2.9
Quality3.2
Difficulty38%
Would Retake87
Reviews38%
Would Retake
87
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
87 total ratings5
9
4
26
3
21
2
20
1
11
What Students Say
“Absolutely ridiculous”
ANTH195 - 2.0 rating“Please save yourself and do NOT take this class”
ANTH195 - 2.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
29%
Textbook Required
10%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.30 avg changeRatings by Course
GANTH192
5.0
(1)ANTH300
5.0
(1)ANTH395
4.0
(2)GANTH195
3.5
(18)GANT195
3.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
ANTH195
3.5
ANTH295
3.0
GANTH195
2.4
ANTH395
2.0
GANT195
2.0
Reviews (86)
she will take time to explain concepts during class which is helpful, but make sure you keep up on readings, and u study for the tests. There are only 2 tests and a final and the tests are under 20 questions each.
SHe makes you feel stupid if you dont understand concepts at first, but then she explains them. STUDY for tests, there arent that many and they are very short. make sure you read and participate or else she gets really angry
make sure you take notes during class- her pop quizzes are straight from them. two exams (20 questions), one final, and 3 pop quizzes. make sure you read from the book and be able to apply concepts. overall, pretty easy.
I really like this professor. She makes the subject very interesting and you can tell that she really cares about what she teaches. She does explain things pretty quickly though, so make sure you are taking notes. The exams are pretty short, and pretty hard, but if you study for them you should be fine.
It was an interesting class, but she could have taught it better. The exams were more of a challenge to find out what she was asking rather than knowing the actual material. She is nice enough, but I would not take her again.
I loved this class and the material covered in it. She was always looking for ways to make it entertaining (talking about Japanese HipHop or watching movies.) Sometimes on her tests, her wording isn't super clear and her tests could use a few more questions. She's always available to help and really seems to enjoy getting to know the students.
I loved this subject and the things we went over was interesting but she is very unoranized. Does not use powerpoints so its difficult to grasp everything she is talking about. There are 3 Exams and 3 quizes the Exams only have 20 questions so study hard and take good notes. Not too bad of a class but def use office hours.
She has the best intentions, and is incredibly interested in the material, but has trouble being clear. Her tests are random, and hard to study for. It definitely helps to do the readings. She isn't impossible, you can definitely get an A in her class.
Really nice woman, very excited about her field of study. Gets really into the material, which sometimes gets in the way of her clarity. If you ask her, she will specify what she wants/means. Read the texts, study your notes, and you should be good to go. I would definitely take Dr. Tracy again.
Dr.Tracy is fun, nice, and helpful, the class itself covers very interesting and relevant material. Homework is reading material (only 3-20pgs per class). Uses powerpoints for notes. 2 exams and 1 final. Attendance not required but gives out random 5 point inclass assignmnts that will boost your grade, easy A if you come to class and read a little
pretty easy teacher/class.
Lecture was slightly boring at times, but the readings were VERY interesting! 2 exams and a final, all 3 of which are pretty easy if you read over your notes the day before. Attendance & readings are not mandatory, but they are both helpful. Attend lecture & read & you'll probably get a A/B+
Fantastic professor! Extremely unbiased and helpful. Very engaging in the classroom. Bases her lectures on ethnographic, one being on the lives of heroin addicts. Super cool class. Fun to attend, she's the bomb.
This is an enjoyable class. I actually looked forward to doing the reading. In class, however, she does not give you straightforward answers. Tests are multiple choice with a short answer. Class is not mandatory, but she has class assignments that she will not tell you about that if you miss could be detrimental to your grade.
She is really nice. Be prepared to read a lot! 2 textbooks, one is about homeless heroin addicts and the other about some tribe in a rainforest. Lectures are boring powerpoints and discussions of readings. She goes fast, gets off topic many times, and tries to give examples to help you understand. Tests are hard, but going to office hrs really help
Incredibly easy GenEd. Anyone who says otherwise hasn't been in college long enough to know what challenging is haha. She puts study guides online, lectures right from the powerpoint and has lots of videos/visual aids to make class interesting. She's quirky, passionate, and wants to get to know her students despite the large class size. Easy A!
She was really passionate about the topic, and manages to pull off discussion despite the large class size! Readings were interesting, but I didn't really do them. The material covered in class is fascinating and she makes it relatable! Would take again!
Dr. Tracy really cares about her class, but her tests can be kind of difficult because she is not clear when answering questions. Very vague. Definitely study in groups. Class is not mandatory, but she give 4-5 in class assignments that are 25% of your grade. She drops the lowest grade, but if you miss more than two you're screwed.
Pretty easy class. Keep up on readings and attend lecture and you should be good to go. Some of her test questions can be a little confusing, but otherwise, she's very willing to help, with office hours, review sessions, etc. Tried to make class fun with interesting conversations that pertain to college students, like our job outlook after school.
I really didn't like her very much. I took her for Anthro of Food, which I thought would be a really interesting class! Instead, she just stereotyped us all constantly, and talked about topics in at a middle school level.
Dr Tracy really cares about her students and is always willing to work with you, however, this class can often be very boring. Its an easy gened but often times just feels like copying down definitions for an hour and a half. Not thrilling but not hard either.
Says 'Right?' after every sentence. She is a bit funny. Tests aren't too bad- Term sheets are helpful and GO TO TA REVIEW SESSIONS. No papers
She doesn't seem like she's read the required readings since she was in college. When she catches herself saying something wrong she trails off intelligibly. She makes mistakes and will never admit to themgive credit back. Horrible test maker.
Dr. Tracy has a way of making material that is relatively simple seem complex via the wording of her definitions/presentations. She is an awful test maker and makes multiple choice questions with multiple right answers but only counts one right answer.
I thought there were some interesting parts about this class. Dr. Tracy really knows her stuff, but sometimes can be unclear about things. Her study guides are really concise and help a lot. I would recommend.
Pretty easy for a gened; clear cut assignments. a LOT of readings but they were mostly clear cut and she would talk about them in class. Her tests seem easy but then you end up doing worse than you thought. She is funny and really gets the class to discuss the material. She is helpful too. Often refers to her own experiences with anth in class.
She is very confusing when giving lectures because she starts to mumble under her breath while talking. I would recommend sitting towards the front, so you can understand her. Her tests are very difficult and you must know the readings and material to do well on them. Her tests are worded very oddly, so it may take you longer than usual to complete
I HATED THIS CLASS!! soooooo much reading she honestly thinks that we don't have other classes to worry about... this is a gen ed... the tests are impossible! Literally I studied for hours and did all the readings and still failed the exam (class average was a 70) I DO NOT recommend. Way too much work for a gen ed.......
Dr. Tracy means well but she's the most unorganized professor I've ever had. She frequently showed up late to class or just didn't show up at all. Additionally, her tests are very poorly worded and confusing. For most of the topics covered she taught her own opinions instead of facts, then tested us on her beliefs. Absolutely ridiculous. HORRIBLE!
I took this gen ed thinking that it would be an easier class with my course load and I was very surprised by how unorganized she was and how difficult the class and tests were. She would show up late to class or cancel-with difficult online lectures to follow. I wouldn't recommend her to anyone. She tests you on her opinions and I didn't learn much
The class is easy. There's reading assigned before every class, but if you just skim the readings before the tests you'll be fine. It's an interesting class and only 3 tests. 3rd test/final exam is 'cumulative' but basically just three unit exams. Sometimes she'll have pop-in class assignments but rarely. Definitely recommend.
Please save yourself and do NOT take this class. While she was a nice lady, she made the class unnecessarily hard and confusing. I showed up to every class and did every homework and still couldn't get above an A on a test. I once counted in class and she said "Right?" over 200 times in a 50 minute class. Very tough Gen ed, would not recommend.
I think this teacher has an amazing personality. I find her lectures very interesting and her tests answers are all within the notes. The reading can be skimmed and she goes over the important parts of those as well.
This class sucked hard. The lectures were boring and unorganized. I never knew what was going on and there was way too much information. Sometimes she's really nice, other times she's real cranky. If you like heavy vocab and reading about mexican immigrants then take this class.
She's a really nice professor and I think she tries, but the material this year was unorganized (she was trying to teach it differently) and it was confusing. There were WAY too many topics and an overwhelming amount of information just for a GenEd. No matter how hard I studied I got a 74 at best on the exam. GPA killer.
Do NOT take this class. She is a nice person but this class sucked. It was very unorganized and the material was confusing. Her test are unnecessarily difficult no matter how much you study. Her exam questions are vague and unclear. She gets very off topic in lecture and does not make it clear of what we should know.
I was excited about the subject, but this class was disappointing. Lecture was discussion based on the most random, excessively long articles. Midterm/final were papers. Takes inappropriate amount of time to grade assignments. Midterm was due 10/9, got the grade back 12/1. Got nothing out of the class except frustration, and I'm an anth minor
Prof Tracy knows the material and what she wants us to know but doesn't lecture very well. It is hard to follow a long sometimes and she talks about a bunch of random stuff. The tests are not too hard if you read and go to class. Her study sheets help. Lectures are boring. Gives random in class assignments that equal a test grade.
Professor Tracy is a very nice lady, but Anthropology 195 is a gen ed and she treats the class as if it was a major class. There is so much reading due each class and the content although sometimes interesting, can be a lot to cover. I wouldn't take this class unless you are passionate about Anthropology.
She made the class too hard and difficult to understand. There was just so much reading and I barely understood what topics she was going with. Do not take her unless you have a complete understanding of how the world works.
Tracy was all over the place and never had her stuff together. She would never let you fully get all of the notes because she was moving on to another slide. She also gave in-class assignments that you would not be able to make up if you missed class that day for any reason.
Hardest cluster class i've taken!!! She teaches that class way to fast pace and if you ask to many questions, she gets annoyed. She gives movies ( 40 min or more) to watch for homework and she checks if you actually watched the movie by placing questions about it on the exams. If you want the bare minimum of a B, don't skip.
I thought this class was pretty easy. Go to class and go over the test study guides. I never read or watched all the material, but I did well on the tests.
Dr. Tracy is amazing! She makes sure that her students are involved during lecture and is very personable. We had a semester long group project that was one of the best things I've done in college! She grades fairly and is very respected. Take Dr. Tracy!
BEST TEACHER EVER! Would recommend.
she cares a lot about the topics but it is kind of a boring class. way too many readings and not an easy A. she doesnt take attendance but she gives random activities that will drop your grade if you miss them. shes super nice
Office hours are inexpedient and only cause more confusion. Way too many superficial examples about select few concepts in class, so it's hard to decipher which is the proper term to know for the tests. She gives multiple definitions about the same concepts, and is baffled when you bomb the tests full of highly ambiguous questions.
Dr. Tracy is super awesome! She really knows the subject and is always open and willing to help students if they don't understand the material. The class is extremely difficult, because theres a lot of information to take in and its build on itself. I don't advise skipping, like, ever. Keep up with reading assignments and study for exams.
Knowing heaps about a topic doesn't make you a good teacher. Tracy knows a lot about anthropology and affiliated topics. Where she falls short is in clarity and staying neutral to views and opinions, being a difficult topic to adhere to. The topic is very common sense to me yet the exams and their wordings made it seem much, much harder.
Tracy was okay. She knew her topic, but her lectures failed to interest me. I could not pay attention in class, which hurt my grade. The topics seemed to be very easy and common sense, but her tests were hard. Definitely did not reflect direct information from lectures, more like application and critical thinking of that material.
Nice lady. Not very good at actually teaching.
She is a very nice lady and makes her really boring lectures not so bad but the material is so bland. She says "right" after every sentence and it can get very annoying.
I really enjoyed this class because it was very easy, but it is graded by few things, some of them simply by being in class that day, so make sure you go! She is a very nice woman and tries her best at making the class interesting, so I recommend giving her a shot if you have to take an Anthropology class.
Lectures very vague and boring while exams are very specific. Required us to read 2 textbooks at the same time and they were very unnecessary, only about 4 questions per exam on the readings. Very blah class. Also got an 83 in the class, but according to her that's a B- which makes no sense
Her class was very interesting. But I studied and went to every class and took notes, and still got Cs on the test. She is very nice and the class is good and she helped me when I needed it.
I really liked the class! There are two books and you're assigned to read a chapter or two before class. I never read and honestly the books (although interesting) aren't necessary if you go to class and pay attention. She is super nice and going to office hours before an exam is really helpful!
Professor Tracy was really nice and funny. She tended to stray from the point and not really be clear. She does curve tests a lot.
Tracy is great. I didn't have her for ANTH 195, but I have her for 2 classes this semester and I really like her. She's funny, and I can tell that she loves what she does. She can get a little boring at times, but it's mostly because the material can get a bit boring.
I really liked her! She knew a lot on the topic and she made the lectures very interesting and would relate to the students. She gave a lot of current examples that made the information much easier to understand!
Probably the worst professor I've ever had at JMU. Just on our first test the highest grade was a 70 and she only added a two point curve to help. She specifically stated how she doesn't care about your grade. She is a nice lady but her lectures are all over the place and make no sense regarding the test. STAY AWAY FROM HER IF YOU WANT AN A.
She has great knowledge, working in the field as an anthropologist. Her classes are very lecture-heavy but she has a powerpoint which tells you mostly what you need to know for the tests. They're hard, but if you study your notes and make flashcards it is doable to get a good grade! The class was also interesting, which helped.
Tracy is very sweet and cares for her students, but I found it really difficult to understand the lecture material and pay attention. I found the exams to be hard and confusing too. Unless youre interested in the material, it can be challenging to stay invested. If you study really hard, pay attention, and put in the time, you should be ok!
Dr. Tracy is nice and wants you to succeed, but I found her lectures to be super confusing. Honestly if this class didn't go online for coronavirus I would have gotten a C. You are only graded on 3 tests, but since we went online halfway through she gave us reading quizzes and those helped my grade a lot. Not sure what she will do in future classes
Dr. Tracy is such a kind human! If you're interested in anthropology, she's a good choice for this class, she really knows what she's talking about. However, this class is graded off of 2 tests and 1 final alone, so if you don't test well do NOT take. I would have gotten a C if not for the online transition due to COVID-19
Tracy's class is way harder than it needs to be. You're only graded on 3 things which makes it impossible to get a good grade if you're a bad test taker. If we didn't move online because of COVID and get more assignments I'd probably have a D in the class. Avoid this class for gen-ed credit! If you have to take the class, take it with someone else!
Dr. Tracy was probably the nicest and most caring professor I've had so far at JMU. She truly cares about her students and their success in this course. Attendance isn't mandatory but I highly recommend going to class because it's much easier to understand the material. Only downside is that you're graded on few things! Overall, great professor.
If you are looking for the easy version of ANTH 195 don't take Dr. Tracy; she is a great teacher with a lot of passion, who has demonstrated extreme flexibility with me. The workload for this class is about twice as much as the other professors, with lengthy readings regularly. I personally liked her but she is not the professor for everyone.
This class had a bunch of reading to do and quite a bit of work. You have a quiz every week and about every other week you have and individual assignment and a group assignment. The final is a group project and is pretty easy. Do not recommend this class if you are looking for an easy gened class and want an easy A.
Only graded by weekly quizzes and some group work. This teacher gives way too much work to complete in one week because of the online format, making the quizzes difficult. If this class was in person I believe there would've been less work. It is possible to pass with an A but you definitely have to put a lot of work in.
Awful general education course and most time consuming class. Megan Tracy acts like she wants to help you get good grades but she takes points off for her tedious opinions. She puts grades in the gradebook ridiculously late, unclear directions, and quizzes ask idiotic questions like, "What's Tracy's opinion on Britany Spears?" Avoid this lunatic!!
I took this class last semester and she shared the class with Dr. Howes-Michelle and it was one of the easiest classes I've ever taken. They were very understanding of COVID circumstances but the one negative about the class was the group assignments especially hard with COVID. I never touched the books they tell you to get and I did fine just FYI.
While her course had a lot to do with me better understanding anthropology and different perspectives throughout the world, the class was way too hard for a GEN-ED. She cares and will make accommodations for students, but the workload is insane. Movies, lectures, and 30-minute summary videos every single week. Too much work, good person.
This class definitely has a bit of a work load but it really wasn't that bad and the work was really easy to finish. Dr. Tracy is super considerate and if you ever need an extension or anything she's really understanding about it. Also, the class is really interesting.
Mrs. Tracy is a very engaging professor- she definitely knows how to speak. However although I liked her as a professor and a person, the subject never connected with me. I didn't feel like I learned much. You will also be doing tons of work for her class, and her quizzes sometimes have very obscure questions on them. Consider that before taking.
Way too much work for a GEN-ED class. The course information is also not engaging and completing work feels like a chore. Professor is very passionate, but expects way too much from students. The class is asynchronous (which is my favorite type of class) but honestly the workload makes me regret every spending time on this class.
for an online async class, too much busy work, i regret ignoring the bad reviews bc of the online async fact. For thanksgiving she assigned a 1 hr 30 min film, 3 readings, and a total of 40 mins of lecture vids followed by a quiz. and that's on thanksgiving break which is supposedly a "lighter workload" for context. similar things for fall break.
Work is somewhat manageable, but it was incredibly defeating to take notes on lectures, podcasts, films, and book pages only to be quizzed on ten obscure questions. This made it difficult to score above a 90. The professor is knowledgeable, but the framework was frustrating at times. Group work is consistent nearly every week with the same people.
Work is due by Sunday every week. I usually just do all of it the day before but it took a while. Work with a group every other week but same people in group. Either have to meet online or in person. Group assignments didn't take long. Quizzes are 10 questions. Have to take notes.
The course she taught was combined with Dr. Howes-Mischel. They are both very difficult graders and the due dates for certain assignments/quizzes is terrible. I spend more time on my major classes than this, so that is a reason as to why I don't have a grade better than a C+. However, there is no need for a Gen Ed to be so trivial.
Professor was very passionate about the subject and does a great job of expressing that throughout the course. But, for an online gen ed, there is way too much work assigned every week. A class that originally interested me became more of a chore than the rest of my classes.
This class was all online. Professor seems passionate about her work, but the amount of homework assigned in a week was bizarre for a Gen Ed. Even if you read and watch all of the assignments the quizzes each week are impossible to do with the amount of information given. There is a lot of group work too, which is hard to do with an online class.
dont take this class. save urself
Professor Tracy simply cannot lecture. Every two sentences she says "um" or "uh" causing the flow of the lecture to be very staggered and uninformative. I cannot believe JMU hired a professor that doesn't have simple presentation skills. She has said "um" 15 times in 2 minutes of a lecture video (I counted). Can't stand it, very hard to follow
If you love asynchronous online work, then this is great for you. The biggest downside is the amount of group work you have when you don't even know your group mates personally. Each "lecture" are just pre-recorded videos you watch on your own time with a weekly quiz. These professors know what they are talking about, but it's a lot.
Do not take this class. Its not easy, SO MUCH WORK ASSIGNED EACH WEEK. You also have 7 groupprojects that are impossible to complete together. She thinks group projects are essential. i had an A all year (bc she grades things 3 months later) and then the day before grades are due she gives one of our projects a 50 and drops ALL OF US TO A C.
This professor was so bad it hurts. She grades terribly slow, group work is always a pain and she makes it impossible to get ahold of people. She is rude when you reach out and you really learn nothing. I fo not recommended this class to anyone and please choose a different class!!
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
29%
Textbook Required
10%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.30 avg changeRatings by Course
GANTH192
5.0
(1)ANTH300
5.0
(1)ANTH395
4.0
(2)GANTH195
3.5
(18)GANT195
3.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
ANTH195
3.5
ANTH295
3.0
GANTH195
2.4
ANTH395
2.0
GANT195
2.0