Tom Howell

ARTHIST · G · ART101 · ARTHISTORY · ART110 · PHOTO · ARTP101 · ARTP118 · MODERNARTHIST · ARTAMPPHOTO · 16 lifetime ratings

AI rating: 70/100
RMP rating: 4.0/5
Take again: 50%
Difficulty: 3.2

The decision

Great if you enjoy sharp humor and can memorize hard; skip if you want gentle mentoring or serious studio rigor.

Best fit · Effort For RewardHilarious and CockyKnowledgeable Art HistoryMemorization-Based TestsPolarizing PersonalityStudy Guide Dependent

Many students rave about humor, travel knowledge, and life-changing art lectures.
Success often means memorizing a study guide rather than deep open-ended art practice.
A vocal minority finds him rude, condescending, or weak on serious art history accuracy.

Key questions

Four answers before you build your schedule.

Is this an easy A?

FairEffort

64/100

Students say an A is reachable by memorizing the study guide and preparing, not by pure free ride.

All evidence is in-person.

Is the course easy?

Standard

52/100

Content is manageable for non-majors but tests can feel tough without prep, and drawing classes expect seriousness.

All evidence is in-person.

Is attendance flexible?

Mandatory

30/100

and describe strict control over leaving class.

All evidence is in-person.

Is this professor recommended?

Depends

52/100

Strong love from many fans is offset by 50% would-take-again and sharp dislike from others.

All evidence is in-person.

Course guide

See how this professor fits your week.

Grading

Fair

58/100

Few graded items and study guides help, but .

Format shift

All evidence is in-person.

Workload

Light

66/100

Main effort is studying for tests and in-class drawing focus .

Format shift

All evidence is in-person.

Teaching experience

Good

74/100

Praised as hilarious, worldly, and engaging, though cockiness and rudeness turn some students off.

Format shift

All evidence is in-person.

Assessment method

FocusOnExams

82/100

Comments emphasize tests and memorization, with limited mention of heavy assignment load.

Format shift

All evidence is in-person.

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 Effort For Reward

In-person art history and related classes are entertaining and knowledge-heavy, with cocky humor and tests that reward study-guide memorization.

Main concern

Condescending tone and uneven fairness on leaving class or art-history accuracy.

What students said

“The , but you have a study guide so as long as you memorize that, you will get an A.”
ART101

“Outstanding professor... should be at a 4-year.”
ARTHISTORY

“If you're serious about art, do not take this guy.”
ARTP101

Remote format

Online

0 reviews

Low confidence

No stored summary is available for this format.

Main concern

No main concern is stored for this format.

Exam style

Know what to expect from exams and major assignments.

Exams are standard in-person tests that are tough without prep but doable with the study guide.

Study guideMemorization-based testsSomewhat hard exams

Assessment risk

Standard

50/100

Low score means less forgiving assessment conditions.

In person

as somewhat hard and memorization-driven with a study guide.

Study guideMemorizationIn-person tests

“The , but you have a study guide so as long as you memorize that, you will get an A.”
ART101

“Easy class if you make sure you spend a decent amount of time memorizing--as that's all it takes to do well--memorization.”
ART101

Online

Student evidence

See what students actually said.

Top student voice
“The , but you have a study guide so as long as you memorize that, you will get an A.”
Voice snapshots generated from 16 in-person reviews, highlighting humor, memorization tests, and personality polarization. Credibility rating: Medium.

🎯 Teaching Quality

74/100

“AMAZING GUY!!! He knows so much stuff that it is sick.”

😂 Humor Factor

85/100

“funniest teacher i've ever had”

⚠️ Personality Risk

40/100

“Very funny albeit condescending.”

👍 Recommendation Split

52/100

“greatest prof. i've ever had. period.”

Theme 1

👨‍🏫 About Teaching Style

Sure was a cocky SOB--but very knowledgeable and very well traveled.
He loves what he is teaching and was the only real teacher at PC.
He can act a bit high & mighty but that's what makes his class interesting

Theme 2

📈 About Difficulty & Grades

Easy class if you make sure you spend a decent amount of time memorizing
Tests were tough only if you didn't prepare.
Graded by few things

Theme 3

😤 About Personality

he's rude and didn't let me go to one of my meetings
If you're serious about art, do not take this guy.
He can be a bit of an **** at times, but you gotta take it in as charm.

Data context

See exactly what the AI read.

Analysis sample

Recent reviews read by the AI

Lifetime ratings

62/100

Evidence confidence

16 reviews are detailed enough but many are older and opinions split on personality versus teaching skill.

Inside 16 stored ratings

Quality ratings

5 out of 59

4 out of 54

3 out of 50

2 out of 51

1 out of 52

Course coverage

ARTHISTORY4 reviews

ART1012 reviews

ART1102 reviews

ARTP1012 reviews

ARTAMPPHOTO1 review

Show 5 more courses

ARTHIST1 review

ARTP1181 review

G1 review

MODERNARTHIST1 review

PHOTO1 review

Reported outcomes

A range results lead the reported letter grades.

3 reported outcomes

A range

A 2

B range

B+ 1

C range

No reported values

D range

No reported values

F

No reported values

No letter grade reported

No reported values