She is not clear and and not very patient when it comes to helping you. She will make her frustration apparent making her unapproachable. She makes the course more painful than needed. There is a way to explain things to student without questioning the student's intelligence, Maaren missed that mandatory course at teachers college.

Kari Maaren has provided me with a host of less-than-pleasant experiences. Avoid at all costs. Among other grievances, I can't help but feel like she assigns random grades without reading assignments. I often followed her examples to a tee and still did poorly. When students would ask her to clear things up, she acted like they were stupid.

Was very excited to take this class but despite all my hard work incorporating her feedback from assignments and participating in the discussions regularly she still failed me. She gave a failing mark on each essay no matter how hard you try and incorporated her feedback. She can be extremely critical and rude. don't waste your $.

She sings on YouTube! Funniest thing you will ever see. Just type her full name you will find it.

Great course, horrible professor! I would recommend this class be taken with a DIFFERENT prof. she seems to have psychological issues and constant nervous break downs in class over the use of electronic devices.

very unclear as to what she wants, her lectures are bias to her own interpretation of the subject. She is very rude when it comes to asking questions and often challenges the students integrity. She is only after credit in the university she does not care for the best interest of her students. AVOID TAKING ANY CLASSES WITH KARI

This professor assigned three assignments, all of which were write whatever you want. Although, she persisted to deduct marks because she didn't agree with the papers. She was not very clear on what she wanted. Not to mention, she has a huge list of penalties, that no other professor has?

She's not a professor that enables her student to succeed. Far more interested in perpetuating her own thoughts and opinions than anything else. Expect a 3000 word instructions for assignments, much of it her own ramblings, for a 500 word assignment. It's a course about fairy tales that's being treated as if it's going to achieve world peace.

If you have an opportunity to take this class with another professor I suggest you take it.

This teacher made me cry during class, because she signaled me out when I asked a "dumb" question. I suggest you switch out of her class because she is a very rude, and hypocritical individual. Save yourself the torture.

would not recommend.

It seems like this professor actually wants you to fail? The lectures and guidelines are unclear, she gives very poor marks to everyone, and seems to take pride in the difficulty of her long rambling instructions. It's not worth it to take a class with this prof, save yourself the trouble.

Very hard marker, switch out if you can

-She gives you over 30 texts to read, it's very intense for a second year course. Not to mention she has weekly participation chats and if you miss them you have to comment on 4 people's discussion posts. She makes you do a lot of tedious, specific work, and she changes requirements often. She is tough, tough grader. Her course modules are great.

STAY AWAY!!! trust. me.

Don't do it, don't do it to yourself. She is tedious and extremely nit picky. She will change course requirements in the middle of the semester. there are ridiculous discussion posts you have to comment every week on. she's a tough marker, she basically wants you to think like her. DONT DO IT.

Strict to students, very heavy course load, very hard term test and, not a very nice person, be careful.

I scoffed at the "tough marker" reviews because English courses are generally my strong-suit -but I shouldn't have! Very tough, bordering on unreasonable. Exams are pretty straightforward, but hard. Very snide to students, thinks she's very funny ... Lectures not terrible if you read the material & contribute a lot - participation only 5% though!

I was excited for this class, but ended up not enjoying it as much as I could have. Kari is quite condescending to her students and rambles far too much without any room for others to comment. If you do comment, 9/10 times she'll brush it off if it isn't something she would've said. I think her marking is unreasonable for the class subject.

She is god awful. Will freak on on the class over the use of cellphones. A few instances it has been her own phone. It's funny watching her get sheepish and embarrassed. Anyways, she is an incredibly tough marker. She will have 1000's of words to desrive a 500 word assignment. Not to mention, she's mentally unstable. SWITCH out of her classes.

Stay away.!! Worst prof ever!! Btw: nobody cares about ur migraine rants. Hands out Fs like candy. And threatens students with integrity issues

drop out asapppp

Mean mean mean. Takes pleasure at giving out low grades. Self centred and condescending.

The impression I got on attending this class, even on the very first day, is that Kari had already lumped us in with every student she'd ever taught without even giving us a chance. Kari knows her stuff, but class discussions were absurd. The student was always wrong, and she was always right. How is this effective learning? It was condescending.

awful! Get out ASAP! Shes mean and her lectures are all over the place with no focus. Very tough grader and ridiculous deductions overall a horrible person.

she is not a nice person and does not care about her students at all. She should not be teaching. She is an extremely difficult marker, deducting ridiculous amount of points. her instructions are very confusing, and she sends out follow up emails as clarification. did not learn anything of value in this class.

Sounded like an interesting course but she reads off pages of her own notes for the majority of class and has mediocre slides. Readings are light for the first half of the semester and then you're expected to read 3 novels in the last 3 weeks of class. Overall, wouldn't recommend unless you genuinely enjoy English.

She has a completely, nasty attitude. I have no idea why she is even teaching at a university. She condescends but does not correct a student. Any little error or anything she wants to drag you like dirt. She is so confusing and I have no clue how she got a Ph.D. She's horrid & forces you to think like her. She shouldn't be allowed in education.

I was excited to take this class, but Prof Maaren quickly showed that she does not respect her students and has an air of superiority (although her teaching/course reading is mediocre and unoriginal). Assignments weren't difficult but she sends out superfluous assignment sheets and stresses all the ways you'll fail. Overall rude and condescending.

Please for the love of god do not take any course with this professor. I am begging you. She thinks she is the smartest person in the whole planet and looks down on all of her students. I also believe she thoroughly enjoys handing out failing grades to her students, perhaps for fun. Please believe every word I am saying and do not take this course!

Honestly she made the online course hell, she was so quick to call out students on the public forums and make us feel like we were idiots. In the group chats, which were part of getting extra marks she wouldn't give good feedback but just suggest another answer. marks hard on paper as well. You have to read alot of short stories and other novels.

Worst course and teacher. This was a nightmare, She was very belittling and unhelpful. She expected all student to just understand and be at the same level in there education. For a continuing education course that is open to any and all she did not make any attempt to help or educated those taking this course for the first time.

She attempts humour through an online course which does not get across very well. She does not care for the success of her students and it is very easy to get left behind. A lot of grading criteria is claimed to be "incredibly clear" but a lot of people were left wondering how they had received many marks.

Worst prof I've had in four years at Ryerson, would yell at students arbitrarily and made a few cry. Always asked silly questions and then stand there for 10 minutes in silence if nobody answered. Came to her for help on an essay, did exactly what she said, still failed. Accused me of plagiarism for forgetting to cite one sentence in an essay. 0/10

I have to read her instructions/posts over and over again before I can understand what she is saying. She makes everything so much more complicated than it needs to be. The course itself is interesting but she manages to make talking about fairy tales the worst thing ever. She thinks she is making everything clear but she really isn't.

She honestly is a nice woman BUT she's an incredibly hard marker, and most of her assignments and her lack of explaining concepts makes me wanna hit my head against the wall until I pass out

SWAP OUT ASAP. Like her or not, her grading is very unpredictable. The instructions for the final assignment is a 9 page, 6000-word document. Save yourself the struggle and avoid this professor.

Swap out if she's your SSH205 prof. She doesn't explain assignments at all and feels the need to conduct her class in an almost high school like manner in the way she checks homework and gives out in-class assignments. Tough grader too. Save yourself and switch out!

I would never take this class again. The title is misleading. Her marking is ridiculous and unfair. I am a straight A student and I had to drop this class. She expects people to write as in they are going to become novelist, when in reality most of her students are taking this as an elective. She has unrealistic expectations for her students.

The absolute worst professor i have ever had. I got 11/100 on the final essay on a paper i worked really hard on (it was late but definitely not that many marks taken off for lateness for it to be 11 out of 100?!!?!?!?!) i failed the class and have to retake it but i am 100% making sure i dont get her again, she is the worst prof at rye

The worst professor I have ever encountered in my university studies. She is a horrible lecturer and discusses the most irrelevant topics during the class. Her one assignment counted for 40% of the grade. She is the hardest marker and purposely tries to fail her students. She is very belittling to her students and has fits in class. Childish.

I highly recommend you avoid taking class with this professor. The "three-story thesis" method is completely useless to any student who is not an English major, especially for students in social sciences. Her lectures consist of her telling students how NOT to write essays instead of her actually teaching her students how to write academic papers.

Lots and lots of readings and homework to do. She's very harsh and blunt when critiquing your work and will not be afraid to fail you no matter the amount of effort you put into your paper. She doesn't teach you how to write a proper essay and just tells you all the things you can't do. Doesn't post her lecture slides that are PACKED with info.

She is not helpful at all. I cried weekly before I went to class. No matter what you do, it won't make your grade better because whatever she says is the rule. She is also very condescending when she teaches, and basically calls the class stupid whatever chance she gets. One of the worst teachers that I've ever had.

Announcements on D2L are excessively longwinded, aggressive and seem like they are meant to scare students. Assignment outlines are a labyrinth of "Do's" and "Don'ts" without really explaining what the assignment objective is. It's like this prof wants to make simple things complicated at the expense of the student. Avoid this class if you can.

This prof is a very hard marker and an odd person in general. She wants very specific things but doesn't do a good job explaining what she is looking for. You get marks as long as you complete the homework which is the one good thing.

Kari Maaren has yelled at several students for tedious tasks. She will yell at you if you are on your phone. She is very meticulous and will tell you what not to do but never what to do. It is very confusing. NO HOOKS. I have considered changing my entire faculty because of this one course. I would rather take chemistry than be in this class.

I had her my first semester EVER in University and she made my life so much more complicated that it needed to be. Very demeaning, will make you feel bad for no reason, has actual melt downs if she sees you on your phone, and often will scream. If you're a fan of the The Hobbit and Star Wars, congratulations, you'll probably pass.

She is the worst prof i have ever had. she is the toughest grader and does not encourage learning at all. her lectures go so far off topic she just rants about harry potter and lord of the rings. she is also very rude and does not sympathize with students if they do not understand concepts. if you happen to get her, switch out!!

At first when I saw her rating on here I thought people just being rude after receiving bad grades and were taking out not putting in enough effort on her, but nope. Theyre not joking. She deserves this grading & has her own criteria outside of the universities for marking. If ur GPA matters to u & u see her name on ur timetable drop the course.

She's such a hard marker & is very condescending. She doesn't tell you what you're doing right but instead sends long emails telling you about all the things your class is doing wrong. She gives a lot of feedback but she is hands down a very hard prof. She means well but she makes everyone scared about failing constantly. good luck if you have her

She is straight up rude. Will teach you what is wrong 99% of the time and 1% of the time tell you what is right and is never clear about what she wants. Highly recommend getting a different prof if you want to do well and not struggle through the term.

I'm a straight A student who constantly puts effort into their studies and managed to finish the course with a C. When she talks to you she puts you down and makes you feel like you're stupid. And she would throw fits in class as if she were a child. Whatever you do please avoid her. I wish I did because this "fun" elective managed to ruin my GPA

The worst prof Ive ever had. Make stupid jokes, and shes a huge fan of Harry potters. Plz switch the class if you can!

I am not someone who gets bad marks on my papers and someone who complains or anything. But this prof was one of the worst I've ever taken. Please don't be like me thinking that the ratings were wrong and taking the class anyways. Only thing decent is that if you got a bad mark on your papers, she'll let you redo it but never clear on what is wrong

This prof will point out how people are wrong on a weekly basis with long posts on d2l. NO PHONES allowed in class, she will interrupt her lecture to scream directly at you to put the phone away. email her at a busy time and she will rant on how people won't leave her alone.. oh yeah and get a stapler because she wont take ur essay without a staple

She is rude and condescending towards students especially in her VERY LONG emails. She makes everyone terrified about failing and takes plagiarism (intentional or unintentional) VERY SERIOUSLY. She throws childish fits if she catches students on their phones, and makes you feel like you're not trying hard enough. Avoid her at all costs!!!!

she is the worst professor ive ever had! extremely difficult to understand what exactly she wants in assignments or essays. very rude and dismissive of students in class and makes people feel bad if they dont give the answer she wants. DROP IT AS SOON AS YOU CAN!!! ive never seen someone mark so hard and without giving proper reasons

By far the worst teacher I have ever had so not take her class its horrible. She doesnt teach a thing in SSH205 she just take about star wars and gives u an essay to write. The essays are stupid because you might right a great essay that includes some summary and end up with a 0 for something you put hour and hour of work into. Dont take class!

okay straight up I'm like almost certain she wrote some of these reviews herself. reading expectations are extreme, but its easy to get away with not reading them. VERY horrible directions on almost everything, terrible&convoluted. literally the worst instructions for the simplest things. Has the dumbest assignments (sharks& jets). cool subject tho

She is the WORST teacher I have ever met in my life. She doesnt talk about the main details and always making some boring jokes while having the class. For her essay hw even you followed all the instructions but will be ended up a Very Low marks without a good suggestions and reasons. She is so rude and being discrimination. DONT EVER TAKE THIS!!

The worst professor I have ever had, and I have two degrees already. She doesn't give clear instructions and when I asked for a breakdown of why I received the mark I did, I was told she marks holistically. I needed an english course to apply for a teachable as I am a teacher. I warn perspective students to not take any of her courses.

She's never out right rude but you can always sense her irritation and annoyance when it comes to students who seem to have a harder time understanding what she wants and needs more patience in explaining things to them, especially to students whose first language isn't english (local or international). The type to give up on slow learning students

Tough grader, not cooperative, and doesnt provide good feedback.

Being in her remote learning class I expected her to be nicer after all I read on here, but shes a very tough grader and doesnt grade you like youre fresh outta high school. Her feedbacks dont help very much, and she loves giving D- or Fs . I highly do not recommend this class if youre not looking to be challenged. However she is a nice prof.

worst prof I've had so far. Gives unclear instruction on everything and isn't considerate of other students. I'd drop this course if it wasn't required. I hate it

If you have her on your schedule, try to switch before classes start. She literally refuses to give anyone a grade over a D. She attacks your work, tells you how to make it better, but when you follow her instructions to make it better it's never good enough for her. Also, she thinks she's funny but she's really not.

This class is by far the hardest course Ive taken, she doesnt give you useful help when needed.

This prof was incapable of providing students with any form of clarification without being extremely condescending. After asking for further direction, and altering my writing, I was still given the same marks on papers. She rudely rips people's writing to shreds via lecture, and makes snide remarks about our progress. Terrifyingly unprofessional.

She gives pretty good feedback but is a crazy hard marker. She can also be pretty condescending to students. It's unfortunate because I have learned a lot but because of her extremely harsh marking my GPA was affected.

Kari doesn't care if you're going through a world wide pandemic and she SURELY doesn't care if you were unable to finish an assignment due to the passing of your relatives. She expects you to understand ALL her material, gives vague feedback, and expects you to write at a graduate level when you're in first year. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS WITH HER.

This class was made much more difficult than it needed to be as Professor Maaren never seemed to know what she was teaching us. I will never forget when someone asked what a better alternative was to her most hated method and she responded "I'm not sure, but I'm sure you can figure it out". The feedback she gave was NEVER helpful.

Dont take this prof for the love of your GPA, the textbook was such a useless waste of money considering we had to use it one thing that was already online. Shes really tough on citations, and you can easily fail because of it. Shes nice but thats as far as nice goes, shell help you but she has a hint of attitude about everything.

If you have her drop her asap. By far the rudest prof I've ever experienced, she has been very rude to me in multiple emails. She called out one girl in my class for not doing well on an essay during a lecture. She doesn't give PROPER feedback, you can submit an essay and she'll only talk about your citing skills. AVOID MAAREN!!!!!

Drop out of her class. Take the course with a different prof. I tried to get help for my thesis by rewriting it with the very unclear comments she gave and sending it back to her for review. Instead of helping, she lowered my already very low mark. Nothing you write will make her happy. Very hard grader

In the beginning I thought Prof. Maaren was very knowledgeable in her field. However it did not take long for students to witness how incredibly fixed minded she can seem. She is tough and her comments, coming from a place of authority, can leave you feeling deflated and anxious. I would not recommend taking one of her courses.

Honestly as a person the prof is nice, kinda whacky, fun, etc HOWEVER her grading is ridiculous. It is almost impossible to get clear feedback to better your essays, thus losing a lot of marks for the essays to come. Hard marker for no reason, would not take this course with her if it wasn't mandatory.

I am extremely disgusted with this professor. Asides from her obvious lack of emotional immaturity, she is a terrible human being in and of itself. I had booked many zoom calls for her to be rude and offensive to me to my face, also in writing. Do not take this class. I have zero respect for her as a person, much less an educator. Appalled.

Of all my years at Ryerson University, I have come across many AMAZING professors. I dont think I ever had one bad one. Until I had Kari. She is very clear she doesnt ever give Aa (even if deserved). She sends novel long emails that are full of threats and warnings. She all in all is not pleasant. Avoid. Profs should be looking to lift us.

Honestly I was really looking forward to taking this course. However I wish I hadnt. I took three summer school english courses this year and received As in my other courses and a C+ in this class. This prof is a very tough marker and although this is an online course, she scheduled weekly meetings which I never attended. I recommend dropping!!!

switch out of her class. I have never stressed so much over an English class and you should not have to. She does not give good feedback. And she doesnt give any constructive criticism. If you already struggle with essay writing she is not the prof for you.

If u have Kari, pls RUN! Even if you have to risk taking this course in the summer. Do what you can to avoid her. Dropping out of her class was my biggest mistake. Her advice and her TA's advice always contradict one another. She does not know how to teach. She's not clear on what exactly she wants. Overcomplicates every little thing for no reason!

do not take Maaren!! horribly difficult class, and it's not because I'm dumb, it's because her requirements for papers are dumb. she's literally never satisfied with any type of paper, and refuses to give you any feedback. -22/10.

Ok, so I know I'm not a great example because I did get a very good grade with her... but she sucks. Just please don't do this to yourself. Her class is ridiculous. I don't know how to write a normal thesis because of her anymore. If you can choose a different prof, do it.

By far the worst professor i've had at Ryerson. She gives no feedback, marks very hard and made me hate fairytales and anything to do with them. I suggest you never take her course.

If youre taking this teacher please run, I am currently taking this course and I cry myself to sleep every night. I never ever got a bad grade in English, but this teacher bro RUN GUYS RUN

very hard marker! her emails are very wordy and full of tangents, you would figure with an 8 paragraph weekly email, some sort of point would be made. her assignment prompts are VERY confusing - she tells you more about what NOT to do rather than what you should be doing. lectures are boring and she often tries making jokes that just don't land.

Truly terrible and unempathetic prof- assigns the MOST amount of work and readings, constantly making announcements that are long, confusing and very strict. Unclear grading method, incredibly unfair and unreasonable. She obviously cares about the class topic but has seemingly no sense that people take multiple classes at a time. AVOID THIS PROF

The amount of participation required for this class was about 3x the amount of any other class I've taken. She is seemingly unaware that people have lives. I regret taking her class, as it was an insane amount of work for a grade far below my average. I would say to avoid this prof and this class! RUN

This professors teaching methods are like nothing I've ever seen before.Expects you to know how to write a thesis and an essay intoduction with explanation on how to - after telling you NOT to do it the way you were tought in highschool.Poor and complicated analogies(The Hobbit), slide shows contradict her lectures..she's just all over the place.

Completely insane, assignments make no sense, and she has no clue about what she wants from us. Focuses so much on what you shouldn't do that she doesn't bother explaining what she actually wants. Constantly contradicts herself in her teaching.

She is an extremely picky professor who emphasizes what she doesn't want to see rather than showing examples off what she DOES want. It's extremely hard to get an A or a B in her class. She also assigns homework assignments every single week for participation marks which count towards your final grade.

Very hard marker, you better be ready to do an assignment every week!!!!

I am having a lot of trouble in this class, I was never the greatest at English but I'm still trying hard. I feel that she expects more than we can do as first years but I'm really trying my best here and I'm super stressed.

Avoid her class at all cost, Super strict marker does not teach anything in class. High amounts of weekly work and in class she will really go in on your work in front of the class. She then gives you videos to explain the work. 0/10 will never take her class again

This elective was literally more work than my other courses combined and impossible to get over a 70

horrible prof. would never take her class again. extremely hard marker and does not show examples of what she wants. she is not specific at all. lectures are also very boring and long. she does not share all of the class slideshows on d2l either

The worst prof I have ever had, she does not provide a proper explanation of what to do then criticizes you and makes you feel awful when you don't do it right. Believe it or not, calculus and discrete math are easier than this class and I struggle with math more than English. If you get this prof, drop the class and then take it in the summer.

She is not able to give feedback, when asking for help she keeps repeating the same three things and does not help in any way. Super confusing during lectures.

Avoid this professor at all costs. Please, just do yourself the favor and avoid the stress. She is absolutely no help at all, her feedback is unclear. She tells you exactly what NOT to do, but never tells you WHAT to actually do. Just save yourself.

This prof was definitely the toughest I have come across during my first semester. She consistently only gives criticism and no proper constructive feedback. She is unclear on what she expects from her students and I ultimately lost motivation to do well in the course because of the frustration that came with her unclear instructions and negativity

This professor is absolutely ridiculous. She's very rude, she does not care about her students AT ALL. I worked the hardest in this class out of all of the classes I was in and still managed to get the worst grade out of all of the classes I took. Never ever take a class with this prof.

She is heartless. She doesn't care about her students and all she wants to do is fail them.

If you see this profs name on your schedule run, save your mental health. Nothing you produce is good enough and her "critique" is on bullying level "this is awful because I say so" nothing to help you improve She does NOT care about her students especially if they don't devote their entire life to her class. Too many group assignments for NO grade

Maaren does not help her students with story writing like she claims to. Instead nothing you write is good enough and when you ask for clarification in class you are talked down on. her grading is opinion based & not in relation to how well you follow the rubric. avoid. avoid. avoid.

Do not take any of this professors classes. She grades based on personal opinion and fails your assignments for small errors like missing page numbers or a spelling error. Her feedback is rude, filled with personal attacks and does not offer help for improvement. Don't risk your gpa with this prof.

I have never come across a professor who wants to make students miserable as bad as her. Criteria and feedback is unhelpful and more about what she doesn't want to see rather than being clear about what she wants. Snarky, rude and unorganized. Switch to a different prof unless you don't care about your mental health.

Under no circumstance should you ever take her class! In a full time math/science based program and her course took more time then my other 4 courses combined. Ridiculously hard marker. Class average for papers was a fail. Tons of homework

This prof sends out emails with 1,600 words once a week. So much dense information. Rather than provide constructive feedback inline on the document, she writes a short paragraph and if you want more feedback, she requests to meet with her. This is backwards and when grading very tough, there should at least be detailed, constructive feedback.

Doesn't execute anything well, and can't understand her. She does not explain any of the stories and relies on other students to explain the story

Avoid. Crazy high standards esp considering most people take course without a uni English background. Wants works written a specific way but does not say this or bother to teach it. Overwhelms with information and emails so anything relevant is easily missed. Assigns sync classes though course is async, though gives alt. Snarky and unprofessional.

this teacher literally only graded us on 4 things total.exams and 2 papers but hands back the paper a month after the due date so how are we supposed to know what to do better on for the second paper? she relies on you to explain the stories

ENG224: Never in my uni career have i witnessed such a professor. Honestly i have no words. She is very wordy, she does not get to the point and she insults students when giving them feedback. She is so passionate about children's literature to the point where if you say something wrong it is as if you personally attacked her.. would not recommend

Absolutely awful. Definition of a bully. Unorganized, rude, snarky, and doesn't offer ANY helpful criticism. Takes so long to mark assignments, so you have no feedback for the next one. Yells in office hours meetings. Intentionally wants to make school hard. Avoid avoid avoid at all costs.

DO NOT TAKE THIS COURSE! This professor is unhinged, vindictive, and says things like I will pull my hair out if you write a classic 5 paragraph essay...for an essay assignment. Leaving you lost and confused with no clear rubric. It also requires you to read a full children's book pretty much each week (around 200 pages).

Do not take this professor's class. Absurd amount of readings, unbelievably tough grader (even on great work). Sometimes it felt like my work was not "good enough" because she did not agree with what I was arguing, even with proof. I will never take her class again.

I haven't even finished this course and I need to leave this review because she's such a bad prof. This course could be a 1 hour maybe 2 hour lecture each week but she loves to yap on about the most boring things that are irrelevant to the class. Incredibly hard to listen to and the assignments are tedious and boring.

Worst prof I've ever had the displeasure of meeting. Takes way too much time explaining what not to do and never tells you what you should do. She must like the sound of her own voice because she yaps endlessly about completely irrelevant matters and things that are common sense as opposed to actually teaching the course. if you can, run away asap

Most boring class, reads a story and spends whole class taking about it, I low-key feel like she is discriminatory and marks so hard, I usually receive 85+ in all my eng courses I've taken, she marks unreasonably hard. unless you enjoy sitting there and falling asleep as she talks about a story the whole lecture and not what's on the exam.

Horrible prof, save yourself

The professor rambles in every lecture and never gets through the slides, which may I add are always close to 40-50 slides FULL of more rambling. Be soooo prepared to read cause the amount of books she wants read in one semester is crazy

By far the worst ssh prof, i'd rather get dunked on by prime blake griffen than take her class again

This professor is a hard marker and is very particular with the answers you give. This class I took was a lower liberal, but it did not feel like one. Tons of stories that you have to read within a short amount of time. Talks a lot rather than getting to the point, and the slides are extremely long and wordy for no reason

Weekly writing assignments that build on each other, midterm avg was 40% cuz she CANNOT teach, 1 final. She doesn't know how to explain what she wants from students (class exercises usually understood by only 1-2 students each class (her words) and she's a SUPER hard marker). Feedback was unhelpful, unclear, contradictory, and very condescending.

She is extremely strict at grading. Please if your seeing this save yourself in the long-run and switch class if you have her as your professor. She can't teach and she has high standards and will put you down instead of giving an actual feedback on how you can overall improve. This is a warning. There are better professor out there.

If you have this professor, switch to a different lecture. She is a very hard marker and does not give proper feedback, as most of it is critical and not actually to help improve your mistakes. She over-explains what she does NOT want done, but fails to provide enough information on what to do right. I had to drop the course because of her.

She simply does not know how to teach. I am an English major and she managed to make something I love (writing) become so unenjoyable. She is nothing but negative and unhelpful in both her lectures and in feedback. I was never once told what I should be doing, only what I should not. Choose anyone else!

I had to get up and leave multiple times during her classes, she is aggravating and so passive-aggressive. I was told in my feedback for a draft that I didn't crack an egg. What does that even mean? This feedback was for a paper worth 30% of my mark. I am at a loss for words. No words can describe her. RUN. Also super awkward likeeee no.

I had to drop this class in middle of Semester because of her ruthless behaviour. She simply does not know how to teach, nor she knows what she is teaching. Her slides and feedback never made sense nor it helped me anyway. She never gets satisfied with any of the work. Awful.

Does not teach. is unprofessional when speaking directly with students. Gets very angry and confrontational when speaking with. Instead of teaching what she wants us to do, she says everything we shouldn't do. Very difficult to follow along during lectures and does not want to help students pass. other people in same class different prof did better

Would never take the professor again, not helpful, marking is extremely tough

I find Prof. Maaren hilarious, which is probably the only thing I like about her. Other than that she's just a terrible prof, and can be unhinged at times. Not only is she an extremely tough grader, she's also terrible at giving feedback. Makes me wonder who even gave her this job and why the heck she's still allowed to teach anything at all

Dr. Mareen is an EXTREMELY HARD MARKER who will hold you up to an IMPOSSIBLY high standard. She expects first years to write like Master's students which is completely unfair. Avoid at all costs. You will not receive the same level of education as other students in the course.

this class is as hard as it is man and she just doesnt make it any better everything is overcomplicated for no reason inshallah i get an A tho

Horrible prof who's quite out of touch ngl. Assigns us a LOT of material for the week (as if all her students live no more than 5 min away from downtown, and therefore have all that extra time to complete her difficult to understand assignments). Very tough grader and expects us to be as smart as her. Kari should just stick to writing comics

inspirational bc she inspires me to drop out

Prof kari is insufferable, she makes this course extremely hard for no reason alongside expecting us to write like master students as first years. IN ADDITION shes extremely condescending and does not offer proper help when you ask for it. CHOOSE A DIFF PROF, i regret taking her so much. If u want to be happy stay away frm her course; its awful.

After 5 semesters of university, I got my first D. Prof. Maaren's lectures are a fever dream; nebulous tangents where nobody is quite sure what's going on. Assignments come with vague instructions, but unforgiving expectations. Prepare to be confused about your grades. Forget about office hours, asking for clarification is offensive to her.

I would not recommend taking this class - very unclear grading lots of examples of what not to do - few examples of what to do. Gets frustrated when students don't understand. incredibly tough marker - it is possible to do well but you have to have the skills prior to taking the class so whats the point of taking the class. didn't learn much

Don't know what to say but the course instructions are not understandable at all . The lectures are not understandable at all.

I'm back for more trauma dumping. I was woken out of sleep last night bc she was in my dream. I woke up crying. Similar to the tears I shed in class. I'm sorry to whoever sat next to me during the exam, such a sweet girl but my delusional laughter from realizing I'm cooked definitely distracted her. Kari I will never forgive you. Ever.

I'm back. anyway, I found a video of her playing the ukulele online and suffered for the next 3 days. I had a nightmare. Kari u give bullied in high school and seeking revenge on your university students. And honestly, your poor high school. I was so uncomfortable when asking her questions, and if you know her, you understand. Plz RUN if u have her

It has been years, and I still have nightmares of this woman.

Would strongly not recommend! Doesn't give clear feedback and is very vague with answering questions. Good luck getting a good grade with her. Most students in our class didn't get above a 60-65%.

Great subject, terrible execution. Her lectures were a masterclass in disorganization and the assignments lacked clear instructions, grading felt arbitrary, and her "my way or zero" approach showed zero willingness to meet students halfway. The irony? She rails against AI while her slides read like a ChatGPT first draft.

Not necessarily a bad person, but in the socioeconomic climate of 2025 she seems to be cracking under pressure, living in Canada she seems very obsessed with US president Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Communism in general. Every lecture in the 2025 term had some mention of Donald Trump, very skewed sense of how the world works and seems unstable

So abnoxious. Refuses to hear your out and has this idea that everyone is cheating. She is completely against AI, but seems to use it herself. Her ability to teach is subpar, and it's so difficult to understand what she says bc she goes around in circles. She is the type of prof who has the mindset of "my way or the highway".

I wouldn't have never thought a professor with years of experience would make me so depressed and make question my major. So much time and money down the drain. DO NOT (I REPEAT) DO NOT TAKE ANY CLASSES WITH THIS PROFF. UNLESS YOU WANT TO FEEL LIKE GARAGE. HER MARKING AND CRITIQUES ARE UNREASONABLE.

If you want to make short stories your life mission and you're a suck up this is perfect for you! God forbid you don't view things the same way as her. She acts like we're all here because we want to be and share her undying passion for short stories. NO LADY! Imtakingthisbecauseyourshappenedtobetheonlylowerlevelenglishcourseopen. Gee I wonder why.

This professor is not good. I had her for ENG 503 and all the low ratings were right about her. The final exam is tomorrow I am currently studying all the material, and she gave me a grade I did not deserve, this tanked my grade. Additionally, she posted the grades for the 35% assignment 12 hours before the final. Now I am scared about the final.

This professor has to be the worst educator I have ever experienced (in 30+ years). Her "comments" are emails from the integrity office. This professor wants you to read her mind for answers. Otherwise? Big fat ZERO for you. Incapable of returning assignments on time. If your a cheek-kisser, you'll do great in her class. DON'T "LEARN" FROM HER!

I genuinely believe this prof hates students. I know I walked away with a decent grade but there's no reason to grade an elective like a major. I had a classmate write an essay well WITHOUT AI and she put him under academic investigation. This class should've been an easy A, ruined my straight As. Avoid this prof at all costs.