Stephen Bensch - Swarthmore College

Professor: Stephen Bensch

Department: TBD

College: Swarthmore College

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: HIST001A
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Bensch is incredibly boring and dry. I took a seminar with him, and instead of there being student discussion, it was 75% Bensch talking. The only upside is that you can totally skip the reading and still ace the class.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: HIST002A
• 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:

He's not as bad as you'd think. Very passionate about the subject and gives long lectures. He can ramble a bit, but they're usually interesting. Hard grader, and workload is tough but fair.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: HIST101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

It is clear Professor Bensch is truly engaged in what he is discussing... but that's just it: he's the only one engaged in/by the discussion. My best advice when taking a Professor Bensch class: either do 1/2 the readings and don't go to class or go to class and pay 1/2 attention...

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: HIST01
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Definitely more engaging than the other reviewers made him out to be

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: HIST001T
• 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:

Professor Bensch was easily the most boring professor I've had to date. The class, however, was incredibly challenging. I knew next to nothing about the topic (islamic history). Unfortunately, Bensch was not very helpful to me in my efforts to succeed in the class. I learned the most from the (many, many) reading assignments, and from my peers.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: HIST007
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Very pretentious

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: HIST001A
• 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:

The class was a seminar so it got long and was very boring at times (3 hours). Often long and unnecessary readings but the special topics were very interesting. Some students didn't like him but I found him to be very personable and funny. He was also very helpful when doing research for papers.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: HIST006
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Bensch is a difficult professor and is very vague about what he wants his students to know. I never knew which map to study for the map section on his quizes. Hard grader.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: HIST001A
• 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:

Bensch isn't earthshatteringly interesting, that's for sure. Even though I've fallen asleep in class, he doesn't seem to notice, but happyily babbles on about the Germans. The class may not worth taking, but it's highly amusing because he's so pompous and says things in broken Latin for no apparent reason.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: HIST1T
• 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:

Extremely underrated professor. I'd never heard anything good about him. However, I was very pleasantly surprised. Extremely difficult grader, but he is definatley helpful. I've never found him boring, but maybe that's because I have him for seminar instead of lecture.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: HISTORY6
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

While not the best prof in the world, he's not horrific. He is somewhat of a sterotypical college prof and is slightly pompous, but it comes off as just being ridiculous. Lots of memorization and readings.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: MEDIEVALEUROPE
• 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:

Ok, this guy sucks. seriously, he is really unhelpful, and you essentially have to memorize them to get anything useful out of the course. he certainly doesn't help. everything is very unclear and only by working really hard by yourself do you learn anything. don't take this class.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: HIST14
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Don't take his classes if you don't care about the material, because you WILL find him boring. But if you're interested in the subject, Prof. Bensch is extremely knowledgable, and very good at approaching the subject from every imaginable angle. Love him or hate him, I think.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: MEDIEVALEUROPE
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

inconsistent from one lecture to another; sometimes contradicted himself numerous times in the same lecture! i agree with the "pompous" comment made by someone else. though i do think he must be knowledgeable in his area of history, his manner of conveying that knowledge leaves much to be desired.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: HIST001Y
• 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:

he knows his****, and professors who know their**** should share what they know. also, knows how to smack down silly freshmen who clearly don't know****.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: 006
• 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:

I love Mr. Bensch. He has so much enthusiasm and love for his field. It's electrifying.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: HIST2A
• 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:

the last of the furniture professors. requires much motivation and interest to get by with his lectures. tries to be funny.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: HIST002
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

No Comments

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: HIST2A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

pompous, boring, condescending- GET ME OUT OF HERE! [repeatedly bangs head against wall]