The topic of carbonate rocks is one that's both useful and interesting for a geologist. This course, however, was neither. I chalk up most of the failures to health circumstances with the professor of record, but that doesn't excuse that this was frankly a waste of time and money.

Nothing truly new, as it was essentially review. The course leaned heavily into carbonate nomenclature for weekly work and exams. The semester project leaned more into depositional environments.

Dr. Birnbaum didn't even show up for the first month (medical reasons), and we were given no instructions on what sort of field data to collect for our semester project. The other professors who were personnel for the fieldwork later complained to the department chair as they would not have agreed to the trip had they been aware. He also flunked nearly everyone on the first exam as we were given no instruction and no feedback up to that point. Several students had also commented to the department chair due to not learning the material and both wanting and needing it for their research.

This course is almost entirely repeat material from an undergraduate course. However, I would definitely advise getting a separate reference on carbonate nomenclature as the textbook is insufficient for what is expected.