Great prof. Interesting material (especially if you're like me... somewhat interested in science, but not quite interested enough to be a South Campus major). Fairly generous with grades. I would recommend him. :)

Prof. Boyd is a good prof. His class was not difficult at all. The lectures are definitely not the most exciting, but all the material covered during lecture is definitely fair game to what his tests consist of. His midterm and final were definitely not hard. His curve is extrememly fair.

Since the lectures were presented in a slideshow format in a big, dark room, it was difficult not to sleep during class. I don't think I was awake entirely for ANY of his lectures. However, he does present and discuss important material on his slides, but if you have a good TA (my TA was beyond excellent: she emphasized all of the important concepts that were eventually tested) and review the slides and know the concepts, you will do just fine. His exams were short answer response-type questions on the important concepts. He may throw in a very specific question since he did so on one exam which threw me completely off-guard but missing just that one didn't hurt my grade. Immersing yourself in the material (Lecture, reading, slides, discussion) will get you a good grade; the grading is quite straightforward. A very fair and reasonable professor.

All i got to say is lecture was boring and i basically learned everything without attending lecture and by reading the book, but attending lecture after the midterm is important because that is when things are a little more complex. I did not find the TA i had effective at all i just attended discussion because of attendence and homework. Tests are essay questions...its not an easy GE class, but not a very hard one either, but he really curves the grade so that is one of the good thing

I disagree with the review below me. Professor Boyd is a fantastic lecturer that really engages students with the material. He got me interested in Anthropology and I regretted the few lectures that I did miss. I also had the bad TA, Lulu, but just talking out the concepts in discussion helps reinforce your learning. I didn't think the homework load was too much. I mean, if you want to do well on the tests, you must do the homework since it's the same type of stuff covered on the midterm and final. All in all, I thought it was a great class. Easy A for me.

i basically learned by the book since lectures are boring and it is basically outlining the book. It is important to go to lectures after the midterm because the readings get kind of difficult since there is a lot to memorize. I didn't really go but i still passed with a B only because the class is curved for my benefit. the tests are a little hard and this course carries a lot of reading. it is like you are basically on your own since my TA lulu isnt very helpful in preparing us. i only attended discussion because i need the 10% freebee cause you will need it considering that hw is very time consuming and it is only worth one point and showing up to lecture is worth three points and participating is worth one point so basically all that effort is worth so little considering that it takes a lot of time to do hw

The book for this course is his own, so the lectures are pretty much just the main points from each chapter. Consequently, you really only have to go to lecture or read the book so long as you really do one of them. Missing lectures in the beginning is no big deal, but in the second half of the course it can get you behind. The second half is all about the human lineage and recognizing fossils and such, so it gets a little boring, but it's also a lot more memorization then the first part.

Overall, this class is cake as long as you read the book and/or go to lecture. Discussions were useless, but were required as 10% of your grade. Final's half, midterm's the rest. Both tests are all short answer questions, nothing really surprising. Overall a very fair professor and very easy class. Great GE. Take Anthro 7 with Boyd if you can.