AI Rate Professor

English

Steven Skelley

ENGLISH101 · ENG028 · ENG21 · ENGLIP334 · ENG102 · ENG101 · ENGL101 · ENGLISH21 · ENGLIS101 · SS161917 · A · 96 lifetime ratings

AI rating
28/100
RMP rating
3.6/5
Take again
27.59%
Difficulty
3.1

The decision

Avoid unless you want a strict, history-heavy English class and can tolerate blunt political lectures.

Best fit · Hardcore LearnerPolarizing tough graderPolitical lecture tangentsHistory-heavy EnglishMandatory attendance riskHarsh feedback
  • some call him passionate and transformative, many call him rude and unfair
  • Grading and feedback frequently described as harsh, opinion-based, and demoralizing
  • Lectures often drift into history, politics, and long rants instead of clear writing instruction

Key questions

Four answers before you build your schedule.

Is this an easy A?

HardWork

28/100

Even hard-working students report Ds, Fs, or grade drops when writing style or views clash with his expectations.

Online and in-person both stress harsh grading; online adds grade-change complaints.

Is the course easy?

Challenging

35/100

Weekly homework, heavy reading, long papers, and dense lectures make the class feel harder than average ENG101.

Both formats describe reading-heavy work; in-person also notes history-heavy lectures.

Is attendance flexible?

Mandatory

18/100

Multiple reviews say two absences can get you dropped and attendance is strictly enforced.

In-person is clearly mandatory; online often lists attendance not required but quizzes track lecture watching.

Is this professor recommended?

Avoid

28/100

Would-take-again is only about 28% and recent comments repeatedly say run or do not take.

Online reviews are almost uniformly negative; in-person is mixed but recent tone skews avoid.

Course guide

See how this professor fits your week.

Grading

Harsh

18/100

Tough grader is the dominant tag, with many claims of opinion-based fails and little constructive help.

Format shift

Both formats call grading harsh; online adds reports of lowered or changed grades.

Workload

Heavy

34/100

Weekly homework, heavy reading, many papers, and long lectures create a demanding load.

Format shift

Online mentions long Zooms and discussions; in-person stresses papers and daily work.

Teaching experience

Average

42/100

Some students find him passionate and helpful, but many say lectures are rants and feedback is demeaning.

Format shift

In-person has both high praise and harsh criticism; online skews strongly negative.

Assessment method

Balanced

55/100

Mix of weekly homework, essays or research papers, quizzes, and sometimes midterms or finals.

Format shift

and finals; online centers on discussions and paper feedback.

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

44 reviews

High confidence · Best fit for Hardcore Learner

dedicated students praise passion and improvement, while many report unfair fails, political rants, and mandatory attendance drops.

Main concern

Risk of opinion-based grading and history-focused lectures instead of practical English help.

What students said

“if he doesnt agree with your writing he will fail you.”
ENG101
“he talks about history because of the essays we read in the book.”
ENG101
“Every class was an opportunity to learn more and more and better your writing.”
A

Remote format

Online

6 reviews

Medium confidence · Best fit for Self Taught Pro

Online reviews are overwhelmingly negative, citing derogatory feedback, long Zoom rants, political bias, and unfair grade changes.

Main concern

Harsh written feedback and opinion-driven grading with little constructive teaching.

What students said

“His feedback is derogatory and not always helpful.”
ENG101
“He has used the terms, lazy, awful, tired, ignorant, dumb to describe the efforts that his students make”
ENG101
“He will bluntly tell you, your writing sucks and is bad.”
ENG028

Exam style

Know what to expect from exams and major assignments.

Assessment leans on papers and class essays with strict style expectations rather than clearly proctored tech exams.

Essay-heavy gradingIn-class essaysTextbook allowed sometimesWeekly homework

Assessment risk

Standard

48/100

Low score means less forgiving assessment conditions.

In person

In-person assessment includes essays, sometimes book-allowed in-class writing, and strict attendance-linked grading.

In-class essaysResearch paperAttendance counted
“We were allowed to use the textbook for essays, and everything was done in class.”
ENG101
“He will assign homework everyday (which is do-able) and also does 2 Midterms and a Final AND a research paper.”
ENGLISH101

Online

Online comments focus on , and harsh paper feedback without clear proctoring claims.

Weekly discussionsLecture-based quizzesHarsh paper feedback
“Weekly discussion and super long weekly zooms (attendance not mandatory), which he uploads. Quizzes are based on them”
ENG101
“He's a really tough grader and gives harsh feedback.”
ENG101

Student evidence

See what students actually said.

Top student voice

“DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. Avoid this professor at all costs, his grading is horrible, if he doesnt agree with your writing he will fail you.”

Voice snapshots generated from 50 reviews, highlighting polarized grading and lecture style. Credibility rating: High.

⚠️ Recommendation Risk

28/100

“DO NOT take a class with this professor.”

⚖️ Grading Harshness

18/100

“His grading is AWFUL, literally will fail you on papers if he disagrees with your points/arguments”

🎯 Teaching Split

42/100

“Dr. Skelley is one of the best English professors I have ever had!”

📢 Lecture Style

30/100

“During class he just rants about his political views and opinions instead of actually teaching.”

Theme 1

👨‍🏫 About Teaching Style

  • he talks about history all the time or sings but he never teaches what you exactly need
  • His lectures are a bit boring sometimes but he is very good at analysis
  • not enough as to HOW he wants his essays done

Theme 2

📈 About Difficulty and Grades

  • He is a tough grader. Meaning you lose points if he disagrees with you on a topic
  • I put in so much effort ... and I failed
  • As long as you read, his class is easy.

Theme 3

⚠️ About Classroom Climate

  • His feedback is derogatory and not always helpful
  • He brings politics into his job
  • he thinks he's always right and won't listen to any other opinion

Data context

See exactly what the AI read.

Analysis sample

50

Recent reviews read by the AI

96

Lifetime ratings

86/100

Evidence confidence

Fifty reviews over many years show a consistent polarizing pattern of harsh grading and political lectures versus a minority of strong praise.

Inside 50 stored ratings

Quality ratings

5 out of 551
4 out of 515
3 out of 55
2 out of 55
1 out of 520

Course coverage

ENG10129 reviews
ENG216 reviews
ENGLISH1015 reviews
ENGLISH213 reviews
A1 review
Show 6 more courses
ENG0281 review
ENG1021 review
ENGL1011 review
ENGLIP3341 review
ENGLIS1011 review
SS1619171 review

Reported outcomes

No letter grade reported results lead the reported letter grades.

22 reported outcomes

A range

5

A+ 1 · A 4

B range

5

B+ 2 · B 3

C range

2

C+ 2

D range

3

D 3

F

1

F 1

No letter grade reported

6

Drop/Withdrawal 1 · Fail 1 · Incomplete 1 · Not sure yet 3