Overall the class went well, but it took a lot of extra work; the lectures weren't very helpful because he often ended up on tangents and examples used in class weren't relevant to the exams or HW assignments. Discussion was where the majority of learning happened.Rate My Professors ↗
Historical instructor
THOMAS PURNELL
What students say
Original student reviews · all captured dates
Quality 3/5Difficulty 3/5
Quality 1/5Difficulty 4/5
Not good. Lecture attendance was mandatory but never really relevant to what our assignments and tests were on, forcing me have to teach practically everything to myself. Lectures were a big waste of time and almost always boring as a result. The TA, Joe Moran, was fantastic, though!Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 1/5Difficulty 4/5
Do not take this class. Lectures are mandatory, but are unhelpful and rarely relate to course material. Homework is confusing and graded harshly, even though key concepts are barely explained in lecture. Prof makes simple concepts sound complicated. Had to teach myself most of the content.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Tom is great! He knows a lot and is excited to reach and learn. I wish I could take more courses with him!Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 3/5Difficulty 3/5
The whole class was very dense and complicated at times. He would brush over certain things that are harder to grasp, but also hold onto concepts throughout the entire semester even when they didn't connect to new learnings (like assessments on old material that wasn't elaborated too specifically).Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 3/5Difficulty 4/5
Overall, not a bad course for a 3 week, 3 credit winter break class. All of the lectures are pre-recorded, but there is A LOT of material to cover. Some of the grading guidelines were a little fuzzy, but I enjoyed the material. If you're considering the class, try to find it outside of a condensed timeline!Rate My Professors ↗
Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.
Classes with THOMAS PURNELL
No teaching recorded in Fall 2026.
No courses match this selection. Try the full catalog or another term.
Recorded teaching history
Explore courses taught by this instructor →Browse recorded courses
| Term | Course | Title |
|---|
Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.
Instructor identity & provenance
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