Gerry Veenstra - University of British Columbia

Professor: Gerry Veenstra
Department: Sociology
College: University of British Columbia
Rating # 1
Overview:
  • Course: SOCI328
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
One of the few genuinely caring professors left at UBC! He posts lecture slides for every class and does participation questions as well as attendance marks for every class. There are weekly labs to be completed as well, if you ask the right questions, they should be easy marks. Midterm and final are all reasonable.
Rating # 2
Overview:
  • Course: SOCI328
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.0
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: No
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
Gerry is not the best at articulating his ideas but he's a funny guy and made the subject tolerable. His TopHat questions are the worst part about this course. I hated the in-class assignments because they were worth so much and he never fully explained how to solve them until after submission. Test were easy if you put in effort to study.
Rating # 3
Overview:
  • Course: SOCI328
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 3.0
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: No
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
Fairly straight forward material, a LOT of in class activities and participation. Exams are fair, use his study guide. Seems like a nice guy, but found that he was terrible at answering any questions and would give vague responses or conflicting answers. Overall entertaining lecturer but just does not give concise answers to any questions
Rating # 4
Overview:
  • Course: SOCI328
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
Great class, great prof! Brings much humor to the classroom. Very important to attend lectures and tutorials. Prof made material easy to understand, but you will have to put in effort to have a concrete grasp on things and do well. Lecture cover material, then each unit is followed by a tutorial to expand on concepts. Make use of study questions.
Rating # 5
Overview:
  • Course: SOCI328
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 2.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
Awesome professor overall. The grading and tests were absolutely fair and his enthusiasm was encouraging.
Rating # 6
Overview:
  • Course: SOCI328
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 1.0
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: No
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
Gerry is a very nice and kind person. He has a passion for stats and his lectures are humorous and fun. However, as much as i hate to say this I found that he was not good at communicating the concepts and actually teaching. I come from a strong math background and I even found that he wouldn't explain things clearly.
Rating # 7
Overview:
  • Course: SOCI328
  • Grade Received: A
  • Overall Rating: 2.0
  • Course Difficulty: 2.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: No
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
Not recommended. Gerry is a cheerful prof, but as other reviews have indicated, can explain concepts well but only gives vague answers to specific questions. Doesn't handle correction from students well and consistently ends class 30 minutes early, resulting in the class being behind all the other sections. Needs improvement.
Rating # 8
Overview:
  • Course: SOCI328
  • Grade Received: A+
  • Overall Rating: 4.5
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
Gerry is a fantastic prof. He is hilarious and makes bland subject matter very digestible. His lectures are entertaining and very informative. Final was tougher than assignments and midterm but manageable if you attend class and work hard on your assignments.
Rating # 9
Overview:
  • Course: SOCI328
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 2.5
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
It's an okay class. You barely have to do any math, so don't worry. Gerry's pretty funny and tries his best to make the class interesting, or at least bearable. I found him (and the terrible TA) to be unclear at times, which made some of the assignments difficult. He posts partial notes online, but definitely go to class. Class average was 67%.
Rating # 10
Overview:
  • Course: SOCI479
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 2.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
If you ever need an extra 400-level credit, definitely take this class! More or less class discussion the whole time with presentation, essays and short writing assignments. Veenstra takes the time to make the class interesting, funny and overall engaging.
Rating # 11
Overview:
  • Course: 328
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.5
  • Course Difficulty: 2.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Gerry Veenstra made that course more than bearable, he made it interesting; which I was not expecting as I was required to take it and statistics just sounds utterly dull. Do the readings to help clarify in class material, he sometimes lets you out of class early, gives great study guides and makes his expectations very clear. Overall amazing prof.
Rating # 12
Overview:
  • Course: SOCI328
  • Grade Received: A-
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 1.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
I had to take this course as one of my degree requirements and I'm happy that I took it with Veenstra! This guy is a legend, and his class was a pleasure to go to. Clear, funny, smart, to-the-point: it's hard not to do well if you show up to every class. Exams were super fair and he gave useful practice questions out before hand. Highly recommend!!
Rating # 13
Overview:
  • Course: SOCI328
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.5
  • Course Difficulty: 2.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
A really, genuinely nice person who wants you to do well. Made the course as easy and clear as he could, and provided lots of question and answer time.
Rating # 14
Overview:
  • Course: SOCI328
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 2.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
What a nice guy! Really lets the class get to know him (often showed pics/stories about his newborn girl). Very fair marker on assignments and tests. He even takes care to explain things to people who havent done math in a long time. There are only 5 assignments and a couple tests to do. Make an honest effort and a B should be no problem
Rating # 15
Overview:
  • Course: SOCI328
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 2.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Wow. I was absoutely dreading this class. I barely passed Math 11 and haven't done anything even slightly math related since and I ended up with 84% in the class. Prof Veenstra is so helpful, and understands that everyone in this class is only taking it to fill requirements. Tests are fair, assignments aren't bad, and marking is fair. Great prof!!
Rating # 16
Overview:
  • Course: STATS328A
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 1.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Veenstra made learning stats easy...He made sure everyone in the class understood the material before moving on...his tests were not hard ..He gave us an extra tutorial session before the final exam. He makes an effort to get to know each student
Rating # 17
Overview:
  • Course: SOCI
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 3.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: N/A
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
lectures are SO boring
Rating # 18
Overview:
  • Course: SOCI328
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.0
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: N/A
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
he is very nice and helpful..so was our ta. the assignments were easy, as was the midterm. but the final was incredibly difficult and much harder than the practice exam. even so, a great prof..made the class enjoyable..highly recommend!
Rating # 19
Overview:
  • Course: SOCI328
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.0
  • Course Difficulty: 1.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: N/A
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Okay, I was DREADING this course, and it turned out to be easy. He's a great prof - funny, interesting, and understands that most of us only take the course because we're forced to. Lectures are very straightforward, and assignments aren't TOO hard.
Rating # 20
Overview:
  • Course: SOCI328
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 2.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: N/A
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
He made stats--a course I was totally dreading--interesting, and easy to understand. He was friendly, helpful, presented things clearly, and was very enthusiastic. I became far more interested in Stats after taking this course--his enthusiasm really rubbed off.
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