Ralph Dubayah | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Ralph Dubayah GEOG201 Expecting a B- terpschik202 02/01/2012	DO NOT TAKE THIS PROFESSOR. Dubayah makes Geog201 MUCH harder than it needs to be. I'm easily an A/B student and I had a 62% in the class after the final. Because everyone did so poorly in the class, he put a 20% curve on the tests. He's pretentious and very hard to contact. I emailed him almost a week before the exam seeking help and he never emailed back. I even went to his office during the time I had requested to meet with him (to see if maybe I had missed the email or he had forgotten to email back) and he wasn't there. If you're a non-science major, don't waste your time on this class.
Ralph Dubayah GEOG201 recjra 02/07/2011	Dubayah was an okay lecturer, but I didn't feel like I really learned much from the course at the end of the semester. There is a lot of information to cover on the tests (though nothing is challenging) but it often felt like we were being tested on minutiae, especially on the multiple choice sections of the exams. There was a very generous curve built into the exams and the course, so it would be nearly impossible to fail. There were problems nearly every class with getting the clickers to work, which was really annoying after awhile. Dubayah wasn't particularly interesting and was kind of aloof.
Ralph Dubayah GEOG201 Expecting a B Jacob Harrer 01/17/2011	I scored B's on all the exams but got an A after the curve. The professor is polite, but he does not make his expectations clear for the exams. You have to study too much material, and the study guides and tests to not marry up. Just be prepared to be able to diagram and explain many concepts. The worst part of the exam is that obscure knowledge will come up and "headshot" you out of nowhere. Passing the class is not difficult, and you can actually pull an A if you do better than the other students, which is not difficult because it is full of frosh/soph who use it to fulfill CORE requirements but didn't have the confidence to take a more difficult or useful course like chem or physics.
Ralph Dubayah GEOG201 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/23/2010	TO EVERYONE: READ THIS BEFORE U CHOOSE THIS COURSE This is not a Geography class This is geology, biology, physics, and environmental science class. This class had nothing to do with geography. I am writing this with 100% seriousness. I am not joking about anything. This class is hard. Dubayah is not a bad guy, but he is really boring. I mean he makes few jokes here and there. It is not really his fault, but the topic that he is teaching is so boring that you just fall asleep. There is a clicker quiz every lecture that is graded to check if you are in class or not. IT IS NOT ON THE STUFF THAT YOU LEARNED. IT IS A QUIZ ON THE CHAPTER WE ARE GOING TO LEARN SO IF YOU WANT TO GET A GOOD GRADE ON IT, YOU HAVE TO READ AHEAD. This really messes ur grade up if you don't read ahead. Also he teaches stuff that is not in the book. So to get points and learn stuff, you HAVE TO COME TO THE LECTURE. There is no hw, but there is online quizzes you have to do. This can screw your grade up too because it is not easy and there is a deadline for each chapter. The quizzes combined are 15% of our grade. 20% for the first test. 25% for the second test. 40% for the final. One thing I like about Dubayah is that he is really fair. He gives nice curve depending on the class average. He is a guy enthusiastic about researching rather than teaching. He is one of those research type professors who leaves almost everything up to the TAs so he can just do the research. This is where the problem begins. The TAs are really bad and they do not care about the students AT ALL. They are lazy and messed up. Only ok TA is Steve. but they grade everything together so you basically have like 3 TAs. The Lab for this class is really easy. GEOG211. Easiest A you will get but the class was 9am in the morning for me. The first test average was like 63. The second test average was like 68. The final exam average was like 55. Just long as you get the average, attend every lecture, do the clicker quizzes and online quizzes with everything you got. You will get a B. To get an A, you have to do above and beyond. Get like 20 points better than the avg. And actually work really hard and always review and preview. I got a B in this class. I attended every lecture but I was not able to read ahead every time. I got like 83% for the quiz category. I got above the class average for every test. I did not pay attention at all. I just crammed everything in one day. I do not recommend this method because it is really hard. You have to pull all niter starting from 3pm to 12pm. Then you might get around the class average. Otherwise you have to study all lot. The tests are essays and MC. To be 100% truthful. The tests are pretty fair, but there is so much information and little details to remember that it is really hard to get a good grade. To do well on the test, preview every chapter, review every chapter, pay attention in the lecture, study one week before the exam. Easier said than done. And the study guide is pretty good source to study from but for the final exam study guide, he put 28 questions on the old stuff and 5 questions on the easy stuff. But the 90% of the test was on the new stuff. So the study guide is not right all the time. If the study guide was more like the test, I would have got 90% on the test without the curve. I was a person who took this as a core, thinking that I would avoid biology, physics, and chemistry because I hate science. I hate science and that is why i took this course but by taking this course, I basically took biology and physics plus geology and environmental science. So do not take this class unless you have to. UNLESS U R SMART. UNLESS U already took physics, biology, and environmental science in high school. And if you were good at it, then take it. If you like geology then rake this class. This is probably the best review you will find in ourumd.com
Ralph Dubayah GEOG201 Expecting a B rose11 01/08/2010	Not my favorite professor, but he is willing to answer questions. He doesn't seem as approachable as other professors, and his remarks during lecture sometimes seemed condescending. This course is not terribly difficult, but there is a lot of information to remember. There are three tests throughout the semester, which consist of multiple choice and diagram/short answer questions, plus the final. The diagrams can be complicated and hard to remember. The TAs didn't seem very helpful. You do not have to be a science major to understand the concepts, and many students taking the course take it for CORE, not their major. Don't take this class if you don't need to, or if you're not interested in the subject.
Ralph Dubayah GEOG201 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/08/2009	Professor Dubayah is a okay teacher. He does not make his class particularly interesting but it is not horribly dull. The lab is very easy but boring. The test in this class are extremely hard but they get curved. If you need a lab it's easier then traditional bio, or chem labs. Overall it's a mediocre class with a mediocre teacher.

Ralph Dubayah
GEOG201

Expecting a B-
terpschik202
02/01/2012

DO NOT TAKE THIS PROFESSOR. Dubayah makes Geog201 MUCH harder than it needs to be. I'm easily an A/B student and I had a 62% in the class after the final. Because everyone did so poorly in the class, he put a 20% curve on the tests. He's pretentious and very hard to contact. I emailed him almost a week before the exam seeking help and he never emailed back. I even went to his office during the time I had requested to meet with him (to see if maybe I had missed the email or he had forgotten to email back) and he wasn't there. If you're a non-science major, don't waste your time on this class.

Ralph Dubayah
GEOG201

recjra
02/07/2011

Dubayah was an okay lecturer, but I didn't feel like I really learned much from the course at the end of the semester. There is a lot of information to cover on the tests (though nothing is challenging) but it often felt like we were being tested on minutiae, especially on the multiple choice sections of the exams. There was a very generous curve built into the exams and the course, so it would be nearly impossible to fail. There were problems nearly every class with getting the clickers to work, which was really annoying after awhile. Dubayah wasn't particularly interesting and was kind of aloof.

Ralph Dubayah
GEOG201

Expecting a B
Jacob Harrer
01/17/2011

I scored B's on all the exams but got an A after the curve. The professor is polite, but he does not make his expectations clear for the exams. You have to study too much material, and the study guides and tests to not marry up. Just be prepared to be able to diagram and explain many concepts. The worst part of the exam is that obscure knowledge will come up and "headshot" you out of nowhere. Passing the class is not difficult, and you can actually pull an A if you do better than the other students, which is not difficult because it is full of frosh/soph who use it to fulfill CORE requirements but didn't have the confidence to take a more difficult or useful course like chem or physics.

Ralph Dubayah
GEOG201

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/23/2010

TO EVERYONE: READ THIS BEFORE U CHOOSE THIS COURSE This is not a Geography class This is geology, biology, physics, and environmental science class. This class had nothing to do with geography. I am writing this with 100% seriousness. I am not joking about anything. This class is hard. Dubayah is not a bad guy, but he is really boring. I mean he makes few jokes here and there. It is not really his fault, but the topic that he is teaching is so boring that you just fall asleep. There is a clicker quiz every lecture that is graded to check if you are in class or not. IT IS NOT ON THE STUFF THAT YOU LEARNED. IT IS A QUIZ ON THE CHAPTER WE ARE GOING TO LEARN SO IF YOU WANT TO GET A GOOD GRADE ON IT, YOU HAVE TO READ AHEAD. This really messes ur grade up if you don't read ahead. Also he teaches stuff that is not in the book. So to get points and learn stuff, you HAVE TO COME TO THE LECTURE. There is no hw, but there is online quizzes you have to do. This can screw your grade up too because it is not easy and there is a deadline for each chapter. The quizzes combined are 15% of our grade. 20% for the first test. 25% for the second test. 40% for the final. One thing I like about Dubayah is that he is really fair. He gives nice curve depending on the class average. He is a guy enthusiastic about researching rather than teaching. He is one of those research type professors who leaves almost everything up to the TAs so he can just do the research. This is where the problem begins. The TAs are really bad and they do not care about the students AT ALL. They are lazy and messed up. Only ok TA is Steve. but they grade everything together so you basically have like 3 TAs. The Lab for this class is really easy. GEOG211. Easiest A you will get but the class was 9am in the morning for me. The first test average was like 63. The second test average was like 68. The final exam average was like 55. Just long as you get the average, attend every lecture, do the clicker quizzes and online quizzes with everything you got. You will get a B. To get an A, you have to do above and beyond. Get like 20 points better than the avg. And actually work really hard and always review and preview. I got a B in this class. I attended every lecture but I was not able to read ahead every time. I got like 83% for the quiz category. I got above the class average for every test. I did not pay attention at all. I just crammed everything in one day. I do not recommend this method because it is really hard. You have to pull all niter starting from 3pm to 12pm. Then you might get around the class average. Otherwise you have to study all lot. The tests are essays and MC. To be 100% truthful. The tests are pretty fair, but there is so much information and little details to remember that it is really hard to get a good grade. To do well on the test, preview every chapter, review every chapter, pay attention in the lecture, study one week before the exam. Easier said than done. And the study guide is pretty good source to study from but for the final exam study guide, he put 28 questions on the old stuff and 5 questions on the easy stuff. But the 90% of the test was on the new stuff. So the study guide is not right all the time. If the study guide was more like the test, I would have got 90% on the test without the curve. I was a person who took this as a core, thinking that I would avoid biology, physics, and chemistry because I hate science. I hate science and that is why i took this course but by taking this course, I basically took biology and physics plus geology and environmental science. So do not take this class unless you have to. UNLESS U R SMART. UNLESS U already took physics, biology, and environmental science in high school. And if you were good at it, then take it. If you like geology then rake this class. This is probably the best review you will find in ourumd.com

Ralph Dubayah
GEOG201

Expecting a B
rose11
01/08/2010

Not my favorite professor, but he is willing to answer questions. He doesn't seem as approachable as other professors, and his remarks during lecture sometimes seemed condescending. This course is not terribly difficult, but there is a lot of information to remember. There are three tests throughout the semester, which consist of multiple choice and diagram/short answer questions, plus the final. The diagrams can be complicated and hard to remember. The TAs didn't seem very helpful. You do not have to be a science major to understand the concepts, and many students taking the course take it for CORE, not their major. Don't take this class if you don't need to, or if you're not interested in the subject.

Ralph Dubayah
GEOG201

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/08/2009

Professor Dubayah is a okay teacher. He does not make his class particularly interesting but it is not horribly dull. The lab is very easy but boring. The test in this class are extremely hard but they get curved. If you need a lab it's easier then traditional bio, or chem labs. Overall it's a mediocre class with a mediocre teacher.