GEMS104 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Thomas Zeller GEMS104 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/24/2012	Dr. Zeller isn't that bad. Yes, the class is fairly boring and a ton of seemingly pointless work, but its really not terrible. If you put in your share of the work on the team paper and delegate work within your team, the paper is not hard. Lecture is usually pretty boring, but if you go to lecture, its really easy to participate in discussion without doing the readings. Dr. Zeller is a nice guy, just not a particularly interesting lecturer. Overall, a lot of work, but most of it isn't extremely difficult.
Robert Friedel GEMS104 Expecting a B Anonymous 06/05/2010	this class requires a lot of work, for little in return. in fact, the only thing you get in return is a tarnished transcipt, even for a gemstone student.
Robert Friedel GEMS104 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/22/2010	It has been said that this class is one of the hardest freshman class umd has to offer and, like the other reviewer said, is a weedout course for gems students. It is true that this is a very stressful class. The TAs have near-complete control of the direction of the course, so pray for a good TA. There is a decent amount of readings due each week as well as routine journals. The 50-page research paper was just ridiculous. On the bright side, the lectures were actually not bad. Not many show up though because there are no exams. Additionally, fellow gems students tend to be quite capable, so the research paper will be manageable....barely. Not many people like this class, but the high rating from me is because it is not difficult to earn an A...as long as you carry your weight, of course.
Robert Friedel GEMS104 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/19/2010	Like the other reviewers said, DROP if you're unsure you want to do Gems. This class is not worth the time commitment! Personally, I never went to a single lecture save the first two. Just show up for discussion and you're fine since your TA has your grade in your hands. Some of the TAs are REALLY evil and unfortunately, you won't be able to pick up how tough they are until after the sched adjustment period. In general, this class is pointless and totally irrelevant to the Gemstone program. You have mandatory "team" meetings twice every week and you must write a ~50 page paper by the end. If you want to continue in Gems, don't let it scare you too much. It's not TOO difficult, it's just time-consuming. It's like hazing for Gemstone kids. Bear it, get through it, and enjoy the next three years.
Robert Friedel GEMS104 Expecting a B+ a778999 05/18/2010	I took HIST175 and GEMS104 with him and the lectures were exact replicas of each other. In HIST175, your grading is determined on the testing of the material. In GEMS104, the lectures don't matter at all as your grade is determined by a project. HIST175: Your grade is 100% determined by the TA. Even though Friedel writes the tests the TA grades them. My TA was really picky. For example, we were asked to describe the Newcomen steam engine and the TA looked for the phrase "self-acting" specifically. If it wasn't there, you didn't get credit no matter how many other correct things you wrote. GEMS104: Attending lectures will have no effect on your grade since you won't be tested on the material. Readings and assignments are pointless. TAs are not helpful at all and don't know what they're doing. You should probably only take this class if you plan to stick with Gemstone. Otherwise, there are many better options for CORE. It is NOT an easy A.
Robert Friedel GEMS104 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/08/2010	im pretty sure this course will mirror the I-series course on carbon. for gems, no tests or quizzes were given, and no attendance was taken, so a class of 80 went down to 15 attendees, and then he made the journals (which were graded) based off lecture. goes through ppt slides way too fast to write by hand, and sometimes even with a laptop. somehow he manages to attract the most evil TA's known to man. his speech impediment is probably a result of partial deafness, but his english is good, all things considered. it was hard to understand him at first. gems104 is a weedout class with a paper that sucks. if you aren't sure you want to stay in, drop gems before taking this class.
Thomas Zeller GEMS104 Expecting an A Anonymous 08/25/2009	I honestly did not get the whole purpose of this class beyond the fact that there was tons and tons of busy work. I seriously had more work for this course than for any of my serious courses. Regardless, if you put the time in, it really isn't that hard...but you have to put A LOT of time in...no joke...more than should be required of any 100 level course...even for Gemstone... Still, the lecture topics were interesting and I would say I learned some pretty fun and thought invoking things from them. I just will there was less emphasis on the busy work thinly veiled as a "research paper"
Thomas Zeller GEMS104 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/02/2009	Zeller teaches a class that honestly I think any middle school history teacher could teach. GEMS104 is ultimately a class about using common sense when learning about topics. Speaks in a monotone though and many people really space or doze off during class. Unreasonable enforcement of "no distractions" by TAs. Tries to make things more important and interesting than they really are which in turn makes him irritating. Final is easy; can be passed if you get the main points of the lecture from someone. Discussion is mandatory; topic discussion is often redundant while research discussion is a waste of time. Must do a 30 page paper which really isn't that bad since it's a group project. Unlike other professors that teach large lectures, he has input in your grades which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on which side of the fence you're on.
Robert Friedel GEMS104 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/14/2009	Too bad he got stuck teaching one of the most useless classes the university has to offer. He definitely knows his stuff, but he was teaching it to a group of students who knew they wouldn't find any use for the material in later courses. Plus, he was pretty arrogant and made the lectures extremely boring. The discussions were just as useless and almost completely unrelated to the lectures. There were random reflection assignments at the end of some lectures, but if you were in the later section, you could find out whether or not an assignment was going to be given. The 40-page history paper was a pain to research for and to write (even as a group). Just keep telling yourself that you'll land on a good Gemstone project in the end and you'll get through it.
Robert Friedel GEMS104 umdisbest 05/21/2008	This professor/course combination sucked. Lectures were a waste of life, and he seemed so full of himself. He would occasionally interrupt class to single out students who had better things to do than listen to him rant about biofuels and such. My advice: resist the urge to drop gemstone while in this class, but bring other work to do during lectures
Robert Friedel GEMS104 Expecting an A Anonymous 02/27/2008	His lectures, while thoroughly researched, are seemingly pointless and extremely boring. Although he is well informed on his subject, I have no real idea how this information will help with the upcoming research project or any other class. Also, the lecture and the discussions have almost nothing to do with each other. Basically, the class requires a lot of patience and attendance is key considering that reflections are due at the end of randomly chosen classes.

Thomas Zeller
GEMS104

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/24/2012

Dr. Zeller isn't that bad. Yes, the class is fairly boring and a ton of seemingly pointless work, but its really not terrible. If you put in your share of the work on the team paper and delegate work within your team, the paper is not hard. Lecture is usually pretty boring, but if you go to lecture, its really easy to participate in discussion without doing the readings. Dr. Zeller is a nice guy, just not a particularly interesting lecturer. Overall, a lot of work, but most of it isn't extremely difficult.

Robert Friedel
GEMS104

Expecting a B
Anonymous
06/05/2010

this class requires a lot of work, for little in return. in fact, the only thing you get in return is a tarnished transcipt, even for a gemstone student.

Robert Friedel
GEMS104

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/22/2010

It has been said that this class is one of the hardest freshman class umd has to offer and, like the other reviewer said, is a weedout course for gems students. It is true that this is a very stressful class. The TAs have near-complete control of the direction of the course, so pray for a good TA. There is a decent amount of readings due each week as well as routine journals. The 50-page research paper was just ridiculous. On the bright side, the lectures were actually not bad. Not many show up though because there are no exams. Additionally, fellow gems students tend to be quite capable, so the research paper will be manageable....barely. Not many people like this class, but the high rating from me is because it is not difficult to earn an A...as long as you carry your weight, of course.

Robert Friedel
GEMS104

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/19/2010

Like the other reviewers said, DROP if you're unsure you want to do Gems. This class is not worth the time commitment! Personally, I never went to a single lecture save the first two. Just show up for discussion and you're fine since your TA has your grade in your hands. Some of the TAs are REALLY evil and unfortunately, you won't be able to pick up how tough they are until after the sched adjustment period. In general, this class is pointless and totally irrelevant to the Gemstone program. You have mandatory "team" meetings twice every week and you must write a ~50 page paper by the end. If you want to continue in Gems, don't let it scare you too much. It's not TOO difficult, it's just time-consuming. It's like hazing for Gemstone kids. Bear it, get through it, and enjoy the next three years.

Robert Friedel
GEMS104

Expecting a B+
a778999
05/18/2010

I took HIST175 and GEMS104 with him and the lectures were exact replicas of each other. In HIST175, your grading is determined on the testing of the material. In GEMS104, the lectures don't matter at all as your grade is determined by a project. HIST175: Your grade is 100% determined by the TA. Even though Friedel writes the tests the TA grades them. My TA was really picky. For example, we were asked to describe the Newcomen steam engine and the TA looked for the phrase "self-acting" specifically. If it wasn't there, you didn't get credit no matter how many other correct things you wrote. GEMS104: Attending lectures will have no effect on your grade since you won't be tested on the material. Readings and assignments are pointless. TAs are not helpful at all and don't know what they're doing. You should probably only take this class if you plan to stick with Gemstone. Otherwise, there are many better options for CORE. It is NOT an easy A.

Robert Friedel
GEMS104

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/08/2010

im pretty sure this course will mirror the I-series course on carbon. for gems, no tests or quizzes were given, and no attendance was taken, so a class of 80 went down to 15 attendees, and then he made the journals (which were graded) based off lecture. goes through ppt slides way too fast to write by hand, and sometimes even with a laptop. somehow he manages to attract the most evil TA's known to man. his speech impediment is probably a result of partial deafness, but his english is good, all things considered. it was hard to understand him at first. gems104 is a weedout class with a paper that sucks. if you aren't sure you want to stay in, drop gems before taking this class.

Thomas Zeller
GEMS104

Expecting an A
Anonymous
08/25/2009

I honestly did not get the whole purpose of this class beyond the fact that there was tons and tons of busy work. I seriously had more work for this course than for any of my serious courses. Regardless, if you put the time in, it really isn't that hard...but you have to put A LOT of time in...no joke...more than should be required of any 100 level course...even for Gemstone... Still, the lecture topics were interesting and I would say I learned some pretty fun and thought invoking things from them. I just will there was less emphasis on the busy work thinly veiled as a "research paper"

Thomas Zeller
GEMS104

Expecting an A
Anonymous
06/02/2009

Zeller teaches a class that honestly I think any middle school history teacher could teach. GEMS104 is ultimately a class about using common sense when learning about topics. Speaks in a monotone though and many people really space or doze off during class. Unreasonable enforcement of "no distractions" by TAs. Tries to make things more important and interesting than they really are which in turn makes him irritating. Final is easy; can be passed if you get the main points of the lecture from someone. Discussion is mandatory; topic discussion is often redundant while research discussion is a waste of time. Must do a 30 page paper which really isn't that bad since it's a group project. Unlike other professors that teach large lectures, he has input in your grades which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on which side of the fence you're on.

Robert Friedel
GEMS104

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/14/2009

Too bad he got stuck teaching one of the most useless classes the university has to offer. He definitely knows his stuff, but he was teaching it to a group of students who knew they wouldn't find any use for the material in later courses. Plus, he was pretty arrogant and made the lectures extremely boring. The discussions were just as useless and almost completely unrelated to the lectures. There were random reflection assignments at the end of some lectures, but if you were in the later section, you could find out whether or not an assignment was going to be given. The 40-page history paper was a pain to research for and to write (even as a group). Just keep telling yourself that you'll land on a good Gemstone project in the end and you'll get through it.

Robert Friedel
GEMS104

umdisbest
05/21/2008

This professor/course combination sucked. Lectures were a waste of life, and he seemed so full of himself. He would occasionally interrupt class to single out students who had better things to do than listen to him rant about biofuels and such. My advice: resist the urge to drop gemstone while in this class, but bring other work to do during lectures

Robert Friedel
GEMS104

Expecting an A
Anonymous
02/27/2008

His lectures, while thoroughly researched, are seemingly pointless and extremely boring. Although he is well informed on his subject, I have no real idea how this information will help with the upcoming research project or any other class. Also, the lecture and the discussions have almost nothing to do with each other. Basically, the class requires a lot of patience and attendance is key considering that reflections are due at the end of randomly chosen classes.

Reviews for GEMS104