Brendan Murphy - St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, NS

Professor: Brendan Murphy

Department: Science

College: St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, NS

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: ESCI171
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Serious guy; pretty good lectures. The course is entirely lecture-based. I found him hard to hear during the majority of the semester, but maybe that was just due to the large classroom. He makes you work for a good grade.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: ESCI100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

He's really smart but doesn't know how to teach at all. Seemed like he didn't really care and if you made any noise whatsoever he'd grill you and call you out hard... He also started taking attendance halfway through the semester

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: ESCI171
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

He's a good prof, if you read ahead you'll be fine, if not he'll be disappointed.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: ESCI171
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Great prof. He loves what he's teaching and is very knowledgeable. All lectures were based off a powerpoint presentation and they were available online before class. Most material was from text and if it wasn't he let you know that it wasn't in the book. I recommend this class to any student. I'm in Arts and this was my favorite class!

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: ESCI171
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Great Prof and really wants students to do well. Despite what others say, you do not need a background in science or earth science to do really well, you just need to study what is important and go to the tutorials!!!

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: ESCI171
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Definitely a get what you put in course.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: ESCI171
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Great prof, explains concepts clearly so that they stick with you (if you pay attention). Focus is more on comprehension than memorization. Textbook is a must have for studying. Murphy makes the material easy to understand regardless of whether your a "science person". Marking is fair, if you bothered to get to know your stuff, you'll be fine.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: ESCI171
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He is a very nice professor and has a friendly demeanor in and out of class. BUT the material is a lot more difficult than what most expect. Although there were no real assignments, the exams were very difficult and I found that he was a very tough marker.ONLY take if interested and somewhat knowledgeable of the material.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: ESCI170
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Brendan Murphy is an excellent but the course is very difficult for people with no prior knowledge of Earth Science. This course is not an easy mark. The midterms are marked very hard and marks in the 80's are hard to come by. However, if your interested in Earth Sciences take the course for sure, but however, don't take the course for an easy mark

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: ESCI170
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Professor Murphy is one of the better professors I had this year. He cares about his students and actually drops the midterm each year to improves students marks. The grading scheme comprises only of midterms and exams so it's pretty easy to slack off. But if you read the book and you have a decent understanding of the subject material you'll do fi

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: ESCI170
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Really good prof, explains things well in class. Very fair at marking. He wrote the text book so as long as you read that and understand it before you go into the exam you should do fine. I don't suggest taking the night course....very long and easy to fall asleep in. Tutorials were great.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: ESCI170235
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

One of my greatest profs. Pay attention in his class and you won't get bored. If you do badly in 170 you're just a moron because his exams are more than fair. Stucture is a different story. He's not an easy marker because he wants people to actually WORK instead of sleeping through university. He forced me to work to my potential. I appreciate that

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: ESCI170
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Good teacher, loves to talk. He is interesting to listen to and cover material well. Reasonable marking as well. Zero assignments, only midterms and exams. I STRONGLY recommend going to the tutorials, they are awesome and she covers everything you need to know from the past 3 class in just an hour!

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: ESCI170
• 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's a good guy, and tries to make the material interesting. If you don't get the material in lecture, head to the tutorial, the TA reteaches the material and is more clear than Murphy.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: ESCI170
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

When the class started out i found it very boring and kind of hard, the first midterm was a little tough though the exam was easy. If you do you readings and make sure you understand what is being taught you will do fine, also the tutorials help alot if you miss a class or don't feel like going, they sum it up pretty well.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: ESCI170
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He knows his material hence he wrote the book. There is no need to goto class. Just goto the Tutorials. The tutorials give you all the information you need to know for the exams helped me a lot. Just goto the tutorials starting early and on a regular basis and you will do fine. I maybe stayed awake in 4 classes the whole year.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: ESCI170
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I never spoke to the man once cause the class was so damn big. He's pretty intelligent with his stuff. There is a lot of material and he provides lots of resources so there really isn't a reason why anyone would do bad. Crazy hair. Colette the tutorial person is the KEY to doing good in this course

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: EARTHSCI170
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Horrible; I asked him once if we could skip the break and maybe leave early, and he screamed at me, telling me that he wasn't a robot. He's pretty lazy and has used the same slideshow, and text book for about 5 years. Tries to be funny, but isn't. Exams are murder. But he's a 50 Cent fan, aight!

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: ESCI170
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Very nice man, loved him!But exams:hard! midterms dont really matter bc he drops them if u do well on your exams,but u have a LOT of material to cover for those exams.Very interesting fun prof tho,funny too :) Helps any way possible,i strongly recommend Brendan,he is brilliant:he WROTE the text!

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: EARTHSCIENCE
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Fun 3 hours at Summer Academy. Trip to South America (aka Arisaig) was good fun, and he was sure to explain things for us little grade nines. He made Earth Science seem really interesting.