2.3
Quality3.5
Difficulty17%
Would Retake134
Reviews17%
Would Retake
134
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
21
4
14
3
18
2
28
1
53
What Students Say
“This teacher doesn't care about their students”
339U - 1.0 rating“Quizzes are very confusing, and she gives no feedback”
399U - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
65%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.24 avg changeRatings by Course
INTROWIN
5.0
(1)INTIMSOC
5.0
(1)SOCMIN
5.0
(1)MARFAM
5.0
(1)SOC410
4.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
SW337
5.0
339U
4.1
SOC101
4.0
SOCMIN
4.0
SOC399U
4.0
Reviews (134)
First day of class I thought maybe she was just having a REALLY bad day... but her attitude did not approve. She also uses an extremely biased text, not what you'd expect in a sociology class.
Took Minorities from her. Easy class if you do the reading, but overall not an exciting teacher. She can be a very mean woman at times.
Teacher is lame!! I would recomend taking the class from anyone else. The information is presented in a way that makes you fall asleep. I probably would have slept more if we were not in the damn cinemas with the uncomfortable seats.
has extremely biased opinions, glosses over many things, is unclear and has a chip on her shoulder when it comes to family sociology
No Comments
These people just like to complain a lot if you think about it if bias is a word that people use to say my opinion was not projected by the instructor. Well what I have to say to you is if you want to hear YOU opinion listen to the evening news
She is there to teach material and not offer he horrible opinons. IF you can avoid taking classes from her. Anyone else would be better!!!
I have taken two classes from her. The only thing you are graded on are the midterms and final. If you don't take the online class, you're also graded on attendance. She definately is not a warm approachable instructor. I always held my breath before asking questions hoping I wouldn't get a rude res
This was the easiest class I've ever taken. I've taken a normal class from her, which was not so great. She isn't very nice or friendly, but this online course was a cake walk. I Highly recommend.
I really enjoyed this course. She is a really nice teacher and likes to joke around. It was super easy and what do you expect it is only an INTRO class. She is an approachable person, and very helpful.
.... :)
Extremely unhelpful, even adversarial.
I hated this class, but it was easy. Carol is often rude to students, which makes it hard to find the strength to ask a question. Maybe she should stick to online courses because she has a terrible way of making students feel like they are a nuisance.
It's an intro class, so it's hard to know how much of the class I don't like because it was boring and easy, and how much I don't like because of Prof. Holdt. I asked her if I could come to her office hours, and she preferred I use email instead. The one day of class (partially online course) each week is a painful summary of the text.
just dont take her class. youll know this meaning if yu take her class.
Basically shes one of the worst professors i've had up til now
This was a WebCT class. Very poor use of it as a discussion tool. Exams were in class but otherwise never interacted with others. The textbook was *AWFUL*: filled with pure opinion about the chauvinist American culture that exists only to keep the poor powerless, and few actual facts. The authors aren't poor, though: the book was $50 used!
Web ct course. I didn't get to know her. Tons of reading!! Often 100+ pages a week. Question come directly from text. Easy A.
Had her for an online course and thought she was fair. There was a ton of reading but most of it was pretty interesting. When we met as a class for tests she seemed really nice.
Don't take her class. Carol did provide interesting readings but I found her to be an absolute horrible person and a terrible/harsh grader. She is very rude and assumes that she is always right. She seemed nice enough in class but I found her to be fake. Don't take this class.
Blackboard class, focused on readings. Quizzes weekly and group discussion questions weekly. She engaged very well with the online questions, and seemed friendly. The textbook was an absolute joke, incredibly biased, and even used Wikipedia as it's reference. C'mon. Wikipedia? I paid $80.00 for something I could have gotten for free?
This teacher is extremely rude. The information is very interesting and would probably be a great class if not for the instructor.
Online class, but Carol is super rude! and not helpful at all, her TAs are nice however, they should be teaching the class. Inconsistent grading, I do not recommend taking this class by her.
not a good teacher, not a nice person, i really enjoy soc, but she and her book ruined what could have been a really interesting class. wish i would have checked here before i took the class.
Whatever you do, DON'T TAKE a class with this woman. She is not clear or stable. Her descriptions and wording are way too vague. She puts everybody at her mercy.
Don't take her. For the online class, she heavily relies on TA's who grade harshly and unfairly. She makes a class that should be somewhat interesting and straightforward difficult and just purely a drag.
This is an online class, and I would not suggest students take it. There is TONS of reading. There are weekly quizzes, posts, and responses on a strict schedule. There is a midterm, final, and interview project. All of the course directions are unclear. If you can, take this class with someone else! Save yourself the frustration and the headache!
Pretty lame TA and grading. Suck up and don't innovate. Lame class.
Typical PSU sociology professor that spends too much time pushing white guilt on her students. Sorry, but I'm not ashamed of my heritage, and am not buying into white guilt. Biased text promoted hyper-feminist-Marxist ideals, attacking traditional family, marriage, and spirituality. Prof is rude, combative, progressive, liberal, and intolerant.
i can see how some students dont have an easy time with this class. Be prepared to make this class 75% of your life. The book not only is VERY old, but is VERy biased! Pretty much slams African Americans, Women and Marriage. I would take this class IF you have time to do LOTS of reading
Teacher was a joke, TAs did all the work. Too much reading and unfair grading, save the time and money!
Not much by way of lecture, not too willing to work with students, too much reliance on an imperfect computer system. Seems like the TA does most of the work, TA is great.
Average reading to be expected for a 4 credit class even though it was taken online. Teacher is responsive to questions, although discussions are led by TA's. Quizes/tests were all straightforward and doable. Just stay on top of reading/discussions and class should be relatively easy.
An Easy A class. The reading and discussions are very straight forward. I would recommend this class. The quizzes are also very easy, she told you which chapter they're on and had 2 tries to get as many correct answers as possible. Essay questions are very easy too.
Terrible professor! I would not recommend ANYONE take her even as a last resort!
Really straight forward teaching style. Not heavy on course work, especially compared to other 4 credit classes. Quick response time from instructor and TA's both and seemed to be good communication between them also.
Ridiculous class. I didn't understand her assignment. It was unclear. She didn't give any example at all. Don't take this class. She has a high expectation. It was just too strict! We're just a student. We can't do the same as her. I won't take her again in the future.
took this course online, she let TA did all the work. Tons of reading every week, unclear on the writing assignment. Weekly quiz is easy though. The TA I had grades harshly, I didn't even know what grading guide she was using. Will not recommend to take this class.
She has about 4 TA's that grade the students assigments. Both the TA and teacher are very helpful when you are seeking clarification on an assignment. She gives you 2 chances of doing your quiz and records your highter score! One disadvantage is that she is super EXTRICT!! and a perfectionist! The TA is really hard at grading. I don't recommend her
I started out excited for this class. The reading is manageable, but the grading is harsh with no explanation of why you received the grades. The paper assignments are not clear and graded super harshly. You have to fight for a C, which is ridiculous. I wouldn't recommend her class. I wish I would have read these comments before taking it.
This instructor has TA's grading all you're work and the TA's are harsh graders. If you dispute it with the teacher, she will just back up her TA's. Very unhelpful and unfair grading. Don't take the class and waste you're money!!! This is by far the worst instructor and class I have ever taken in college.
Very fun and interesting course to take. Those who complain about this course are apparently not putting any effort forth because just spending the 4-6 hours a week got me a strong A and loved my TA...
PSU might as well just hire the TA's as instructors to teach the class because Holdt didn't do anything all term. Assigns quite a bit of work each week and makes the TA's grade the work and answer questions about everything. She makes this class way harder than it should be.
I'm surprised to see all of the negative comments here. Yes, much of the course is handled by TAs-it's a big class! But Carol was always quick to respond to questions and concerns about the material, and would sincerely consider what I had to say. This class is not extremely difficult, but you do have to put some time into it.
I took this course online and really enjoyed it. The syllabus was straight forward and the work was very manageable. There are weekly discussions and quizzes due (you get two chances to take the quizzes and she takes the higher score) and only two exams. I enjoyed the class immensely and would recommend it to anyone.
Easiest class ever, no joke. Weekly quizzes (two chances to take them and one is dropped), weekly discussions that are extremely manageable. Everything is graded by TAs, but Holdt provides students with the TA guidelines so we know exactly what to expect. I got 100% on nearly everything.
Fairly straightforward class (web)weekly discussions, one quiz each week, two attempts at it. Interesting course work, only she doesn't write quizzes uses preset ones that come with the software. Several times, statistics had not been dated since last edition, so questions were wrong and she seemed irritated with students when this was pointed out.
I have taken two online classes from Carol. She is very clear, and the coursework is light. I was not a big fan of this class itself (minorities) but that was more my lack of interest than Carol's fault.
Marriage and families was a great class. Super easy if you just read the chapters and follow the simple posting instructions. I got an A online. Quizzes straightforward. TA's and instructor and understandig and helpful.
Clear, straightforward professor. Responds to emails quickly. Easy course but lots of "busy work." TA's grade almost everything, but mine was really helpful. I'd recommend this class if you need to get UNST stuff done.
Must post once and respond to at least 2 other posts each week and they have to be complete and thorough to get full credit, so you'll have to be online at least twice a week. If you focus and study, you'll do fine. Carol and her TA's are very helpful.
Carol has the patience of a saint. She took a lot of unnecessary flack from students that she never really complained about. TA's grade work, and grade hard, no late work is accepted, no matter the excuse. Lots of reading and a difficult test every week. Used MySocLab but will not use in the future, this was a lot of the problem with the class.
There was a lot of work each week and sometimes I just couldn't keep up. I like the weekly quizzes but some ask details that are kind of ridiculous to know without looking at the book. Not much explanation or feedback on grades.
format unnecessarily complicated. Rather than test overall understanding of the subject; tested on quirky notations w/in text. Questions that are subjective and unclear e.g. multiple choice fill in the blank answers that read- (a) few (b) very few (c) slightly (d) slightly more. Unless you remember the exact verbiage cited can’t answer that.
Awful. TAs run the class, but you basically "teach" yourself. Easy, but you don't learn anything you can't get from Dr. Phil. Grading system unnecessarily confusing, discussion outlines confusing. Also instructor is self-serving by making students read a dissertation she wrote like 20 years ago. Take a different U class.
There is always a lot more work in online courses (more reading and writing), but if you actually do what is assigned you should have no trouble receiving an A in the class. I found the class super interesting and really learned a lot. Instructor was great for me not having ever actually talked to her in person, fair, & answered questions fast.
Awful. I do not recommend this professor to anyone. Very confusing, not helpful, could read the book myself and get more out it. Confusing instructions.
very confusing instructions. I do not recommend this instructor to anyone. It seems all online classes at PSU are lacking, they really need to look into doing something about this
I have been in 5 terms of online courses, until now I had not yet had one that I could not do well in. This course demands approximately 20 hours of time a week, more than a normal online course. The tests are erroneous and focus on details in the text that are contradicted on another page. Poor Text Selection, Do Not Recommend this Instructor!
Wonderful! I have taken multiple classes with this professor and received As in all. If you do not like reading, do not take this course. All quizzes open book so, if you read, you're fine!
Loved this class! Organized extremely well and I learned a lot. Expectations were clear, not overwhelming at all. No papers, weekly discussion post and 2 responses, a weekly quiz, plus a midterm and final. The readings were a chapter each week and they were really interesting. Great TA as well, very encouraging. Received an A!
I'm confused with all of the bad reviews. This was a great class. 1 post and 2 responses a week. 1 quiz per week, midterm and a final. No papers. Reading was one chapter a week (20-30 pages). Great TA and a very empowering class. I usually completed all of the work in an afternoon then did my responses later in the week. Got a high A
I was put off by the bad reviews, but now that I've finished the class I can say that I'm glad I took it. Super easy. Clear weekly deadline. Easy grading. I wish all my OL classes were this easy and relaxed.
Expectations are very clear. Grading done by a very specific rubric so it's easy to know how to get an A. I usually ace discussion posts, but the first post I didn't get full points and had to review the guidelines. Really interesting material, good TAs. Open book tests, so if you have done the reading you can easily get an A. STRICT deadlines.
Syllabus and professor expectations do not match. Policies made up in the middle of quarter! Same curriculum for over 2 years! Easy A for students, not so much for the TA's! Follow directions and DO NOT DEVIATE OR ELSE! Strict guidelines and deadlines, must cite book every time, essay questions on exam tough! Paraphrase book + add citationsA
If you read the chapters before hand and keep the book open while you take the quizzestest then you will do fine. My main issue is with the TA's grading. I always get A's on any papers I write. My essays on the exams were not graded appropriately. I would have preferred for the professor to grade my essays.
No interaction with students; TAs do ALL the grading. Outdated book. Very obvious theories and nothing insightful or beyond common knowledge. TAs grade easy. Weekly discussions and 30 question quizzes; midterm and final are longer but that's it - clear grading criteria. Overall, okay, dry, boring, easy. Recommend online book for easy searching.
Carol is an amazing professor, she is very helpful and her teacher aides are awesome too. You need to read the material and take tests that can be very specific about the concept, but it is open book of course, just takes time. Online discussions allow you to speak with a few of your classmates as well, overall a good class.
Took Carols class online last term. Very clear expectations, if you do the assignments you'll pass no problem. She can be very direct which can come off as rude through email, but I never had an issue. She does not put up with excuses, do you work and you will do fine in the class.
The TAs grade everything and they grade everything very harshly. I have never been near not passing a class before, but she makes this class impossible. You can view the class averages on grades for the discussion assignments and the class averages were below 50% on almost every discussion assignment, which are the bulk of the grade.
One of the difficulties in this class, in general, is that the expectations have not been explicit. There is no published grading rubric so as a student, I have guessed all term about what I should do to get a good grade. Go above and beyond doesnt tell me what exactly I need to do to excel in the course. This class is horrible! Don't take her!
This class is ridiculous, I have never been in a class where I'm nearly not passing. The teacher gives a lot of work and thinks that this is the only class that students are taking. TAs and her grade very harshly and don't give much feedback. Read all the other post, we recommend you to not take this class online with this professor!!
So this class has very clear outlines for what is expected each week, however it is week 5 and we JUST got our quiz grades this week and appears a lot of people weren't expecting such low grades. Not sure if professor or TAs are doing the grading, but it was not clear feedback/very minimal. Very disappointed.
She responds email pretty quickly, however, you might not get the answer of what you're looking for because all she will tell you to look at the syllabus. That's an absolutely annoying thing most of the time!! As an online professor, she should have prepared some PPT or notes for the class! Don't ever take her class! She should give more efforts!
This is the worst online class I have ever taken here. She put forth no effort to teach us. There is no powerpoint or lecture notes to correspond with the quizzes. There are 2 quizzes every week and on one there is an open ended question. You will NEVER get full credit for this and the feedback for why you didn't is HORRID. Don't take this class.
Don't! Take this class! I am an A student and couldn't get an A in this class to save my life. I wouldn't be surprised if I never received credit for any of my essay answers on the quizzes or exams, but I will never know, because she didn't offer any feedback at all. This is the perfect example of a class and teacher that sets you up for failure
WORST PROF EVER! I am also an A student & did not do well despite the MANY hours I put in! This class is required by the university for me to graduate- irrelevant towards my career. She is VERY rude & inconsiderate. I would write a long essay basically for each weekly "discussion" post & still get low scores. Ex: receiving 2/3 on post is 66%
This class took up so much time! You have a quiz each week. A mid term with no feed back on what was right or wrong! Final, you got the score and that was it. You have no idea what you did or didn't understand due to no feedback. I feel that the points system she has is not good! points possible weekly was 3, yet if you got 2/3 points it was a 66%!
I did not like this teacher whatsoever. this is one of the two worst teachers I've ever had. She gives weekly readings that are extensive then uses multiple answer questions that are very tricky and when you get one of the multiple answers wrong, you get no points; most give partial credit; not her. She is unrealistic and uncooperative. :(:(:(
The quizzes and exams, while multiple choice, were frustratingly deceptive. Also, her timeline requirements for the online course are really inflexible. She is reasonable and responsive, but don't expect an easy A.
She is a tough grader but if you read the syllabus and pay attention you will pass no problem.
Even if students follow along with assigned instructors they are knit picked for something else not in the grading criteria. Small chances to succeed. Terrible feedback on assignments. The class averages currrently are 40% and lower..... this is probably a problem.
Dont take this class! She doesn't care if students succeed. Changes grading requirements as the weeks go along.
This was honestly the worst class I have EVER taken. I do not like the prof. I am a pretty good student and have taken many online classes. I have gotten good grades in all of them except this one. I have had to take this class twice! The first time I took this class I was shocked at how little she cared, she has her TAs do all the grading.
Professor seemed fine and responsive to questions. Quizzes were difficult considering there was very little lecture material given, solely based on the reading and questions were tricky and took time to find the right answer. Many questions were multiple-multiple choice which made quizzes hard, and grade was almost entirely weekly quizzes.
Be prepared to work hard for little reward.
This teacher doesn't care about their students. She accused half of my class of plagiarism and made us all go through the Dean of Student Life to deal with it. Every email response I received was mean and she never seemed like she cared. She also only has her TA's grade everything and you can almost never receive an A.
I am an A student and I cannot for the life of me get a good grade in this class. Somehow, every post/quiz I do, there is always something that she marks wrong. Quizzes are very confusing, and she gives no feedback. I would not recommend taking this class with her.
This teacher says, if you follow the instructions and do what is expected you will be doing C work. If you want a higher grade you have to go above and beyond. This is stupid, if I understood the subject expertly I wouldn't need the class. You have no clues what to do to get a good grade out of this class. I am a 4.0 student, I have no idea
Very poor explanation on grading and calculation too difficult to follow. Grades are not given back timely, 3 weeks for our first assignment grade, AND has TWO TAs that do all of grading. The feed back is very nit picky, need to go beyond her instructions to get full credit. Does not want her students to succeed. Terrible professor!!! DO NOT TAKE!
Clearly, this professor does not want her students to succeed. She has a history of accusing students of plagiarism and directly reports them to the dean for "fun." Her questions are not clear and this class is not even worth it. PLEASE AVOID
Good luck with getting a grade back!! I calculated my grade and was supposed to get an A in her class but she said she curved my Exams grades therefore I got at B+ in her class. Since when do curves made to lower your grade. Also when I tried to speak to her about it, she was very rude!
Strangely nit-picky when it comes to grading your writing. Is mysteriously focused on students not plagiarizing. Many test questions are worded in such a way that you must analyze the way things are phrased in order to answer correctly. Some test questions seem like trick questions. Would not take this prof again, even tho I rec'd a decent grade.
Mostly reading and quizzes/tests supplemented by weekly participation scores for discussion board posts. Expectations clearly expressed in syllabus. Instructor was available by email and prompt to reply. Relies heavily on test bank questions for exams. I successfully disputed answers on 2 occasions and the instructor was receptive to feedback.
Easily the worst prof I've had at PSU. The syllabus is super vague and the grading policy doesn't make sense. The prof is also not understanding at all- so good luck if you have a dispute over grades or an assignment bc she'll just immediately shut you down. Overall, just the worst. Do not take this class.
Well, the only thing I can really say is YOUR ON YOUR OWN literally. Really stick to deadlines, and remember you had a chance to change your fate, but you didn't. Good luck, you're going to need a whole lot of it.
I wish someone would have warned about the academic cliff I was about to jump off of. Like any a decent human being who cares about humanity, here's my chance to warn you. 1. You're on your own. 2. Lots of homework 3. Lots of reading The professor doesn't really provide good feedback, so get ready to learn it all your self.
NEVER TAKE A CLASS WITH HER.... she is the worst. Extremely rude whenever you email about specifics. Treats an Intro level class like its a 400 level. Her grading is horrible. I was thinking about minoring is SOC but she easily made me hate the topic (which sucks) and she really ruined my excitement for anything soc related. worst, teacher ever...
The way she grades is ridiculous. The average score of our midterm was a C-, and she didn't question why we didn't do well on an OPEN BOOK midterm for an online class, she just said she'd "like to see scores higher."
While there are 1-2 chapters of reading from the online textbook each week, the content is easy to comprehend and follow. The quizzes are based on the reading, and the questions can be tough if you haven't read the chapter.
One if not the WORST professor I have ever had over the course of four semesters. She is unreasonable and does not provide clear expectations for assignments. And her feedback is as useless as her opinions. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS you will REGRET IT! AVOID this professor at ALL COSTS! This class should not be this hard, but she made it insufferable!
This course was mostly tests and quizzes. The short quizzes seemed to be difficult for me and others because of tricky questions. She is definitely a tougher grader and the grades are mostly quizzes and tests so make sure you thoroughly read the text book.
I would strongly advise anyone interested in taking her courses to proceed with caution. The grading and guidelines are not clear (very subjective), and it is very frustrating! Best of luck if you take a course with her because you will most definitely need it.
This teacher wouldn't accommodate my new health condition and wouldn't give me a C- even though I was 4% away! All she had to do is check to see if I am "actually" registered with them with a disability, so she could rightfully approve my lateness with an assignment. THIS IS THE WORST SOCIOLOGY CLASS I HAVE EVER TAKEN!
I'm taking her class for the second time and still cannot do well. Her prompts for any papers are vague, most grading criteria are also incredibly vague. Super nit picky about grammar in all your writing. Her feedback doesn't help you improve or know what you did wrong. 110% won't take this awake.
I have taken half a dozen SOC classes and have had professors compliment my writing skills in most classes. Just got a C on this midterm, marked down for vague reasons and a few in text citations she said were wrong though I exactly followed APA format. No original material use, tons of reading and papers with unclear guidelines and unfair grading.
She is an extremely hard grader and graded our midterm after the withdrawal date. Her grading system is very vague and focuses more on grammar than actual ideas. Quizzes were pretty easy and seemed fair but she picky about reflections.
This professor does not care about her students. Very aggressive when you reach out to her about her class. This is a Soc class but she treats it like a writing class. My midterm comment notes were 95% about her subjective ideals on writing style. also she posted the midterm after withdrawal deadline. DO NOT TAKE!
I would strongly advise against taking this professor. Her grading is extremely harsh, yet her directions are very vague. She is also rude if you ask her to clarify your score. She claims to be helping us become better writers, but all she is actually doing is making this class way more stressful than it needs to be.
Very tough grader. Comes across as curt and aggressive. Advise AGAINST taking her
Really wish I would have taken a different elective, her grading practices are totally unreasonable. I pay a lot of money to go to PSU, and am really disappointed this is what they have to offer for it. Seriously take another professor if at all possible. Save yourself the stress.
This is my worst experience with a college class. She has high expectations and is vague, hostile and distant. She is not clear on assignments, yet has a tough grading style. I currently have no idea what my grade will be. I have emailed her a month ago asking for extra credit and she hasn't responded. Do not take her class. It's a joke.
I struggled a lot with this professor. I was really excited to take her course but I was thoroughly disappointed by her teaching style and mannerisms. She is not easily accessible, will provide very little basis for essays and then grind down your grade for not writing what she wanted. Hopefully she can become more organized in the future.
Her online class is well organized and she was quick to respond to questions asked by students. She was a VERY tough grader during our midterms. She pays close attention to anything that could be plagiarism so citing your sources CORRECTLY is huge. The content of her class is interesting, so overall it's a good class.
This class was fairly easy and simple, reflections and weekly quizzes. Then the midterm paper happened. It was a slap across the face, she is the toughest grader I have ever encountered. Almost as if she wants you to fail! My two cents: Run! and don't look back!
Not only was I appalled that the subject matter explored nothing new or that was implied, but all the content and grading relied on a textbook. I learned nada, just memorized facts and charts from book to get right answers on tests. she looks for things to mark down. seems to hate life, hate teaching. the definition of why tenure is terrible. run!
This professor is the harshest grader I have ever had in my 4 years of college. She wants clear book references, not concepts you have learned. She is tricky in her wording. Rude feedback, evasive at times. I would never take a course with her again. I have learned nothing in this class.
She gets back to you in a timely manner. Although, her reflections she gives feedback on what you could have done. Even though she didnt put it in her instructions, she will still mark you down for not putting it in there. If you are a mind reader, you will do well in this class.
I have never posted a review but after all the horrible things i read about this professor I had to interject. Yes there is a lot of reading-welcome to college! but if you read the chapters, take the quizzes, and cite/follow prompts for the reflections you will do well! She is very responsive and friendly so please take others' harsh posts lightly
She relies on the tests made by the publisher rather than creating her own. Which means the tests are really specific and often weird. She seems to care more about giving so much information rather than giving quality information on a subject. It's really disappointing because her subjects seem so interesting. She is the worst professor I've had.
I took this class online. She gave me a D on our first discussion post, which was crazy because I thought I covered all of the requirements. I went above and beyond on the second and only got a B, with a note about an incorrect citation, but it was correct. The textbook chapters are long and some quizzes cover two chapters.
Please don't take this course unless you like suffering from student meltdowns. You really have to read the chapters, the flashcards, the powerpoints and even then you still find that some of the answers are in neither of those sources. Her grading also doesn't make any sense. I got 15/20 and she graded that as a 75%.
Carol isn't as bad as previous reviews said. I got through her course just fine, I cited all my sources, and I found her very nice. Course was interesting, but it's a lot of reading from the textbook when you take it online and teaching yourself.
This professor needs a little more credit. I'm taking her Marriage + Intimacy course online, and everything is pretty easy and accessible. Weekly 20 question quizzes from slides and book, 450 word reflections like every other week, plus midterm and final. If you go through her slides and turn everything in, it's totally doable and will pass w an A.
She didn't give any lectures but instead made us read 50-100 pages of dense textbook each week to then take a review quiz at the end that was often centered around parts of the text that were incredibly specific and not related to the overall themes of the week. Tough grader, hands-off learning. Don't take a class with her, especially not online.
I would not recommend this class.
She rarely updated grades. Didnt respond to emails.
I took her marriage and intimacy class. There's weekly tests which I found relatively easy based off her readings. A few short essays due throughout the term. She was easy to talk to when I was having troubles switching to Canvas.
Tough grader. Her quizzes are hard even if you read/study the textbook. I do not recommend.
I didn't really care for Carol's course. I didn't even listen to her lectures and just took the weekly tests by the textbook and constantly got between 80s and 90s in her course. She does have 3 papers for her class and she is a harsh-ish grader. She's not very tech savy.
Out of every introductory class I have taken, this has been the least engaging. She only assigns reading from the book as homework, with little guidance outside of that for learning. Intense hyper-fixation of unnecessary details in the textbook for weekly quizzes makes this class unbearable.
I wish I read her reviews before taking her class. I did not learn anything from her, only from the textbook. She expects us to read every detail of the textbook and makes quizzes and tests extremely hard. Some of the answers to the quiz can't even be found in the book. Do not take her. If you do, make sure you have the textbook.
DO NOT TAKE HER. Her tests are insufferable and impossible. She thinks remembering every detail of the textbook is more important than the actual concepts. She did not teach me a single thing. Worst professor I've ever had.
Worst professor I've ever taken at PSU. Her class consisted of literally all quizzes and tests, fixated on tiny insignificant details, rather than whole, important, concepts. She also is very rude in emails, and gives unsolicited advice "because she cares". This class was horrible and the entire curriculum was literally a textbook.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
65%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.24 avg changeRatings by Course
INTROWIN
5.0
(1)INTIMSOC
5.0
(1)SOCMIN
5.0
(1)MARFAM
5.0
(1)SOC410
4.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
SW337
5.0
339U
4.1
SOC101
4.0
SOCMIN
4.0
SOC399U
4.0