2.4
Quality4.2
Difficulty33%
Would Retake98
Reviews33%
Would Retake
98
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
10
4
14
3
17
2
30
1
27
What Students Say
“4-5 mini assignments per chapter with 4-5 chapters a week”
ENSC103 - 1.0 rating“She is the worst professor at Ramapo”
ENSC103 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
55%
Textbook Required
75%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.37 avg changeRatings by Course
ENVGEOLO
5.0
(1)FUNDGEO
5.0
(1)GEOL328
5.0
(1)FUNDOFES
4.0
(1)ZINT101
4.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
INTRO
5.0
SGEL
5.0
INTRO2GEOLOGY
5.0
INTROTOGEOL
5.0
PALEOECOLOGY
5.0
Reviews (98)
No Comments
Don't get me wrong, she tries super hard to make this class as easy as possible, however, you can't get past the fact that students drop like flies in this class.
this class is dam hard and she makes it that way...do not believe what the other person wrote she does NOT try to make it as easy as possible. She gives take home open note tests...so far the avg. grade for them has been 55...they are that hard! BOO!
Boring, Boring, boring. This class is the most boring class i ever took, and a strict grader with the take home tests, which are quite hard. Avoid her,and avoid this class
good lord, this class is hell. tons of work. take home midterm and open note rock identifications = STILL HARD. I'm a solid B student in all my other classes. I work so hard in this class, and still i get my butt kicked. stay far far away.
she tries really hard to be a cool teacher but the subject is just awful. no hw, and the tests are all open-book but they are hard and take many hours to complete. make sure you have the time to give the tests over the wkend before you take the class.
doesn't care about students and helping them out. bad person, bad teacher...don't take her, I dropped the class, I couldn't stand her for the entire semester!
she is a horrible teacher...run for your life..you will want to kill yourself! she doesnt care about students at all..you would think that having all open book tests and no homework would be easy but its really hard and she makes it that way!
Great teacher! Very caring and helpful. Wonderful sence of humor and makes geology interesting and fun. I have her again this semester. Keep up the good work Professor Rainforth!
She's tough with the course work, but eventually she comes around. She's not that bad, pretty sarcastic, and available for assistance.
She is extremely difficult. I was one of her best students and still found her class painfully horrible. She is relentless with work and doesn't care much for her students stress level. I highly advise NOT taking her. She will work you to the bone
I know what war is like!
AVOID THIS LADY AT ALL COSTS! teaches class as advanced course instead of intro!just reads off notes, power point went down, she freaked out and couldnt teach!I put hours of work in and still cant understand tests, dont waste your time with this lady
GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN! THERE IS NO NEED FOR STUDENTS IN AN INTRO CLASS TO BE READING SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS. MOST OF US HAVE NO SCIENTIFIC BACKGROUND. CLASS IS WAY TO HARD!!!
want to learn about rocks? go for it...if not, stay the f away. she's the devil, the bloody devil
OH MY GOD...I THINK SHE IS THE WORST TEACHER, I DON'T THINK ANYONE HAS LESS OF A LIFE..EVERYONE TRIED IN HER CLASS, AND HER TESTS AND FINAL WERE IMPOSSIBLE, PAPER WAS HORRIBLE, IF U CAN DON'T.. I MEAN DON'T TAKE THIS CLASS, IT IS THE WORST CLASS EVER!!!!
Keeps us beyond class time.Too picky on the tedious HM.A plus is that the tests, besides the final are take hom.If you can manage to sit through her incredibally long, boring class then go for it.I catch up on a lot of sleep though.
grades papers as though it's an english class rather than a science class. makes corny jokes all the time. if you look around the classroom, half the class is asleep and nobody is paying any attention to her boring lecture.
Okay, so how interesting can rocks be? Not very. But I like her. She's kinda funny sometimes.
She doesn't teach this class like a 100 level class, she teaches it like a 300 level class. It was too much work. I failed the final and because she made us do alot of work I got a B in the class. So it's really up to you to take the course.
Class is terrible. Not only is she incredibly boring, her voice is so monotone its enough to drive you up the wall. She expects way too much of you. Do not take this lady!
She treats it like it is your major. She will critize you no matter how well you do the homeworks. Do not take her.
nice woman, cool accent, but not very easy, FYS class was very hard do not take if you expect it to be a breeze
No Comments
She is the WORST Teacher ever!I dont understand how she continues to teach!Even if you try your best,there is not a WAY you can pass the incredibly tedious test. She made my fresh. science a horrible experience, DO NOT take her!She think you copy and paste everything, even if you didnt.She = Devil!
nice lady... grades very strictly and gives a lot of work
She assigns way too much work. Sitting through those almost two hour long lectures were torture! UNless you are a geol major, do not take this class!
..zzzzzz....
Nice person and occasionally funny, but hard and boring. Class goes by way to slow, and if she finishes a lecture with ten minutes left in the class, she will move on to the next one. Does not teach like a 100-level course. Despite all this, however, it is somehow pretty hard to fail.
She tries, but rocks just are not interesting. Espeically when you pair that up with two other teachers for a Freshman seminar course. The only cool part was the mine. Freshman, don't take this seminar...it was the stupidest thing i ever did! Hard work and boring lectures. I ended up with a C-.
DO NOT TAKE THIS PROFESSOR! SHE IS ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE! SHE TREATS EVERYONE LIKE THEY ARE GEOLOGISTS, WHICH THE MAJORITY DO NOT PLAN TO BE. SHE IS HARD, HER LECTURES REALLY SUCK - THEY ARE ALL POWERPOINT, AND SHE MOVES TOO QUICKLY THROUGH THEM. THE QUIZZES/TESTS ARE HARD AND SHE IS JUST TOO CYNICAL.
Unless you want to be a geologist or fossil expert, don't take this course or her. Loves PPT and very difficult exams. Even as an A/B student, I found her to be extremely difficult. Be prepared for a lot of reading and an extensive amount of critical analysis. Take Geo./Earth Sci. b4 u get here!
omg do not take. according to her you know nothing and she k ows everything, and therefor eif you write someting, even if you know it u must site it otherwise you plagerized. she has her own defintion of the word, so no matter what, you plagarized! DONT TAke THIS CLASs
This is pretty much the hardest class I have ever taken. It is so boring and she gives out way too much work. Do not take her if you are looking for an "easy" science class, you're better off taking Intro to Bio or Astronomy. For papers, make sure you cite EVERY idea or she will report you for plaigerism.
I don't recomend taking this course...or having her as a professor...her cynicism and fast paced "You-should-already-know-this-so-I'm-not-gonna-take-the-time-to-tell-you-about-it" attitude make you wish the hour and forty minutes would disappear into a time machine...STAY AWAY!
Not a bad class. Not recommended to take for non-scienc majors. Not recommended for science unless you love the earth and geology. No tests, one tough final, fun labs, and a pretty out going teacher. With only 6 people in the class we have a lot of fun and turn lectures into fun. NOT recommended unless you love it. Just make it fun if you do.
my FYS class. she is hard and expects you to know a lot. her sense of humor is basically that people dying are funny and she's anti-halloween or anything else that makes people happy. she is a tough grader and everything is done over the computer, so you have to check webCT to know if she graded anything. don't take her unless you love science.
She's a boring British woman with a dry sense of humor that makes the class drag. It was an interesting topic and she made it seem like it was Chinese Algebra. Terrible. Don't take her
DO NOT TAKE HER! most boring and hardest class i have ever taken. she expects far too much from non science majors and is not helpful at all
I tried as hard as I could in this class and still failed every quiz except for one strictly due to semantics. She knows APA format exactly and expects you too as well. Not good for first year students... or second year, or third, or fourth, or anyone. Now and then she is funny, and she is a good person, but bottom line, not worth it. GPA killer.
Not the most interesting or easy subject, but she makes it somewhat entertaining and understandable. It is a lot of work, but most if it isn't too bad.
She's really boring, it's all lecture. She is an extremely slow grader, I handed in the one paper we have in october and i still don't have it back the day of the final. Her syllabus explains a lot or assignments but there's really none. I suggest not taking this class if you like science, it might ruin it for you.
She is really funny! She appreciates a similar sense of quirkyness, I licked a rock for the sake of getting a better grade. You go on a field trip. It's actually really cool and I would totally suggest her and tell anyone to take her, science major or not. Shes very helpful theres only 2 tests and they're madddd EASY! LOVE HERRRR!
This class is basically boring. Shes a nice woman & all; but the topic is boring. You have to do a group presentation at the end, your part has to be atleast 14 minutes long. Don't take this class is you have other options.
easy in the beginning, then it gets brutal. lectures endlessly n you have to be there. semester ended a week ago and i'm STILL rewriting three papers that are due today, the day after xmas. she loads it on end of the semester. DO NOT take her if you care to have a life outside of science/geology. fairly nice lady, WORST CLASS EVER!!!!
Quizzes are extremely difficult, and work is time consuming and confusing. When you ask her a question, she doesn't answer you clearly. Instead, she simply confuses you more by asking you questions about your questions. I only took this course to fufill a gen-ed sciene requirement, and now I wish that I hadn't. DO NOT TAKE THIS COURSE.
a lot of work. she taught it like we were science majors not like it was a gen-ed. her lectures get boring and the field trip is a pain, but if you care enough to listen, you can learn stuff from her. she's kind of nit-picky in her grading, wants things her way. a nice lady but not a nice class.
No Comments
Too much work for an into class and gen. ed class. Expects too much from the student. Alot of labs and wants everything done perfectly, or she returns them back. Go to class bc you'll be lost the day you return. Also makes us do 2 current event papers due every Monday, on top of all the other work she gives us. Take another class or professor!!!
No Comments
She does expect a lot of work, but there aren't any tests but the final, and the final is easy. All the notes are in ppt form and easy to understand. Just bring your computer to class and look like you're taking notes. No need to read the book.
Did not make me more interested in the subject matter, I would not recommend her.
Whoever said there wasnt any tests but the final is wrong!! There are at least 2 or 3 other tests plus an extremely difficult final! Just try to avoid this professor and this class.. period!
I have never said anything ill of any professor or teacher however I feel compelled to do so. She is at least sadistic if not malicious and is not suited to her profession. She should not be tenured any place where there are other human beings involved. She enjoys seeing others in pain. AVOID BEWARE WARNING AVOID AT ALL COSTS TOTALLY UNPROFESSIONAL
DO NOT TAKE HER. DO NOT TAKE HER. DO NOT TAKE HER. If you take her, you'll see what I mean. If you need her class to fufill science with lab, take anything else besides Geology. ANYTHING. SHE'S TERRIBLE.
Smart, and knows the material. I wanted to like her, but she creates an oppressive teaching environment. I've never had another teacher who I felt had a lower opinion of my intelligence. Gives an excessive amount of work and puts off grading assignments. I have just finished the final and can only speculate on my grade for the course.
Took the sustainability seminar. I would prefer if there was no class for living in sustainable housing, but i had no choice. Would not recommend this professor to anyone... unless you LOVED the subject and don't like any sort of supportive learning environment. Don't upset her ever. And she has and likes wry humor. But would not recommend her.
This Professor is Horrible. She gives you tests that seem doable but when you get your test back its like a 30. Doesn't seem to care about your grade at all. Provides no help when it comes to studying for the tests. I really think that she hates those people who are taking it as a gen ed and not because there so darn enthusiastic. I DONT RECOMEND
This Professor is the most wretched individual to ever walk the earth. if anyone is an environmental science major at Ramapo...switch your major asap before you have to take her for geology paleontology and environmental geology.
terrible woman. lost my labs and my grade suffered. I tried to like her but its impossible. she is very full of herself and rude. dont be an environmental science major
Her class is 100% the weed out class for the envi sci major. She will push you to be better than you were when you came to her class and some people just cant handle that. She grades on the British scale, which is a gift. Protip: she loves coffee. Bring it to her. Talk about sustainable coffee. Drink coffee in class.
I really liked Emma. I personally thought she was hilarious. We got along very well. Her humor is different and I would blurt out questions because raising my hand sometimes failed, and she didn't mind. I thought my class was interesting, even though it was pptlecture heavy. My class was a 300 and definitely felt like one, it made me work!
I've never written about a professor but felt I had to for those who are thinking about taking her. She is the worst professor at Ramapo. She's not helpful at all and does not seem to care about your grades. She gives quiz's every week but doesn't tell you on what chapters. She gives way to much homework and expects way too much out of us.
Class got all our labs back AFTER the finals (Lec & Lab)... Nobody knew where they stood in the class, yet we were all expected to understand every piece of material! One in-class exam, two more take-home exams (but you must cite every answer). Take good notes! Easy to get a hold of if you need extra help, but how would you know if you need help?
DO NOT TAKE HER !!! Worst class of my life. She doesn't care if she fails you. If you don't say exactly what she wants you to say, you aren't passing the class
4-5 mini assignments per chapter with 4-5 chapters a week. Two current events each week. Video lectures are HOURS. Takes off points on almost every assignment! The group video projects (4) nightmare. Takes over 2 hours,I guarantee you will not get the full credit. Take this class if you want to completely ruin your summer/winter and gpa.
Probably the worst teacher I have ever had, all she does is read of some notes that she took from a book we had and had pictures on powerpoints, the slides were not organized and it was so boring that i couldnt pay attention, her hand writting was sloppy and even though the tests were open note i still got a bad grade. doesnt help with essays
I've had Rainforth for several classes, having said that, I got used to her but she is not for the average student. She is tough in every sense of the word. Her lectures are long and VERY boring, good luck if you can actually stay awake. Taking notes is difficult because you don't know if anything she says is important. I dreaded going to her calss
2 Open Note midterm/final, Journal article write ups each week, and some papers. Not bad at all )
This professor was one of the worst I've ever had. Classes are not mandatory but it's impossible to do good without going. Also, classes are lectured based and the notes she gives are unclear and it is very hard to tell what is important and what is not. There isn't much work until the end of the semester where she gives everything all at once.
Goes for the WHOLE 1 hr 40 min. Doesn't teach the topic well. You don't have to go to class, but you should because it's even hard when you DO go. She's sweet and sometimes funny, but not worth it at all honestly. I took her final two days ago and I go home for the summer in 1 day and I still have 3 assignemnts due in her class..
I liked her less when I had her for Geol 105. She's eccentric. I describe her as fierce. Now I have her for Paleo she is still fierce but she smiles and laughs a lot more. I think her personality has changed a bit. She very strongly values science, which is very refreshing. She can seem standoffish, but don't be anxious to talk to her. She's funny.
Not a bad class, took as a hybrid. Says that she can't stop you from cheating at home from quizzes on Moodle so she lets you use your textbook and computers during class quiz every week. 30 min to do the quiz in the beginning, then rest of time for assignments. Current events every week. Does not post grade for a long time. Curses a lot.
She's awesome. I had her for Geology (GEO 106 & GEO 106L)Not easy, but geology is hard so if u want to learn it's worth it and she teaches well. Great sense of humor. Had her for Intro to Enviro Sci which was much easier for me than geology but I learned from it too. Recommend for TAS students!
for being an online in 5 weeks, the work load was as expected. quizzes every two days. only complaint was 30 mins for a 20 question quiz? i ran out of time twice :(
Professor Rainforth is one of a kind. She is an amazing professor, beyond knowledgable in any subject she teaches, and made my college experience better than I could have imagined. She made learning fun. Full of jokes and sarcastic remarks (the good kind). If you put in the effort, it will be reciprocated.
Although she is a very knowledgeable and funny person, she does not teach her course well. Out of 2 exams taken, not one person in the class got above a 95 and the average scores were in the 70s. She assigns current events due at the end of the week one paper every month which she has not yet graded so you have no feedback to look at. GPA killer.
It's a difficult class, but she's passionate and a good professor. She can be pretty fast paced when it comes to lectures you gotta take notes quickly. There's a decent amount of assignments; chapter quizzes, weekly current events, labs (of course), a term paper w/ presentation. Attendance not required, but if you miss lecture youre kinda screwed
Impossible tests that are hard to do good on, useless readings, three papers, and weekly current events. Her tests are purely what she says in class and not the slides so you have to take good notes. I would not recommend her class at all, its just gonna give you anxiety. Basically nobody got an 85 and up on her tests. Stay away
Rainforth is a professor you will either love or hate, in my case I love her teaching style. I've had her two times now and at first I thought she hated everyone but she has a personality that you have to understand and get used to. This class was very easy and if you do the work you'll get the A.
Assigns so much work and expects you to basically only care about her class. If you miss class you will miss a quiz bc there is one every week. 10 current events every week, along with two hour lectures and assignments that must be done by class. Many people dropped her class after just the first day. Not worth the anxiety this class will cause.
I dropped this class after the first week. Don't be fooled by what she says in class, after the first week, we had to watch 3 1/2 hours of lectures. I didn't listen to the warnings of others who said don't take her, and I payed that price. Don't be like me, stay far far far away from this class.
While Professor Rainforth is a nice lady, she gives a lot of work. This course was hybrid for me and it was so much work. Her lectures that we had to watch outside of class were anywhere between 1-3 hours long. You will have a quiz every week, which are very hard if you don't really study for them. I don't recommend taking her unless if you need to
I took her hybrid class and was not a big fan though she is a nice individual and made us laugh a few times her class is insanely hard for no reason with 2-4 hour lectures each week and quizzes that just seemed to get harder. Be prepared for a challenge and to spend a lot of time on work.
I wish I read the reviews before taking this class. I had the exact same issues as pretty much everyone else. She records 3 hr lectures and then quizzes on the smallest pieces of information. She seems very well educated in the subject but overall this class has taught me nothing and simply stressed me out. 0/10 would not take again.
So many students cried because of this class. About half the class had to take an incomplete. Homework will occupy all of your free time. The final for the lab was nightmarish. You need to pass it to pass the class, yet she only handed back the labs we needed to study for the exam less than a day before the exam (and not even all of them)!
Pretty funny
Doesn't post ANY grades on canvas (doesn't grade on time either) & is a very harsh grader. Rainforth is sarcastic, in the rude way NOT the funny way. Her feedback on assignments is often sarcastic and unhelpful. She does the bare minimum required from a professor, and has no sympathy or care whether you succeed. Stay away if you have the option.
Can't turn of her sarcasm and doesn't care if she can communicate her lessons or not
Class was very easy and worth the while. There is just not much substance.
Coursework in this seminar became a bit repetitive, different topics, yet same big idea. The last few weeks of class became a new presentation every week, all of which were with groups. Not a bad person; sarcastic, kind, likes to hear input from students and often engages in conversation with them- usually bad mouthing some form of "big"-industry.
if you want to ruin your gpa and love professors who make things up and are incredibly condescending, then she's absolutely perfect for you!
Trust me when I say this…. Stay away from this professor. Very rude to students and genuinely made me hate going to class. Such a negative energy in the classroom at all times. Never taking her again.
You're cooked...
Her first year seminar isn't bad. She does take the whole period 95% of the time but she doesn't cold call if you aren't paying attention. The content is fairly easy and your final is a research project presentation. She also looks at word count not page count so it's easier to meet.
Emma Rainforth is a horrible professor and if you have the option to never take her, DO NOT. she gives in-concise and unhelpful comments on your rough drafts. She is incredibly rude and nasty. She is an evil witch who is poisoning the environmental science major with her dreadful classes.
She is so rude, so nasty, and will purposely ignore you even when you say things like have a nice day. Does not teach the labs at all; have to figure it out ourselves while she sits on her phone. She hides our grades the whole semester and is super negative + always talks down on some group of people. I have more to say, but maxed out word count
tried SO hard to like her but she is very hard to work w/ as a prof and returns nothing and gives no good feedback. has docked points for work she previously verified as correct, rude, confusing, and really hard to learn anything from.doesnt gaf about you in the slightest, pls avoid. once i did find a joint on a field lab and she let me keep it tho
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
55%
Textbook Required
75%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.37 avg changeRatings by Course
ENVGEOLO
5.0
(1)FUNDGEO
5.0
(1)GEOL328
5.0
(1)FUNDOFES
4.0
(1)ZINT101
4.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
INTRO
5.0
SGEL
5.0
INTRO2GEOLOGY
5.0
INTROTOGEOL
5.0
PALEOECOLOGY
5.0