Fall 2026

Principles of Mineralogy

Principles of Mineralogy covers mineral properties, crystallography, and geologic significance.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 Huifang Xu3.5/5Noah Brown

Summary

1 / 7

The course requires significant memorization of facts, and the textbook is considered very necessary for success.

Grade history

average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

(GEOSCI 100 or ENVIR ST/​GEOSCI 106) and (CHEM 103, 109, 115, or concurrent enrollment), graduate/professional standing, or member of Engineering Guest Students

      • member of Engineering Guest Students
        • GEOSCI 100
        • ENVIR ST/GEOSCI 106
        take one
      take all
      • CHEM 103, 109, 115, or concurrent enrollment
      • graduate/professional standing
      • member of Engineering Guest Students
      • CHEM 103, 109, 115, or concurrent enrollment
      take one
    • graduate/professional standing
    take one
GEOSCI/GLE 360 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Any of
    • All of
      • member of Engineering Guest Students
      • Any of
        • GEOSCI 100
        • ENVIR ST/GEOSCI 106
    • Any of
      • CHEM 103, 109, 115, or concurrent enrollment
      • graduate/professional standing
      • member of Engineering Guest Students
      • CHEM 103, 109, 115, or concurrent enrollment
    • graduate/professional standing

Professors

Fall 2026
/5Adjusted rating
/5RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.33/5 from 21 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

For this course: 4.5/5 raw quality · 4.0/5 difficulty · 2 reviews

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Huifang Xu delivers engaging and fun lectures, though students find the content dense with memorization. Reviewers note that tests are tricky and difficult, and online lectures can be confusing due to visual clutter on slides.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.48 GPA, 76.0% A/AB (n=25 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.37 GPA, 66.7% A/AB (n=15 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.43 GPA, 81.0% A/AB (n=21 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Historical reviews for instructor Phil Brown describe him as engaging and helpful, noting his ability to explain difficult concepts effectively. Reviewers suggest attending office hours to manage the course's difficulty, which can be challenging at times.

HUIFANG XU is recorded teaching in Fall 2010, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

PHILIP BROWN is recorded teaching in Fall 2010, Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Fall 2026

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction1 / 480
LAB 301Classroom Instruction1 / 120
LAB 302Classroom Instruction0 / 120
LEC 001Classroom Instruction22 / 380
LAB 301Classroom Instruction9 / 190
LAB 302Classroom Instruction13 / 190

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records

Student experience

the class

Huifang Xu delivers engaging and fun lectures, though students find the content challenging and the exams difficult.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.48 GPA, 76.0% A/AB (n=25 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.37 GPA, 66.7% A/AB (n=15 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.43 GPA, 81.0% A/AB (n=21 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

The course requires significant memorization of facts, and the textbook is considered very necessary for success.

Lectures can be confusing due to dense slides or writing over words, but attending office hours is recommended.

Topics

  • Minerals
  • Physical and chemical properties
  • Crystallography
  • Geologic significance

Skills

  • Analysis of mineral physical and chemical properties
  • Understanding crystallography
  • Evaluating geologic significance of minerals

Grades

Latest available · Fall 2025— not enough history to project Fall 2026.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Fall 2025

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Not enough comparable courses for Fall 2026 in UW–Madison.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Selected offering source records
GEOSCI/GLE 360 · Fall 2026

Principles of Mineralogy

Recorded 2026-09-07
GEOSCI/GLE 360 · Fall 2026

Principles of Mineralogy

Recorded 2026-09-07
Raw records
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    "course_id": "GEOSCI/GLE 360",
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    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "008499",
    "source_subject_id": "418",
    "title": "Principles of Mineralogy",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall"
  },
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    "source_subject_id": "420",
    "title": "Principles of Mineralogy",
    "credits_min": 3,
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    "typically_offered": "Fall"
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]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Model & dataset provenance
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