Dan Montello

154 reviews
Lecture heavy Tough grader Test heavy Skip class? You won't pass. Graded by few things Get ready to read Hilarious Clear grading criteria Respected Participation matters Gives good feedback EXTRA CREDIT Would take again Caring Accessible outside class Tests are tough Amazing lectures Inspirational
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GEO5 . 2 Months Ago

The slides were not very helpful and the test questions were pretty difficult. Def not an easy A but if you study the super long study guides u should be ok

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GEO5 . 4 Months Ago

I never knew that I would be in a position where I would need to withdraw a class to save my GPA, but this course has proved me wrong. There are few assignments (other than exams) and the exams are extremely significant for the grade. The exams are very detailed with trick questions and the study guide is very broad.

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GEO5 . 4 Months Ago

Im going to copy paste this profs study guide below. You can see for yourself what type of prof this guy is. This is THE ONLY THING we get to study by the way, besides his lecture outlines which are just short 1-2 page overviews of what he said in class.

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GEO150 . 6 Months Ago

One of my least favorite classes and professors here. Only the midterm and final counted towards final grade. He asked questions on tiny details mentioned in class. The class is straight memorization. It's taught like a history class and isn't relevant to anything. Would not recommend.

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GEO5 . 1 Year, 3 Months Ago

This is the first class I ever failed lol. The test was extremely hard, the study guide for the test was only terms. I would say he was a clear speaker and it was easy to follow his lectures. In the section, we had assignments due every other week. Overall, I would not take the class if its for your general ed.

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GEO150 . 1 Year, 3 Months Ago

This class is unbearable unless you have an undying interest in geography.Anything that the professor says, will be on the test. For example, he will play music at the start of class and talk about the artists/band that created it. He then will proceed put test questions about this information on the test. The class is only graded by 2 tests (50%)

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GEO5 . 1 Year, 3 Months Ago

Montello seems like a nice guy but his lectures were terrible. He refused to use a mic even in a huge LH so no-one could hear anything, and even though the material was actually pretty interesting, the way he presented it made it really tedious. The section assignment instructions were super vague but they graded them very harshly. RIP my gpa...

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GEO150 . 1 Year, 3 Months Ago

Graded on two exams. Consisting of 150 multiple-choice questions along with maps. There's a study guide with hundreds of terms, many being random recipes or random factoids he'd include in lecture. Exams were hard to prepare for. Lecture was once a week and 3 hours long. Professor was arrogant, close-minded. Was interesting to listen to in lecture

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GEOG5 . 1 Year, 6 Months Ago

Lectures are boring and minimal content is presented in his slides. The content was interesting, but bc of the way the class is structured I did not enjoy learning it. Grade based on tests. You must be ready to read the textbook, and even then test questions are ridiculous. Study guides are outdated and do not help. Will tank your gpa, do not take.

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GEO5 . 1 Year, 6 Months Ago

TERRIBLE. ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE. IF YOU KNOW ME, YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I HATE THIS CLASS AND PROFESSOR. VERY BAD EXPERIENCE. DO NOT RECOMMEND. SO HARD TO GRASP MATERIAL BECAUSE THERE ISN'T MUCH MATERIAL AT ALL. BARELY SLIDES, NO NOTES. LITERALLY JUST OUTLINES FOR HIMSELF. STUDY GUIDES ARE PARAGRAPHS OF TERMS THAT ARE NOT EVEN DISCUSSED IN LECTURE.

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GEOG5 . 1 Year, 6 Months Ago

Montello is a good speaker, which makes pretty bland material interesting. Lectures are very well organized and test material is directly from the lectures. Main negative of the class is that it is difficult to make up for missed lectures since he doesn't post notes or slides and lectures only partially follow the textbook.

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GEOG5 . 1 Year, 6 Months Ago

Montello gets to the point. His lectures are informative if not interesting, and although the material comes from a book it definitely helps to be in lecture and take notes. He definitely didn't get me interested in geography but he made the class very straight-forward which I respect. You'll do well if you pay attention and take tests seriously.

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