2.1
Quality3.9
Difficulty20%
Would Retake105
Reviews20%
Would Retake
105
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
8
4
10
3
17
2
22
1
48
What Students Say
“This class is your typical history class”
HIST108 - 3.0 rating“The lectures are almost optional”
HIST108 - 3.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
28%
Textbook Required
7%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
+0.08 avg changeRatings by Course
HIST492K
5.0
(1)HIST478
4.0
(2)WGST112
4.0
(2)HIST214
3.7
(6)HIST300
3.5
(2)Difficulty by Course
HIST407
4.8
HIST112
4.0
HIST492K
4.0
HIST108
4.0
HIST478
3.5
Reviews (105)
Let me just say that this is the worst teacher I have EVER had in my whole four years at USC. She doesn't lecture and expects you to know about US history before 1945 before you come into the class! That is why I signed up for this class! To learn about it b/c I don't know! She is terrible and expects way too much! Really hard grader-DON'T TAKE HER
Marsh is a VERY hard grader. She tells you what your papers need to be about and questions to base them on, but then once they are graded she butchers them! They aren't at all what she wanted. Very hard to understand what she wants. This class really isn't about history since 1945 it is about how to read and understand documents. This class sucked!
I am a history major and this class was the hardest class I have ever taken. The title of the class was history since 1945 but do not expect to learn anything about that time period. The only thing you will learn is how to do source analysis in her way. She will not help with anything and will tell the class that she has never taught a lecture.
I took her for honors 112 & I wouldn't recommend it. She is a nice lady & cares a lot about history but expects way too much for an intro class. There are lots of projects and tests are all essays. If you absolutely LOVE history, go for it. If not, find someone easier.
This course will change the way you think critically about almost everything. I found that this course was the most useful I've taken in college so far, because of its real world applications. She teaches you not to take any information for face value and to evaluate the reliability of information. This will make you a better informed individual.
Horrible teacher. I took at 400 level history class before this one. the professor that taught that class was the author of the history boI had to write a 8 page paper for that class
Horrible teacher. I took a 400 level history class. The professor was the author of our history book. We had to write a 8 page paper in that class and I got an A. In Dr.Marsh's class, I wrote 3 papers and could never get above a C. Don't take her if you can!!!!!!!!!
Wow! RateMyProf 101: take most comments with a grain of salt :) Dr. Marsh is an excellent professor who grades hard but fairly and *gasp!* expects you to attend class having read the required reading and ready to partake & learn, not just sit in a chair and turn your brain off. If you want to learn, not just skim, take Dr. Marsh's class(es).
I was expecting for this class to be very hard based off of the reviews, but it wasn't so bad. 40% of the grade is based off of 4-5 papers, so if you're not good at writing papers I wouldn't suggest her.
Terrible teacher. Lectures are almost impossible to follow, no idea what to take notes for. Class is all papers and they are graded pretty strictly. Would never recommend this teacher.
Class isn't that bad. Majority of your grade is based on papers which aren't that hard. Not a bad class to take
Her syllabus acts as a study guide and everything you'll have to know for exams. Go to the lectures and your discussion sections. She does not put notes online, but she her lectures are very interesting
This class is your typical history class. You get to choose 4 out of 7 papers to right throughout the semester. Don't wait until the end to write them. Her syllabus acts as a study guide for the midterm and final. Never read the books and pulled out a B in the class. The class can go either way, no one person's opinion can prepare you for it.
Dr. Marsh treats this class as if you are a fifth year, pHd in history student. Its an intro level history class but clearly she doesn't recognize that. The lectures are pointless; no attendance taken and no tests on the material. Grade is based on whether you can write a paper EXACTLY how she wants it and on whether you talk or not in recitation.
The online class is a ridiculouss amount of work. The most work I ever had to do in a class at USC, and im not even a history major. Its fine to make a good grade as long as u do all the work. don't take the class if u don't have room for something time consuming. otherwise, would recommend it
The lectures are almost optional. They are interesting but often had little to do with the papers. She assigned 9 papers for the semester. You have to do 5 and you can do a 6th for extra credit. If you get your papers out of the way early and you participate in discussion you can't get below a B. Your discussion group effort is the most important.
Avoid this class and this professor. No tests, but you have a ton of papers. She assigns ten throughout the semester, you only have to do five but they are graded extremely harsh. Class is pretty much mandatory, and must participate in recitation. She could care less if you get a good grade in her class. Not what a teacher is for if you ask me.
Her lectures are extremely boring. If you show up to class 10 seconds after 8:30 she won't let you sign in, way to difficult of a grader for an intro level class.
I showed up twice and got an A. She makes you sign in but attendance doesn't effect grade. The class is based on 5 essays you right over the semester, and have nothing to do with the class. No one goes to lecture. Just write the papers the way she want you to and this class is an easy A
Dr. Marsh is an okay lecturer who is passionate about the material. She lead our discussion one time and it was great. The problem with the class is the disconnect between the material in lecture and what the essays are on. Also, who you have as a TA will be more important than Dr. Marsh, since they do most of the student interaction.
Foremost: who you get as your TA will heavily influence your grade. Make sure you participate in each discussion. My advice is to get those 5 papers done as soon as possible, so you don't have to worry about them later. There is a disconnect between lecture material and discussion. I actually stopped going to lecture after I finished the papers.
Her lectures are pretty much pointless. Almost all the grades are based on 5 essays (out of a possible 10) and discussion which counts for 5%. However, the lectures she gives don't really correspond with the papers and most of the information she gives is useless. If you do fairly well on the papers and attend discussion, its an easy A.
10/10 would never recommend her!!!!!! at least not for an online class. This class was 30 discussion posts, 15 short answer quizzes, and 4 papers over 6 weeks. And everything is graded extremely harshly. There is way to much material that she expects us to complete within the week for a 100-level class and 5 other 400-level classes. HATE HER
Do NOT take this class online. There is WAY too much to do in only 6 weeks of class. You have to write 4 long papers and million discussion boards. She's very strict on the discussion board responses. Not only are you expected to read the chapters (there's 15 question SA questions for each chapter) but she also assigns long readings for the posts
No test and no final in this class but attendance is mandatory or your grade drops. Your grade is based off of 5 papers and participation. You meet twice in a giant lecture hall then once in a small group with a TA. She is an incredibly rude woman and wants things done exactly how she wants them done so avoid her if you can an only talk to the TA.
BEWARE, this is the toughest online class I have ever had. And I took 2 winter session courses that lasted for 3 weeks, still wasn't as much as this class. Not an easy subject so not an easy class. If I could, I would have just taken it in person. Sounds like she's a little more lenient.
You are graded by five papers out of eleven. The prompts suck and they take forever. Also the lectures are a waste of time and the TAs grade everything so pray you get a good one. The discussion classes are the only time you even learn. But if you get your work done early and do the creative assignments it's a pretty easy A if you show up and talk.
Lecture isnt required at all. No one ever showed up to it. Dr. Marsh just talks the whole time and is kind of full of herself. Discussion classes are easy just participate at least once and youll be good. Theres no tests or exams!! Youre graded on weekly discussions and 5 writing assignments.
attendance was not mandatory for lecture, but for the discussion class that we had to go to was mandatory, and if you miss more than three times, you get an entire letter grade dropped.
easy history class if you do the work (which is not a lot at all) and attend the discussion portion of this class. lecture information was not used at all and going was not mandatory.
Entire grade is based on 5 papers out of 11 essay options and participation in discussion groups. Don't bother going to lecture, they have little to nothing to do with the papers. Professor doesn't really matter considering both your essay and participation grades are determined by the TA.
This can be an easy GPA booster. You don't actually have to show up to lecture, I went to the actual lecture maybe 5 times throughout all the times the class met. Essay prompts are boring, but make sure to put effort in them, they are 60% of your total grade. Go to discussion section and participate, they actually help you with the essays.
Grades are based on 5 papers, discussion posts, and discussion attendance/ participation. In the discussion sessions, we often discussed the prompt for the next week's paper. I felt like the grading criteria for the papers were very vague and easy to miss the mark on. Overall I feel like the class is a little rigorous for a 100's level course.
Attendance wasn't mandatory, which was nice. However, even having a lecture for this class was utterly pointless because when I actually did attend, the topics had little to nothing to do with the papers. 11 papers are assigned, and 5 are required. Weekly discussion posts that are very vague - essay topics extremely boring
The content of this course is very interesting. Museums are vital to history and cultural education. The projects were meaningful and really made you think. There is a lot more reading and time required than you may assume at first glance since the modules have multiple assignments--some include an entire book. Do not procrastinate. Set goals!
Poor professor dont even know how to communicate with students. Will never ever take class with this professor again.. wack
I am currently in this class as an online class. I have quickly learned that the grading is harsh and there is an extremely large workload every week. There is one module a week that includes multiple discussion board questions, and you are required to reply to many classmates. There are also 4 major writing assignments and 5 small assignments.
It's so much work and she is not helpful, doesn't provide any clear rubric and grades very harshly. This is suppose to be a fun and engaging class and she makes it so overwhelming and throws random topics at you. She doesn't understand that the quality of the work is more important than quantity and students are afraid to even ask her any question.
I am currently taking this class as online. Let me say the professor herself is not very involved at all. She has a TA do all the grading and feedback and grades harshly. It could be a very well written paper and she will not give you full credit simply because she does not agree with you. She will give you feedback based on her opinion.
I'm taking this class online right now and I would not recommend it to anyone. The TA is the hardest grader ever and gives absolutely no feedback besides saying she doesn't like your paper/it isn't good. Good luck getting an A or even a B. The modules are so much reading and work and even the discussion posts are graded harshly. Drop this class.
Worst class I have ever taken at USC. She grades so harshly and the assignments are all insanely hard. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. Thinks that this class is a class for major and makes the work load extremely heavy.
I have just read the previous reviews about this professor and I disagree. I think that when you take an online class, it is to be expected that there are a lot of readings and a lot of work, because you need to make up for missed class time. Fair class, should get an A if you just put in the effort. Definitely is time consuming.
If you are NOT a history major and you're looking for an easy class, this ain't it chief. Not only is the workload intense, but the due dates are purposely scattered to make the class more challenging. Professor Marsh doesn't grade or communicate with students, only the TAs. More work than its worth. There's easier online classes out there.
The TAs do everything for this class. Professor Marsh is rude & is demeaning to her students. If you ask a simple question, you are berated & given a response as if you are stupid. Papers are graded unreasonably harsh. Do not take this class with this teacher. I have an A in all my hard major classes, & this is probably going to be my lowest grade.
She piles on work based on short videos & long, irrelevant readings, yet expects us to completely MASTER each topic. The TA's grade the work in a timely-but biased-manner, offering no clear criteria for what is required to pass. They should rename the course History/Grammar because I've lost more points from minor punctuation errors than accuracy.
Do not take this class whatsoever. The setup of this class is horrible and very scattered. For the discussion boards you have to come up with blackboard style test questions based on long videos. They grade super harshly even though none of us are teachers and don't make up test questions regularly. She honestly doesn't do anything, the TA grades
I truly regret taking this class. I have more work for this class than my other 4 combined. All of the readings and videos are ridiculously long. It's nearly impossible to master all of the concepts because there is just too much. A lot of work is unnecessary. She does not grade, only the TAs do, and I get little to no feedback on everything.
Please please PLEASE don't take this class. This class literally made me want to throw myself into incoming traffic. Marsh is rude and degrading and the workload is absolutely insane. Like 8-10 hours of work a week insane. The grading is harsh and terrible. Don't even take a chance taking this class despite the reviews because you will regret it.
I was so wrong when I thought this would be an easy online course, it's so much work for a simple carolina core class. Huge amount of readings. I never really got bad grades on anything like others have said, and I personally thought the assignments and papers werent very hard, theres just so many of them which is what made the class so difficult.
I took the class online and it wasn't that bad. However, it all depends on who your TA is. Mine was awesome and answered all my questions. Your grade is made up of 4 writing assignments (they're easy), 5 textbook assignments (the book can be found online), A LOT of discussion posts, and the final.
Do not take this class if you are looking for an easy class to do for Carolina Core credit. The modules are the main substance of the course and you will spend hours and hours each week completing the discussions and making comments yet they are one of the smallest portions of your grade. The grading scale inevitable ruins your grade.
HIST 108 is by far the worst classes I've taken. Discussion posts were a giant waste of time for how little they impact your overall grade. What makes it worse is that while they took HOURS on end to complete, the 4 essays you have to write are worth FORTY PERCENT of your grade. You have to be a writing expert if you expect to make an A. Don't take
The worst course Ive taken at this institution. For the love of God, dont take this class. You can submit a detailed, accurate assignment and receive a zero with no feedback provided. The professor is obnoxiously rude, only addressing the class to inform us that she will be on some trip and cannot reply to our emails. TAs grade ridiculously hard.
Perhaps the rudest and most condescending professor I have ever had. She grades unfairly and unreasonably, and treats her students disrespectfully. Very disappointed in USC for hiring her. Heavier workload and more stressful than my graduate level classes. Do yourself a favor and take Professor Risk, November, or Vandriel instead.
Hist 108 online was the worst class Ive taken so far at USC. The professor and the TA (Bethany) were terrible graders, & offered little to no feedback. The final exam is a joke, impossible to pass unless you somehow have mastered literally everything. TA for some reason gave the boys higher grades, even if the assignments were very similar.
Everything is graded by the TA. All we would do is watch crash course videos then do discussion posts about them. I didn't gain much from this course and it was made far more difficult than it should have been. The way she grades material doesn't make much sense. The final exam is stupid and caused a lot of students to do bad in the class.
You need to work for the grade you want. She is a wonderful and intelligent professor. This class is very involved, and there is a lot of work. DO NOT procrastinate, you will NOT do well. She was always available through email. I loved this class, but I understand it is not for everyone. I loved getting to know Dr. Marsh, she's great.
This class is the most ridiculous class I have taken in my life. For a 100 level history classic and for non-history majors, the work required is outrageous. The grading criteria is absolutely absurd as well. I thought I had and A when the course was over but ended with a B+ because of the grading scale she decided to use. I would never recommend.
I'm currently taking the class and I am not the biggest fan of Professor Marsh. She uploads an unreasonable amount of readings and videos every week and you have to do discussion posts on all of them. It is nearly impossible to get good grades and I'm not actually learning anything in the course.
She is very good with responding to emails and questions and the work is very straightforward.
I really like her. I am taking her winter session and it is so well set up and easy to follow along. Its a lot of work but they are all small tasks if you space it our right its super easy. She gives great feedback, sometimes it funny.
I was worried from previous reviews but did not find this class terrible. I took this class to fulfill a history requirement and aside from the amount of work, did not have any problems. She graded fairly and will discuss the grades if you email her. If you turn in everything on time and do the work required you should be fine.
I took Professor Marsh's class as an accelerated course, so the work was a bit more fast paced. The class is almost similar to a public speaking course, but online. You do a lot of speeches that you record and then watch other students. There are guest speakers every Thursday so you really only have to participate on Tuesdays.
She give us unreasonable amount of readings and no reason to read to be honest.
Dont take this class unless if youre very skilled at analysis and writing. Dr. Marsh gives little to no information on assignments and will berate you if you dont do the readings. She gives too much work and expects her students to get it all done in a few days. Would highly recommend taking another class that satisfies the AIU credit.
Dr. Marsh was an amazing prof! I took her online for Public Hist and it was an accelerated course online. So it was a 3 hour lecture on Tuesday and Thursday online but ended Oct.4. Lectures are so interesting if your class communicates. Participation is graded and if u dont talk u dont get points. Fair amount of assignments but fair grader.
Its an accelerated course so obv theres gonna be alot of work but her and the TA grade so ridiculously rn theyre rude, and they have a million discussion posts out of 8, & u always get some type of points off with no explanation like why do i have a 7.6 just give me an 8!it seems like they do not want people to do well and are rude if u email them
Report you for everything
Skip the class if you're a history major. It's a speech-heavy survey class without much content. We got some cool speakers but the class is 2.5 hours online so I zoned out. Marsh is nice but uses a weird grading scale and her deadlines are in at noon with no late submissions. Easy A if you remember to turn things in but it felt like wasted credits.
The workload is unreasonable, and the feedback given on assignments is nonexistent. When feedback is provided, it is incredibly vague and sometimes even condescending. As a result, you have no idea how to gauge what needs to be improved upon. Do not take this course.
She is the worst. Is really condescending in her emails, the TA is a the worst. Would not recommend her at all. She expects too much out of a half semester class.
The material is interesting, but if you are a procrastinator then I would avoid this class. This was a condensed course with an extensive amount of work. I wouldn't consider the class "hard", more time-consuming. Professor Marsh did not provide her own lecture videos, we learned via crash course videos. An interesting class that needs improvement.
I did more work for this class than my major classes, all busy work. The grading system never seemed to make sense, and the TA was not helpful in her grading. The TA grades everything and you'll almost never receive a perfect score. The amount of crash course videos for this course is unreal. I wouldn't recommend to literally anyone.
This was an accelerated course and it had a lot of information. History is not my strongest subject but this class was an easy A if you did all of your work and participated once each meeting. For meetings, you just had to talk once to get credit for participation for that day. I highly recommended this course.
Dr. Marsh is an amazing professor, it seems like she gives a lot of work but most of it are videos. Very easy content to follow with a lot of good information, she also provides very clear and good feedback for all of the assignments she gives. I would recommend taking her course 100%
Dr. Marsh is a good person, and I like her teaching style, but if you're taking an accelerated course with her, get ready to have assignments 24/7. It's not really reading heavy, but you've gotta make sure you participate and meet things at the due date. She is understanding, but does not accept late work by any circumstances.
This was bar far the worst teacher and class I have ever taken at USC. Whatever you do, do not ever take this professor. She does not teach anything and none of the material you learn from is hers. She makes you watch Crash Course videos to learn. All of the discussions are boring and annoying. WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT TAKE THIS TEACHER!!!!!
Professor Marsh assigns a ridiculous amount of homework each week. The content is made up of readings and crash course videos. Discussion posts on every reading/video and she takes points off but is not clear on the reason for taking points off. Tried emailing her about my grade on an assignment and she was very rude. Do not take her!
Oh my lord. I am a very hard-working student in Honors, and Dr. Marsh makes me feel stupid. Not in an impressive way, in a condescending and rude way. All assignments are busy work, and impossible to get 100% on. Very angry that I have gotten A+s in classes more difficult than this one. Horrendous and picky grading. Find another teacher. Please.
The three week version of this course is brutal and really shouldn't be taken alongside anything else. The professor is pretty rude over email, and points are taken off without explanation, even on major assignments. If you're looking for an easy interesting history class, this isn't it.
Do not take the three week summer course if you can. It is not worth it especially if you have other classes. Be prepared to spend 7+ hours per day only on history. You learn the entire course from crash course videos which are not very informative. She also grades discussions harshly and will not tell you why she took points off.
Terrible teacher do not recommend.
Do not take her accelerated 3 week ENCP 103 course. Bad professor and makes things up. Does not abide by the syllabus. Would not recommend taking her at all.
Took her for ENCP 103 accelerated course. I would not take her ever. She makes things up in class, does not follow the syllabus, takes points off for doing your work right, and is sexist. There is a lot of reading but you could get by, by reading summaries. DO NOT TAKE HER!
Save yourself and do not take this professor!
I got roped into the class thinking it was cool she used crash course videos. However, I quickly realized she's a horrible teacher and is essentially using her students as her research. Way too many assignments and readings. Grades discussion posts harshly and they all have the same prompt. Don't take this class.
Literally no flexibility, I turned something in 7 minutes late and got a zero for it. She does make her expectations clear at the beginning, but also doesn't really teach anything. She just comes up with discussion post questions that are all kinda the same and has three writing assignments for you to do. In the end, you don't really learn anything
over the top with busy work and too many videos and readings. In the online course, she doesn't have exams or quizzes because she thinks students like doing 10 discussion responses per week. Overall if you take her online you will be stuck each week with lots of busy work and trying to create a "meaningful" response to another student's post.
I usually take these with a grain of salt which is why I took this professor even though her ratings were terrible. BIGGEST MISTAKE I HAVE MADE IN MY THREE YEARS AT USC. This professor is genuinely horrendous. This is a 100 level class and by the amount of work she gives you its like it's a 400 level class. She doesn't care about any student.
The worst class I have ever taken in my life. She does not assign any quizzes or exams only discussion posts, writing assignments, and journal entries. She will assign you 14 things in one week and they aren't easy. What should have been my easiest class was my hardest. Getting run over would be less painful than taking this class with her again.
I usually don't look at ratings for online profs bc it's mostly on ur own, and it really bit me in the butt for this class. 10x the work of any other class I have taken (biochem major), firm deadlines, if you don't work ahead and extremely efficiently, good luck. Also does not teach a single thing and couldn't care less about her students.
I seriously don't know why there are so many 1 stars. Yes, she did assign the most work I have ever had for an asynchronous class. However, as long as you complete the assignments on time and put effort into the class, you will do well.
She only uses Crash Course videos, which is good sometimes but better hope you learn that way. I no longer can listen to Hank Green. Grading is super strict. There's modules with multiple discussion posts and writing assignments. It is very repetitive and a lot of thinking. For a class where I just needed a history credit, it brought me down a lot
I know that this is an online class so it requires more work but watching/reading 2-4 videos/articles for 8-12 discussion boards a week is not something anyone wants to do. It's very time consuming creating questions and then revising another students question. I would rather take exams in this class because I feel like I learned nothing.
Be ready for a million discussion posts. Not really that difficult just really time consuming and pointless honestly. Do your work and should be an easy A but just a really stupid class in general.
Kind of late, but I took her accelerated ENCP 103 in the summer of 2023. She grades really harshly and does not accept late work at all. Gave us a lot of reading materials daily, often shot down opinions, and her rebuttals to our responses often were, "Well, I have a friend who is a ____ Engineer, and they would disagree. "
Dont understand all the harsh reviews. Yeah, some of the modules couldve been a bit shorter, but theyre not hard. You just have to make time for this class. 95% of the work is: watching a crash course video, creating a test question about it, and responding to peers. I think these people just dont like the async format? I feel like i learned a lot.
I did every tedious thing (A LOT OF WORK).TA would not give me full credit on ANYTHING. I barely had a B doing EVERY bit required and then some. I met with Marsh, did not help/care how her TA's graded. Dropped it for a "W". A waste of time,effort & money. DO NOT TAKE unless you want to work harder than any other class and yet bring down your GPA.
This class was hard and challenging, but she was super helpful if you were confused at all and was easy to get in contact with outside of class. She wants her students to succeed, and I loved the class dynamic. Just get prepared to read and practice time management; don't wait around to do assignments. DOES NOT ACCEPT LATE WORK unless a good excuse
Marsh isn't likable, but she created a valuable HIST300 course. All assignments had a purpose & she taught the tools historians need. Marsh had a belittling demeanor, casting a shadow over the overall learning experience. Grading is unclear because "rubrics are worthless". In the end, course was valuable & I wouldn't avoid recommending this class.
HIST108 with Allison Marsh is challenging but rewarding. The workload is heavy, with lots of discussion posts and writing assignments. However, if you stay on top of the work and use helpful study tools like Unstuck ai, you can succeed. An engaging class that requires dedication.
I took an online Hit108 with her over the summer. She assigned more work in those three weeks then I would be assigned in the entire semester of semester long courses. Her grading doesn't make any sense and it is very hit or miss, and it is hard to understand why you're losing points. Don't recommend unless you want to devote your life to her class
She honestly gives us assignments on Wikipedia and no one in the class understands. She is not that clear with instructions and her class is very discussion based.
It is Dr. Marsh's first time teaching the WGST class and she is doing an outstanding job! We do a lot of reading, but it is all very interesting and we do discussions on the readings every class. I always look forward to coming! We also are writing a Wikipedia article over the semester. She is super easy to reach, and just make sure to participate!
She isn't a bad person, you can tell she really cares about the class and her students. The class itself though is SO boring. Attendance and participation MATTERS. She also is the only WGST professor who makes you do wikipedia, which is where you write an article and assignments due throughout the semester. Id take the class again but dif professor
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
28%
Textbook Required
7%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
+0.08 avg changeRatings by Course
HIST492K
5.0
(1)HIST478
4.0
(2)WGST112
4.0
(2)HIST214
3.7
(6)HIST300
3.5
(2)Difficulty by Course
HIST407
4.8
HIST112
4.0
HIST492K
4.0
HIST108
4.0
HIST478
3.5