Hallie Liberto

This professor has taught: HNUH268A, HONR239Z, PHIL140, PHIL338D, PHIL808M, PHIL848L
Information Review
Hallie Liberto
PHIL140

Expecting a C+
Anonymous
10/05/2024
GPA Killer, I took this class last spring, and it was much harder than needed! If you read a lot of these reviews, you notice grades in elms are much lower than final grades in Testudo. This is because exam averages are so low due to her multiple-choice exams sometimes having more than one correct answer. So what she does is improve everyone's grade in Testudo to counteract this. So far, it's the worst class I've taken at UMD, and it's my senior year, I learned nothing!
Hallie Liberto
PHIL140

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
07/02/2024
PLEASE AVOID THIS CLASS AT ALL COSTS. This class is absolutely convenient for killing one's GPA. Professor Liberto is a very nice lady, but her lecture slides are incredibly vague, and when she discusses them, she tends to ramble and I lost focus a lot of the time. Your grade for this class relies heavily on the multiple choice and short answer exams, which are EXTREMELY difficult because of the lack of information given to us on the lecture slides; I've overheard people discussing class averages on exams, and they were very low. Also, discussion sections do not feel like discussions at all. They were merely review sessions on the weekly discussion board posts on ELMS and there was not much time to review material from class. I would not recommend this class to anyone.
Hallie Liberto
PHIL140

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
06/03/2024
Professor Liberto is very nice, but her lecture slides are not helpful at all. When she explains stuff, it seems like she rambles and I lost focus as a result. Also, the exams are very difficult and I heard that averages were low. Another bad thing about this class was discussion sections. They did not involve going over class material, but more of what was on the discussion posts on ELMS. Third, the grade you see on ELMS is not your actual grade, you have to wait until the end of the semester on Testudo to see your actual grade. For me, ELMS listed my grade as a 74% (a C), but Testudo has it listed as a B-. On the plus side, she does offer some extra credit for the multiple choice tests; on the last question of the multiple choice tests, you can write two of the question numbers you feel like you got wrong, but keep in mind that if you write down a question you feel like you got wrong but you actually got it correct, she will not award that extra credit. Overall, I feel like I did better than I thought in the class.
Hallie Liberto
PHIL140

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/16/2024
The class is structured so that there are 6 exams - 3 multiple choice and 3 short answer exams. Each are 15% of your grade (except in the end she will make your two best exams worth 20% and your two worst exams worth 10%). Its essentially 3 rounds of midterms where you take two exams (1 short answer and 1 MC). Discussions are 10%. So you have to do well on the exams to do well in the course. She curves the multiple choice exams pretty generously and she allows you to write about questions you were confused about or thought multiple answers could be right at the end of the MC exams. She also lets you take the MC exams remotely and online. Short answer exams are in person. There's no final - she uses the final exam time to give you a chance to redo any MC exams if you want. If you want to understand anything in this class - go to lecture. She posts slides but they slides don't have much information and are hard to understand, so go to lecture. There are readings you are supposed to do, and they are helpful if you do them, but I generally didn't read for this class because she covers the same info in lecture and the readings are hard to understand. If you miss lecture, I would do the readings and also maybe do some research about the topics so you actually understand them (I asked chatgpt to explain a lot of the concepts to me, and it was helpful most of the time but sometimes they were wrong). During lecture, she explains things pretty well but sometimes she has a tendency to ramble and that can be distracting or make it difficult to understand what's important from her lecture and whats not. I did the best on the last round of exams. For those exams I tried to study more than the other ones - I recommend rewriting your notes as a form of studying and trying to explain the concepts on your own and then cross referencing with your original notes. She provides some study resources for the MC exams - some practices questions she posts on ELMS, but she doesn't let you see the answers until the day before, so if you do the practice questions early you only have 1 day to evaluate what you know and don't know. In general, the course is easy but you definitely have to put in a good amount effort (more effort than i wanted to put for a gen ed). it's also hard to evaluate how youre doing in the course and what grade to expect in the course because theres no assignments and your grade is basically just based on exams. By the time the drop-add period was over, we had only completed the first round of exams (first MC and short answer) and had no other grades, so I thought I was going to end up with a B in the course, but was surprised I did well enough on the last exams and ended up with a 98. I think the later exams are easier than the first, but this could also just be because I put more effort and studied a bit more.
Hallie Liberto
PHIL140

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/14/2024
Class was WAY harder than a 100 level philosophy class should be. She doesn’t want students to use critical thinking, but rather regurgitate the thought processes of old irrelevant philosophers. Lecture is somewhat interesting but the exams are awful. Don’t take!
Hallie Liberto
PHIL140

Expecting a C
Anonymous
05/12/2024
I have to take this class for my major, but if you don't have to... DON'T. Yeah, Liberto is a nice professor, but the lectures are boring and it's in your best interest to go if you want to do well. She posts class slides but they aren't helpful unless you are there listening to her explain them. The classwork is slight. Discussion board due every other week, and 3 midterms consisting of MC and short answer (third midterm counts as the final). Midterms are a little dumb in my opinion, especially multiple choice since I think the class is subjective, but she does do a lot of partial credit and does drop 5 percent off your lowest exam from your final score and bump up your highest 5 percent. If you don't do well on the exams though, your grade is kinda toast.
Hallie Liberto
PHIL140

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
05/08/2024
Fully based on lectures and multiple choice is so subjective that its actually really hard. I have studied so much but still the multiple choice is really hard in philosophy and sometimes I still don't understand how a specific answer is wrong. This being said FRQ are easy As.
Hallie Liberto
PHIL140

Expecting a C+
Anonymous
05/01/2024
Really nice lady, but her lecture slides are confusing and when she explains them, she seems to drone on and on to the point where I lost focus. My TA (Justin) is a really nice guy, but I'm not sure if going to discussion helped me with learning the material. Exams are very difficult.
Hallie Liberto
PHIL140

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
04/24/2024
Do not take this class. The professor and the TA are incompetent when it comes to returning grades. The material covered in class vaguely relates to the exam material and the class is based off exam grades mostly. They have a habit of never returning exams so you can see the grade which in my opinion is extremely annoying and doesn't help you learn what you did wrong. I may also be biased because my discussion class had to teach our TA about systemic racism, which should not be happening in a discussion section.
Hallie Liberto
PHIL140

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
04/12/2024
DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. The lecture slides aren't helpful at all and the grade for the class heavily relies on exam scores (which are not easy). The grading always comes back late and is never reflective of your real score because they change it so many times. The professor and TAs don't give you feedback for the written portion of the exams. Their technological incompetence is a headache. The discussions are so boring and do not help you further understand the material. I have never dreaded having to go to a class more than this one.
Hallie Liberto
PHIL140

Expecting a C+
Anonymous
04/09/2024
GPA KILLER !!! The averages for the exam test are around 60% so I think that tells you all you need to know!
Hallie Liberto
PHIL140

Expecting a C
Anonymous
04/03/2024
This is the worst class I've taken at UMD. The lecture delivery is abysmal, with slides containing one sentence and the professor talking on for minutes. Test questions are not only incredibly difficult but also unnecessarily lengthy, making them nearly impossible to complete within the 50-minute timeframe. It's baffling how a 100-level class can have such low averages. As if that weren't enough, the discussions offer zero value—they merely regurgitate what's already on ELMS discussions. Overall, I would never recommend this class to anyone, especially Philosophy majors! My advice, take another professor, as I've heard they give study guides and have slides with much more information.
Hallie Liberto
PHIL140

Expecting a B
Anonymous
03/31/2024
Do not take this class if you are looking for an easy gen ed. Her slides are horrible and her lectures are pretty confusing. The TAs in the discussions do not help with content comprehension at all. Basically, your whole grade is reliant on exam scores which are not easy. She tests on subjective content but grades it objectively. I really disliked this professor which is disappointing because I think the class could be interesting if it was taught by someone else.
Hallie Liberto
PHIL140

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
02/07/2024
I think she was great in this class. The readings were kind of hard to understand but she made it clear that you could do the readings after lecture to help you understand them. As long as you show up consistently and listen in discussion the exams aren't very hard. She also does a lot to boost grades. Some people thought her lectures were boring, and yea she does just talk mostly, but I think she makes it interesting since there is probably too much content to talk during lecture. Plus discussion sections can be super interesting.
Hallie Liberto
PHIL140

Expecting an A
edenw29
12/21/2023
Lectures were super boring and honestly teach you nothing but Liberto makes it easy for you to do well in her class. She curves the grades to favor exams that you performed well on and lessens the weight of exams that you did poorly on. You definitely have to attend lectures because her powerpoint slides make no sense by themselves, but as long as you attend lecture you should be fine. Overall pretty good but can't say I would be jumping at the chance to take this course again
Hallie Liberto
PHIL140

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/21/2023
Not a hard class and pretty fun. Readings are long and dense but there aren't many. Grading was messy this semester (for one test a couple students received packets that were missing several questions). Also, for some reason she changed my grade back to what it was before I did a retake?
Hallie Liberto
PHIL140

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/11/2023
I actually enjoyed her class a lot. She's clearly very passionate about the material, and she always had a positive vibe throughout the course. The class has usually 1 or 2 readings per week, and sometimes they can be pretty dense. No homework assignments, 3 multiple choice exams, 2 short answer tests, no final exam. I found the class to be pretty manageable, and the professor was approachable- she even made our last multiple choice online because during the 2nd one there was a printing error that set some people back. If you don't attend lectures, her slides are pretty minimal so you'd definitely need notes from someone else.
Hallie Liberto
PHIL140

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/20/2023
I feel like the only people who complain about this class are the people who don’t go to lectures. Yeah, if you don’t want to do the bare minimum and just go to class then this won’t be an easy A, but Prof Liberto is extremely intelligent and explains difficult concepts well if you do go. There are 3 multiple choice exams, 2 written exams, and an optional final which was so nice. I had no Philosophy knowledge going into this class, and I still really enjoyed it. She also offered extra credit opportunities at the end of the semester.
Hallie Liberto
PHIL140

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/12/2023
This is an interesting and easy course. Professor Liberto is very interested in everything she lectures about, but try not to miss lectures because her powerpoint slides are undecipherable by themselves. There are not many assignments and the midterms are pretty easy if you get a grasp on the material. The final exam is optional which is nice.
Hallie Liberto
PHIL140

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/10/2023
Okay please note that all the bad reviews about Liberto and this class are coming from people who don't even attend lecture. Prof Liberto is extremely intelligent and explains difficult concepts well. She curves generously, and on the multiple choice exams there's literally space at the end for you to put questions where you thought there was more than one answer, and she will most likely give you those points back. I knew nothing about philosophy coming into this class, but Liberto and my TA (Lixing Miao) made it so easy and enjoyable. There are two writing exams, and three multiple choice exams and an optional final. Just attend lecture - everybody who attended did well in the class, and everybody who didn't are the ones complaining about the class.
Hallie Liberto
PHIL140

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/03/2023
This class is boring. It was meant to be an easy gen ed, but if you don't go to lecture, her slides won't make any sense. She puts the bare minimum on the slides so unless you're in lecture to understand the topic, you won't know what's going on. Her lecture style is odd - I can never manage to stay focused. Your grade will consist of 3 exams, 2 written exams, and an extra assignment in discussion that involves heavy participation. Save yourself the bore. Take a different class.
Hallie Liberto
HNUH268A

Expecting an A+
Sloth
01/22/2023
She was super interested in her subject so that was nice. There was a lot of dense reading and the essays were quite complicated to approach. I wasn’t a big fan of this class because for some reason it was pretty dull, but no fault of the prof or TA. I put in a lot of work into this class and it really stressed me out, but in the end most people got an A.
Hallie Liberto
HNUH268A

Expecting an A
typicalginger45
01/18/2023
I'm not usually a fan of philosophy but I needed this course for the UH program. Prof Liberto is very knowledgeable about this subject and clearly cares a lot, but it is very easy to get lost in the concepts. Also, TA took forever to grade things so I never really knew where I stood grade-wise, and nothing was done when attention was brought to it.
Hallie Liberto
HNUH268A

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/26/2021
I personally really enjoyed taking Dr. Liberto. At least for HNUH268, there are plenty of assignments and they are all graded really generously. Lectures can be very boring at times, but that doesn't bother me personally, and the fact that the class was an easy A definitely made up for it. I would recommend this class for anybody. The readings are fair in length, and I do recommend you read them, and the concepts can be confusing, but Dr. Liberto always explains things really thoroughly and is always happy to take questions.
Hallie Liberto
PHIL140

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/22/2021
Engaging lectures, however, the tests were multiple choice and very confusing. She does employ a curve for the class.
Hallie Liberto
PHIL140

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/21/2021
Easy A, but not what I was expecting as a Philosophy major. I wanted to be challenged a bit more, but there were barely any discussions and the weight of the class was on the midterm and final exam. Easy A however and Liberto explained things very well during review sessions. The TA I had however never showed up to class and told us the first day he didn't even like Philosophy which was odd.
Hallie Liberto
PHIL140

Expecting a C+
Anonymous
12/15/2021
Only 4 discussion posts, a midterm, and a final. Even if you get full points for all the discussion posts, that mid-term will affect your grade HEAVILY. Discussion isn't really a discussion, basically, the TA is just reviewing the lectures.
Hallie Liberto
PHIL140

Expecting a W
Anonymous
11/19/2021
don't take this class if you care about your GPA
Hallie Liberto
PHIL140

Expecting a P
Anonymous
01/23/2021
Her teaching is ok its the structure of the class I had a problem with. There was a 50pt quiz, an 100pt exam, an essay, and a final. This was all the points and the exams were nearly impossible given the amount of content that was expected of us to know. I would not recommend this class if you're just looking for an elective
Hallie Liberto
PHIL140

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/20/2020
Because of COVID, the class was asynchronous and I really only interacted with her once before the final. However, her recorded lectures were clear and helpful, and she obviously cares about what she is teaching. The class page on canvas is organized in a way that makes reviewing for tests easy and efficient, and Prof. Liberto is very helpful in answering questions about the material and the content of the class. The one drawback is that there are not a lot of assignments, and the exams are not that easy. She curves them generously, but half of our grade came from the final (which is multiple choice) and the essay, so if you are looking for more security in which class you take, maybe pick a different one.
Hallie Liberto
PHIL338D

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/19/2020
Hallie is a great lecturer. She was really understanding about covid. About half of our classes were asynchronous and the other half were synchronous. You have to do the readings to do well but they are worth it. She explains them really well. I wish discussions were less limited but that was because of zoom and rona. She responds to emails pretty fast and is always willing to help. This was my first UL Phil class and it was a great class.
Hallie Liberto
PHIL140

Expecting a C-
Anonymous
12/03/2018
If I could give her zero stars I would
Hallie Liberto
PHIL140

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/30/2018
Professor Liberty is one of the best lecturers I’ve ever had in college. She makes complex philosophical issues and ideas clear and easy to grasp. She’s also just a pleasant person in general, and gives fair exams. I highly recommend going to discussion each week because it’s a solid review of lecture material. Overall, awesome and engaging class that’s not hard to get an A in if you go to class and pay attention