2.4
Quality3.5
Difficulty34%
Would Retake85
Reviews34%
Would Retake
85
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
14
4
9
3
9
2
14
1
39
What Students Say
“Honestly, the exams are fairly difficult but he's a great prof”
2206SOC - 5.0 rating“Professor Lin is very caring about his students”
SOC2202 - 4.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
41%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.33 avg changeRatings by Course
2206SOC
5.0
(1)SOCI2206
5.0
(2)SOC2229B
5.0
(1)2246A
5.0
(1)SOC2246
5.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
2032A
4.5
HS2711B
4.4
SOCI2206
4.0
HS3074
4.0
HS2711
3.9
Reviews (85)
Tough exams, as they're all based on applying the concepts. But overall, he makes the material very clear in his lectures. If you're struggling just go to class and talk to him after. Honestly, the exams are fairly difficult but he's a great prof.
Professor Lin is very caring about his students. He explains topics clearly and demonstrates examples on the board which is helpful for visual learners. His lectures have a lot of information that require memorization but also application for exams. He gives very fair methods of evaluation and gives you extra credit just for showing up.
His lectures are straightforward and understandable as long as you come to the class, pay attention and make notes.
I had Professor Lin for research methods and it was my highest mark this term. You don't need the textbook for this course since the exams are all based on the lecture notes which are very straightforward. The material can be boring but I think Lin does his best to make it interesting. If you have the option between Marshall and Lin choose Lin!
His lectures are very long and boring. He also stops it to sass anyone who comes in late or leaves early. Unclear project expectations, had to talk to him several times to understand exactly what he wanted. Boring and extremely dull class
Difficult subject, but presented well. Always showing up definitely helps. He is always available to help and cares about students success. Several sample multiple choice questions really help prepare for exams.
Dr. Lin is sweet and caring. Made a dry subject less dry
Dr. Lin is an amazing prof. He is very clear with presenting the class material and tells you exactly what to expect on the exams. He is also very willing to help and makes himself available. EXAMS ARE SUPER EASY IF YOU ATTEND CLASS.
He was a good prof, but I never went to class and still did well. He posts good lecture slides too. He will never test you on anything not in lecture, which makes the textbook useful for clarification, but not additional info. Exams were fair too.
Very Hard prof. The exams are incredibly difficult. He uses lots of multiple multiples and does not explain concepts will.
His assignment instructions are so vague, you won't understand what to do. His lectures are so boring, the midterm was so difficult. At least you have no readings to do because you are only tested on lecture content. Would not take again, only took because it was required. He also does not care about his students at all.
Very tough exams. He does not explain concepts well in class and his lectures are not clear either. He uses a lot of multiple multiples and they are very confusing. If you meet with him about a bad grade he is not very helpful about what to do moving forward.
I guess my ta is a tough grader, the prof himself has so much multiple multiple questions it makes it twice as harder to answer. Lecture material is way more simpler than exam material and it threw me off. Although prof is nice and caring, I didnt think the exam was fair. Oh well glad its over! Never taking such a class again.
I love Professor Lins lecture. I attended all the lectures and studied hard and I received a decent mark. Lots of people skipped his class and did poorly on the exam. You must work hard to deserve a good mark. I felt that other students complained about the exam, but I have talked to a few students who did very well as well. We never miss a class.
He explicitly says that everything on the exams will be covered in class so I appreciated saving the money and time on textbook readings. Some of his lectures can get very boring and repetitive however, especially near the end of the course. His rushed method of teaching the entirety of SPSS through a 50 minute lab was also a damn mess.
Has no idea how to teach this class. Gave an impossible 20 min quiz (needed at least 40). Were in a pandemic, all he does is complain about the extra work he has to do, and after I got accommodation for the upcoming assignment and wrote a personal email about what a difficult time I'm having he gave me 1 day extension. Doesnt care about us at all.
Marked tutorial unfair to being average down even though I attended and participated in every single one. Were all in quarantine for covid-19 and this man is concerned about bringing down his class average. That disgusts me.
Uncaring prof. Obsessed with bell-curving down so he comes up with ridiculous marking schemes.
I will say Dr. Lin is a very nice guy. As a prof, not so nice. Gave a written quiz and marked it based on if you said a single key word that he was looking for... whole class got 50-60 on it. Unfairly marked a end of term paper to bring down the class average, and threatened to lower people's marks if they chose to appeal their grade to him. BS.
He is unclear on the assignment guidelines and then blames you after for not doing something you were never told. he also gave the slides to his last two lectures but never taught the content, leaving us confused for an online timed final exam full of 30 application questions worth 2 marks each.
he seems like a good guy at first, I actually enjoyed his class in the beginning. but professor lin has zero respect for his students, unkind when it comes to missing assessments for legitimate reasons, is unclear in some of his questions on evaluations, as well as has expectations while marking assessments that students are not even told about.
His emails are so rude. He has no decency in his choice of words which include "think twice before you use your self reported absence" and that you should be lucky that got the grade that you did because you deserved even worse. I have never encountered such a prof like this. So unprofessional and no etiquette.
This course was dry and repetitive. That being said, this was one of the easiest courses I have ever taken. The reason people really lost marks was because of unclear grading criteria and unreasonable expectations. He does not test on the textbook, but you need to go to class because his slides alone often are unclear. Not the most caring prof.
Absolutely terrible professor. Blatantly gives unjustified grades to keep the class avg within a range. Had a quiz where everyone received 50-65 %. He justified this by saying we had to write v specific words for full marks. Rudely ignored issues w assignment grades and wouldn't fix WRONG marks. Should be fired.
he was so rude and unprofessional when responding about assignment grades. Really frustrating and treats students so disrespectfully. I've never been so appalled by a prof. His unprofessional behaviour reflects the standards that Western holds for its staff and it's embarrassing. Wouldn't be surprised if the dean became involved.
Boring and repetitive lectures, but an easy class overall. Brings grades down using ridiculous marking schemes to maintain a lower class average. Again, it's not a difficult class by any means, but he purposely gives low grades in a corrupt manner. Rude to the point where he's mocking students when responding to concerns about our assn grades
Prof Lin turns a class that is supposed to be an easy class into a difficult class by taking every possible avenue to deduct his students grades. He showed his un-professionalism when he used an indirect method to bell curve students down by changing the assignment grading criteria AFTER the class submitted it. He gave such a difficult final exam
To all the people blaming Dr. Lin for their marks: have you considered that maybe you got the mark you deserved? His expectations were clear when he gave us a rubric for the assignment. His exam was challenging, as expected, since he said it would require application and deeper understanding. Uni's not meant to be "easy."
BS. He asks for you to include a multi-level analysis in an assignment, saying in the rubric to relate to all three levels, micro, macro, meso.. I do that in my assignment and then he says that I was suppose to interconnect micro macro meso. How can you expect students to do something when you were never told?
He repeats the same stuff in class over and over. Teaches no unique, original, or worthwhile content. His slides look like they've been put together by a seven year old. Final exam questions were unclear. Did not enjoy this class one bit.
It's a shame because lots of people liked him in the beginning, but I had the displeasure of calling "Dr. Lin" my professor. For the way his exam questions are worded, you'd think his explanations and lectures would have more depth to them. He brings his sociology bias into everything including a health science course. AVOID!
His final exam was unfair and riddled with application questions not even related to what he taught. He is the most unfair and worst professor I have ever had during my entire undergrad.
The grading criteria for the in-class quiz was absolutely horrendous, it was designed to make everybody fail. He does give decent lectures and is very clear on what he tests you on for the exams. Assignments weren't that easy to do well on. He also needs to proofread his emails before he sends them because they are borderline condescending.
It's funny, he made the exam questions based on things he would have said in class if he had ACTUALLY bothered to give lectures after covid-19. does not care for his students at all.
Prof Lin was great. He was always prepared for class and used a variety of resources to teach the material (videos, charts, etc. - all relevant). He explained concepts well and it was easy to identify the themes for assessment. One quiz seemed unreasonable in terms of the time given, but he provided a solution when the class expressed concern.
worst prof in my entire undergrad. first of all, I could not even understand a word he says in class. hed fail his own writing assignments and exams. he taught us course content that was basic knowledge but used ambiguous terms and turned the exams into guessing games. would NOT recommend.
sends out rude emails. sometimes never even responds to your emails. his lectures don't prepare you for the exam whatsoever. all he does is show off about how "smart" he was in school and how many scholarships he received. he's definitely not a smart prof i can tell you that.
Very vague and he repeats the same things over and over and over again in class but the exam is worded like riddles. Do not recommend. Not worthy of being a prof.
I had the joy of interacting with Dr. Lin after the assignment many are griping towards on this page. He provided perspicuous feedback and a clear understanding of areas for improvement. Seek his constructive advice as to why you got a mark, rather than getting upset at the mark. The final required critical thinking ability which many don't have.
he doesn't even know how to lecture. he keeps repeating the same stuff over and over in different ways. and then he gives a hard final with very difficult questions that does not correlate with what was taught neither does it correlate with the textbook content. also marks assignments unfair and hard with unclear rubric.
As a 4th year student, Prof Lin is the best prof I've had. His lectures are simple, knowledgable and easy to understand. He is kind and caring, I missed my exam because I misread the date and he allowed me to complete it with no penalty. We did have a group project which was very simple and his tests are not difficult either - plus no textbook use.
I personally really like his lectures. It made me think and it changed my view on what we were learning in the course
Very organized lectures, and taught the content well. Was not clearly on what he expected for assignments, but the assignments themselves were not difficult.
painfully boring lectures, unclear assignment outlines with no rubric provided, and very subjective midterm questions.
Just not a good prof. very unclear about every aspect of the course. assignment instructions are ambiguous and vague and his marking is unreasonable.
Professor Lin is an extremely subjective and unfair marker. He doesn't provide rubrics or grading schemes for any of the assignments and the instructions are very unclear. I reached out to him many times for assistance and feedback and he was extremely unhelpful. 10/10 would NOT recommend.
comes off as a nice person but overall terrible prof. can't even back his own claim up when you bring up issues about his grading. absolutely waste and trash course and most subjective grading i have come across
he's the most unfair marker at this university. he never gives proper feedback. sends out rude and condescending emails to scare students. can't explain why you have lost marks. he told me my assignment had grammar errors and couldn't even tell me what parts of my assignment had faults. I would avoid him.
I see lots of bad reviews on here, but I actually liked prof Lin. I really appreciated him taking the time to record lectures for us during the pandemic; not many of my professors have tried to do this. The assignment was definitely marked tough, but the midterm and final were easy. The course content is clear, and tutorials are pretty easy too.
Dr. Lin is honestly one of the best professors I've had. He is extremely caring, and you can tell that he really wants his students to do well. When I asked him for more feedback on an assignment, he was more than willing. His exams are very fair, and they are solely based on lecture content. His lectures are also very easy to follow. 10/10!
He is a very nice guy but the content is soooo dry and he uses the old recorded lectures from zoom classes in the summer so some concepts are explained and discussed way longer then they should be. Exams and quizzes are a little tricky but not terrible if you did the lectures.
He makes several sexist remarks in lectures that make me feel extremely uncomfortable, especially from a male professor. For example, he says men are the breadwinner and provide financial care while women are the homemaker and provide emotional support. I understand that gender differences should be discussed in the course, but this is not ok.
Terrible prof. Made the final insanely hard and every question was multiple multiples that had tricky wording.
Lin is the worst professor I've ever had. His lectures are lazily created, it is difficult to understand him, he has no office hours and he's extremely condescending in emails. He doesn't know how to write exams that actually test the content he taught. He puts more effort into curving the class down than actually teaching. Avoid him at all costs!!
Literally the worst professor ever. Exams are insanely difficult and literally make no sense. They do not even test you on material learned but rather how well you can grasp information from a paragraph. Very unaccommodating and has no clear grading criteria for assignments and tutorials. If you have him, run.
I personally found this class to be a bird course. As exams were online and open book, it was easy to use lecture notes. The tutorial grade had no rubric or basis (seemed like it was given to lower avgs) and some tests questions were just reading comprehension. I liked his lectures and found that it was easy to watch them on 2x and take good notes.
Professor Lin really cares about his students. Many of my classmates really enjoyed his lecture. I would say that those who complained a lot didn't even put efforts into learning. I did very well in his course as I followed his instruction. The exams were not difficult if you studied his lectures thoroughly.
Had in-person lectures but recorded lectures posted online are just as good. Attendance was not mandatory. Midterm was pretty easy. Wouldn't bother buying the text book. Only tests on lecture content.
overall a decent prof. lectures were pretty boring though, if you take the notes beforehand there's not really a point in listening to him reread the slides to you. Told us the first week we needed the textbook, then two weeks later told us not to bother because he only tests on lecture material. kinda annoying lol.
He is the worst teacher I have ever had.
Professor Lin was an extremely helpful and great prof to have for stats. He was genuinely enthusiastic to be teaching this course and is always around to help if you need it. He is an extremely fair grader and test maker and will ensure you have all of the resources you need to be successful in his class.
Take 3390 with him. He explains all the concepts in details, lectures might be a bit slow, however this lecture is very concept-heavy so I guess the pace was really good. Tests are online and not that hard.
- Midterm and final easy - MC not proctored - No need for lectures or textbook - just slideshow - Final assignment - no rubric, no examples, and no feedback. His assignment information was 2-3 sentences on what to do & still got graded poorly. Really easy class apart from the assignment. tanked my grade.
Made many misogynistic comments, even to a class of mostly women. No clear criteria for assignments, and then grades harshly. Exams are easy as they are online and all multiple choice. Overall, bad experience in this class, would not recommend.
Not only is he misogynistic, his assignments are unclear and then are graded difficult. He provides little to no help on the assignment that is worth 25% of your grade and then throws together the most random collection of questions for the final. Other than that its and alright option for a 0.5 credit.
Very caring professor and fair grader. Has a good sense of humour. Slow lectures but worth it to have a decent prof who explains everything thoroughly. Definitely would take again! This was for a higher year course that I'm not seeing on here as a class option.
Awesome prof, and my favourite!
He mostly reads from his slides, so if you miss a class or two, it is very easy to catch up. I did not use the textbook much because what he covered was only partially covered in the lecture or not at all. A very kind man, easily approachable in person, and responds to emails quickly. The one complaint is that he comes late to the lecture.
hard class, horrible tas, teacher reads from slides
Really bad. Like really very bad
Not gonna lie bros a dookie lecturer he just reads off the slide and the class is so boring. Nice professor and is funny sometimes though.
Funny but a grade-tanker. His response to ALL grade appeals is the same: "if you make me mark it, I will mark you harder". He will find something in your assignment to nitpick and threaten you with. For someone teaching research, he cares very little about the ethics and consistency of his course. I alr know he's going to give an unfair final
hard to do very well in this class but also hard to fail. don't expect getting a 90+ cause assignments are marked harshly. i thought it was just my TA but then I saw that the other ratings for this class came out right after the recent assignment grades were released lol
Doesn't test on textbook material, just reads off slides. You don't really need to go to class. Did the one assignment for this course last min and still got a 73. He's not the best, but he's not completely insufferable like people here are saying. Midterm was online and unproctured but final wasnt, final was very fair though. Easy course imo
Probably the worst class and lectures ive ever had to attend, he just reads off the slides and throws straight buzzwords out all class. Lectures are pretty convoluted and im convinced he doesn't know the content he teaches. Nice guy and cracks a few jokes but overall it was brutal.
nice person and is keen on answering questions but i agree that the content is so convoluted. it's so abstract and concepts are poorly organized in the slides. it just feels so fluffy and fake. if this is what research is, im never going into research. worried asf abt the final
mans violated my gpa
this course left me with a lot of questions and no one to answer them
Lectures are really long and not mandatory because it's all reading from slides but mid term was online non proctored, only one assignment and basically no instructions given only whatever was on syllabus. The instructions are unclear and when it comes to marking marks harshly. The final exam was okay, a lot of tricks in it making you second guess
Prof Lee made the course so much harder than it needed to be
unclear instructions and read off the slides. the final was also confusing
Not a good prof. Hard class. He said a 65% average on final was to be expected
Western just be hiring anybody. This guy is cheeks. Makes a easy class my hardest final exam for no reason
Midterms online non proctored. The assignments a quarter of your grade and the only outline is what's on the syllabus. Thought he marked it pretty easy. Final which is 45% of your grade and was random and all the answers were so subjective. Still got a A on it. Makes you buy a textbook then doesn't use it. Good easy course to do well in.
Final exam had so many ambiguous/subjective questions, with multiple errors that had to be pointed out during the exam. Grade tanker of a prof
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
41%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.33 avg changeRatings by Course
2206SOC
5.0
(1)SOCI2206
5.0
(2)SOC2229B
5.0
(1)2246A
5.0
(1)SOC2246
5.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
2032A
4.5
HS2711B
4.4
SOCI2206
4.0
HS3074
4.0
HS2711
3.9