Professor profile for Donald Levin
Student reviews of Donald Levin
Review from a student who took 213
At first I didnt like this professor (he reminds me of an old man who doesnt like kids walking on his lawn or something), but later I started liking him because he is just so straightforward, and a good lecturer. He uses alot of graphs and pictures in lectures (ATTEND LECTURES) which he uses in multiple situations to make a point about the same idea. I think the topics are easier to understand this way. DONT BE LATE TO HIS CLASS. Especially not at the beginning and walk in front of him to sit down. He'll tell you how rude that is. The reindeer question was unfair, but alot of people make As in this class if they study what they have in their notes.
At first I didnt like this professor (he reminds me of an old man who doesnt like kids walking on his lawn or something), but later I started liking him because he is just so straightforward, and a good lecturer. He uses alot of graphs and pictures in lectures (ATTEND LECTURES) which he uses in multiple situations to make a point about the same idea. I think the topics are easier to understand this way. DONT BE LATE TO HIS CLASS. Especially not at the beginning and walk in front of him to sit down. He'll tell you how rude that is. The reindeer question was unfair, but alot of people make As in this class if they study what they have in their notes.
Review from a student who took BIO 213
I liked this class, I think, because I really liked the topic of evolution and ecology. BIO 213 is kind of the odds and ends of the other three biologies; the stuff that didn't fit into other broad topics. So expect pretty random subject matter with little pattern. Levin's lectures were fairly easy to grasp in my view, but YOU MUST ATTEND the classes if you want to do well (or get notes if you miss from someone). I didn't need to use any books for his class, which I personally like. So what is left? The lectures, the crux of the entire course. What do you do? At the beginning of every class he will summarize and talk a little about the last class or two topics to jostle your brain into remembering them. These can be the most important minutes if you missed a class. Then he will start, don't worry too much about the crazy figures and drawings on the slides, he focuses on the big picture. Levin will make a statement and then show it repeatedly in different situations. I liked the examples he picked, and when he got to population equations, he talked about humans and not random animals (which other professors did I hear). The tests are one part short answer or problems and then about 25 multiple choice. If you learn your equations and definitions, you should be okay. This leads me to my only real gripe, which is that sometimes he puts on the multiple choice a really specific question out of nowhere, when he has been all about general ideas and not specific species that were in the example. I think the most egregious one was when there was a problem about how a reindeer moved to a new Aleutian island and began to eat a food source, grew rapidly, ran out of food and died off. The question was, "true or false the reindeer ate all the fungus on the island rapdily growing, and then dying off." The answer was FALSE because the reindeer ate lichen and not fungus. That was just too specific for such a general class and concept. This made people pretty upset. I think twice, questions were struck down because the TA and the professor disagreed or picked different answers. I got low As and high Bs on the tests and managed an A in the class. The final was very long and difficult, but I pulled off an A. The final sucked because it was like 100 questions, and many of them were not covered which scared me until he announced that they weren't suppose to be on there (which ones were to be skipped was not said) so I just did as best I could.
I liked this class, I think, because I really liked the topic of evolution and ecology. BIO 213 is kind of the odds and ends of the other three biologies; the stuff that didn't fit into other broad topics. So expect pretty random subject matter with little pattern. Levin's lectures were fairly easy to grasp in my view, but YOU MUST ATTEND the classes if you want to do well (or get notes if you miss from someone). I didn't need to use any books for his class, which I personally like. So what is left? The lectures, the crux of the entire course. What do you do? At the beginning of every class he will summarize and talk a little about the last class or two topics to jostle your brain into remembering them. These can be the most important minutes if you missed a class. Then he will start, don't worry too much about the crazy figures and drawings on the slides, he focuses on the big picture. Levin will make a statement and then show it repeatedly in different situations. I liked the examples he picked, and when he got to population equations, he talked about humans and not random animals (which other professors did I hear). The tests are one part short answer or problems and then about 25 multiple choice. If you learn your equations and definitions, you should be okay. This leads me to my only real gripe, which is that sometimes he puts on the multiple choice a really specific question out of nowhere, when he has been all about general ideas and not specific species that were in the example. I think the most egregious one was when there was a problem about how a reindeer moved to a new Aleutian island and began to eat a food source, grew rapidly, ran out of food and died off. The question was, "true or false the reindeer ate all the fungus on the island rapdily growing, and then dying off." The answer was FALSE because the reindeer ate lichen and not fungus. That was just too specific for such a general class and concept. This made people pretty upset. I think twice, questions were struck down because the TA and the professor disagreed or picked different answers. I got low As and high Bs on the tests and managed an A in the class. The final was very long and difficult, but I pulled off an A. The final sucked because it was like 100 questions, and many of them were not covered which scared me until he announced that they weren't suppose to be on there (which ones were to be skipped was not said) so I just did as best I could.
Review from a student who took BIO 213
dont take him. no need to say more.
dont take him. no need to say more.
Review from a student who took BIO 213
Worse professor I've ever had at UT to date, this far. His questions on the exam are really, really specific in that if you don't get what he says word for word, you'll get it taken off. Oftentimes, I'd miss one word and get the whole damn thing off. I think it was because the TA tended to define things slightly different then he did and ultimately, what he said goes. The TA sucked for this class. His lectures are even worse in that he doesn't lecture off of a book. He lectures off of these stupid graphs of his and then supplements by his incoherent strains of thought. In lecture, he then tells you about a situation but then...it could be something else that came out of his mouth. A question asked, the birth rate in Mexico City is high but the growth rate of the country was low and to explain this. I said that it was because people are immigrating out of Mexico, people just are waiting to have kids, etc. What he WANTED was that people from rural suburbs are moving into Mexico city. When I confronted him with this, his only explanation was...well, what you said IS possible but highly unlikely. We live in Texas, c'mon now, we see Mexican immigrants everywhere. Zero credit for the question. The entire class, as I remember it, was completely random. It's the leftover of everything else lumped into one class taught by man who loves the sound of his own voice. 213 apparently was supposed to be an interesting class but in my opinion, Levin just made it the eyesore on my transcript. The man blows. Avoid this class like plague.
Worse professor I've ever had at UT to date, this far. His questions on the exam are really, really specific in that if you don't get what he says word for word, you'll get it taken off. Oftentimes, I'd miss one word and get the whole damn thing off. I think it was because the TA tended to define things slightly different then he did and ultimately, what he said goes. The TA sucked for this class. His lectures are even worse in that he doesn't lecture off of a book. He lectures off of these stupid graphs of his and then supplements by his incoherent strains of thought. In lecture, he then tells you about a situation but then...it could be something else that came out of his mouth. A question asked, the birth rate in Mexico City is high but the growth rate of the country was low and to explain this. I said that it was because people are immigrating out of Mexico, people just are waiting to have kids, etc. What he WANTED was that people from rural suburbs are moving into Mexico city. When I confronted him with this, his only explanation was...well, what you said IS possible but highly unlikely. We live in Texas, c'mon now, we see Mexican immigrants everywhere. Zero credit for the question. The entire class, as I remember it, was completely random. It's the leftover of everything else lumped into one class taught by man who loves the sound of his own voice. 213 apparently was supposed to be an interesting class but in my opinion, Levin just made it the eyesore on my transcript. The man blows. Avoid this class like plague.
Review from a student who took Bio213
This guy is terrible; don't take him. There's no textbook reading for class, just by his lecture the exam's based upon. The problem is that he talks a lot of gibberish, and he puts on the exam some questions that he never talked about and a lot of stuff he only mentioned once in class. TA sucks too. At the end this guy talks about a fairy tale, which I couldn't stand. He shows no interest for his students; he doesn't give his office hours and email address. This class is full of shit. Don't take him.
This guy is terrible; don't take him. There's no textbook reading for class, just by his lecture the exam's based upon. The problem is that he talks a lot of gibberish, and he puts on the exam some questions that he never talked about and a lot of stuff he only mentioned once in class. TA sucks too. At the end this guy talks about a fairy tale, which I couldn't stand. He shows no interest for his students; he doesn't give his office hours and email address. This class is full of shit. Don't take him.
Review from a student who took Bio 213
Some people might like his style, but I didn't. He doesn't follow any textbooks and his lectures are pretty boring. He likes to focus on numbers and dates which is great if you good at memorizing but not for people like me that are better at getting the concepts. His exams are multi-choice, and some of them are really tricky. Some questions are very very detailed and its not easy to get all of them correct. If you want a easy "B" this class is ok, but due to the way he grades and the weight of each question an "A" requires alot of memorization and a little bit of luck.
Some people might like his style, but I didn't. He doesn't follow any textbooks and his lectures are pretty boring. He likes to focus on numbers and dates which is great if you good at memorizing but not for people like me that are better at getting the concepts. His exams are multi-choice, and some of them are really tricky. Some questions are very very detailed and its not easy to get all of them correct. If you want a easy "B" this class is ok, but due to the way he grades and the weight of each question an "A" requires alot of memorization and a little bit of luck.
Review from a student who took BIO 213
This guy does not care about the students. He said it himself that he doesn't care if the whole class passes or fails. The tests are worded terribly and there's very unfair grading. Easy lectures to understand. Little homework. In my opinion, everyone in my class should have gotten A's judging by the lectures. BEWARE!!!
This guy does not care about the students. He said it himself that he doesn't care if the whole class passes or fails. The tests are worded terribly and there's very unfair grading. Easy lectures to understand. Little homework. In my opinion, everyone in my class should have gotten A's judging by the lectures. BEWARE!!!
Review from a student who took bio311d
DO NOT TAKE HIM. Tests extremely tricky, class averages for tests always low 70s. Terrible personality, lectures seem straightforward but then when you get to test nothing is relevant. Makes you remember definitions word for word or he counts them wrong. Avoid taking him at all costs. Very Unfair class.
DO NOT TAKE HIM. Tests extremely tricky, class averages for tests always low 70s. Terrible personality, lectures seem straightforward but then when you get to test nothing is relevant. Makes you remember definitions word for word or he counts them wrong. Avoid taking him at all costs. Very Unfair class.