2.5
Quality3.1
Difficulty71%
Would Retake104
Reviews71%
Would Retake
104
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
10
4
20
3
23
2
31
1
20
What Students Say
“Lastly, the lectures are extremely boring”
COMM102 - 1.0 rating“His lectures are long and boring”
COMM102 - 2.0 ratingClass Info
Attendance Mandatory
59%
Textbook Required
95%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Improving
+0.99 avg changeRatings by Course
COMM261
3.5
(2)11253
3.0
(1)COMM361
3.0
(2)COMM102
2.7
(91)COM102
2.7
(6)Difficulty by Course
102
4.0
11253
4.0
COMM361
4.0
COMM261
3.5
COMM102
3.1
Reviews (104)
He is a sadistic a-hole who outlines the book in powerpoint slides and goes over them in lecture, gives lecture pop quizes on random days like right before spring break, and is BORING AS H-LL. i had been looking forward to a comm class as a possible major HATED him & the dept
I really liked Prof. Kwak, I guess it depends on the class you have him for, we were in a smaller class so we all got along with him really well, he´s a personable, funny guy.. we had a lot of reading, but the tests were very doable
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This class was soooo boring and he is really hard to understand. He seems nice enough but his lecture just made me want to die
This class was ridiculous! I HATED IT, he is difficult to understand and the material covered is so stupid and simple yet the exams are full of gotya questions and he tries to make pointless comm info difficult by giving **** exams. Plus the entire class is full of soriority comm majors YUCK!
Really nice guy...not always easy to understand but the lecture notes are posted online!
i feel so bad for saying it because he is really nice and tries to be funny, but he is so hard to understand, and the class is so boring. it made me decide not to major in comm, and its true - all annoying sorority girls
Lectures unclear. Subjects covered should have been simple, but he does not explain it well at all.
he's a nice guy who tries to be funny, but his lectures are straight out of the book and the exam questions are designed to trick you more than to measure your understanding of the subject.
This class was terrible!! I was thinking about majoring in Comm, and this definitely changed my mind! Prof. Kwak is a nice guy, but he's really difficult to understand and is really anal about stupid things. Plus, the class is FULL of **** greeks.
Prof. Kwak was very hard to understand, made easy material unecessarily difficult, and the tests were full of questions designed to trick you more than test your knowledge of the subject. Loud students (lots of chatty Greeks) coupled with random pop quizzes made lectures very frustrating. Nice guy, but would not recommend the class.
He is not only a poor conveyer of the course material but rather unhelpful when approached with a question.
He makes the material seem so much more difficult than it really is. He is useless if you ask him a question in person, and is cranky to all at office hours.
Don't take this class. It is ridiculous and pretty much ruined my GPA. Why do we even hire professors like him? I'm sure there is someone much more qualified and better at teaching this subject.
Hard class, easy info made hard. do not take this class. Doesn't have control over the GSI's and they also suck. This is the worst class I have ever taken.
Lectures are extremely structured and organized, but it would be nice if he would mix it up sometimes and do something more creative. Exam questions are poorly worded. I had him for 102 and got an A, but I still felt as though the class was too rigid. Details are memorized for exams but then soon forgotten.
BOOORRRRRIINNGGGG. kwak really knows how to bore you to death. tests aren't too bad, and neither are the papers
he's HILARIOUS.
I thought about double majoring in COMM before, but not now. Unintelligible accent; pop quizzes made 8:30 AM lecture mandatory. Made material unnecessarily hard and tried to trick students on purpose on exams. Not to mention the fun 5 hour (outside of class) study pool requirement...try finding time for that in between studying for impossible exams
He tries to make lecture interesting, but the content is boring and the fact that it was at 8:30am didn't help either. Tests are hard, papers are okay, and there is a fair amount of reading. In a weird way I'm glad I took this class, though, because now I know I don't want to major in comm.
As a human being, adorable. As a teacher, horrible. Textbook was remedial & unhelpful; spent entire chapters teaching "porn causes arousal". Tests were tricky for no reason--information tested on is esoteric and doesn't create any overarching ideas. Class made the whole department seem unprofessional. GSI Geoff DSouza was insulting and challanged.
Although he's a little hard to understand, Professor Kwak is generally a good guy with nothing but the best intentions. His exams are a little too hard and the lectures are a little boring but it comes with the subject. Kwak's foreign stories are hilarious. GSI Geoff D'Souza is dedicated and motivated to help.
nice guy. horrendous teacher. why must you trick us on your tests at 8:30 a.m. kwak? i feel bad for saying this, because he seems so happy, especially when he tells stories about his son.
Not the most fun class. It was rather hard for me to stay awake. The exams are a little complicated. GSI Geoff D'Souza is great and works hard to help students.
His lectures are extreamly boring and hard to follow. The materials seems simple, but tests can be very confusing. This class made me decide not to major in communications.
Such a nice guy, but such a terrible class. The lectures were unorganized and really, really boring. The textbook for this class was the official worst textbook I've ever had the pleasure of owning. Basically, dont take this class unless you have to.
Kwak is a funny guy. Tests can be hard if you dont memorize every detail (word for word for short answer questions) from the lecture slides. Material seems easy but exam questions can be tricky. Papers are kind of hard to organize but there are only 2 or 3. Worst part about the class is 8:30, pop quizzes, &constant assignments. not a blow-off class
I think this site makes him sound worse than he is. He made an 8:30 class interesting, and he's really entertaining and funny. He's nowhere near as bad as most of these ratings make him out to be.
He's an ok guy, though lectures follow a straight power point and are boring at 8:30 am. Reading and assignments aren't too bad although they are made more boring than it should be. Exams are the worse, you have to have the lecture slides memorized and he makes the questions tricky for no reason. Overall, this class is not recommended.
I liked Nojin. By the second lecture, his accent was not an issue. He is understanding when you're sick and gives extensions on papers. The material is interesting. Sometimes questions were written unclearly on tests, but the curve is massive. The only thing that sucks is that he gives pop quizzes at lecture, which I rarely went to by the end.
Kwak is definitely a nice guy. The class is incredibly easy since 25% of the class gets at least an A- and it's full of comm majors. Lectures weren't boring, but they weren't extremely helpful. You could really just outline the chapters, read it once, and get an A in the class. Two papers total.
Chatty Greeks nonstop. Memorization only
This class made me decide not to major in communications. He makes nothing clear.! Do not take this class unless you are definitely majoring in comm! The tests are completely unclear and do not make sense. He tries to trick you. He is completely unhelpful if you e-mail him or go into his office hours! Worst class that I've ever taken here!!!
Kwak tries to keep lectures fun, but you can't understand him! I taught myself most of the material a few days before the tests and i got an A-. Good class if you dont want to go to lectures, not that interesting.
Professor Kwak is a very friendly man. He always makes boring lectures humorous somehow and he gives his students ample opportunities to succeed, but this is countered by how unfairly tricky his exams are. You need to know every gritty detail to get an A on an exam in his class. Simply outlining chapter will not suffice; you had better know it all.
I don't understand why everyone puts down Kwak. He's hilarious and always adds a little fun to his lectures whether it be a story or a funny video. The class is super easy if you just pay attention and study the lecture slides. I did none of the readings all semester and did well.
Kwak is a great man. He has taught me a lot about the ways of communication studies and is hilarious. So entertaining and makes class interesting and fun to go to. He is an incredible professor and deserves much credit.
This is probably the worst class that I have taken since I've been at U of M. Kwak is so hard to understand and completely out of touch with the class. You need to attend to fill in the blanks he leaves on his lecture slides, but otherwise there is no point on sitting through an hour and a half of jibberish.
easy class, but you do everything on your own. memorize the slides and you will get a B+ and an A if you do the readings
I think he is a really really nice professor - he always tries to keep his lectures fun and respect his students. The exams might be a bit difficult if u don't read or watch clips that required.
Comm just isn't for me. Topics covered in class were common sense at best, useless most of the time. Exams were unreasonably difficult compared to the material covered. Kwak is funny, humorous, and intelligent but his lectures are often boring and provide little help in understanding concepts
He's difficult to understand, but he knows his stuff. There are some tough and poorly-worded questions on the exams but if you go to lecture and do the readings class isn't hard. I still don't think I'd take another one of his classes because of his accent, though.
he is a bad professor. nice guy. the exams are worded poorly and he doesn't understand that. the class is much more difficult than it needs to be.
Cutest prof in the world. Can't really understand him but you don't need to as long as you go to class and fill in the powerpoint and/or do the readings. He's really funny and this is the easiest class ever if you just go.
Hard to understand, had to learn the material by ourselves or in discussion. Wasted a lot of time showing movies and clips, while putting way too much information he didn't cover enough on the exams.
This class seems super easy, but the tests are worded weirdly, so you never really know how well you'll do on them. There are only a couple questions per test that come from the book. The lectures are useless, but he does give a couple pop quizzes so you have to go. Kwak is a nice super nice guy, the class just wasn't very good.
He's so hard to understand that the class becomes almost uninteresting. He's a nice guy, and he's pretty funny, but he's just not cut out for teaching. His tests are also very tricky and can easily throw you off. If you don't have to take the course, I'd avoid it.
Great class. Kwak is a really nice, funny guy. I can see how people would think he is hard to understand but just sit close to the front.
He is such a nice guy! The only problem is that the class is somewhat boring because it's hard to understand him. Its a normal lecture class where your mind can wander. He has you fill in the powerpoints as he lectures which I find helpful. He words test questions strangely so they are hard to understand, but its not hard to get a B on his tests.
This class let me know right away that I did not want to study Comm. The lecture with Kwak are dry, he is silly, but hard to listen to. I hated going to that class.
Kwak is a horrible professor: his lectures are pointless & hes hard to understand. the material for the course is super dry and he just makes it even worse. the exams are poorly worded and difficult and overall, it was a little too hard for a 102. There's no good strategy for study for this class; basically those with got good grades got lucky.
Could NOT understand him. His lectures were long, dry, and borderline pointless. The only reason to attend is to watch his videos that have q's on the exams. Worse yet, the exams themselves were worded horribly and impossible to entirely prepare for.
I tried to like him. I really did. But he is just not a good professor. His lectures are boring, the textbook is now several years out of date, and the exams are very poorly written. If you need to take 102, wait until he isn't teaching it.
Very hard to understand him because of his accent. Had the same problem with my GSI. Wording on tests is confusing. Overall very boring and wouldn't recommend it unless you are considering majoring in comm.
Kwak is not a bad professor. The material in Comm102 is rather dry and not very exciting, but he tries hard to make lecture fun. His accent makes it hard to understand his oration. Exams are STRAIGHT from the book (which is not mandatory) and lectures and they are not difficult unless you do not study. I would recommend this class, it isn't hard.
Don't get me wrong, Kwak is a really nice guy. He's pretty funny too. However, this class is not worth your time unless you're a comm major. His lectures and the material is dry and the exams are pretty difficult. Lectures consist of filling in power points, not very effective. Try to steer away from this class...take 101.
Made me no want to become a comm major anymore. The topic is interesting however you cannot understand what Kwak is trying to say. Also, the class is taken way too seriously and is made WAY too difficult to get an A. I did all of the required readings and work and studied well for each of the tests and did not end up with an A.
Kwak is a great professor! He makes class very interesting with video clips and dorky jokes. He can be a little difficult to understand sometimes but if you just make sure you get the slide info down you will be fine. I never did any of the readings and studied for the exams just based upon the lecture slides and did well.
Kwak does a great job of making the topics easily understandable through the use of current, relevant examples. He's funny & relatable. Take good notes & pay attention. I got an A+ & am by no means a genius. If there is a reason not to take this class, it's to avoid the greek life idiots who are CONSTANTLY talking, texting, & stalking on facebook.
I feel bad for Comm majors who are required to take this course. Is it easy? Yes...but you feel like your intelligence is being insulted after every lecture. The class was tedious. It was busy work. You'd think the test was hard, since you hardly learned the stuff on there, and then you end up doing well. Bottom line: don't waste your time.
Fine class, not the most exciting thing in the world but completely fine. For some reason, every other review on here says that they could not understand him. some advice to you all: open your ears. The man speaks English just fine, and if you would stop being an ignorant person, you'd do just fine.
Kwak is cool! He's funny and he definitely throws in little random things (ex: random youtube videos) to make the class more fun. Lecture is all powerpoint so sometimes that can be boring. The tests are difficult so you HAVE to do the readings and study. I like the class, but unless you want to be a COMM major, I wouldn't take the class.
Loved this class! He is not hard to understand and he tries to keep things interesting with youtube clips and stories about his kids. The test and papers aren't bad, you just have to pay attention and you will be fine. Favorite class of my first semester at U of M!
Kwak is very nice, and tries to keep the class engaged, although the material is mostly boring. The tests are hard, you definitely have to study and do the readings. He is a little hard to understand if you sit in the back but overall nothing to worry about. He does give out pop quizzes in lecture so you actually have to try to pay attention.
The class is entirely powerpoint slides with a few youtube videos sprinkled in to keep your interest. I found the material really dry and not stimulating at all. I originally thought I might be a comm minor, but after this class, I'd never take another comm class again. He is hard to understand at times. Overall, easy class.
This guy's cool. He's really helpful and he's really willing to work with any struggles during office hours. DO the work, readings and attend lectures and you'll be fine. As far as understanding him, I really had no problem at all. He's funny, too.
I LOVE PROFESSOR KWAK! He is the most adorable professor I've ever had and he tries so hard to be relatable and funny. All you have to do is study the material word for word from the slides that he provides and you will get a guaranteed A! I highly recommend this class!
Really nice, just difficult to understand. worth taking the class for sure though!
Professor Kwak was awesome. Go to lecture and discussion, read over the slides and pay attention in class. I never read the book and had an A. his tests were straight from his slides.
I really enjoyed this course. Professor Kwak made it interesting. He is very funny, and he genuinely cares about his students. The tests can be tricky, but if you attend all of the lectures, complete all of the readings, and study for the exams should be fine.
Good guy, good class
So difficult to pay attention during the entire lecture. Quite difficult accent to understand. Lots of material covered on tests... Difficult.
He's pretty funny, but his lectures are pretty boring and he doesn't speak too clearly. The tests are pretty easy except for one, which he makes really hard and the average is around 70-75. Other than that, pretty easy class, just not a great lecturer.
Professor Kwak is so underrated. Although he does have an accent you can defiantly understand him. This is by far the most fair intro course I have taken at UofM. If you choose to put in the work it is an easy A, but if you don't then you probably will end up with a B. He curves the end grades pretty generously at the end of the semester too.
He's a nice guy but hard to understand. It's really hard to pay attention in lectures as they are extremely boring. It seems like he tests on irrelevant things like the name of a survey, or the author of some research than the actual point of the research. He curves high, and everybody ends up with a high grade. Did I learn much? Not really.
One of the coolest/nicest professors I have ever encountered. At the end of the last lecture he handed out candy to the most improved students and always throws in a funny video when the class material starts to get boring. He is down to earth and knows how to keep a class interesting.
Kwak is a great guy. One of the most interesting and captivating profs I've had so far. He may be a little hard to understand but he's a great guy. Tests aren't too bad, just read the lecture slides over and over again. If you put in the work you can get an easy A
Kwak totally killed my interest in communications. I came in thinking about it as a potential major and now I want to get as far away from it as possible. There is a MAJOR language barrier, he makes the material as bland as possible, and my GSI totally sucked. The tests were easy for some but I definitely struggled b/c I hated the way he taught.
Very thick accent and hard to understand in lecture so i found myself zoning out a lot. Makes the material more complicated than it needs to be. Also the tests are tricky and not straight forward. Not an easy A.
I found the material for this class interesting but his accent hard to decipher and his lecture slides to be unorganized. The information seemed straight forward until you received the test. I wish i did not take this as my first communications class.
Professor Kwak is a really nice guy but just an average teacher. The lectures were only interesting sometimes, and I didn't find it hard to understand his accent. He showed videos and didn't give much hw which were nice. The workload isn't too much but it isn't an easy A. Only 1 essay and 4 tests plus participation in discussion.
Not as bad of a barrier as other people have said. All tests are straight memorization but a lot of curve balls. Went in thinking it would be an easy A but it wasn't. Don't take this outside of being a COM major
Such an easy class. If you got anything below an A, I would question how you got into Michigan. Most people treat it as a blow off class (80% Greek Life) and that's probably why they didn't get the grade they felt like they deserved. Kwak puts so much effort into his classes and is really passionate about the subject. Great intro to comm/marketing
Horrible teaching approach and so hard to understand him. His tests were really hard and I think his tests were more for tricking the students than to see if we actually understood the material
Very hard to understand as English is not his native language. Also, the tests are extremely difficult as there is as much information as a final in some classes. Lastly, the lectures are extremely boring.
You won't pass the test if you don't study. There are two papers and 4 tests. Sounds fair , but it's really not. While he tells you what to study for he doesn't provide any details or feedback. Your GSI will grade ALL of your stuff so the professor isn't really of any help, go to class for the power point slides though- and then condense them later
You can't understand a word he is saying so basically its impossible to learn.
His lectures are long and boring. It is really hard to pay attention. On top of this, as he lectures, as he says each sentence, he gets quieter and quieter until he ends the sentence in a mumble. He is already hard to understand because of his accent, and that just made it even worse. With that being said the workload wasn't really hard.
He can be a little hard to understand, but I also generally sat in the back, which was my own fault. He does give a lot of pop quizzes, but they're usually group quizzes, which makes them easier. I thought it was an easy class, but when I got to the exams, I didn't know anything and didn't do as well as I wanted to. Make sure to study!
Professor Kwak is an all around funny guy, who generally tries to make his class interesting. Sometimes it is boring, but he posts his PowerPoints on CTools with blanks in it for students to fill out. His tests are pretty tough and you really need to understand the information (multiple choice and lots of short answer). He also has long papers!
Reading negative reviews on Prof Kwak made me sad, I think he's hilarious and fair! I had him for 102, & enjoyed 261 more (probably bc I finally decided to pay attention). Pay attention and go to class and it's not bad at all. 2 exams and 2 papers (one a 15 page group paper & presentation). Didn't do any of the readings. Class kinda mandatory.
People who complain about this class were most likely online shopping the entire time. I understood Kwak almost all of the time, and even when I didn't, the powerpoints sum up everything you need to know for the tests- so study those! He also tells you possible short answer questions. Sometimes lecture can be a little boring but nothing bad. Loved
His accent really isn't that hard to understand and he is pretty funny. I would say that his tests are slightly difficult, so you definitely need to read through ppts and book before them. Also, the 2 essays are graded fairly harshly, start them early!!! The lectures are pretty boring but the GSIs are all great in section!
Pay attention in lectures and ask questions
Professor Kwak is a very good guy, and very knowledgeable in the field of communications. However, he is often very hard to understand. His lectures are generally fun as he shows videos relating to the material. Tests are of moderate difficulty. If you show up and do the readings, expect to get an A/A-.
Kwak is really funny, but that's definitely his best attribute. I had no trouble understanding him, but he's Korean, and some people complain about that. He gives dumb pop quizzes in lecture so you don't HAVE to go but they're free points. His lectures don't correlate with the textbook AT ALL, but they always tell you to refer to it for "more info"
Read textbook and finesse
Tests are extremely hard, but he's your best choice for a comm 100 level. The course is set up to be more difficult than it should be.
I really loved having Professor Kwak! He is funny, and uses examples to explain information that I found really helpful. Many of his tests are application-based, so that is something you should be aware of. Do the readings because they are completely separate and in addition to the lectures. After one or two lectures you can understand his accent.
Do not take this class if Kwak is the professor. Never have I attended lectures that are so unnecessary and so detrimental to learning. Professor Kwak is Korean with a strong accent, yes, however I have had many teachers with accents that are still able to teach an engaging class and retain the class's attention. The book is a much better teacher.
His accent IS NOT difficult to understand. Maybe a few words are hard to discern, but definitely intelligible. He's a hilarious guy and cracks a lot of jokes, which I appreciated. As long as you take notes in lecture, pay attention, and REVIEW NOTES, the tests will seem easy! He gives very memorable examples of different theories. Pretty cute, too
this is the worst professor I have had. He does not speak English and I definitely do not recommend taking this course if you want to learn
Prof. Kwak was very entertaining! His accent is not hard to understand at all if you pay attention in lecture, he is quite intelligible so pay attention. The class is based on tests and papers that cover everything discussed in the lecture. The lecture is required to pass in my opinion and I recommend reading the book for reinforcement.
This class is run very poorly, you cover the same things in lecture over and over again and don't cover many things in the textbook that will be on the exam. The material is easy and there isn't much of it, so on tests very specific details are tested, which can be annoying. Kwak has a thick accent that is easy to understand if you pay attention.
Class Info
Attendance Mandatory
59%
Textbook Required
95%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Improving
+0.99 avg changeRatings by Course
COMM261
3.5
(2)11253
3.0
(1)COMM361
3.0
(2)COMM102
2.7
(91)COM102
2.7
(6)Difficulty by Course
102
4.0
11253
4.0
COMM361
4.0
COMM261
3.5
COMM102
3.1