Reviews of professor Wil Rankinen

Rating: 2.0/5, difficulty: 5.0/5
He wants his students to succeed but exams are extremely hard. He does give a study guide but filling out the study guide and knowing definitions is not good enough. You must be able to compare ideas and understand the relation between two topics. Get the IPA workbook it will help! Master the IPA vowels and consonants.

Rating: 2.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Hes nice but overall not a good professor. 3 quizzes w/ lockdown that are really tough and 2 group projects. The final is optional but necessary to try and compensate for the low quiz scores. The content is kind of interesting but the class as a whole is rough and had me second guessing my major. Its hard to avoid him but try if you can!

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
I love Dr. R even though he can be a lil intense and intimidating but he does want people to do well. Take good notes and honestly try to get them before class so that you can listen to anything he adds on and highlight things that are in the slides. He's a big fan of professionalism. Expect to try a little harder in his classes than others.

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Im not really sure why everyone hates on him. He really has been the only consistent professor within the program and treats his students like actual people. Yes, he does have a lot of work - but this is the class that I learn the most and I appreciate that. Hes apologetic when he makes a mistake and fixes it!

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
This class made me change my major because of how content heavy it was. Prof Rankinen expects you to know and memorize so much material and there are only 3 quizzes and then the final. each quiz has like 50 questions but only worth 25 points. Even with attending each class and doing all the readings, you will still struggle.

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Amazing, his explanation of concepts and accessibility made an abundance of content manageable. Yes his quizzes and tests are hard, but I received an A on all by just studying. He gives a study guide which is helpful. As long as you can connect and compare concepts it's a phenomenal class.

Rating: 2.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
All it is is lecture after lecture. He repeats himself a lot and it gets really really boring. Usually he is the only teacher for this course though. If you aren't 100% set on CSD major. Don't waste your time. It made me change my major.