ZOO * 2090 – Vertebrate Structure and Function F (2-3) [0.50]

This course is ALL content. When it say comparative histology, it really means just that. It's focused on going through the evolutionary tree of mostly extinct organisms. Heavy emphasis on fish. We had to know characteristics of each, and be able to compare and contrast them, which is difficult enough. I got out of the labs early almost every time. They weren't that difficult, but the lab final was a huge stress. Laberge is a very nice person, but just reads form the lecture slides. He did have good, comprehensive notes for the most part, but this course was pretty much self-taught, with hours spent on writing notes. To do well in this course you need to have great self-discipline to make your own notes, and pretty much teach the course to yourself. You literally have to know every thing. Every. Thing. Ps. don't buy the textbook. Seriously spend the $300 on something that will actually benefit your life.

This class is definitely NOT what I expected. I was assuming along with structure and function we would learn some of the smaller families in the vertebrate tree (since it is one of the first zoo courses you can take), this doesn't happen whatsoever. All lectures up until the midterm deal with fish, and mainly extinct ones at that, then the course does a weird skip from fish evolution to internal body systems of all vertebrates, with no real explaination in between. The lecture style is also very tedious, he reads of his slides for the most part, but doesn't post them until the end of the week, making any note taking a huge hassel. He is also monotone (as said before...its still true) As someone who was originally interested in taking this class it was extremely disappointing, I'd recommend ZOO*2700 over this, you learn way more practical field knowledge and Fudge is an awesome prof.

Interesting class, definitely not what I was expecting when I enrolled in it though. Labs weren't bad. Not difficult and not too time consuming. Dr. Laberge is a really intelligent and helpful person even if his lecture style isn't the most exciting.

I thought this class would be super interesting, but it ended up being mostly on prehistoric fish (yawn). LaBerge reads his notes right off the slide in a very quiet monotonous voice, which makes it difficult to pay attention. Even labs weren't nearly as exciting as I thought they would be. However, Leslie is great! Don't bother buying the textbook, everything is right off of the lecture slides.

Prof MacDonald was a joke!! Study Leslie's lab manual for midterm and final and you'll be fine for the exams. Lots of marine/rodents in lab, and not a lot of variety. Midterm doesn't change much year to year

Dr. Bernier teaches comparative animal physiology (Zoo*3200), which this person's description of the course accurately describes. It should just not be under the zoo*2090 heading.

Dr. Bernier teaches comparative animal physiology (Zoo*3200), which this person's description of the course accurately describes. It should just not be under the zoo*2090 heading.

If prof McDonald is still teaching this class... then god save your soul. I managed to get an A, but it was all self-taught. The prof is useless.

Dr. Bernier has been teaching this course for at least 10 years. In fall 2010 he decided to challenge his students for a change (as it used to be a bird course). The class average on the midterm was less than 50. The lab class average was about a 70. The final was just as hard as the midterm.

If McDonald is your professor, then be prepared. I did not like his teaching method, it was all over the place. Sometimes I was not sure if I knew what he was doing. If Leslie still instructs the labs, you will enjoy it, she is great. I finished with a mid 70 through intense studying. Although it is Vertebrate Structure and Function, I feel like we concentrated more on fish compared to everything else.