Reviews of professor Michael Taylor

Rating: 3.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Grades only on two essays and two exams, no homework. Non-stop talking for 80 minutes about the topics with seemingly no structure other than chronology. Lecture slides only contain pictures and dates, so you must be a good auditory learner. Not a bad guy at all, but his lectures and grading criteria make this a tricky course.

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
One of the kindest professors at CMU. Motivated me to keep going with the course even when I wanted to give up. Set up a new system to help struggling students, even came to me for input. Alerted authorities when a racist man verbally abused students leaving Mellon Inst. and showed his support for us directly. Always available for his students

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Used a new method of testing for students and the class was going fine till then. Struggled to submit the quiz and gives me a zero. So unnecessary and messed with my grade.

Rating: 2.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Professor Taylor isn't an awful teacher; he clearly knows what he's talking about and has a good character. However, his lectures are heavy and it's hard to get everything he talks about because he only shows pictures on the board. There's a midterm test and paper, as well as the same for finals. If you read the textbook, you should be okay.

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 2.0/5
Professors Taylor's lectures are exceptional. He is passionate about what he is teaching and engaging. His test are not set to trick you but he does expect more when you write your essays but he is not a hard or harsh grader; you get what you put into it. I highly recommend taking one of his classes.