Michel Barsoum

School: Drexel University
Department: Materials Science
Location:Philadelphia, PA
Overall Rating
rated by 10 students
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Rating Comment
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Easiness
 Pros: Everyone did so poorly that the exam had an astronomical curve.
Cons: Poorly organized course, difficult material and not ample preparation for exams.
This class was the bane of my existence for 4 months. The prof would tell us one thing, the syllabus would say a second thing, the TAs would all say a third thing, and blackboard would have a 4th thing. No one ever knew what was going on in this course. There was not a single week in recitation that everyone knew what chapter was supposed to have been completed. Barsoum was incredibly self absorbed and so obsessed with his ceramics research that ENGR220 almost seemed like an annoying afterthought for him.
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 Very tough course and professor is not helpful at all. He gives the hardest test questions tha you have no idea how to answer.
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 Pros: funny, nice guy, smart
Cons: must attend every lecture and keep up with material!
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 Pros: To me he was captivating and super interesting
He knew what he was talking about
Made class interesting
Made the class fun
Made you think
overall a superb professor to be taught by
Cons: There will a question that will cover 20% of your grades that no one will be able to answer (ok some very few rare people could).
A bit too fast at times
Very very disorganized.
Does not follow the syllabus
Has lazy TA's
He is an interesting prof. Makes the class very captivating and explains things very nicely. And some of his jokes were off the chart and makes for new truisms and life.
However, his tests are absolute killers. You will loose 20% simply because he expects you to be a genius.
I really enjoyed his class. And though the midterms kill you, you learn his tricks by then and if prepared properly will have a good final.
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 Pros: understandable accent is entertainingly and ambiguously foreign, final course grade has bigger curves than j. lo
Cons: the exams, oh god the exams
a lot of info found solely in lecture or textbook will be on exams. also by attending lectures you might be able to cash in a few extra credit points on the exams (i.e. by remembering the punchlines to any number of his amusingly offensive end-of-lecture jokes). and you will need every point because he writes tests with all the compassion of a Mongolian warlord. that being said, he's really smart, knows his stuff. attend recitation, attempt all the homework, and you will reap good things.
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 Professor Barsoum is a fun professor. He tells jokes and keeps the class interesting. If you make it to class, you'll make it easier for yourself once you get to the exams. Realize when you take the exams that you are probably not going to do wonderfully on them unless you study your ass off so take that into account. The best solution if you are looking for an A is to study your ass off and make sure you know the applications of everything that you learn.
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 Cons: I didnt understand anything at lecture and his exams were really taugh!!
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 Pros: Good professor
Really knows what he is talking about
Cons: Hard grader
Makes tests impossible
Overall, Barsoum is good teacher. However, he should not be allowed to touch the tests for the class. He sees it as his mission to make a challenging class for his students. This tends to drop your GPA like a brick however.
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 This is one of the best teachers in Drexel. He cares about students and makes class fun. Also, his grading scale gives you the opportunity to have a good grade, though the class is tough. Moreover, He knows his what he is speaking about.
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 This guy sucks a nut. He went over 2 years worth of material in 1 term and didn't explain anything. He has his head so far up his ass about the pyramids he has no idea whats going on in class. He spends all his time doing research and he doesn't spend one second on this course. He is so fucking lazy that he pulls old exams of his hard drive and doesn't even change the term on them. He doesn't go over jack shit that he puts on his tests and then blames the students when the average score is a 50 on his test. I hope his sorry ass burns in hell.

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