I liked Professor Williams and I enjoyed learning about this class as most concepts were unfamiliar to me. There are 4 exams and you definitely have to study the lecture material for a few hours before but his lecture slides are all well done and super helpful, he also posts lectures online. Great class, you definitely get out what you put in.

Super helpful guy and easily accessible outside of class. The class is very hard especially if you don't have background knowledge in paleoclimatology/physics. Three tests with an 8.5 x 11 cheat sheet. Grades take forever to be put in and no standard grading system.The whole class is graded on a cumulative curve so won't know your grade til the end

Professor Williams is great! He does a great job of simplifying all of the concepts for everyone to understand and making lectures interesting. He's super accessible outside of class and genuinely wants to help everyone succeed. The lectures are fast paced, but are all recorded. Pretty easy class if you stay on top of it, would recommend!

Great class. I recommend him for GEOG 120. His lectures contain a lot of necessary information. If you don't attend lecture, it'll clearly reflect on your grade.

This was my favorite class and professor I've had at UW so far. Prof Williams does a great job at explaining difficult concepts and is very immersed in the material. I would highly recommend taking this class and any class with Prof Williams.

I loved Prof Williams. I took this class for physical science credit and it ended up being one of my favorite classes. The material was really interesting. There is a textbook but you do not need to read it because basically all of the test material is talked about in lecture. Becky Rose was an amazing TA as well.

Williams is a great teacher and I learned so much about the Earth. However, he always needed like 5 more minutes to fully explain every concept, and things tended to get a bit rushed at the end of lectures. The tests are multiple choice, which makes you focus more on the nit-picky details of the Earth system rather than the overarching connections.

Exams arent too terrible, average is 15-24 out of 30 points. Lectures are pretty boring, but he gives a lot of examples. Questions about Madison or the Midwest appear a lot on the exams. Every exam question is from the lecture slides that he posts on canvas + the recording of lecture. Just study every small detail about the slides and you get a B

Professor Williams is a really sweet guy if you put in the effort to get to know him. Very respectful of his students and records lectures, which is very helpful in current times. Tests are very hard and can cover anything that was discussed in lecture or textbook, so be prepared to study hard. Concepts are interesting, TAs very helpful.

this class was the worst class i took so far. The lectures were so boring and the concepts seem fine and straightforward when you study them, but then the tests words the questions weird and 100x harder. Each lecture was about 40-60 slides and anything on them was fair game for the test. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS UNLESS YOU ARE ACTUALLY INTERESTED

Took Jack's GEOG120 and liked him, so took GEOG332 with him too; did both online. Very nice guy who knows what he's talking about. Tries to be super up-to-date with information and what's happening in the field. Great at explaining complex concepts. Lots of readings but mostly tests from lecture material. Very responsive outside of class.

Honestly this class was probably easy just cause it was online. The exams were super lecture heavy, but open note. As long as you had decent notes you could do really well. I did not put a lot of effort into class at all and I should still end with an A. Cant speak for it about when itll be back in person, but take Online if you have the option.

Professor Williams is very informative and clear when presenting material in lectures. He is a nice guy and explains all concepts clearly. The class has 4 exams, two on his material and 2 on Spiotta's material. He teaches the first half of the semester for GEOG 120. The exams are 90% lecture and 10% textbook, but I never read and got an A.

Everything must be written down for the tests. The test questions are very specific and each slide and example on lectures contain information that could be on the test. If you focus during lectures this class will be easy, but if not you will struggle. Very knowledgable professor who teaches the class pretty well. Textbook is not needed.

Geography 120 was hands down my favorite class I've taken so far at UW. Overall pretty easy because tests were open note and you had a reasonable amount of time to take them. I thought the lecture content was pretty interesting, and the homework assignments weren't too bad. You also don't really have to read the textbook unless you want to.

Don't take this class. It's more work than it should be, class and discussion are unengaging yet confusing. For how straightforward lectures are the tests are weirdly worded and overly difficult for literally just learning about CLOUDS. Do yourself a favor and take ANY other class. Thank me later.

Professor Williams was very knowledgable in the subject area and was very passionate about his work. He clearly explained concepts during lecture, although it was a lot of information to take in at times. The tests are very lecture heavy, but if you prepare enough they are not impossible to do well on. Must be willing to put the work in!

Good Professor. Knowledgeable, well-spoken, and cares about his students. Textbook is unnecessary but helpful. Some say lectures are boring which I get if you aren't interested in the subject but I thought Williams was engaging and a good teacher. He makes an effort to ensure you understand. 4 exams, weekly worksheets, & 5 brief reading responses.

The best professor! Jack cares a lot about the material. He makes the class challenging but is very willing to help in any way he can.

I really like Professor Williams, and I would recommend taking one of his courses if you're interested in learning a bit more about Geography. He is extremely interested in what he's teaching, which helps to make learning the class material more interesting. He is also easily accessible outside of class, which helps with asking questions.

I really liked Professor Williams, and I recommend this class. DON'T BUY THE TEXTBOOK because (from what I could tell) the tests are entirely composed of material on the lecture slides. Overall, the class is easy but you need to put time into studying (the tests aren't easy if you go in unprepared) and the assignments.

THE KINDEST!! Such a wonderful, inspiring, wise and caring human. Take anything with him.

He's very well spoken, well-liked, clearly knowledgeable about the subject. You get everything you need from lecture, so the book really isn't necessary even though he assigns readings. Lecture and discussions were pretty boring, but could be worse.

You could tell he was very passionate about the class and material, which made it very interesting. The textbook was not super necessary, but complemented the lectures well. If you skim the reading and attend lectures, you'll be good to go. Also, the TAs offer review sessions before exams which helped soooo much on the 4 multiple choice exams

He's very passionate, talks very fast, and the lectures are kind of all over the place, it can be hard to follow along if you aren't really paying attention or miss any classes (and sometimes you even need to already have some background knowledge and readings to follow along.) But he is very caring, helpful, and understanding if you reach out.

Professor Williams was really passionate about this subject and his lectures he taught. However, he speaks really fast and is all over the place with material, making it really hard to follow. I didn't do good when he taught the first half of the semester.

Professor Williams was alright, but lectures for this class were quite boring for the first half of the semester. Attending lectures is not required; however, it really is necessary to attend lectures if you want to do well in the class. The textbook for the class was not used often (about 95% of the questions on the test are from lecture content).

He talks fast and goes through slides fast, but they are online. There are four NON-cumulative exams. There is no final exam during exam week. There is a book for the class, but the exams are mainly based off the lectures so I would recommend going even though they aren't required. Discussions take attendance.

Lectures are so boring and go on and on. Concepts are complicated and not explained very well, he mentioned a lot of times he doesn't typically teach the whole course just half, and the second half was a struggle.

I've enjoyed this class a lot. Jack knows a ton about the material and can speak to a variety of different topics. You definitely need to attend lecture unless you are really into reading somewhat vague slides. I attend lecture and have never opened the textbook. Grade is a mix of HW, 2 exams and a team project. It's fairly science/geology heavy.

He starts five-ish minutes late every lecture, goes through the slides too fast but still ends late, and puts too much information on each slide. If he didn't put the slides online I would fail the course. Can't form a coherent sentence. Quality and difficulty of the lectures don't match the test at all (tests are rather difficult).

I took GEOG/AOS/NIES 331 with Jack after taking GEOG 120 at MATC. Suffice to say, a lot harder than 120. But Jack is a really accessible, knowledgable guy - sometimes to the point of going into too much. You will become educated about climate change. You will learn so much. But if you aren't a science major, get ready for a challenge. Worth it.

Professor Williams was an amazing professor. He really helped students with any questions, during lecture or in office hours and is a phenomenal lecturer. I was never bored in his class. The grading is very clear, four in class exams, non-cumulative, 30 pts each. Study 2-3 nights before and you'll do well. Would recommend this class & professor!

If it's a major topic and its in the lecture, then its on the test. Really, as long as you come to lecture and have a good memory, not much studying required. He's a good lecturer, covers every topic, and is always happy to answer questions during lecture.

Contrary to what a lot of people say on here, Professor Williams isn't a boring lecturer. I think the people who say that simply aren't interested in the topics, which I can't blame them for. The material itself can be boring and hard to grasp, but the professor does a great job trying to explain it. He is always trying to help and is very nice.

He is by far the worse professor I have ever had. I had him in Geography 120 and Geography 331. His lectures are extremely boring and exams are ridiculously hard for how poorly he lectures. He is obviously very enthusiastic about the subject, but some people are just not meant to teach, and he is one of them.

He only teaches the first half of Geog 120 which is too bad because he's great. Always willing to help, explain things further, etc. Not the most exciting lectures but he's knowledgable and knows how to explain things well so you literally have to show up to get a good grade. Fantastic gen ed class for non-science majors.

Overall, he's a good professor and loves what he teaches, but sometimes he was a little all over the place. His tests were fair. Lecture slides are posted online, so it's not super important that you go. Some test questions came from the textbook and were about things never once mentioned in lecture, but those questions were few.

Prof Williams is truly interested in this subject. However, he is an incredibly boring speaker. Not just that, he just can't speak well in general. He talks fast and is a bit scatter-brained. Tests were fair, but I was so uninterested in the topic it was near impossible to study for. Find a better science general to take.

Incredibly easy class. If you understand the powerpoints and have decent writing ability to convey the ideas presented in lecture you can easily get an A. No idea how anyone can do poorly unless they really didn't care nor study.

he is a good teacher than cares about what he does. his topics aren't the most boring in the word, so just try to get interested and you'll learn easily. he's a pretty awkward guy, but he does a good job of explaining and do not hesitate to ask questions. exams are pretty easy to top it all off, assuming you study (a solid night before is enough)

Really tough exams that are pretty impossible to study for. I thought his exam questions were really obscure. Definitely not an easy science credit

He goes through things really fast. Lectures are really boring. I took this for an easy A, but it was surprisingly really difficult. Exams are tough. I just really hated this class. I would avoid it at all costs.

Good Professor, presents materials well and clear. Very Helpful and approachable if you have a problem.

Not a hard class, Williams is pretty straight forward in lecture, I would go, it's helpful. I didn't read the textbook, just went over main points in the book, and lectures notes for the exam. Definitely take his class if you need a natural science requirement.

Professor Williams was great to have the first half of the semester. He is pretty passionate about weather/climate and makes material very simple and easy to understand. Exams are straight from the lectures so be sure to attend and take good notes. Take this class if you need a science requirement.

If you need a natural science requirement, Geography 120 with Professor Williams is the way to go. His lectures are crystal clear and he doesn't bog you down with useless information. Most of the exam questions derive from lectures so be sure to attend.

He only taught for half of a semester but between his posted PowerPoints and clear lecture notes, he does a good job of getting material across. If natural science is what you're looking for, don't miss Prof. Williams

A lot of material is covered in class, and his handwriting can be difficult to read at times. Exams are lengthy. The climate model term project is a lot of work but you learn a lot. He keeps his lecture material up to date with current theory. You have to work hard to do well in his class.

great teacher, easy, and keeps things simple. definately reccomend the class.

Extremely clear and helpful professor. Exams were fair, and lectures were helpful.

Awesome professor...knows the material and presents it in an interesting fashion. This class was A LOT of work, but was definitely worth it because you can learn a lot from the assignments. Great class, but as was already said, be prepared to work for your grade.

Overall good teacher. Lectures on Learn@uw. He finds time to go over a lecture if absent. Material is easy, however the tests difficulties differ. Alot Easier than 1st semester with the oposing teacher. Do not take class for easy A. Be prepared for alot of work, and if you only study the week of finals you need two weeks to cover all the material.

This class was very difficult, but extremely interesting nonetheless. He really knows what he is talking about and makes an effort to find out what he doesnt know. Extremely helpful, but be prepared to work for your grade.