Mary C Olmstead - Queen's University at Kingston, Kingston, ON

Professor: Mary C Olmstead

Department: Psychology

College: Queen's University at Kingston, Kingston, ON

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: PSYC370
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Dr. Olmstead was an amazing professor. She genuinely cares for her students if you express an interest and an honest effort in what she is teaching. Her lectures could sometimes be disorganized but overall great teaching methods.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: PSYC205
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

worst person ever

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: PSYC205
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

You do not need to go to class - because everything, including the examples, are from the text. The text (she wrote) is tedious and often argues in circles around itself. If you ask a question in class, expect to be referred to the text. All exam questions are from the text. She's also condescending af. I had so much hope for this subject.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: PSYC397
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I took Olmstead's History of Psyc course. It was a terribly disorganized online course with way too many components (multiple group projects - very difficult with an online course). The questions on the midterm were vague and misleading, the text is VERY student un-friendly! Olmstead basically ignores requests from students. Do not recommend.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: PSYC205
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Incredible, brilliant professor. She taught me more about research methods and cognitive psychology than the specific courses I took in those subjects. Textbook she wrote for the course is super clear and concise. The course isn't particularly easy, but the test questions are fair and from the text verbatim. Overall, best course ever I've taken.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: PSYC205
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Not recommended. Her "textbook" is awfully written - need a solid background in Comparative Cognition to understand even the simplest concepts. Could have been a fantastic course but the way she teaches it is awful. She doesn't understand how her students could possibly be confused and often gets annoyed with the questions.

Rating # 7

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

She's completely unhelpful and rude when students are trying to ask her questions to clarify concept. The course is very disorganized. The lectures are useless because she CANT TEACH.. She gets very irritated when students have unclear concepts. Not a good prof or even person at times. Course is NOT recommended

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: PSYC205
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

worst professor i have ever had. she is VERY unclear and unfair. her tests are ridiculous, and she makes concepts that should be straighforward very perplexing. some of the topics covered in the course i had already learned and understood very well from another course, but relearning it from olmstead made me very confused. DON'T TAKE THIS CLASS!

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: PSYC205
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

completely useless prof. she does not explain any concepts clearly, her test questions are extremely ambiguous and she is not helpful. gets annoyed when people don't understand concepts , even when the WHOLE CLASS DOESN'T

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: PSYC205
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

There is no textbook for this course other than her assigned readings (which she wrote). Overall, they are interesting, and I found the lectures fascinating. She may seem unapproachable at first, but she is actually quite nice. Labs were great, I learned a lot.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: PSYC205
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Olmstead has a disorganized lecture style, unclear explanations, and made a potentially interesting course frustrating. Her m/c questions are difficult and often unfair. The assigned reading (which she wrote) were error-filled and unhelpful. The one redeeming quality of this course is the labs, which were fun to do and really helped my mark.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: PSYC205
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Absolute worst class ever. Lectures were random, notes incomprehensible, EXTREMELY unclear presentation/explanation, impossible tests, labs were time consuming and you got terrible terrible marks with no explanation why even when you ask... The thought of the class 2 years later still makes me angry. Avoid this prof and class at ALL costs.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: PSYC205
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Labs are impossible and M/C questions are long, drawn out and have multiple correct answers. She does save you money by not requiring a text, however, judging by the spelling and grammar, her children wrote her word files. I'd advise people not to take this course. Most people seemed angry ALL the time.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: PSYCH205
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Excellent prof

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: PSYC205
• 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:

Interesting material. Challenging test questions (you need to apply concepts), m/c answers sometimes a bit ambiguous/more than one 'right' answer. Labs are cool but also hard to get great marks in (follow APA!) Methinks the final marks were bell curved, but still only one person out of 88 got 90s...Neat course, though.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: PSYC205
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Wasn't interested in helping students at all, and the course notes weren't very clear half the time. She explains things in the most confusing way ever.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: PSYC205
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Cella is so awesome! She makes the class interactive, and explains concepts well. You have to go to class though... Also, the "textbook" is by her, and filled with grammatical errors that may drive you crazy! Quizzes are so easy, midterm is rather hard, final is also easy if you study. It's the lab portion that can really get you...

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: PSYC205
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Awesome class! By far my favourite class so far at Queen's. The material was really interesting, and Olmstead was able to present most of it clearly. She really likes graphs though, so make sure you memorize them! The labs were so much fun and the assessments were definitely reasonable!

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: PSYC205
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Wasn't very eager to help out of class.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: PSYC205
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

She was really nice and friendly.