2.1
Quality2.4
Difficulty12%
Would Retake86
Reviews12%
Would Retake
86
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
6
4
7
3
16
2
25
1
32
What Students Say
“The WORST professor I have ever had”
HSS3303 - 1.0 rating“Worst professor I've ever had”
HSS1101 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
16%
Textbook Required
66%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
-0.07 avg changeRatings by Course
HSSHSS
5.0
(1)HSS3303HSS1101
3.0
(1)HSS3303
2.9
(14)HSS1101
2.1
(56)HSSA
2.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
HSSA
5.0
HSSA1101
5.0
PHR6101
4.0
HSS3310
4.0
HSS3110
3.3
Reviews (86)
Most useless class ever! I came out of every lecture not feeling like I had learned a single thing. On the plus side, there are no readings, there is no need to attend class, the assignements are all small group projects, and the exams are SO EASY!
Probably the dumbest prof on campus. Most unproffessional, useless, and annoying class I have ever taken. It's such a joke. Going to class is unnecessary, as is studying. It's pretty much like having free credits.
What a waste of time! The prof cannot clarify or teach anything properly. Go to this class if you want to become confused on the most straightforward subjects!
Going to this class makes me feel angry inside! It is a waste of my time and my life!!
Clearly this clown doesn't know what he's talking about. He confuses everything and makes the simplest of concepts difficult and complicated. Why? I don't know.
This guy needs help... For instance, he doesn't even know how to define a disability...He has one in teaching for sure..
the boring part doesn't bother me, i usually don't go to class. but a lot of the material is just overgeneralized bs. and sometimes it's like he's trying to tell us how to live our lives, and i for one don't appreciate that
idiot
What a waste of time it is to go to his classes! If you get the textbook, read the chapters, and get some sleep during the class (by this,I mean don't go to his class!) He makes everything more complicated than it has to be, and he really shouldn't be teaching! Also comes up with really stupid policies that he himself doesn't understand!!!
No Comments
pathetic. truly pathetic. if only he could pronounce the letter 'V'...This class is waste of time. I attended 3 classes : the first class, the midterm and the final. some people just shouldn't be teacher
No Comments
Vague and disorganized
No Comments
Very nice man. Tries really hard to make sure his students are happy. A little disorganized but definitely getting a lot better:)
Definately knew what he was talking about, little much on the notes though, it's hard to study a textbooks worth of notes for one midterm
James Gomes is truly an amazin gprofessor. He really knows his material and does his best to make all students like it. Easy A if you read the notes and attend class. See him in his office hours and he is willing to help no matter what the circumstances are. I am looking forward to more classes with him. An excellent prof.
Very bad prof. Unclear and disorganized. Quite rude, although I don't think he knows he's being rude. Can't tolerate his accent, bad english, frequently has wrong grammar on slides
Are you kidding me? This class was an absolute joke. It was an elective for me and it was one of the easier things ever. Ya there's a lot of infomation but it is ALL common sense. It's like grade 7 health class all over again. He's a smart man, kinda boring sometimes, but he trys. I still smile at his attempts to be funny. Can't work the lights!
give him a break, look at the class he's teaching!! it's hard to make "smoking causes cancer, greenhouse gases are bad" interesting when all of your students have had it drilled into their heads a million times before! I don't blame him, I blame the guy respeonsible for making this course mandatory in the first place!
Most boring prof ever - he has no idea what he's talking about! He literally reads off of his slides and says the same things over and over again, and tries but fails miserably to answer questions. No idea how he ever got hired to be a teacher...it's a good thing his class is so easy!!
Very boring class, the material has simply been done over and over so it makes it difficult for a prof to make it interesting. Easy exams and term papers if you go to class and use slides, prof is also very approachable for questions about marks and is flexible if you have a valid complaint about your mark. Overall decent prof but boring course.
Just a warning, but this is not an "easy A" - you have to go though 500 slides, a textbook and a 12 page research paper! The content still requires studying and it's better if you have some kind of interest in the health care field...The professors give a lot of hints as to what will be tested - nice class, but not as easy as everyone says!
He gives you more material to study than he can teach in the semester. The material NEEDS to be studied. LOTS of info -slides=full of info. didn't help me at all with any of my questions/concerns/comments. He cuts the midterm short of time. GROUP PROJECT!!!! expects that you know A LOT... Im in my 4th and this was my hardest class-its that NOT easy
The comment made below was for class HSS1101A Winter 2008
There were 629 slides.... For the final you had to remember 449 slides and 9 chapters....it wasn't all easy stuff...I wouldn't recommend this class. I thought for a first year class, the teacher was being unreasonable and gave more information then what should have been required. It's unfortunate because I thought it was going to be a great class..
he;s sooo hot <3
Lots of material, but literally common sense stuff, biggest problem was lack of a challenge, it wasn't uncommon for most of the class to be sleeping to trying to keep themselves awake. His slides are incomplete on the web, so class is mandatory for finishing them from his very dry, dull lectures. Exams and assignments were unbelievably easy.
DONT BUY TEXTBOOK! Its useless. He spent an entire class mispronouncing the title to "determinators" of health... Most boring teacher of life
DON'T GET FOOLED! Looks like an easy class, but the final is hard and the marking is brutal. Slides are boring and endless, and he just reads off them and asks dumb questions to keep us awake. Barely speaks any English. But he isn't mean or anything.
prof is very hard to understand! a terrible class overall, but easy to get a good mark. If you read the textbook you will do well, probably better than if you go to lecture.
going to class is the most important thing. If you go and listen to what he says you'll definitly be fine for the midterm. the final was a bit more challenging but overall he was an easy prof.marks the assignments fairly. overall an easy prof
He was plain wrong on what the definition of a numerator was, saying that increasing it decreases the overall rate of something; this is something I learned in grade 6 math. When someone asked him to explain, he said "I'll go over it in the tutorial", to which she replied "Please explain it now, it makes no sense." Owned much?
avoid him... this prof is just horrible .. his t.a's are even worse.. his exam is 150 muiltple choice question ..!!! and all u do is memorize nonsense stuff .. pretty easy to get B's but much more work for A or A+ .. overall i found his grading really unfair
Terrible.terrible prof, I would say the worst I've ever had.
The professor doesn't really know the material he's teaching, sadly.
I have been going through the comments left by others and Im starting to wonder if its the same prof... First- off...I was not a first year when I took his class. I have had much worse than him. I found him VERY fair (exams aswell). He was very helpfull outside of class. If you study (like any class) you will do great. I would take the class again.
Knows his material but doesn't convey it well to the class. Basically reads off the slides and asks a few pointless questions. My biggest problem was his giving us the guidelines for projects a few days before they are due. He made it impossible to get work done ahead of time because it would just have to be redone.
I don't think Gomes is used to teaching first years- and I don't think he should be. He seems like he'd be better sticking with his fourth year classes. Midterm and final are pretty fair but group assignments suck- do them alone if you have the option. TA's are useless and harder markers than he is.
worst prof that ottawa u has. this guy puts like 140-80 slides for each power presentation (way too much info) don't bother buying the book, he doesn't use it, and he uses modules and the book comes in chapters! so just good luck figuring which chapters belong to each lecture. he put questions on my 1st exam that were part of the second exam.
Not a great professor. He simply doesn't know the material he is teaching. He completely relies on his slides to answer any questions. He expects us students to remember things that he doesn't know anything of- evident by his meticulous reliance on his slides. Also a very dull lecturer.
Yes, it's an easy class. But, if you're like me and you need that 8.5 GPA or you want an A grade then it's not a joke. Note that ALL of the questions he asks are SOLELY from the slides. Ask for an extra copy of the midterm before you leave after writing it - some of the questions are reused for the exam and this is an easy way to get extra marks!
To add to the last post I made- if he offers a bonus assignment in your section DO IT. For us, it was worth 5% which is a crazy amount to give away for free. It's like getting +10% to your exam grade.
All around bad professor. Boring lecturer who does not know the material that he is teaching. Relies on the slides for everything. Always late for class and starts class 10 minutes late all the time.
Seems like a nice guy but teaching's probably not his greatest strength. I could never make it past an hour before giving up an walking out of the class. The midterms and exam are fair, just read over his slides and you'll get a good mark
Has great difficulty using his mic :/
The class is easy, but the prof had a hard time keeping the class interested. He really wanted the class to participate in class discussions and asked a lot of questions. Unfortunately the class was too bored or busy sleeping to put the effort into raising their hands and answering. Just stick to the slides and you'll do fine in the class.
I have to take this course as it is mandatory for the graduate certificate program . This prof is very frustrating as he is not easy to get a hold of after class, and the course being taught has no textbook just guest lecturers. The final report is worth 50% of the grade yet it's objectives are unclear. He's always 30min late for the 8:30am class!
If students give him a chance he's a good prof. He genuinely wants an active class environment, but nobody ever answers his questions. If you go see him outside of class your view of him
MANY, MANY issues with this prof. One of the major ones is that the syllabus was changed at least 6x throughout the course, but never officially updated. He would change %s, dates of quizzes/midterms in class. He was ~30 minutes late to one midterm, and 20 minutes late to the final exam. No apologies. His exams are poorly worded, with MANY errors.
I'm not picky with profs as long as I can get a good mark by studying and putting in a reasonable amount of effort. He fits that criteria. Like other's said, he could be unclear, changed the syllabus a million times, and were late but ultimately it was not a hard class and he gave bonus marks. He really tries to engage the class but fails.
One of the easiest classes i have ever taken Read through the lectures one time each and got good grades Who cares how he is ultimately we come on here to know if we can get good grades If you want a good grade take his class and read the slides DO NOT waste money on a textbook.
Extremely boring lectures, very difficult to pay attention. He is not at all a very good professor, but in the end its a super easy class! you can skip a lot of his classes, read the slides over once and do fairly well. DO NOT WASTE MONEY ON THE TEXTBOOK. I would recommend him for easiness but not as a professor.
Avoid James Gomes if possible. He is completely useless as a prof and the lectures are 100% not worth your time. He talks about nothing related to the course and is not knowledgeable on current events but tries to be. The textbook is not worth the $30. I would recommend just learning from his slides. Good luck if you have him!
So far I really like his lectures because they are never ever boring. He also seems to have a lot of knowledge on a broad spectrum of topics regarding environment and health. His group assignment is also very unique! Definitely a fresh of breath air
His lecture slides are organized but he trails off a lot. Group project is VERY confusing at first, it is a town hall meeting and you are in a group with about 18 people. To get marks you have to make sure to get noticed by the prof in the group and be very creative. He put a lot of midterm questions on the final. You have to be open minded.
The WORST professor I have ever had. Doesn't answer questions, goes off on useless tangents, gives no clear expectations of assignments, especially group projects. Class consists of him asking us questions to which he never gives the answers. You will probably still get a good grade but it will be a horrible experience. DO NO TAKE
Pretty easy and clear professor.
Very boring, talks very slowly, will ask many questions during class but won't provide answers. His ppt slides are also awful, so much writing, small fonts, etc. Avoid him if possible. I actually dropped his course and took it online instead.
he is very condescending and has a big ego. Doesn't make class fun at all, the course however is easy on its own
His lectures are so boring. Tests are not related to the hundreds of slides he gave each lecture. Seriously, NEVER TAKE THE COURSE WITH THIS PRO.
Most boring lectures ever! You can easily pass the class without attending one lecture because he literally reads off the slides. He's very unprepared, for example, didn't have enough midterms to hand out & had to prepare a makeup midterm because he was clearly unable to do his job. Get it together Gomes.
he just reads off the slides which is just copy pasted from the text book. lectures are not engaging at all, it doesn't matter if you skip. questions on midterm vary from very general to extremely specific. Don't bother buying the textbook and try to avoid getting him if possible.
THE WORST. Supplies practice questions with incorrect answers, screws up questions on your exam so go see it and fight for your grade. Questions are unrealistically specific, usually based on the various graphs/charts with stats older than most of his students. Powerpoints are 80 slides copied from textbook, so don't buy it. AVOID AT ALL COSTS
Not a good professor. Routinely just shows up and reads off his powerpoints, you can tell he really has no passion for teaching. The practice questions he gives you are the same ones he uses on the midterms, which are full of spelling and grammatical mistakes. Overall didn't really learn anything in the course, would not recommend.
His lectures are dreadful since he reads them word for word with a monotone voice. Provides practice questions which are IDENTICAL to the ones on the exams except he tends to give incorrect answers to the questions. Slideshows are over detail and he focuses on small details rather the big concept. The most unorganized person I've ever met!
Definitely don't need to show up to class or do any of the readings. All the info that students were tested on can be found on the slides, granted the slides were text-heavy and LONG. He is that prof that chooses minute details from his slides for MCQs but use his practice exams and you'll be set! Would recommend this class as an average booster.
Worst professor I've ever had. Lectures consist of him reading off of his 100 slide slideshows(that are copy and pasted from the textbook) in a monotone voice while mispronouncing many words. Easy material but his exams are so terribly worded and filled with numerous errors which makes it difficult to succeed in the course. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!
This man does his best. He is not a horrible prof, the students in my class were prissy and rude and overly critical. He does tend to just read straight from the slides but often tries to engage the class by asking questions and attempting to initiate conversation - he wants people to be interested. He is a nice man with good intentions. Let him be
He asked his students multiple times what he could do to be better - added extra questions on to his teacher evaluation and asked a couple of times in class. Cut him some slack, if you need something ask instead of whining about it and being rude to him. It's not a hard class, just read the textbook or the slides and you will be fine.
This professor teaches beyond the scope of the course (other sections weren't required to know the obscure diseases, stats etc), the slides are text heavy and up to 120 per class, the stats are very old and the a lot of material presented is not correct. The course is easy to pass, however difficult to get a good grade.
Super nice guy, but his exams are quite brutal! TONS of grammar and spelling errors in the exams. Not sure why he can't get them proofread. His multiple choice is VERY ambiguous. Probably 2/3 of the exams have multiple correct answers and you're expected to decipher which of the very correct answers is the "most correct". Basically just pick one
Seems to know the material well, but not how to teach it. Makes frequent mistakes (misspelling, misspeaking, math errors, etc) and doesn't correct them. All over place when he teaches, not explaining how concepts are linked. His hundred-slide lectures had lots of examples though and he posted sample questions that were the reason I passed the class
-Rude and condescending when responding to students in class -Changed syllabus multiple times throughout course -Provided minimal information for presentation, changed date and location multiple times -Frequent mistakes in class when teaching
literally the worst prof. just avoid him. he doesnt teach, he doesnt know the content himself
Terrible and rude professor. Relatively easy A- if you read the textbook, but his lectures are more or less useless and he steals marks by messing up questions and refusing to fix them. No idea why he is still around - there will be celebrations when he gets kicked out for being useless, mark my words.
Ummmmmm I really dont know what to say lol he's very rude, you walk out of class more confused than ever! Material wise its an easy class but man oh man were his lectures painful to attend. His slides were fill in the blank but yet hardly anyone showed up to class
Dr. Gomes is a kind man. Students always come in with a bad attitude and never participate when he asks question, so he gets kinda annoyed. He is willing to help people and make exceptions on projects if you just ask him. He is always asking for feedback and how to improve. Instead of complaining tell him how to improve and he will make the effort
The WORST prof ever. He is so disorganized, won't reply to emails, expects you to know everything, and is a terrible lecturer. He made us learn a whole lecture (60 slides) ON OUR OWN every week (so 3 lectures per week) and all 3 were testable on top of having a report due every week. He asks for feedback and then doesn't implement it.
Professor Gomes definitely is passionate about the environment and teaching students, however the content was a lot to handle for just one course. Most of the material and slides, we were left to read and learn on our own which was in addition to the lecture material. The content he taught was not really too difficult, it was just so much to know.
AMAZING
I agree with some of the comments here. It is hard to get a good mark
Honestly one of the worst profs, I have ever had, not only is this course extremely information heavy and very demanding, but James Gomes is one of the most disorganized profs I have ever had. We had spent 30 minutes and couldn't hear him because he had muted himself. You're very much better off teaching yourself with the textbook.
Lectures are filled with technical issues, material lifted verbatim from the textbook with little elaboration or additional info, and just a general disrespect for students' time. Not a fan
Prof Gomez is by far the most unorganized professor I have ever had. Not one date in the syllabus matched the real due dates, he does not know how to operate zoom, he reads straight from the slides. Only pro was that the midterm and assignments have been relatively easy (if you teach yourself). He also can be a bit rude if you ask questions.
This professor was very disrespectful. Changes grades to lower than what wasrecieved. Accused grades did not change. Very rude.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
16%
Textbook Required
66%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
-0.07 avg changeRatings by Course
HSSHSS
5.0
(1)HSS3303HSS1101
3.0
(1)HSS3303
2.9
(14)HSS1101
2.1
(56)HSSA
2.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
HSSA
5.0
HSSA1101
5.0
PHR6101
4.0
HSS3310
4.0
HSS3110
3.3