite of the Bio101 lecturers!
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Lauren Riters

ANIMAL BIOLOGY covers general biological principles including evolution, ecology, genetics, and human physiology.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Lauren Riters is approachable with accessible office hours, though her slide-based lectures can be hard to follow. Reviewers disagree on exam difficulty; one found tests hardest ever, while another noted they were not harder but confusing. A recent review confirms her exams are very hard, requiring significant study.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

PSYCH 699 is a directed study course involving independent mentored study with a faculty member.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

ZOOLOGY 199 is a directed study course where students conduct independent research and develop hypotheses under faculty mentorship.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2022 · limited sample

ZOOLOGY 299 is a directed study course where students conduct independent research and develop hypotheses under faculty mentorship.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026 · limited sample

ZOOLOGY 682 is a mentored individual research and study course for students completing a thesis in an Honors program.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2022 · limited sample

ZOOLOGY 691 is a mentored individual research and study course for students completing a senior thesis.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

No recorded grade history

ZOOLOGY 692 is a mentored individual research and study course for students completing a senior thesis.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2022 · limited sample

ZOOLOGY 699 offers selected research projects for junior and senior students.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2009: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=9 letter grades); Fall 2009: 3.83 GPA, 83.3% A/AB (n=6 letter grades); Spring 2022: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=2 letter grades).

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

ZOOLOGY 962 is a graduate seminar covering various fields of zoological research.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2015: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=9 letter grades); Fall 2016: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=7 letter grades); Spring 2022: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=4 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2022 · limited sample

ZOOLOGY 990 is a graduate research course where students conduct advanced biological research under faculty mentorship to fulfill program requirements.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

No recorded grade history

Recorded teaching history

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Fall 2026BIOLOGY/ZOOLOGY 101Animal Biology
Fall 2026PSYCH 699Directed Study
Fall 2026ZOOLOGY 199Directed Study
Fall 2026ZOOLOGY 299Directed Studies in Zoology
Fall 2026ZOOLOGY 681Senior Honors Thesis
Fall 2026ZOOLOGY 682Senior Honors Thesis
Fall 2026ZOOLOGY 691Senior Thesis
Fall 2026ZOOLOGY 692Senior Thesis
Fall 2026ZOOLOGY 699Directed Studies in Zoology
Fall 2026ZOOLOGY 962Seminar-ethology
Fall 2026ZOOLOGY 990Research

Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.

Instructor identity & provenance
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