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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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%)
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...
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
don't take this glass for GE
his class is so boring and the test are actually hard unless you study so much...
DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS UNLESS YOU ARE A GENIUS .
Absolute worst class ever. Content is soooo boring and useless. Professor is arrogant and annoying af and goes off on tangents during lectures that make them super confusing. Studying for the midterm is memorizing hundreds of terms and random facts. This class sucks. I want to cry. Help.
I always tell friends who don't know Dan, that he is the Peter Griffin of the department - something is always other's fault, they are perfect such and such... The only 2 things I'm confused about our department: why they hired Pete, why they keep hiring Pete, sorry Dan. His total pay from the University is 200k+ every year and it's wasting money.
He doesn't care about your future, he just wants to see you fail. Be prepared to memorize every single word of his lecture because it will be on the midterm and the final. He once joked that he will resign from UCSB, i actually hope he does so that everyone else wouldn't have to go through the pain I did.
Attend lectures and take notes or you will fail. However, lectures were interesting and I didn't mind. The class isn't that hard if you pay attention and do the reading but if you have no interest in geography it will probably be very boring
The class is graded only on 1 midterm and 1 final. Lectures are 3 hours long with no recordings, PowerPoints or notes posted online. The midterm and final is half trivia type questions briefly mentioned in each class and the other half ridiculous maps that need to be memorized Very stressful and NOT worth it unless you want to spend days memorizing
Don’t take this class if you: Don’t have excellent photographic memory, don’t know every trivial detail about all places (and food) in the country. Lectures are 3 hour long and as boring as you can imagine, and they are not recorded. No notes or useful information of any kind is posted online. Couldn’t regret taking this class more.
Dan is a knowledgeable guy but this class is hard for non-US students. Many parts of the class material should be covered in high schools so local students can recall and develop them in class. It's very hard for international students to catch some detailed points yet the study guide is somewhat useless. Graded on mid and final, each is 50%.
His grading system ruined my life. Definitely the worst GE ever. Please avoid him at all costs.
Do not take this class, Professor Montello is a cool dude, but his class is extremely unreasonable especially if you are not a geography major. Wild expectations and hard tests, take something else if you need credit.