2.8
Quality3.4
Difficulty31%
Would Retake95
Reviews31%
Would Retake
95
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
15
4
15
3
24
2
24
1
17
What Students Say
“He does have a love for the Doctrine and Covenants which is a bright side to the conversation”
REL324 - 3.0 rating“Being in his class is really disappointing”
REL324 - 2.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
94%
Textbook Required
6%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.93 avg changeRatings by Course
RELG100
5.0
(1)FDREL121
5.0
(2)OLDTESTAMENT
4.0
(1)REL342
4.0
(2)RELARELA
4.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
RELA301
5.0
REL225
4.2
DC324
4.0
REL355
4.0
RELC344
4.0
Reviews (95)
No Comments
He is good man who seeks the best. He is just overly dramatic, dogmatic (even if he is right, sometimes we get it and he can move on) and not terribly insightful. He teaches some shaky ideas, and supports them with non-definitive GA quotes.
YOU COULD TELL HE WAS EXCITED BUT IT WAS A BOOORRRINGGG CLASS. IT WAS EASY JUST BECAUSE THERE WAS NO TRICK QUESTIONS ON THE TEST AND HE GAVE YOU A GOOD CHEAT SHEET.
Too aggressive and in your face.
He is the king of cliche's. They get very OLD, and I learned more about his life and family than I did about D&C. But it is an easy class with hardly any work and easy tests (if you read).
The class wasn't hard, but he made it seem hard. He tends to pick favorites and call on them often. He'll also praise them more than he will his other students, no matter how good they do in his class. His tests are easy, and as long as you read the assignments you'll get a good grade. I'd recommend his class. It's interesting to learn his ideas.
Brother Woods was a outstanding teacher. I really liked him becuase he got personal and bore his testimony a lot. He was a man of character and knew exactly what he was talking about. Cool Guy
Dr. Woods teaches on testimony and tests on scripture and history. Nice guy, but he needs to be consistent. The tests have ambiguous questions and no test is like the one before. He talks about himself and his family more than the material. He has powerpoints but never uses them, and expects you to know the material in them for the test.
Brother Woods is an excellent teacher. If you come to his class with the material read (which isn't difficult) and with a willingness to learn, you will learn a lot. His tests are not hard, but do test your knowledge on the subject. If you've gone to class, read, and gone over his powerpoints, you should get an A
likes to talk about himself ("I'm not trying to be the hero of my own story"), tests are all doctrine, no scriptures allowed on tests; He has class pets, just be aware
Dr. Woods is a nice guy but the class was a waste of time yet still mandatory. He really didn't teach anything and the tests were harder than they needed to be. If you wanted to learn anything you had to do it on your own.
Attendance was required, but very little of the material we covered in class was on the tests. Most of what you had to know for the tests was in the powerpoints that we didn't use in class. He posted them on blackboard and we had to study them ourselves. The tests weren't hard, though, and there weren't trick questions like many religion tests.
Amazing teacher. He helps students actually seek learning by study and also by faith, which is difficult to do. He doesn't always explain the content that will be on the tests, but required readings and slides compensate, and it is worth it to have class meaningful and spiritual discussion. There is little on the test that will be a surprise.
I thought he was a good teacher. You could tell he knew his stuff, and was excited about teaching it to others.
Lots of frothy bubbles, very little substance. Way too much autobiography, especially name dropping. Sloppy teaching - doesn't finish what he starts, but goes on to new stories/topics when he's bored with the first ones. Thinks testimony is adequate substitute for scholarship.
Grade and always willing to help and had clear respect towards all religon.
My first impression of him was not wonderful, he seemed sorta arrogant. But i found out as the semester went on, he's a really smart guy and has a lot to teach. The class is not hard if you attend and read, that's most of the grade
Great teacher. He has more insight than normal due to his experiences. He really understands background of the writings and opens ones eyes to the truth. Always go to class and read and pay attention and you will do fine.
May have been the worst professor I have had yet. Class is totally useless, you have to know the powerpoints like the back of your hand. You must know all of the BD entries and more. The tests are ridiculous. He says he teaches on faith, but be prepared take tests meant for the professors.
Professor Woods is one of the most useless professors you will find. Most of class is spent talking about him and his family. The Judaism class is one credit, yet the tests are harder than most three credit classes. If you're interested in Judaism, read the books on your own, don't take this class by this professor!!!
Bro. Woods lectures on what he thinks his students need to hear to be successful in life, not on what will prepare them for the exams. This makes his exams seem unusually hard, but if you study the online power points instead of your notes, you will do fine. He tries hard to make his class a spiritual environment.
He is a good guy. His classes are somewhat interesting, but prepare you mind because you will get frustrated after each test.
I absolutely LOVED his class. Definitely one of my favorite classes and professors I've had. I learned tons. I always left class feeling the Spirit. The tests weren't hard- vocab and matching. He was very kind and fair and one of the few professors I wasn't scared out of my mind to talk to. Do the readings-they are a big part of the grade.
I enjoyed this class and Brother Woods made it interesting. I liked how our assignments were to read the chapters and attend class because this class doesn't justify a lot of busy work. The exams are fair. Constructive criticism: I noticed he sways a lot while lecturing behind his pc and tends to say what the powerpoint says verbatim.
Meh... I didn't like the professor very much, he seemed a bit caught up in himself and his experiences. You need to memorize a bunch of useless fact to do well on the T/F portion of the test, so it's just the luck of the draw (and it's half the test!). The rest is mainly vocab.
I really enjoyed this professor. His insights into the Old Testament were amazing. He has a lot of knowledge with the different bible translations, etc... He really likes to use the Bible Dictionary and outside articles. My favorite part was how he often tied everything back to the Book of Mormon. You could definitely feel the spirit in his class.
I wasn't a big fan. I felt lectures were based more on him than the D&C. When I asked him a question I felt he brushed me off and didn't care. Homework is easy but test are hard if you don't do well on true false. I felt he was not very understanding of his students. I had a couple score entered wrong and he wouldn't fix them.
Really inspiring and teaches for the reason why we have religion classes at BYU. He has class Q&A which is awesome rather than a huge lecture. Wish I could have had him for every class
Professor Woods was very into what he was teaching which was sometimes inspiring. That said, tests and assignments were sometimes unclear which made it disappointing to do poorly on since clearer instructions could have made a huge difference.
Literally the best teacher ever!
Brother Woods is passionate about the gospel, but spent more class time than necessary sharing personal stories (like close encounters with General Authorities). For tests that require such specific knowledge of random facts (the true/false portions are really difficult), he doesn't prepare you for them. Not a bad guy, but not the best professor.
Brother Woods is very passionate about gospel doctrine, and that is evident in his classes. However, I personally found him to be indifferent when it came to connecting spiritually with the scriptures and his students. I did not feel inspired very often in his class, I felt that we strictly discussed doctrine.
Professor Woods made me feel more welcomed and a part of his class than any other teacher has. I thoroughly enjoyed his stories and insights but was beyond frustrated with tests for which the only guidance was "memorise this" aka all the material covered. He is a wonderful man but requires an exeptional amount from students.
Brother Woods is honestly a great person. But he is absolutely ridiculous when it comes to tests. He doesn't cover material on tests then expects you to essentially teach yourself the material. His idea of what is nit picky is totally inaccurate as well. Said he wouldn't test on nit picky stuff but I felt like it was.
I loved Brother Woods as a person. However, his class was one of the worst I've ever had. Mandatory attendance with not a single excused day. LONG reading assignments every class. Tests were so hard and his study guides consisted of, "Know the historical background, doctrine, and PowerPoints of Section 109-138." And that's all we got for the final.
I personally think that Fred Woods is obnoxious. He says the class is focused on Doctrine rather than History, but he really spends all of his time being as sensationalistic (not the same as spiritual) as he can to make everyone feel good about themselves rather than really teaching anything. The class itself was easy enough, though.
Everyweek you get 2 page papers to turn in. If you do not do the reading in his class you will not pass his tests.
Being in his class is really disappointing. He spends most of the time on class discussion on the opinions and thoughts we had about the reading instead of things you need to know for the tests (which are mostly memorization). Didn't feel like I learned anything about the D&C. Would not take again, ever.
The class was very difficult as in preparation for tests. I found that I was trying to study but never was able to pinpoint the very specific details he would have on the test. It was hard to follow where we were in terms of doctrine. He does have a love for the Doctrine and Covenants which is a bright side to the conversation.
Brother Woods is a good professor! But he is among a faculty of great professors. In my opinion, the tests were too heavy on rote memorization, and the essay responses became more tedious than edifying. His lectures were good, but the course started feeling more like a history class, sometimes the history of himself. He's a great person, though!
Brother Woods so clearly loves the gospel and cares for his students. Attendance is graded and there are two reading and writing assignments each week but they are manageable and are actually quite helpful in creating a buffer for your exam grades. Downside: it's very discussion based. I didn't really learn much more than my peers opinions.
Brother Woods is very passionate about the gospel. I really did learn a lot from him. There are two, one to two page writing assignments due every week and I felt like that was a little much. The class itself is very discussion based. My only problem is that he tests us on stuff we didn't cover in class. There are only two tests in the semester.
He is a really nice guy and gets really emotional while teaching. I think I would love his class if it was not for a grade, but for academics, it is not a good class. He teaches by the spirit a lot which is great for listening but it also means he goes way off topic in his teaching and it makes it really hard to follow.
Not sure why his ratings are so low here. He's a great professor, he really invites the Spirit when he teaches. His tests really aren't that different than other religion courses, he's there to help and gives you a study guide. He cares about your learning. There is a lot of reading, but it's there to help you.
My favorite prof this semester. Every 50 minute class felt like 10 minutes. Super inspiring and really knows the scriptures. He really cares about his students in and outside of class. You fill out your own attendance and reading online and write a 1 page paper for every class. His is the only class I never skipped. Take his class if you can!
Brother Woods is a great professor. The Book of Mormon class I took had very uplifting lectures, with easy homework and reasonable tests. He clearly shows that he cares about his students and wants to be fair to them.
Incredibly nice. His lectures are hard to follow, tests are incredibly difficult to study for. He is pretty vague about what you need to know.
He is a good teacher that truly cares about his students. Sometimes the classes weren't my favorite because it was just talking about students thoughts on readings. The papers arent that bad, just stay on top of them and they buffer your grade. He added a lot of EC after each test to help boost peoples grades. Overall, I would recommend him!
Bro. Woods is very knowledgeable and has a deep love for the gospel, but his lectures are so random-he doesn't stick with the topic. He has powerpoints-over 30 slides each and then only talks about 10 at most, skipping through randomly, and then expects you to know information on every slide for the test. Spends too much time with personal stories.
I took foundings of the restoration from Brother Woods, which is a topic I've always loved learning about. However his class made it extremely hard and boring. His lectures were all over the place and hard to follow. The tests were really hard and took up most of our grade. He seems like a nice guy but just not the best teacher.
Brother Woods really is an awesome guy; you can tell he cares a lot about his students. His lectures felt like Sunday School rather than Foundations of the Restoration though; amazing, spiritual, and inspiring, but not based in the events of the Restoration. The tests are pretty hard, and not always based on what's been discussed in class.
Brother Woods test are extremely hard and never really relate to his lectures, or the study guide. I felt like he was forcing little details at us rather and helping us to understand difficult topics in the restoration. Lectures jumped everywhere and we're confusing.
Prof Woods is a bit tough on the lectures. His test were extremely hard and they didn't correspond with the lectures or study guides that he would give us. He fills his lectures with a lot of his experiences. There was a writing assignment due before every class as well.
His tests are really hard to study for, but if you have a decent knowledge of the Doctrine and Covenants and church history, they aren't that difficult. There isn't too much reading, although there is a 1-2 page reflection due along with the reading every class period. Really great guy, just hard to study for his tests.
Pro. Woods is a great teacher and one can tell that he really loves the gospel. The hardest part is studying for the midterm and final. You MUST take notes in class to pass the tests and try hard to pay attention because he gives out test questions in class. You get readings twice a week and write a 1 page, doubled spaced reflection on them.
Brother Woods is so passionate about the subject and his students, but hes not the greatest teacher. Spends more time jumping around slides and telling personal experiences than actually teaching about the Restoration. Tests on trivial details, but study the study guides and youll be fine.
Be prepared for lots of homework. I had a two page review on the reading (which was a TON) due twice a week. Rambled a lot during lectures. You can tell he really loves what he teaches, but he isn't the best at actually teaching it. Tests are hard and review sheets don't help too much.
Before every class you're expected to do a solid 40-50 minutes of reading and write a 2 page paper reflecting on what you read. His lectures always seemed very superfluous. While I enjoyed his stories, He would only cover like 7% of the material from his slides. So on top of heavy reading, be prepared to study powerpoints on your own time to study.
Find a different teacher. He makes you read A TON of stuff before each class and then hardly talks about it during lectures. He gets off track real easily and just tells random stories. He has 50+ slide powerpoints every day and maybe gets through 5 slides on a good day. His tests are on super random and specific stuff he never covers.
Lectures were terrible, he would rant about his projects and tell us to bible bash with other religions. The reading assignments given to us were astronomical compared to what would be expected of a 2.0 credit hour class. Most people didnt do well on midterms and finals, but if you are familiar with D&C it isnt that hard. u write 2 papers a week.
Professor Woods cares a lot about his students. He is more than willing to work with you. His lectures can be a bit long but they are inspirational. Test are hard but I did not study and still got a good grade in the class and I promise I am not a natural genius. Grades depend mostly on daily reading and a small report on what we read that week.
You have to do the weekly readings which take a good amount of time AND you have to write a 2 page paper every week about them. I wasn't a fan of his lectures because his slides were overwhelming, not well organized, hard to follow... I never knew what to take notes on. However, Brother Woods is very sincere and loves his students & the gospel.
Brother Woods was great! He is such a nice, old man who is passionate about what he teaches. His class was fairly easy and he gave you the questions for the final. Lectures could be kind of boring at times, but he did everything he could to make them interesting, definitely would recommend.
I would have liked Brother Woods as a seminary teacher, but he expects a lot of detail retention yet teaches in a more casual and inspirational way. Reading is heavy in this class, and it is easy to permanently miss grade points if you miss the reading or attendance quizzes. The tests are quite difficult, most material is not addressed in class.
I hated this class. I love religion classes, but the fact is that professor Woods is just a bad teacher. Most of the time I came away from class frustrated at the lack of organization and substance in the lectures. I felt more confused about Church history by the end. You only get a few opportunities to take religion classes, don't waste one.
Dr. Woods is incredibly knowledgeable and well-versed in the scriptures and church history. He cares about his students and makes and effort to know everyone by name. The possible questions for the exam are at the ends of the lecture slides and his lectures cover them and then some.
The class is straight forward. Attend class, read (quite a bit), write 2 papers a week, and 2 exams. However, Woods gets massively sidetracked during lectures and has also made frequent comments that were insensitive regarding things around race, faith crisis', and more (probs unintentional). It was hard to sit through lectures for those reasons.
Don't take classes from Brother Woods. He has average 50 slides on his powerpoints per lecture and maybe addresses 8-10 of them. Exams are kind of picky and too specific for a rel class. Probably means well but says things that made me question a lot of material and leadership. Just sayin.
Professor Woods is a really nice guy who puts a lot effort into his lectures. He is a little unorganized at times, but a fun class. No big projects, however there are writing assignments every week. It's mostly graded on completion though. Good guy, easy class
I respect Dr. Woods and his love for his students and the Gospel. However, he is a difficult teacher. Powerpoints are 50+ slides long and he usually gets sidetracked and discusses 10 of them. It is hard to study for tests as they are extremely specific. He assigns exorbitant amounts of readings for a 2-credit class. Great guy, not the best teacher.
Brother Woods's lectures and study guides for the tests are unorganized. His tests have many questions not related to his "possible questions" guide. He says the questions are mentioned in lectures but never tells u that they will be on the test. His tests are super specific asking dates, how many people, and who did what exactly. Very bad teacher.
Professor Woods is a good man but I did not like his spring foundations class. He focused on the historical content of church history and not the spiritual aspect as much. I found several things that he said off-putting and in general didn't really love going to class. Tons of reading, too much for a religion class.
I ended up in this class with people who loved to hear their own voice, which was miserable. Dr. Woods is very prone to rambling and does not stay on topic at all. Prepare to spend 90% of the lecture listening to a classmate go on and on and on about a superfluous connection they made. The majority of tests are solely Bible dictionary terms.
Loved his class, he writes out possible questions for the tests at the end of his PowerPoints which came in handy. Easy class and you take your own attendance - he loves the gospel and it shows through his enthusiasm everyday!
Gotta say, I loved his perspective on the Gospel (he is a convert, has some really cool inspiring stories). Although he was soft spoken he was an engaging lecturer. The workload is a lot, but the consistency of the reading/writing make it so it doesn't pile up too much. Lots of participation points, but make sure you participate!
prof. woods is a kind person but he is frustrating. gets easily distracted. talks about himself too much. has some non-doctrinal views that he shares openly in class, which is inappropriate for a religion class. least favorite class at BYU easily. but he was nice-cut me some slack with a couple assignments when i had some family emergencies happen.
Professor Woods genuinely is a really nice guy. He cares about his students and loves his jobs. He tends to get off track at times and doesn't ever get through the powerpoints (the test material). The class isn't difficult aside form the tests. They cover lots of details that you will miss unless you go back into the powerpoints to study from them.
Bro Woods is a great guy who cares about each of his students. I left every class feeling very uplifted. He would sometimes go off-script and not stick to the class content, but often it was what people in the class needed to hear. However, that created heavy reviews on your own time. Tests were fairly easy, with some curveballs.
I only got an A- because I did all the extra credit & got 100% on everything but the tests. I'm a good tester & I studied for 4-6 hours per test & I got a 72 and a 79. Random info on tests. Lectures were a firehose of information. 60-80 slides per class, 4-6 paragraphs per slide & he spent an average of 45 seconds per slide. Prepare for rambling.
Mostly rambled in class and then makes the test questions so random it's almost impossible to get a good grade. Especially for a religion class, would not recommend.
This profesor made my life hell. His classes are chaos and lack structure. Twice, he skipped teaching lessons. Once, we had to attend a school event and submit a report on that instead of having the lecture, yet he still included questions in the final from those skipped lessons. Do yourself a favor and never take a class with him-you'll regret it.
This professor's teaching style is very aggressive. He slams the board, raises his voice excessively, and claps abruptly to get attention. If you have PTSD or anxiety, avoid his class. Attendance is mandatory, leaving no escape from his stressful approach. Consider your mental health before enrolling; other professors offer calmer environments.
This professor often presents many of his personal points of view in a doctrinal class, which I don't think is the best approach for a religion class—especially one of the four principal doctrinal classes at BYU. I wish he would clearly distinguish when he is sharing his own ideas.
For two credits, this class was has as hard as my ECON class.
This professor made my life hell; I am a survivor.
I would not recommend taking this class. Professor Woods seems like a great guy but his lectures were very confusing and ended up being off topic a lot of the time. At first I didn't mind this and thought that it was just a laid back class but then the midterm and final were highly specific and weighted very heavily. Just an overall confusing class
I would withdraw if not for my scholarship. Do not take this class from him unless you are ready for sexist and dehumanizing remarks, justifications for abusers, and blatant disrespect towards any university other than BYU (or even the other BYU classes) or anyone who is slightly liberal. He is anti-intellectual and thinks hes smarter than everyone
Brother Woods has been my favorite religion teacher at BYU by far. He assigns two short essays every week on top of reading, but he does not assign any additional homework. His lectures are the reason why you should take this class. He speaks from experience, and he is so deeply rooted in faith that it could inspire you, too. Wonderful man!
Don't take if you're looking for a spiritual testimony building class. He goes off on tangents and doesn't teach what's on the exams. Lots of readings and papers for each class. Great guy, poor teacher
He is a nice guy but terrible professor. I learned nothing. He rambles during lectures and never gets through the slides. Both the midterm and final are filled with random questions that have nothing to do with the lectures. He spends only 2 days a semester actually discussing the exams by firehosing you with random facts rarely found on the exams.
This professor made my first year at BYU very difficult. The class was mostly busy work like papers and memorizing random information, with little real learning. The aggressive classroom environment made me feel uncomfortable and discouraged throughout the semester. I wanted to cry all day because of him.
I really disliked him and would never take another one of his classes. Sorry not sorry!
This is not a real class. Take it from someone else who will let you go bowling during class or bring you food. It will make it more bearable.
Everyone else is way too harsh on him. He's a great professor and really cares about church history. Unfortunately he does tend to ramble or go on tangents during lectures, but you'll be fine on the test as long as you review the PowerPoint slides. He puts a slide at the end containing possible questions for the midterm/final.
Professor Woods is very religious, and loves to give advice, the only issue is he rambles and doesn't understand others' situations in the slightest. The course is overwhelmingly reading and essay based, with little engagement beyond long homework lectures. Compared to other classes, this one lacks interaction and fun. Consider taking it elsewhere.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
94%
Textbook Required
6%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.93 avg changeRatings by Course
RELG100
5.0
(1)FDREL121
5.0
(2)OLDTESTAMENT
4.0
(1)REL342
4.0
(2)RELARELA
4.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
RELA301
5.0
REL225
4.2
DC324
4.0
REL355
4.0
RELC344
4.0