Yoshimura, Michael  

NOT A GOOD TEACHER AT ALL. BIZNOTCH.

Every lab we would begin with a review of the last lab. He would use color slides and models for demos. The review was extremely helpful and he was always willing to meet a student after class. I'm planning on taking his Bot 323 class just because I enjoyed his teaching style so much. Highly recommended.

This class is interesting and pretty easy. It can have it's moments of interest too. If your good at strait memorization you will do well. Make sure you take really good lecture notes on all the disease cycles and there parts. Learn the names of all the pathogens and their controls, thats like 50 points of the 100 point exams he gives. He gives out out tests for you to go over and they are basically the same thing he just rotates the A B C options for answers since the tests are all scantron. Don't buy the book you don't even need it. If I could give one thing of advice for someone to pass the class it would be to MEMORIZE THE CONTROLS!!!!!

First of all don't buy the book. I never open mine once. His tests come straight from the notes. However he is very picky on knowing the controls. This class had so much information to learn,so start to study early. As for Michael he was not very helpful at all. It is a waste to ask for help unless you know exactly what you need help in. He has favorites and helps them out in lab more then others. He doesn't help out the people who really need help.

This class is great for BIO majors to fulfill their BOT requirement. Yoshimura's tests are very straight-forward and VERY predictable. It is nice that it also a class for Crop science majors and Horticulture majors, so it makes it easier for BIO majors. Take this guy, he is great!

The class is tough, no doubt about it. But Yoshi reviews stuff, which is nice. And he gives you a copy of an old test, which is very helpful because he uses the EXACT same format for all of them. And when I took it, the final was almost the exact same as the old one he gave us.

Prof Yoshimura is a great teacher! He is hillarious but you actually have to listen to what he says cuz he slips them in there so well by the time you think 'what!?' he has already moved on without a smile and left you laughing for a good 5 minutes. On top of that, it was a super easy and kinda fun class and I totally hate plants. Plus he doesn't expect you to know a thing beyond what he says in class, and he always hands out old exams that are pretty much the same as the real ones. He's just a cute little old japanese man. Who wouldn't love this guy!?

Yoshimura is a great teacher and is really fun to have a lecturer. Tests are hard...if you don't know what to study or put the time in (my problem on the first test, time was the problem for my 2nd test). He works with a 12 point grading scale - 100-88 A, 88-76 B... which helped me a bunch. The class is interesting. The majority of it deals with Fungi - so if you are into Mycology this would a great class for ya. ::ATTN BIO MAJORS:: - This is not a cake class....as I was told. The memorization is not very similar to that what you are used to - (things you memorize...temperatures on the disease cycle and other little minutia.) Take the class because it interests you not just to fulfil the requirement. Once again - Yoshimura is Great:: Class is Hard - be prepared to study....oh and you don't need to buy the book if you don't want - just take good notes.

Professor Yoshimura is a funny little man. He's a good teacher. I had him for lecture and lab. He's good in both classes. His grading scale is shifted down two points (100-88% is an A etc) so that helps. I don't know if he always does it, but our 2 midterms were almost identical to the practice tests posted online. The written questions were different but the multiple choice are about the same. He explains things clearly and tells you what is going to be on the tests. You do have to study though. Bio majors, the memorization isn't the same as you're used to. A lot was really specific like the temperature at which all the fungi germinate at, how they're disseminated, etc. It takes some adjusting. But overall, Yoshi is a good professor. I'd take him again if I needed another botany class. He's very knowledgeable in botany.

The class is definitely tough and requires studying, but Dr. Yoshi gives all information that will be on the test. Take good notes. He cracked some funny jokes here and there... I would take him again.

Yoshimura is a nice guy, he really is, however, his BOT 323 class has been the worst class I have taken in my life. The “teaching” done in this class is a powerpoint list of plant pathogens (fungi, virus, bacteria mostly), each disease followed by him drawing that particular disease pathogen’s life cycle on the board. And then the tests quantify your ability to spew back the pathogen info (including LATIN NAME, ideal temperature, specific list of control measures, and life cycle diagram) to him. It seems that was the method via which he became an expert in his field, and expects the students to adhere to the same archaic recitation strategy of teaching. Lab is better, because there are actually sick plants to look at and the two field trips were just 2-hour long strolls through campus. Lab exams are worse, though, because you are given the plant/slide to go off of and are expected to copy down perfectly the species latin name, disease name, or pathogen type 80% of the time. At least the Lecture tests had a MC section so that if you’re not into the whole “memorization is knowledge” doctrine, you have a 20% chance at each point. Yoshimura does post a past test online for practice before each lec exam, and it is helpful to know that the exam will be EXACTLY THE SAME except for the proper nouns. He switches those up every year because he’s a good teacher… But honestly, don’t take this class. I learned nothing I will ever need in my life (no one will unless they become a plant pathologist, which no one will want to after taking this course) and he is an awful teacher for BOT 323. From my experience with this class, he should honestly not have a job teaching.

I would not recommend this professor. He is incredibly knowledgeable about the subject but the class is graded on tests. Nothing is applying practical knowledge at all, it is just memorizing controls. When you talk to him in office hours, he is not encouraging or helpful, often you just feel stupid and worse than before you went in. The labs were fun, but again, not practical. We didn't even turn in lab reports, it was all memorization! This course has a ton of potential to be really interesting, but not with this professor! It is nearly impossible to get an A, even with the 12 point system.

Even though the above evaluator obviously has the wrong professor, I want to state that Dr. Yoshimura is a great teacher. I always recommend his class even if it is required and he's the only one teaching it...I still let people know it is a challenging and interesting course.