AREC365 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Ramakrishna Sharan Mamidipudi AREC365 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/08/2024	So hard to understand, exams are online but are written response. Teacher is a little harsh and doesn’t give much flexibility on grades
Ramakrishna Sharan Mamidipudi AREC365 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 04/09/2024	This was not the class I expected it to be. Lectures were bland and un-enegaing. Mamidipudi cares a lot about the subject but just doesn't know a good way to share it while also keeping students interested. I will say don't take this class if you don't have a background in economics, as someone in a design focused major and never taken an econ class before in my life I really struggled understanding the content. The thing that kept me a float were the reading quizzes and problem sets since all the questions and answers were reused online. Would have probably dropped the class out of lack of interest in the beginning of the sem if it didn't count towards a gen-ed and my minor.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting an A- Anonymous 01/05/2024	Easy A if you put in a little effort. Weekly quiz answers are taken right out of the book and you can skim to find them. Prof drops aloooooot of stuff including participation and one whole Exam. Extra credit is available every week! I found that the Exams were difficult purely because of the amount of content we covered in class. However if I remember correctly I think half of the questions on the Exam were taken straight out of either the weekly quizzes or the weekly HW. Only complaint is Prof. Leonard makes the Exams too long for the time we are given. There is a lot of free response that you are better off doing first in order to complete the test. Overall recommend this class. I really feel that Prod. Leonard genuinely wants his students to succeed.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/14/2023	Leonard is a great professor as someone who took this class for a gen-ed requirement. I am honestly confused by a lot of the negative reviews or people saying this class is a GPA dropper, I am assuming these are from people who didn't go to class. His exams are fair and he allows a cheat sheet which is super helpful to make in terms of studying material aside from being able to use it on the exam. He posts all his notes/slides online and has a full PDF of his full semester notes uploaded which is basically all you need to study for exams. There is a weekly reading quiz and problem set which takes info from the textbook (his book which you have to buy which is annoying) and he drops the two lowest problem sets as well as the lowest exam, so if you put in effort on the first two midterms you don't have to take the final. He does take attendance through TopHat which was new to me, but I didn't mind it and he drops 8 missed class attendance points no questions asked which is pretty lenient to me. He also provides extra credit opportunities each week which are super helpful. While you should read and put effort into this class to do well, I in no way found it to be overly hard or time-consuming and I felt like I learned a lot
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/12/2023	Professor Leonard is a genuinely awesome professor. He is very friendly, has great stories, and is incredibly educated on the topic at hand. The class itself is not hard is you study. This is NOT a class I would recommend to take as a gen ed. I took it for my minor and for the purpose of needing it for a minor or major, it is such an interesting class. But it will be brutal if you expect to coast by as if it is a typical gen ed. He drops a lot of grades which is awesome (including a final, 8 attendance points, and 2 problem sets). He is a stickler with grades outside of all of his drops and extra credit opportunities, but I guess he has to be. Easy A if you actually read the book he follows (do not even need to pay attention that much in class, just read the book). Good guy, interesting class, only take if it goes towards a major or minor however.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Anonymous 12/06/2023	I don't know why everyone reviewed him so poorly. He's definitely one of my favorite professors at UMD. He explains things super well, connects them to interesting stories, and makes lecture go by so quickly because of how well he can teach. There's always something interesting happening so it's not just him explaining material to us the entire lecture, and you get to enter a competition with extra credit points (lots of opportunities to earn EC in this class!!). The exams aren't bad and you're allowed to bring a double sided handwritten piece of paper with your notes on it, plus he drops the lowest one.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/05/2023	I have many mixed feelings about Professor Leonard. He is very well versed in his subject, and this results in engaging lectures. He also offers lots of opportunities for extra credit, and the weekly problem sets can be done in a group. However, his exams are extremely difficult, even with the page of notes we are allowed. He also requires us to pay $30 for a tricked-out clicker that tracks our location, so if you are not in class and do the clicker you will lose 2 weeks worth of extra credit points. Overall, be prepared to put more time than you think into this class for studying and group work.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting a B Anonymous 11/29/2023	Not crazy hard like people are saying. If you do your work and study, you will be good. There are a lot of extra credit opportunities and you can form a team in class to split the work with. I have a B due to the reading quizzes and my lack of reading the book, but if you generally read it, at least have it during the homework quizzes. His lecture was interesting in my opinion but again he is very helpful and knows how to teach, you just gotta know how to learn.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 11/10/2023	Not going to give one star only because I like Professor Leonard as a person. He is extremely well educated on the topic at hand and clearly has had a lot of cool experiences, however this class is brutal. I have managed a 4.0 gpa until this class, and it has been a struggle. His average scores on exams are not good, around a 75. This class is boring lectures that you have to go to bc he takes attendance (with the exception of dropping 8 classes) and the grading/quizzing is really difficult. If you are taking this class for your major and are interested in the subject, I can se how this would be of use, but if you are taking it for a gen ed - don't, take a different class. It is a gpa dropper!
Ramakrishna Sharan Mamidipudi AREC365 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/16/2023	The class isn't too bad and whatnot. In class, I couldn't pay attention to his lecture at all, because of his accent and I couldn't really understand him, coming from HoH person. All of the reading quizzes are easy and 95% of the times, the answers could be found from Quizlet or Chegg. The exams are taken online, in class.
Ramakrishna Sharan Mamidipudi AREC365 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/11/2023	Great professor that really cares about the content and creates an environment where you're not afraid to share your ideas even in such a big class. I would honestly say it is an easy A as long as you show up to class because he does random attendance credit where you have to scan a QR code. Also as long as you pay attention to lecture and take notes the class is not difficult. Most of the answers for things are on quizlet as well if you need. I did not buy the textbook and don't think you really need it.
Ramakrishna Sharan Mamidipudi AREC365 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/11/2023	You did not have to go to lecture, but he would randomly take attendance and that would then count towards your grade for participation. Minimal work, but content was based heavily on the lecture and readings. Assignments were easier than the exams. The exam averages were around a B. Nice professor and is great at teaching.
Ramakrishna Sharan Mamidipudi AREC365 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/08/2023	I took this class as a second semester senior expecting to just go through the motions with the course, not pay much attention in lecture, and get my degree. I was pleasantly surprised with how much I actually ended up enjoying this class, and I owe all of that to the professor. He did an incredible job of keeping me engaged throughout the lectures and encouraging student participation. He made content interesting and I often felt excited to go to lectures and discussions. He kept classes short, rarely going over 60 minutes, and quizzes and problem sets were fairly easy. Textbook reading is helpful, but the content taught during class lectures is more than enough to do well on exams. The exams are open note and usually straightforward, as long as your notes are organized beforehand and you've paid attention in class you most likely will know what is being asked of you. The class average was quite a bit lower on the first exam than the second, so warning to put in effort for the first one to get started on the right foot. While Thursday discussions are less content based, they were really helpful in learning the type of critical thinking necessary for understanding the world food problem as well as answering exam essay questions.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 01/05/2023	This class is a GPA dropper. Do not take this class. I studied and went to class every day and the exams were still impossible. The professor covers a lot of material and asks questions in class that are not going to be asked again during the exam so it was extremely difficult to study for exams and predict what would actually be on the exams. Choose another elective if you can. I probably will not get into my dream grad school now over an elective that isn't even related to my major. The exams were nothing like what the professor taught during class. The class was at least interesting but not worth the many hours I spent on this class compared to my other senior level classes.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/06/2022	I loved this class, Leonard tells funny stories and really gets you interested in the subject. The readings can be a lot but he uploads his own class notes for the entire year on canvas which is super helpful. He gives tons of participation points and drops a lot of your lowest grades which really gives you a boost. No complaints at all, I loved this class!
Ramakrishna Sharan Mamidipudi AREC365 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/24/2022	While he was very passionate about his teaching that was all he was good at. For a GenEd I found this course somewhat hard due to the lengthy textbook chapters, mandatory attendance (taken at random), the poorly worded exam questions, the lack of communication (he ignored all of my emails), and the incorrectly graded assignments. Double the points were unfairly taken off for one incorrect answer on a question with multiple answers. This happened frequently and he refused to fix it. Despite exams being open note, most students found them very difficult. I personally felt like I worked very hard in this course, reading and taking notes on every chapter and every lecture just to barely get a B. Honestly would not recommend this GenEd.
Ramakrishna Sharan Mamidipudi AREC365 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/22/2022	Easy class with exams online. Lecture can get kind of boring sometimes. The professor is passionate and knowledgeable. He brings in guest speakers from time to time. One big con is that in multiple choice questions if there are 2 right answers worth 6 points in total. If you only get 1 of the 2 right answers you will get a 0/6 instead of a 3/6.
Ramakrishna Sharan Mamidipudi AREC365 Expecting an A- ifea1 05/16/2022	I loved him and loved the class; it's not easy. His exams are a bit tricky. Don't come in thinking it's going to be an easy A. I'm going to get an A- that I'm happy with, but it was not an "easy" a. but if you show up, study just a bit and talk to him the key is to talk to him make sure he learns your name! It's a big class overall. He was terrific and made it fun; if you don't know if you should take this class or not, I say do it!! He also drops the lowest exam grade 2 of the lowest problem set grades and 2 of the lowest reading quiz grades
Ramakrishna Sharan Mamidipudi AREC365 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/30/2022	I highly recommend this professor. He is so understanding and passionate about the material. He made even the more difficult economic concepts very easy to understand and really listens to student feedback. The final is also optional if you do well on the first two midterms which is amazing.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting an A- Anonymous 02/04/2022	I like Leonard. He's pretty funny and does a decent job expanding on topics discussed in the weekly reading. The readings can be long but you'll be fine skimming them. Discussion was very relaxed and all we had was a group presentation. Weekly group problem sets and individual reading quizzes made up your grade. There were 3 exams based on lecture content but he drops the lowest grade. He uses TopHat so that's the best way to contact him. Overall I enjoyed his class and wish I got to know him better!
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Anonymous 12/09/2021	DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. biggest waste of time for an elective and leonard does not actually teach the information in his lectures, just rambles and makes the exams impossible for no reason in such a short time period. on top of that he is just plain rude and unhelpful to students.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting a C Anonymous 12/17/2020	Leonard is an awful teacher. The content is very disorganized and emailing him for help is useless as he shows no respect for his students. Honestly it seemed like his goal was to make this course difficult. I am a straight A student and very much struggled in this class.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Anonymous 12/12/2020	Avoid this professor at all costs. He does not care about his students at all. He made an easy gen ed hard for no reason.
Kartik Misra AREC365 Anonymous 05/26/2019	This course was absolutely awful. Every exam had grammatical errors and missing words. Exams were made and graded much harder than they should have been (some of his "correct" answers were proven incorrect by the assigned readings, but we still lost points). He did not explain well or explain very much. He did not weigh our grades until after the final. I would never take one of his classes again.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/27/2018	Very very very boring lectures and he made everyone buy a tophat account and take attendance with that. Quiz and classwork are all online.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting an A- jcampb14 12/22/2015	I really enjoy this class. All of the assignments and quizzes are online. The professor also uses tophat, which is instead of the clickers for participation. Tophat: if you download it on your phone, that's the best way to use it. When you send the texts in it sometimes doesn't show up. If you actually participate and it didn't go through, make sure you see him right after class or you won't get credit. The class itself if super interesting! I love the book, and how it progresses through how hunger impacts everyone and what to do with it. He gives ample options to supplement your grade, so as long as you've done all of the assignments you'll be fine.
Howard Leathers AREC365 Expecting an A mlm2015 05/10/2015	Take this class. Leathers makes it impossible not to do well- yes the lectures are a bit boring and dry, but he posts slides online with voice recordings that are extremely helpful in case you miss stuff from lecture. There are exams every 3rd friday on the material covered for the previous 3 weeks, so it's pretty tough to fall behind. Exams are 3 questions each, with two prompts per question; you get to choose which prompt to answer for each question (e.g. question 1. answer prompt A or B, not both). and by the time the final comes around (which is all multiple choice), all you need to do is review your notes a few times. There are weekly quizzes online that you can retake as many times as you want (so you are pretty much guaranteed to get a 100% each week). I thought this class was interesting and was the best structured of any course I've taken at UMD, you would have to try not to do well
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting an A garthe 12/14/2014	He's funny and OK in person but that doesn't excuse his terrible teaching. I don't give my rating based on his personality. I give my rating based on his ability to teach or grade responsibly. I personally did very well in this class but I seriously hate his condescending attitude when it comes to grading or academics.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/14/2014	I signed up for his class late and he wouldn't let me make up the participation and homework grades lost... It's university policy to excuse new students for any previous assignments or to give them an opportunity for a makeup.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/14/2014	Professor Leonard is an absolutely terrible professor. He is extremely unreasonable with his grading methods, and he continuously tries to reason and argue with your answers, even if your answers agree with the book. Even if the extent of your understanding for the class is enough to get an A, his BS still not be able to get enough. The class was easy but he was a real jerk. Talking to him via email is extremely annoying. He flat out rejected my health excuse documentation. Why? I have a form from the health center and he said "No makeups, sorry." What? I don't understand this. He is also obsessive over attendance in his class. He makes you buy TopHat in order to record attendance. Not only that, but he sent us an email explaining that those that skip the lecture will be reported for academic dishonesty. It's totally understandable that people shouldn't skip class, but when have you ever had a teacher do this? Do you really want to sign up for a teacher that does this? I've had three professors use TopHat and they all don't care if you skip lecture and answer TopHat.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting a B Anonymous 11/19/2014	Professor Leonard is a nice guy who makes a relatively boring subject interesting. He has a lot of personal experience and his stories are funny and relevant to the topics covered in class. He provides all the notes for the semester on ELMS, and Top Hat is used for participation points. The chapter quizzes on ELMS are incredibly easy if you skim through the book, but the homework assignments are very hard. Even if you know the material well, it is difficult to get even half credit because the questions are tricky and worded very awkwardly. I would have an A in the class if it were not for the homework assignments. He provides a lot of materials to help you study for the three exams, and will drop the lowest great, which is great. The exams are of average difficulty but like the homework, have some tricky and weirdly worded questions, especially these awful multiple answer questions. There is one "essay" at the end, but they are meant to be short and he provides the prompts in advance. Overall, an interesting and fun class, but I would not say this class is an easy A.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting a B anonymous13579 12/06/2013	NOT AN EASY CLASS!! TRICKY QUESTIONS, hard grader. Many of these reviews aren't from after 2010, so I thought I'd clear the score. I picked this class cuz of the positive reviews on here. THESE ARE NOT TRUE. You do not need a 70% to get an A, you need like a 92.5%, which isn't bad, but definitely is NOT easy in this class. Here's the layout - 11 HW assignments (online) worth 25 points each. Extremely hard and tricky questions, almost impossible to get a 100% on even when going to office hours to get massive help. - 22 short chapter quizzes (online) worth 7 pts each. These are SUPER easy, but small help compared the 25 point HWs that WILL wreck your grade. - 20-25 participation scores (online) worth 5 pts each and not for every class. He drops the lowest 5. - 3 exams, each 250 points, but he DROPS THE LOWEST EXAM SCORE, which is good, since the averages are around a 77-80%. These are HARD exams; tricky questions (though he reuses the mult choice from HWs) and even harder "select all that fit" questions. Also an essay, but he gives you the essay options a few days before exam to study from. He is not an easy grader. He is funny in class, and a really nice guy to go to during office hours, but this is NOT AN EASY CLASS. I am an over-achiever who needs to keep a perfect GPA, and I barely scraped by a 92.5 percent in this class. BARELY. If you are an economics major or such, it'll probably be easier for you than for me, but seriously, this is not an easy A. This is an easy C or D. So think hard about whether you want to take this class. If you're just taking it for the sake of taking it, do it pass/fail (apparently that's what the majority of students to), but for people who are taking this for minors or majors, that's not an option for us. Sadly. Honest to god, not an easy course. Interesting at some points - though you don't have to pay attention too much since he posts the notes online. He is also rather a jerk when it comes to debating his exam questions with him. He will write them extremely tricky (though he doesn't think so) and have more than one answer that works MANY times. Absolute jerk when it comes to HW and exam questions. If you have to take it, take it with him, but work hard on the HWs and the chapter quizzes, cuz they are what will save your grade if you mess up on exams. Good luck!!
Howard Leathers AREC365 Expecting a C Anonymous 05/14/2013	Unless you understand econ, don't take it. He lectures from a book he wrote himself and reads off of slides with -2 font. Going to class is worthless because you can teach yourself more by reading the book. TAs were extremely not helpful. The 250 point final consisted of 82 multiple multiple-choice questions (REALLY DIFFICULT) and it was somewhat cumulative with most emphasis on the last section of the class. The only grades from the class come from six 125 point exams (every other week). No curve and no weight. I took this class for the global poverty minor and an upper level elective. Seriously save yourself and your gpa.
Howard Leathers AREC365 Expecting an A Anonymous 09/30/2012	Leathers is a horrible professor. He reads from his book that seems to have been written by a third grader. You don't have to go to class to do well. Leathers will also make his tests much harder than they have to be. You'll have to answer questions like: in which article did you learn this piece of info? that is ridiculous. how on earth does it matter where we learned any of this information. leathers should be fired since he has nothing to offer the class- any insights can be grasped from his book. (but that would never happen bc of tenure) btw, he is also completely inattentive of student needs...
Howard Leathers AREC365 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/10/2012	Very good professor. I made mistakes in the beginning of the semester and messed up the first few tests but here's how to get an A in this class.. -go to every single class -take notes on what he talks about (not just whats on the power points) -review notes day before exam -read the assigned articles on blackboard night before the test -the textbook isn't important to read but it can't hurt
Howard Leathers AREC365 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/06/2012	I really wish that I could professor Leathers a 5 but unfortunately the class was designed to be way too easy, which was not his fault. I'm not going to complain about an easy A but I wish that this class at least had Econ100 as a pre-req so he didn't have to give his lectures as though we didn't know any econ. With that in mind, I did learn a lot from this class (this is the only class I've taken where I actually will bring up what I've learned in casual conversation.) So while Leathers obviously knows what he's teaching the lectures are way too informal and the university should have some pre-reqs for this class.
Howard Leathers AREC365 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/21/2011	Professor Leathers is a nice guy. He makes the class engaging by showing small clips and using slides with pictures. Besides the book, there are some extra readings, but most questions in the exam are not very specific. Final is cumulative, but not hard at all if you go over the most important points made on the semester. Also your grade is based only on exams and he drops the lowest grade. I would highly recommend this class to people who want to learn about world hunger.
Howard Leathers AREC365 Expecting a B agaybaby 05/20/2011	Lecture is worthless, just read the book/readings. Slides he puts up help sometimes, but they too are mostly worthless. Lots of graphics and barren slides. Exams were easy, ~15 multiple choice questions and a few short answers. There are 6 of them (one every two weeks). He will drop one of them, average your other 5 exams, and use that average in place of the 6th. Final was 81 questions long, 50% stuff after exam 6, 50% stuff before. It sounds daunting but I was done in ~25 minutes. There were no short answers, instead replaced by a short answer style question using ~5 different answers, using A and B for true or false basically. It's not the easy A it apparently was in the past, but it still doesn't require much effort.
Howard Leathers AREC365 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 04/19/2011	I took this class because I heard it was easy and a lot of the work tests/quizzes were online but he changed the structure this semester. Your grade comes down to 6 exams and a final so if you are not a good test taker I would encourage you to stay away from this class. Overall though, Leathers is a pretty nice, easy-going guy. His tests aren't really that hard as long as you read the chapters and attend lectures regularly to see what he is focusing on. He also gives out extra credit when the average grade for tests is low so it is VERY important to go to class after he posts the test scores. If you need to fulfill a diversity requirement, this isn't a bad class to do it
Howard Leathers AREC365 Expecting an A CB 03/24/2011	Professor Leathers changed his teaching style for the class this semester...for the better. There is an exam every two weeks. In order to prepare for these exams, you must do the assigned reading...but the reading is manageable. There are no quizzes and class attendance is not mandatory. However, he sometimes gives an online quiz and if you go to class he gives you the answers. The exams are not hard if you do the reading for them, so far i have finished every exam in 25 minutes. Overall, this is not a difficult class and it is a good fulfillment of my diversity core.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/14/2010	Exams are hard but you need like a 70% to get an A. Lots of quizzes and homework's that are easy and you have to go to class since attendance is around 10% of final grade. Material is interesting at first and at the end but the agriculture portion in the middle of the course can get a bit boring. Really interesting if you are a fan of the subject. Leonard is a smart, nice, approachable professor. I recommend the course.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/09/2010	Leonard is a great teacher. He makes the class fun and interesting and has a very lenient grading method. His exams can be somewhat hard, but even if you average a 70% on the exams you can still get an A in the class. Surveys are handed out in class as extra credit. Quizzes are posted every week and are painstakingly easy, along with the homeworks. I highly advise this class it is interesting material and an easy A.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/04/2010	This was a great class! Prof. Leonard keeps the material interesting and the class isn't too challenging (and there's no arec/econ prerequisite). The whole semester is based out of 1100 points and you need 900 to get an A. Therefore, there's plenty of opportunities to do well even if you mess up a bit at some points. It's important to go to class because Prof. Leonard hands out random surveys that you get (easy!) points for if you are present. Also, the homework and quizzes are all done online but aren't very challenging-in fact, they are fairly simple ways to get points, so take advantage of them (don't forget the deadlines!). There are three examinations the entire semester (700 of the 1100 points available). The nice aspect of the class is that even though there's no curve, if you complete all the assignments and attend class, you don't have to do super well on the exams to get an A. All the class notes are online (although they might not be updated until later in the semester) and you are given a lot of material (ie: previous exams) to prepare for the exams (take advantage of them!). Also, collaboration with others-both in regards to completing assignments and with studying for exams-is encouraged. There's no discussion sections-only three lectures/week-and the book is required (and not too difficult to manage). I highly recommend this class-I learned a lot from it and it's very interesting material that can be very useful/applicable. Good luck!
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Anonymous 12/23/2009	The material is boring but he can be pretty funny at times. you have to go to class atleast the majority of the time because attendance counts. he periodically hand out surveys (not quizzes) to check attendance. you can miss two but after that it deducts from your attendance grade. hes a fair guy, makes things very obvious for you. you can work together on most assignments and he does not mind. the notes are online so no worries about paying attention.
Howard Leathers AREC365 Expecting an A tschwob 11/01/2008	I am a business major who took this class as an upper-level humanities elective. The class was very boring, although Howard Leathers did seem like a nice enough guy. He assigns weekly homework assignments and online "quizzes" so it is imperative that you check the website daily. You also will be required to write up a paper. This was kind of a hassle. The tests were somewhat challenging, though if you go to class and fill in the blanks on his slides, you should be fine. I went to class probably 10% of the time and managed to pull an A.

Ramakrishna Sharan Mamidipudi
AREC365

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/08/2024

So hard to understand, exams are online but are written response. Teacher is a little harsh and doesn’t give much flexibility on grades

Ramakrishna Sharan Mamidipudi
AREC365

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
04/09/2024

This was not the class I expected it to be. Lectures were bland and un-enegaing. Mamidipudi cares a lot about the subject but just doesn't know a good way to share it while also keeping students interested. I will say don't take this class if you don't have a background in economics, as someone in a design focused major and never taken an econ class before in my life I really struggled understanding the content. The thing that kept me a float were the reading quizzes and problem sets since all the questions and answers were reused online. Would have probably dropped the class out of lack of interest in the beginning of the sem if it didn't count towards a gen-ed and my minor.

Kenneth Leonard
AREC365

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
01/05/2024

Easy A if you put in a little effort. Weekly quiz answers are taken right out of the book and you can skim to find them. Prof drops aloooooot of stuff including participation and one whole Exam. Extra credit is available every week! I found that the Exams were difficult purely because of the amount of content we covered in class. However if I remember correctly I think half of the questions on the Exam were taken straight out of either the weekly quizzes or the weekly HW. Only complaint is Prof. Leonard makes the Exams too long for the time we are given. There is a lot of free response that you are better off doing first in order to complete the test. Overall recommend this class. I really feel that Prod. Leonard genuinely wants his students to succeed.

Kenneth Leonard
AREC365

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/14/2023

Leonard is a great professor as someone who took this class for a gen-ed requirement. I am honestly confused by a lot of the negative reviews or people saying this class is a GPA dropper, I am assuming these are from people who didn't go to class. His exams are fair and he allows a cheat sheet which is super helpful to make in terms of studying material aside from being able to use it on the exam. He posts all his notes/slides online and has a full PDF of his full semester notes uploaded which is basically all you need to study for exams. There is a weekly reading quiz and problem set which takes info from the textbook (his book which you have to buy which is annoying) and he drops the two lowest problem sets as well as the lowest exam, so if you put in effort on the first two midterms you don't have to take the final. He does take attendance through TopHat which was new to me, but I didn't mind it and he drops 8 missed class attendance points no questions asked which is pretty lenient to me. He also provides extra credit opportunities each week which are super helpful. While you should read and put effort into this class to do well, I in no way found it to be overly hard or time-consuming and I felt like I learned a lot

Kenneth Leonard
AREC365

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/12/2023

Professor Leonard is a genuinely awesome professor. He is very friendly, has great stories, and is incredibly educated on the topic at hand. The class itself is not hard is you study. This is NOT a class I would recommend to take as a gen ed. I took it for my minor and for the purpose of needing it for a minor or major, it is such an interesting class. But it will be brutal if you expect to coast by as if it is a typical gen ed. He drops a lot of grades which is awesome (including a final, 8 attendance points, and 2 problem sets). He is a stickler with grades outside of all of his drops and extra credit opportunities, but I guess he has to be. Easy A if you actually read the book he follows (do not even need to pay attention that much in class, just read the book). Good guy, interesting class, only take if it goes towards a major or minor however.

Kenneth Leonard
AREC365

Anonymous
12/06/2023

I don't know why everyone reviewed him so poorly. He's definitely one of my favorite professors at UMD. He explains things super well, connects them to interesting stories, and makes lecture go by so quickly because of how well he can teach. There's always something interesting happening so it's not just him explaining material to us the entire lecture, and you get to enter a competition with extra credit points (lots of opportunities to earn EC in this class!!). The exams aren't bad and you're allowed to bring a double sided handwritten piece of paper with your notes on it, plus he drops the lowest one.

Kenneth Leonard
AREC365

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/05/2023

I have many mixed feelings about Professor Leonard. He is very well versed in his subject, and this results in engaging lectures. He also offers lots of opportunities for extra credit, and the weekly problem sets can be done in a group. However, his exams are extremely difficult, even with the page of notes we are allowed. He also requires us to pay $30 for a tricked-out clicker that tracks our location, so if you are not in class and do the clicker you will lose 2 weeks worth of extra credit points. Overall, be prepared to put more time than you think into this class for studying and group work.

Kenneth Leonard
AREC365

Expecting a B
Anonymous
11/29/2023

Not crazy hard like people are saying. If you do your work and study, you will be good. There are a lot of extra credit opportunities and you can form a team in class to split the work with. I have a B due to the reading quizzes and my lack of reading the book, but if you generally read it, at least have it during the homework quizzes. His lecture was interesting in my opinion but again he is very helpful and knows how to teach, you just gotta know how to learn.

Kenneth Leonard
AREC365

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
11/10/2023

Not going to give one star only because I like Professor Leonard as a person. He is extremely well educated on the topic at hand and clearly has had a lot of cool experiences, however this class is brutal. I have managed a 4.0 gpa until this class, and it has been a struggle. His average scores on exams are not good, around a 75. This class is boring lectures that you have to go to bc he takes attendance (with the exception of dropping 8 classes) and the grading/quizzing is really difficult. If you are taking this class for your major and are interested in the subject, I can se how this would be of use, but if you are taking it for a gen ed - don't, take a different class. It is a gpa dropper!

Ramakrishna Sharan Mamidipudi
AREC365

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/16/2023

The class isn't too bad and whatnot. In class, I couldn't pay attention to his lecture at all, because of his accent and I couldn't really understand him, coming from HoH person. All of the reading quizzes are easy and 95% of the times, the answers could be found from Quizlet or Chegg. The exams are taken online, in class.

Ramakrishna Sharan Mamidipudi
AREC365

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/11/2023

Great professor that really cares about the content and creates an environment where you're not afraid to share your ideas even in such a big class. I would honestly say it is an easy A as long as you show up to class because he does random attendance credit where you have to scan a QR code. Also as long as you pay attention to lecture and take notes the class is not difficult. Most of the answers for things are on quizlet as well if you need. I did not buy the textbook and don't think you really need it.

Ramakrishna Sharan Mamidipudi
AREC365

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/11/2023

You did not have to go to lecture, but he would randomly take attendance and that would then count towards your grade for participation. Minimal work, but content was based heavily on the lecture and readings. Assignments were easier than the exams. The exam averages were around a B. Nice professor and is great at teaching.

Ramakrishna Sharan Mamidipudi
AREC365

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/08/2023

I took this class as a second semester senior expecting to just go through the motions with the course, not pay much attention in lecture, and get my degree. I was pleasantly surprised with how much I actually ended up enjoying this class, and I owe all of that to the professor. He did an incredible job of keeping me engaged throughout the lectures and encouraging student participation. He made content interesting and I often felt excited to go to lectures and discussions. He kept classes short, rarely going over 60 minutes, and quizzes and problem sets were fairly easy. Textbook reading is helpful, but the content taught during class lectures is more than enough to do well on exams. The exams are open note and usually straightforward, as long as your notes are organized beforehand and you've paid attention in class you most likely will know what is being asked of you. The class average was quite a bit lower on the first exam than the second, so warning to put in effort for the first one to get started on the right foot. While Thursday discussions are less content based, they were really helpful in learning the type of critical thinking necessary for understanding the world food problem as well as answering exam essay questions.

Kenneth Leonard
AREC365

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
01/05/2023

This class is a GPA dropper. Do not take this class. I studied and went to class every day and the exams were still impossible. The professor covers a lot of material and asks questions in class that are not going to be asked again during the exam so it was extremely difficult to study for exams and predict what would actually be on the exams. Choose another elective if you can. I probably will not get into my dream grad school now over an elective that isn't even related to my major. The exams were nothing like what the professor taught during class. The class was at least interesting but not worth the many hours I spent on this class compared to my other senior level classes.

Kenneth Leonard
AREC365

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/06/2022

I loved this class, Leonard tells funny stories and really gets you interested in the subject. The readings can be a lot but he uploads his own class notes for the entire year on canvas which is super helpful. He gives tons of participation points and drops a lot of your lowest grades which really gives you a boost. No complaints at all, I loved this class!

Ramakrishna Sharan Mamidipudi
AREC365

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
05/24/2022

While he was very passionate about his teaching that was all he was good at. For a GenEd I found this course somewhat hard due to the lengthy textbook chapters, mandatory attendance (taken at random), the poorly worded exam questions, the lack of communication (he ignored all of my emails), and the incorrectly graded assignments. Double the points were unfairly taken off for one incorrect answer on a question with multiple answers. This happened frequently and he refused to fix it. Despite exams being open note, most students found them very difficult. I personally felt like I worked very hard in this course, reading and taking notes on every chapter and every lecture just to barely get a B. Honestly would not recommend this GenEd.

Ramakrishna Sharan Mamidipudi
AREC365

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/22/2022

Easy class with exams online. Lecture can get kind of boring sometimes. The professor is passionate and knowledgeable. He brings in guest speakers from time to time. One big con is that in multiple choice questions if there are 2 right answers worth 6 points in total. If you only get 1 of the 2 right answers you will get a 0/6 instead of a 3/6.

Ramakrishna Sharan Mamidipudi
AREC365

Expecting an A-
ifea1
05/16/2022

I loved him and loved the class; it's not easy. His exams are a bit tricky. Don't come in thinking it's going to be an easy A. I'm going to get an A- that I'm happy with, but it was not an "easy" a. but if you show up, study just a bit and talk to him the key is to talk to him make sure he learns your name! It's a big class overall. He was terrific and made it fun; if you don't know if you should take this class or not, I say do it!! He also drops the lowest exam grade 2 of the lowest problem set grades and 2 of the lowest reading quiz grades

Ramakrishna Sharan Mamidipudi
AREC365

Expecting an A
Anonymous
04/30/2022

I highly recommend this professor. He is so understanding and passionate about the material. He made even the more difficult economic concepts very easy to understand and really listens to student feedback. The final is also optional if you do well on the first two midterms which is amazing.

Kenneth Leonard
AREC365

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
02/04/2022

I like Leonard. He's pretty funny and does a decent job expanding on topics discussed in the weekly reading. The readings can be long but you'll be fine skimming them. Discussion was very relaxed and all we had was a group presentation. Weekly group problem sets and individual reading quizzes made up your grade. There were 3 exams based on lecture content but he drops the lowest grade. He uses TopHat so that's the best way to contact him. Overall I enjoyed his class and wish I got to know him better!

Kenneth Leonard
AREC365

Anonymous
12/09/2021

DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. biggest waste of time for an elective and leonard does not actually teach the information in his lectures, just rambles and makes the exams impossible for no reason in such a short time period. on top of that he is just plain rude and unhelpful to students.

Kenneth Leonard
AREC365

Expecting a C
Anonymous
12/17/2020

Leonard is an awful teacher. The content is very disorganized and emailing him for help is useless as he shows no respect for his students. Honestly it seemed like his goal was to make this course difficult. I am a straight A student and very much struggled in this class.

Kenneth Leonard
AREC365

Anonymous
12/12/2020

Avoid this professor at all costs. He does not care about his students at all. He made an easy gen ed hard for no reason.

Kartik Misra
AREC365

Anonymous
05/26/2019

This course was absolutely awful. Every exam had grammatical errors and missing words. Exams were made and graded much harder than they should have been (some of his "correct" answers were proven incorrect by the assigned readings, but we still lost points). He did not explain well or explain very much. He did not weigh our grades until after the final. I would never take one of his classes again.

Kenneth Leonard
AREC365

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/27/2018

Very very very boring lectures and he made everyone buy a tophat account and take attendance with that. Quiz and classwork are all online.

Kenneth Leonard
AREC365

Expecting an A-
jcampb14
12/22/2015

I really enjoy this class. All of the assignments and quizzes are online. The professor also uses tophat, which is instead of the clickers for participation. Tophat: if you download it on your phone, that's the best way to use it. When you send the texts in it sometimes doesn't show up. If you actually participate and it didn't go through, make sure you see him right after class or you won't get credit. The class itself if super interesting! I love the book, and how it progresses through how hunger impacts everyone and what to do with it. He gives ample options to supplement your grade, so as long as you've done all of the assignments you'll be fine.

Howard Leathers
AREC365

Expecting an A
mlm2015
05/10/2015

Take this class. Leathers makes it impossible not to do well- yes the lectures are a bit boring and dry, but he posts slides online with voice recordings that are extremely helpful in case you miss stuff from lecture. There are exams every 3rd friday on the material covered for the previous 3 weeks, so it's pretty tough to fall behind. Exams are 3 questions each, with two prompts per question; you get to choose which prompt to answer for each question (e.g. question 1. answer prompt A or B, not both). and by the time the final comes around (which is all multiple choice), all you need to do is review your notes a few times. There are weekly quizzes online that you can retake as many times as you want (so you are pretty much guaranteed to get a 100% each week). I thought this class was interesting and was the best structured of any course I've taken at UMD, you would have to try not to do well

Kenneth Leonard
AREC365

Expecting an A
garthe
12/14/2014

He's funny and OK in person but that doesn't excuse his terrible teaching. I don't give my rating based on his personality. I give my rating based on his ability to teach or grade responsibly. I personally did very well in this class but I seriously hate his condescending attitude when it comes to grading or academics.

Kenneth Leonard
AREC365

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/14/2014

I signed up for his class late and he wouldn't let me make up the participation and homework grades lost... It's university policy to excuse new students for any previous assignments or to give them an opportunity for a makeup.

Kenneth Leonard
AREC365

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/14/2014

Professor Leonard is an absolutely terrible professor. He is extremely unreasonable with his grading methods, and he continuously tries to reason and argue with your answers, even if your answers agree with the book. Even if the extent of your understanding for the class is enough to get an A, his BS still not be able to get enough. The class was easy but he was a real jerk. Talking to him via email is extremely annoying. He flat out rejected my health excuse documentation. Why? I have a form from the health center and he said "No makeups, sorry." What? I don't understand this. He is also obsessive over attendance in his class. He makes you buy TopHat in order to record attendance. Not only that, but he sent us an email explaining that those that skip the lecture will be reported for academic dishonesty. It's totally understandable that people shouldn't skip class, but when have you ever had a teacher do this? Do you really want to sign up for a teacher that does this? I've had three professors use TopHat and they all don't care if you skip lecture and answer TopHat.

Kenneth Leonard
AREC365

Expecting a B
Anonymous
11/19/2014

Professor Leonard is a nice guy who makes a relatively boring subject interesting. He has a lot of personal experience and his stories are funny and relevant to the topics covered in class. He provides all the notes for the semester on ELMS, and Top Hat is used for participation points. The chapter quizzes on ELMS are incredibly easy if you skim through the book, but the homework assignments are very hard. Even if you know the material well, it is difficult to get even half credit because the questions are tricky and worded very awkwardly. I would have an A in the class if it were not for the homework assignments. He provides a lot of materials to help you study for the three exams, and will drop the lowest great, which is great. The exams are of average difficulty but like the homework, have some tricky and weirdly worded questions, especially these awful multiple answer questions. There is one "essay" at the end, but they are meant to be short and he provides the prompts in advance. Overall, an interesting and fun class, but I would not say this class is an easy A.

Kenneth Leonard
AREC365

Expecting a B
anonymous13579
12/06/2013

NOT AN EASY CLASS!! TRICKY QUESTIONS, hard grader. Many of these reviews aren't from after 2010, so I thought I'd clear the score. I picked this class cuz of the positive reviews on here. THESE ARE NOT TRUE. You do not need a 70% to get an A, you need like a 92.5%, which isn't bad, but definitely is NOT easy in this class. Here's the layout - 11 HW assignments (online) worth 25 points each. Extremely hard and tricky questions, almost impossible to get a 100% on even when going to office hours to get massive help. - 22 short chapter quizzes (online) worth 7 pts each. These are SUPER easy, but small help compared the 25 point HWs that WILL wreck your grade. - 20-25 participation scores (online) worth 5 pts each and not for every class. He drops the lowest 5. - 3 exams, each 250 points, but he DROPS THE LOWEST EXAM SCORE, which is good, since the averages are around a 77-80%. These are HARD exams; tricky questions (though he reuses the mult choice from HWs) and even harder "select all that fit" questions. Also an essay, but he gives you the essay options a few days before exam to study from. He is not an easy grader. He is funny in class, and a really nice guy to go to during office hours, but this is NOT AN EASY CLASS. I am an over-achiever who needs to keep a perfect GPA, and I barely scraped by a 92.5 percent in this class. BARELY. If you are an economics major or such, it'll probably be easier for you than for me, but seriously, this is not an easy A. This is an easy C or D. So think hard about whether you want to take this class. If you're just taking it for the sake of taking it, do it pass/fail (apparently that's what the majority of students to), but for people who are taking this for minors or majors, that's not an option for us. Sadly. Honest to god, not an easy course. Interesting at some points - though you don't have to pay attention too much since he posts the notes online. He is also rather a jerk when it comes to debating his exam questions with him. He will write them extremely tricky (though he doesn't think so) and have more than one answer that works MANY times. Absolute jerk when it comes to HW and exam questions. If you have to take it, take it with him, but work hard on the HWs and the chapter quizzes, cuz they are what will save your grade if you mess up on exams. Good luck!!

Howard Leathers
AREC365

Expecting a C
Anonymous
05/14/2013

Unless you understand econ, don't take it. He lectures from a book he wrote himself and reads off of slides with -2 font. Going to class is worthless because you can teach yourself more by reading the book. TAs were extremely not helpful. The 250 point final consisted of 82 multiple multiple-choice questions (REALLY DIFFICULT) and it was somewhat cumulative with most emphasis on the last section of the class. The only grades from the class come from six 125 point exams (every other week). No curve and no weight. I took this class for the global poverty minor and an upper level elective. Seriously save yourself and your gpa.

Howard Leathers
AREC365

Expecting an A
Anonymous
09/30/2012

Leathers is a horrible professor. He reads from his book that seems to have been written by a third grader. You don't have to go to class to do well. Leathers will also make his tests much harder than they have to be. You'll have to answer questions like: in which article did you learn this piece of info? that is ridiculous. how on earth does it matter where we learned any of this information. leathers should be fired since he has nothing to offer the class- any insights can be grasped from his book. (but that would never happen bc of tenure) btw, he is also completely inattentive of student needs...

Howard Leathers
AREC365

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/10/2012

Very good professor. I made mistakes in the beginning of the semester and messed up the first few tests but here's how to get an A in this class.. -go to every single class -take notes on what he talks about (not just whats on the power points) -review notes day before exam -read the assigned articles on blackboard night before the test -the textbook isn't important to read but it can't hurt

Howard Leathers
AREC365

Expecting an A
Anonymous
04/06/2012

I really wish that I could professor Leathers a 5 but unfortunately the class was designed to be way too easy, which was not his fault. I'm not going to complain about an easy A but I wish that this class at least had Econ100 as a pre-req so he didn't have to give his lectures as though we didn't know any econ. With that in mind, I did learn a lot from this class (this is the only class I've taken where I actually will bring up what I've learned in casual conversation.) So while Leathers obviously knows what he's teaching the lectures are way too informal and the university should have some pre-reqs for this class.

Howard Leathers
AREC365

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/21/2011

Professor Leathers is a nice guy. He makes the class engaging by showing small clips and using slides with pictures. Besides the book, there are some extra readings, but most questions in the exam are not very specific. Final is cumulative, but not hard at all if you go over the most important points made on the semester. Also your grade is based only on exams and he drops the lowest grade. I would highly recommend this class to people who want to learn about world hunger.

Howard Leathers
AREC365

Expecting a B
agaybaby
05/20/2011

Lecture is worthless, just read the book/readings. Slides he puts up help sometimes, but they too are mostly worthless. Lots of graphics and barren slides. Exams were easy, ~15 multiple choice questions and a few short answers. There are 6 of them (one every two weeks). He will drop one of them, average your other 5 exams, and use that average in place of the 6th. Final was 81 questions long, 50% stuff after exam 6, 50% stuff before. It sounds daunting but I was done in ~25 minutes. There were no short answers, instead replaced by a short answer style question using ~5 different answers, using A and B for true or false basically. It's not the easy A it apparently was in the past, but it still doesn't require much effort.

Howard Leathers
AREC365

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
04/19/2011

I took this class because I heard it was easy and a lot of the work tests/quizzes were online but he changed the structure this semester. Your grade comes down to 6 exams and a final so if you are not a good test taker I would encourage you to stay away from this class. Overall though, Leathers is a pretty nice, easy-going guy. His tests aren't really that hard as long as you read the chapters and attend lectures regularly to see what he is focusing on. He also gives out extra credit when the average grade for tests is low so it is VERY important to go to class after he posts the test scores. If you need to fulfill a diversity requirement, this isn't a bad class to do it

Howard Leathers
AREC365

Expecting an A
CB
03/24/2011

Professor Leathers changed his teaching style for the class this semester...for the better. There is an exam every two weeks. In order to prepare for these exams, you must do the assigned reading...but the reading is manageable. There are no quizzes and class attendance is not mandatory. However, he sometimes gives an online quiz and if you go to class he gives you the answers. The exams are not hard if you do the reading for them, so far i have finished every exam in 25 minutes. Overall, this is not a difficult class and it is a good fulfillment of my diversity core.

Kenneth Leonard
AREC365

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/14/2010

Exams are hard but you need like a 70% to get an A. Lots of quizzes and homework's that are easy and you have to go to class since attendance is around 10% of final grade. Material is interesting at first and at the end but the agriculture portion in the middle of the course can get a bit boring. Really interesting if you are a fan of the subject. Leonard is a smart, nice, approachable professor. I recommend the course.

Kenneth Leonard
AREC365

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/09/2010

Leonard is a great teacher. He makes the class fun and interesting and has a very lenient grading method. His exams can be somewhat hard, but even if you average a 70% on the exams you can still get an A in the class. Surveys are handed out in class as extra credit. Quizzes are posted every week and are painstakingly easy, along with the homeworks. I highly advise this class it is interesting material and an easy A.

Kenneth Leonard
AREC365

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/04/2010

This was a great class! Prof. Leonard keeps the material interesting and the class isn't too challenging (and there's no arec/econ prerequisite). The whole semester is based out of 1100 points and you need 900 to get an A. Therefore, there's plenty of opportunities to do well even if you mess up a bit at some points. It's important to go to class because Prof. Leonard hands out random surveys that you get (easy!) points for if you are present. Also, the homework and quizzes are all done online but aren't very challenging-in fact, they are fairly simple ways to get points, so take advantage of them (don't forget the deadlines!). There are three examinations the entire semester (700 of the 1100 points available). The nice aspect of the class is that even though there's no curve, if you complete all the assignments and attend class, you don't have to do super well on the exams to get an A. All the class notes are online (although they might not be updated until later in the semester) and you are given a lot of material (ie: previous exams) to prepare for the exams (take advantage of them!). Also, collaboration with others-both in regards to completing assignments and with studying for exams-is encouraged. There's no discussion sections-only three lectures/week-and the book is required (and not too difficult to manage). I highly recommend this class-I learned a lot from it and it's very interesting material that can be very useful/applicable. Good luck!

Kenneth Leonard
AREC365

Anonymous
12/23/2009

The material is boring but he can be pretty funny at times. you have to go to class atleast the majority of the time because attendance counts. he periodically hand out surveys (not quizzes) to check attendance. you can miss two but after that it deducts from your attendance grade. hes a fair guy, makes things very obvious for you. you can work together on most assignments and he does not mind. the notes are online so no worries about paying attention.

Howard Leathers
AREC365

Expecting an A
tschwob
11/01/2008

I am a business major who took this class as an upper-level humanities elective. The class was very boring, although Howard Leathers did seem like a nice enough guy. He assigns weekly homework assignments and online "quizzes" so it is imperative that you check the website daily. You also will be required to write up a paper. This was kind of a hassle. The tests were somewhat challenging, though if you go to class and fill in the blanks on his slides, you should be fine. I went to class probably 10% of the time and managed to pull an A.

Reviews for AREC365