Nice class, lot of notes

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Very interesting class and he does a lot to make sure that his students do well.

Good science class w/o a lab.

a monkey could pass this class, and its very interesting

By far the easiest way to fill two gen ed requirements with this guy

Easy to well in this class

Very sexy guy;)

Great teacher, wants students to do well

great all around professor. he makes lectures more enjoyable than others.

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Wants students to do well...very easy class. Worth taking to fufil Gen Ed.

I LOVE THIS CLASS! not to mention that he is a complete sweet heart!

Wow. What an easy class. Interesting too.

can you say reading comprehensive exam?

If you can't pass this class, you don't deserve to be in college

He is passionate about what he teaches...makes EVERYTHING interesting.

Lecture sometimes boring, but can be funny, whether he tries or not.

Great class, lots of notes and long tests, but lots of extra credit opportunity

Townsend rules... what a sweetie!

He's very helpful, class can be interesting and its good way to fulfil pop & env

Very passionate about everything he teaches.

great teacher-very intersting class

Good way to fill gen ed, lots of extra credit, but don't be overconfident

AWESOME.Well worth the title professor.

Awsome teacher and Awsome class...homeworks r easy extra credit

Very good, personable, caring, and fun. Tests aren't too hard...

Excellent prof. He is extremely knowledgable and interested that you learn the information and be able to understand the simply workings of the world and its oceans

He actually made my roommate go to class (and thats saying a lot...) He is a wonderful teacher, I recommend the course to anybody who needs a science gen ed or just wants to learn about the ocean...

Best teacher ever...that's all I have to say.

It's a tough course if you sleep during class like me.. but it's not b/c he's a dull teacher.. He's actually an awesome prof.

Great professor, engaging lecturer and you can tell that he knows what he's talking about. He's done a lot of research and teaches a lot from his own knowledge and experience which is often times more reliable than the textbook.

He's a great teacher, funny and helpful. Not intended to be a hard class, but a lot of info, most stuff you already learned in high school. Easy A and easy science credit

Good professor. Class material is kinda dry, but it is an easy way to fulfill pop/environment gen ed. Homeworks are optional and are for extra credit, lowest of 3 prelim grades dropped. Always holds evening review sessions for homework and exams.

Intelligent... super easy class

Knows a great deal about Marine Science. Prepares a good lesson. Note taking easy with his overhead slides. Makes subject accessible and exciting. Intelligent man. I wish he offered more courses, and I wish I could take this class again. Grading is very fair, and you'll learn a lot about the ocean.

Pretty good class. Some lectures were a little dry, but there really is no way to make some of the material exciting. Offers plenty of opportunities to do extra credit homework to help your grade. Exam questions can be rather long, but overall its an interesting class.

great guy, great material, if you want to know about the water and the earth and such.

He's a great professor who actually tries and cares about his students. He gives lots of extra credit and holds plenty of review sessions. The hardest part of the class is the first test, trust me.

Very easy course. Prof usually lets the class go 15 minutes early. This is a good course to fulfill the gen ed population and environment requirement.

Interesting class. Easy class. Very fcking easy class. He GIVES YOU HIS NOTES (if you can pay to make copies of them)! Holy crap, it couldn't be any easier. This is how professors SHOULD be. Unfortunatly, he's one of the few who are like that.

easy class, definetly a good class to take for gen ed..... he is a very knowlegeble professor, lectures are organized and easy to follow, and somehow he is able to come across in a very personable way, even with 400 ppl in the lecture hall. dont bother buying the book for SMS 100, its a waste of 100$. tests are multiple choice and easy.

This professor is smart and understanding. He teaches articulately, with a few nerdy jokes thrown in. He's the only professor that told me to throw the book out! His knowledge is based on experience, and he's very approachable.

Very good lecturer with good amounts of humor put into a, well, boring subject. Rocks at the bottom of the ocean isn't the most exciting thing to listen to someone talk about for an hour, but he is still my favorite prof I've had at UM

Very intelligent professor who clearly knows what he's talking about. His lectures are too fast-paced at times. He has a sense of humor that adds interest to each class. He holds regular review sessions, leaves detailed notes available in the library, and has a series of extra credit homework to help your grade.

One of my favorite professors I've ever had. Very funny. The material is very comprehensive and you get access to his typed notes. I rarely attend lecture because I simply read the notes and do the homeworks, but I do find the material fascinating. He scales tests to C ave and the test are already very well written. Take this course! It is AWESOME!

I highly recommend this class. He is hilarious.

Not that bad of a teacher if you like science. He just lectures the whole class with a powerpoint and provides notes for each class. His class sizes are huge.

Well had zero interest in the course, but I felt Professor Townsend made a relatively boring subject and turned it interesting. I feel wanted to see his students succeed made scales so most everyone would pass. Good teacher and if I were to take another ocean science class I'd probably take it with him.

Wonderful professor, loved his class and he is great to learn from. Very approachable if you need help.

A good class but the tests are difficult. Townsend gives a great lecture but I'd suggest taking notes on your laptop because he tends to go back and forth between topics which is not good for pen/paper note-takers.

He is the best professor at UMAINE, by far!

By far the best teacher ever. He has enjoyable lectures that are worth going to because he always adds great stories to them. His tests were some of the few I have ever enjoyed taking. He has the best sense of humor.

Townshend is one of the best professors that I have had here at UMaine. Great sense of humor and makes the best out of lectures. Go to class, go to the exam review sessions, and go over the practice exams and you'll get an A.

Townsend gives students all the resources they need to learn the material. Lecture notes, lecture powerpoints, review sessions, extra credit homework assignments, and curved tests. However, I found his lecture style dull and stopped attending class about halfway through the semester.

Townsend knows his stuff thoroughly and makes it fairly easy to get a good grade. Read the book, do the optional homeworks and go to class! It's okay to skip once in a while, but don't miss the homeworks. Attend review sessions, etc. and you should be fine. :D Good for a science credit if you need it.

He is my favorite teacher by far. If you actually listen to his lectures, they are very funny. He gives you all his notes in the library too, plus the slides from class online.

He does a great job trying to make some pretty boring lectures interesting. He tries to keep people interested. He does not want to fail people, and does his best to actually teach the material.

Professor Townsend is amazing! SMS was a required class for me, but he made it fun and interesting :)

Best Prof ever! He really wants everyone to do well and teaches in a clear concise way. He is extremely helpful and really knows his stuff.

He is such a great teacher. Really he gives everyone a chance to do so well and if the class does poorly on a test he scales the test.He gives very detailed information, that you need to go to class to learn. But he also has study session before exams that are very very helpful, basically tells you whats on test.

Really wants students to succeed. Will do his best to help you.

Definitely the best teacher I had this semester. He really knows what he is talking about and he is really funny. Read the book, study a decent amount, and pay attention at all the lectures and you should have well over a 100 percent in the class.

Best teacher I've had at Umaine. He is very helpful to students and he is very knowledgable. He made me want to change my major to marine science.

Awesome professor! Kept the class interesting and fun. Review sessions really helped and he often scaled the tests generously.

Encourages students to learn. He brings out the inner nerd in all of us

Great teacher. He is very clear in what he is saying and want students to do well. He gets a little side tracked here and there but he makes up for it in the knowledge you receive from his class.

He seems like a great professor... But I just couldn't stay away during his lectures, so I went to the library during class time and read the chapter in the book instead. I think the class would've been easier to attend if it was only 50 mins long, but an hour and 15 minutes is way too long to sit there and listen to him talk about dry information.

A funny guy who gave well prepared and interesting lectures, for the most part. Hands out bonus points like candy (from easy homework which were optional). Tests are very, very easy and scaled generously. Highly recommend this class if you're interested at all in marine biology.

He is a cool guy that really cares about his students. He wrote the book himself but I wouldn't recommend buying it. He posts a study guide and last years test online before every exam. Between those two, its an easy A!

Dr. Townsend was awesome. He knew that his class was a Gen Ed and not everyone there had an interest in marine science. He was funny, made the subject matter interesting, and gave a ton of easy extra credit. I never studied and got an easy A-. Would definitely recommend this class for anyone looking for a GPA booster or a Gen Ed.

A professor can not be any nicer. He did literally everything so that students could learn, do well in the exams, and pass. A great mentor. Endless respect for him.

People say tests are easy, I didn't think so. But that's because I went maybe once a week. His lectures are directly out of the book so essentially read the chapter and you went to class. Scales tests pretty nicely too. Impossible to fail. Nice guy,

I loved the class I had with him, he wrote the book that you use in SMS 100 so its a really easy class. Wonderful guy, will help you pass if you need the help.

David Townsend loves his job. He also wants other people that science is for everyone, just not Marine Science majors. He wrote the textbook, so he does read from the book, but his lectures are interesting and he tries to end early every week. If you do the extra credit and study off last years exams, getting over an 100 in the class is possible.

Great sense of humor and is always willing to help, just ask!

I found the class very easy since he wrote the textbook and it covered exactly the same material as lectures. I didn't attend class regularly since I didn't need to be there to do well, but I loved the lectures that I did attend and would definitely choose his classes again if they were required for my major! He's a fantastic teacher and person!

Townsend is a great teacher and this is the easiest gen-ed you can take. I showed up to a test drunk and still got an 88 on it.

Absolutely the best professor I have had so far at UMaine. His stories are worth listening to and help you relate to the material that he teaches, and he genuinely loves talking about what he teaches which makes it that much better!

Absolutely the best professor. His stories are worth listening to and help you relate to the material that he teaches, and he genuinely loves talking about what he teaches which makes it that much better!

Townsend is a gem. He makes his long lectures fun to be in with his sense of humor. All homework is extra-credit, but also really easy if you pay attention. The book isn't necessarily used, but very good for studying.

A genuinely nice guy. Gives a lot of extra credit and scales every test. If you look at last years exams which he posts you're almost guaranteed to do well on the test.

One of the best instructors i have ever had.

I'm not a science major, I took the class when I was undecided. He's very passionate about what he teaches as well. Class is optional, and so is all the homework. There is a book for the class (he wrote it) but I never used it past the first couple chapters. All his lecture notes are in the library that contain all the crucial information.

Don't buy the textbook, probably opened it twice the whole semester. Posts last years exams on blackboard. Study those and you will pass. All of the homework is optional and helps a lot with your average. Scales every test significantly. Holds reviews the night before exams and homework due dates. Overall good class just a lot of information.

If you put in the minimal effort you'll get at least a C+, but he gives so many opportunities to get a good grade. His tests are the most well-constructed I've ever taken, and they're actually helpful to teaching the material. The only downside to his class is his monotone voice.

I took this class as one of my electives and loved it. He says the textbook is required but I didn't read it once and did great. He gives lots of extra credit and scales the tests. The lectures are definitely necessary if you don't read and even if you do you should still go. Great guy. Also go to the test review sessions.

Very easy class but I learned a lot and had fun doing so. The lectures are interesting if you like the subject. You could probably do very well in the class if you never attended the lectures and read the book or if you attended all the lectures and never got the book. I would recommend going to the lectures as they are engaging.

I know a lot of people find this class incredibly easy, but I struggled. Dr. Townsend was very willing to help me out though. Hes very very accessible outside of class. He has office hours, but he will try very hard to make other times work. Do the extra credit, go to class, read his lecture notes, go to the reviews and stay on top of it early.

Amazing professor--very charismatic and funny at times, you can tell he really cares about the subject he is teaching and cares about the success of his students. The study guides and exams from the previous years will absolutely help you to do well on the exams (really the only thing you need to study from). Lectures can be a bit dry!

Truly one of the greats at UMaine.U can tell he's passionate about the material and teaching. Lectures are dry, but if u really listen, they get, dare I say, fascinating. Sat down w/ him once to talk about the book and my major after making up an exam. Offered to let me turn in late extra credit assignment. Take a look at syllabus, its easy to pass

This professor is absolutely amazing. On top of the fact that we are reading from a textbook that he wrote himself, he also recorded lectures for each lesson for you to watch. He cares about his students, and he's passionate about his study. The online course only had four grades, all of which were tests. There were three unit tests and one final.

DR. Townsend is the best and even if you fail the exams just go and talk to him and he'll most likely let you pass. Truly and inspiring professor

Loved this class!

I loved Dr. Townsends class. The lectures are interesting and hes a fun guy. As far as class difficulty, you wont fail if you go to lectures and read the book. Tons of extra credit. If you go to the reviews he tells you everything that will be on the exams. Class is taught assuming you know nothing. He wrote the book, so its not totally dry

Actually one of the best classes there is

Class is kinda boring, but very easy and Townsend is very good and knowledgeable about what he is talking about

Dr. Townsend deeply cares about the material and gets you to feel engaged even in a lecture of 300 students. He is funny and very intelligent. I usually dread lectures and test-heavy classes, but he will do everything to help you succeed. He's an awesome teacher!

Professor Townsend is obviously very knowledgeable on his subject, and he's very entertaining to listen to. That being said, the lectures can get boring. I found it best to watch the recorded versions after class on a faster speed. His exams are all open book, but you can get through them much faster if you have already read or skimmed the book.

Professor Townsend is one of the best teachers that I have ever had. He is funny, caring, and respected by all of his students. He is very clear with his expectations; he is a heavy lecturer, but he makes class interesting with jokes and demonstrations. 10/10, would take again, amazing man.

He is a very nice guy. The class is only based off of four tests though

Very passionate Professor, been teaching this class for a long time. Provides an online link to his own textbook, contains all of the basic information needed to start a Marine Science career. Lectures were provided online as well as in class, attendance was not taken. Funny guy and will sometimes pop off into tangents. Really fun first year class.

Grade is based on a few tests. Tests are open notes/book so as long as you watch/attend the lectures & take good notes, it's easy to get an A in the class. If you put in a little extra work to really learn the material it will make SMS 108 and SMS 201 much easier because some of it will merely be a review for you as I'm experiencing this semester.

Despite being all lecture, David makes the class fun and worth your time. Even the exams are fun, with funny answers being sprinkled in and the occasional "The right answer is D, just making sure you're paying attention." As long as you check the slides and take notes, this is an easy A.

his lectures could be boring in some aspects, but he is so knowledgeable and passionate about this topic. hes amazing with accomodation. its all exam grades and he usually drops the lowest exam grade at the end of the semester. definitely would take again

I wish he had a lab or something because he seems like a wonderful man and teacher but its used on giving lectures. Exams are online and opennote but there is still a lot of information so you really do have to study and know the stuff. He technically assigns the textbook but a majority of it is stuff said in lecture

While there can be lots of material covered, every class is recorded and posted to Brightspace. Review sheets for exams have most of the information needed. Good sense of humor and really seems passionate about what he teaches.

Dr. Townsend wrote the textbook for this class and presents it very well. The lectures are always captivating and reflects exactly what is on the tests. I gained so much knowledge in every area of marine science. He has amazing stories from the field that connect back to class, showing how we will use this knowledge. He gives HW for extra credit.

One of the best professors I've ever had. His course is easy, homework counts as extra credit and the tests are all open notes. He always offers extra help and is very enthusiastic about what he teaches!

There's four exams and one final. That's it unless you do the extra credit homework. The lectures are fun (sometimes) but can be super boring. You don't need to show up whatsoever as long as you look at the powerpoints.

I can't usually focus in lectures, but he doesn't try to overcomplicate everything, and he puts in his own stories/experiences, so I found it easy to pay attention to. If you end up hating the lectures, attendance isn't mandatory. He prepares you well for the exams, which are open note. This was my favorite class all semester.

Professor Townsend's SMS100 class is a gem. The lectures are captivating and the open-note exams make the workload manageable. Engaging with the material and using study aids like unstuck AI can really pay off. Definitely a great choice for marine science students.

The most chill professor at UMaine. I think he knows that a lot of non-marine science majors take his class because exams are open note and online and homework is only extra credit. Although, if you are a marine science major, it will save you to pay attention because you will need this information for future classes.