Susan Merritt - San Diego State University, San Diego, CA

Professor: Susan Merritt

Department: Fine Arts

College: San Diego State University, San Diego, CA

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: ART345
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I actually thought Susan's class was really interesting. As long as you study your notes and the blackboard quizzes she gives, you're golden. The study guides helped too, but with all that she goes over in the lecture, they're not too necessary to complete.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: ART442
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

At first thought she was a cool professor. I have now grown to completely despise her. Her criteria is NEVER clear. You think you're on the right track, then you get your grade back. She grades based on whether she likes it or not, not based on basic typography rules and criteria. Due dates and expectations are unrealistic. Butchers the course.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: 345
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Forget about acing the midterms she gives you. If you do well on the chapter quizzes (24 chapters) you should be fine. Four or five chapter quizzes make up a full midterm. In all honesty she skims most of the material, so it's up to you to do the reading (the whole book) to really understand the topics. I felt like I've learned 20% of the material.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: ART345
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Busy work galore. Lectures for 2hr40min straight reading straight from the slides. No room for discussion or questions during lecture. "Pop" quiz during every class, probably so people actually show up. 2 chapter quizzes due before every class. Tough learning environment IMO. Horrible class but unfortunately mandatory if you're a GD major.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: ART345
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

There's simply too much info presented in history of GD for it to NOT be a memorization class. This sucks, because if the class was split in two semesters, it probably wouldn't be so awful. Susan isn't that bad of a teacher, it's just too much material for the class to be fun... with that being said, do the study guides or find her test Q's online

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: ART345
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

sure you could get an A in this class if you keep cramming chapter info in three to four class days… but realistically who has time for that? the class is in high demand, goes over slides too quickly (not enough to write notes), at least one quiz per week, overall made us give feed back on last test so she can change her bad teaching habits

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: ART345
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

This class is not demanding at all. The pop quizzes are not every day in class and are only worth 10% of your grade. I managed to get an A on every exam by simply studying the online chapter quizzes before each test. This class can be very easy and very inspiring if you go into it with the right attitude. The textbook is very interesting as well!

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: ART442
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

She doesn't organize her class semester very well, she put all the easier projects in the beginning and the hard ones at the end. I do like that she does accept revisions but sometimes you don't receive her comments for improvement until much later. I suggest working on mini portfolios as you do each project because she will wants them at the end.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: ART345
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

The material in this class is very interesting; however, she is not a good teacher. She does not add any info to the slides in class, and gives you no time to take notes. There are "pop" quizzes every day in class in addition to bb quizzes on every chapter. The tests that are about 90 questions each are deceptive. This is a very demanding class!

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: ART345
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Quizzes in class every day, BB quizzes for each chp, ppt lectures in verbatim, no additional info. learned from lectures. I learned everything from the book itself. Expect to travel far for museum reports.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: ART345
• 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:

She says to get edition 6 of the book yet she still teaches from edition 5 the last part of the class. So I had to pay extra money for edition 6 when it was useless. She puts stuff on her tests that is only in the powerpoint (like images) and she won't put the power points online for you to study. This whole class is tests, quizzes, and lectures.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: ART345
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

boring! she lectures reading the power points! i am interested in the subject but this class is just horible...

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: ART442
• 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:

Totally boring and class is useless. Her information is old and NOT up to date. No structure in class. Most of the time I do not know what I am suppose to do. Many students seem to be lost in class. Waste of time to take her class. She does not show enthusiasm. Do not recommend her. Many UNHAPPY students in class for sure. Stay away.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: ART442
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

What a waste of time. I'm so bitter about type after this class. and I LOVE type. She incredibly spacey, unorganized, unclear, poor time management, very forgetful, and doesn't know how to schedule a curriculum. She's done great things for the GD program, but a useless teacher. Very old fashioned. I would try to stay away.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: ART442
• 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:

Susan is very nice, but incredibly unorganized. We wasted so much time at the beginning of the semester, then were rushing to finish more important projects. Her opinions about your work vary dramatically from class to class. She doesn't distribute one-on-one time well. She's spacey, unorganized, and frustrating. But she's nice.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: ART245
• 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:

Susan is an amazingly intelligent, understanding, and passionate professor. yes, this class is pretty damn time consuming [esp. the study guides], but just print up the online quizzes when you take them and use those to study for the tests. i mean, c'mon this IS an art history class, so of course there's a lot of memorization! very informative

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: ART245
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

nice but sinful. Too much assignments that ATE UP TIME for MAJOR classes. no time to taste interesting text, just scan it for study guide & CHquiz for every class. besides, 2pg paper with tight grammer for each of 4 exams w/ slide id + 5pg research paper + final. the only help is fair exam questions from CHquiz .

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: ART245
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

boring boring boring. she's the only one who teaches this class but be forewarned, she teaches straight out of the textbook, is extremely boring, grades papers like an english teacher, and study guides are due from each chapter each class. her tests have tricky questions that have little to do with the history of graphic design. not a fan of her.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: HGD245
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

I hate this class, it's not intresting to my knowledge. The study guides are 12 pages or more long, that she doesnt even focus on the main people that contributes to Graphic Design. Dont take it, let me tell you it's not worth sacrificing your brain for her. Doesnt seem to know what she is talking about, reads from book. AVOID

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: ART342
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Like others said, very nice in person… BUT… due dates change for no reason, very flat lectures and reads the book verbatim, incredibly unorganized, seemed to get more and more spacey as semester went on. Feedback was REALLY schitzo (sometimes good, sometimes worthless). Would have learned same just reading the d*mn book. Not why i go to school.