Mariela Guzman

COMST7 · COMM27 · COMST1A · COM1A · COMST01 · COMMST1A · COMM1A · COMST1A70748 · 69 lifetime ratings

AI rating: 41/100
RMP rating: 3.1/5
Take again: 48.48%
Difficulty: 3.1

The decision

if you will follow every rubric line, practice speeches hard, and use all ; avoid if you want a low-effort public speaking class.

Best fit · Effort For RewardTough GraderSpeech-Heavy WorkloadExtra Credit LifesaverPolarizing Online vs In PersonStrict Rubrics

and speech-focused; one weak presentation can tank the grade.
is often the only path to pass for many students.
In-person students who follow rubrics report growth; online reviews are far more negative.

Key questions

Four answers before you build your schedule.

Is this an easy A?

HardWork

34/100

As are possible only with , and heavy after tough grading.

Online reviews stress zeroed projects and sudden grade crashes; .

Is the course easy?

Challenging

38/100

Content is intro public speaking, but pace, memorization, and perfectionist speech standards make it feel hard.

Both formats center on three major speeches; and less live coaching.

Is attendance flexible?

Mandatory

28/100

Most reviews report mandatory attendance or required Zoom meetings, with .

In ; some online sections require announced Zoom sessions.

Is this professor recommended?

Depends

48/100

Roughly half praise growth and feedback; and stress.

; online comments more often say take someone else.

Course guide

See how this professor fits your week.

Grading

Strict

28/100

; small speech errors and citation .

Format shift

Online students report more zeroed projects and .

Workload

Heavy

30/100

, and frequent prep work feel heavy for a 3-unit course.

Format shift

Online COMST7 and summer sections draw the strongest overload complaints.

Teaching experience

Average

50/100

Engaged students call her clear and motivating; .

Format shift

In-person teaching reads warmer; online organization and .

Assessment method

FocusOnAssignments

32/100

Grades hinge on a few major speeches and final.

Format shift

Both formats emphasize three presentations; online also uses quizzes and dense modules.

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

20 reviews

High confidence · Best fit for Effort For Reward

In person is still strict but more rewarding: , and an A if you practice speeches and stay engaged.

Main concern

and memorized speeches; zero tolerance for sloppy oral citations.

What students said

“She is firm on how she wants your work done, but it's really to help you grow”
COMM1A

“This is NOT an easy A, but you will be fine if you just pay attention and actually try and practice”
COM1A

“as long as you put in the effort and follow the A”
COM1A

Remote format

Online

30 reviews

High confidence · Best fit for Self Taught Pro

, and speech scores that can crash the grade overnight.

Main concern

and leave little time to recover.

What students said

“went from having a B+ to basically a F minus 48 hours before the semester ends”
COMM27

“Expects every single detail to be perfect. because I use one wrong word”
COM1A

“The level of specificity she expects out of the ”
COMST7

Exam style

Know what to expect from exams and major assignments.

Assessment is mostly scored speeches with some quizzes and ; reviews do not prove proctoring software.

Speech-heavy gradingOccasional quizzesMidterm and final mentionedRubric-based scoring

Assessment risk

Standard

48/100

Low score means less forgiving assessment conditions.

In person

In-person grades revolve around live speeches with strict oral citation rules; .

Live speechesStrict oral citationsPop quizzesExtra credit

“On the last speech she gave me a zero because I didn't "master oral citations"”
COM1A

“Grade based off 3 speeches, mean grade for speech 3 was 55 out of 200”
COM1A

Online

Online work centers on recorded or Zoom speeches, quizzes, and heavy modules; .

Recorded speechesQuizzesCanvas modulesExtra credit

“Midterm and . ”
COMST01

“3 speeches, 1 midterm, 1 final , 1 ted talk on textbook due at the end of the semester”
COMST1A

Student evidence

See what students actually said.

Top student voice
“This is NOT an easy A, but you will be fine if you just pay attention and actually try and practice.”
Voice snapshots generated from 50 reviews spanning online and in-person speech courses, highlighting grading strictness and . Credibility rating: High.

⚖️

28/100

“ because I use one wrong word”

📝 Workload Overload

30/100

“A lot of work for a 3 unit course”

🎁 Saves Grades

70/100

“The is literally the reason I even passed this class with credit”

👍 Conditional Recommendation

48/100

“ because of negative reviews, but I am so ”

Theme 1

👨‍🏫 About Teaching Style

She is firm on how she wants your work done, but it's really to help you grow
and very easy to follow
and is not willing to help

Theme 2

📈 About Difficulty and Grades

This is NOT an easy A
went from having a B+ to basically a F minus 48 hours before the semester ends
Following the

Theme 3

⚠️ About Communication Issues

Took her weeks to fix my grade, emailed her probably 6 times, no response
and
She came off fairly rude in communication, and short

Data context

See exactly what the AI read.

Analysis sample

Recent reviews read by the AI

Lifetime ratings

86/100

Evidence confidence

Fifty recent detailed reviews across online and polarized quality scores.

Inside 50 stored ratings

Quality ratings

5 out of 525

4 out of 511

3 out of 54

2 out of 57

1 out of 523

Course coverage

COM1A17 reviews

COMST1A12 reviews

COMMST1A7 reviews

COMST77 reviews

COMM1A3 reviews

Show 3 more courses

COMST1A707482 reviews

COMM271 review

COMST011 review

Reported outcomes

A range results lead the reported letter grades.

45 reported outcomes

A range

A+ 2 · A 10 · A- 3

B range

B+ 2 · B 2 · B- 2

C range

C+ 6 · C 2 · C- 2

D range

D+ 1 · D 2 · D- 1

F

F 3

No letter grade reported

Incomplete 1 · Not sure yet 4 · Rather not say 2

Mariela Guzman

x x if you will follow every rubric line, practice speeches hard, and use all x x; avoid if you want a low-effort public speaking class.

Four answers before you build your schedule.

HardWork

Challenging

Mandatory

Depends

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.

⚖️ x x x

📝 Workload Overload

🎁 x x Saves Grades

👍 Conditional Recommendation

👨‍🏫 About Teaching Style

📈 About Difficulty and Grades

⚠️ About Communication Issues

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 will follow every rubric line, practice speeches hard, and use all ; avoid if you want a low-effort public speaking class.

⚖️

🎁 Saves Grades