2.3
Quality4.2
Difficulty10%
Would Retake98
Reviews10%
Would Retake
98
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
15
4
13
3
9
2
25
1
36
What Students Say
“I only managed to pass his class because of tutors”
CSCI1301 - 1.0 rating“You have to read AND understand the code”
CSCI1301 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
93%
Textbook Required
75%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.46 avg changeRatings by Course
INTROTECH
5.0
(1)CISM2201
3.6
(23)CSCI1250
3.0
(2)CISM3201
2.5
(2)CSCI1301
2.0
(64)Difficulty by Course
CISM
5.0
COMPUTER
5.0
CSCI1250
4.5
CSCI1301
4.5
CSCI
4.3
Reviews (98)
Class is boring but you can learn. Hardest aspect is MS Access. Prof easy going good teacher.
Great teacher. Knows what he's doing. Does give detailed quizes, but as long as you pay attention its easy.
i made a "C" on every quiz and knew all the information. the way he grades is very petty and stupid. he sucks!!!
zzz...zzz...zzz...he seems like a nice guy, but he makes you feel stupid when he goes around the room and asks you questions. Very similar to high school. He also makes those who missed the first question go around again and answer a second question. If only I could stay awake I might answer one.
Mr. Murray's class isn't the most interesting; however, I have to say he does try to make it interesting. Sometimes he catches my ear in the middle of my surfing the internet during class. He's a good guy at heart I think.
Prof has great disposition. Access part is a little complicated as well as HTML, he uses poor examples but is very willing to help or answer any questions.
Professor Murray is a great teacher. He is very helpful if you don't understand something. He understands if you are a few minutes late to class because of work and if you tell him in advance that you have to miss he doesn't mark you absent as long as it's for a good reason. Would take him again:)
His attitude towards the class is rather odd. He always tries to seem so professional, I think the class would be more interesting if he just chilled out a little.
this was one of the worst classes i have ever taken he grades way to hard.
The worst professor i have ever taken. He goes way to fast in class and he is an ****!!!! His test are way to hard and he expects you to know information that he has not taught. He tries to be funny but hes not! When you ask for his help he is not helpfull at all! I would not recomend this class to any one!
Deffinently NOT a beginner's class. He moves way to fast for people who have never really used a computer before. I have used a computer a lot and it was still hard for me to keep up. His midterm and final count the most whenever all you do is projects, so unless you're just an expert I highly recommend not to take him.
He's very boring and his quizes were hard for me. I would recommend to take a diffrent teacher for this class unless you already know about computers.
Okay he is boring sometimes, but he is not as bad as some others have said. His quizzes are only hard if you DONT study. Ive learned alot about computers I didnt know before. Would recomend!
I thought I new a lot about computers before I took this class. Guess not. I have learned a lot. Professor Murray also took the time to help me with some Excel stuff for work.
Great teacher, would recommend
He talks way to fast. But he is a good teacher. The class itself was okay,
Blah Blah Blah...Computers are cool...Blah Blah Blah
Talks to fast- has a weird personality. But I have lerned alot in the class
Professor Murray teaches so fast and does not leave time for much questions. That being said you better make it to class everyday or you'll fall behind big time. Most assignments and work is explained well in his handouts but some areas especially in Access and HTML you are on your own! Know about computers? Good for you, you'll get an A/B.
This guy is the first teacher (if you want to call him a teacher)at Gainesville that I did not like!
Instructor Murray is not an instructor you should take if you are not advanced to proficent in Microsoft Office Products, and computer information in general. He is not helpful with answering questions, and he is never available in his office if you take afternoon classes. Do Not take this instructor. If you do, expect a barly passing grade.
Basically a self-taught class. Mr. Murray usually isn't available by e-mail. He sends assignments late or sends the wrong one. Not to mention that they contain numerous errors. Purchase or borrow a MS Office manual to help with assignments
This class is very simple and basic. The majority of information that he covered I already knew, so it was really hard to go to class, but he does take attendance and is very religious about you being there. His teaching style is very boring and bland. Oh and be sure not to get on the internet, because he monitors and counts off.
He goes really fast! if you "get lost" during lecture, too bad. He is very helpful one on one though. There is no book which is great, but you have to self teach by his handouts. If you have no prior knowledge it can be very difficult.
Lectures are gone over really fast! if you "get lost" during lecture, too bad. He is very helpful one on one though. There is no book which is great, but you have to self teach by his handouts. If you have no prior knowledge it can be very difficult.
Mr. Murray was always helpful to me. He is very nice, but lectures can be a bit boring. It is hard to make computers exciting, however.. His assignments are fairly easy, but not always straightforward. If you have a good understanding of Microsoft Office, you should be alright if you work hard.
This class is extremely difficult. Professor is very nice but he does make it hard. His exams are over alot of material and hw's are hard to do. The final was 100 questions. He gave a study guide but half of the questions on the final were not on the study guide. You have to be very dedicated and study hard to do good in this class.
Mr. Murray was a wonderful teacher. The subject matter was challenging but he did a great job at structuring the lectures and teaching the key points needed. The homework was a little overwhelming and a lot to try and understand but useful in the long run.
Doesn't explain much, most of the time we were given the first hour of class to do homeworkprojects so there was rarely any teaching. He teaches as though he assumes you have prior programming knowledge.
He is fair when it comes to grading (somewhat), and answers emails when you have questions. The thing is that his lectures are not very helpful. He gives many assigments and gives difficult quizzes. Tip: Read the book every day and do the book problems. If you have programming experience, this class should be cake.
JAVA. Great class, just had no idea what my grade was the whole semester. 3 big projects and lots of GUI as well as quizzes with vocab from the book, and be honest how much does a programmer need vocab. Still great class, take him if you can.
Murray is kind and funny. He explains lectures very well and is always ready to answer questions duringafter class. Quizzes can be difficult, so be sure to study. Projects are big and a bit time-consuming, but he gives plenty of time (3-4 weeks) for you to work on it. He's a great teacher, I'd definitely take him again.
His lectures drag on. You never know if he's reading from the handouts or talking--monotone. In class assignments aren't too bad, but quizzez are annoying if you don't read the book
This was possibly one of the worst classes I've ever taken. It is mainly self-taught. He takes forever to grade assignments and tests. His tests are difficult if you don't study. He does give some extra credit, but if you don't have prior programming knowledge, you won't pass. By the midpoint we lost half the class, and many wanted to change majors
I went into this class with no prior programming experience and left with a very high 'A'.His tests are difficult, but definitely not impossible. Be sure to read up on vocabulary from the book, it is what the majority of his tests are about. If you are not computer literate, this class is not for you. Not much homework. 8/10 Would take again.
Alright teacher. Very clear and teaches somewhat well, but if you do not read and/or pay attention, you will fail. This class is not an easy A if you do not have prior coding experience.
He is a nice guy but I did struggle in his class. His lectures are not always clear and even worse if you have never programmed at all. He did not explain concepts clearly. He would steer me wrong on projects and was not very helpful. Rarely in his office for help. On multiple occasions told me to google things I did not understand.
SPEAKS VERY CLEAR ENGLISH unlike many other CS professors. The class was a little tough but not impossible. I enjoyed it. Lectures are dry but I never dreaded going to class. Use the internet as a study aid. The book sucks. Gives good examples to use on projects. Lots of extra credit. Tells jokes. Opens up after he knows you won't drop the class .
Tough professor! quizzes are difficult!
If you don't have any programming experience, you have to put a lot of work! His quizzes are not essay at all.
This class is not a basic computer class! the professor is nice and tries to help every student, but his projects are really long and a lot of time consuming.
For the people who do not have any experienced program, I recommend that people should take CSCI 1250 first. CSCI 1301 is not a basic class and it it a hard class. His quizzes are so difficult. His projects are really complicated.
difficult class
he read directly in the book. This class is difficult and programming is very time consuming. I recommend to get a tutor to help you in the project.
This class is only for the people who are good at learning computer science. Recommend to get a tutor if you are not good at learning computer science
You need experience in coding to survive in his class, otherwise you will not survive at all
This is the most difficult class. Programming is very time consuming.
feel like going to Wonderland in his lecture
DO not take him if you do not have any experience in coding! unless you are good at learning! You won't learn anything much from him
recommend to get a tutor
This was the worst class I ever had. I did not learn anything from him at all! He did not teach me anything! All he did was reading directly from the book in almost every lecture. Projects were very tough and time consuming, and the materials that I learned from his class were not helpful at all! I had to learn how to do it by myself
If you do not have any experience in coding, I recommend to get a tutor. His lectures were not helpful much for the projects. He usually read everything from the textbook in every lectures.
Tests and quizzes are tough. Assignments and homework are very time consuming. His lectures are sleepy. Do not take him if you don't have any experience in coding.
His voice made me going to sleep in every class. He didn't teach me anything!
Do not take him if you don't have any choices! You are not going to learn anything from him!
If you do not have a decent coding background this class is going to be a tough one. While there are a few homework assignments I selected "lots of homework" because of the projects he assigns that become homework. When I took him his lectures did not really help my coding but he will help you a little individually. You will be using google a lot.
This class is not fun at all.
He wants you to figure every code by yourself. He will not help you much and the textbook and his examples are almost useless for the projects. For quizzes, you need to study the review chapters. His format quizzes are some multiple choice, fill in the blank and code. Good luck in taking his class because you will need experience in coding.
This is one of the hardest classes i have ever taken at this school. He is a nice guy but a difficult teacher. Most of the content is overly specific and not easily applied. If you have previous experience in coding you will do well, but for a beginner, i have confidence when i say, this class is not for you.
Be prepared to spend most of your time in coding. The homework and projects are very time consuming! In order to be prepared for the quizzes, the textbook will be helpful.
If you like computer science and you are good at coding, you will do fine in his class. If you just take this class for fun then this class is not for you. His projects are very time consuming.
You will need to get a tutor if you don't have any experience in coding or being smart in coding.
If you are up to challenging coding then take him. His projects and homework are very difficult and time consuming. You might spend every night to finish the coding.
Most of his lectures goes over what you were supposed to already read. I wouldn't want him again and wouldn't advise anyone to take him. My biggest gripe is at the end of the semester, most students skipped one of his classes. As a result, he emailed us to let us know that the last quiz would be harder. I was there in class and still got punished.
This professor is suited for third-year programmers, NOT beginners. He's proud of his low pass rates. His project prompts are very poorly written. You must read AND understand every paragraph of the textbook. Though his tutor, Erik, makes amazing tutorials to fill in his huge logical gaps. If you want to pass CS1301: pick ANY other professor.
Honestly, he's a good teacher if you're motivated to pass the class. Dont't goof off and expect to do well.
He's a nice, caring guy however expects you to study hard. Don't think about skipping a class without an excuse (& proof), he'll knock down your grade on the final exam. Obtain a 92 or higher come final exam time, you can exempt. Only 4/30 students exempted the final this semester. Difficult class for non-computer majors!
He is a tough grader. even when you think you do you in assignment but no, he will take point from you even he didn't require in his assignment. He is the hardest teacher I ever know with the basic computer class.
As a person he is ok, as a teacher he is terrible. He just reads from the book in a monotone voice, shows you examples that he made, but doesn't actually make you practice in class. He will offer help to trouble you may be having, but that doesn't excuse the fact that he simply makes computer science seem difficult and boring, which it isn't.
This professor reads straight from the book, doesn't give out hands-on activities in class nor labs, gives convoluted and overly-written homework and projects which take every hour to complete, and has quizzes which are mostly written quizzes and not MC. You have to read AND understand the code. Expect to read a lot from the book and work harshly.
Hardest intro class I have ever taken. This professor reads from the book in a monotonous voice and gives quizzes which require reading tens of pages in the chapters only to cover small parts of them. Does not give much evidence on what is and is not on the quizzes. Projects are ridiculously over-complicated. I'd give him a 0/5 or less if I can.
this professor simply does not know how to teach code to beginners. Gives quizzes and only the students who took this class before can pass it. i dropped the class halfway due to the sheer amount of difficulty this course caused me
Not the easiest class I've ever taken, but not a terribly difficult class either. If you have not had some experience programing, I do not recommend this class(He also makes this clear in the beginning of the semester). If you are semi-conforable with programing and willing read javadocs and the text book the class is great. This class is not hard.
I only managed to pass his class because of tutors. He does not teach well and his quizzes are notoriously difficult, especially the non-MC ones. His lectures put me to sleep and there are no interactive activities. The projects are poorly written an overcomplicated. I can't believe people are unironically defending this guy.
This is the worst professor I have taken. His grading criteria on projects and homework are not followed by him at all, and his method of teaching is reading straight from the book which is not only boring but also shockingly unhelpful. Projects are notoriously difficult and most quizzes are NOT multiple choice. Do not take him.
Terrible. This professor reads straight from the book word-for-word and expects us to understand the material. His 1st HW assignment was the hardest thing I have done so far, and that's after taking APCSA in high school. Quizzes were tough and tricky. Many students DO NOT LIKE HIM. The backlash against Paul Murray is in full force.
Horrible, horrible computer science teacher. Has no idea how to teach.
Terrible, awful, and absolutely horrid. The pretentious defenders who would take this guy again have no ideas what it's like to be in this class.
Beware, he's VERY hard. Have to have extensive knowledge in CS & mostly Java. Before taking the class, practice Java or you won't have a fun time. He's very quiz heavy, quizzes are literally back to back, not enough time to absorb material "learned". Wouldn't have passed this class if it wasn't for the CS tutor, keep that in mind. Self taught class
Horrible. Absolutely horrible. There's a reason why UNG students harbor a backlash against this guy. Grading criteria is unfair and on top of that, quizzes were difficult unless you read the Holy Book of Java word-for-word. Assignments and projects need to be done extensively and thorough and he takes off points for the simplest errors. Horrid.
If you want to be challenged at coding, then of all the CSCI1301 professors at UNG, this is the right choice for you. You may easily earn an A with the other professors without learning anything at coding but not with Murray. However, I don't like him making us learn swing which to me is just really outdated tech. He should switch to JavaFX for GUI
Super difficult if you're a first time programmer. Unnecessarily difficult for an INTRO class. Doesn't give enough practice. When asked any questions through email, there's a 95% chance he won't respond. Felt like anything I asked was sort of a "dumb question." If you have experience programming, he ONLY allows you to use DrJava. DO NOT TAKE HIM.
Anti-inspirational. Seems to take pride in scaring students away from CS. Does not seem to realize students are new to programming when they are taking the "Intro" class. Fine explaining some concepts, but fails to connect with students lacking more basic concepts. Only reason I passed was b/c they hired a passionate tutor at the time I was there.
I felt going into this class "he can't be that bad"... well he is. It just doesn't feel like he puts any effort into his course. Reads straight from the book, has examples that were written 5-6 years ago, pretty rude, and SUPER behind on grading AND lectures! Also, get ready to teach yourself pretty much all the material!
Murray is a terrible lecturer and does not how to teach coding. His methods too outdated and just reads from the powerpoint. I felt like I was more in a history class than computer science class. Also, tests and homework are terrible. The structures of his homework are disorganized and the directions are vague. I was lucky to barely pull an A.
Reads straight from the book and uses outdated methods to teach students. Shoudn't be teaching because most of learning from CS comes from doing and work experience, NOT reading from the book to bore the class out of their minds. Do not take him, and anyone saying he's not hard are either lying or have had experience with Java beforehand.
He is such a nice guy. He reiterates a lot of the material because he really wants his students to understand what he is teaching. You will not feel like he doesn't care when taking this class. Be ready to watch 3-4 hours' worth of lectures a week of a monotone guy but he can be funny occasionally. If you watch the lectures you will pass.
Murray almost made me quit CS here at UNG. I did not like his "lectures" as he did very little coding. He is more like a history professor with his love of reading from textbooks. Homeworks and tests did very little to understand Java and had to do most of the learning on Youtube.
The worst professor in CS. Reads off the book word-for-word in a monotone voice for TWO HOURS and destroyed my mental health. Couldn't even enjoy Thanksgiving because of how stressful his class is. If you can take anyone else with a shred of empathy than this merciless robot.
Very monotone and somewhat demeaning toward students. As someone else stated he seems to take pride in pushing students away from computer science for some reason. Lectures are painful to sit through and is very insistent you use specific programs/IDE even if they are antiquated.
Insane and unreasonable. Seems to take his class too seriously. As other said, its best to avoid his draconian grading. Very very arbitrary in grading criteria, extremely random and ridiculously difficult for the sake of being difficult. Power tripping professor at his finest.
HE IS GOD!!!!!!!!!!! his class feels. honestly if lebron was a professor mr murray would be him! if you value humor and good feels this is the best you can get! his class is like going all on black and winning. he made me love java and coding again after my last teacher made me hate it.
awful, beware, like the others said, he is very difficult. Unreasonably hard for an intro class, and gave me a 60 just for not writing a method the way I wanted to write it. The ones who call him God or Lebron are likely his paid shills
He is not a good prof because of his attitude in class. He believes he knows the material when he doesn't. Please have a better prof.
Beware, he does have shills he pays guised as 'research assistants' The 'HE IS GOD!!!!!!!!!!!' post is from a legitimate, bootlicking toolbag
The worst Professor I've ever had in my entire life. One student had a heart attack, and he just pointed and laughed, granted I did too, but that is beside the point. He makes frequent remarks referencing his status as a high priest of horse gods, which made me fall asleep in class on several occasions. Would not recommend under any circumstance.
I took professor Murray online. The class itself is structured well, however, the lectures can be a major slog. Other than that, he's a great professor. Prompt and timely answers to questions. Obviously a very knowledgeable professor. Good class for those who struggle heavily with math.
Mr. Murray is a very nice guy. However, the lectures are long and a lot of the time hard to follow. The material is extremely hard at first to pick up on. I did have to teach myself a decent portion of it. I am not a big computer person, but coming from someone that is apparently the material was VERY advanced for an into class.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
93%
Textbook Required
75%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.46 avg changeRatings by Course
INTROTECH
5.0
(1)CISM2201
3.6
(23)CSCI1250
3.0
(2)CISM3201
2.5
(2)CSCI1301
2.0
(64)Difficulty by Course
CISM
5.0
COMPUTER
5.0
CSCI1250
4.5
CSCI1301
4.5
CSCI
4.3