O'Neill, Megan  

I have never used polyratings in the past and never thought it would come to this, but I have to let everyone know so they don't go through the same shit that I did. I took this over the summer with Megan and although I got an A in her class, it was nothing close to easy. Megan O'Neill has the worst attitude and honestly, shes a fucking bitch. AVOID THIS LONELY OLD BAG OF BONES AT ALL COSTS.

She is a really nice teacher, has a good attitude and always open to help you; but for me was a little bit hard to understand her explanations .

Unable to teach effectively during lecture. Constant tangents that take away from the material and take up 60% of the 1 hour class. There is always confusion between the students and the professor regarding the online homework, which are never resolved. Really disappointed in Cal Poly for allowing a professor of this quality to teach it's students.

O'neil is for sure the worst teacher I have had so far at Cal Poly. The way she presents material is extremely unclear, unhelpful, and it leads to many questions that she is unprepared to answer. She changed our syllabus the week of finals on how much certain categories are worth, which is completely unfair. I learn nothing during lecture and have to catch up on my own time, and then make time to study as well. Avoid this teacher at all costs.

Professor Oneill is very unorganized, does not understand how to use Wiley (the online textbook/quiz program she chooses to use) and does not really listen to feedback from students. She is willing to help when you go into office hours but is not super good at explaining things. What sucks is that you can tell she's super passionate about BIO and about what she is teaching but she is not able to carry it through. The only reason I passed the class was because of workshop (which I super highly recommend).

She's definitely not the best, but I know there could be a lot worse, especially for a bio class. It was confusing at times and I thought she said that the slides were basically all we needed to know, so I straight up memorized those but still only got average on exams. The online stuff really wasn't as confusing as people say. I could tell she was confused a lot about it but it wasn't difficult to figure out. Hopefully it'll be less confusing for everyone now that she's more used to it. For midterms/final, memorize the notes and thoroughly read the online book. There are a lot of little random 5 point quizzes in class so I recommend going to class even though it's super boring most of the time.

She was ill-prepared for this course. First of all, she lectured in a simplistic manner and yet made her tests too complex and almost impossible to do well on. I studied three weeks in advance for her exams, going to workshop, watching videos, and still got a C. When I went to her office hours she specifically told me that if I did not understand a question on the test, I could ask her to rephrase it. However, when I did this she said that she could not tell me because she would be giving me the answer. Also, she does not seem to know much on counterarguments regarding evolution. She flat out said science and theology do not go together and I believe that is an ignorant statement which proves to me that you are not confident enough in your defense. A student disproved her on a concept in front of the whole class and she did not own up to her mistake but rather took to the defensive side. This shows me that you do not know your subject as well as you ought to. I personally do not think she is qualified to teach Bio 111. She does not have a grasp of this subject enough to be teaching a group of 100+ students. She has unrealistic expectations and I would defer anyone who is considering taking her. I do not think she taught this on the basis of a GE, I think this class was at the level of biology majors. I have never worked so hard for a class and seen such a little result. Definitely do not think that the 20 minute quizzes each class were helpful because they took away from lecture and topics that we had to rush through that were still going to be on the exam. Her bias shows a lot when she teaches which sometimes is hard to differentiate whether or not what she is stating is based on fact or feeling. This class is not worth it! Take a different professor or something else to fulfill your B2 or B4.

What is taught in this class and what is in the textbook are two different worlds of information. What is presented in class is pretty much understandable but it is so dumbed down that when it comes time to the tests and the online textbook assignments, they are so so hard. please do not take this woman's lecture it is so bad. i'm warning you now.

Don't take O'neill unless you have to. She is super unorganized and doesn't know how to work the online programs. Most of lecture time was spent talking about stuff not related to bio so basically have to teach yourself everything. If you have to take this class TAKE THE WORKSHOP it is so helpful it's the only reason I got a B.

This is the worst class I have ever taken. She was constantly confused and unclear to the students relative to both material and the homework assignments. I can't believe that she is qualified to work at a University like Cal Poly. I wish she would quit to save us all the stress and bad days.

Megan O'Neill is an okay teacher. She tries to make the lecture interesting but the way she teaches is hard to understand and her lectures are all over the place. It is almost like she has this expectation that you already know everything she's teaching. Her tests are pretty hard and she seems like she doesn't care if you pass or fail. There is no review given to help study for midterms or the final, so unless you are really really good at studying blind, I wouldn't take her class. She also doesn't return any tests so you don't know what you got right or wrong which is really unhelpful when you're trying to study for the final. And, she assigns a lot of online homework with no reminders so if you miss a deadline for a quiz or online homework, there's no going back.

Megan is a very kind approachable person but an awful teacher. None of the 5 objectives that she teaches do you actually learn in Bio 111. I use to be a bio major so I have taken a lot of bio and never received a grade lower than a B+. Bio 111 was suppose to be an easy requirement for a psych major but I got my lowest college grade from her. The labs are also very pointless. If you are good at BSing you will do fine but it is impossible to learn based off of her lectures and annoying choice of online homework software.

worst teacher i have ever had at cal poly. she is scattered, unorganized, takes all her slides directly from the online book, and the only deeper analysis she does of the subject is through her random story telling that wastes time in class. she has no consideration for her students' lives outside of her class. her voice is so fucking annoying. she's always speed walking around the classroom and loves embarrassing kids who are on their phone because it gives her a sense of power and validates her insecurity that she's a bad teacher and people aren't paying attention. the room was always 20-30% full. everyone hated this chick except the 5 freshmen who sat front row. all homework is in online format through the book's website - aka the easiest way for her to not do shit as a teacher. she was not willing to make appointments with me when i couldn't make her office hours. i am personally confused as to how and why she is a teacher at cal poly. even i could do a better job than her and i'm an english major. i didn't even realize that my struggle to understand the information and do well in the course was due to HER (i just thought i was bad at biology in general) until she last minute didn't show up to bio for a week and another professor took over for her. i don't even know the sub's name but i learned more in that week from her than i did in the entire previous 7 weeks with the bitch o'neill. moral of the story: do not take o'neill. you would be better off learning from a 12 year old with downsyndrome. this woman needs to be fired.

O'Neill's Bio 111 lecture is a prime example of dookie flakes. The only thing I learned about cells is that I lost the majority of mine after watching this woman present information in a horrible way. Her slides just consist of pictures and charts that she doesn't tell you that you have to memorize. Never before have I met a more condescending professor who will call students out for dozing off and being on their phones. For me at least, Chegg was the only reason I passed this class. The class consists of 15 attendance quizzes because she wants you to be there so that she can chew you out if you don't know what you're doing. The ConnectEd is stupid easy if you have Chegg and will get you at least a C on the online exams. Overall, if you want to learn and have a decent understanding of biology DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. If you're trying to take the course to get your B2 and B4 out of the way and have the chance to take it credit/no credit then go right ahead :). All in all, you will still want to roundhouse kick this woman in the face because she is the definition of a KAREN.

She was a perfectly decent instructor, most of the time she presented the content clearly but sometimes it was a little hard to keep up with things since the class moved too fast at times for my liking. She didn't really allow time for student questions so if you got lost during class you just kind of had to figure it out on your own later. You have in-class quizzes (you can work with other people but can't use notes) basically every day. We also had some online tests a few times throughout the quarter plus a final, but I think usually she just does 2 in-class midterms and a final since she was trying out a new format this quarter. Definitely stay on top of the reading and homework since it can catch up to you quickly. If you spend extra time and effort studying for the class, you can totally get a good grade but just be sure to stay on top of things and review regularly.

Professor O'neill uses power point, which is advantageous to some students, but an annoyance to others. She is very interesting in her style of lecturing, but I feel that here lectures do not translate well on the tests. Basically, 60% of the course is based on 2 multiple choice tests. The other 10% is clicker questions, with the last 30% as basically fill-in-the-blank and multiple choice online quizzes. To pass, give her a bit of attention by sitting in the front of her class, and READ the biology book.

terrible class terrible prof overall horrible waste of two hours a week. the only nice thing i can say is that she passed me. good luck

She gives you no way of preparing for her tests. She basically makes you study the entire book and then asks relatively obscure questions. She refuses to update her study guides even though its for an old edition, then she asks questions that arent on topics from the study guide even though it says "questions are from these sections only" on the study guide. Shes lazy and arrogant and as im trying to think of some of her redeeming qualities, but im drawing a blank. I dont recommend taking a class with her.

Megan is the worst lab instructor I have ever had. First, she is incredibly unclear and quite frankly, a horrible teacher. Megan has incredibly unrealistic expectations and doesn't seem to care if her students succeed. Additionally, she is just a horrible person to her students. She puts students on the spot all the time and when they get something wrong, she has the audacity to say things like, "Great! Well... it's not great because you're very wrong but now everyone can learn from your errors." She humiliates and harasses students daily, making her class a hostile environment to be in. Megan encompasses all that is wrong with teaching: she's condescending, late, disorganized, unclear, and truly unpleasant to be around. Every day, I left lab feeling discouraged and disrespected. If you are unfortunate enough to have to take this instructor, my best advice is to lay low and try to laugh off her rude and unprofessional remarks. Additionally, you need to stay on top of all lab material because her quizzes and practicals are very difficult to get a decent grade on even with studying. Anytime she holds "open labs", I encourage you to go, because it does help with your grade on tests. The only reason why I will do relatively well in this class is because the lecture instructor is Dr. Cameron Shields who is just a breath of fresh air compared to Megan. (Take Shields any chance you can get!). I will definitely be filing a complaint about Megan and hope that you take a different lab instructor if you are able to!

MEGAN IS THE WORST PROFESSOR EVER! AVOID TAKING HER AT ALL COSTS! There is a reason her Polyratings are so bad. She treats her students with zero respect and makes coming to lab a miserable experience. She can't even compensate for her terrible personality by being an effective teacher. Megan refuses to answer questions and creates an unnecessarily stressful atmosphere for students. This woman shouldn't be allowed to teach. Anyone who acts like they want their students to fail is not fit to be a college professor. Please save yourself the stress and frustration and take someone else!!

Not sure why everyone's hating on Megan so much. She's not spectacular, but she's fine. She only teaches lab and its extremely straight forward. You know what youre doing before and after every lab, you know what to study for exams, you know what the exams will be like. I've never found her rude or condescending. Maybe she changed in the past year or two since everyone else posted, not sure. But as of 2020 she's totally fine and I have (almost) no problems with her. Her lab is the same if not slightly easier than Jones' lab from what I've heard.

Megan is a dreadful lab instructor. To begin with, she has a very condescending tone when talking to the students. She will put students on the spot, creating a stressful atmosphere and she will make students feel bad if they don't know the correct answer. Moreover, she doesn't give clear, succinct answers to questions, she prefers to watch students struggle. She will NOT help you study for the lab practicals at all. You have to figure out what every single structure/organ/vein/artery is on your own. When presenting material, she mumbles to herself or goes through the powerpoint slides too quickly. She runs lab in a disorganized fashion so you have no idea which models and slides to study. I would leave lab once a week usually feeling bad about my abilities (even though I am a hardworking student with a good grades) or confused about what she presented on. Finally, she is a very harsh grader on quizzes and practicals--she will doc points anywhere she can and will even take points off if you do not cover your exam paper properly. Your grade in lab is made up of 3 graded quizzes (last quiz is a partner quiz), 4 lab write ups , and 2 lab practicals. The quiz questions are straightforward and come from the powerpoint slides and lab write ups. The lab write ups are manageable and straight forward as well. The lab practicals on the other hand, are very difficult--you must memorizes hundreds of items and identify items on models, a cadaver, histology slides and from the lab write ups. I suggest taking pictures of every model and printing them out to study from. Like I said previously, if you have a question about a certain structure Megan will not help you identify it--you are on your own. Megan doesn't care about her students' success. Please take another lab instructor!

Many people seem to dislike Megan and her style of teaching, but I thought she was great! She encourages students to learn the material on their own by looking at the models and comparing to the PowerPoints she supplies, and then asking questions if they are confused about something. At first, I felt so lost. But it definitely made me learn more content than if she were to just lecture about the information instead. She clarifies what material we will be expected to know for quizzes and exams and goes over any difficult or confusing material in front of the class. Contrary to popular belief, she really does want her students to succeed. She has a strong personality, but she is really nice and helpful if you ask questions and make an effort to learn the material. Her quizzes are straight forward (just study the PowerPoints she uploads on PolyLearn) and the lab write-ups are time-consuming but manageable. Lab practicals are tough, but it is just A LOT to learn and a difficult subject in general, so hard exams are expected. My advice is to go to the open labs and ask questions during class. She WILL help you. And spend time studying the cadaver because that covers 10 out of the 50 questions on each practical. Overall, Megan is a great lab instructor and people don't give her enough credit.

Megan requires you to think and study the material. Some times she is not clear on what we do an do not need to know especially for the cadaver. However, if you like independently studying material, she is a great lab instructor. All of her quizzes are straightforward and the lab practicals are fine (the first practical the cadaver was hard but on the second one was easier). She is very approachable if you have concerns. I was worried about having her after reading her polyratings, but I don't think people give her enough credit.

Megan was a very nice and no-nonsense teacher. She went over material a bit fast, but answered all questions we had clearly and would tell us what she would expect for us to know on practicals. She didn't ever through curveballs, you just need to know ALOT to do well in this class. Great lab teacher

Take any other lab instructor instead of Megan. She is a cuesta-grade lecturer out of place at Cal Poly who overcompensates for her poor teaching skills by forcing her students to learn the info in more detail than other instructors but without providing any help. She writes separate exams for her labs that are far harder than what all the other instructors use. Also, she gives no partial credit for "incomplete" answers (Some anatomy terms are 5 words long) or incorrect spelling. Day-to-day class was miserable as well. She is very condescending and has one of those horrible voices that grind on you throughout the quarter. At times her lectures became physically painful to listen to, to the point where I had to plug my ears during lecture to get some relief from the onslaught of s*** coming out of her mouth. This class is bad enough by itself, don't allow yourself to suffer even more by signing up for a lab instructor with a pathetic inferiority-complex.

Concentraits. Yeah you read that right, this is just a little sample from the cornucopia of dumbass material this imbecile scribbles on the whiteboard each and every day. The only thing I enjoyed about her/the class was watching her slip and fall with the big box of finals on the last day, other than that, prepare to listen to an off-brand Cuesta lecturer ramble on about material she herself can’t even comprehend. If you have no other choice but to take this class with O'Neill, do all of the Polylearn quizzes and everything on Mastering because it's worth about 25% of your grade. Also focus on her IP videos because she tests heavily on them AND do the reading even if she says not too.

I really don't know why so many people hate her so much... I had a great experience with Megan and plan on taking her for future lab classes. Anatomy and Physiology is not meant to be an easy class and you should expect to have to study a lot outside of lab and lecture. Her quizzes were very straightforward if you study the diagrams which I found to be super easy to follow. She also will tell you straight up if she will quiz or test you on a certain subject or a certain part of the cadaver or model. I never even had to go to office hours because I found that she made things very clear in lab and really set me up for success. Now, practicals are not easy and demand lots of studying. BUT if you put in the 15-20 hours to study, you will be prepared on the exam days. Also, Megan really puts in the effort to learn everyone's name and major in the class which is more than a lot of professors do.

One of the most frustrating/lazy teachers I have had at poly. She presents the material in a scattered manor and talks really fast. She gets really distracted and off topic so it is really hard to focus. She used lab time to input grades and didn't give back anything we turned in before the first lab practical so make sure you keep a copy of what you wrote so you can at least remember the questions and answers but you have no idea if it is right. She presents the material and expect you to remember everything she says and won't repeat her self. This is extremely unhelpful when you are looking at the cadaver when it is already hard to tell what anything is. If you have a choice don't take her

If you want a professor who constantly talks down to her students and doesn't care in the slightest about anyone learning anything, all while thinking she is doing great, take her class. Don't expect to learn anything.

Save yourself and do not take this teacher for lecture or lab. As i sit in her lecture here in week 7, I am still amazed at exactly how a teacher can be this horrible. She knows close to nothing about the subject and constantly says the wrong thing during class. Take schutz for zoo 331 332 and stay away from oneill. I'm not even sure how cal poly has even given her a job here she is so unproffessional and lazy. Her online quizzes and even questions from her test could be found online. She gives you less than an hour for her over specific lab practicals. I cannot reiterate enough to take another teacher. She is by far THE WORST teacher I have ever taken at cal poly.

In my four years at Cal Poly, I've never been so shocked by the poor quality of any teacher. Not only is Megan condescending and unhelpful, she actually contradicts herself. She will stop in the middle of lecture for personal conversations with students and when I tried to visit her in office hours, she wasn't there half the time and when she was, was of no help at all. I can't believe I am paying huge amounts of money to be taught by a woman who has no idea what she's talking about. Save yourself the grief and don't take her.

Without a doubt the worst professor I have ever had. Megan has no idea what she's talking about, she draws incomprehensible flow charts, she contradicts herself, and she's not helpful when you ask her a question. Her test questions are obscure and ridiculously difficult to answer. Seriously, save yourself and don't take her!

Megan isn't as bad as all the Polyratings make her sound. She's definitely not the best lab instructor, but she really does want each student to do well. Her quizzes each week are pretty straight forward and easy, but her lab practicals are a little trickier. If you study for them, they're not too hard...but you really have to study for them. She's a pretty enthusiastic person and likes what she's teaching. If you ask for help, one on one, she will help you.

What the guy/gal below said. Amen. I too took this class and have long since graduated from Poly, but I was cruising Poly Ratings for a kick and thought that I should pipe in and let you know how much of a joke this prof is.