Reviews of professor Peter Ekman

Rating: 2.0/5, difficulty: 1.0/5
Lectures were long confusing, rambling, and boring. There was no structure nor any clear explanations. We were assigned a large amount of long abstract readings which made up all the testing material. However, reading was not necessary. I could easily write nonsense about a topic generally and get full points.

Rating: 2.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
!!! If the course title is still "Worldings", DON'T BE FOOLED--it's more like History of Geographical Thought. LOTS of reading assigned, but only a fraction of the readings actually mattered. Same goes for concepts discussed in lecture. Lecture attendance taken on random basis. Lecture goes off on tangents, hard to follow. No papers or projects.

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Really enjoyed Dr. Ekman. I'm in my last semester and I'm really disappointed I didn't discover neither him nor the department sooner. His lectures are great and I've never met a prof who is so deeply knowledgable about his subject while still ensuring that students are involved too. I would def take him again if given the chance.

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
This class was one of the best classes I've taken at Cal. He does assign a lot of readings, but I honestly found every single one of them worthwhile in some way. The class was heavily theory based instead of just maps and geography, which I found MUCH more interesting. Office hours are a MUST!! One of the most facinating people I've ever met.

Rating: 4.0/5, difficulty: 2.0/5
Super passionate guy, although he does ramble quite significantly, you can pick out relevant and helpful information within what he says, and thus I would say lectures are a must as they helped me a lot. Very nice and will help you out if you ask him stuff in person. READINGS ARE A DEFINITE AND YOU NEED TO DO THEM AS THEY ARE IMPORTANT.

Rating: 4.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Ekman is a talker & sometimes overwhelming, but he really cares and is super kind. He is easy to talk to and wants you to succeed  go to office hours! Personally, there were way too many readings for my taste (the readers are thickkk) which made it hard for me to keep up w/ everything each week. But if you pay attention in lecture you'll be fine!

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
I've had him twice as a professor already and am about to take a third class from him this summer. Yes, there is a lot of reading, but it is all well-curated & interesting. He is also incredibly helpful in making sure that students are prepared for exams! GO TO OFFICE HOURS!! He is a good person to know. Prob one of my fave professors of all time.

Rating: 2.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Prof. Ekman is obviously intelligent and passionate about his material, but appears to lecture in his own little world, rambling a lot and making note taking very difficult. Readings are dense and uninteresting, but I found getting the "main idea" of the text to work either through internet or GSI. Have a friend in the class to work together!