HIST131 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Michael Ross HIST131 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/06/2024	Professor Ross and his amazing TA's are so engaging and make the class really interesting. It is my favorite gen ed so far. There aren't that many grades per semester, so make sure you always show up to your discussion section and always answer a few questions or contribute in someway to get participation points. There will be 2 or so book quizzes, which are simply answering a broad question about the topic. You are given all the possible questions beforehand and 2-3 are chosen for you to respond to come quiz time. You will have to do a short reading every week, which can be from a small essay, to a long excerpt from a book, or even a movie. The final paper isn't too much of a hassle and the grading is very lenient, same with the midterm and final exam. If you enjoy history, take this class as you will learn a lot of niche things that people overlook.
Michael Ross HIST131 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/02/2024	The class was really interesting and I learned a lot about American History. You can tell the professor really knows his stuff and cares about history, so the lectures were good, but that is where it stops. My main issues with this class were the amount of reading that you have to do outside of class (we had to read several books and tons of documents) and the amount of information you are expected to memorize for the midterm and final. You're expected to memorize names, dates, movements and everything in-between from lectures for the midterm and final, which consist of several essays that you have to write based upon prompts you are given at the start of the exam (there are no multiple choice tests). on top of the final exam, you have to write a final paper that is worth 20% of your grade where you have to read a 300 page book and explain how it ties into the course. Overall, I felt like there was too much emphasis placed on memorizing things and even if you grasped the concepts, if you weren't detailed enough with the names and dates in your essays, you'd get points taken off. I just felt like this class wasn't made to be a gen ed class, but one for history majors.
Michael Ross HIST131 Expecting an A- Anonymous 11/09/2023	One of the best classes I've taken and one of the best professors I had. Professor Ross makes his lectures so engaging and interesting. I took this class as a gen ed and it's definitely the best gen ed I've taken. There was a midterm and a final plus a few quizzes, all of which were short answer, but not difficult by any means. Take this class just for the professor at least!
Michael Ross HIST131 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/13/2023	I highly recommend HIST 131 if you are looking for a history gen ed. I loved Dr. Ross - he was very engaging in lectures, and I found the class material to be genuinely interesting. You only really get a few grades for the semester: 2 book quizzes, the midterm and final exams, a participation grade for discussion, and the term paper (only 6-7 pages). The midterms and finals are set up similarly to AP history exams, but with only short answer prompts and long essays. If you took APUSH in high school, the exams are a breeze. Dr. Ross gives a study guide of topics before the midterm and final exam, and essay prompts are almost verbatim from the study guide. I found it to be easy to get a good participation grade in the weekly discussion as well - most of the discussion topics came straight from lecture notes, and I was able to participate thoroughly in discussions most weeks without reading the assigned readings (granted, I skimmed the readings and read summaries). For the term paper, we researched the ancestry of two families, which I found to be a genuinely fun essay to write. Overall, I felt that the coursework was not overwhelming (especially as an engineering major), and HIST 131 was a very worthwhile class to take.
Michael Ross HIST131 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/11/2023	Honestly one of my favorite professors when it comes making the content interesting and engaging. You can tell he is really passionate and knows what he's talking about and it translates to the lectures. There were a decent amount of readings from various books you need for quizzes and discussion but with a bit of searching you can find a free online copy of every book. He was also pretty transparent with what you needed to know to be prepared for the quizzes and discussions with the guiding questions. Exams can bit a intimidating with the amount of IDs but if you go to lectures, take some time to study, and go to the TA review sessions you should be fine. My only two critiques are that the term paper can be a bit of a drag if you aren't readily able to get your hands on the information needed to complete it and I wish that he would've recorded lectures or at least posted the slides because a lot times I might have missed something in my notes and it would have been nice if I could go back and fill in the holes. Overall though a very good teacher and pretty good class.
Michael Ross HIST131 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/09/2023	Dr. Ross is an excellent teacher. His class is very content-heavy but he delivers it in a manner that is both easy to understand as well as interesting. I have never found myself bored during his lectures. My only gripe is that there are only a handful of graded assignments, so you have very little margin for error.
Michael Ross HIST131 Expecting an A Anonymous 03/27/2020	You would be doing yourself a HUGE disservice if you had the opportunity to take one of Dr. Ross' classes and didn't. He's so interesting so you'll no trouble paying attention. There are a lot of IDs to review before an exam, but he only selects a handful for the test. Everyone does well in his classes. Seriously... take Dr. Ross
Michael Ross HIST131 Expecting an A Anonymous 02/19/2020	Undoubtedly my favorite professor of all time. Dr. Ross is approachable and down-to-earth and he LOVES his job; he really wants you to succeed. His class was incredibly entertaining and informative, plus he's hilarious. Exams are a little tricky though--over 100 IDs to study from. But if you pay attention in class and participate a little in discussion, you'll be just fine.

Michael Ross
HIST131

Expecting an A
Anonymous
06/06/2024

Professor Ross and his amazing TA's are so engaging and make the class really interesting. It is my favorite gen ed so far. There aren't that many grades per semester, so make sure you always show up to your discussion section and always answer a few questions or contribute in someway to get participation points. There will be 2 or so book quizzes, which are simply answering a broad question about the topic. You are given all the possible questions beforehand and 2-3 are chosen for you to respond to come quiz time. You will have to do a short reading every week, which can be from a small essay, to a long excerpt from a book, or even a movie. The final paper isn't too much of a hassle and the grading is very lenient, same with the midterm and final exam. If you enjoy history, take this class as you will learn a lot of niche things that people overlook.

Michael Ross
HIST131

Expecting an A
Anonymous
06/02/2024

The class was really interesting and I learned a lot about American History. You can tell the professor really knows his stuff and cares about history, so the lectures were good, but that is where it stops. My main issues with this class were the amount of reading that you have to do outside of class (we had to read several books and tons of documents) and the amount of information you are expected to memorize for the midterm and final. You're expected to memorize names, dates, movements and everything in-between from lectures for the midterm and final, which consist of several essays that you have to write based upon prompts you are given at the start of the exam (there are no multiple choice tests). on top of the final exam, you have to write a final paper that is worth 20% of your grade where you have to read a 300 page book and explain how it ties into the course. Overall, I felt like there was too much emphasis placed on memorizing things and even if you grasped the concepts, if you weren't detailed enough with the names and dates in your essays, you'd get points taken off. I just felt like this class wasn't made to be a gen ed class, but one for history majors.

Michael Ross
HIST131

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
11/09/2023

One of the best classes I've taken and one of the best professors I had. Professor Ross makes his lectures so engaging and interesting. I took this class as a gen ed and it's definitely the best gen ed I've taken. There was a midterm and a final plus a few quizzes, all of which were short answer, but not difficult by any means. Take this class just for the professor at least!

Michael Ross
HIST131

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/13/2023

I highly recommend HIST 131 if you are looking for a history gen ed. I loved Dr. Ross - he was very engaging in lectures, and I found the class material to be genuinely interesting. You only really get a few grades for the semester: 2 book quizzes, the midterm and final exams, a participation grade for discussion, and the term paper (only 6-7 pages). The midterms and finals are set up similarly to AP history exams, but with only short answer prompts and long essays. If you took APUSH in high school, the exams are a breeze. Dr. Ross gives a study guide of topics before the midterm and final exam, and essay prompts are almost verbatim from the study guide. I found it to be easy to get a good participation grade in the weekly discussion as well - most of the discussion topics came straight from lecture notes, and I was able to participate thoroughly in discussions most weeks without reading the assigned readings (granted, I skimmed the readings and read summaries). For the term paper, we researched the ancestry of two families, which I found to be a genuinely fun essay to write. Overall, I felt that the coursework was not overwhelming (especially as an engineering major), and HIST 131 was a very worthwhile class to take.

Michael Ross
HIST131

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/11/2023

Honestly one of my favorite professors when it comes making the content interesting and engaging. You can tell he is really passionate and knows what he's talking about and it translates to the lectures. There were a decent amount of readings from various books you need for quizzes and discussion but with a bit of searching you can find a free online copy of every book. He was also pretty transparent with what you needed to know to be prepared for the quizzes and discussions with the guiding questions. Exams can bit a intimidating with the amount of IDs but if you go to lectures, take some time to study, and go to the TA review sessions you should be fine. My only two critiques are that the term paper can be a bit of a drag if you aren't readily able to get your hands on the information needed to complete it and I wish that he would've recorded lectures or at least posted the slides because a lot times I might have missed something in my notes and it would have been nice if I could go back and fill in the holes. Overall though a very good teacher and pretty good class.

Michael Ross
HIST131

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/09/2023

Dr. Ross is an excellent teacher. His class is very content-heavy but he delivers it in a manner that is both easy to understand as well as interesting. I have never found myself bored during his lectures. My only gripe is that there are only a handful of graded assignments, so you have very little margin for error.

Michael Ross
HIST131

Expecting an A
Anonymous
03/27/2020

You would be doing yourself a HUGE disservice if you had the opportunity to take one of Dr. Ross' classes and didn't. He's so interesting so you'll no trouble paying attention. There are a lot of IDs to review before an exam, but he only selects a handful for the test. Everyone does well in his classes. Seriously... take Dr. Ross

Michael Ross
HIST131

Expecting an A
Anonymous
02/19/2020

Undoubtedly my favorite professor of all time. Dr. Ross is approachable and down-to-earth and he LOVES his job; he really wants you to succeed. His class was incredibly entertaining and informative, plus he's hilarious. Exams are a little tricky though--over 100 IDs to study from. But if you pay attention in class and participate a little in discussion, you'll be just fine.

Reviews for HIST131