2.7
Quality1.7
Difficulty54%
Would Retake93
Reviews54%
Would Retake
93
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
93 total ratings5
9
4
22
3
25
2
20
1
17
What Students Say
“Soc 100 is a complete blow off class but he is a terrible professor that rambles about nothing and you learn nothing”
SOC100 - 1.0 rating“I genuinely terrible teacher”
SOC100 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Attendance Mandatory
16%
Textbook Required
64%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.35 avg changeRatings by Course
SOCIALPROBLEMS
5.0
(1)SOC324
3.5
(4)220
3.0
(1)SOC101
3.0
(1)SOCNONE
3.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
SOC100SOC220
2.8
SOC324
2.3
220
2.0
SOC101
2.0
SOCNONE
2.0
Reviews (92)
Very laid back. Cool guy but his lectures tend to be boring. No class discussion and he just reads from his notes like he's giving a formal speech. He also doesn't type his overheads so it's hard to take notes and read his writing. Easy open book tests
He babbles A LOT. He does read his lecture and uses class as his personal platform for venting his own opinions. He is laid back though and his exams are super easy.
boring lecture. tests didn't reflect a good portion of the class. grading seemed erratic. the class was unorganized. felt like he was trying to live out his bitterness against the world that screwed him through his class.
A very quirky guy. He pushed his beliefs on the class, but I always found what he said to be interesting, even if I didn't subscribe to that belief. The class was incredibly easy. I finished the final in about 15 minutes.
I liked Hillis, always used good/comical examples and situations. Uses profanity to lighten up lecture. However, the tests did have a lot of information on it not covered by lecture. He is a cool laid back guy
HE MADE IT AS FUN AS IT WAS GOING TO BE. I DON'T KNOW ANY LECTURE THAT I COULD LISTEN TO FOR A FULL POWER HOUR, BUT HE'S COMICAL AND TRIES TO MAKE IT WORK.
He does ramble a lot, but he is passionate about what he is teaching.
he definitely strayed off course a lot during his lectures, and his voice was somewhat droning.. but he made me giggle sometimes, and the information he taught kept me interested. easy take home tests. an easy A in the class if you really want it.
No Comments
he uses the same phrases over and over and over again...felt like a waste of my life
No Comments
Very, very easy. Open book/open notes with study guides to assist. This is how 100 level classes should go. Other professors/lecturers, take a freaking note!
He is extremely boring
Easiest class I have ever taken. I found the subject matter boring some of the times, but other times it was humorous and moderately interesting.
Graded attendance is obviously an attempt to cover up how useless actually attending his class is. Very boring and monotone. Don't pay attention in class (if you even go) and then just skim the chapters and you'll get an A.
The easiest and most worthless class at Purdue, mandatory attendance will make you want to shoot yourself.
So easy, mandatory attendance sucks but he can be pretty entertaining
Easiest class ever! Exams were open book, open notes, and our final was take home. Just show up, and easy A. He is a laid back old hippie
A 7:30 class with him will put you right back to sleep....How do you say, BORING!
Dr. Hills is ok, it's his TA...old whats-her-face. She's an evil witch and I think she puts hexes on students that leave early!!!
If I hear the phrase "the bottom line is..." one more time I'll flip. I fell asleep once in his class and woke up 30 minutes later to hear him lecturing about THE SAME THING!
He goes on tangents and barely covers anything in class, and yet attendance is still taken. He can't pronounce half the words in the English language correctly (even though he isn't even foreign) and is rude to his TAs.
He was a cool guy, but he talks about the same thing over and over. I usually dont pay attention..but i did on the first day and the 15th day...and he basically said the same things...it was a waste...and hes really loud and obnoxious..and monotone...and says BLOODY a lot...i thought the british only said that.
His sociology 100 class was a joke. Two exams were open-note and open-book, one exam was a take-home. Pretty boring, although on occasion he talked about some things that interested me.
This class is not very interesting and he is DULL, DULL, DULL! Most of the information covered in class is common sense. The tests are easy though, and the TA is pretty cool.
Easy class, but you have to go. He seems like a nice guy and might be helpful if you ask, but I don't think anyone does. Open book, Open note exams.
Very boring in class, but lets you use your textbook and any notes on all tests and finals.
The mandatory attendance in this class just made me want to go less. He is VERY boring and talks in a loud monotonous voice. It was difficult near the end of the course to even listen to his droning voice. Easy class though, and its only a 100-level course so it's expected to be mind-numbing.
Tests have lots of multiple choice questions but are open-book.
Easy class. open book open note tests, all True/False. even have a take home test. but he is so BORING! attendance is mandatory, and you just sit there either fall asleep or in the process of it!
You get 3 free absences and after that each is only 5 off our of 100. It's basically a study hall, the tests are open note open book. The book is really interesting! He is boring but knows nobody pays attention because it's only intro.
Great teacher.. kind of boring at times, but the class was pretty easy and not hard to understand.
he is a cool dude
This class (Soc 100) was quite possibly the easiest class I have ever taken. The exams were open book and note. Dr. Hillis is interesting, but has a short temper.
This class was boring and useless but I had to take it. He makes class extremely easy but you have to go because attendance counts as an exam.
Rambles in a monotone.
So I'm sitting his class right now and I'm ready to kill my self. He is so boring. He says the mist irritating things. Like... The bottom line is.... At any rate.... Karl Marx was, WELL, blah blah, blah, well, welL....says well a lot.... Repeats him self 6 times but re words it everytime. At any rate, do not take his courses
Good teacher, has a tendency to ramble a little bit. Also, the first exam of the semester is usually a good 3/4 of the way through the semester, covering well over half the material.
a lot of people complain about him but he is nice guy, he lets us use our notes and books AND gives us a take home exam yeah he does repeat himself and talks monotone but hes not as bad as you guys say
do not take him for criminology! he is a horrible teacher who is nearly impossible to listen to. his exams are mere chance. they are 105 T/F questions (taken in 50 minutes) in which he finds a specific sentence in the book and either copies it or changes a word in it. take this class if you enjoy letting mere chance determine your grade.
This professor is so far the worst I've had. He repeats himself in lecture and doesn't actually talk about anything important. When he lectures on the War on Drugs, he gives his opinion and then he give the final over it. Awful.
OMG..i hate his class!! ...cann't learn anything from his lecture...he keeps talking even all the students have already left!!!
He is an absolutely exhausting person to listen to and it takes dedication to make yourself show up, but the class is cake.
Good class to take. Most people take it because it's required. Exams are all open notes and open book. There's one take home exam so it's a fairly easy course just make sure you show up to class for attendance points.
Super boring class. The exams are all open book open note true and false. Going to class gets you extra credit. Honestly at the end of lecture it feels like you just wasted 50 minutes of your life. The class is pretty easy though just read the textbook.
This class is pretty much a waste of time. An easy A. Just read the book and sit through lecture. Even though it makes you want to gauge your eyes out. Just bring your computer and forget your even there.
I don't get all the negative ratings. Attendance was not mandatory, but gave EC, 80% of you people just sat there with laptops anyway, why complain? Prof Hillis can get verbose at times, but he even steps back and has fun with that about himself. Really cool guy, knows how to study groups of people, and he raises Monitor lizards !
This is definitely an easy A class, ec just to show up to class and you can use your laptop. But prof Hillis is very informative and in my opinion has very interesting lectures about the legallity of drugs, and just lectures in general.
Sometimes funny and interesting, other times boring and hard to pay attention to. Otherwise easy.
This class is so boring. Attendance is optional but if you show up you will get 1 point extra credit. All exams including the final are open book. But do not let this trick you, his exams are very difficult. I would not take this class, take a differnt one.
HE changed the exams. There's now two exams and theyre not take home. The exams are hard. Even though they are open book they are 106 True false questions and you have lno time to look up answers. They are also hard questions. The good thing is you get 1 point ec for going to class. But thats about the only good.
Absolutely hate having to go to class. It is the most boring thing in the world to do, but you get 1 point extra credit for going. He talks about stuff that we really don't care about like inequality. At least his exams are open book. Hopefully that makes it a little bit easier.
He lets his political views influence teaching and does a terrible job at teaching material in class. Instead would post videos of him talking to a camera for 30 min, and would post 4-5 at a time.
His class is really boring, and he has a lot of stupid videos that we have to watch.
Literally terrible..he refuses to use a PowerPoint so some poor TA sits up there and flips papers on the over head. It's basically all charts and statistics and he just rambles off all these facts and I do but skips over the basics. He's all about examples not actual substance. The only reason I'm here everyday is for the extra credit.
I literally hate coming to this class everyday. I have no idea how I'm going to pass this exam because I have no idea what he talks about everyday.
Well you can see here, the bottom line is THIS GUY IS AWFUL. I had a genuine interest in this class. I mean, drugs, alcohol, social problems? It had a lot of potential. However, his bland lectures (without PowerPoint) and his tendency to ramble about personal opinions ruined it all. Don't take this class. Exams are 70 T/F questions.
We might have gotten EC for going, but he is not a very good teacher. I have no idea how I'll pass this class with a decent grade. He rambles on about nothing.
I strongly disliked his teaching style. I would recommend not taking him if you can avoid it!
Hes the coolest prof in town. Take him because he is like santa claus, spreading happiness.
The exams are pretty easy if you study the study guides, and the class has many easy ways to get points.
TF exams. Like Santa spreading extra credit through attendance. Plus let''s you use a ton of resources on exams but you have to be careful with the time limit lot''s of questions.
I took this class once with another instructor and didn't do well with the amount of work involved. When I retook with Hillis, I got an A. Virtually no assignments, 3 random days of attendance, 2 open book tests on the actual textbook, and the final was open book on a packet about the war on drugs in America. Lots of questions, so budget time.
Easy A if you go to class and do the online work. Tests are not hard at all.
Even though attendance was not mandatory, there were random days when attendance would be taken for extra credit. Test are all truefalse. A LOT of questions for amount of time given. Open book but no time to look things up.
He gives lotta extra credit. Attendance is not mandatory, though you get extra point for going. The class itself it bit boring but it is easy to get A if you do your homework on time and study bit for the test. Test is not hard at all. I didn't go to class and I took the exam, I got 75 but since the extra credits and homework po
Absolutely awful professor. You will learn nothing because he just rants about random nothingness. He just loves to hear himself talk. Lectures are awful considering he just gets random stuff from the internet and gives his own opinion on topics. Has nothing to do with the book.
Seems like he enjoys hearing his own voice. Often times, examples are taken to the extreme, and end up becoming confusing. Very rarely did he ever support his claims with evidence, which becomes frustrating.
Good teacher, would take his class again.
I was really excited to take this class, but once I got here I completely regretted it. It was SO boring, I honestly napped in this class every day. Hillis rambles and includes way to much of his personal opinion. This lectures are extremely boring and his tests are all TF. Overall, I DO NOT recommend this class..
I thought that taking a class about Social Problems would be interesting but I dread this class everyday. It is extremely boring, and get ready to hear things repeated about 1000 times every lecture. It is also very opinionated, and the tests are all true and false. Don't take this class with this professor unless you are required to do so!!
Doesn't use powerpoint and rambles during lectures.
The class is interesting and easy, but there are not enough points. If you miss something, you're screwed. I was in the hospital and he was unwilling to work with me on missed assignments. The highest I could get was a C no matter what just because he refused to let me make up work from when I was ill.
Soc 100 is a complete blow off class but he is a terrible professor that rambles about nothing and you learn nothing
His radio voice makes me want to listen to him all day
Exams are 80 questions in 55 minutes but theyre not that bad. Lectures are interesting IMO. Id take another class from him again.
Basically, every class you show up to is worth "extra credit". However, i would like to also say that he is very very slow at adding it, and there is many mistakes i have had to have him fix in blackboard. also, dont bother with office hours, he dosent care that much
He rambles a lot but is a super easy A. Class attendance is extra credit and there are also extra credit opportunities on the exams. The book is silly and you don't need to read at all. There are these online quizzes you have to do, but its unlimited tries and none of it is on the exams. The exam is 100% lecture based & he puts lecture notes online
didn't learn anything
class is just a lot of busy work and his lectures are really boring. Loads of unreasonable reading expected
He is a good teacher and I like him.
He is a very nice professor that could talk about sociology all day. Lectures are just over power point slides and cartoons/articles that are printed off. Online work is not difficult. You should always go to class to get points whether you want to or not. All in all, this class is not difficult. Very laid back.
I genuinely terrible teacher. He seems to have a lot of about Sociology and could go on about it for days, but that's the problem; his class is nothing but lectures. Also, the professor got even more feisty as the semester progressed, so that sucked for all of the students. Bottomline, he'll make you regret taking Sociology, and I regret taking it.
I chose SOC 100 hoping it would be a blowoff class w/ minimal effort for an easy A. I'm not disappointed. It is easy enough to finish almost all the homework assignments in the beginning of the semester. The only thing I would point out is that exams are 80 questions in 50 minutes, 48 of them are true/false, and they feel kinda rushed.
All of the tests are true or false but they are the hardest tests I have ever taken. The questions make no sense and rarely actually cover the material. It is more a test of can you understand the question rather than can you understand the subject. This class had so much potential.
I took SOC220 and I should not have been so stressed out. Tests are all true/false, and the final is 105 true/false questions about 160 pages of notes that he wrote, plus lectures, plus supplemental reading. Extra credit for attendance is nice, but his tests were my most stressful.
I have unfortunately had Hillis for two courses, and hope to never have him again. He tends to just rant in lecture and makes a lot of uncomfortable situations even more awkward. It's not difficult, I got an A in both classes w/ minimal effort. Also the exams are all T/F for 220, which is ridiculous in my opinion.
Hillis is a strange dude but a good prof once you get over that. There is a ton of reading and homework/quizzes online is common. Not too hard of a class but you do need to work for it. The best part is attendance is extra credit which is awesome.
Easy grading
As long as you remember to do all the homework assignments (write them down as soon as you get the syllabus), do decently on the exams, and go to class consistently, you'll get an easy A. He's a weird dude but you can tell he has a passion for sociology. Tests are based mostly on lectures, not on reading. Stick with the online book only.
Dr. hillis SOC 100 class was one of the easiest classes I have taken at Purdue. He is a funny professor and knows what he is talking about. He gives tons of extra credit for going to class and there are lots of homework points and sometimes he makes his exams online! Would recommend for an easy class!
Hillis is very knowledgable but has a habit of rambling during lectures. Attendance is extra credit but show up anyways and just listen. For SOC220 exams were open note and T/F so there wasn't a need for studying, would recommend taking 220 even though Hillis doesn't teach it any longer.
Class Info
Attendance Mandatory
16%
Textbook Required
64%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.35 avg changeRatings by Course
SOCIALPROBLEMS
5.0
(1)SOC324
3.5
(4)220
3.0
(1)SOC101
3.0
(1)SOCNONE
3.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
SOC100SOC220
2.8
SOC324
2.3
220
2.0
SOC101
2.0
SOCNONE
2.0