BSST200 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Thomas Guarrieri BSST200 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/18/2025	DO NOT TAKE THIS COURSE IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO CRUISE BY WITH MINIMAL EFFORT!! This course was fun and interesting, however, it does require effort as any other course to excel. For starters, there are weekly readings that usually consist of 2- 30 page pdfs from textbooks. It is imperative that you read these because he only has three types of grades: exams, discussions, and reading assessments. All are based on things mentioned in class and the reading assignments. Attendance is also basically mandatory because he only opens and closes these assignments in class. However, because there’s only these assignments, he’s fair when grading them and will drop questions that the majority of the class got wrong. The same goes for the midterms and final exams. He also provides a key topic list that usually align well with the questions asked on the exam. Dr. G was a great professor and you can tell he’s passionate and knowledgeable about the subjects talked about in class.
Thomas Guarrieri BSST200 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/18/2025	Do not take this course if you are expecting to cruise through with minimal effort. Dr. Guarrieri is a great professor, however, you will not be able to pass if you do not put in the effort for the weekly readings (usually two, with about 30 pages each) and show up to class. He only has 3 types of grades: reading assessments, discussions, and exams. The reading assessments and discussions are opened and closed randomly in class, so attendance is basically mandatory. However, he is fair in his grades and if a majority of the class fails a question, he will remove it from the score. This also applies to his exams. To study, he provides key topic lists that are aligned well with the questions, however, a lot of them are reading and things he says during lecture based, so like stated, do not take this course if you do not plan to put in at least 2 hours worth of time weekly for this course. Dr. Guarrieri is a really nice professor, and very knowledgeable about the material. You can tell he’s passionate and it was an interesting course. Unfortunately, I experienced a personal loss that caused me to fall behind on his readings so I went from the possibility of an A+ to a B+, however, I never emailed him about my loss so this was truly on me. He’s a great guy!
Thomas Guarrieri BSST200 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/16/2025	Dr. G is a great guy and professor, he's very helpful and easy to talk to and I liked him a lot. However, this course is not easy. The content can be quite dull if you're not interested in it, but my bigger criticism is that he crams an absurd amount of information on his slides and then also talks a ton so it can be hard to keep up. The class is fairly simple, weekly reading quizzes are easy but tedious, weekly discussions are the same. Three total exams, final is allegedly cumulative but it really wasn't. The readings take a while but as the course goes on you'll stop reading them because it's so much. 60-70 pages a week. Overall it wasn't bad, but it's not an easy A, you need to study and understand
Thomas Guarrieri BSST200 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/04/2025	Overall the class material was interesting, but the exams were very difficult. Often questions were on a topic that was mentioned for only a few seconds in class. The readings were overall way too much (80-100 pages per week) which is a lot when you are trying to do work for other classes. Each week during class you have a reading quiz and a discussion posts were are relatively easy and a good way to build your grade up. But there is no extra credit given so if you do not do well on the exams it is hard to build your grade back up.
Thomas Guarrieri BSST200 Expecting a B Anonymous 11/21/2025	Professor Guarrieri is a good professor who is very passionate about the material and teaching it to students. However, there are too many readings assigned, and he gives no review material for exams, just a list of topics that will be covered. If you'd like to take this class for an easy A, please don't. You actually need to put a lot of time into studying if you want to do well in this class, and he is not lenient with helping students or giving extra credit opportunities.
Thomas Guarrieri BSST200 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/18/2024	Great professor, great class. Two exams and short reading quizzes every class. Class attendance is, in my opinion, necessary because sometimes the slides are bare and you have to take notes on what he says. Exams are online and in person and reading quizzes are most of the time, at the beginning of classes. They are annoying, however, because you only have about 5 minutes, and it's easy to get a question wrong. These reading quizzes are weighted very high so it's important to do well. Highly recommend Dr. G and this course.
Thomas Guarrieri BSST200 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/13/2024	Professor Guarrieri was great, this was one of the most interesting courses I have taken at UMD. He is a great lecturer and you can tell he is passionate about the material he teaches. He always prioritized teaching with no bias, and leaving the room open to questions or comments which I thought was great. However, I would not recommend this class as an easy A. There are weekly readings due that average out to be about 40-60 pages a week. There is a weekly closed note in person reading assessment quiz that you have 5 minutes to complete with 3 questions. YOU HAVE TO DO WELL ON THE READING ASSESMENTS! These small quizzes make up 30% of your grade, if you miss them or get a few wrong they will tank your grade. Professor Guarrieri was extremely nice and understanding, and would typically give points back on reading assessments if the majority of the class got a question wrong which I appreciated. Overall great class that I highly recommend just be prepared to put in the time if you want to get an A!
Thomas Guarrieri BSST200 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 11/24/2024	I actually really agree with the comment below, he is a great professor and the exams really aren't so difficult if you study (with the exception of the weekly reading assessments, which were 3 questions and kinda difficult)... the classroom was tight, but the interesting material made up for it. highly reccomend this class for anyone interested in the national security field
Thomas Guarrieri BSST200 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 11/21/2024	Great professor, very interesting. Good exams, although his style for the "reading assessment" short quizzes was quite annoying. Three questions and you have about 4 minutes to complete them. He will announce them in class right before they open, so if you aren't on the Canvas page and ready to go right before, you won't have time to get ready and complete it on time. It's also quite easy to get one of the 3 questions wrong, in which case that's a 67% which is annoying. My main complaint for the semester I took it isn't necessarily an issue of the class or of professor G, but the classroom it was held in. The course was 100+ students in a tiny room in the bio and nuclear building, where there often wasn't enough seats for everyone and the entire row of students would have to stand up and leave the isle in order for you to step out of or into your seat. Very poor choice of rooms for a 100+ student lecture. I loved the class and it was very interesting but because of this I ended up not going to a few of the classes later in the semester because I couldn't stand this room and how tightly packed it was with students.

Thomas Guarrieri
BSST200

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/18/2025

DO NOT TAKE THIS COURSE IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO CRUISE BY WITH MINIMAL EFFORT!! This course was fun and interesting, however, it does require effort as any other course to excel. For starters, there are weekly readings that usually consist of 2- 30 page pdfs from textbooks. It is imperative that you read these because he only has three types of grades: exams, discussions, and reading assessments. All are based on things mentioned in class and the reading assignments. Attendance is also basically mandatory because he only opens and closes these assignments in class. However, because there’s only these assignments, he’s fair when grading them and will drop questions that the majority of the class got wrong. The same goes for the midterms and final exams. He also provides a key topic list that usually align well with the questions asked on the exam. Dr. G was a great professor and you can tell he’s passionate and knowledgeable about the subjects talked about in class.

Thomas Guarrieri
BSST200

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/18/2025

Do not take this course if you are expecting to cruise through with minimal effort. Dr. Guarrieri is a great professor, however, you will not be able to pass if you do not put in the effort for the weekly readings (usually two, with about 30 pages each) and show up to class. He only has 3 types of grades: reading assessments, discussions, and exams. The reading assessments and discussions are opened and closed randomly in class, so attendance is basically mandatory. However, he is fair in his grades and if a majority of the class fails a question, he will remove it from the score. This also applies to his exams. To study, he provides key topic lists that are aligned well with the questions, however, a lot of them are reading and things he says during lecture based, so like stated, do not take this course if you do not plan to put in at least 2 hours worth of time weekly for this course. Dr. Guarrieri is a really nice professor, and very knowledgeable about the material. You can tell he’s passionate and it was an interesting course. Unfortunately, I experienced a personal loss that caused me to fall behind on his readings so I went from the possibility of an A+ to a B+, however, I never emailed him about my loss so this was truly on me. He’s a great guy!

Thomas Guarrieri
BSST200

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/16/2025

Dr. G is a great guy and professor, he's very helpful and easy to talk to and I liked him a lot. However, this course is not easy. The content can be quite dull if you're not interested in it, but my bigger criticism is that he crams an absurd amount of information on his slides and then also talks a ton so it can be hard to keep up. The class is fairly simple, weekly reading quizzes are easy but tedious, weekly discussions are the same. Three total exams, final is allegedly cumulative but it really wasn't. The readings take a while but as the course goes on you'll stop reading them because it's so much. 60-70 pages a week. Overall it wasn't bad, but it's not an easy A, you need to study and understand

Thomas Guarrieri
BSST200

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
12/04/2025

Overall the class material was interesting, but the exams were very difficult. Often questions were on a topic that was mentioned for only a few seconds in class. The readings were overall way too much (80-100 pages per week) which is a lot when you are trying to do work for other classes. Each week during class you have a reading quiz and a discussion posts were are relatively easy and a good way to build your grade up. But there is no extra credit given so if you do not do well on the exams it is hard to build your grade back up.

Thomas Guarrieri
BSST200

Expecting a B
Anonymous
11/21/2025

Professor Guarrieri is a good professor who is very passionate about the material and teaching it to students. However, there are too many readings assigned, and he gives no review material for exams, just a list of topics that will be covered. If you'd like to take this class for an easy A, please don't. You actually need to put a lot of time into studying if you want to do well in this class, and he is not lenient with helping students or giving extra credit opportunities.

Thomas Guarrieri
BSST200

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/18/2024

Great professor, great class. Two exams and short reading quizzes every class. Class attendance is, in my opinion, necessary because sometimes the slides are bare and you have to take notes on what he says. Exams are online and in person and reading quizzes are most of the time, at the beginning of classes. They are annoying, however, because you only have about 5 minutes, and it's easy to get a question wrong. These reading quizzes are weighted very high so it's important to do well. Highly recommend Dr. G and this course.

Thomas Guarrieri
BSST200

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/13/2024

Professor Guarrieri was great, this was one of the most interesting courses I have taken at UMD. He is a great lecturer and you can tell he is passionate about the material he teaches. He always prioritized teaching with no bias, and leaving the room open to questions or comments which I thought was great. However, I would not recommend this class as an easy A. There are weekly readings due that average out to be about 40-60 pages a week. There is a weekly closed note in person reading assessment quiz that you have 5 minutes to complete with 3 questions. YOU HAVE TO DO WELL ON THE READING ASSESMENTS! These small quizzes make up 30% of your grade, if you miss them or get a few wrong they will tank your grade. Professor Guarrieri was extremely nice and understanding, and would typically give points back on reading assessments if the majority of the class got a question wrong which I appreciated. Overall great class that I highly recommend just be prepared to put in the time if you want to get an A!

Thomas Guarrieri
BSST200

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
11/24/2024

I actually really agree with the comment below, he is a great professor and the exams really aren't so difficult if you study (with the exception of the weekly reading assessments, which were 3 questions and kinda difficult)... the classroom was tight, but the interesting material made up for it. highly reccomend this class for anyone interested in the national security field

Thomas Guarrieri
BSST200

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
11/21/2024

Great professor, very interesting. Good exams, although his style for the "reading assessment" short quizzes was quite annoying. Three questions and you have about 4 minutes to complete them. He will announce them in class right before they open, so if you aren't on the Canvas page and ready to go right before, you won't have time to get ready and complete it on time. It's also quite easy to get one of the 3 questions wrong, in which case that's a 67% which is annoying. My main complaint for the semester I took it isn't necessarily an issue of the class or of professor G, but the classroom it was held in. The course was 100+ students in a tiny room in the bio and nuclear building, where there often wasn't enough seats for everyone and the entire row of students would have to stand up and leave the isle in order for you to step out of or into your seat. Very poor choice of rooms for a 100+ student lecture. I loved the class and it was very interesting but because of this I ended up not going to a few of the classes later in the semester because I couldn't stand this room and how tightly packed it was with students.

Reviews for BSST200