Brym takes the TTC!! Wow!! He really DOES care about the environment!!

kewl prof, interesting class, can get an A if u read the text &attend lectures!

Loved this class. Great teacher, one of my favs. Made me go into Sociology.

FANTASTIC PROF

great

Tests are hard, he is good but way to cocky

Interesting and dynamic professor

extremely interesting

He did NOT lecture from the book. Those who say he did must have got F.

totally hot

JAR OF PEPPERS!

very interesting lectures, however he can be bias at times

interesting lectures, intelligent prof, love this class

Great sense of humour, interesting material, fair tests, approachable...

great course, great prof

Managed a 1500 person class well. His knowledge and enthusiasm for sociology was really absorbed by the students.

Good course, a real eye-opener. I thought Brym taught it pretty well too, though the tests stressed too much memorization as opposed to understanding.

Really opened my eyes. The material covered is excellent ! I sometimes feel that the lectures do not add so much to the material in the book. Very good lecturer, good sense of humour. Very happy I took this course.

i liked the prof, but the material covered was a bit basic/self-evident.

very clear, articulate. Soc 101 gave me a very different way at looking at macro situational factors, as well as how to analyze them. would definately retake.

Prof. Brym has made learning about sociology fun and interesting. I would highly recommend anyone who is interested in learning about how the world works to take this course.

He's a really good professor and the lectures are really interesting.

Has very interesting examples and knows how to teach the basics of sociology

great!!!

great prof!

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Outstanding, intelligent Prof. Best first-year course. No regrets.

Wonderful speaker, could have been a politician in another life . . .

Loved sociology. Everybody should have to take it... makes better people. Brym lectures very well but is not the most helpful. Overall a great course.

Interesting and informative course.

Excellent professor. The class really changed my perspective on our world.

Helpful anytime I needed it. Updates course website frequently. Lectures are structured very well. Perhaps a list of the major points and objectives of the lecture at the beginning would be helpful. Excellent!

Professor Brym makes my day!!!!!!!!!

Easiest course in the world. Anyone who says otherwise is in for a surprise in second year. Very helpful and gave clear answers. But the material is so self explanatory, you'd have to born under a rock to not ace this course.

Prof. Brym is a great teacher, but what he says in class, you could highlight in your book and take little notes on the side for his "in class" questions on mid-terms. Loved the course, though.

for the massive size of the class (1500 students) he did an impressive job.

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He lectures in a clear and concise manner which makes it easy to follow and understand.Really enjoy the course.Can follow a lot from experience probably because I'm older than the majority.AND I don't think he's bad looking contrary to one comment on here

I switched my sociology class to be in Professor Brym's class. I think he's an excellent professor, and really makes the Con Hall experience worthwhile. He is very organized.. and this shows up in my note-taking as well.

He is clear, straightforward, modern, and in touch with his students. His lectures are now fair and informing. GO BRYM GO

for classes of the given size, he's incredibly caring and responsive... lectures can get boring, but the book is ALWAYS boring!

How hard is it to just talk slower? Lectures were organized but boring, basically an oral text book. For some reason he didn't like it when pple got up (to pee/leave) when he's talking. Guess he needed the view of a full auditorium for his ego.

I have enjoyed professor bryms's class greatly. The material and the way it is presented makes it a very interesting and enjoyable class.

Prof. Brym is a great lecturer. He has a very unique point of view in many things. I like his clarity in expressing his views. Also, he's helped me learn a lot about life and understand the world better, which is beneficial for life!

soc101 is an enlightening course. i feel i'm learning a lot of a relevent material in the course, and it's certainly changing my perspective on society. i wish it would focus more on primary teachings, rather than sec., but it's still a good soc. intro

People give him a hard time, I think he's a good lecturer. Any guy who is good at talking to that many people is going to be slightly full of himmself. and the class is not that hard.

Brym is an amazing lecturer. He lays out the major points of each topic very clearly and provides helpful lecture notes on the website. He speaks at a good pace that one can easily take notes at. My only beef is that the tests are insanely specific.

great

a student's interest in a subject is TOTALLY based on the students 1st tutor! If you would give me a SOC textbook only, i wud NEVER have taken the initiative in the subject, but prof. brym made me love sociology! prof. brym is an awsome professor!

lectures were easy to follow...material was organized and structured...approachable...website was ALWAYS up-to-date...readings were relevant to real-life issues and interesting...clear speaker.

Prof Brym is an amazing teacher. He speaks with charisma and enthusiasm! He is very approachable and communicates well with all. His website is one of the best maintained of all UofT professors! Tests are not hard--this is UofT; not high school!

excellent

Exams are hard and focus on very specific details; really have to know your stuff upside down. Good prof.

Amazing prof. One of the best profs at U of T. His website is amazing. He gives sample questions. The course is not easy, really have to keep up with the readings and UNDERSTAND the stuff. But this prof is one of the better profs I've had at U of T

Mostly a very interesting lecturer, can drone on at times. Very interesting presentation of course material, but know your stuff!The tests are ridiculous!

Excellent proffessor. A leader in his field.

Lectures are always well organized and coherent. His explanations are easy to understand and he speaks at a good pace and repeats important concepts so you dont have to worry about missing things from a lecture. course website useful and up to date. fair tests, nice guy, fun to learn. best prof.

Had this prof 7yrs ago as my very first lecturer. Very knowledgeable friendly and impressive in the way he lectures. I think he is an inspiring teacher to have and would recommend him to anyone considering soc as for tests talk to your ta's things can be managed!

Very hard course

Dr. Brym is an amazing prof. His textbook is well written yet some chapters difficult to understand. His tests are really fair and questions straight out of the book. You just have to read the chapters several times to absorb all the information. He replies quick if you send him email.

great prof. probably one of the best courses at u of t. brym is one of the best public speakers i've known. the course is easy to do well in as long as you do the readings.

Brym knows his stuff but makes the tests challenging. It's a great course and the book of articles that accompany the studies was VERY interesting. I'll probably continue to make SOC at least a minor and take something of his in the future.

Prof Brym is the best prof at U of T

excellent prof, but I hated the course.

Dr. Brym is a wonderful prof. He is very interested in his field and gives great lectures. It is very possible to get good grades in his class if you spend sometime studying sociology everyday. If you leave the readings till just before a test, you will either fail or get a bad mark. The tests are a little challenging, but not unfair by any means.

excellent!

Great lecturer. Very clear, slow speaker, and easy to approach.

first rate

I think he was first-rate, indeed. I mean obviously the guy's intelligent because he WROTE THE BOOK on Sociology, literally! Good text, great lectures, and like someone else said, he explained things slowly to that we could fully understand the concepts. I suppose that's why he was a little tough on the tests! Good guy though :)

Great course and prof.

Very interesting course, well taught.

He is an excellent public speaker!!! And his textbook was well written... Critisims: he is quit bias and does not have a complete understanding of science. He could use a biology course or two. Also, do not take this course is you are a visual learner..he does not put anything up on the sides except graphs..which also makes the class hard to follow

-doesn't stutter in his lectures, they're well rehearsed, very interactive with the class

Great webpage. Used more slides in lecture after students requested he do so. Other than main textbook the clicker/softcover and workbook not necessary. The $190.00 price could be reduced by not incorporating these. Prof. has socialist bias, very left wing. Huge amount of reading. Multiple choice and essay que. on test very difficult. Ave. mark = C

Great

Great professor. Confident, clear. Wrote the textbook, which is fantastic. Covered great depth and breadth of material. Responded to and encouraged student feedback on his performance. Good use of powerpoint slides. Very fair testing!

One of the most fair profs of U of T. A rare thing. All you need to do is, KEEP UP WITH THE READINGS...Study sociology every weekend...read the chapter like 3 or 4 times and not leave the reading till the weekend b4 the test, and there is no reason why you should get less than B in the course. Tests are slightly tough, but totally fair. Great prof

I came into the class with high expectations and I did not leave disappointed! Professor Brym is one of the most articulate, intelligent and helpful professors out there and he has always delivered his lectures with passion, interest and just a simple love for job. This course was a great experience and I recommenend it to all first-years.

Brym is an amazing professor. He is clear about all information needed for tests and exams. He is very passionate about the subject and he makes you want to learn. I would definitly take his class again!!

Amazing prof!! makes the subject matter interesting and easy to understand!!

Overall not bad. The lectures were LARGELY based on the textbooks, and at times it was tediously repetitive. Exams were almost identical to previous years exams, and tested strictly from material in the text with a few questions based on the material from the lectures thrown in. Easy mark for a social science credit.

awesome prof!

Good Prof

Take this course! The best Prof.

awsome class

very interesting!!

Great!

Good course, great professor.

WONDERFUL CLASS AND YOU NEVER FEEL HIS BIG CLASSES, VERY PASSIONATE, CAREFUL PROF ABOUT THE STUDENTS,I learned many life lessons from his class, exteremely punctual, organized, kind prof, extermely well presentor, very helpful for ESL students, don't miss his classes I wish I had more classes with him

amazing prof! very interesting,very clear! if you're taking sociology at UofT, make sure it's with him!

Attendance in lectures is a must. Overall, content was interesting and very applicable to life. Tests were difficult but if you follow his advice: look at past tests, use online resources, it helps tremendously.

Robert Brym is an excellent professor

As a 2nd year engineer taking this as an elective, SOC 101 wasn't a big priority but it's a year course worth double weight for the GPA after semester 2 so I buckled down, did the readings on the weekend prior to the lecture and bam, 90+. Easy mark, interesting course, take it seriously and you won't regret it.

Good, and engaging speaker. However he is pretty biased. Every topic covered centered around how material inequality is the root of all society's problems. Made it sound like the rational and moral thing to do is increase taxes and make more attempts to help the poor. Although I guess that's what sociology is so I can't blame him.

His style of teaching is absolutly impressive. So clear, not boring at all, makes a class of 1400 seem like 140. Definatly a must take class, i only took it for a social science and i ended up majoring in SOC cuz of him!

He's a great prof who can gets his point across to you clearly, although I would say some of the question he ask on the test is a bit too detail which I find it difficult (such as asking for number of years and number of %)

Brym changed my life... Without him, I honestly think that I would have completely hated my first year of University.. I would take another course offered by him in a heartbeat.. Wish him the very best

Brym is a great prof. He's very organized, clear and articulate. Overall a good learning experience. However, I seriously think the prof should reassess his evaluation methods. Sometimes his MC tests were too hard, asking specific percentage changes etc. Dont take his class if you plan to get a high grade without putting "A LOT" of effort.

A bit tough, but do it right and you're gonna be OK. Go through the readings carefully, a lot of the questions are on specific details.

I didnt really like him. Knew his stuff but made the subject really boring. Arrogant and strict. dude needs to chill out.

I really liked the course I had with him and I found his lectures clear and easy to follow. I liked his style of teaching as well... overall very good prof and course!

great teacher! funny and easy to understand! great intro course!

Attending lectures and reading all the assigned chapters is crucial. He likes to ask random, small details that can be easily overlooked so read everything with high understanding. His tests are harder than the subject material demands. Many questions tend to be "trick" questions. Overall, it's a difficult intro course & Brym is strict & uptight!

AWESOME! Repeats arguments and supports twice which is extremely helpful(if you're a slow typer/writer like me) Engaging. High textbook use which i see as a good thing because I don't want to waste my hard earned money especially when I only make minimum wage.

Professor Brym is good at explaining concepts and he is pretty clear with his ideas. However, he is not a nice person and he doesn't care about his students. He is stuck up and has an ego the size of Russia.

Lectures proved long and difficult to engage with as the course progressed. States concepts with clearity and straight forward examples. His respect for students and acceptance to critisism is questionable. He will ask things from lectures on exams...otherwize, lectures are not critical for success.

I actually really liked Brym. I found him interesting and his teaching style is very straightforward. I became interested in Sociology because of him, so I worked hard and got a good mark in this course. If you go to all the lectures, do your reading and study you'll be fine.

a very interesting and engaging professor

Very hard class. Couldn't figure out what 25% of 1000 was! Inequality is fascinating. Can't get enough of tax redistribution and inequality. Sociology rocks!!!! I died laughing when he "accidentally" said scam instead of tax!

Brym is definitely one of my favorite profs :)

EXCELLENT PROFESSOR. MADE ME FALL IN LOVE WITH SOCIOLOGY. HE IS EXTREMELY SERIOUS, AND MIGHT SEEM UNAPPROACHABLE HOWEVER, HE IS REALLY NICE. HIS BOOKS ARE AMAZING, HE IS THE MOST INTELLIGENT PERSON I HAVE COME ACROSS. BY THE WAY, FOR THE PEOPLE THINKING OF TAKING SOC101 (THINKING THAT IT WILL BE EASY) YOU ARE SADLY MISTAKEN!!:)

Brym was one of my favorite prof. in my first year. His lectures were well organized and well presented. If you do your readings and attend lectures (take a look at past tests too!), you can get an A like i did :)

extremely important to do readings and make notes - saves a lot of time and energy before soc tests and bound to do well. prof was amazing lecturer - very organized and good use of powerpoints. extremely knowledgeable about material and engaging. great class for 1st years!

theres obviously a reason why he's got the most people rating him. Great prof!!

Really great lecturer. Recycles material from his own textbook (New Society) and the little book (SLDI). Don't buy the clicker, it's not necessary. Just READ the textbook and make good notes at lectures.

Although his lecture are quite redundant at times, he's a good teacher. His tests revolve around definitions to the textbook to which he is the author, so if you read the textbook, you'll do well. Never have I gone to ask him for help, and thats because everything is so clear that I was rarely ever confused of the class content! Great Proff.

Ok, Brym is a really intelligent, precise prof. I found his lectures very interesting and stimulating. One of the only classes where i didnt find myself restlessly waiting for the 2 hours to end, it went by pretty quickly. I think he's a great prof, great guy, knows his stuff and is passionate about it.

He's brilliant, kind, and intelligent. He made me fall in love with Sociology and I'm always thankful to him.

There's a lot of ambivalence towards Brym as a lecturer and a lot of that stems from the fact that there are 2 kinds of people who take this course: those who want a credit, and those who are actually interested. If you are actually interested in sociology, you'll do well. If you're not, this course can be brutal. Do the readings and you'll be fine

I am absolutely shocked by all these negative comments. Professor Brym's lectures are straightforward and interesting. He is very well-spoken! The course isn't the easiest, but if you actually engage in this class through taking notes and doing the readings you will earn the credit while having learned something of practical importance. Brym <3!

Lectures were sometimes interesting in content but delivery was monotone, repetitive and usually pretty boring. Very textbook-based; making notes on the readings will guarantee you a good grade. No major assignments; just three term tests (all MCQ) and an exam. All in all a decent prof who could definitely use some charisma/ sense of humour.

What a course! What a prof! This course got me into sociology. Brym is clear, concise, straight to the point. It's an intro course, so of course you will use your textbook a lot. He DOES put info into lectures that is NOT found in the textbook, and he DOES use it in tests. This course opened my eyes and my mind.

Excellent in all respects.

Multiple choice exams can be tricky but study and understand the textbook material and you'll be fine. Brym explains things well.

very organized and an overall good professor

Professor Brym made me want to specialize in Sociology. I loved his lectures. I loved talking to him in person. He is great. The people in my class who didn't like him were slackers looking for an easy mark. If you want to actually learn, you should take his class.

AMAZING PROF!!!

He tends to go very in depth on every topic and sometimes loses the interest of people in lectures. However, I found all of his lectures interesting, and very easy to understand. The math components are simple multiplication or division. Overall I do not understand the negativity most students have towards him.

Brym is an awesome speaker. His lectures are very in depth and his arguments are always strong. His lectures are very emotional (which made me feel angry and unjustified about social issues). He uses the most recent eventsnews to explain sociology concepts. Brym does not read off the slides. He teaches students to interpret data and graphs.

His questions on tests are harder than caron's. He's pretty interesting though, and I like his statistics and real life examples; in comparison with caron, who is much more definitionalby the book. I think the two complement each other well. Caron makes things cleareasier as a course coordinator; Brym's lectures are very goodinteresting.

I love this Professor's class! He is the best ever. Really easy and he explains everything until you understand. He understands when you have emergencies and he gives extra credit. His class will be the only class you will really learn while having an easy A. I Strongly recommend him for everyone!!!!

His lectures are well-prepared and though the subject matter is a bit dull, he usually offers some really interesting insights on it that make you think a little harder than Caron's lectures do. I actually really enjoyed reading his mini-textbook , which you definitely need to read thoroughly for his questions on the tests.

I found him to be thoroughly exceptional! He has been consistently clear, reasonable and totally supportive of his students. The lectures are definitely mandatory, but very easy to keep up with, and an easy A if you put in a little bit of effort. Plus, he's been sending out funny clips to keep us light-hearted and happy, just a WHOLESOME MAN.

He is one of the most understanding professors and really cares for his students.

Hi everyone. Brym is a passionate about what he teaches. He's a nice guy honestly and is quite fair overall. Lectures are a bit old school (powerpoint, etc.) but includes lots of present day topics which is interesting. Heavy reading; not a bird course. Most kids don't study and them complain after the midterm (all multiple choice essentially).

Very kind prof who does a great job incorporating contemporary issues into lectures. He genuinely cares about his students and their experience in the class. Reading the other comments, I can't agree that there is that much reading. Very average amount for a 100-level course. Reach out to him if you ever need anything, he'll do his best to help u!

One of the best and sweetest professors I have had this semester! He always included interesting/contemporary information and songs in his recorded lectures. The tests were reasonable and test book heavy, so make sure you do all the readings and write notes. His study guides are really helpful for tests too and I would take a class with him again:)

SOC100 was a little rough for me honestly but Professor Brym definitely made it more enjoyable and put in extra effort making it more engaging for us, which is hard to do with an online course. I really appreciated the little details like putting songs at the starts of lectures for us and I can tell he's very passionate about the field :)

Genuinely one of the nicest professors who always responds to concerns. The course itself isn't necessarily easy but it's not incredibly difficult either, expecting a university level course to be a walk in the park would be your fault. Overall, the lectures and required readings were interesting, and there were never any surprises in the exams :)

He always tries to sort an issue if he can and is very prompt in doing so. Yes, this course is very reading heavy but if you know the course content you will do well. His quizzes are straightforward and based entirely on the content taught. Good professor and tries to make online teaching interesting by adding music clips on lecture videos.

SOC100 is decent with Prof. Brym. He responded to issues promptly and his announcements on Quercus were detailed. Little bits of news and music in the lectures made the course more interesting. Tests are straight forward and fair. However, the course readings are heavy and the final contained a lot of rote memorizations. CONSISTENT EFFORT REQUIRED.

From my experience, a lot of the people who complain about Brym are the same ones slacking through the semester. With that being said, it's up to you to regularly do the readings and watch lectures. He outlines exactly what will be on the quizzes and he was usually accommodating. Course concepts are easy tho so just put the work in!

This course was definitely my favorite as a first-year at UofT. The SOC100 tests came straight from the book and his lectures, and tutorials were a great help. His lectures were pretty straightforward and clear.

The textbooks he uses he wrote himself which makes it easy to correlate to what hes discussing in his lectures. If you truly enjoy sociology youll like his class. Its definitely a class where youll learn a lot and have the chance to do well regardless if you have prior knowledge or not.

Robert Brymm is by no means my favourite professor. I found some of the things he said to be racist, and he was not extremely engaging. Despite this, much of what is said here about his soc100 class is untrue. Every single thing on the test WAS taught. Some of it was only in the textbook, but these readings were deemed mandatory.

I had Brym in Fall 2021. His lectures were monotone but he made sense of difficult concepts, was responsive to emails, and his lectures were pretty interesting. I would take one of his classes again, he was cool.

Had it in Fall2021. As mentioned by others, extremely detail-oriented and memorization-heavy. I had to practically transcribe every lecture + copy the textbook word for word in my notes to do well. While his lectures are dry, they're concise, short and content is interesting. I further developed my love for soc, and would take again.

Took his soc100 last year. I have to say that he may speak in a monotone and doesn't look like a fun person, but he explains concepts very well in the easiest way. The textbook was written by him, which is also very clear and easy to understand, with no long sentences or fancy vocabulary. Built my interest in soc and would take his class again.