Really interesting guy, but attendance is mandatory and lectures are hella boring. Easy to get an A. Class is mostly based on three papers and there are no tests. All the papers are essentially lined out for you, and it's relatively easy to get a good grade. TA's are really willing to give help.

Some of these poor ratings make me think these students haven't taken a University course before or are just angry they didn't get a higher grade. Dr. Smith is a great teacher! TA's are always partially in charge of your grade for such big classes. Lecture slides are not going to replace actually reading the books. Take notes and show up.

Professor Stuart "The Goat" Smith gave me the time of life last quarter. Slides were disorganized, half the lectures felt useless, and grade was mostly based on whether you had the goat (Degnan) as your TA. Smith made it so you couldn't see your grade percentage at all during the quarter. The group project was awful. I would do it all over again.

I liked that Dr. Smith seemed truly interested in archaeology and you could tell he was passionate about the subject. The class wasn't too bad, the only thing is that he does not make grades available on Canvas throughout the quarter so it was difficult to predict what my final grade would be.