Reviews of professor Wil Rankinen

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
My favorite professor so far in the CSD program. Very knowledgable, helpful and kind.

Rating: 3.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Overall Rankinen is a good professor. He makes class engaging and is passionate about what he is teaching. He also is very accessible and helpful outside of class and wants his students to succeed. However, there were multiple occasions he would give a test, and then teach material that was on that test the following week. Lots of studying.

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Dr. R. is a fantastic professor who genuinely wants to see you succeed. He is so passionate about phonetics and he makes sure that you LEARN the material! He was always available before or after class if I had a question and his review guides helped a lot before the exam. Make a good effort, pay attention, and practice IPA and you will do well!

Rating: 4.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
You can tell he loves what he teaches. The projects push you to apply the information. My advice use the study guides and go to office hours. He loves speech and is passionate about it when he talks. Please ignore the harsh reviews of this professor he is wonderful don't judge before you have him for a professor.

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Professor Rankinen works extremely hard to ensure that all his students not only pass his classes but ensures they understand the material. His test are a bit difficult but he provides many opportunities for practicing the material and even provides study guides.  I've had three classes with Dr. R and if you do the work you will succeed.

Rating: 2.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
I was excited for this course but I hardly learned anything due to the amount of material expected to memorize. 3 quizzes and final, all monitored and 2 projects. Read off the slides the whole class w/ poor time management. Textbook chapters are extremely long and canceled class towards the end of the semester. Nice dude but I wouldn't take again.

Rating: 2.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
While he knows what he's talking about, a lot of times I had difficulty understanding what he was saying. He talks in circles a lot and isn't super clear on expectations and stuff like that. I think the class would be better in person, but it was confusing. Not the topics, but the way he taught them. He says you need the textbook but i did fine w/o

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
I had Rankinen for CSD 220 and he wasnt my favorite, but CSD 304 really is his strong suit. He gave us so much practice and extra credit and grades nicely on quizzes. You can tell he really cares to make sure his students understand his content. Phonetics seems like a hard concept but he makes it enjoyable

Rating: 4.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Rankinen teaches many courses in the CSD program. I've had him 3 times and he is a super nice and understanding guy. But honestly, his tests are hard and you need to study. He is a fair grader but he expects a lot! If you put in the work and effort you will do fine. He also has a project at the end of the semester that tends to help your grade.