Samar, Edgar C. teaches at Ateneo de Manila University. Across 23 comments from students, they hold a rating of 4.0 out of 5. Students score them 3.1 out of 5 on clarity, 3.6 out of 5 on helpfulness, 2.5 out of 5 on grading fairness, 3.0 out of 5 on workload and 3.0 out of 5 on willingness to retake. Of those comments, 16 read positive, 3 read mixed, 3 read neutral and 1 read negative. They are listed for 2 sections this term.
Samar, Edgar C.
Ateneo de Manila University · 23 comments
What students said
positive 16
neutral 3
mixed 3
negative 1
Samar, Edgar C.4.0
Background
Education · Career · Courses · PublicationsShowHide
PhD · Associate Professor · Chair, Department of Filipino
Creative writing (narrative studies, novel, Philippine komiks, international trends in modern fiction) · Philippine literature (gothic and fantastic, Filipino novel, komiks novels, structures of feeling in Philippine poetry and fiction)
Education
PhD
Career
Associate Professor, Ateneo de Manila University · Department of Filipino · current
Chair, Department of Filipino, Ateneo de Manila University · Department of Filipino · current
Quiz every meeting, read the day’s readings or suffer
positive
WorkloadHeavy
I’m a freshie and had Sir Egay this 1st Term. You’ll have a short quiz (usually 8–10 items, typical identification, tama o mali, enumeration) every meeting—basically, it’s your attendance na rin (so yeah, a LOT of quizzes). You’re good as long as you read the readings since the quizzes are based on the readings assigned for that day, so you really have to read beforehand. Some meetings have a quiz worth 2 quizzes, and it means it’s gonna be a HARD quiz, so be prepared to piga your creative juices ’coz you’ll actually need it (good luck!!). Basically, you’re gonna be doing poems, sentences, etc., with restrictions and VERY VERY specific instructions, which are actually a lot and overwhelming.
There’s a Bonus Bingo which you can use as pambawi for your 0 quizzes (if you have a lot), ’coz in my class, we get 0’s in some quizzes talaga. If you also manage to blackout the Bonus Bingo—which has 9 tasks—some you really need to spend money on. But if you don’t want the hassle of doing the tasks and spending money, you’re free to do the Malikhaing Akda and Mapanuring Dula. But if you choose not to do the Bonus Bingo (since basically, it’s a Bonus), you really need to do the 2 Major Tasks (Dula and Akda). My advice is that whatever you choose to do, do everything in advance!! Pick your poison na lang HAHAHA.
To add lang, if you do the 2 Major Tasks + Bonus Bingo, the Bonus Bingo won’t be considered as additional points. It’s kinda confusing, but you’ll get it once you read the syllabus, so DO read it ’coz he’s very specific about it.
All I can say is that I have huge respect for Sir Egay, and you can see how good he actually is. It’s just that me, personally, I can’t keep up with how good he is, and I kind of think that he’s pushing his students to appreciate panitikan and their creativity. But ayon, Filipino literature is really not my forte. Also, we got lucky, ’coz since Sir Egay is a renowned author, he wins awards or gets invited for conferences from other countries as well. So like in our last few weeks with him, he had to go to Thailand ata for an award, so I think 1 or 2 assessments became bonus.more
Anonymous
Skip bookish answers, he grades novelty in recit
positive
CourseFILI 12
Hello! I had Sir Samar for FILI 12 onsite. In regards to his teaching, he likes to draw out answers/opinions from his own students about a subject/topic before inputting his own views/insights. He gives recitation points based on the uniqueness/novelty of the ideas you bring into the discussion, so I highly encourage you to do away with the generic/bookish answers and just enjoy engaging with him during his lectures with your own extempore thoughts. He does have a tendency to stray from the main topic of the discussion once in a while and even hyperfixate on one subtopic for too long (but hey, he’s just really passionate about all that stuff, so he gets carried away). Just try to jolt down the key points of his discussion and you’ll be fine (and he gives his Powerpoints naman after).
As for the workload and how he grades your outputs, his “Malikhaing Gawain” (Creative Outputs) really expect you to go all-out on the creative aspect. Simply printing your output on colorful paper can get you a 1.5/4 score. Also, ALWAYS READ THE ASSIGNED READINGS. Read in advance, if you can. AND ALWAYS BE PREPARED FOR AN ON-THE-SPOT CREATIVE OUTPUT TO BE SUBMITTED BY THE END OF CLASS. He’ll make you write poems, short stories, etc. Just make sure you’ve always got some creative juices to spare lol.
Other requirements for his class are okay lang din. We had to submit a podcast talking about a short story, and a Final Paper discussing two Filipino literary works from two different centuries. Sir Samar allots days for consultation naman, so as long as you make use of these you’ll be fine. All in all, if you’re the kind of person that enjoys being creative, I’d recommend Sir Samar. A-able with slight effort.more
Noble Egret
If I were you, I'd run
mixed
Retake?No
4.0 attainableNo
LeniencyNo
WorkloadMedium
If I were you, I’d run. Every meeting, he’ll test you on trivial things about the reading, not what the substance of it is. Sometimes it will be easy, but other times you’ll just have to accept your fate. The way he grades is if 1 person gets full marks out of all his sections, he won’t curve. Whoever said easy A is the only section out of his 5 blocks that seems to be passing easily. Everyone else is having difficulty. Average grade is C+. He does give numerous opportunities to pull up your grade though so it’s theoretically possible that your C+ becomes a B+. I don’t think you’ll fail naman as long as you do the plus points activities. Your wallet might cry though LOL.
His lectures are a bit messy and though it’s interesting, you’ll never know what’s gonna show up on the long test. During the lectures, you’ll jump from topic to topic without knowing what the actual point is. Basically maganda siyang pang podcast and it does make you think, but mahirap during the long tests because it’s not what he tests about. If your vocabulary isn’t wide enough, good luck passing his heavy tests. Those tests are big on creativity. He won’t usually have a powerpoint, and if there is, main points usually aren’t on it. You really have to listen to the lectures, but even that might not save you.
Great writer though! Yun nga lang mataas rin standards niya. Good luck nalang and pray that you understand him and his readings, because my section sure as hell doesn’t. Basta do the plus points and you won’t fail.more
All comments
Anonymous
Focus on readings and lecture details for LTs
neutral
CourseFILI 12
hii! for us in fili 12, the main advice is really to focus on the readings. like take note of the smallest details such as characters and also their dialogues or personalities. he also includes questions from his lectures.
also be prepared to have different test types in the LTs (for us we had a lot of identification like identifying which character said what line, fill in the blanks with a box of options, and essays)
i think that's mainly what i can advise. goodluck!more
Anonymous
positive
Sakdal husay!
Anonymous
Loved it, super A-able, lots of writing and readings
positive
Retake?Yes
4.0 attainableYes
WorkloadHeavy
update after taking his class:
i loved sir samar's class so much! tho you definitely need to put in the work, but it's super A-able! his discussions are really engaging and talagang kahit hindi ka magreview ng slides basta makinig ka lang sa klase good ka na (subjective, but it's better to take down notes on what he's saying vs what's on the slides)
a general piece of advice is to always go through the assigned readings and always be prepared for an output at the end of the class, depending on what's in the syllabus. and the readings arent boring becuase a good chunk of them this sem came from national artists!
and be prepared for A LOT of writing. sir appreciates it if you be more creative in story telling, and for our final output (zine about marginalized groups) we poured in our best efforts!more
Keen Osprey
Do the readings; exams are T/F, ID, and a poem
neutral
WorkloadHeavy
T or M, identification, then there's a part where he'll require you to create a short poem (just one stanza with four lines) depending on conditions he'll give (anyo, dulong tunog, tuldik). That was in the first long test. Sa second long test, it's just T or M and identification but it has a LOT of items. Do your readings, familiarize (or memorize, if you can) the characters, and understand the important points in the plot so you can ace these parts. Bawi sa writing activities, make sure you have original and creative ideas and write in proper Filipino grammar. He's a bit technical with word usage.
He gives pretty interesting and intriguing readings naman so make sure you do your readings because may random quizzes here and there and a huge chunk (if not all) of the exams are objective talaga. If he assigned a novel to your class, read it as early as now. Don't wait until the night before the final long exam to read it 🫨more
Kind Bison
Fun class, curves to the highest, 4s do happen
positive
4.0 attainableYes
LeniencyYes
One of the best professors I've had at Ateneo.
His tests usually check if you've read the materials or if you can apply what he teach in your writings, often through true or false questions and identification. However, sometimes they get more challenging, requiring you to write a poem, essay, flowchart, or story, all while adhering to very specific restrictions, such as a strict word count or very unconventional format. He curves the scores based on the highest grade across all his classes. So, if the highest score is 3.95, everyone’s score increases by 0.05. However, this rarely happens because there are usually people who get a 4, even on long quizzes, at least in our case. But still, just enjoy his class since it’s fun, and worry about the work afterward.more
Earnest Ibis
Fast writing in Fil 12, curves to the highest
neutral
CourseFIL 12
usually for fil 12, more on mabilis na writing kayo so be prepared for that (mentally) BUT he curves based on the highest score sa lahat ng klase na handle niya, so dasal na lang na walang prinsipe na makaka-A lagi sa klase niya kememore
Daring Wolf
Lectures ok, huge essay, still got a B+
positive
CourseFILI 11
Retake?Yes
LeniencyYes
WorkloadHeavy
Hi! I had sir for Fili 11 last sem! The lectures were ok naman but I struggled to organize them into notes usually. But he does explain well and try to engage with the class. I am bad at Filipino as a language and the largest chunk of our grade was a 10-ish page essay about pop culture so I was dying. But!!! Naka B+ pa ako dun which I feel was grasya honestly on his part. I considered taking his class again for fili12 this sem but I hate that he uses Notion and not canva. He’s a little hard to reach because of that. But, if you look up to him I don’t think naman na madidisappoint ka.more
Rapid Dove
GOAT prof ngl
positive
GOAT prof ngl
Calm Badger
Super A-able!! Balarila expert, GOAT!
positive
Super A-able!! Balarila expert, GOAT!
Jolly Kite
Passionate about Filipino, A-able with saks effort
positive
4.0 attainableYes
samar is passionate abt filipino so u cant bola him in one way or another. he's an insightful prof and you're gna appreciate him loads if u have a heart for literature.
A-able with saks effort! tho others say hes B+ w max effortmore
Clever Viper
B+ with effort if you listen and take notes
positive
CourseFILI 12
LeniencyYes
Hello! I had Sir for FILI 12 last semester, I'd say you can get a B+ with effort. An advice I could give is to make sure you listen to his discussions and take notes, as most quiz questions are from there. He also gave lots of bonus points to our class which saved our grades from the quizzes we got low scores on.more
Icy Robin
Passionate but strict; read every detail
positive
CourseFILI 12
WorkloadHeavy
hii, took sir egay for fili 12 last year and i think my experience was a rollercoaster. he's very passionate about the course and has really good insights about the topic being discussed. also, noo he doesn't give orals. but he does have 2 LTs + quizzes for every onsite meetings based on the readings (that u have to do in advance) + his asynch activity which is to read some short stories and participate in a discussion board. grading wise, he is very strict with the rubrics especially for the reflection papers and discussion boards and his LTs can be quite tough since half of the entire test has the most random test type. but, i can say that it's passable as long as you really READ the readings (and no, not just the essence or moral story, YOU REALLY HAVE TO TAKE NOTE OF EVERY DETAIL). his class is a-able naman but you really have to make BIG EFFORTS and be sure to maximize his bonus activities (prepare your wallets tho, cuz i spent almost 4K on books and play tickets for it). this is coming from someone who got a 2.0 on his LT 1, and a 4.0 on his last LT (and my advisory mark was a C+ but I finished his class with an A for the final mark) overall, goodluck and work really hard!more
1 replyHide replies
Calm Moth
Hello! Would like to ask how Sir Egay conducts his LTs? Are there any specific areas we should focus on? Thank you!
Anonymous
50/50, pure hell, brutal exams and grading
mixed
Retake?No
4.0 attainableNo
LeniencyNo
WorkloadHeavy
It’s 50/50—you’ll either love him or hate him. For me, it was pure hell. His exams are ridiculously difficult and the confusing chain comments system is a nightmare to keep up with. He offers a “bonus project” to save your grade, but it feels like pay-to-win. I ended up spending nearly ₱4,000 on plays, books, and movie tickets just to keep up. They’re technically “optional,” but because of how hard the class is, almost everyone feels forced to do them.
The grading system is brutal. If you score below 70 on any long test, it’s automatically counted as zero. That means even if you get a 69, it’s nothing. Exams alone are 40% of your grade (20% each), so one bad test can destroy your chances. In our first LT, 22 out of 30 people failed, and most of us started questioning if the problem was with us or with how he runs the class.
He’s very passionate about teaching Filipino, but missing just one day feels like you’ve missed an entire week. There are no PPTs, no modules on Canvas, no gadgets allowed, and you get a quiz at the start of every class. The readings are intense and you need to memorize the smallest details—what places were mentioned, how many times an item came up, even what people ate—because the questions are completely random.
Some people do have an amazing experience with him, but for me, it was one of the most stressful classes I’ve ever taken. I dreaded going to Filipino class every single time.more
Anonymous
Read before class or his FILI 12 lectures will lose you
mixed
CourseFILI 12
Retake?Yes
had samar for FILI 12, and he is STILL one of the best profs that i've had so far in admu <33 although i can see people are mixed abt him, either you'll love him or you'll hate him so here's some things to take note of if you're in his class:
regarding the lack of visual aids, it is important to clarify to READ the required reading material before class kasi mahihirapan ka sumunod sa lesson especially when you're going to the nitty gritty of the topics - you'll be able to pick up more from the lectures this way
take a lot of notes! dont only copy whats in the slide but also what he says kasi it will help give more context. i do agree with the comments here that his LTs are relatively difficult (especially the first one) but you will really learn a lot from him!
although i have to emphasize that you are NOT REQUIRED to buy the books to pull up your grade. you can open up this to sir egay and he will understand if you cannot buy the book to get the bonus points. also pro tip you can ask him to sign your copies of janus silang & walong diwata after the sem hehe~
overall, i honestly think it's impossible to fail his class unless you really slack off (based from my other classmates it looked like he curved our final grades since some people were really struggling in the LTs and quizzes) but personally i think it's B+/A-able with saks effort ^_^
also get a good group for the final project on pop culture it will really help u a lot!more
Anonymous
Goated lectures, ass everything else, run if you can
positive
Retake?No
4.0 attainableNo
LeniencyNo
WorkloadHeavy
same thoughts as anon member 388. if you get below 70 in the long test, it's automatically a zero and the highest in my class was 74. his quizzes are absolute ass, questions about which words were capitalized, asking you to make a jose rizal level poem for a "short quiz."
oo, madami siyang chances para maka kuha ng bonus points pero it's pay to win. as in kailangan mo bumili ng books just to get a good grade. i think i've spent 2k+ na on bonus points, excluding two more books i have yet to buy and the play i didn't watch bc it cost 750 and was in makati.
tldr: goated lectures, ass everything else. prepare your wallet and run if possible.more
Calm Koala
Don't reco unless you're super into Filipino art
negative
Retake?No
4.0 attainableNo
LeniencyNo
WorkloadHeavy
don't really reco him unless super into filipino art ka and are willing to be engaged in his discussions. I don't doubt na passionate sya abt fili, and it's admirable, but my god this guy has the most abysmal teaching style i've ever seen. his lectures are interesting yeah but goodluck trying to stay awake, he never uses visual aids din so you have to try extra hard to be engaged. AND HIS LONG TESTS ARE SO BAD he legit asked about his class policies from the syllabus which is 💀💀 failing his class is the norm atp. i'll give credit where it's due though, super clutchable sya kasi sa mga bonus na binibigay nya, but it's super pay to win if you wanna bring your grades up cause you'll be buying tons of books. and why does he never post any lessons in the canvas is beyond me. yun lang i suggest steer awaymore
Clever Robin
Best Filipino lectures, try and an A is very doable
positive
Retake?Yes
4.0 attainableYes
ONE OF THE BEST FILIPINO PROFS. His lectures are the most intellectually stimulating I've been in. Everytime he speaks, it sounds like a cacophany of beautiful melodies. ANG SOBRANG GANDA NG MGA LECTURE NIYA. The only problems I had talaga in his class were the short quizzes every week (sometimes its hard, sometimes madali lng naman) pero if youre willing to try in his class, it is definitely one of the easiest ones to get an A in. Ilysm Edgar Samarmore
Hidden Quail
Impactful lectures, hard tests, lots of bonus safety nets
positive
Retake?Yes
He is genuinely a really good teacher. Each lecture has impact. His tests are hard though but he gives a lot of ways to get bonus so you dont really have to worry about failing (I think HAHAHAHAH)more
Icy Heron
Legendary lectures, brutal tests, hard curve and bonuses
positive
WorkloadHeavy
Got sir Samar for my freshie year:
He’s legendary- he knows his stuff. Sobrang in-depth niya mag explain and really provides a new way to view the books/ stories you’ll be reading in the sem.
He also gives a lot of bonus opportunities, samin he made us attend a book launch event for his friend for +pts, even more so if u buy the book and get it signed on the spot (Rip 300?500? Hahaha) and he also curves hard. But, don’t get mistaken. He curves hard + gives a lot of bonuses because no one would pass of he didnt hahahahaha. His tests are on another level of difficulty and really slapped me in the face coming into college.
He also likes to give ‘surprise’ or small quizzes every other session, stuff like 1/4 sheet what was the reading about ganun. His long tests… hahahaha canon event.
For our final project it was a zine launch event so expect to spend a bit rin for printing or whatever man.
Anyways, if you want to learn I do recommend Sir Egay. As someone who had to read janus silang for high school meeting him in person was great. However, if you value your QPI more than learning I strongly urge you to think twice before getting him.more
Quiet Yak
Kinda hard to score A, but you really LEARN
positive
Retake?Yes
4.0 attainableNo
it's kinda hard to score A but his class makes u kind of forget about that because you really LEARN. forever sir egay biased 😔
