Laura Duncanson | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Laura Duncanson GEOG201 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/10/2024	DO NOT take this class. you have two exams worth 40% and then a final worth thirty percent, the only reason I gave this class two stars was because they're online so you can just take them at home which is much better than having to take them in class. Moving on, you have two lectures a week with slides that are on average 65+ slides which is INSANE. as a student with ADHD who likes to take notes before class, she posts the slides 10 minutes before class (reminder lectures are averaging 65+ slides) and she went so fast I had literally no idea what I was learning. And don't even get me started on how excruciatingly boring the lectures were. Even more-so, if you are a spring sport athlete, DEFINITELY do not take this class. Lectures were Tuesday/Thursday which means if ur a spring sport athlete you're traveling most Thursdays, so right there is already missing HALF of the lecture points, which she doesn't apply excused absences, no matter what you get a zero (which is RIDICULOUS and how is that even allowed?) she tries to justify it by saying she drops half at the end of the semester, but you're stuck stressing because you're basically sitting with a D-C grade for an entire semester for something that is literally OUT OF YOUR CONTROL. oh and I forgot to mention that clicker (attendance) points are TWENTY PERCENT of your final grade. Stupidest outline of a class ever. Take anything else.
Laura Duncanson GEOG201 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/09/2024	A very good professor. Really cares about the subject and her students. Offers extra credit and every exam is online open book and open notes.
Laura Duncanson GEOG211 Expecting an A akl2025 05/01/2023	Easy lab with Google Earth every 1 or 2 weeks approximately. Just get started early so you won't have to worry about it. It fulfills DNSL credit with GEOG201
Laura Duncanson GEOG201 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/19/2022	The lecture slides itself are a bit vague, but when you pair it with her speaking throughout, they make perfect sense. Laura Duncanson has experience in this field, so she is able to answer our questions in a way that is easy for us to understand. About midterms/finals, most of it tests our knowledge on the concepts and process of how something happens, so make sure that you pay attention during in-person/video lectures
Laura Duncanson GEOG201 Anonymous 05/18/2022	She is a nice professor but the structure of the class does not set you up for success. The mid term is 30% of your grade. The final is 40%. So two exams that are very very content heavy are collectively worth 70% of your grade. If you mess up on one, you’re basically screwed. Take another lab. There are definitely easier options.
Laura Duncanson GEOG201 Anonymous 05/17/2022	She seems like a nice person and cares about the subject. I only took this class because I needed to fulfill a Natural Science with a lab as Gen Ed requirement. Since I am not really a science person I obviously did not want to take classes like Chemistry, Physics or Biology, so I was looking for an simpler science course. Out of all of the ones left that seemed somewhat interesting and easier than hard sciences, I chose this. The lectures were either in person or online and were mostly easy to follow. However, the information being presented was both boring and there was just a lot of information that seemed pointless or just not important. For grades there was a midterm and a final as well as little quizzes during the lectures both in person and online. The grading system was very unbalanced as the final was 40% and the midterm was 30% of your grade and the other 30% was the video quizes. Since the midterm and final made up 70% of the grade this required an abundance of information for the exams. For both exams you would essentially have to memorize the information from each half of the semester, so you would be tested on seven weeks of material for each exam, the first and second half respectively. If you ask me these kinds of classes based on memorization are way outdated as why would I need to know why rivers form v-shaped valleys and glaciers form u-shaped valleys or the different layers of dirt. If you're looking for an easier Gen Ed for DSNL and you can't find another one I'd say go ahead and take this one but only at the last resort.
Laura Duncanson GEOG201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/17/2022	Not really sure why the person below this is such a hater... professor Duncanson was a really nice and knowledgeable teacher who was extremely understanding of the impact that covid has on students even 2 years after it began. She provided students the choice to come to class and/or watch Panopto recordings of lectures for whoever didn't want to come or just needed to hear the lectures again and because of these recordings I never even opened my textbook. She explained all of the materials extremely well and it was my impression that people were doing fairly well in the course based on the Kahoots we did in class. This course encompasses the entire Earth system (not just rocks) and I learned some interesting things. I would say that I spent like 2 hours a week on this class just because I watched and took notes on the recordings, and obviously a little more for the midterm and final. I think most people expect the exams to be easy and don't properly prepare for them because she didn't hardly expect anything from students throughout the rest of the semester, but if you just read the slides and understand the concepts I think it's a really easy A.
Laura Duncanson GEOG201 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/16/2022	everything is easy and resources accessible, until you get to the midterm and the final. also, because of the heavy weighting of the exams improving grade from midterm to final is nearly impossible. most of info instructed covers basics you learn in middle school and high school.
Laura Duncanson GEOG201 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/11/2022	Laura Duncanson...where to begin? I have many mixed emotions about this course. The lab itself is a pretty easy A. Everything is online and does not require much effort. The lectures are also online which is a bonus but it also may have led to my downfall. You can easily find the answers for the clicker questions without actually watching the lectures. But when the time comes to take the mid term and final, everyone in the class will be screwed. My class curve was 10 points. It was one of the hardest, most confusing, content heavy tests I have ever taken. Half the things I studied were not on the test and half the questions that WERE on the test, I had never seen before. She also blamed the class for this, which is ridiculous because HALF OF US LITERALLY FAILED. That's on you Laura. I thought this was going to be an easy lab because everyone said it was, but the class you have to take with it honestly makes it not worth it. You are better off sticking with plant sciences. Unless you are a lover of rocks (which i know you are not if you are reading this), the "lithosphere" and whatever other useless things we learned in this class, save yourself the time, stress and failing grade! You're welcome in advance.
Laura Duncanson GEOG201 Expecting a B akl2025 04/27/2022	Laura Duncanson is an awesome professor. The lectures are very informative and the exams are not terribly difficult, but you have to study regularly and it is heavily weighed (30% for the midterm and 40% for the final). I have her for Spring 2022 and it is hybrid class. I recommend taking in-person (the class is normally around 40 to 60 students out of 240 total because most takes online lectures) since it just makes you feel in the mood to study and she makes Kahoot, which is fun to play and good to review contents. She mentioned at the beginning that if you just want to pass her class, watch her lectures would be enough. The textbook is not necessary, unless you wanna know deeper. Pros: - Good lectures (informative and engaging) - Easy TurningPoint quizzes (she will drop low scores) Cons: - 2 stressful exams: they decide your final grade, just fail one and you're screwed. Interestingly, many people failed the midterm and she had to curve up the grade. I don't think it was super difficult. It's just fair: you need to read the lecture slides and understand the concepts. Nevertheless, I prepare myself to get a B as my final grade in case of a low grade on final exam, even though I'm having an A in the class now.

Laura Duncanson
GEOG201

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
05/10/2024

DO NOT take this class. you have two exams worth 40% and then a final worth thirty percent, the only reason I gave this class two stars was because they're online so you can just take them at home which is much better than having to take them in class. Moving on, you have two lectures a week with slides that are on average 65+ slides which is INSANE. as a student with ADHD who likes to take notes before class, she posts the slides 10 minutes before class (reminder lectures are averaging 65+ slides) and she went so fast I had literally no idea what I was learning. And don't even get me started on how excruciatingly boring the lectures were. Even more-so, if you are a spring sport athlete, DEFINITELY do not take this class. Lectures were Tuesday/Thursday which means if ur a spring sport athlete you're traveling most Thursdays, so right there is already missing HALF of the lecture points, which she doesn't apply excused absences, no matter what you get a zero (which is RIDICULOUS and how is that even allowed?) she tries to justify it by saying she drops half at the end of the semester, but you're stuck stressing because you're basically sitting with a D-C grade for an entire semester for something that is literally OUT OF YOUR CONTROL. oh and I forgot to mention that clicker (attendance) points are TWENTY PERCENT of your final grade. Stupidest outline of a class ever. Take anything else.

Laura Duncanson
GEOG201

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/09/2024

A very good professor. Really cares about the subject and her students. Offers extra credit and every exam is online open book and open notes.

Laura Duncanson
GEOG201

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/19/2022

The lecture slides itself are a bit vague, but when you pair it with her speaking throughout, they make perfect sense. Laura Duncanson has experience in this field, so she is able to answer our questions in a way that is easy for us to understand. About midterms/finals, most of it tests our knowledge on the concepts and process of how something happens, so make sure that you pay attention during in-person/video lectures

Laura Duncanson
GEOG201

Anonymous
05/18/2022

She is a nice professor but the structure of the class does not set you up for success. The mid term is 30% of your grade. The final is 40%. So two exams that are very very content heavy are collectively worth 70% of your grade. If you mess up on one, you’re basically screwed. Take another lab. There are definitely easier options.

Laura Duncanson
GEOG201

Anonymous
05/17/2022

She seems like a nice person and cares about the subject. I only took this class because I needed to fulfill a Natural Science with a lab as Gen Ed requirement. Since I am not really a science person I obviously did not want to take classes like Chemistry, Physics or Biology, so I was looking for an simpler science course. Out of all of the ones left that seemed somewhat interesting and easier than hard sciences, I chose this. The lectures were either in person or online and were mostly easy to follow. However, the information being presented was both boring and there was just a lot of information that seemed pointless or just not important. For grades there was a midterm and a final as well as little quizzes during the lectures both in person and online. The grading system was very unbalanced as the final was 40% and the midterm was 30% of your grade and the other 30% was the video quizes. Since the midterm and final made up 70% of the grade this required an abundance of information for the exams. For both exams you would essentially have to memorize the information from each half of the semester, so you would be tested on seven weeks of material for each exam, the first and second half respectively. If you ask me these kinds of classes based on memorization are way outdated as why would I need to know why rivers form v-shaped valleys and glaciers form u-shaped valleys or the different layers of dirt. If you're looking for an easier Gen Ed for DSNL and you can't find another one I'd say go ahead and take this one but only at the last resort.

Laura Duncanson
GEOG201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/17/2022

Not really sure why the person below this is such a hater... professor Duncanson was a really nice and knowledgeable teacher who was extremely understanding of the impact that covid has on students even 2 years after it began. She provided students the choice to come to class and/or watch Panopto recordings of lectures for whoever didn't want to come or just needed to hear the lectures again and because of these recordings I never even opened my textbook. She explained all of the materials extremely well and it was my impression that people were doing fairly well in the course based on the Kahoots we did in class. This course encompasses the entire Earth system (not just rocks) and I learned some interesting things. I would say that I spent like 2 hours a week on this class just because I watched and took notes on the recordings, and obviously a little more for the midterm and final. I think most people expect the exams to be easy and don't properly prepare for them because she didn't hardly expect anything from students throughout the rest of the semester, but if you just read the slides and understand the concepts I think it's a really easy A.

Laura Duncanson
GEOG201

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/16/2022

everything is easy and resources accessible, until you get to the midterm and the final. also, because of the heavy weighting of the exams improving grade from midterm to final is nearly impossible. most of info instructed covers basics you learn in middle school and high school.

Laura Duncanson
GEOG201

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/11/2022

Laura Duncanson...where to begin? I have many mixed emotions about this course. The lab itself is a pretty easy A. Everything is online and does not require much effort. The lectures are also online which is a bonus but it also may have led to my downfall. You can easily find the answers for the clicker questions without actually watching the lectures. But when the time comes to take the mid term and final, everyone in the class will be screwed. My class curve was 10 points. It was one of the hardest, most confusing, content heavy tests I have ever taken. Half the things I studied were not on the test and half the questions that WERE on the test, I had never seen before. She also blamed the class for this, which is ridiculous because HALF OF US LITERALLY FAILED. That's on you Laura. I thought this was going to be an easy lab because everyone said it was, but the class you have to take with it honestly makes it not worth it. You are better off sticking with plant sciences. Unless you are a lover of rocks (which i know you are not if you are reading this), the "lithosphere" and whatever other useless things we learned in this class, save yourself the time, stress and failing grade! You're welcome in advance.

Laura Duncanson
GEOG201

Expecting a B
akl2025
04/27/2022

Laura Duncanson is an awesome professor. The lectures are very informative and the exams are not terribly difficult, but you have to study regularly and it is heavily weighed (30% for the midterm and 40% for the final). I have her for Spring 2022 and it is hybrid class. I recommend taking in-person (the class is normally around 40 to 60 students out of 240 total because most takes online lectures) since it just makes you feel in the mood to study and she makes Kahoot, which is fun to play and good to review contents. She mentioned at the beginning that if you just want to pass her class, watch her lectures would be enough. The textbook is not necessary, unless you wanna know deeper. Pros: - Good lectures (informative and engaging) - Easy TurningPoint quizzes (she will drop low scores) Cons: - 2 stressful exams: they decide your final grade, just fail one and you're screwed. Interestingly, many people failed the midterm and she had to curve up the grade. I don't think it was super difficult. It's just fair: you need to read the lecture slides and understand the concepts. Nevertheless, I prepare myself to get a B as my final grade in case of a low grade on final exam, even though I'm having an A in the class now.