Class record · BIOL · MCAS

BIOL 8140

Successful Science Communication · 1 instructor on record · 2 sections

What the course score is made of

95BC evaluations2 records · weight ×1.0 · Spring 2025 – Spring 2026

—Student reviewsno reviews — does not contribute

—RateMyProfessorsno ratings — does not contribute

That is the class itself, averaged across everyone who taught it. Who taught it, and how each of them scored, is the board below — that is what a student picking a section is actually choosing between.

What the challenge rank is made of

17thMore challenging than 17% of BC classesranked against every one we hold

84BC — “Intellectually Challenging”2 records · raw score out of 100

Boston College's own “intellectually challenging” question for this class only — students answer it positively about courses that stretched them, so it measures intellectual challenge and NOT grading, workload or quality. Almost every BC class scores high on it, which is why it is shown as a rank rather than a score.

What the workload rank is made of

25thMore work than 25% of BC classesranked against every one we hold

40BC — “Workload”2 records · raw score out of 100

Boston College reports workload for this class only as one of five bands, not as a number of hours, and it does not publish what the bands mean — so this site will not translate it into hours. Higher means more work, which is not the same as worse.

The only instructor on record

2 sections · nobody else has taught itFull record

Instructor	Overall	Workload	Challenge	RMP overall
Heather OlinsBiology Provisional	962 records	25th	17th	7833 ratings · all classes

There is no ranking to read here: Heather Olins is the only instructor with evaluation records for BIOL 8140, so the number is a record, not a position. It rests on 2 records, which is thin — read it as provisional. The RateMyProfessors figure is their overall score across everything they teach, not their score in this class.

Also taught by Heather Olins

6 other classes

Class	Instructors	Course score
UNAS 1199Gateway to the Sciences Seminar	958 records	82
BIOL 2010Ecology and Evolution	222 records	79
ENVS 1075Understanding and Protecting Our Oceans in the Wake of Global Change	317 records	75
BIOL 1706Understanding and Protecting Our Oceans in the Wake of Global Change	313 records	75
BIOL 2050Gateway Biology Discussion I	211 records	83
BIOL 4030Deep-Sea Biology	18 records	82

Other BIOL classes

All of them

Class	Instructors	Course score
BIOL 2040Investigations in Molecular Cell Biology Lab	2176 records	87
BIOL 1310Anatomy and Physiology Lab 1	443 records	78
BIOL 1330Anatomy and Physiology Lab 2	443 records	76
BIOL 2210Microbiology for Health Professionals Laboratory	341 records	84
BIOL 4260Human Anatomy with Lab	135 records	86
BIOL 4330Human Physiology	128 records	85

The line

All 13 items · means across 2 records

The Professor4 items

Clearly Explains MaterialThe instructor was effective at creating an understanding of difficult subject matter.

100100th pctl

Available Outside of ClassThe instructor was available for help outside of class.

9240th pctl

Brings Out Your Best WorkThe instructor motivated me to do my best work.

9988th pctl

Sparked My InterestThe course stimulated my interest in the subject matter.

9985th pctl

The Course3 items

Well-Organized CourseThe course was well organized.

9888th pctl

Clear Learning GoalsThe learning objectives for the course were clear.

9889th pctl

Useful Beyond the CourseWhat I learned is applicable beyond this course.

9886th pctl

Assignments & Feedback3 items

Assignments Help You LearnAssignments and exams contributed to my learning.

9890th pctl

Gives Feedback PromptlyI received feedback on my work in a timely manner.

9569th pctl

Meaningful FeedbackThe feedback I received on my work was meaningful.

9990th pctl

Workload, difficulty & attendanceNot ratings

WorkloadHow much work the course took outside class, on Boston College's five-band scale — the band boundaries are not published, so this is not a number of hours.

4025th pctl

Intellectually ChallengingThe course was intellectually challenging.

8417th pctl

Attendance MattersAttending class was necessary to do well in this course.

9885th pctl

Bar length is the rank against every comparable record we hold, not the raw score: BC's questions all have a median around 4.5, so a raw-scale bar would be nearly full on every row and would tell you nothing. Every bar is one ink colour — nothing here is graded green or red. The hatched bars are not ratings at all: a higher number on either describes a different course, not a better one.

Game log

2 sections · newest first

Instructor	Term	Sec	Instr	Course	Work
Heather Olins	Spring 2026	01	98	96	40
Heather Olins	Spring 2025	01	95	95	40

How to read this boardInstructors are ranked on their record in this class only, never on their average across everything they teach. Scores are out of 100 — Boston College's 1–5 agreement scale, ×20, the way these numbers were printed for years. Workload is BC's own five-band figure, not a number of hours, and is shown as a rank. A dash means the question was not reported, and is never a zero.