Masong, Kenneth C. teaches at Ateneo de Manila University. Across 13 comments from students, they hold a rating of 3.5 out of 5. Students score them 2.3 out of 5 on clarity, 3.3 out of 5 on helpfulness and 2.6 out of 5 on grading fairness. Of those comments, 6 read positive, 3 read mixed, 3 read neutral and 1 read negative. They are listed for 3 sections this term.
Masong, Kenneth C.
Ateneo de Manila University · 13 comments
What students said
positive 6
neutral 3
mixed 3
negative 1
Masong, Kenneth C.3.5
Background
Education · Career · Courses · PublicationsShowHide
Fr. · Lecturer (Part-time) · PhD
Philosophy (philosophy of religion, process metaphysics, A.N. Whitehead, Keiji Nishitani)
Education
PhD Philosophy, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Career
Lecturer (Part-time), Ateneo de Manila University · Department of Philosophy · current
had him for philo 12. not for the faint of heart haha. His classes are information heavy tlga so it's really important to take down notes most especially his slides mismo. It's true that you'll be fine if you can memorize lots well. I can see how the class can be boring if you're not interested in philo topics.
We had orals, 2 LTs, one grp video, 3 reflection papers, and 3 bonus quizzes. The bonus quizzes were added onto our LT scores so those really helped but sometimes they show up unannounced and we almost always didn't have enough time to answer all the numbers. We would be given 5 mins to answer 10 numbers. They were all fill in the blanks identification with sentences taken straight from the slides so I suggest really familiarizing yourself with what slides contain what information.
The 2nd LT encompasses the entire coverage of LT1. Test types were only identification fill in the blanks, enumeration (sometimes with explanation) and essay. For LT2, there was no essay though since the orals itself is the essay component. It's very easy to lose a huge chunk of pts for enumeration if you don't know what's being asked. The answers to those are always found on the slides. Be mindful that some questions in LT1 are repeated in LT2.
personally, I always felt taken aback whenever he announced when the LT's/bonus quizzes would be. I always felt like it was announced much later than I would've liked but it is possible to negotiate to have d bonus quizzes online instead.
Orals involved 10 thesis statements and you would randomly pick out 3 to discuss on the spot. Everything you would need to get through orals would be found in the lectures/slides or if you took down notes properly so I think it was way more chill than the LTs.
Overall medium-heavy workload. It's definitely one of the better batch 2 classes though. I ended up with a good grade but man I prolly spent the most memorizing for his LTs than any other subject. If what you're memorizing doesn't appear as something that can be enumerated or answered in a fill in the blank question, then you should probably focus on memorizing other things. B/B+ able. A if you're good at memorizationmore
Anonymous
Nice guy but keep him on track, tangents eat class
mixed
Very much agree with the reviews above! Here's also some additional thoughts based on my personal experience (took him in S.Y. 24-25 2nd Sem):
- He's def a nice guy, but given the info density of his tests, I highly suggest that your class keeps him on track with the lecture—that is to say, don't distract him with side tangents coz he will 100% entertain it and you'll be stuck in 1 slide for the rest of the meeting discussing an irrelevant topic 😅 This is really a personal take and I know other people prefer a more lax prof when it comes to discussions, but I think that the side tangents become harmful over time when you're already info overloaded.
- Know what is actually important when taking notes. Yes, keep track of everything (as what Jill says in her review), but also annotate which ones are actually related to the contents of the PPT and which ones are just his fun facts/side rambles. If you're crunching info in a short amount of time for your LTs, focus on the content of the PPTs. You'll survive it as long as you memorize stuff down to the smallest details (e.g. the name of the book, the exact phrasing for enumeration, etc.).
- We really can't stress enough how hard the tests were. Start memorizing as early as possible; if you're a crammer like me, start at least TWO DAYS before. My notes at the end of the sem ended up with around 50-60 pages of GDocs content to memorize for the comprehensive LT2 🥲
- He also made us do one critique paper, two short Canvas quizzes, a group video output, and ofc the final orals. These were def much easier than the LTs so don't take these for granted!
- He is surprisingly not a reading-heavy prof. I think I only read like, the first two readings and then I eventually realized it never mattered anyways in the actual tests.
- One last thing: iirc, he did curve the tests just to make sure that no one failed it too hard 😅 He had his own conversion table for this!
Is he B+/A-able? Yes, but be prepared to give it your all. I got an A in the end but it was not worth it hahahah 🙃 If you ended up with him though, he's definitely an /alright/ option!more
Happy Robin
Take complete notes, they saved me
mixed
WorkloadHeavy
I cant stress this enough: take complete notes. My notes saved me bc almost everything that showed up in our tests were in my notes.
Prepare early for the LTs, especially the second one. Its a LOT of memorization. The strategy I used was to create a mock quiz out of my notes.
Ask him questions about the test, he'll give a rough idea of what to expect. Basically, memorize anything you think can easily show up on identification questions and enumeration questions. You cant really prepare for the essay questions in the first LT tbh. But if you paid attention in class, you should be able to answer them. They were hard though.
His lectures lowk killed me inside sometimes but def not the worst, just keep taking notes. Take pics of the slide if you're not fast. All of the enumeration questions show up on the slides.
A-able with effort! He doesnt return grades though aside from the LTs and his grading system is confusing (I think people got pretty high grades) but kayang-kayamore
1 replyHide replies
Noble Heron
Hello! Will he call people out if they’re caught taking pictures of the slides? 🥲
All comments
Icy Finch
Pay attention, copy slides, mock quizzes for LTs
positive
Retake?Yes
4.0 attainableYes
LeniencyYes
WorkloadMedium
His class was okay for me! I was a victim of AISIS too but I don't regret taking the class bc I was with friends ❤️ Studying for the LTs was just so hard but they're def doable as long as you can vaguely expect what will show up. Orals were super easy too. I dont think I did that well (I did okay) but still got an A.
TLDR; pay attention, copy everything on the slides, take comprehensive notes, make mock quizzes out of ur notes for the LTs with identification and enumeration questions (eg what are the principles of this)more
Fancy Heron
Hi! I wrote a more in-depth review for Fr. Kenneth here: I'm just not sure if
Hi! I wrote a more in-depth review for Fr. Kenneth here:
I'm just not sure if he still uses the same forgiving grading system I talked about in my original comment thoughmore
Anonymous
One of the best profs ever in Ateneo for me
positive
Retake?Yes
One of the best profs ever in Ateneo for me hahaha
Rapid Moth
Laid back and often goes off-topic
neutral
Long story short: He can be so laid back and detracts from the topic in line with current events or what he has in mind. Despite that he has an easy to believe persona.more
Anonymous
miss ko na siya lol
positive
Mga friendsssss miss ko na siya lol
Mellow Quail
Mika Filoteo did u take him
did u take him
Brave Zebra
Nice and insightful, but LTs are challenging
positive
Retake?Yes
4.0 attainableYes
LeniencyYes
WorkloadLight
Hi Angel! He's very nice and insightful but can stretch a lot and take up a lot of time so sometimes lessons can be delayed. Challenging LTs (study well huhu) but considerate with orals! Easy B, but you can get higher if you put more effort. Only requires a few papers. Only thing lang is his coverage is much different compared to other ph101 but I don't think that's a big problem tbh! Hope it helps :)more
Quiet Lynx
B+/A-able if you study, fun, objective tests
positive
4.0 attainableYes
LeniencyYes
B+/A -able if you study!!! very objective with tests!!! you wont learn much tbh but hes fun and gives good grades!
Anonymous
Nice but sidetracked; weird tests for Philo
mixed
LOL you can expect half the lecture time to go to his telling the class about experiences in his life. He often gets sidetracked and doesn't realize it!! He is super nice too, really he's a pushover (a trait that may or may not be abused). He has the patience to clarify any questions you may have and will give you life examples to make things clearer.
His tests are weird though, I personally didn't like them. They aren't what you'd expect them to be for a Philo class because he's more on enumeration, true or false, identification and stuff like that. Essays are either sparse or not even part. Orals are fine. You'll be given thesis statements to talk about and he'll just stare at you.
He's an OK prof. You can better, you can get worse. He's really like a safe/second choice, or if you're prioritizing sched over prof and his time slots are ideal for you.more
Golden Moth
A/B+-able with effort, no slides, take notes
negative
4.0 attainableYes
A/B+-able with effort! I failed the 2 LTs but made up for it in the final orals and still passed with a decent grade
His lectures can be a bit confusing and there were times the entire class was lost, but just take note of everything he says and study well for the LTs, everything on the tests are mentioned in class or in the readings— but he doesn’t post his slides so make sure you take everything down!
He is also very big on attendance, if you miss one class your participation grade can go down, which accounts for 10% of your final grade IIRC
Overall, he’s very friendly and approachable so don’t be afraid to ask questions! Sometimes he’ll even go off-topic and talk about his experiences as a priest which were very entertaining 😆more