Professor profile for Peter English
Student reviews of Peter English
Review from a student who took BIO309D
Dr. English is HORRIBLE! AWEFUL!!! This is the lowest grade I have ever gotten at UT. His class was imposibly hard. The only redemption was that the final consisted of reworded questions from the previous three tests.Even doing very well on the final will make a barely attainable "B" average. I have never, in four years, been so frustrated and stressed for an entire semester over one class (in which I learned so little). And if you go to his office hours, he treats you like an idiot. When the class average on a test is a 60, which most were, don't expect a curve. I advise anyone to RUN from the idea of taking a class from this man!!!!
Dr. English is HORRIBLE! AWEFUL!!! This is the lowest grade I have ever gotten at UT. His class was imposibly hard. The only redemption was that the final consisted of reworded questions from the previous three tests.Even doing very well on the final will make a barely attainable "B" average. I have never, in four years, been so frustrated and stressed for an entire semester over one class (in which I learned so little). And if you go to his office hours, he treats you like an idiot. When the class average on a test is a 60, which most were, don't expect a curve. I advise anyone to RUN from the idea of taking a class from this man!!!!
Review from a student who took BIO 340L
I loved this class! Dr. English knows his birds! His tests are fair; come to lecture and read the assignments, and you should do very well. If you show him you are making an effort in his class, he will be more willing to help you out. Overall, he has an amazing personal history of birding and really enjoys it when his students can respect something he likes so much. It isn't a class to slack off in, but if you try, it should be an easy A. Plus, you will be extremely knowledgable about birds after the class, which makes walking across campus more interesting!
I loved this class! Dr. English knows his birds! His tests are fair; come to lecture and read the assignments, and you should do very well. If you show him you are making an effort in his class, he will be more willing to help you out. Overall, he has an amazing personal history of birding and really enjoys it when his students can respect something he likes so much. It isn't a class to slack off in, but if you try, it should be an easy A. Plus, you will be extremely knowledgable about birds after the class, which makes walking across campus more interesting!
Review from a student who took Bio 340L
This is the best class at UT. I learned more than I ever thought I would learn. Dr. E knows pretty much everything about birds. Definitely take this class if you have the chance.
This is the best class at UT. I learned more than I ever thought I would learn. Dr. E knows pretty much everything about birds. Definitely take this class if you have the chance.
Review from a student who took BIO 340L
Take this professor at your own risk. If you value your GPA or time, AVOID THIS COURSE. If this course allows you to graduate, seriously consider other courses with an easier and FAIR professor. Keep in mind that the three credit hours for this course is a misnomer. The time you put into this class just to keep an average grade is in reality around 7-8 credit hours. It's a shame that people only know this by either reading online reviews such as this, or being told of this when in the first week of class. Here's my tips to him for improving his lecture and warnings for you all: * Reducing initial penalty and implementing warnings before full penalty is more effective at getting students to comply and does wonders for student reviews of professors. --> The penalty for missing any lab outing is -5 from your FINAL GRADE. He CURBSTOMPS anyone who made humane errors (no warning or anything - an @$$hole). Oh and if you irritate him your chances of getting the penalty is just that much higher. * Extra credit opportunities should not be "adjusted" as it makes it unfair for the adjusted semesters relative to previous unadjusted semesters. --> Depending on the number of birds that you can find in the semester he will scale the bonus points you have to work for. In my semester, there were far more birds than the "norm" so he increased the points we earn from every 10 birds to every 15 birds! In addition, most of the extra credits he assigns is based on chance. The effort you put in may not pay off in the end. If you turn in an "unsatisfactory" bird list, you immediately get the penalty of +15 birds added to your minimum as penalty for not doing well (rubbing salts into your wounds). The TA are okay but Peter English is NOT. * Amount of work needed to repair point loss from outing penalty, especially if student is graduating, completing any courses that needs to be done, and trying to find work, makes it immensely difficult to recover from --> if for any reason you get a -5 to your FINAL GRADE, recovery is on the borderline of nihilism. * Less sarcasm --> as other comments mention, Peter English pampers his best students and humiliates all other mediocre to poor performers. Most of these well to do students have time to burn as they either don't take the full 17 credit hours per semester, take an easy major (no offense intended), or already did some birding beforehand. If you try to give an answer to his question and he doesn't like it, he will single you out and riddle you with sarcasms. In short, he is sarcastic towards the unfortunates DAILY, in both lecture, lab, and office hours. You are reading this comment because you want to know what this class is like. I'll break it down for you: * Extremely time intensive and hard work on your part to gain 3 credit hours officially * Extremely high grade penalty for MOST offenses, especially regarding accidental poor performances. * If for any reason you have time to burn and are a devout avian hugger, this course is for you! Although difficult, he gives many opportunities for extra credits, where almost all are based on chances (answer questions on the forum and he picks one random one to give points). * Bad teaching atmosphere - He talks really fast during the lecture and will plow through. More importantly, he answers your questions with a counter-question laced with sarcasm 75% of the time. Sarcasm does not do well in any shape and form. During a semester, Peter English pointed out a hawk in an afternoon lab outing in UT and a tired student answered that it's a Rock Pigeon without looking at it. For the rest of the day and through parts of the semester when Peter sees a bird he tells the student if it's a Rock Pigeon or not. In summary --> Don't take this class unless you have no other option or are very confident you can manage time, effort, and experience.
Take this professor at your own risk. If you value your GPA or time, AVOID THIS COURSE. If this course allows you to graduate, seriously consider other courses with an easier and FAIR professor. Keep in mind that the three credit hours for this course is a misnomer. The time you put into this class just to keep an average grade is in reality around 7-8 credit hours. It's a shame that people only know this by either reading online reviews such as this, or being told of this when in the first week of class. Here's my tips to him for improving his lecture and warnings for you all: * Reducing initial penalty and implementing warnings before full penalty is more effective at getting students to comply and does wonders for student reviews of professors. --> The penalty for missing any lab outing is -5 from your FINAL GRADE. He CURBSTOMPS anyone who made humane errors (no warning or anything - an @$$hole). Oh and if you irritate him your chances of getting the penalty is just that much higher. * Extra credit opportunities should not be "adjusted" as it makes it unfair for the adjusted semesters relative to previous unadjusted semesters. --> Depending on the number of birds that you can find in the semester he will scale the bonus points you have to work for. In my semester, there were far more birds than the "norm" so he increased the points we earn from every 10 birds to every 15 birds! In addition, most of the extra credits he assigns is based on chance. The effort you put in may not pay off in the end. If you turn in an "unsatisfactory" bird list, you immediately get the penalty of +15 birds added to your minimum as penalty for not doing well (rubbing salts into your wounds). The TA are okay but Peter English is NOT. * Amount of work needed to repair point loss from outing penalty, especially if student is graduating, completing any courses that needs to be done, and trying to find work, makes it immensely difficult to recover from --> if for any reason you get a -5 to your FINAL GRADE, recovery is on the borderline of nihilism. * Less sarcasm --> as other comments mention, Peter English pampers his best students and humiliates all other mediocre to poor performers. Most of these well to do students have time to burn as they either don't take the full 17 credit hours per semester, take an easy major (no offense intended), or already did some birding beforehand. If you try to give an answer to his question and he doesn't like it, he will single you out and riddle you with sarcasms. In short, he is sarcastic towards the unfortunates DAILY, in both lecture, lab, and office hours. You are reading this comment because you want to know what this class is like. I'll break it down for you: * Extremely time intensive and hard work on your part to gain 3 credit hours officially * Extremely high grade penalty for MOST offenses, especially regarding accidental poor performances. * If for any reason you have time to burn and are a devout avian hugger, this course is for you! Although difficult, he gives many opportunities for extra credits, where almost all are based on chances (answer questions on the forum and he picks one random one to give points). * Bad teaching atmosphere - He talks really fast during the lecture and will plow through. More importantly, he answers your questions with a counter-question laced with sarcasm 75% of the time. Sarcasm does not do well in any shape and form. During a semester, Peter English pointed out a hawk in an afternoon lab outing in UT and a tired student answered that it's a Rock Pigeon without looking at it. For the rest of the day and through parts of the semester when Peter sees a bird he tells the student if it's a Rock Pigeon or not. In summary --> Don't take this class unless you have no other option or are very confident you can manage time, effort, and experience.
Review from a student who took BIO 371L
I took this class despite being warned not to, which was a big mistake. If you have ever worked in a lab or taken an upper division research-based course you will be incredibly frustrated by this class. The majority of the work is busy work and the methods taught do not actually apply to real research and are often incorrect. Dr. English is unilaterally unhelpful and manages to create an incredibly unpleasant class atmosphere.
I took this class despite being warned not to, which was a big mistake. If you have ever worked in a lab or taken an upper division research-based course you will be incredibly frustrated by this class. The majority of the work is busy work and the methods taught do not actually apply to real research and are often incorrect. Dr. English is unilaterally unhelpful and manages to create an incredibly unpleasant class atmosphere.
Review from a student who took OfxuoZHWlykyi
xZiruY Very good blog post.Thanks Again. Really Cool.
xZiruY Very good blog post.Thanks Again. Really Cool.