Magnusson, Andrew  

Professor Andrew Magnusson is literally best described as a ginger, curly-headed fuck. For starters, the man literally reads from the book. When someone asks him a question, roughly half the time he hems and haws, then ultimately says he doesn't know. Sometimes he tries to find it in the book, which usually results in the class staring at him silently and wondering what the fuck is going on, while he flips through random pages. This is not a joke. Then, he almost always says "well I can't find it but its in there somewhere". This guy is a Cuesta professor that Cal Poly brought on to meet the onslaught of new students currently packing classes to the brim, but he fucking blows and shouldn't be a teacher. One time, My CalPoly went down completely for a full day so I couldn't access the homework for class (which was only available on polylearn) and he said he would only consider giving me an extension based on what other people's experiences were like as well. Who the fuck says that? Dude, how am I supposed to do your assignment when I can't access your material and also why be such a fucking prick about it. Go back to Cuesta, you fuck.

Professor Magnusson is amazing! He makes everything interesting and clarifies anything asked of him. His tests were hard, but he grades fairly and it was his first quarter teaching so he was very willing to listen to student input to make his methods better. Take a class with him if you have a chance! I've never enjoyed a history class before, but this was great.

A fair teacher. Yeah there are some kinks in the class, but it's only his second quarter. goes into extreme detail about the things he likes, but he's super knowledgeable and a really cool guy!!

Professor Magnusson is a hardworking lecturer. Lectures are easy to follow. Homework is mostly reading and a paper. The two tests varied in difficulty with the final being more challenging. For this World History to 1000 A.D. class, it is true that this professor might not know everything since he specialized in the study of Islam and the Middle East, which are important towards the end of the class. Overall, the class was great. Having a specialist in the Middle East in the history department would be great. One of the best new professors at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Cal Poly should consider giving this professor a long-term job here.

He tells a story with each lecture and made it relevant to our current day lives. However, he was very scattered and our class never knew what to expect. I never did any of the readings or "group activities/discussion" and I managed to pull a B. He took roll almost everyday so be prepared to go to class. A lot of my class would leave halfway through when he switched from lecture to discussion. Just get notes from somebody who is in the class and this class is stupid easy.

I took HIST 223 from Prof. Magnusson Fall Qtr 2014. I think he mentioned having just gotten a degree this year, and being new to Poly. Anyway, his class had no homework to turn in, and some reading to do. He might change the structure of his class for following quarters (he changed ours half-way through), but here's how my quarter went down. We read King Leopold's Ghost, which flows like a novel, and that was the only "textbook" in the class. His lectures are easy to follow, although he often loops back, so leave some space for extra notes. His class was graded by 15% Essay 1 on King Leopold's Ghost 20% Essay 2 on Lectures and outside research 30% on Oral History analysis, which involves interviewing someone. 10% on Midterm 1 on lectures 25% on Final .. or something like that. The one thing that bothered me this quarter was the midterm. I did not do well on it in his eyes and he included a snide remark with his feedback. A lot of people didn't do well on the midterm, so he might change the way he structures it for future quarters. He's still a new teacher, so he's still learning the dos and don'ts, so I wouldn't hold anything against him as long as he improves, or at least tries. Hope this helped.

I really liked this guy. His lectures are interesting and concise. He had just gotten his degree, so he was pretty relaxed and passionate/excited/friendly. That being said, he was also somewhat disorganized-he changed the grading around and changed the syllabus multiple times. Although my experience was as follows, he might have changed the class since then. The class was split into an hour of lecture and an hour of disccusion. The lectures were good, the discussion was pretty dry/waste of time. There were reading assignments as homework (10-20m 2 days a week) which would be discussed during the lecture, but we weren't quizzed on them in any way (the tests did cover them, briefly). Almost all of the grade was based on writing assignments, which I didn't find terribly difficult. He imposes a strict limit on most papers (2 pages). This class wasn't exceptional or perfect, but it was interesting and pretty fair. I'd recommend this class, and I think the current rating is kinda low.

Awesome guy. This is one of the good professors who actually listens and helps out their students to pass the class. If you have any trouble in his class just go visit him during office hours. He will definitely listen to every single problem you have and tell you solutions.

To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of this guy. His tests are easy though.

What else is there to say? Fine person, nothing interesting. Class was meh... Blah, blah, blah... Fine person.