Michael McKinney

HIST16 · HIST22 · PS1 · H16 · HIS22 · HIST17 · HISTORY22 · 92 lifetime ratings

AI rating: 78/100
RMP rating: 4.0/5
Take again: 80.77%
Difficulty: 3.1

The decision

if you want strong history lectures and will keep up with weekly writing; avoid if you need light workload or .

Best fit · Effort For RewardAmazing LecturesLecture HeavyLots of HomeworkNo Canvas Grades Until EndEasy A If You Do Work

Lectures are detailed and widely praised as the core learning tool.
Workload is heavy with weekly lecture synopses, source summaries, and discussions.
An A is realistic if you complete all work, but grades often stay hidden until the end.

Key questions

Four answers before you build your schedule.

Is this an easy A?

EasyA

78/100

Most students who finish the weekly synopses and , though effort is required every week.

Online reviews more often call it an easy A; in-person comments still stress effort and volume.

Is the course easy?

Beginner

62/100

, but long audio/PPT segments and volume make it feel heavier than pure difficulty scores suggest.

Both formats describe straightforward material with high writing volume rather than conceptual complexity.

Is attendance flexible?

Varies

68/100

Online is largely asynchronous with , while .

; several in-person/hybrid notes say mandatory.

Is this professor recommended?

WorthIt

78/100

Strong recommendation for and fair outcomes if you keep up with work.

Online majority is positive; and structure.

Course guide

See how this professor fits your week.

Grading

Lenient

72/100

Students say he grades nicely and rewards completed work, though a few call criteria picky or delayed.

Format shift

Online and cutoffs.

Workload

Heavy

28/100

Weekly multi-hour lectures plus synopses, article summaries, and discussions often total 6-10 hours.

Format shift

Online summer and 8-week sections are the most overloaded; in-person still reports heavy writing.

Teaching experience

Good

80/100

Lectures are repeatedly called amazing, thorough, and non-partisan, with and email lag.

Format shift

Praise for lectures is consistent across formats; complaints about ghosting concentrate in poorly structured async runs.

Assessment method

FocusOnAssignments

22/100

Grade is driven by weekly writing and discussions, with finals often as .

Format shift

Both formats emphasize synopses and discussions over traditional midterms.

Luni fit check

Weigh these signals against your actual schedule.

Get help balancing workload, grading, and timing when no option is an obvious fit.

Course format

Compare the in-person and online experience.

Classroom format

In person

16 reviews

Medium confidence · Best fit for Hardcore Learner

some call him an amazing non-partisan lecturer, others report ghost teaching and buried syllabus rules.

Main concern

Workload remains high and some students felt unsupported or .

What students said

“I genuinely really enjoyed this class, one of my favorites I have ever taken.”
HIST22

“This is a 100% asynchronous class and the teacher is essentially a ghost.”
HIST17

“McKinney is an AMAZING lecturer.”
PS1

Remote format

Online

34 reviews

High confidence · Best fit for Effort For Reward

; rewarding for organized students but time-consuming and grade-opaque.

Main concern

Heavy weekly writing plus delayed or .

What students said

“Really interesting lectures, easy assignments consisting of typed lecture notes, summaries of historical documents, and discussion posts.”
HIST17

“I hate how he doesnt update the and .”
HIST22

“you'll definitely get an A if you put in the work”
HIST16

Exam style

Know what to expect from exams and major assignments.

and use papers, PPT projects, or open written finals.

No Traditional QuizzesWritten Final or EssayPowerPoint Final ProjectLecture Synopsis Based

Assessment risk

StudentFriendly

86/100

Low score means less forgiving assessment conditions.

In person

In-person comments still center on lecture summaries and ; policy detail is thinner.

Lecture SummariesDiscussion BoardsEffort-Based Finals

“ and the only work expected was to write summaries of his lectures”
HIS22

“ . One project and .”
PS1

Online

, and prompt-based written finals with no proctoring mentioned.

No MidtermResearch PowerPointWritten Final PromptsNo Proctoring Mentioned

“ , but there was a research project and a .”
HIST17

“The .”
HIST22

“No quizzes or . .”
HIST16

Student evidence

See what students actually said.

Top student voice
“Really interesting lectures, easy assignments consisting of typed lecture notes, summaries of historical documents, and discussion posts. Type the notes while listening to the lecture and it makes it super easy.”
Voice snapshots generated from 50 reviews spanning online and in-person history and political science courses. Credibility rating: High.

🎯 Teaching Quality

80/100

“Prof. McKinney is a great lecturer, and he makes what might be a menial subject like history more intriguing.”

📚 Workload Intensity

28/100

“ALOT ALOT OF WORK. I was consumed by this class, I had less work in my other four classes which didnt even add up to the amount of work in this class.”

🅰️ Grade Accessibility

72/100

“if you follow the expectations, it's an easy A.”

📧 Grade Opacity

40/100

“HE DOES NOT FILL OUT GRADES SO ”

Theme 1

👨‍🏫 About Teaching Style

Amazing lectures
his lectures aren't to boring and very informative
McKinney is an AMAZING lecturer

Theme 2

📈 About Difficulty & Grades

it really is an easy A if you do all the work
Your grade reflects the amount of effort you put in
doesn't grade things hard

Theme 3

📝 About Workload

Lots of homework
Tons of work
Plan spending AT LEAST 8 hours a weak

Data context

See exactly what the AI read.

Analysis sample

Recent reviews read by the AI

Lifetime ratings

88/100

Evidence confidence

Fifty reviews across many years with repeated, detailed themes on lectures, workload, and .

Inside 50 stored ratings

Quality ratings

5 out of 542

4 out of 525

3 out of 519

2 out of 51

1 out of 55

Course coverage

HIST2217 reviews

HIST1710 reviews

HIST167 reviews

PS17 reviews

H163 reviews

Show 3 more courses

HIS223 reviews

HISTORY222 reviews

174001 review

Reported outcomes

A range results lead the reported letter grades.

29 reported outcomes

A range

A+ 6 · A 15

B range

B+ 2 · B 2

C range

C 1

D range

No reported values

F

No reported values

No letter grade reported

Drop/Withdrawal 1 · Not sure yet 1 · Not_Sure_Yet 1

Michael McKinney

x x if you want strong history lectures and will keep up with weekly writing; avoid if you need light workload or x x x.

Four answers before you build your schedule.

EasyA

Beginner

Varies

WorthIt

See how this professor fits your week.

Compare the in-person and online experience.

Know what to expect from exams and major assignments.

In person

Online

See what students actually said.

🎯 Teaching Quality

📚 Workload Intensity

🅰️ Grade Accessibility

📧 Grade Opacity

👨‍🏫 About Teaching Style

📈 About Difficulty & Grades

📝 About Workload

See exactly what the AI read.

Quality ratings

Course coverage

A range results lead the reported letter grades.

A range

B range

C range

D range

F

No letter grade reported

if you want strong history lectures and will keep up with weekly writing; avoid if you need light workload or .