Liwanag, Heather  

Dr. Liwanag is a great person and professor. She's extremely passionate about and accomplished in her field (physiology, and she gets super hyped if you ask about her research. Some of the other ratings say she is condescending and gives convoluted feedback, but I never experienced that from her, nor witness her act that way toward other students. She is a strict grader, but this is college, so quit complaining about it. She cares a lot about grammar, which shouldn't be a problem for anyone by now. I attended most of her office hours and made separate one-on-one appointments. The class was difficult for me because of all the memorization, and she definitely tried her best to help me succeed. I ultimately ended up withdrawing form the course for personal reasons, but it had nothing to do with Dr. L.

Dr. Liwanag is awesome. She has very high expectations, but they are so clear and her teaching is so careful and straightforward that if you don't fulfill them, it's certainly not her fault. Probably her best feature is that she is concerned about precision. This may hurt you if you're bad at spelling or if you don't recognize that wrong grammar can make an otherwise correct answer actually wrong, but it will save you worlds of frustration that you might experience with other TA's (say, Megan O'Neill) who might gloss over something they don't know about or do sloppy quiz preparation and refuse to admit their fault. Dr. Liwanag knows her stuff, and if you have a question to which she doesn't know the answer, she won't beat around the bush and give you some murky BS that leaves you more confused than before. If you're prepared to memorize A LOT and put in the time, you'll learn a ton in Dr. Liwanag's lab, and her enthusiasm for physiology will rub off on you. I had a blast and I'd definitely take her again.

BOYCOTT!!!

Vaguely condescending, and offers convoluted feedback. The class seems to be artificially difficult, since the concepts are not difficult, but making small mistakes will result in Dr. Liwanag scrubbing a large percentage of the points for that problem. If you value your grade, you have to accept that the way she likes to see information is the objectively best way to do thing; if you present information in a way that isn't what she considers optimal (even if the way you did it is in line with her expectations laid out in rubrics), you can expect to get hammered.

This class is frustrating. I think it's partially because the material seems disjointed and unnecessarily complex at random points, and partially because I didn't know what the teacher wanted. That being said, she was helpful in office hours and is obviously invested in the material. I'd recommend taking this class if a high grade isn't your top priority. You'll learn a lot, but may not have much to show for it.

She is clearly passionate and excited to teach the class. She can go too fast the entire time and not give you much time to process. She can sometimes be nice one second and then be condescending the next. She also completely rips you apart for the smallest things on every lab write up, assignment and test. She claims she is "helping you" but takes off half a point for the use of a colon instead of a semicolon. If you are looking to learn a lot, put in a lot of work and not do well in a class, then go for this one.

Professor Liwanag definitely knows what she is talking about and lectures are generally straightforward but move very fast. While very passionate and knowledgeable, she can be condescending and outright rude when you ask questions especially if she thinks it should be clear or she talked about a concept before. While she says there are no stupid questions she acts like you are stupid if you don't know how to do something with the programs you use in lab, need clarification on something she just talked about, or ask something "obvious." She finds every reason that take off points, from an uncapitalized word in a figure caption, a valid sentence she thinks should be in a different order, an extra break between paragraphs, or writing T/F instead of true/false. Instead of "helping you" by grading to teach you as she says is the reason she takes off so many points, she finds petty reasons to take off 5% on an assignment/lab/test for these small errors. You will learn a lot but will have your work torn apart in the process and will have a much lower grade than what represents how much of the material you know.

Dr. Liwanag is great. Yes, she is hard. Yes, she forces students to work for a good grade. But isn't this an upper division biology course? Liwanag presents the material clearly and thoroughly, and is very helpful in office hours. She grades harshly, but if you go into office hours and put in the work/time, good grades are absolutely possible. This class is a great foundation for the following anatomy and physiology classes, and it is absolutely worth putting in the effort to get a solid base of info from this class.

Dr. Liwanag was definitely a very hard grader. Even after I would go to office hours I would find myself losing a lot of points on small things, especially on the two formal lab reports. I think that she explains the material very clearly in class, but due to the very large amount of information for the course, she is forced to go pretty fast through the material. She does not believe in laptops and hand writes the notes on the board as she goes through lecture. I didn't really mind this, but it's really hard to catch up if you miss class. This class is the bridge to the 400 level anatomy and physiology classes, and I think that this class was a good prep for these tougher upper division classes, especially for scientific writing. I think Dr. Liwanag was a good professor nonetheless, but be prepared to work for your grade.

I had her during her first quarter at Cal Poly in Fall and she was fantastic. She presents all of the material by writing it on the whiteboard with almost no power points, so you must go to class and take good notes. Her problem set packets were very helpful study tools. She can be strict with partial credit, but all of her tests were very fair in my opinion. Overall, I really enjoyed the class.

Dr. Liwanag is relatively new and still learning, but she is very enthusiastic and shows an obvious passion for the material. She is also very approachable. I would recommend her class.

This is an upper division biology class, and the amount of work you put into the course reflects that. Yes, she expects a lot and is a tough grader, but that is because we are in a challenging major. Also, to the people upset about her grading....she specifically tells you what she expects (ex: don't put T/F instead of true/false, and don't use bad grammar)! To get upset for having points taken off for not following directions is ridiculous for an upperclassman to think. She is very approachable and welcoming to any questions. She also has a very well-organized lecture which aligns perfectly with the study questions and midterm. You will definitely succeed as long as you go to class, listen to directions, do the homework, and study.

Liwanag will keep lectures short and sweet- cutting to the chase and make you think she’s great. Fast forward to the actual tests, she’s outrageously meticulous and basically puts NO material from her powerpoints on her exams. Go into office hours and she’ll make you feel stupid for not memorizing every line of the textbook that she rarely goes over. Don’t get me wrong, she’s alright as a person (with the exception of her cranky days), but I have never encountered a professor that unjustifiably grades as harshly as she does. Didn’t learn a thing besides that she won’t accept work if it’s double sided. Definitely will never take a class of hers again. Fuck that.