do not take this class. the questions are not worded well and very confusing.

For his lack of teaching experience, and his first time teaching this class, I think he did fairly well. He posts all powerpoints online before lecture, but he gives participation points for attendance due to this fact. Most of class time is spent creating examples for students of the concepts. I tanked the midterm & recovered to an A-. No curve.

Don't bother taking a class by Swan. His lectures are completely all over the place and he often goes on irrelevant tangents which make me feel like I am completely wasting my time by attending lecture. But you can't skip class because he takes attendance, what other upper division courses take attendance? People are obviously skipping for a reason

He seems like an okay guy but his tests are horrible. The are some of the worst written tests I have ever seen. He glances over topics in lectures and then asks detailed questions about them on tests. If you do get stuck with him, Google the terms to make sure you understand them, you won't get the answers from lecture. Took his upper-div class.

Participation is essential and a grade booster. Lectures are based mostly off the book so you can still do well without it. His examples are really basic and his pacing''s bad he skims over a lot of topics. He gives study guides for the tests practice making concept maps on everything and you''ll be okay. Fair grader strict curves cheesy jokes.

Decent teacher. Didn't go to lecture much. test questions mostly came from lecture. posts power points online. Multiple choice and short answer test for both midterm and finals. Tests difficult but fair. Can get easy extra points through small online assignments. He was a bit sarcastic and used swear words which came off a bit unprofessional.

Yes, Swan is a relatively young guy but he knows how to keep students awake during lectures and knows how to give a great lecture. Buying the textbook is not necessary, seeing that many students get As without it. Lecture notes are very important to do well on the midterm and final. Overall, pretty easy class, easy-going prof, and useful material.

His lectures are VERY boring! That being said, they are all based on the book. So, a majority of what is on the test is covered in class. If you pay attention in class, you will do well on the tests. He gives a 10% cushion through "5 minute responses." I highly recommend you do them. His grading is fair. He will curve the average of the class.

He is a nice guy, that being said his teaching is still fairly new and hasn't quite got it. A lot of the info you learn may not show up on the test, and the test may be ambiguous at times. When it comes to a grade you might want to avoid that. In the end I was happy with the info I learned regardless of being tested. the class was entertaining.

The lectures were based on the book and he has this policy where if the topics in the book are not in the lecture you don't have to read it, so it doesn't turn out to be as much reading as the syllabus suggests. The second half of the quarter covers a lot more than the midterm. I thought the tests were pretty fair, but final is harder.

Though Swan does rely heavily on the textbook during lecture, I found this this to be helpful for his tests. He CLEARLY emphasizing what will be on the test, and genuinely wants his students to do well. He even strives for an 80% average for his tests, which is absolutely fair. Overall, very interesting class. Good professor.

Midterm was poorly worded and confusing. I feel like I would completely understand the concept brought up in a question, but would have no idea what answer he wanted, due to the ambiguous choices. Lectures are not really helpful at all. I would avoid if possible.