Randy Lytton - George Mason University

Professor: Randy Lytton

Department: History

College: George Mason University

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: HIST480
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Very old and oldfashioned. Talks quietly and difficult to hear unless you sit in the back of the class. The workload is easy however the classes are boring. Doesn't teach with any visual aids and just lectures. The reading work load is heavy, however it seems that you can get by with just the lectures.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: HIST388
• 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:

Very old fashioned. He stands in front of the class and talks, with no powerpoint and not much written on the board. If this is your style, he's a great professor. Personally, it's really hard for me to learn like this and class is sort of useless because you can barely hear him unless you're in the front of the class. He's a very nice man, though.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: HIST301
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I've taken six classes with Lytton. Obviously I love classical history, but still, this guy is great. Every class is exactly the same - 10 quizzes straight from lecture, midterm&final are take home essays with in class word id for 5-6 popular terms from lecture. Sometimes he has an extra paper or two, but the prompts are always easy.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: HIST100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

He is the worst professor at Mason. Seriously never take him!!

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: HIST100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Great guy all around. I enjoyed his class because I raised my Tetris score. He had very quirky moments that will make up for the boring times. the textbook is the internet plus books easily found free on the internet. If you need an easy A, and light workload, bring a laptop and just surf while listening.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: HIST100
• 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:

He is a nice old man but can't seem to stay on track with the syllabus. There aren't many assignments and it's a pretty light work load all together but the lectures are extremely boring so therefore hard to pay attention to. He's alright but you could find better.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: HIST301
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Easy A, if you show up and do your work. He's a very dry lecturer but an easy grader.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: HIST302
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

?A History of the Roman Republic? book is useless, but get Livy, Polybius, Plutarch, and Machiavelli for in class points and writing papers. Show up and take notes and the tests will be easy, all based on in class discussions. Follow instructions to the letter to get an A.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: HIST100
• 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:

I have attended all but one class, written down everything I could possibly decipher out of his horrible handwriting, and I have no earthly clue what his class has been about. Not to mention it tends to seem like a Philosophy or Religion course at times. Nothing he assigns has anything to do with what you read or what he lectured about. AWFUL!!!

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: HIST100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Pretty decent professor; there were very few grades associated with the course which makes it trickier.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: HIST301
• 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:

Terrible. He gives vague, confusing instructions and rambling, pointless lectures. Spends much of the class showing YouTube videos and Wikipedia articles on things he should be teaching. Worst of all is the short-answer format he uses on exams, since it doesn't even apply to many of the terms you have to identify. The topics may sound interesting,

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: HIST100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Very very boring. It is often more of a struggle to stay awake than to do his boring homework. He emails you homework, that is pretty simple but never responds to his email. Most of the time in class he looks confused and lost and often shows pretty random videos just to wake people up. I do not recommend having him as a professor.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: HIST380
• 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:

I took Prof Lytton for 3 classes during my time at Mason. He incorporates video which helps to keep that class intresting. In addition to this his quizes are on the class notes so if you pay attention it is an easy 100. For all the neg.comments they are most likely made by freshmen who are not used to the way college classes are run.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: HIST100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

demanded we have $125 textbooks, totally useless and definitely thinks his class is the only one you are taking, take home essays and in class testing for both the midterm and final- gives you essay topics at the beginning of the year- very easy grader but would NEVER take again, allows way too much discussion between students

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: HIST100
• 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:

By far the worst professor I have ever had. His lectures are incoherent and pointless. If you ask him to clarify something he only confuses you more. Mid-term essay is 4-6 pages on the architecture of the Supreme Court building and the layout of the in-class portion is ridiculous. DO NOT take this class, you will regret it!!

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: HIST100
• 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:

When he stays on subject he's not bad, but when he starts to ramble (which he does a lot, perhaps to fill class time), you'd best put down your pen, as it degrades to nonsense. Once stated in class that the Temple of Solomon is still standing. Also, the ~25 total pages of essays were a bit excessive for a freshman course.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: HIST100
• 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:

I thought he was a HORRIBLE professor. His assignments were very vague and jumbled, he often cut people off when they were asking questions and would give answers to his false interpretations; sometimes he even taught false information. I could go on and on, because there were SO many things he was horrible at.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: HIST635
• 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:

Sometimes seems confused during class. Class itself seems to drag on forever. Often does not know answers to students' questions.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: HIS121
• 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:

Waste of money under this professor, maybe he know lots of history but he doesn't know how to teach. His "homeworks" is meaningless, and I believe no body learn a thing from him. History could be a very interesting subject, but he made it worse. I like to ask Mason to give me a full refund on this one, just stay away from him!!

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: HIST100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

To be fair, history is a very boring subject. I hated the homework that he gave out because they were so long and tedious. He's a very nice guy and a fair grader, its just his homework and test are so pointless. I did not learn a thing in that class. I still don't know what rationalism, animalism, and religiousness is!