Luis Marentes - University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA

Professor: Luis Marentes

Department: Spanish

College: University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: SPAN417
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Very caring guy, but difficult class.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: SPAN417
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Luis is a great teacher, he is very passionate about the subject. There are a lot of small assignments each week that help boost your grade. He is a very fair grader and will help you out if you need it. This is one of the best classes I've taken in the Spanish Dept.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: 313394494
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Luis is obviously a good person who cares a lot about teaching, but I felt that he expects a lot out of his students without living up to his own expectations. His lectures rarely taught me anything and consisted more of him switching between topics without warning. I was often left unaware of what was expected out of us for assignments.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: SPAN417
• 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:

Luis is a very good professor. I found his class boring sometimes, but once we started looking at more modern stuff, it got more interesting. Luis is very knowledgeable, and though his expectations are high, he is willing to help if you ask. As long as you do the readings, it's not hard to do well, but the pop quizzes will hurt you if you don't.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: SPAN417
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Let's be clear. Prof. Marentes is a very qualified Professor and a great guy. However, he is the reason that I have relearned to hate school. 40 page readings of old spanish sometimes 2x a week, unclear expectations on projects and tests, rambling lectures.Rigid, and wants everything to go by the book. Probably best to stay away unfortunately

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: SPAN417
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Luis is an excellent Professor. He gives the best readings and always has informative comments to make. His grading is rather strict but you can really learn much from his classes.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: SPAN313
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

He grades the final draft much, much, much more strictly than the first -- grades are always suprising... There's not much to do in the course so he ends up just talking in front of us for 75 minutes straight. Which sucks.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: SPAN417
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Luis is a very good teacher. He is not an easy teacher, and I think some people don't like him for that reason. The readings he gives are usually quite interesting and the class discussions are relevant. Good teacher. Tough grader. Pretty nice guy too...

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: SPAN417
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Really really nice guy, good teacher, a little hard to understand sometimes, frank and sometimes I think he's a little too fond of his soap box, but a very good teacher overall. If you want the information and can ask for it he's always willing to talk. Expect to do a lot of writing, reading and participating in his classes. Not for the shy.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: SPANISH417
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

do not go into this class and expect to not do any work!! there are many looong papers to write, and he may grade difficult at times, but if you do all the work you can't end up with lower than a B

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: 417
• 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:

luis is the man - such a nice guy - the class is good he gives lecture like some kind of shaman or something he dances around the room and goes on and on - the texts were pretty lame sometimes, but hes a good guy and will help you with anything you want to know

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: SPAN417
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

He is soooo passionate about the subject matter but the course was all over the place. We spent the majority of the semester on Mexico reading long anceit texts and a little on PR not really all of Latin America. I did get an A, so it was do-able. See him for extra help.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: HONORS491G
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Our class (study abroad re-entry) was much more laidback than his Spanish classes (I gather). Luis was very clear and always encouraged us to think about interesting things. He is incredibly intelligent and constantly informed on world affairs. He's also a funny guy and understanding with deadlines.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: 417
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

not a good lecturer. doesn't include class in lectures, but rather rambles on passionately about a topic that no one else seems to be to passionate about. even native spanish speakers in the class are confused. fluent people are failing right now. way too many expectations! ahhhhhhhhh!kill me!!

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: CULTUREANDCIV
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Horrible. Expects too much work out of students. A paper due practically every other week. Dreaded going to class.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: SPN101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

This man is GOD!!!

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: SPAN313
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Prof. Marentes is a great teacher. He made junior year writing move along smoothly and all of his expectations were very clear. He was very helpful and wanted us to enjoy our research. He wasn't particularly difficult either.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: SPAN417
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

An excellent teacher if you're interested in learning and exploring complicated ideas. Not a good teacher if you want an easy ride.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: SPAN
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

very nice. Way over everyone's head.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: SPAN497I
• 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:

Possibly the best professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst!