CMSC132 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/21/2024	puts a strange emphasis on the reading abilities of students with accomodations.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/20/2024	Provides a lot of study material for exams, sometimes makes lecture actually engaging, and uses a really good textbook as a supplementary (technically optional, but very helpful) resource for course material. The exams are exactly like his practice material, and if you do everything he assigns (homework + discussion worksheets) the class is very easy. The projects help with understanding all of the material covered in class on a more practical level, although the project packets are verbose and the grading is harsh on style. He is very slow at grading projects, so take feedback from project 1 extremely seriously. Larry is definitely not as bad as some people make him out to be, but he is unreasonably strict about using devices in lecture and sometimes falls behind on material because he interrupts lecture to point out pedantic administrative things.
Pranav Palle CMSC132 Anonymous 11/20/2024	BTF - Best TA Forever!
Larry Herman CMSC132 Anonymous 11/20/2024	He is a very divisive professor. His class is very organized. He posts good practice material in the form of optional homeworks and practice exams. His lectures, while boring at times, are very good and full of detailed explanations of the content. He have very distinct speaking habits, to say the least. His lecture slides are very bare bones, so you will have to attend lecture and take good written notes. Pro tip - focus on things he says and writes on paper. He has graded worksheets that are graded on effort, but they are randomly distributed in lecture and discussion. Attendance in lecture is mandatory. His project are very long and thorough, which makes them significantly easier. Exams are relatively hard. Not easy, but doable with studying. My TA sucked though, which didn't help. Overall, he would not be my first choice, but not someone to intentionally avoid.
Nora Burkhauser CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/19/2024	Exams have tough questions, projects are just her copying other lecturers, does not know simple things, gets confused during lectures. Does not even record properly half the time, we don't have videos on random days when she just "forgets" to record. 2nd Midterm was surely designed by her, because it was super tough and I swear she didn't go over half the things which were on the exam in depth. Every quiz has a different format, first one was on elms, second on grade scope, third was on paper and fourth one was as many tries as you want. Some of the quizzes have really abstract questions too, and there's no way a premier institute like UMD employed someone like her in the CS department. Lectures are just me trying to slog through the hour, and the TA's are average, some grading tougher than others. If you can choose a different professor, PLEASE DO SO. I had Pedram in CMSC131 and I still go back to his lectures to understand stuff when she confuses me.
Nora Burkhauser CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/18/2024	Her exams are so weird, hard but easy at the same time. I feel like they dont really test you on what you know and just really odd questions. I would say run and pick someone else but also im not suggesting herman. I dont know why she is lecturing and why umd got this lecturer who doesnt know anything considering umd is supposed to have a good cs program. I would say if you watch the lectures on the recording and not go to the lecture that might be better. I also think you should go through all the slides once to prime your brain before you watch the lectures. And then watch a video trying to explain the concept so you know when she is messing up in the lecture because that happens quite a bit. The one thing i hate are the exams and quizzes. The exams are just so damn weird. not like the practice at all. I think im doing really good in the class (95) because im studying all on my own and using chat gpt to give me help! Save ur self if u can
Nora Burkhauser CMSC132 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 11/17/2024	Give a hamster the 132 slideshow and it will do a better job at teaching than Burkhauser. You can try to self study but her practice exams are not reflective of the midterms at all. The questions on the quizzes are worded so weirdly, like the hardest part is figuring out what the question is actually asking, and does not reflect your knowledge of cs. Do not get burkhausered, run while you can.
Nora Burkhauser CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 11/16/2024	She does not even teach and makes so many mistakes during lecture. While she teaches she would always correct herself and it is so annoying. The second midterm was horrible, I think our average was like 10% less than Herman's average. If you have the choice, pick Herman or anyone else. She should stick to high school where there are less lectures and more group work or smth, she's definitely not fit to be a lecturer.
Ilchul Yoon CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 11/15/2024	Yoon is a very very nice guy, he also understands the content very well, but it might be hard to understand him, but if you focus and show up to lectures you will be fine. You can also review lectures as they are recorded. The projects and exams are fine, assuming you actually put in the work.
Ilchul Yoon CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/15/2024	If you understand what he is trying to say, then you are fine. You cant just hear the words without their context, you will be lost. Very passionate professor, but also expects a lot from you too. Its hard, but its worth it, put in the work and you will be fine. Lecture are also recorded which is a plus.
Nora Burkhauser CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/14/2024	She is so lazy and doenst make her own tests or projects. my current project is literally just nothing and she told us to make it
Nora Burkhauser CMSC132 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 11/04/2024	her practice exams are not helpful at all and don't prepare for exams. she doesn't explain things well and . she may be lenient in the way that she drops quizzes and deadlines she can be flexible but idk, the exams themselves are hard and she does not teach well.
Nora Burkhauser CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 10/07/2024	She usually takes way too long to explain something super simple. we were doing linked lists and idk why she is taking so long to explain something that just takes two seconds
Nora Burkhauser CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 09/27/2024	Terrible professor. Has never taught college before (only high school) and it definitely shows. Will confuse you on information that should not be confusing because she will make errors, correcting only using the answer key. I enjoyed the concepts and discussions, but dreaded going to lectures because of her as a professor. Take someone else.
Ilchul Yoon CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 09/20/2024	Pretty good professor, anyone who says otherwise is trolling in the class and can't lock in. I learned a lot and I believe I am prepared for the next step in my Computer Science journey.
Nora Burkhauser CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 09/16/2024	This teacher is badddddd. She doesnt know how to teach and is really bad at her job. She is confused half the time and is confused all day. She is boring to listen to. I had her in the MMH building so the building was ass. the seats were ass. Everyone was confused. she is bad. Better than Herman if you can study by yourself tho. I think she may be lenient but idk. have fun if her and Herman are your only options
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 08/26/2024	anyone that gives <5 stars for fawzi is salty they got a bad grade. lock in. 🐿️ fawzi is an S tier CS lecturer.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting a B- Anonymous 08/23/2024	I didnt mind larry, but wouldnt really recommend him either. The lectures are sooooo boring, genuinely fall asleep every time. The practice exams are key to doing well in this class, do them religiously. Projects are pretty easy. Final exam was pretty hard so start studying for that early on. Via email and stuff he is very much not flexible, id recommend office hours for questions/extensions.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a C- Anonymous 08/04/2024	This is a Summer CMSC132 course in which the lectures are all recorded and everything but exams are purely online. I felt he provided a great level of assistance for myself, he uses easy to understand metaphors for confusing concepts, and goes into great detail for whatever section we are on. In addition, he is a funny man who made me laugh there and there which helps improve the overall experience. A C- is a close call, but it would have been much lower without his teaching.
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/28/2024	You can tell that Elias is familiar with the topics he is teaching and is a knowledgeable person, but it doesn't seem like he knows how to explain them properly. A lot of times, he would explain the data structures or the algorithms but it would all be so theoretical that I would be lost on how to code it. I liked that his exams, quizzes, and labs would focus more on the theory and concepts. Overall, had a great semester with him!
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Expecting a B- Anonymous 06/23/2024	Elias is a rather nice person but his teaching style is jumpy and all over the place. He tends to teach the material at a very surface levels but his projects require extensive knowledge of the material. His projects tend to by copycats of Nelson and/or Fawzi with a twist making them much harder with little to no direction. He can be quite a confrontational person and always bats for he's TA's. He always claims their right and never listens to here your thought. His office hours are disorganized and TA's can help much giving very little surface help most of the time that you could have figured. He gives practice but it's also surface level, though his exams are easier than others . He constantly forgets to update information and has typos all over the place. He also has favorites and will exclusively only write them rec. letters because they suck up to him. His rating is much higher due to how likable he can be with the masses, but his teaching is subpar and disorganized. If you have the option, take Nelson or Fawzi. Otherwise you are probably stuck with him.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/20/2024	I actually really enjoyed Larry's class, lectures could be a bit boring but if you're able to pay attention he covers the material very thoroughly so going to class will help. He gives graded worksheets which you get 100 on for showing up. Project descriptions are extremely long but the detail will help you a lot, and most projects should take you maybe 2 days max. He also offers extra credit on many projects for submitting early, which should help your grade a lot. Also, no electronics allowed in class is a little annoying but I think it actually did help me focus. I thought that his exams were pretty fair, and he gives an extremely long practice document (~20 pages) and if you work through it, there should be almost no surprises on the exam.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 06/17/2024	Cares more about his Giraffes then his students. His lectures are entertaining however. Strict grader is an understatement
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Expecting a B- Anonymous 06/12/2024	Nice guy but he teaches very surface level and doesn't go into much detail, leaving it on you to figure out. He will bat for his TA's and always take their side when a problem occurs and has a bit of a superiority complex. He thinks he is the funniest guy out there but really his jokes are not so. His exams are comparably easily, but the 3rd one was very hard as little time is spent on data structures in his class. He really overemphasis other concepts while this class mainly a DSA in java. Gives very little practice. He gets people to like him and seems nice which is the reason his rating is high. Projects are mostly Nelsons with a twist making them harder than they need to be. Very little instructions are given and there is very little direction given , something needing to rely on the public tests to even figure out what is happening. TA's can even really debug during office hour and only give you knowledge that you know most the times. (Best TA's are Enric and Dominic by far)
Larry Herman CMSC132 Anonymous 06/11/2024	i only took herman because he was better than the other professor. the course is not bad but herman was a pain to be in a lecture with. only pro of this class: free worksheet grade worth 10% of grade. class consists of: 3 exams surprise worksheets in discussion/lecture (mostly in discussion) free 10 point of you try on them 9 projects class participation (2 times) final exam his first exam was really bad and the class average was 67. second exam was a little better and again the third was bad. the final was also hard. he put a lot of questions on end-of-semester material which threw a lot of people off. Like I said the worksheets are basically free points as long as you come to lecture. he doesn't want anyone skipping class so he uses these worksheet by giving them randomly. if you want to report an absence to make up one of the worksheets, good luck because he's really annoying about giving an excused absence. you basically use the absence website and have to wait for him to respond which he doesn't do for weeks, most likely months. his grading is a mess, most of the stuff was graded a week AFTER the final basically giving us no time to discuss our grades or see how we were doing through the semester. the lectures are very detailed which I liked but some of the time but sometimes he got so detailed and stuck on one thing. also theres no coding examples in lecture. he has slides he reads off of and writes on sometimes. he does post the slides but WITHOUT the stuff he wrote so its up to you to come to class and take notes. the TA's are awesome and honestly feel bad for them. they have to personal grade all the projects of all 500~ students because ig he doesn't want to use release test and make things simple (weird considering how much he complains about having a big course and having a hard time grading). TA's have to give the coding examples and summarize the lectures, give us ws, and go over it all in 50 minutes. projects are not terrible just challenging. all his project descriptions are 9 pages long with SO MUCH EXTRA STUFF. he does offer extra credit for some of them. the secret tests make me mad because you have write a bunch of student tests and cant even figure out if you passed or not because HE DOES NOT GRADE ANYTHING!!! overall an okay lecturer but there are no grades on time, hard exams, and make sure go to your discussion because thats the only way you'll learn. I'm really mad about my grade even though I passed the class.
Ilchul Yoon CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/02/2024	Certainly the worst professor I have taken at Maryland. Such an unorganized class that was difficult to pass unless you spent time teaching yourself the concepts, which I did. Yoon is a generally nice guy but can not teach to save his life. Lectures are all over the place, jumping from rambling and mumbling about one topic to the next. Projects and exams were usually horribly spaced out, oftentimes with a project due date and exam happening within a day or two of each other. Avoid at all costs. If you have to take him for whatever reason, utilize W3Schools, Baeldung, and Stack Overflow. I got very high grades on the exams, projects, and final because I put the time in pretty much teaching myself.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Expecting a C- Anonymous 06/01/2024	To echo my other review of Nelson, he makes you feel welcomed in a room of hundreds. The course content of 132 is so so important as principles of CS, and he instructs in an engaging fashion. Start your projects early, as always ;)
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/31/2024	Coming into this class I was nervous it was going to be tough given his rating, but now I can say that Larry is a great lecturer. His lectures go super in-depth and if you pay attention you will do good on exams. The first exam was tough but he adjusted accordingly. He is very strict about his procedures which at first was hard to get used to but it ended up being ok. He had random worksheets in discussion so you couldn't skip unless you had an excused absence which was very annoying. The worksheets do help a lot for the exams though. There was also a lecture participation grade where you had to answer 3-4 questions over the semester for 2% of your grade. Overall a great instructor that you can learn a ton from. Exams are fine along with projects. Don't be scared to take him.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Anonymous 05/29/2024	if you have larry herman, you will spend countless hours reading paragraphs of absolutely no substance. he has quite literally mastered the art of taking 3 sentences to say something that can probably be said in 5 words what a boring ****ing class. make of that what you will.
Ilchul Yoon CMSC132 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 05/27/2024	He's a nice guy and does try to teach what you need to learn from a basic OOP class. Exams are tricky and can be a bit lengthy if you don't manage your time well. If you know the concepts covered in lecture well you will be fine for the projects. But still do start them at least a couple of days before due date. TAs are good for figuring out project issues as well as going over practice material for exams. Discussion is your friend because yoon gives hints about exam questions through discussion problems. I did bad because I couldn't figure out how to properly study for the exams till the final which I got a 94 on. 132 is not supposed to be a hard class.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/25/2024	I was about to give him one star but here are my thoughts from the eyes of an international student having decent amount of knowledge with programming beforehand: - Required Participation: This doesn't make sense at all in my opinion. Yes I understand it's like free 10% of your grade, but like it doesn't make any sense to make it a requirement. Especially when the class size is huge and he doesn't end up looking at the people that he should be picking on. A lecture hall is where the lecturer gets to speak and the students listen, plus it's a cs major.... and discussions exist for a reason.... - Projects: While his projects aren't bad (and yeah no release tests BUT only secret tests, and you basically get the answers in the project document about secret tests if read carefully), the styling requirements is not fun.... Keep in mind, this is an LEP requirement class, so I think those requirements should only go to classes that are computer-science classes (like anything from CMSC216 onwards), because it affects people's grade for no reason. - Exams: He promised... PROMISED that there won't be any sorting algorithm tracing questions on the final, and drumrolll.... there was indeed an entire page worth of that. I think overall his exams are not hard, and he provides sufficient amount of resources (e.g. ungraded hw assignments, exam practice doc, etc.) to help us prepare well for the exam. Now, one thing that I think is pretty harsh about his exams is the fact that it's very dense. It's very detailed and it can throw you off quite a lot. I suppose this class is great at training you to be a better programmer and coder for future career reasons, but honestly in terms of grade, say bye bye to that. I think of it like a trade-off. - No Phones: Look, we live in 2024. Things have changed, and we know it too. I am aware that there are individuals who think that not having devices in front of you can help you focus, but I think that if you know how to properly use technology (which you should because you are in college at this point), you can do so much with it to help you learn things. His policy about no phones in class doesn't make sense to me, and personally speaking, I Google and read slides as lecturers go over lessons so that it's kind of like an aid to me and I learn more in the end. It's more about how we should use technology to facilitate and better our lives, just like how OpenAI wants us to... I honestly have more to say about this professor, but here's my TLDR takeaway: Mr. Herman is very old-schooled, which makes the class quite a challenge for some (if not many) students like us to be able to get the grade we should get, rather than what his system thinks about us. Yes, you will learn quite a lot from Herman because he's very skilled and knowledgeable, but it's challenging and honestly you're better off getting another professor if you're taking 132 with him because it's just a LEP requirement course. And remember, I believe that just because you're skilled and smart, doesn't always mean that you're well off teaching someone about it (teaching itself is an ability that needs to be learned and mastered).
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/22/2024	Pros: Elias is a really sweet professor and imo is a better lecturer than Nelson (whom I had for 131), as he tends to stay on topic better and is a very clear speaker. He's also very young, so he understands situations that come up very well. All of the exams were very easy including the final, and this semester he used MCPS grade rounding (so an 89.5 became an A- rather than a B+), which was very nice of him in an easy class. He also has ample extra credit opportunities on his projects, and he gives a free point on all the exams. Cons: He will often say he'll post something (study guides or answer keys) on some day, and it won't actually be posted until several days after the date he said he'd post it on. He doesn't go over lecture code really, it's mostly theory. This may be problematic in labs where you need to write code you haven't learned yet. Also, piazza for this class (response-wise) is pretty dead. Nelson's 131 piazza was consistently answered/active, but Elias' wasn't.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/22/2024	General idea for students taking Herman's class next semester (Using - and + to signal bad and good, = is a net nuetral) = Rigorous grading rubric on Projects, rigorous enough to where I likely averaged below the average score on each project because I was the type of student to rush projects last minute. This is less so of an issue on Herman's end and more so an issue with me, but I will say that it is possible to do projects the last day before it's late if you know exactly what you are doing. For students taking any class of Herman's, read the style guide to projects before you get hit hard by early projects. + Despite the Rigorous grading rubric on Projects, there's extra credit given on projects for only submitting once, and for submitting 2 days early on the projects worth 3.5% of your total grade, which are both 3 points of extra credit. + The project descriptions will say exactly what you need to test for on the project, if you follow with the wording of the project, you're likely to pass most, if not all of the secret tests. = Will not allow students to leave early during an exam. I know this is something a little bit petty to write about but it's something that he does in order to prevent students from leaving and talking about the exam to the next group of students. He also does have a penalty for not including important information, so just remember to write your information correctly on the front and on every odd numbered page. = Graded worksheets. This idea in general is interesting because this is something that usually occurs in Gen-Ed based classes, but he implements it here in order to encourage students to attend class and discussions. This is a coin-flip based activity as students previously have pointed out, with the spring 2024 semester having 10 graded worksheets out of 28 worksheets we did this semester. = No electronics in class, plus no recording of lectures. This is both a good and a bad thing for students. Personally speaking, I likely could of spent time writing my projects during the class time if I was allowed an electronic in class, but he does allow electronics for students with specific accommodations which allow them to have a device out. For those students, it is better to ask him and have Lecturer Herman know who you are so he won't waste time calling you out for something that you're meant to have in the class. He does waste time calling people out on having electronics out, and it's likely wasted up to maybe 1/2 to a whole lecture this semester, but I'd say the intention makes up for the wasted time. + Great organization, has structure to the class, may occasionally throw in a joke or stutter, but Herman's only human, this is something that happens to people in general. + TA's are great and are willing to help. Despite not going to any TA's office hours, the TA I had for discussion was great (I had Minsi). The discussion TA's go over the worksheets usually immediately after they are collected if it's graded, or after like half the class if not. The TA's also go over example questions which Herman writes to give students an understanding on questions which likely would have some basis on the exam. Note: Grading TA's grade projects, while the Discussion and Grading TA's grade exams. = Expect harder exams which test you on topics which you may not of studied upon. This is why TA's and their discussion help so much!, as the first two exams during Spring 2024 were on the same day as a discussion. Each exam is not a pushover and is structured similarly. There is usually multiple choice, short answer, and a writing prompt. The final had a lot more on this style, but overall, I did above average on exams because of my TA and my general knowledge of the course. Generally speaking, I barely clenched an A (I had a 92.74%) out this semester as 93% of the class passed the class this semester, so there was no curve in the class as a result. This will change as students in Fall 2024 who enter into college now need a B-, so take that into account. If you want a Lecturer who has generally strict guidelines and will have you reeling to study and do projects early, take Herman. I personally may not have fully enjoyed the class as a result, but the way he does his class should warrant higher rating than the around 3 stars that he does currently.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/22/2024	Ok so Herman gets a bad rep, but in reality he is a very good teacher who really cares about your learning. He gives VERY good practice material for the exams, and he doesn’t give curveball questions. However, the reason I didn’t rate him 5 stars is because his grading is very slow. Somehow his tests are graded super quickly, but the majority projects aren’t graded until after the final exam, so you don’t really know where you stand in the class until the end. My advice for people taking this class is to utilize ALL of the extra credit opportunities. My grade was super close in the end and if I had slacked off on one project I would have ended with an A-.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/22/2024	Best professor I've had at UMD. People like to shit on him but I think it's just because they haven't put in enough work for his class. If you actually study you will do well. You will actually learn in this class if you pay attention. Every lecture was fulfilling because I felt like I was actually learning something. He explains things thoroughly and gives great analogies that break things down so that it's much simpler to understand. I did fall asleep in his class but that's because I'm sleep deprived and I fall asleep in all of my classes. The "pop" worksheets he gives are literally free points. You get full credit even if you get all the answers wrong or even you don't finish it. You just gotta shop to discussion/lecture. You also get extra credit on projects if you submit 2 days before the deadline and if you only make one submission (it's extremely easy to only make one submission because it's just public tests on the submission server and you already have the public tests in eclipse LOL). His project descriptions are very lengthy and detailed (he's a yapper) BUT very very useful because it's so easy to tell what the edge cases are so you'll be able to pass the secret tests. His exams are extremely fair. Even though I ate absolute dogshit on the first exam (if I did better I would've gotten an A in the class) I still thought my exam score was fair because I barely studied for it and just overestimated my knowledge. But it made me realize that I should actually try and learn how to study and also it put me into the right mindset for all of my classes and my future classes. For the rest of the exams and the final, I got above 90 because I actually put in the work. By putting in the work I literally just mean studying 1-2 days before. Cramming might not work for everyone but the point is that I'm not telling you to work yourself to the bone, just put in a little more effort. His practice problems are literal crack for the actual exam too. He also has participation points that are worth 2% of your grade. I'd say participate 3-4 times and you're good. I know this can be difficult if you have social anxiety (as do I), but to be blunt about it, nobody cares about you and they're all focused on their own participation points and trying to answer questions. Honestly, the participation points helped me pay attention in class. If I were to critique one thing it would be that he grades very very slow. It's the TAs who are grading but I think it is a result of him being kind of disorganized. After we took the final, half of our shit was still ungraded. Literally was shaking in my boots waiting for my projects to be graded. But otherwise, larry is the GOAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/22/2024	The course is well structured and the projects were very good. I went to all of the lectures but didn't really learn much from them, since Elias's teaching style just doesn't suit me very well. However, Elias is very nice and understanding. He provided good resources to prepare for exams, and exams were graded very fairly.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/22/2024	Pretty good instructor. He definitely gets a bad rep from some people due to his style of teaching, but he's a pretty decent lecturer who's generous with extra credit opportunities. He's extremely organized and does a good job explaining concepts and using analogies to help us better understand new concepts. His project descriptions were annoyingly long at first, but I grew to appreciate them because they are EXTREMELY specific; there was very little confusion on what needed to be done. The style requirements and secret tests were also annoying, but they force you to write good comments and thoroughly test your code. What I really appreciated about Larry was that he provides a TON of practice material in the form of worksheets, optional homeworks, and practice exams. His answer keys are also super descriptive as well. The only things I disliked about Larry were that he doesn't record lectures, the slides he gives are super bare bones, he basically forces you to go to lecture and discussion, his sleep-inducing monotone voice, and the fact he will stop teaching to tell a person to put their phone away in a room of 300 people at least twice per lecture. Overall, I would take Larry over Yoon, but not over someone like Nelson.
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/21/2024	For reference, I review all my professors, and my average review is 4.2, 4.13 weighted by credit. Singularities/Unique because: - 3 "late tokens" on projects. Submit 48 hours late thrice a semester for no penalty. Outside of those, submit on time or get a zero (dw, extensions are a thing). - 3 75 minute exams, which including the final only weigh 50%. - About 15 labs and quizzes, all in discussion (go to discussion). - In his early-mid thirties - Lots of office hours You will probably like: - Genuinely a good human being, is understanding, does actually want you to succeed - Can actually have a conversation about normal topics you would talk about with your friends (apologies to Arsenal fans) - Funny guy, you'll stay engaged during lecture, though he manages to have time to start classes off topic and the occasional tangent during boring topics You may be frustrated by: - He is still learning how to properly conduct a class on his own, meaning: - In an (successful) effort to increase discussion participation, Elias structures the class so that all but 3 discussions had graded work. - Directions/instructions will often be unclear - Majority of projects will be borrowed but don't always line up with what he's taught. Original project(s) you get from him may still be rough around the edges. - Covers a lot of content compared to other 132 options, but at the 30,000 foot level (see below reviews) - Intentionally doesn't cover stuff at times so that you practice it in the corresponding project. Makes it clear when/why he is not, at least. - Lack of cohesion between Elias and TAs. He keeps most stuff under wraps to avoid leaks, but this has its costs, like conflicting answers to the same question, or no answer at all from TAs. People who TA for Elias are all very kind people, but they're also put in a bad spot by his system (they don't recommend :)) Think of it this way: If we had to teach a college course ourselves, we would all be worthy of a 1-star review after our first year. In just a few years, Elias has earned himself a 3 from me and an overall 4.5 star, and you'd think it's only getting better as he settles in. Yes, he was far from my favorite professor this semester, but I have patience and faith that he will improve in the coming semesters since he is committed to doing better, and hopefully this review will be outdated in a few years.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting a C Anonymous 05/21/2024	I cannot stress enough DO NOT TAKE THIS MAN. He is way too old to be teaching a class this size. He gives absolutely no shits about any of his students. You can’t contact him unless you go to his office hours in which the lines are horrific for. Projects are easy but he will make sure he milks every single mistake you made to take points off. Midterms were so horrendous he would give you practice exams and then put similar questions on the midterm but solved in a different way to throw you off. The final was actually the most specific questions that no one except people who have never touched grass could solve. The lectures are a waste of time and the slides he post are so vague you might as well not even look. It seems like he made this class as hard as he could just so he can weed out 50% of students. All in all he was the most condescending professor I have ever sat down with and anyone who had a good experience with him was probably a white male.
Ilchul Yoon CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/20/2024	Yoon is a nice guy, and that's about it. 132 had to be the most unstructured, annoying, and overall terrible class I've taken so far at UMD. Yoon is smart and seems nice, but he can not teach to save his life. I taught myself just about every concept in this course because his lectures were incomprehensible and all over the place. W3 schools, Baeldung, and the Javadocs will be your best friends if you take Yoon for 132. Our class average was a 77, I got a 90, so I'm not just crashing out because I did poorly. I truly mean it when I say to avoid him at ALL COSTS. It is absolutely pitiful that the CS department at Maryland even allows this to go on for this long.
Ilchul Yoon CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/19/2024	Yoon is a nice guy, is approachable, and is happy to help you during office hours, that is about all the positives though. The man cannot teach at all. Every single lecture I attended I walked out more confused than when I entered and learned absolutely nothing. His lectures come off as disorganized and unprepared. During the second half of the semester, I pretty much stopped coming to most lectures and would just look at what he was teaching that day on the lecture slides and watch YouTube videos on it. The TAs are just as confused as us a lot of the time. His project specifications are very broad and confusing a lot of times. If you take Yoon be prepared to teach yourself the entire course.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Anonymous 05/19/2024	PROS: -Very thorough notes and exam review materials, you can study just based off his optional homeworks and lecture notes and exam review -Exams were fair and not really any trick questions or curveballs -Worksheets based on completion instead of accuracy, so as long as you try you get full points -Participation points (honestly can either be a pro or a con, but its an easy 2% boost to your grade if you just raise your hand two or three times in the entire semester) -TAs were awesome and very helpful CONS: -Lectures and discussions are not recorded and you don't know when worksheets will be given, so you have to go to as many classes as you can -Odd lecturer. I was initially going to say "boring" lecturer, but he does include some jokes and has his moments. It's more so that he has a handful of very repetitive vocal patterns or habits that genuinely put me to sleep. I don't know how he did it but I swear I was actually trained like a dog to start zoning out every time he went "uhhhh" or "weellll" -Projects were just not ever graded. They graded in bulk once around midterms right before the class drop deadline so you can get a rough estimate on whether you need to drop his class or not, and then once again after the final. Currently I'm still waiting for finals and all of my projects since March to be graded. I know this is a problem with the department as a whole, but it's still necessary to mention -Devices not allowed during lecture. Not even those tablets people have specifically for notes. He will call you out in the middle of class if he sees you with your phone or laptop or whatever out
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/18/2024	Pros: Elias is a great lecturer, and I'm really glad I took 132 with him. His teaching style really clicked for me. When learning data structures, he would give us time to practice drawing out the structure ourselves. He's very clear on what topics will be on the exam, and they were overall fairly easy (80s averages). He also has his and Nelson's previous exams for practice. Lectures were really engaging, and Elias was always helpful during office hours. He's also a very understanding person and always wants you to succeed in class. Cons: Lecture pacing is fairly inconsistent. In the first half of the lecture, he puts a lot of time and care into helping us understand the core material. However, the final third of the lecture feels kinda rushed. He takes a long time to respond to emails and usually doesn't post the solutions until the day before. Some of his lectures do lack some detail, it was sometimes difficult for me to start my projects. Overall, the positives for Elias heavily outweigh the negatives. I strongly encourage taking him for 131/132 if you can; he's awesome despite some organizational issues.
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/18/2024	great professor! you do have to put the work in if you want to do well (going over lecture code yourself, redoing labs/worksheets, etc) but Elias and his TA's are really helpful in office hours. Also occasionally drops hints about exam questions which is helpful. Exams/quizzes are pretty easy too as long as you understand the material.
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/17/2024	Elias gets great reviews because he's nice and his exams are relatively easy, but that has made him overrated as a teacher. The biggest issues are that he is very disorganized and has a bad TA system. Elias is not responsive to emails and often makes mistakes in his work, even on his own answer keys. On Piazza, the wait time is often very long even right before project/exam dates because the TAs are slow and also seem to cancel office hours all the time. He needs to keep them on a tighter leash, because the contrast between this and Nelson's class is crazy. Additionally, his slides aren't detailed and gloss over important info, and he screwed up a LOT when we were covering topics like hash tables and tree traversal. However, he is very helpful and articulate when you talk to him individually, so I think the potential to be an excellent professor is there if he cleans up the issues with more experience.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/17/2024	Random graded worksheets in lecture and discussion. No electronic devices in lecture. Not terrible, but by no means a great "instructor".
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/17/2024	Professor Gonzalez is a great teacher who keeps the classes interesting and understandable, especially during more complex lectures. He has a great sense of humor and keeps things casual with students to limit stress and tension. Quizzes were made very easy since we could write a sheet of notes prior and use it during the quiz. All lectures are recorded, making it easier to review for exams. The only issue I had was that he taught TAs the material in a different way than he taught current students, making it challenging to determine certain problems were meant to be completed. Besides that, I would definitely recommend Gonzalez.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/14/2024	Aura. The defining trait of instructor, lord, king, his majesty, baron, leader, and most importantly of all, friend Herman. When I first walked into his classroom, I was amazed at the vigor and passion this man demonstrates in his lectures. With his sidekick Ginny the Giraffe, I experienced 16 wonderful weeks of inheritance, data structures, recursion, concurrency lectures from this beautiful and amazing man. I now know my true calling as a data structure extraordinaire. My life has been forever changed. Thank you, Larry Herman. Real talk he's pretty good tbh. Provides good practice and more then enough resources to do well in the class as long as you actually attend lecture and discussion. His lectures are pretty boring sometimes and him randomly calling out people for using their cellphones, disrupting the flow of lecture can be very annoying but most of the time he's pretty solid. Lecture slides are also pretty good so if you miss lecture you don't have to worry about missing much.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/13/2024	Doesn’t record lectures, has random graded worksheets that are a huge chunk of your grade on random lectures or discussion days, makes participation apart of your grade too. Boring, dry, and doesn’t curve at all. Do not take him if there are any other options.
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/13/2024	This was a very messy class. I want to deal with the Pros/Cons, and I hope this will be helpful to anyone considering Elias in the near future Pros: -Elias is an incredibly kind and understanding professor. His office hours are accessible. -Projects are constructive and pretty free reign. I enjoyed them. The free reign thing seems to lead to weird grading disputes though. -Quizzes are somewhat open-note and straight-forward. -Exams are not too bad in the scheme of things. Final exam is a little less cumulative than you'd expect. Not A Pro or Con?: -His lecture style is informative, but somewhat boring and a bit too focused on singular problems. A lot of lectures had ~50% of time allocated to going over one example. Cons: -You will NOT get a response in emails and Piazza is 50/50. -There is a good chance you will need to address some sort of errors in this class. I had 2 separate TAs give me 0/100s on distinct projects without thought due to their own lack of care and technical difficulties only to go through the regrade process and get 100%s on both. It is hard for me to not place some blame on the lecturer for this when it occurs multiple times. -The practice exam keys he makes are full of errors and sometimes even the exams had confusing/outright incorrect information on them. -Elias himself sometimes sends a hundred different mixed signals on things like which concepts will be on the exam. -Discussion sections are full of labs. It got tiring and non-constructive at certain points. They should have been spaced out a bit more. I am very mixed overall about my experience in this class. He is still probably worth taking over Hogan/Yoon if they're teaching. I believe in the future he will iron out these "growing pains," since he is relatively new and pretty young, but for now, I cannot justify a score above a 3/5.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/13/2024	Strict lecturer, very knowledgable about material and is sometimes funny. He does do everything he can to make sure his students succeed in his class. He makes a big deal about having no electronics in class. Lectures/discussions are mandatory in the sense that he gives graded worksheets (based on completion) on random discussions/lecture days. He posts homeworks, but they were optional. He doesn't post recordings of lectures, but he posts his lecture slides on canvas. His exams are hard if you do not study, but if you study the worksheets provided during discussions and the practice exam he provides, and do the homework he posts, then you will be more than fine. Projects were chill, he made like 8-9 page requirement pdfs for each project, a lot of reading but it was nice to have very elaborate requirements for projects. I would say overall this class was fine, just make sure you go to class.
Ilchul Yoon CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/12/2024	Super chill prof
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/11/2024	My honest opinion on Herman is that he is a really nice guy and I honestly think that he is rated poorly here for no reason. His exams I wanna make clear are not easy but they are not hard, they are the most fair exams you will ever take here at this school. However his lectures are boring and quite frankly I have fallen asleep in them a couple times, but I think if you really want to do well in this class it is fairly simple. Go to discussion, do the worksheets, do the homwork and study the practice exams as if you do the practice exams a couple times, u can start to get a feel as how the exam will be. Also if you ever need anything just talk to him as he is really nice and wants everyone to succeed ( just don't call him professor).
Michael Cortina CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/11/2024	Explains the content well and greatly helped me to understand it even after just not listening to Larry in most lectures.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/10/2024	If you take Larry's course and you hate him, expect to hate every comp sci course you take in the future. If this is for your major and you want to make sure you know the basics, take this course and pay attention. Herman is extremely good and making sure you understand the basic concepts of programming and building off of those concepts. He knows how to connect new concepts to old ones, and drill the old concepts into your memory. I'm not sure where the people who say he is boring come from. It is the ONLY class I've ever taken where the class clapped after an explanation. He is funny, and has little skits that really do help you remember important concepts. He descriptive enough to make sense but not overly so to bore a class with proofs and theory. And he loves giraffes! He repeats information that is important to make sure you remember. If he repeats something WRITE IT DOWN. Sit in the front of class, pay attention, and it is the easiest A and possibly the most helpful class you will have in your whole degree. The exams felt extremely fair, the concepts on it were always something he mentions in class a lot, hence why you should write down what he repeats. Projects descriptions are verbose and tell you EXACTLY what to do and what he wants. Some people might hate this and think it is finicky, but I'd beg for a project description like this from a job or a later class. The things he mentions about coding style and off the wall comments you can tell come from a great deal of experience in the field, do not take his advice lightly.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/09/2024	Pretty decent professor, though he says no electronics allowed during lecture, if you are using a ipad to take notes, he typically turns a blind eye. There are pop graded worksheets during discussion and lecture so make sure you go to every single one, though they are just graded off of completion. His projects are just straight up words but very descriptive of what is required. Exams are pretty fair.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/09/2024	Definitely try to avoid him. His lectures are pretty boring, however bearable if you really try hard to focus. He tries to make it fun so I don't judge him for this. Like you can see from other comments, he does not provide any lecture recordings. His powerpoints are pretty much useless if you go to his class. And the important tracing details or concepts he often writes on the powerpoint, which he doesn't save and include on the uploaded version. So, you have to follow his tracing in class and write them down. His projects are extremely difficult to get 100% on. He is ridiculously strict on styles, like an empty line above each block(start of an if or for loop for example), and comment for each block. You need to add an honor pledge, name, section number and other things to each project, which is fine, but he doesn't mention it in class. He only mentioned looking at the style guide, which is an 8 page pdf. Thus the average on the first project was probably around 70%... His exams are fair to be honest. I messed up on the first. Then he made a really easy exam 2. Exam 3 is also fair, probably his regular difficulty, and the average is in the mid 80s. He barely provides any coding examples, which can be the most useful thing when you study, review or start projects. This is the worst thing I have experienced in his class. I learn from looking at code most of the time, and I believe most students do. Thus be aware of this. There are often coding examples in the textbook, but often doesn't hint you on how to start on the projects. I got an A+ in CMSC 131 barely going to class. And I believe getting an A with Larry is definitely doable. It's just going to be much harder, while you are learning the same amount as taking any other lecturers. Or his teaching style is different compared to what I'm used to.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/09/2024	Herman is the best instructor I've had in the CS department yet. Yes, exams can be tricky, but he sends out extensive preparation in the form of 15 page PDFs. If you do all of the prep and understand the lectures, you should be fine. He has many style preferences that people like to complain about, but I think they are actually good style and make you a better programmer. Project descriptions were very long, but isn't that a good thing? I thought it was. There was no room for misunderstanding and you always knew the expectations. He was also extremely organized, which I could really appreciate. If you follow his really clear directions he lays out for this class, you will have nothing to complain about. He even gives extra credit on some projects.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/09/2024	Definitely try to avoid him. His lectures are pretty boring, however bearable if you really try hard to focus. He tries to make it fun so I don't juge him for this. Like you can see from other comments, he does not provided any lecture recordings. His powerpoints are pretty much useless if you go to his class. And the important tracing details or concepts he often write on the powerpoint, which he doesn't save and inlcude on the uploaded version. So, you have to follow his tracing in class and write them down. His projects are extremely diffcult to get 100% on. He is ridiculously strict on styles, like an empty line above each block(start of a if or for loop for example), and comment for each block. You need to add honor pledge, name, section number and otherthings to each project, which is fine, but he doesn't mention in class. He only mentioned to look at style guide, which is a 8 pages pdf. Thus the average on the first project was probably around a 70%... His exams are fair to be honest. I messed up on the first. Then he made a really easy exam 2. Exam 3 is also fair, probably his regular difficulty, and the average is in the mid 80s. He barely provide any coding example, which can be the most useful thing when you study, review or start projects. This is the worst thing I have experienced in his class. I learn from looking at code most of the time, and I believe most students do. Thus be aware of this. There are often coding examples in the textbook, but often doesn't hint you on how to start on the projects. I got an A+ in CMSC 131 barely going to class. And I believe getting an A with Larry is definitely doable. It's just going to be much harder, while you are learning the same amount as taking any other lecturers. Or his teaching style is different comparing to what I'm used to.
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Anonymous 05/07/2024	He has some flaws, but I honestly don’t these issues are serious enough to take him down to a 4-star (he’s often very late to respond to emails, but there are a lot of opportunities to talk to him in person and TAs are also very helpful in most cases). He’s incredibly nice and understanding. Exams are easy if you look at his study guides and practice exams. Great CS professor!
Ilchul Yoon CMSC132 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 05/07/2024	His workload actually makes me depressed like I've never had a worse course on my mental health
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/05/2024	I took 132 with Fawzi last semester and it was overall a positive experience; if I could I would give a 3.5 stars. Tests were fair and he is overall a great organized lecturer who can teach you material in a simple manner. He doesn't allow the use of technology in the classroom however. While I understand why he does this, I still think that its up to students at this point if they want to be distracted rather than pay attention to lecture since this is college, and the money they waste is on them. Fawzi also does not record lectures. Again, while I understand his reasoning, if you end up being sick and cant come to lecture, you are screwed since slides have minimal information on it, and you have to have a friend give you notes(sometimes listening to Fawzi is the best way to learn the material). Other than that, quizzes were a little annoying each week but it helped me keep up with what we were learning. Fawzi is also the perfect teacher where he is academically challenging but also good at explaining concepts, meaning that he prepares you for the harder stuff to come in your CS degree. If you have the chance to take Fawzi, do it. While there are some challenges, you can still get an A if you study hard since he is reasonable. At the same time, you will be prepared for the rest of your time at UMD.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/30/2024	Fawzi is a great lecturer. If you attend and pay attention to his lectures, you will do fine in classes. The studying resources are not the greatest, but at least he provides you with general questions that help you prepare for quizzes and exams. The only downside I would say for the class are the harsh quiz rubrics where mistakes can cost you lots of points. Be very careful to make sure you are not missing anything on quizzes, but this harsh grading style is really helpful for exams to not make the same mistakes again. I would recommend him for 132!
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 04/24/2024	Pros: - Understands content well, easy exams for the most part - Willing to help & cares Cons: - Not responsive to emails at all - His lectures are extremely bare bones and often inadequate for learning - He has limited practice material and is very late at posting keys - Office hours for TAs are disorganized and usually pretty useless
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 04/24/2024	I google "GOAT" and it took me here. But seriously Elias is an excellent instructor. He makes learning fun and his classes are very enjoyable. He truly wants to see you succeed. Open note quizzes, relatively easy exams, and he uses Nelson's projects and they're not too bad. Lectures can feel kind of useless at times and you should prioritize reviewing the material outside of class. Tbh, I've been to maybe 7 lectures all semester and have been putting in medium effort and I have a 97%. Take this class with Elias, he's probably better than anyone else teaching it except Nelson (depends on who you ask).
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/22/2024	Pros: =Fair Exams; if you did the practice exams and review the notes, you should be set =Project descriptions are thorough and understandable, grading is very objective which means if you read the guidelines you will do well Cons: =2% of grade is on class participation but class environment is hostile. He makes attempts to be cool and make jokes, but jokes are at the expense of students including those who attempt to answer his questions. He is then baffled on why no one wants to participate. =Random in class worksheets make it so you must attend every lecture TLDR: Sarcastic and mean but course work and exams are fine.
Ilchul Yoon CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/22/2024	Pros: - Records and posts lectures and only has two quizzes the entire semester so if you keep up with materials covered in lecture on your own you essentially don't have to show up at all besides for the 2 quizzes and the 3 mid terms. I have an A in the class while quite literally not going to a single lecture or discussion, but rather by just watching the lecture videos and trying to understand the materials covered. - TAs record their sessions as well. - The lecture code provided helps a lot for knowing how to do certain projects. - Midterms are pretty fair as long as you study. Make sure to study for the small details that may not seem as important. If he mentions it, there is a good chance it'll be on the exam. The majority of the points on the mid terms come from writing code, but that ended up being a positive for me. As long as you study the material he covers and the lecture code he provides, the coding problems are a breeze. Cons: - Not the best at teaching. His lectures are very dry, he has a strong accent that makes understanding certain things hard when he talks too fast, and he does not know how to effectively teach and explain certain topics. However, as long as you kind of get the gist of what he is talking about, you can learn about the topic just from the lecture code examples and there are plenty of resources online to learn the topics further. I wouldn't necessarily call him a 'bad' teacher but definitely not good. - I found the projects to be a 6/10 in difficulty on average. Most of the projects I'd give a 5/10, in terms of difficulty, it would take on average an hour for me to do them. However, there are two projects in this class that are quite difficult. I'd give them a 8/10 for difficulty. These projects took me around 4-8 hours to do, and one of them I couldn't figure out how to do so I just took the L on it. My advice would be to at least try to start every project as soon as you can so that if it ends up being a harder project you give yourself time to finish it. I'm still going to end up with a A in projects due to most of them being relatively easy.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/18/2024	He is good at lecturing, good notes, he could probably beat Goku imo, he easily has multiversal++ AP and is FTL
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 04/18/2024	He is a really nice professor and knows the material he is teaching. As a student coming in with no previous knowledge about java and had cmsc131 with Nelson, I think that Elias is pretty bad at explaining the topic since most of the time he would simplify too much of the topic that students will only know the basics of how a function works, but they would not have enough knowledge to actually code it. He barely goes over the lecture code and does not explain what the code does, which makes it hard to understand when he talks about it.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 04/14/2024	Everyone hating on Larry (at least in 132) have a) never met him and b) majored in CS because they thought it would be an easy 100k out of college. I will say, he is an overly thorough man, but as I have taken his class, I have realized that is probably why he is such a great programmer. Thinking slowly and methodically on exams is crucial because he puts things in there that you will definitely miss if you try to speed through. If you don't try in this class then you won't get an A it is so simple. Also if you have to, pinch yourself to stay awake in lecture because they can actually be really helpful. His practice problems are nearly identical to the actual exams, and for every exam, I just repeat the practice like 5 times. I missed a total of 2 questions over 2 exams using this method. The projects take some time, but you should be able to finish in around 2 days max unless you get stuck. For the first project I didn't follow the style guide which cost me a letter grade. But, I was able to get the points back because extra credit is offered on almost every project. If you make your student tests well you should be able to pass every test (secret tests included). Coverage is a very useful tool for this and making your code efficient. Every discussion has a worksheet and it's basically a dice roll if it is graded. This is how he keeps people coming to discussion, but I always show up late and have never gotten points off. I have also skipped a couple times and gotten lucky. I used to think he was evil too but he's actually so chill. If you are someone who is actually going to study then herman will be a breeze. Also, don't do anything out of order with him. I think he has OCD so he gets really upset when people a) knock on his door a couple minutes before office hours b) don't get in the quuly. Its kinda weird but still worth because he's actually the goat.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 03/15/2024	Great professor
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 03/12/2024	Fawzi is an okay professor. Although he is a very good lecturer he barely provides any resources to study so it is quite hard to prepare for exams. 132 is quite easy if you understand data structures. Since this is a coding-heavy class it is really easy as you can just look at code examples from class and projects to study. I am currently taking 250 with Fawzi and it is not a good idea since 250 is a mostly math course and he provides little to no practice for exams. He is an okay professor for 132 but don't take him for 250.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 03/11/2024	Exams are really hard; not at all like the review, the professor is very monotone and boring and exams are so tricky do yourself a favor and dont take him!!
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Anonymous 03/09/2024	Pros: - Really sweet professor, nice, younger - Knowledgable, definitely knows the subject well - Exams are relatively easy, provides some practice Cons: - Not responsive to emails - His lectures aren't super detailed at times. He goes over topics, but skips over on some of the smaller details that exam questions specifically test. It will fall upon you to fill in gaps of your own understanding. - He posts Nelson's past exams and a few of his past exams but doesn't post the solutions to his until last minute. - TA resources are decently inadequate. OH system is disorganized (and quite frankly not long enough), TAs don't respond to Piazza posts in timely manner
Ilchul Yoon CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 03/01/2024	Asked the most obscure, in-depth questions about some inbuilt functions on the first exam.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 02/28/2024	Pros: - Great Lecturer (I don't personally think his voice is that easy to fall asleep to) and far more organized than Nelson - Gives a LOT of practice material for exams - VERY thorough when explaining concepts which I appreciate - Great project descriptions Cons: - His exams are tricky. They will be asking for very specific answers. - No lecture recordings in case you miss class (this did encourage me to go to class though so it's not all that bad) - No technology in class (Lowkey this helped me focus so much better but to each their own) - Lots of graded worksheets (you learn a lot, but there is one very week) Overall, he is a strict professor, but he definitely knows what he is talking about. If you actually want to LEARN and not get super off track every lecture (cough elias and nelson cough) Larry is the professor for you. His classes are not easy but you will absolutely learn. I personally enjoy his frankness and monotone voice because he gets straight to the point. Sometimes his jokes make me cringe, but if you can look past that, he's great!
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 02/28/2024	Herman is extremely boring to listen to, his projects are unreasonably difficult to get 100% in, his grading TAs will mark you off for every little detail, his tests are outrageously difficult to study for, and he does not allow electronics in class. DO NOT TAKE HIM.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Anonymous 02/22/2024	At first I didn't necessarily like the way he taught since I suppose I was more used to having professors recording their lectures and letting us have our electronics out. With Fawzi, although he does not record lectures, doesn't let you have electronics out, and has weekly quizzes that he doesn't tell you what is going to be on it (it's honestly very predictable what's going to be on the quizzes if you go to lecture and pay attention), he is honestly an outstanding lecturer. He explains everything so clearly yet quickly. Fawzi isn't a bad professor, his lecture examples are very helpful and the coding problems on his exams are almost from those examples and discussion lab work. If you come into lecture, pay attention, and try to at least take notes and have good study habits, you will be fine. It is okay to stress over this course because I struggled too, but he does not trick us on exams and quizzes, they are straightforward and he provides us so many resources for us to study from. TA's give us study questions and hold review sessions. The projects can be VERY annoying but if you start early and go to office hours you will be a-ok.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 02/22/2024	Simply put, Fawzi is the GOAT. I didn’t even consider myself to be that interested in CS before this course, but he makes his lectures super engaging and he always sounds excited about what he teaches. Even though the material for this course is sometimes a bit tricky, he always explains things super well and makes things easy to understand (also his coding examples REALLY help explain the concepts he’s teaching). The “no laptops” during lectures rule may seem kind of annoying, but it honestly really helps you focus and learn better. If you take him though, DO NOT SKIP LECTURE. He does allow you to voice record lectures on your own if you need to, but he will not post the lecture recording - just the slides which are pretty bare-bones. This way of teaching really helped me stay on top of things and succeed, but I can't guarantee it will work for you.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/05/2024	tough but fair professor. would recommend pros: good lecturer, you will learn a lot very responsive with regrade requests exams are tough but fair, pretty much asks stuff from lecture and projects and if you take good notes you will do fine cons: lectures arent recorded and slides are pretty bare :/ but lectures are very captivating so isn't the biggest chore going to them THREE RELEASE TOKENS A DAY this will annoy the hell out of you but honestly forced me to start projects early and have good habits apparently not accommodating? didn't have any experience with this but can imagine how this can be concluded weekly quizzes are annoying, but kept me accountable with the weekly material tbh and weren't worth that much points wise fawzi is a very old fashioned professor, but you will learn a lot and adopt good habits
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/31/2023	An honest review after taking Fawzi for 131 and 132: His class is not easy. If you want an easy grade, take someone else. However, if you want incredibly engaging lectures and projects that are interesting to implement, you take Fawzi. If you're willing to put a bit of extra effort in to get the best CS experience, TAKE FAWZI. He has weekly quizzes, which I liked because it forced me to study weekly instead of cramming. His quizzes and exams are very fair. If you've been attending lectures, taking notes, and studying often, you'll have a great chance at an A. Pros: - Very engaging lectures (You won't fall asleep) - He's very good at explaining concepts using examples. - Interesting Projects (Lots of very useful TAs during discussions and 9 am-5 pm office hours) - The TAs hold review sessions before every exam which are VERY helpful Cons: - Lecture slides aren't always detailed (You need to listen to details in the lecture because he may test you on it) - Projects can be difficult and time-consuming, but there are lots of OHs to help - Fawzi's class becomes difficult if you get sick because lectures are mandatory if you want to do well in the course (He does not record lectures)
Aram Zaprosyan CMSC132 Anonymous 12/28/2023	He was very knowledgeable on the subject matter and would illustrate concepts in very easy-to-understand ways on the whiteboards in office hours. He was nice, a good listener, and great at explaining concepts in different ways until I understood
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/28/2023	Larry is very particular about how he wants the projects to be done and submitted, so read the project descriptions very carefully. His practice material is very closely related to the exams, so he does provide a lot of good study material. However, he has a thing with unexpected graded worksheets in lecture and discussion sections, making going to class very important. He is also very boring but teaches the material decently well.
Sohum CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/27/2023	Amazing TA. Helped me in office hours a bunch!
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/23/2023	Very understanding professor and gives practice exams. I slacked off but if you work hard enough then it is an easy A. Def recommend him. Hes very funny and his lectures are engaging.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/21/2023	Fawzi is a pretty entertaining professor and presents material very well. That being said, he doesn't post lecture videos and the slides are pretty vague, so make sure to show up to class and take good notes. Exams and quizzes are pretty fair, just make sure you study the material, he does test you sometimes on some things that you might not find to be too important. Pretty similar to other reviews here, the way he structures his class forces you to develop better learning habits, but his lecturing is good, so it's fine.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a C+ FozzyBear1 12/21/2023	He’s a fine lecturer. Talks super fast and doesn’t record his lectures. His lecture slides are useless. Weekly quizzes suck. His midterms were straightforward and his final was challenging but fair. His quizzes and exams are graded ridiculously, with minor errors taking off almost all the points of a problem. No piazza. He seemed like a nice enough guy. I think he might be a better choice for a class like 250, but for 132 I’d take someone else.
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/19/2023	Prof. Gonzalez is a sincere professor and truly wants his students to succeed, which is something really rare. He tries his best to make computer science fun and interesting and isn't just a boring coding lecture like most other professors. He is really understanding and accommodating to students' situations. He is thoroughly a good person.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/19/2023	Super mixed feelings about Fawzi. On the one hand, he is a super captivating lecturer and interesting person to listen to. He is clearly very intelligent and talented. The issue is that he's fully aware of this, and comes off as really egotistical and stubborn. He doesn't like being corrected and can treat questions very rudely sometimes. I'm new to programming and ended with a B-, and because I had a heavy courseload this semester and was kind of spread thin, I will definitely admit that I could have put more work into this class. HOWEVER. I personally thought that the weekly "mystery topic" quizzes were ridiculous ("You should be studying everything", he says). Again, I was taking a fairly heavy courseload and while it would be nice to study All The Course Content All The Time, in my opinion it's kind of an unreasonable ask on a weekly basis. My quiz average is what ultimately tanked my grade, despite doing well on the midterms and *decent on the final. It will feel like he doesn't really want everyone to succeed so that whoever's not up to par will be naturally weeded out. If you're taking 132 with Fawzi, you'll have a super engaging lecture to look forward to, but make sure you have the time and bandwidth to do what he expects of you. It's a lot, but you can succeed in this class if you prepare!
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/19/2023	The Fawzi rule: if you see his name next to a course, you take it. (Unless another section has Nelson, then it depends on your personality). Pros: - The clearest, most focused and concise lecturer there is. Every lecture, he gives you exactly what you'll be expected to know: no confusion/ambiguity/wastes of time. You just have to be there, and you'll understand. I'm not lying: going to lecture felt like connecting a flash drive to my brain and downloading the entire course. He's just that good. - No recordings as is noted, but the slides are substantial enough that if you took notes in your lecture, you can find everything you need. - Extremely cracked at answering questions. Assuming you ask appropriate ones (no out of pocket ones), he'll be super clear and go in-depth. As a bonus, he'll often say "I might ask you that on an exam" when answering questions, then tell you the answer. I think at least 4 times in the semester, somebody's asked a question, Fawzi's said that, and then that question shows up on the exam (free points!). - Quizzes are veryyy predictable. I think I correctly predicted what would be on them for 8/10 quizzes we had. Essentially, he takes what you did the previous week, have a definition section, and a coding section which will be a slight variation of code done in lecture/lab. Essentially, if you study your definitions, do the labs, and remember the programming examples from lecture, you're guaranteed at least a 90 on all of them. - Exams are extremely fair. Exam 1: 85 median, Exam 2: 89 median, Final: 85 median. As mentioned before, he'll sometimes give you exam questions&solutions in lecture if you ask questions. Just like the quizzes, his exams are just definitions/applications of rules + coding problems. The coding problems are highkey easy: on every single exam, he stole a problem off of one of our labs, so if you study the labs, you'll be good. This really came to a head in the final: we had 3 programming questions, one was ripped straight off a lab, another straight off an example we did in class, and another straight off a project we did. Provided you study the code in the lecture examples, your labs, and your projects, you have nothing to worry abt :) Cons: - Fawzi really does not exist outside lecture. If you have a problem, I don't think he'd be that flexible. He'll answer quick emails but nothing else. But don't worry, bc the course + lectures are clear enough you shouldn't need that extra help/support.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/19/2023	Great lecturer and very fun professor. His lectures are sometimes fast paced but that is because he has to get through all the material. TA office hours were from 9-5 Monday through Friday. He really makes you understand the material through weekly quizzes and programming projects.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A homework420 12/19/2023	Great professor, has a clear talent for explaining things in a clear and concise manner. He also responds to email in an imrpressively timely manner, given that he had like 600-700 students this semester. That being said the class has a lot of material, so do NOT miss a lecture. Overall a very fun course though and you certainly learn a lot.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/19/2023	Beautiful professor, can be funny and personable, course does take work but a very enjoyable class and lectures are very engaging Take Fawzi whenever possible
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/18/2023	Fawzi is an amazing lecturer. He makes everything super clear and entertaining. It is easy to get near perfect scores on the projects as long as you test your code. Quizzes are a bit stupid at times and graded harshly. I find his study questions helpful for studying for quizzes. Exams are fair. All grades were rounded which was nice.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/18/2023	I had a pretty great experience with Fawzi and his class. I felt like the quizzes and exams were pretty fair, and the projects were always somewhat neat. He's a great lecturer, and his classes are always pretty entertaining to sit through to some degree. As some other people have mentioned, though, his powerpoint slides are pretty barebones and he doesn't record lecture, which makes it a little difficult if you have to miss class at some point. He also doesn't allow you to take notes on your laptop, but that didn't really end up being a problem for me because he didn't make a fuss about people writing on tablets.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/18/2023	i'd give him 4.5 stars if i could, but i rounded up to 5 since 4 is too low. fawzi's a pretty fair grader and test/quiz writer imo. most of the quizzes and tests have content that he covered pretty extensively in class. only reason i would dock him 0.5 is because you're never explicitly told what to study/expect for the weekly quizzes, but it's relatively easy to extrapolate based on the content we've covered in the last week. also, ta grading isn’t very standardized either. i got 0.5 points taken off on a quiz for missing an annotation but one of my friends got 2 points taken off so it’s really just luck atp. he's also a really good lecturer and if you focus in class, you'll definitely understand what he's talking about. he gives study questions before every quiz, so i'd suggest studying with another person (this really helped me this year). overall, definitely take fawzi if you have the option.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/18/2023	Fawzi can sometimes have a boring lecture here and there, but overall he's a very smart man who knows a lot about the courses he teaches. He makes the information very easy to understand and if you pay attention in class, it should be smooth sailing.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/18/2023	To start off with the pros, Fawzi is a genuinely good lecturer and explains things very well. His midterms this semester were also extremely easy, but I think he was trying something new this semester with midterms, since they are generally known to be very difficult, but atleast for this semester the midterms were really easy and fair. In the beginning of the semester he mentioned that his final would be generally easier than his midterms which is why he weighs it 30% of the grade. However, the final was an absolute dumpster fire. Especially compared to the midterms, the final felt way too difficult. I also don't like how he has us do quizzes every week, and will tell TAs to not tell us what is on those quizzes, so there are many times I try and study for quizzes but what comes up on the quiz is not something that I studied, because I assumed the quiz would be about another topic. I also feel like his project descriptions in this class were not very good. They were extremely brief and many of the projects, except for a few exceptions, were really basic and uninteresting. I had him for 131 as well and I felt his projects in 131 were much better and creative. Him also not recording lecture and posting incomplete and not detailed slideshows really puts him down from other professors as I feel it is unfair that I have to struggle to catch up if I cannot make it to a single lecture due to sickness, or etc. Like there is no way for me to attend every single lecture 3 times a week for the entire semester. He also never gives us practice material with answer keys when it comes to these quizzes or tests and no previous exams to practice with. I would say there are definitely better options than him, like for 131 and 132, it would be better to go with nelson, elias, or pedram. Even Larry Herman would be better for 132 since he atleast records lectures and gives extremeley comprehensive project descriptions. I would say he is still better than Yoon, but I personally feel is quite an overrated professor. If you genuinely feel like you would be able to attend every single possible lecture, then you would be fine, since lecturing is his biggest pro.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/18/2023	Fawzi might be one of the best professors I've ever had. All of his lectures are engaging and he presents the course content in a very thorough and straightforward way while still making it entertaining. He's a very funny guy and takes every opportunity to make a joke which keeps the whole class engaged. Quizzes are graded very quickly and exams are graded within two weeks or so, which is very reasonable. He also had TA office hours from 9-5 Monday-Friday which was a dream and helped so many times. Unfortunately since so many students take CMSC132 it was very packed, but still helpful nonetheless. The only downside I would say are that the quizzes are a bit difficult and the end of the class was a bit rushed, but overall, take Fawzi for any class you can, he's amazing.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/15/2023	Fawzi does an excellent job of teaching the content. You can tell from his teaching style how experienced he is. Exams were fair but were graded a bit harshly. There were weekly quizzes and no recorded lectures. The TAs provide review materials and comprehensive study guides for midterms.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A terp12344 12/15/2023	Don't believe any of the negative reviews here. If you want to succeed in any of Fawzi's courses, you will. He explains everything clearly in lectures and doesn't put any sort of trick questions on quizzes or exams. Sometimes he puts tricky questions on quizzes, but they are always still based on content he explicitly went over, and he makes quizzes worth barely any of your grade, so getting points off doesn't matter much in the long run. His no-technology policy is pretty unpopular, but I would recommend using an iPad if you have one. I sat in one of the front rows and used one all semester and he never said anything.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/13/2023	Fawzi's the man. His lectures are incredibly engaging, and basically 9–5 office hours meant that if I ever had an issue it was trivial to rock up to office hours the next day and get my question answered. If you're sick and miss a lecture, however, it IS pretty punishing since he doesn't post recordings and the slides/examples he posts are pretty barebones. (I missed the lecture on Big-O and the relevant theorem involving limits: imagine my horror when it was on the first midterm!) In terms of coursework, I didn't struggle much. Some might say the weekly quizzes were a bit much, but given that they're only ever on the lecture content from the week prior it's trivial to study for them. The projects were also fairly easy, and the later ones were actually super fun. I'd 100% recommend Fawzi for future 132 students.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B- johnparis 12/13/2023	Fawzi is quite good for a teacher, the only negative I can think of is how harsh he grades things, not to say its super bad its only like getting a 90 instead of a 94 or something, like its very minimal but it adds up over assingments. Definitely helps you understand the content though and weighs the 2 midterms and final as like 60% so as long as u study for the exams you should do fine overall in the class. This does mean though that if you aren't too good at exams its a little rough. If you're coming into UMD after taking ap csa Fawzi is great definitely feels like you're just picking it back up.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Anonymous 12/12/2023	Fawzi is a great professor, and I know you guys want to know the pros and cons. So I listed it below. Pro: -Fawzi knows what he is doing; yes, every professor does, but he excels in the material and teaches it in a way that makes you understand. He teaches with passion, and you will get that feeling within the first few lectures. -Exams aren't too bad if you study and review materials consistently. -Two-sided coin here: Weekly quizzes help you prep well for the exam so you don't have to completely procrastinate. -Fawiz stays mostly on topic, doesn't go on tangents, and tries diligently to make the class interesting with his own life experiences. Cons: -TAs. Some are great, while others are very skeptical. Some TAs waste your time in office hours while others know how to guide you correctly, so make sure you know what you are doing and are willing to "waste" time in some cases. Quizzes: As mentioned, quizzes can be annoying, but they are good practice, so again, a two-sided coin Overall, take Fawzi if you can. He is the GOAT.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/12/2023	Great lecturer. Really made the hour fly by. I'd be scribbling down notes and then all of a sudden it's time to leave!
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/11/2023	fawzi is a tough cookie! he initially came off as rather rude and unapproachable, but he definitely warmed up to students as the semester progressed. he's an amazing lecturer and is able to present all of the content in an engaging and straightforward manner, but he doesn't post recordings and his slides don't go into detail about what was covered in his lectures. he also goes through the course content fairly quickly, so if you are unfamiliar with 132 content and struggle with taking notes in lectures, i'd be careful with taking fawzi. besides that, we had 10 quizzes and 2 exams, all of which were fair and graded quickly. we also had 8 projects that aligned well with the content of the material we were learning in class, and ta office hours from 9-5 every weekday. the only complaint i have about him is his grading is a little unnecessarily harsh at times (primarily for small mistakes on quizzes), and the style grades for projects were very subjective and varied widely depending on your ta (my friends and i all lost different amounts of points for making the same mistakes). all in all though, i really enjoyed 132 with fawzi this semester and am excited to take 250 with him next semester :)
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/10/2023	Fantastic teacher, great organization, fair exams. Homeworks are optional but are good practice, lots of study material for exams.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/09/2023	He teaches content in a way that is very easy to understand. The exams and quizzes are very representative of what we learn in class.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/06/2023	Fawzi is a great professor! I thoroughly enjoyed the class since he taught the content well and cracked a few jokes here and there. We get a quiz in discussion once a week (mostly on Wednesdays) which are helpful for brushing up on topics learnt. The exams are fair as well the projects! We got review material for exams and the TA's hosted a review session for each exam. The TAs for 132 vary quite a bit. Some of them are really helpful while others just confuse you more. The TA I had was nice but did not know a lot of the syntax and course material. Overall, I loved the class and for any CS classes in the future I would love to have Fawzi as a professor again.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/06/2023	The greatest professor at UMD. He WILL make you interested in CS. He WILL make you enjoy data structures, algorithms, threads et cetera. For an intro level class he makes it just difficult enough for the challenge but not so easy that all the unserious people can get through. You need to be on top of shit when you take Fawzi but it is so so so so worth it.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/05/2023	TLDR: Very solid professor, probably a must have unless you tend to miss class Fawzi is a great lecturer, responds to emails quickly, and gives very fair assignments. His lectures are thorough and cover all content that he quizzes/tests on. There are multiple TAs at office hours from 9AM-5PMish so you can get help easily. The coding projects are very doable as long as you don't procrastinate until the last day. The quizzes and exams are fair as he only tests us on content gone over in class. He sometimes flat out tells us that a specific topic will be quizzed/tested on. The main downside is the fact that Fawzi doesn't post recordings of lectures and the slides aren't that useful without the verbal content. If you miss a class, you'll probably have to ask someone go over the content with you or give you their notes (if they're thorough).
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/04/2023	It's pretty simple: If you see Fawzi's name, you enroll in his course. Fawzi is so good at presenting material in a straightforward, easy-to-understand way. His lectures always keep me engaged. Some others might complain that he only posts slides and not recordings, but I think you do need to show up to every lecture to gain a complete understanding of the course. Much of what's discussed in lectures isn't on the slides. His exams are also very fair (and graded very fast). I'm not sure if this is just Fawzi or all 132 professors, but we had TA office hours 9-5 Monday through Friday, which is helpful. I would be happy to take all of my future CS classes with him.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/04/2023	He is good at lecturing, but the powerpoints have hardly any information, and makes it hard to review. He is rude to other students, and his grading is horrible. For little syntax errors, he will dock off almost all your points even if everything else is right. If he makes a mistake, he is always right an dyou are punished for such.
Aram Zaprosyan CMSC132 Anonymous 11/23/2023	Teaches well but dry
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/22/2023	Nelson is fantastic! He makes an effort to learn names of people despite his lectures being huge. He is funny and cares about students well being. He is also very responsive to student complaints. For example, if he sensed that people were behind on a project he would give us extra release tokens or an extension. He records lectures and gives comprehensive exam review guides.
Alan Liu CMSC132 Anonymous 11/18/2023	TA Alan is the GOAT. To explain why, I shall tell the following tale. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (EPIC VOICEOVER:) UMD! Three months into the rule of Anderson. His legions are the masters of the world, the stomp of its sandals heard from McKeldin in the west to the great lecture halls of Iribe in the east. As oppressed peoples everywhere writhe under the Anderson lash, freeman and vassal are united in one compulsory worship: the emperor, Anderson, is Godhead-lord of every man's body and spirit. For those who will not submit, the galleys, the arenas, even questioning await! But there is a new wind blowing from the east, from the dusty halls of CSI, that will soon challenge the vast house of Anderson-that edifice wrought of brick and blood which now seems so secure!
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 11/12/2023	Fawzi is a nice guy. Lectures themselves can sometimes be a bit boring but he is very well spoken and makes the content accessible. The course is hard, but not unnecessarily so. Purposefully takes away resources and information that other professors might give you, but it forces you to really learn the content. Show up to class and study and you'll do well.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a C Anonymous 11/09/2023	He is really good at lecturing, but that's about it. He has weekly quizzes that are simply unfair and tanked my grade despite doing really well on all the exams and projects. Fawzi does not care about his projects as much as his quizzes, so if you like projects that make you learn the content, don't take Fawzi. (Also no technology allowed in class and lectures are not recorded) I think he would be better as a CMSC131 professor than 132, so if you're making that debate between Nelson and Fawzi, Fawzi for 131 and Nelson for 132.
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 11/01/2023	Elias is a good person. And he is who you want if passing the class is all you care about. However, if you want to have a deep understanding of the content, you probably shouldn't go with him. He has a lot of positive reviews because people tend to remember not what you do but how you make them feel. Elias is a poor lecturer and made mistakes on nearly every exam and project we had. He was too lenient on the TAs to the point where most of them basically weren't doing their job. His study guides are also misleading. This is due to him adding topics to previous study guides and calling them new. For example, he had concepts from the beginning of the semester and even from 131 on the study guide for the 3rd midterm. And, big surprise, none of those old concepts were on the midterm. But everything on the study guide is "fair game" for the exam so it can be confusing to decide how you should spend your time studying. BUUUUUUUT, Elias has a really great personality and is EXTREMELY forgiving and just wants to see you succeed. He makes you feel good as a student. That's what people tend to remember. And that's why his reviews are so good. I would try to get him if you struggled in 131 or are still unsure about pursuing CS beyond 132.
Alan Liu CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 10/25/2023	Legend!
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A+ VarunS924 10/18/2023	Fawzi is a great, entertaining professor. He goes through many examples and answers questions thoughtfully, and all of his assignments and assessment are very fair. Make sure you follow everything on the style guide because the graders tend to be picky about that. Very relaxing class if you have prior coding experience.
Mukund Shankar CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 10/18/2023	The greatest TA I have had so far. He is always prepared and make sure that everyone understands the course material.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Anonymous 10/17/2023	Unfair exams, weekly quizzes, no piazza, no lecture slides, no lecture recordings, no practice exams, and no study guides. Must I say more? Students receive ZERO context as to what exams/quizzes will be on, so you are left to "study everything" as he constantly tells us. Not only that, but there is no leniency. This means that, for a 100-level course, you either get the question right, or lose 90% of that problem's total points. There is no curve, and he will look for every opportunity to dock points. Needless to say, take someone else if you actually want to pass.
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 10/16/2023	Easy but dry
Joseph Cho CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 09/05/2023	The goat himself Joseph. Please be aware of the Joseph multiplier. If he says it was completed in 2 hours, multiply by 2.5. Great TA and thoroughly answers questions.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B- Anonymous 07/06/2023	I actually really enjoyed him as a professor. I had Nelson for 131, and I found that I enjoyed Fawzi's style of lecturing a lot more (Nelson gets off-topic A LOT which can make his lectures hard to follow along. Fawzi's lectures are straightforward and concise and are pretty engaging). The con I would say for Fawzi is that his exams are HARD and he gives no study material or practice exams (all of the study material you can find is made by the TAs and those resources are nothing like his actual exams). He also doesn't record lectures and there are weekly quizzes.
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/25/2023	Very nice and down to earth teacher. He was a CS student here not too long ago, so he is understanding if you talk to him. Knowledgeable on the subject and generally prepared. Explains topics well. The projects aren't too bad, but it wouldn't hurt for him to be a little more specific at times. Same goes with the occasional poorly written test question. But I believe these are largely due to him being a newer teacher and I'm sure he will improve as time goes on.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Anonymous 06/22/2023	He is not that considerate. He doesn't give out practice exams, which sucks because his exams are hard and he asks about nuanced things that he mentions in passing in lectures. He is a captivating lecturer, so learning during class is not the worst. The downside is that nothing is recorded, so if you miss lecture you are screwed. He is good for someone highly proficient with a lot of CS experience. Honestly, just try and take another prof. your grade will be better off. I think that the reveiws here are skewed, I am surprised its so high considering so many people complained during the semester about him kinda setting you up to fail for eg there is 2 midterms as opposed to the other classes that get 3(makes more of a difference than you would expect). If he would provide more materials/make his class and grading more fair he could be a better prof tbh.
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 06/04/2023	I had Elias for both 131 and 132. He is an excellent professor that all should not hesitate to take. He is helpful, responsive to emails, and cares about all the students a lot. The reason I gave a 4 star despite giving him a 5 star for 131 is for two reasons. First off, my TA was terrible. If you get a bad TA consider going to a different section. My TA was not very knowledgeable and discussion was a waste of time. Also, throughout this semester I felt that Elias' lectures tended to be very boring. Besides these two semi minor details, Elias is excellent and deserves a 5 star rating.
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/04/2023	So good!! Elias is so understanding and his exams are fair. He records his lectures so I learned by watching the recordings and they were really helpful.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/26/2023	In general, he's a great professor. He gives you study questions and posts the slides and code examples, and his TAs are great resources. The only thing I had a problem with is he wouldn't record his lectures but he would let you voice record them. He doesn't allow computers or tablets in lectures and he's a tough grader when it comes to quizzes and exams, though his exams and quizzes are fair. My advice for this class is to study the slides and code examples hard, his quiz questions are always based on stuff you can find on lecture slides. Also for projects get them done asap so you can go to the TAs for help if you get stuck. If you go to the TAs on the last day they're gonna be packed.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/24/2023	I honestly cannot fathom how he has such good reviews on here. His class has many issues, one of which is that he is just a very rude and inconsiderate person. He does not care if you get sick or have a personal issue, even if it’s something serious or entirely outside of your control, and will often be rude in his responses (many people I know who have taken his class have had this experience). The lab exercises and projects often do not line up well with the lecture content; for example, by project 3 (mid-February) the only non-131 concept on the project was enumerations, which we had learned on the first day of class. We also wasted lab time by doing multiple labs on GUIs, which are not actually assessed on quizzes or exams. This means that you are getting quizzed on concepts that you might not have ever gotten a chance to practice before, and it can be difficult to anticipate what will be on the quizzes since they don’t always line up well with lectures. He also only has two midterms, both of which are fairly challenging, and there is no review material besides the TA-made review packet. Fawzi also follows what seems to be a standard practice among the CS professors of not posting grades or assignments in Canvas. Although he did provide a grade calculator, he did not update it very regularly, so it was difficult at times to know how you were doing in the class. The only reason I did not give one star is because he explains concepts well in lecture. Frankly, I just did not have the patience for Fawzi’s condescending and rude disposition and would not recommend him as a professor for 132.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 05/22/2023	Great lecturer, everything he taught made sense. But if you slack off you will fall behind very quickly (what happened to me). Quizzes were fair and the exams weren't bad, only complaint is that they took points off for the smallest things such as forgetting a semi colon while handwriting code. Projects were very fun and the TA's were very helpful. Only advice is to be on top of your game and start the projects somewhat early as you only get 3 release tests every 24 hours.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/21/2023	To start with the positives, Fawzi is genuinely a good lecturer. He presents concepts in a way that's really easy to wrap your head around. That's about where the positives end, though. The biggest problem with Fawzi is that he barely provides you with the materials you need to succeed; he's practically setting you up to fail. Although he provides you with study questions, they're basically useless since they don't resemble what's on the exams or quizzes at all. He doesn't give you practice exams, and the fact that there's a quiz basically every week basically just adds unnecessary stress. Beyond the exams, his projects are theoretically fun, but they're difficult, and the fact that he has only three release tokens every 24 hours is just annoying. Genuinely, Fawzi is really only good at lectures; everything else is just annoying at best and frustrating at worst, really. I wouldn't recommend taking him over Nelson, that's for sure.
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Expecting a B kathleenMiles 05/20/2023	Gonzales is actually not a good professor. I wish I had taken Fawzi instead and not trusted all of these positive reviews. Gonzales is nothing but a copy of Nelson with a few twists. If you are given a choice between Nelson and Gonzales, then it would be better to take Nelson anyway. Gonzales for the entire semester wore a face mask, even when coming to lecture. Evidently he cared a great deal about the risk of COVID infection. Also evident was that he did not care about this enough for his students, because the office hours room was a windowless room in the AV Williams Building with no ventilation in which students were supposed to go to be crammed as sardines. If there was ever a greater risk of infection, it was this place. However much Gonzales cared about his own health, he did not care enough about that of his students to get a different room for them. With regards to the projects, the only advantage over Nelson was that the first deadline would not cost you points if you missed it, but was rather just extra credit. However, the extra credit would barely be one or two points. I doubt that it would be enough to swing your grade by any significant amount either way. Gonzales cannot lecture or teach well at all. His teaching style is terrible, with no continuous train of thought. His slides are atrocious, with the code lacking basic things which he asks for in the same projects such as proper indentation and variable names. You are far better off using Nelson's slides for the subject. I stopped going to his in-person lectures early in the semester. I could not understand anything. He records his lectures anyway, so you can be confused at home instead of in the lecture hall. Office hours were brutal and a complete mess. It was common to find a ten-person line of students for two TAs who were in attendance. In any case, Gonzales would go to bat for his own TAs. He seemed to forget that this class was being run for the students and not for his teaching staff. He allowed them to cancel and reschedule their office hours however much they wanted. You might end up in desperation at office hours, only to find out all the TAs cancelled last minute. Because of the extreme latitude Gonzales gave his TAs, they abused it to the point where you would have days where there would be zero TAs at all, followed by days when there would be three or four TAs all at the same time. Never present when you actually needed them, of course. Most of the time, there would just be one brave TA (Dominic) holding down the fort reading through some crummy Google Doc office hours queue system instead of something respectable like the Quuly that Nelson used. Out of desperation I just stopped going to office hours. It was less effort for me to spend the weekend holed up in my room, than to waste time during the week trying to get a few minutes with a TA who would never show up. What was also frustrating was the sheer number of typos that Gonzales is capable of. During the final exam, he actually had to pause time for him to go through them. On the second exam, he gave us some hashing question with some ridiculously large calculations. He realized that we were wasting our time on them and put up the values of the calculations on the projectors. Good luck if you were one of those people who had already wasted large amounts of time during the exam calculating things by hand. This kind of flip-flopping and lack of consistency was typical. For instance, he allowed, then banned, then allowed again notes while doing the quizzes. Gonzales provided little support for his exams. His "practice questions" would be mostly unrelated to the final exam and hopelessly RIDDLED with errors. You will spend more time trying to figure out what is wrong with the question than actually answering it. Most frustratingly of all, Gonzales always REFUSED to do the common-sense thing and provide answers to his own sample questions. He would constantly tell us to crowd-source answers on Piazza. Which of course, never happened. At least had past exams WITH SOLUTIONS that you could practice with which would make things dead easy. Gonzales' communication was just very snarky and condescending in general, although he was decent enough in person. You will be going to him in person often, because he often does not resopnd to email. He would write things like "as a treat for you all there will be no lecture today". I wonder what that implies about his own evaluation of his own teaching. Discussions were really depressing. My TA in particular would give a confusing explanation, then react sharply to the most innocent clarifications.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/20/2023	Pros: Has a pretty fun teaching style, was always engaged in class. Answered emails fairly well, tho there were times when he didn't. A great lecturer overall and a fun professor, with engaging projects that will you make you fall in love with CS overall. Cons: Weekly quizzes felt suffocating more than anything, but they did help in cramming material. NO preparation for any exams at all (for context other professors gave review material to their students). No recorded lectures so if you're sick at all, GOOD LUCK.
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Anonymous 05/20/2023	DO NOT HAVE UME HABIBA as a teacher assistant. SHE IS THE WORST. You will teach yourself everything. if you go to office hours, just know you will be helping yourself. She says i dont know; i dont think so. Then it actually is. like how are you so clueless. Elias says one thing will be on the exam then it is not. He says this won't be on the exam; it is on the exam. like, come on bruh.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Expecting a C Anonymous 05/19/2023	His TAs are HORRIBLEEEE. I had both Fawzi and Nelson, and Fawzi's TAs are way more helfpul when it comes to projects. Nelson is for people that kind of know how to code already, and Fawzi is for people who have little experience coding and want to learn more.Sometimes I feel like going to Nelson's lecture is pointless. He does record everything, but his lecture slides are self explanatory. He is an average professor.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/18/2023	Nelson's lectures could be more focused, but honestly just having a professor who cares about your well-being is more important to me, and that's what you'll get. He is very compassionate when you have extenuating circumstances or need an extension for some reason or another. He's funny too, but don't talk too loudly or he'll call you and your friends out.
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/17/2023	His reviews are true. He is very very good. I had him for 131 and 132 both. He is an amazing teacher and makes the class very engaging. I looked forward to his lectures. The class is not that hard. If you put in the work, you can do well. He does not throw any trick questions on the quizzes, tests, or projects. It is all straightforward.
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/16/2023	This dude is such a goat. His lectures are amazing and I can always relate to him since he’s not old and weird. He is also such a NICE AND CARING person. Class is very straight forward. Same with the projects. Take him
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting a C- Anonymous 05/15/2023	I had Pedram for 131 and 132. He has the most monotone voice and he talks really slow. Sometimes he contradicts what he says. However, I recommend you watch every single lecture just to prepare especially for the final. I also recommend watching youtube videos on all of the topics he teaches. His projects were medium-hard. Just camp out at office hours and they will help you A LOT. You CANNOT memorize the practice exams. You HAVE to actually understand it because his exams are really open ended. It is vital that you understand the content and do a bunch of practice problems until you get them right. Pedram tries to redirect everything to a TA so sometimes contacting him is pointless unless its for grade issues.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/11/2023	Great lecturer and very personable. Made sure to at least try to know some students of his 200+ student CMSC132 lecture. Has a great understanding of the topics he teaches and answers questions to the best of his abilities, no matter how abstract. Compared to Nelson, this class is completely different; DO NOT EXPECT HIS CLASS TO BE ANYTHING LIKE NELSON'S. If you want an easy A, take Nelson sure; but if you want to be challenged in a fair and constructive learning environment take Fawzi. He has weekly quizzes and I see a lot of people complaining about this but if you stay on top of them they are a great grade booster; they are NOT that hard if you take the time to review just a little bit. Does not record his lectures but I enjoy being forced to go to class, to be honest; having Nelson last semester made me kinda lazy about CS because of his recorded lectures. Although recordings are useful, they just are no supplement for really taking notes, especially if you're watching them on 2x speed. His projects are super cool, fun, and challenging at the same time. If you like the problem-solving aspects of CS you will thoroughly enjoy his projects; not only that he makes neat GUIs for some of them that I have shown friends (that aren't into CS) that have genuinely found them interesting. TLDR: Fawzi is a challenging professor, take Nelson if you want an easy time. But if you take Fawzi's class, it will be as rewarding as it is challenging, and you will be prepared for the next steps in your CMSC journey.
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/11/2023	Gonzalez is a very nice person and one of the most down-to-earth professors I've met at this school. Despite this ,I feel as though his lectures at times can be subpar in terms how he teaches the content. But with a combination of good TA, I think most of them are good but apparently there is one who isn't, and taking at least a little bit of time to go over concepts you might struggle with (either office hours or self studying), you should be good. Projects were never to hard as long a you take time to understand the concept and work on them consistently. His exams were definitely a curveball from how you would expect a CS exam to be like, but I think they are really good at forcing you to understand some of the topics conceptually and I think this is reflective of his teaching style. I think the lack of practice exams compared to 131 may also be a bit of a shock. Overall a pretty good professor and class.
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/11/2023	Insanely nice, projects were the same as nelson, but he made the class super enjoyable. He had some really good TA's, office hours were super key before exams. He was very reasonable and ha just moved up from high school. Take him if you can
Hana Chitsaz CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/11/2023	Great TA, and made the class enjoyable. Always helpful when it came to questions and projects, very knowledgeable on the topcis
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/09/2023	There are some mixed feelings on Fawzi but I feel the majority of people enjoy him. I'll discuss the pros and cons: Pros: His quizzes and exams are certainly fair. He will never throw material that is overly complicated or has not been done on quizzes/labs/projects on the exam. I did not attend labs and barely studied and was able to complete quizzes with relative ease. If you do attend labs and study, you should expect at least a B in Fawzi's classes, with a very solid chance of an A. CMSC132 is a very fast-paced course, but he does not ask overly specific questions that would make you have to study for 5 hours. He is very easy to understand and his teaching style is not bad. You can tell he is really determined to teach at his best every single lecture, and will even apologize if he feels he is not explaining it to the best of his ability. Goes over concepts, even if most people understand, multiple times to ensure that EVERYONE in the class understands, even if it is boring to the more advanced programmers. Cons: Although some of his projects can be pretty straightforward, others can be very challenging. I do not suggest procrastinating on his projects, especially if he specifically mentions it is a harder project. Projects are worth roughly 3% of your grade so doing good on most, if not all of them, is very important. He does not record lectures. He expects his students to attend all of his lectures, so it is important that you do so if you want to keep up. Missing one lecture could put you pretty far behind. If you are someone who does not feel like attending all of the lectures, I suggest you do not take Fawzi or find someone who will write down notes and give them to you.
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 05/08/2023	Elias is great. His projects are literally the same projects as Nelson's, so I don't really understand what the review below me is talking about. However, it's true that his project descriptions are unclear (for example, due dates contradict with each other in the title and in the body paragraph). He doesn't respond to emails sometimes, but literally GO TO OFFICE HOURS!! I only started going after some midterms and I really wish I'd visited from the beginning of the semester. He's very accommodating in-person. Just be honest about your reason for an extension, make-up, or grade concerns, and Elias will do his best to help you. In terms of lecture, I honestly preferred him over Nelson because they're fun and engaging, but not straight up stand-up comedy. That way, I was able to come out of lecture with understanding of the material instead of several concerning (yet still funny LMAO) jokes. (Regarding my expected grade -- I got 0s on a few project assignments because I'd been struggling to get my grade up for MATH141 (UGH) so I just messed up on those. Before taking a 0, make sure to talk with Elias. This was my biggest mistake y'all... Don't do what I did! My other project grades were all solid 95s-100s, so you really would be helping yourself by talking to the instructors.)
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/05/2023	By and large, Fawzi is a good lecturer, but his slides lack depth of content and thus do not help when preparing for exams. The projects were challenging, but possible with some time and thought. He just did not personally teach the way that I learned. He taught by talking at you for 50 minutes three days a week and expecting you to memorize everything that he said, no matter how insignificant you think it might be. If you have to take him, just be sure to take good notes and go to office hours for help, but I would personally recommend choosing another professor if possible.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/05/2023	When first learning how to code I would say Nelson is the absolute best as he gives a lot of leeway in all types of situations. Such as extensions for just any reason and is fairly quick with his responses. Exams are all fair and can be a cakewalk if you study the previous exams throughly. In any scenario where he can help you he will. Projects actually matter in that they actually count for a significant amount of the class and they are all fairly easy. MOST IMPORTANTLY ADVOCATE FOR YOURSELF ASK FOR WHATEVER YOU NEED(increased tokens, extensions on projects, etc…).
Samuel Lam CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/04/2023	I know they say that TAs are not out to get students, but he definitely is. He is the only TA that literally grades worksheets to determine if your effort was up to his standards, which are unnecessarily high. I remember talking to Larry about Samuel, and even Lary felt that Samuel was being overly harsh with his discussion-classroom policies. Samuel is really quiet and you can tell he doesn't want to teach and that he shouldn't teach.
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/04/2023	Best CS professor ever!!! Very chill, records all his lectures, can use three 48-hrs extensions among all the projects per semester (but if u email him, he will grant u more). Very reasonable and flexible.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a C Anonymous 05/04/2023	I like the way Fawzi teaches his class and he makes sure that you understand the content he teaches. His quizzes are fair but at times you get points taken off heavily for small mistakes you make. The midterm is fair and the projects are fun to do. The only bad thing I can really say is that his lectures aren't recorded.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a C- Anonymous 05/04/2023	If I am being completely honest, Fawzi is a fairly good lecturer but when it comes to exams and quizzes and general stuff...oh boy. I understood everything conceptually in lecture but when it came to quizzes and exams, I was absolutely 100% lost. It is hard to really know WHAT to study because nobody can tell you what topics are necessary to study for the exam. The exams test you on the most intricate tiniest details possible that you will NEVER EVER need to know in the real world. It is hard to remember every small detail. Such as knowing the asymptotic complexities for the insertion of a linkedList, knowing what URL stands for, etc... There are only two exams whereas other classes split into three exams. So both exams are extremely content heavy. I had Nelson for 131 and regret not taking him again for 132. Fawzi's lectures are extremely fast paced, he doesn't record lectures, nor does he allow electronic devices (laptops/tablets) out in class at all. Not to mention, you can never get any access to his previous exams so there is NO understanding of just how much we need to study or what needs to be studied. The study question sets that get posted on canvas have ZERO answer keys so there is absolutely no way in knowing if you are getting the correct answers or not. When asking Fawzi questions regarding what was said prior, he will redirect you to his TAs and tell you to go to office hours which makes the huge assumption that you even have time to attend office hours. I failed both midterm exams even after studying lecture notes, slideshows, in class examples, and the study questions. There is no curve. I currently have a 65% but am hoping that with passing the final with a 75%, I can get a C-. His expectations are way too high for a class such as this. This class has made me debate my whole career as a Computer Engineering major and this is just a 100 level course. What annoys me the most is that Fawzi is always making comments in class such as "Guys I don't even look at my slides until right before class and I gotta quickly re-teach myself the material"... He is always commenting on the fact that he writes Android programs etc... It is just an ick. Not to mention, when you express concerns about potentially failing his class he gives no strategies or help on how to pass the class. He just says study and see what happens. Well I studied my butt off and still failed the exams. For projects, they will start out by being open projects and then after the first three, they are all closed projects. He gives three release tokens that regenerate every 24 hours and THREE only. No negotiations which has completely screwed me over on some projects because if you are failing release tests, you are kinda screwed. It is extremely frustrating and annoying. If you have the chance, avoid taking Fawzi unless you can somehow magically absorb information like a sponge.
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Anonymous 05/02/2023	Elias is a nice teacher, but overall his projects are harder than Fawzi or Nelson projects in my opinion. He is also very lenient and understanding. The one issue is with the TA's. Certain TA's like Hana, Dominic, etc. are all very nice, but there are some exceptions to this. There's one really condescending and rude TA, he's been named here for a 131 review before, and mentioned without a name on another review.
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Anonymous 05/02/2023	Good teacher. His projects are harder than Fawzi or Nelson and his exams can be inconsistent and confusing sometimes, but he's a very nice professor. Lenient with extensions. Only downside is some of the TA's in this class can be condescending or rude to students sometimes. The discussions are also pretty useless or boring at times; in my discussion most students don't even bother to show up unless there's a quiz. Overall not a bad class, mostly due to Elias being an understanding and fair teacher.
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/01/2023	Elias is one of the best professors I’ve ever had. He genuinely cares about his students and their success in his courses. If he makes a mistake he holds himself accountable and will not penalize you for it and in fact it will most likely benefit you. The lectures are useful and he will provide great examples which really help you learn the concept. He also gives out fair exams that you will do well on if you study. His TA’s are really really good. Specifically Hana, Dominic, Ipsa, and Tanaya. They all will go out of their way to explain things if you don’t understand something and work hard to provide the best assistance. There’s only really one TA that is unhelpful. Regardless, if you get the chance to take Elias for 131 or 132 you 100% should.
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/01/2023	Hands down one of the best CMSC teachers, if you get the chance to take him take it. Super helpful, and will explain and answer questions . Lectures are interesting and recorded in great quality, his office hours are very useful and he will help you and link you to valuable resources. His tests and projects are very fair, and often link with what Nelson is doing. Ta's can really help you out, but overall he is just a great guy. He taught high school before and doesn't care if the exam scores are high, he also curves and gives bonus points on exams and projects. Great guy, and his exams, lectures, projects, and overall class are a billion times easier and more interesting than Fawzi's. Elias GOATzalez
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/30/2023	Super chill, exams are reasonable, easygoing professor
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/27/2023	He is a fine instructor and explains the topics thoroughly and well. His project descriptions are very lengthy but very descriptive, so you can easily tell what the secret tests will check, making it very easy to thoroughly test your program. However, he is incredibly boring and makes sure you do not miss any lecture or discussion because he has random graded worksheets. His exams are also not easy because his multiple choice may have multiple answers and are on random small details you had one slide on in a random lecture. It is not easy to contact him or TAs outside of class because office hours take forever, and they do not accept any emails.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 04/22/2023	I think Larry Herman is a great instructor. His lectures can get pretty boring, but he covers everything you'll need to know and explains it all very well. His textbook readings are long and more boring than the lectures, but they are very helpful in learning the material. He gives graded worksheets in lectures and discussions, which means attendance is required if you want a good grade, but they weren't very hard, they covered relevant material and they were only graded for completion. His projects are not easy and they take a long time, but they are doable if you pay attention in lecture and do the assigned readings. The project instructions are very, very long, but they cover everything you'll be graded on and the expectations are very clear. His exams are fair, and he gives a lot of helpful preparation and study material. This class was a lot of work, but I learned a lot from it and thought Larry did a great job.
Mathew Cimmerola CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 04/13/2023	kind of loud and hard to understand. otherwise a decent TA
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a C- Anonymous 04/07/2023	If you're stressing over Nelson, Fawzi, or Gonzales, DO NOT CHOOSE FAWZI. He makes you take a quiz every single week and they are literally my downfall. He gives you 3 release tokens that refresh every 24 hours instead of 12. AND THERE ARE ONLY 3. I genuinely love learning and computer science, but his assignments stress me out. I had a better time in Nelson and a better grade. I am literally on the verge of failing this class right now. So I'll be grateful if I even get a C-. There are no recordings and he goes really fast, so good luck if you're a literal beginner in computer science that is struggling to understand.
Yuvraj Delada CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 03/27/2023	Absolutely amazing TA - very chill and nice and explains things perfectly
Yuvraj Delada CMSC132 Anonymous 03/25/2023	10/10 TA, would highly reccomend
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 03/16/2023	Worst professor I've ever had it's not even close.
Brian Lau CMSC132 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 03/08/2023	Awesome TA. Great size. Look thick. Solid. Tight. Brian if you're reading this keep us all posted on your continued progress with any new progress pics or vid clips. Show us what you got man. Wanna see how freakin' huge, solid, thick and tight you can get. Thanks for the motivation.
Elias Gonzalez CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 03/08/2023	I want to disagree with a lot of these reviews about Elias. Don't get me wrong, he's a super cool guy and very supportive/understanding of his students. However, his teaching methods suck. His lectures are absolutely useless because his teaching style is just so jumpy. He doesn't go deep into what he's talking about and only provides a super shallow and confusing explanation of a concept. I feel like we haven't learned much in class. We've been learning more from YouTube videos than lecture themselves. I've heard Fawzi is better because he can clearly explain things and says it in a way that actually makes sense. Overall, the class is easy, but it's just annoying that he doesn't teach well. I guess that's going to be every CS class from now on, (especially seeing the reviews on CMSC351).
Larry Herman CMSC132 Anonymous 02/02/2023	There are so many reviews about Herman's teaching and while that's great and all, I just want to share this: https://www.reddit.com/r/UMD/comments/ilwf1k/cs_department_at_umd/ And honestly, not surprised
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 01/30/2023	Larry receives too much hatred. He runs a very tight ship, and admittedly has a few faults that can be really annoying, but he is a really, really good teacher as long as you take the time to pay attention during his lectures and devote some time to making sure your projects are up to par. If you're looking to blow off this class or just get it out of the way, don't take it with Larry. He doesn't allow any sort of technology in his class, and that includes laptops, so all notes need to be handwritten. Larry is also 100% unreachable outside of class or office hours, but honestly, every single thing that he does, says, or writes is so unbelievably thorough that as long as you pay attention to what he provides you with, you won't need to contact him anyway.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Anonymous 01/27/2023	Annoying as hell. Makes stupid jokes during the class and is not good at explaining.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 01/21/2023	Honestly wasn't that bad of a professor. His project descriptions are very thorough about what is required of you, and as long as you follow them you should be good. The final exam was definitely waaaaay harder than any of the previous exams and definitely tanked most people's grades down atleast a little bit
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A theGreat 01/19/2023	Pros: - Good lecturer - Answers all questions - Covers content well - Well organized - By the book - Old fashionedish professor that is very straight forward - Knows his stuff Cons: - Sooooo boring - Is not generous with points - Attendance is part of your grade
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 01/11/2023	Does his job of making both CMSC131 and CMSC132 weed out classes.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting a B- Anonymous 01/09/2023	Herman is literally awful. DO NOT TAKE HIM. The good reviews on here are from people who have been coding for years. Herman's class will strain you to another level. His exams are AWFUL and you can study all the course material for weeks and still leave with a failing grade. He is incredibly rude and condescending and will never respect you as a person. He requires you to meet with him if you have an excused absence, which seems fine until you realize he has no ordering system so in a class of 500 students you'll likely never be able to get his attention. Same with the TA's office hours are absolute chaos. His projects are maybe his only good aspect. They are very detailed and you either know it or don't. However, his TA's will find any little thing for your code to be wrong. You'll never get a 100 unlike Pedram or Fawzi who rely on public and release tests. Herman should be your last option and even then I would suggest waiting until another professor comes available. DO NOT TAKE LARRY HERMAN. His 216 course is only doable if you really know what you are getting into.
Srinidhi Hegde CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/07/2023	He's a truly awful TA. I'm not sure if he just doesn't know the content and is trying to get out of teaching, but he berates students during office hours for not understanding the content instead of helping them. He treats students like they're beneath him. An awful TA and an even worse person.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/07/2023	Professor Herman will provide you with good resources to teach yourself the content, but he is boring and lacks basic social etiquette. His slides, practice exams, projects, and other resources are really clear and helpful. His grading is also quite lenient. It's quite an easy A if I'm being honest. However, that's where his positives end. His TAs are horrible in my experience. I'm not sure if he selected them, but if he did, he focused more on choosing TAs that would obey him rather than those who will teach well. His lectures are extremely boring. They do not help at all. He repeats everything thrice and talks incredibly slowly. He then complains about the CS department putting too much content in the course. This would've all been excused, but he gives worksheets that are graded for completion randomly in lectures, effectively making attendance mandatory. However, that's all irrelevant compared to his social etiquette. I'd strongly recommend avoiding office hours. Every time I've been to office hours, which is only when I needed to receive credit for an excused absence, he always makes me feel uncomfortable. He has many quirks. He makes a thing about calling him instructor and not professor. He doesn't let you email or message him. If you need a graded worksheet excused, you will have to go to the one office hour block he set at a reasonable time and wait over an hour to meet with him to have him excuse the absence. In short, Larry will make the learning experience very easy, but will undeniably be a pain to deal with.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/03/2023	Sometimes boring, but in my opinion he's quite funny. Good lecturer that can explain things well. Only thing that's annoying is how long the project descriptions are and how specific his requirements are. Make sure you go to lecture and discussions because they sometimes have graded coursework (which is based on completion - just make sure you're there).
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/30/2022	Solid professor. Some of the practice exams don't reflect what the actual test has format wise but you get 3 years of practice for each test and quiz. Lectures make you want to fall asleep but solid at explaining and records all of his lectures. Just go to office hours for any project you're struggling with and they'll help you out.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/30/2022	He’s good. He makes it tricky sometimes. Final is much harder than the rest of the course high basically tanked by grade 10%.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/28/2022	Larry's a good teacher with very fair and doable exams. A lot of people complain about his lengthy project guidelines, but I kinda liked them. He basically tells you every edge case and addresses any possible point of confusion in those directions. He's annoyingly strict about certain things (like calling him professor as opposed to instructor) and kinda came off as unapproachable, but after talking to him a couple of times during office hours I realized he means well. I would give him a higher rating if he didn't grade so slowly. The semester ended a week ago and he still hasn't graded our final exams and given us our final grades. In fact, it wasn't until this week that the majority of our project grades were put into canvas. I get that its a large class and grading projects are difficult, but I feel like this was slow for even CS.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/26/2022	He's a great teacher and explains all the concepts and algorithms really well. You basically have to go to lecture because he screws up the recordings and sometimes forgets to record the stuff he does on paper. Not having electronic devices is more of a pro than a con but you can always go to office hours and ask for permission to use it (as long as you have a decent reason). Projects are fairly easy, received almost a 100 on all of them. Exams are mostly easy, just don't screw up the programming question because it is often worth half of the exam grade (I screwed it up because I was so uncomfortable writing code on paper, hence my grade). Make sure to read/skim over the textbook because some of the information that he briefly mentioned in lecture shows up on the exam and shows up in the textbook (My friend made quizlets and they were super helpful). PRACTICE WRITING CODE ON PAPER BEFORE YOU TAKE EXAMS! Never take your phone out in class even if you're in the back (Herman has a hawk eye for phones) because he will call you out and the entire lecture hall will look at you.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/26/2022	He's a very slow teacher, but good at explaining things. If you already know what he's talking about you will be bored out of your mind. I think I fell asleep in 80% of his classes. Also he has random graded worksheets in the discussions(why is 2 discussions a week neccesary) which suck when you have discussion at 8 and it's 30 degrees outside.
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/26/2022	Pedram is a great professor and was good for my first CS class here at UMD. He always recorded lectures so you could go back after or if you weren't in class. Was also super responsive to emails and agreed to meet with me early in the semester when I felt I wasn't doing as well as I could be. Exams were very fair and he gave good specifications beforehand so you knew which subjects to focus on. Everything was very well organized and well put together and the TA team for my semester was amazing.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/24/2022	Larry can be boring but he is a great instructor. Everything in the class is very fair. If you have the opportunity to take him please do :)
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Anonymous 12/24/2022	Pedram is a good professor and very accommodating too. But one thing that makes his class stand out the most compared to others are his TA's. His class has one of the best groups of TA's ive ever encountered. Matthew, Sandeep, Alec, Brian, Daniel, Jason, Alexis, Gabriel and Syed do an amazing job at assessing to students needs and helping them with what ever problem they encounter. Helping and educating them in the process too. Projects are reasonable, exams are fair, and the final was nothing out of the ordinary. Definitely a class you could get an A in if you put in the effort.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/24/2022	Can't deny that he's a great lecturer and he gives you all the tools (optional homework, practice worksheets, exam prep) to succeed and learn a lot. He has a lot of rules, both for assignments and being in class, that he's very strict about. Super slow grader, though - we took our final a week ago and only 4/9 projects have been graded so far.
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting an A iapyges 12/23/2022	Pedram’s lecturing style is good overall. He’s a bit of a slow talker, but he does an excellent job of drawing out visually how each data structure/algorithm works. He records every lecture and posts it on Panopto, so if you need to skip class you can just watch the recording. Quizzes and exams were fair. Pedram makes old assessments available as practice, which are definitely worthwhile to do. For exams, he also gives a summary of what’s going to be on it, which is helpful for targeting your study. Additionally, Pedram is a fan of remixing questions which have appeared earlier on quizzes/exams or elsewhere in the practice. Projects were my favorite part of the course. The project descriptions, public tests, and questions posted to Piazza are sufficient to get a full understanding of the project. As long as you complete them and do a decent job, they’re an easy A. It was doable but stressful for me to do most of the projects in the 48 hours before they’re due. His TAs were uniformly of high quality and a great resource during office hours. Pedram himself is a little harder to reach: his office hours are by appointment only.
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/23/2022	Pedram is not a good Java lecturer to say the least. Besides Java having particularly poor design for some elements, his lectures in the first half of the course weren't all too useful: particularly regarding generics. However, he's a pretty decent data structures lecturer. He usually draws out the concepts in conjunction with reading the slides. The provided material was top-notch, and some of the TAs' contributions made it even better. The exams are challenging but not overwhelming (the vocab stuff can be pretty obscure sometimes, but that's to be expected). I would recommend this professor, but not overwhelmingly.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/22/2022	Larry is alright but will make the class more of weed-out than it has to be. The project guidelines are detailed but the style requirements can be pretty stupid. The discussion sections are alright but there graded attendance worksheets are worth too much of your grade and are pretty useless and annoying. His lecture slides are alright but he never really addresses non-obvious student questions and can be a little intimidating and unkind (unintentionally or otherwise). The tests aren't terrible but there was always 1 or 2 really specific and trivia-like MC questions. He does do very well in giving large practice tests and optional HWs. Overall, he's not a bad option but he won't wow you with charisma, passion, kindness, or competency. If you're taking Larry, you'll get a dependable, bland, quality education.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/21/2022	I liked the way he taught the class, since he taught it in a way that helped you programs run on a fundamental level, so I felt like I had a better foundation from this class than 131. However, his class was quite boring. This might not be his fault, since the material he's working with isn't exactly riveting in my opinion, but the class is not engaging and I never really wanted to go to class. He also is very strict about his policies, which are genuinely pretty antiquated (no electronics of any kind in class, etc.). I found the projects fair, but there was some material that wasn't covered in any project. If you're a cs major (which I'm not), he's likely a good professor to have since he is good at explaining how it all works, but he doesn't make it very fun.
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/21/2022	Had Pedram for 131 and 132, very solid experience. Exams are challenging but not unfair. Best way to prepare is to use the practice exams.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/21/2022	Larry is an amazing instructor and a great lecturer. All of his slides are clear with plenty of examples and are provided to you very soon after each lecture along with a recording. The topics in 132 can be confusing the first time you hear them but Larry always did an excellent job of using examples to explain them. Additionally, in every discussion section there are worksheets that are essentially graded on completion, but are SO helpful. The problems on the worksheet really help you understand the lecture material and are representative of the exam questions. When the exam comes around these worksheets alone are usually enough to help you get practice but Larry also provides a 20 page practice set with exam questions. AND on top of that there are optional homework to do to get even more practice. All of these materials have solutions that are thoroughly explained. The projects in this class were challenging but doable and the project descriptions are more than clear. There was also always enough time to complete them, and the TAs were very helpful. The class is organized and Larry keeps everyone updated regularly with his news feed. He couldn't be more clear about instructions and what's going on in class. I can't say enough great things about Larry's teaching style, if you have the opportunity you HAVE to take Larry. In addition to being a great lecturer he is also funny and this semester gave away chocolate every single class to two random people. TAKE LARRY!!!
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/21/2022	Herman gets a lot of flack because he doesn't allow electronics in lecture, he has graded worksheets in discussion, and he is a very monotone, boring, lecturer. With that being said, the dude can teach. His notes and lectures are unbelievably thorough, and so if you can stay awake, you'll walk away with a really good understanding of the material. The projects and exams are both very fair as well. If you can get around his idiosyncrasies, he's ultimately just a really fair, thorough, instructor, which is dope. Love you Larry
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/21/2022	This guy is the GOAT. The only people that don't like him are the ones who can't resist the urge to check their phone every 5 minutes. As long as you go to class and put the work in, you will succeed in his class. World class instructor. Would recommend.
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/16/2022	Pedram was an excellent lecturer. Slides are very organized, great code examples, good explainer, provides ample context for programming practices, concepts, principles etc. Posts lecture videos to Panopto, which are exactly like in-person lectures. Projects are very well constructed, and if you start them early and put effort into them, you'll enjoy and gain A LOT from them. Pedram's TAs this semester were also excellent, very helpful. Make use of Piazza; even if not asking questions, make sure to read it regularly to hear useful discussion and tips for the current project or upcoming exam. Not the most captivating lecturer, but certainly one of the best explainers.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/15/2022	I feel like people hate Larry because of his strict no phone policy and his required discussion worksheets. However, I thought he was a great lecturer with a cute and quirky personality. He is very organized, good at explaining concepts, and gives us plenty of resources to help understand the material. His labs may seem intimidating at first because of the lengthy project guidelines, but you'll realize that it's better to have more information about the lab than less; you'll never be confused about what you have to do. As long as you attend lectures/watch the recordings, the labs are extremely fair and doable (takes 4-10 hours). He also offers 3-10 extra credit points on some labs for turning it in early. His exams are extremely easy compared to other classes and the upper quartile has consistently scored over 90. He is an amazing teacher and I would really recommend taking this course with him. The only complaint I would have is that projects take a long time to be graded, but that is probably just because of the size of the class.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/08/2022	Larry’s alright at lecturing and he’s obviously knowledgeable and been teaching for a while. He sometimes goes a bit too in depth(or repeats himself 3-5 times) and quickly falls behind. I find myself falling asleep in his lectures from time to time. The content in 132 is fairly easy as long as you have a basic grasp on programming. However, I’ve found that his TAs will do anything to avoid giving a perfect score. They are petty and believe no one should get a perfect score. On all of my projects I have gotten -1% because of “lack of detailed comments.” This isn’t the case. Herman in office hours said he’d get them regraded but he has not done so. It’s an alright class and you will do well if you know the content, but don’t expect a 100% on anything.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/18/2022	Good teacher explains stuff well but doesn't u let use phone during class
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 11/07/2022	Honestly, Larry is pretty underrated. Pretty good lecturer, can be boring at times. He's strict about masks and electronic usage, but once you learn to really focus on the lecture it doesn't make much of a difference. He can be funny and does his best to make the class interesting. The projects can be tedious but his descriptions are very good. The exams are very fair as long as you do the practice exams, worksheets, and stay on top of lectures. If you're self-motivated, I highly recommend him.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Anonymous 10/31/2022	He makes me want to fall asleep in his lecture. His projects are so complicated unnecessarily when compared to other professors.
Brian Lau CMSC132 Expecting a B- Anonymous 10/26/2022	the best ta!!!! go to his office hours, you will not regret it, i went every week and it helped me so much! i'm not even in his section but i could never understand what any of the other tas were saying except for him so i started going specifically to see him, brian lau is so good at explaining ei don't think i would have passed the class without him. THIS MAN IS A LIFE SAVER!!!
Larry Herman CMSC132 Anonymous 10/19/2022	Soooooooooooooo Maryland law requires me to inform you that Larry Herman is actually a pretty decent not-professor. In all seriousness, he has his personality quirks, but I haven't found any faults in his teaching style or in his knowledge of the course material. The lecture slides cover pretty much everything you need to know and they include very helpful examples for Eclipse. Lectures are recorded and put on canvas. Projects are reasonable, his instructions are pretty long but they cover pretty much every edge case you need to consider. They are due roughly every week and a half or two weeks. I usually dedicated around 10 hours for each project, but of course this depends on its length. And he gives extra credit on a few of them if you just turn it in early. I disagree with the bottom review. I didn't do programming at all outside of class and I did fine. Of course, you should remember material from CMSC131/AP Comp Sci A/whatever, but he gives a pretty detailed review sheet and dedicates a few lectures at the beginning for this. He doesn't allow electronics in class, going so far as to point people out from across the room who he thinks are on their phone, which a lot of people don't like. He also doesn't really like it when people take notes word-for-word off the lecture slides (this is not a good way to take notes, anyway). And his lectures can put people to sleep, but at least he's funny. If you can get past these things, though, and work diligently on the projects and studying for exams, you will do well. Overall, I'd highly recommend him, especially over a professor that's confusing but nice.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 terpsCompSci1 10/17/2022	This dude is amazing
Brian Lau CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 10/12/2022	Had Brian as my TA for 132 over the summer, he was absolutely fantastic. Really great at explaining concepts, and just an overall great guy
Brian Lau CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 10/03/2022	The GOAT TA
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 08/15/2022	He's good at explaining the concepts... but that's the only plus point I have for him. He's got his TAs taking points off for missing a semicolon or parenthesis - that's not how coding works and losing points on things like that teaches you nothing relevant to being a programmer in the real world. He also speeds through his lectures and doesn't really save much time for answering questions. If you ask him a question outside the syllabus, a lot of the time his answer is 'I don't know.' Basically, he knows the material and not much past that. Also, he doesn't record his lectures so if you miss a class because you're sick or something like that, good luck catching up :( He isn't very understanding if you have to miss the weekly quiz (yes, there's a stressful quiz every week) for any reason that's not 'I'm severely ill' - he won't even reschedule. He also doesn't allow laptops in lectures - and taking handwritten notes for a CS class isn't really easy (in fact it doesn't make sense IMO). You'll get the A if you work for it, but I know for a fact that you wouldn't have to work so hard if you managed to get a spot in one of Nelson's classes instead.
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 08/07/2022	I struggled a bit with 131 as it was my first time coding so I was nervous going into 132 knowing it would be more difficult and cover far more complex topics. I thought Pedram did a great job explaining it and his code examples helped me learn it pretty seamlessly. I had to put way more time into the projects but it paid off because they were instrumental in how well I was able to understand concepts. He was also very helpful in the Q&A sessions and reviewed all the important material that we needed to know for tests and projects. Very great option in my opinion.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 07/06/2022	Fawzi is a fantastic professor. Yes, he doesn't record lectures(unless on a religious holiday or if he is sick), but this encourages you to attend class and pay attention. His two midterms were COMPLETELY fair-game, and his final exam was difficult but was not as hard as I thought it would be. The secret to doing well in his course? Study his notes and lecture examples every day after class. His exam questions are ALWAYS based on his lecture examples and slides. Be diligent in your studying, and make use of his office hours, as they run 8-5, Monday-Friday, administered by TA's who are extremely knowledgeable and will help you with not only projects, but concepts as well that may seem confusing to you during lecture.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 06/07/2022	He's a decent lecturer, but still confused as to why he is so overrated. I definitely do not think his lectures are boring, I did get sleepy a lot of the times but that's probably because I had 8AM classes and was always extremely tired. He makes jokes and I think he tries to be an engaging professor. I will however say that he uses his pencil and a paper to visualize what he is describing, and his handwriting is very ineligible and he has to erase so many times that I can't help but bother about the amount of eraser dust he produces. I wish he just uses a tablet when he wants to draw things. What I disliked the most was his lecture slides that he makes on his own, which severely lacked a lot of information. He seems to hate the lecture slides the CS department made but the department's slides are far more helpful. He doesn't record lectures because he wants to encourage students to attend to his lectures, so you kind of always have to attend his lectures since you will miss out a lot if you are absent as his lecture slides are lackluster, but frankly, if you study the department's slides, I don't think his lectures and slides were particularly helpful at all. Aside from that, he is extremely unapproachable. I'm not sure if he is "rude" per se as I haven't had a proper conversation with him, and he can be pretty sweet like asking "how are you?" to his students, but when someone asks him questions, he can be really condescending. I think I asked him questions only two times throughout the semester, during the exam and after the lecture, and both of the times he was very cold. Maybe I was asking dumb questions to his eyes, because he does seem to love whenever his top students ask advanced questions during the lecture. I think he also makes his exams on his own, and in my opinion, those are much harder than the practice exams provided by the department. I did decently on the second midterm and the final exam, but I did pretty badly on the first midterm, which hurt my grade the most, because I had no idea his exams would be as difficult. I'm not saying his exams are the worst, but you definitely need to study consistently on everything that he covers, and he also teaches things that the department curriculum does not seem to include just because he "likes" those particular topics. His projects are enjoyable though. You might not wrap your head around initially for some projects, but once you do, they're pretty easy to solve, and the GUI he makes for some projects are quite fun. I still can't figure out the solutions for his secret tests however...
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 06/03/2022	Genuinely a wonderful person. You can tell that he really cares about his students and wants everyone to succeed. The course itself was pretty easy, although Nelson didn't go too in depth into the particulars of most topics, just focused on an overview and how to do things without too many details. That's not my favorite way of learning information (jumping right into looking at code), but the exams and projects were fairly straightforward. I always felt like I knew what to do and like I could get help whenever I needed it. He records every class, which makes it easy to do well even if you can't make it to every lecture or discussion.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/31/2022	This class was alright. Nelson's projects are not well-written in my opinion, and it's hard to understand what is actually wanted us to do. Sometimes, it's also hard to understand where to begin the projects, but that's different for everyone of course. Nelson made the exams pretty easy though, especially the final exam. He's also responsive through Piazza and understood if we needed deadlines pushed back for projects, so I most definitely appreciated that. Discussions are alright, but they are definitely not necessary to attend.
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting a C Anonymous 05/25/2022	I understand why he's rated the lowest compared to all the other professors, but he isn't too bad. If he's the only one available, you should be fine.
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/21/2022	I really enjoyed having Pedram for 132 this semester. Lectures were really helpful and material was interesting. Projects weren't too difficult when started early, and quizzes felt honestly somewhat easy. However, I will note that this semester he co-taught 132 with Nelson, so I can't speak to his class when it's not cotaught. Very nice and approachable as well, would definitely recommend.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Anonymous 05/19/2022	Fawzi continues to be an excellent CS prof as he maintained his sense of humor and teaching style that he had in 131. Any tips are obvious things you should already be doing (going to class, starting projects early, etc). The only problem I had with his class was that there were only 2 midterms, the second of which had an enormous amount of information that was covered. The projects can be challenging, but most of the TAs are great resources for help on class or project material. The final was fairly daunting and could've been designed better, but nevertheless, I would absolutely take Fawzi again if I could.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/19/2022	Fawzi had a lot of positives that really made the semester quite good! His lectures are very informative and he's very good at what he does. After I left a lecture, I really felt like I knew what I was doing. I completely understood each thing he taught. The review before mine wraps up my thoughts completely, but I will reiterate them. Fawzi, like was stated, is a VERY good professor which will make sure you understand his concepts. I had Nelson for 131 and switched to Fawzi for 132. Altogether, I highly prefer Fawzi. Lecturing is better, exams better reflect what we've learned, labs are useful, and the quizzes were fair. All in all, so long as you studied you should be fine. As for criticism, I am not a big fan that he didn't record lectures. It makes it hard to catch up or do well if you have any need to miss class. I also had been a bit upset initially when he said no computers in class, but those who wanted to takes notes on it ended up ignoring it and taking notes anyways. He does try to hold people at the end of class and gets upset if you leave early. There was only 2 exams which were weighted heavily which also covered an extremely large amount of information. All in all, I would absolutely recommend taking Fawzi if you want a strong foundation in CS fundamentals and data structures as a whole. However, it may be best to not take him if you are to not keen on going to every class or if you think that you aren't going to really put in the time to study for every exam.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Anonymous 05/18/2022	Unpopular opinion but without bluff like some of these other reviews. (NOTE: I had Nelson first semester and received a very good grade so 132 with Fawzi was a shock. I have completed the course but chose to leave it optional out of confidentiality). Fawzi is too fast paced in lecture. On top of that his powerpoint are next to useless and he doesn't record lectures. On top of that he doesn't give fair exams in my opinion. I will admit the midterms were fair, but they test the smallest details which you wouldn't need in the real world or which a compiler would pick up. For example, on one of the exams I declared a variable incorrectly, with the rest of my code is logically and syntax correct I only received 2/14 points. I approach external TA's who said I should receive points, but when I approached Fawzi on the regrade he refused to give points back and gave an excuse as to why. In additions we only had 2 exams unlike other classes, where they would split we had all of OO(Object oriented programming) and the entire second exam on every DS (data structure). Outside of the course work to sum up Fawzi in a few words: - shrewd/out right disrespectful - Doesn't help in office hours. Always acts like he's better and we know nothing. - not lenient at all - Was sick and couldn't make it for a quiz. Fawzi told me either to come for the quiz or receive a 0 (this was the second time I was sick and couldn't use a self attested note). Especially for a time while we are still in a pandemic this was out right disrespectful and foolish that he is willing to risk the health of his TA's and students for a quiz. - doesn't care about his students mental or physical health - Over this semester I was struggling with my mental health a bit and when I approached Fawzi about his essential response was I don't care. He is not as nice and caring as nelson, I didn't receive any help throughout the course during this. Outside of that office hours were always packed and the TA's were quite bad. - comes off as some high achieving professor with lots of publications and no time for his students when in reality he's a lecture (massive ego problem) Outside of this his class is taught like we are all high end comp sci people who know what we're doing. His exams once again are more difficult than nelsons. If you could I would avoid Fawzi at all cost and take Nelson. Nelson was one of the best professors I've had across all departments. Other Notes (sorry if repetitive to some other parts of the review): - Doesn't give practice exams - Doesn't tell us a concept list like Nelson or any other teachers - Refuses to record lecture - Steep late penalty (20% off your highest score if submitted at or after 11pm. 100% off after submitting 24hrs after the deadline). - 1 practice packet with questions that don't resemble exams a week - Quizzes were very hard for weekly assignments (we also didn't know the context) - Purposely goes into harder concepts which aren't relevant material to the course (refers to 351 and theoretical CS concepts we don't learn a lot). - Final Exam is the worst. 30% of the grade. Everything we wouldn't have been tested on for an FRQ was there. You cannot expect first time students with no experience to come in and redo parts of their project by hand. You cannot make students code out concepts you referred to for 5minutes in a lecture. You cannot make students code a question we have never seen a code example for and something which was barely touched in class. A final is cumulative that includes everything we were taught not everything after the midterms and the concepts we barely went over. - Labs also aren't too helpful and I think he should adjust the labs to have a due date of completion so students actually do then and cut down on the weight of the final exam. a final worth 30% dropped by grade from B to (well you can do the math for that :)). - Projects in others classes are worth way more overall than ours. Final thoughts: I wish I took nelson when I had the opportunity to while registering. If I could go back into that time and choose nelson I would've probably got a B+ at the lowest. Nelson's exams side by side Fawzi's are much easier on relevant materials and won't make or break your grade such as Fawzi. Unlike the other reviews I can't say that he enjoys teaching. From what I experienced he enjoys the idea of being the smartest in the room at what he does which isn't a trait for a good teacher.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/18/2022	Fawzi is an incredible lecturer who cares about his students learning and understanding the material. He's been teaching 132 for a while, so his materials for the course - including lectures, labs, and projects - are incredibly polished. It is also evident that he frequently practices giving his lectures in order to stay on top of his game. The material felt well-paced and, even though there were only two midterms, the testable material felt fair and it was not hard to succeed if you took good notes in lecture and sought extra help when needed. With that in mind, make sure to take good notes in lecture! Fawzi does not allow the use of laptops for taking notes, and he does not record his lectures. You will need to be on top of your game and write things down in a way that really helps you to understand the content because the lecture outlines he posts online are really not so helpful. Also, start projects early. They are a joy to complete, and procrastinating will really hurt you with some of the projects in this course. If you have the option to take Fawzi for 132, do it. He is a top-notch professor and a cut above the rest of the instructors for this course.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Anonymous 05/16/2022	The nicest, most understanding teacher. His classes are entertaining and he really makes an effort to get to know his students (even in a huge lecture). He presents the information clearly and the tests are very fair. The projects take time but he preps his TAs really well to help. Not an easy class, AT ALL, but Nelson goes above and beyond for his students. Also has very good slides and all classes are recorded (he posts the slides before class and the recordings the second class ends).
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/13/2022	This might be an unpopular opinion because everyone seems to love Fawzi at UMD, but he's just not my type of lecturer. He goes through topics super fast during class and his speed of talking is just a little too fast for me to comprehend. Can't doubt that he genuinely loves what he does and is always really enthusiastic about class though. My least favorite fact about him is that he never records lectures. Sometimes if you're lucky he'll record them on religious holidays but other than that if you ever miss a class you're screwed. I had to miss class for a lot of personal reasons and it really brought me behind and I struggled to bring my grade back up. Additionally, we only had 2 exams throughout the whole course. We literally learned about every type of data structure within one unit and were tested on it all at once. This is simply just too much information for one exam while most other 132 lecturers had at least 3 or four exams. Splitting it up would've not only helped my grade but would have allowed me to focus more on specific topics for specific exams. I just always felt super overwhelmed around exam time because they were pretty much making or breaking your grade. Also it's a good idea to remember that he's not as lenient as Nelson. He doesn't allow computers or phones during class and he usually won't do any extensions unless you have a really good reason. His exams seem to be more difficult than Nelson's but a lot of people are okay with that since they like his style of teaching. This is all just me speaking from personal preference though.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/11/2022	Fawzi is by far the best professor I've ever had (I'm only a freshman btw). His lectures are extremely informative and easy to follow, so DON'T MISS A SINGLE ONE! (He doesn't record them) Fawzi's exams and quizzes are extremely fair, and his projects weren't lifeless. I had Nelson for 131 and he was also a good option that had his pros, but Fawzi's projects are more satisfying when completed. Fawzi's projects often have GUIs that make you feel a sense of accomplishment after completing them. If I could, I would take every CS class with him. Yea he doesn't allow you to have laptops out, but you really don't need them in the first place to be able to follow through. Take his class and you won't regret it unless you never go to office hours or you start your projects late.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Anonymous 05/11/2022	If you ever have the opportunity to take him for 132, seize it. Fawzi is funny, knowledgeable, and honest. If you want to do well in his class, I would recommend: 1) Starting Projects Early! Looking at the description is a good start, but I would suggest trying to code as much as you can, submitting, and reviewing the results from the submit server. If you are confused, try to debug the code yourself before seeing a TA. 2) Attending Lectures! Fawzi's lectures are usually entertaining, but he knows when the content is boring and when students like to skip. Sometimes he will give you the topics for the quizzes and coding tricks. 3) Attending Discussions! Discussions usually focus on coding and other technical things which are tested or used in a project. It's in your best interest to show up, do the lab, and ask for help. If you finish the lab, you can usually ask your TA questions about the class or the project.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/09/2022	Nelson is a super funny guy, and he really cares about preparing his students for the future. Very helpful in office hours. In addition to teaching material very efficiently and being very responsive to feedback, Nelson will teach you to advocate for yourself, a skill that is useful for the rest of your life. He is very specific about how to prepare for exams and projects and provides many resources. Amazing professor.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/07/2022	I like Nelson a lot, I had him for 131, just took him for 132, and am planning on taking 216 with him. Yes he can get carried away sometimes with messing around, but he teaches you absolutely everything that you need to know for projects/quizzes/exams. Everyone I've ever met who doesn't like Nelson has just been lazy and didn't care to understand what he was saying. Great fun guy.
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Anonymous 05/02/2022	He is ... ok! That is the best thing I can say in terms of lecturing. He is a very nice man, incredibly receptive to any questions and very flexible with extensions regarding religious holidays. He is a bit monotone but thats honestly fine. His TAs were good - when they actually showed up to office hours or discussion sections. The projects were fine with the exception of a few and the DS/A part of the course was a nice introduction to it. I recommend if you already have familiarity with programming and data structures, Fawzi would be better teaching you from the ground up if you wanted something more comprehensive.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B akl2025 04/27/2022	I'm really happy to take Fawzi again for CMSC132 (it was a close call because there was only one available spot left for me, probably someone dropped out), mostly because I like his teaching styles and his TAs. 3 tips to get good grades in his class: 1. Don't skip the lectures! Fawzi doesn't record his lectures 2. Start projects early! You don't want to come to TA office hours 2-3 days before the due date 3. Review weekly! There are weekly quizzes (don't get discouraged because you get low grades, it's a good review for midterms and final) The only thing that is challenging in his course is that you have to study everything for his tests (no idea what he will put on specifically - you know what lectures he will cover, but the contents are massive). It's fair but difficult, sometimes.
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 04/22/2022	Had him Fall 2020. As other reviews state, his lectures are incredibly dry, but informative. He drones on even at 2x speed. The class is structured well. Projects, exams, and grading are all pretty fair. The third exam was absolutely brutal though. Still, if you keep up with everything (and practice advanced recursion) you'll be fine. Didn't interact with students much if at all, I'm still not even sure what he looks like. A remarkably average, bland professor.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 03/22/2022	(And CMSC216.) He talks fast but he goes at a slow/followable pace given how much material he has to cover each lecture. He's one of the most organized professors I've had. His project descriptions are notoriously long, but they detail the entire project so I wouldn't complain much. His practice exams are very good practice for the actual exams. He's a bit strict on rules like masks and no electronics but honestly we all need a professor to put their foot down for the students that are distracting to the rest of the class.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 02/24/2022	Larry can be boring but he's very great at explaining difficult concepts very clearly. He goes slow which gives you time to understand the material really well. He also gives a lot of practice for exams. and he uploads all of his presentation pdfs. His project descriptions are very detailed and cover pretty much every edge case you have to consider. He can be a bit strict about the rules but as long as you wear your mask and don't use electronics, you're fine. I would highly recommend him.
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 01/23/2022	Pedram was a good person to take CMSC132 with. He and the TAs worked hard to make the class a good experience, and it showed. There were a lot of projects, sure, but Pedram's lectures and positive attitude made the class more enjoyable. A little boring during some of the lectures, but still good.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/25/2021	He's ok, but I wouldn't recommend if you had other options tbh. His lectures are dull and I fell asleep a third of the time. He tries to be engaging during lecture by telling jokes and asking questions (which I appreciate), so I honestly think its his voice/how he speaks that makes me sleepy. Another thing about lecture is that he doesn't allow use of technology and will call you out if he sees you using your phone or if its on your desk. You should def still try to pay attention during lecture, especially when he's writing on paper. His project descriptions are great though. Make sure to closely read and (I recommend) take notes on project restrictions, edge cases mentioned in method descriptions, etc., especially considering how I've been told incorrect information multiple times by his TAs this semester (don't think this is a Larry issue tho). If you have to take him, I highly recommend doing all the worksheets, practice exams, and HOMEWORKS (they're optional but you will likely see questions similar to or on the material covered in them). His exams are very Larry-y, but once you get used to his exam question style, you can do well. Overall, his class is doable, but you really need to study and get familiar with his tests/worksheets if you want to succeed.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/21/2021	Fawzi is one of the best lecturers at this university. He's very clear with describing topics, and goes through a lot of examples in class (which are posted) to help you understand the topics. I would strongly advise against skipping lecture since his slides are very basic, so you want to make sure that you are taking good notes. You do have weekly quizzes in discussion, but if you take notes and make sure that you understand the material, you should be fine. His exams are pretty straight forward, but he doesn't have practice exams for you to study from. He does however model his exams off of the quizzes and weekly study questions that he posts, so I would say they are pretty manageable (no trick questions). Office hours are also pretty helpful (usually run from 9-5 every weekday) for clarifying topics. Some of the projects can be a little tricky, but if you start early and go to office hours you'll be completely fine. I think he has a slight curve (couple of points) based on the class averages. I had him for both 131 and 132, and would definitely recommend taking him if you want a solid understanding of intro CS concepts and data structures!
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/18/2021	Great guy, but I'll be the first to admit that his lectures are dry and his voice is very monotone. I think the difficulty and projects are fair. The TAs he has more than make up for any gaps due to Pedram, honestly the best TAs out of any class I've taken. Quizzes and tests were fair, I don't know what these people are talking about when they said the practice was nothing like the actual exam (obviously he has to change it up from the practice somehow). Only time where this was especially evident was studying for the final since there was legitimately no resources to help practice, but it's due to the CS department not Pedram specifically I believe. Overall, not the worst option, but for sure not the best for 132.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Anonymous 12/17/2021	Great instructor. Explains difficult concepts well and learned a lot of material this semester. Made computer science interesting and I look forward to taking 216 with him next semester. Also, great project descriptions. Overall, Herman is incredible and I encourage you to take him.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/17/2021	Larry is a fairly good instructor (not professor). His lectures can be a little dry at times (somewhat unavoidable in an intro course), but he is very good at teaching you what you need to know. His project descriptions are remarkably thorough, making it fairly easy to do well on them (provided you put in the work). His exams can be a little tricky, but provided you study you ought to do well.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/16/2021	I think Mr. Herman is a very good instructor (though he makes it very clear that he is NOT a professor; he once gave us a mini quiz at the beginning of a lecture about this)! Now, I should mention that I did have some programming background prior to the course, so I cannot say for sure what your learning experience will be like if you are new to programming besides taking CMSC131. However, I really enjoyed his teaching style. He gives plenty of examples of concepts, and he puts a significant amount of effort into making comprehensive practice exams and homework assignments so that you are well prepared for the midterms. You can also download his slides and (some) code examples after class to further examine them. He does not allow electronic devices in class, and if he catches you using one, he will not hesitate to call you out. I thought that was annoying at first, but his philosophy is that you should be actively listening to his commentary rather than writing everything down on the slides. In fact, when he sees people writing slide material in their notebooks, he won't stop them but he will interject with something like "you don't have to write this stuff down because the slides will be on ELMS later." I think that his philosophy worked well for me, but your mileage may vary of course. He is also very knowledgeable about Java and the Object-Oriented paradigm and will write notes to himself to correct unclear information in his slides or to investigate the answer to a question he was asked. The homework comes in the form of coding projects. His project descriptions are very well defined (albeit lengthy) and help reinforce the material covered in lectures. However, they are graded pretty slowly (the last four projects have not been graded yet as I write this review), but maybe that will change in the future. He also makes a good attempt to engage with his students. He frequently asks questions throughout the lecture to his students and corrects them if necessary. As a bonus, I think he genuinely wants to entertain us and be friendly. For one, he always suggested saying your name when you answered a question. During the last half of the semester, he raffled chocolate and other candy using a specialized program he made. And lastly, you can count on him to try to crack a few jokes every lecture (and even in his assignments too). Yes, they are definitely "dad jokes," but nonetheless they still made me chuckle and I appreciated it. Oh yeah and the sheep thing. He likes sheep. But apparently his favorite animal changes from semester to semester, so look forward to that I guess.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/16/2021	Mr. Herman is a really good professor. He knows what he's talking about and he explains complicated topics extremely well during lecture, in such a way that I don't even feel the need to ask questions. He gave us so much practice with the discussion worksheets and exam prep, and it made taking the actual exam not too hard because the style was very similar. You learn the fundamentals of CS in this course and Herman is a great professor to get that knowledge from.
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting a C Anonymous 12/15/2021	Took 131 with him (with zero coding experience) which was brutal, figured the online nature of it made it harder and gave him another short in person. It was pretty much just as brutal, his exams and quizzes are horribly written and super unclear. He gives practice exams but they are absolutely nothing like what the actual exam will be like. If you haven’t coded in highschool don’t even bother.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/14/2021	Let me begin this review by saying that Herman's teaching style is a bit of an acquired taste. If you don't think you can acquire the "taste," then you will likely not agree with the rest of this review. That said, although at times I did feel myself starting to fall asleep in class, Herman generally made lectures un-boring enough to thoroughly absorb the content. Lectures even sometimes included interesting off-color dry humor, such as casually referring to "the almighty above" whilst describing algorithm complexity. Herman's exams were generally fair, you just have to read (a fact that my expected A- shows that I can't always do). Projects were equally fair, as long as you are not scared away by an 8-page password-protected PDF as your assignment description. The complaints about grading turn-around time aren't unfounded, but it isn't as bad as some horror stories that I have heard from other instructors/professors. I am still giving Herman 5 stars because this really isn't his fault, it's the TA system's fault. Finally, I just want to say if you can bare some quirkiness in an instructor (Herman isn't a professor, he will make this abundantly clear) and possibly one too many sheep references, take Herman.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Anonymous 12/13/2021	I attended 3 lectures with friend he seems like cool dude. Kinda boring though. xoxo Sheena Sheep.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/07/2021	I am a Larry enjoyer. While his lectures can sometimes be a little dry, his jokes are funny and the content is always delivered well. I found that studying from the discussion worksheets and lecture notes was the way to go, since the exams resemble the homework very closely. A lot of material gets covered quickly, so make sure to stay on top of it.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting a C- Anonymous 12/05/2021	I think Herman is good. He seems to care and some of his jokes can be funny. I am very thankful that he records our lectures because he goes kind of fast in class and he gets mad if you take notes on the lecture instead of listening to everything he says. I would've preferred taking Pedram for 132 as I had him for 131 and I think he is more of an actual person. He is a nice guy and helped me a lot throughout last semester. Herman just kind of feels like a hermit crab to me. Hes a good teacher but I dont think hes anything special.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 07/02/2021	All in all an amazing instructor. He is funny, engaging, and gives easy exams and quizzes. I learned a lot from this CMSC132 class when I took him back in Fall 2019. Excellent choice to take.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/26/2021	This semester was definitely an improvement from last semester when I took 131 with him. Fawzi kept up with the informative lectures and related coding examples, providing helpful study questions, and assigning projects and discussion assignments relevant to the course material. The quizzes and exams were much better time-wise this semester, hence me actually doing better this semester since I get stressed under a ton of pressure. Lectures were almost always out ahead of time, so we had plenty of time to watch them, and quizzes and exams always tested material that was on the lectures. I definitely recommend taking the class with him if possible!
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/23/2021	Pedram's lectures are slow but he explains things really well. His exams are super challenging though, and they cost me big time. I wish I had some prior knowledge of data structures before I took this class with Pedram because I quickly got overwhelmed by so much new material. If you have some previous knowledge though, I don't think the class will be too bad for you.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/21/2021	This is an inherently hard class but Nelson tries his best to make sure everyone is on pace. Office hours are a big help for for this class. The projects are challenging but if you've learned Java before it shouldn't be a big problem. Nelson's lectures/slides are very helpful and he usually does not test on contents he didn't teach. He also really cares about his students' mental health.
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/11/2021	Took this class Fall 2020. Pedram is a good lecturer. He might be a little boring, but he runs through plenty of examples and is very clear. The online exams are very fair, not very difficult but a little time-consuming. Start on them early and you can definitely finish in the allotted time.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/08/2021	Prof. Fawzi is super reasonable and super knowledgeable. I would choose him over Nelson again (although I hear Nelson is great too). I loved the projects and the lectures were always informative and easy to understand. The quizzes are challenging but not unreasonable.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/04/2021	Online lectures are asynchronous and are informative and well structured with lots of examples. Weekly Wednesday quizzes can be challenging but most of the time was on recent material. Exams and quizzes are both timed, however, the time given is reasonable and the content of the assessments is also reasonable. Also had Fawzi for CMSC131 last semester (Fall 2020 - Online) and enjoyed him thoroughly.
Hrishik Rajendra CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 04/14/2021	Amazing TA, he's actually really good and one of the best TAs for CMSC132. If you know him and can take CMSC132 while he's TAing, definitely take this class. 10/10!!!
Rahul Narla CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 04/14/2021	Great TA, actually amazing, I needed help and he sat with me for like an hour and helped me out. His concepts are very clear and he knows his stuff. ABSOLUTE GOAT!!!
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/19/2021	He sounds like Ben Shapiro if you put his lectures on 1.5x speed but he is very hands off with the online format. You will pretty much only talk to the TAs and there is no live interaction at all with Pedram. His exams weren't that hard imo, but the projects were difficult not because they were hard to implement but because it was difficult to understand what needed to be implemented from the instructions. I've had bettter CS teachers and I've had worse. Decent.
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/12/2021	Exams were extremely hard, had to spend almost the entire day on them. He was a fine lecturer considering the asynchronous nature of the class.
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Anonymous 01/09/2021	His exams are extremely difficult and take nearly 8 hours to complete. Although he may brush over exam concepts in lecture, he doesn’t provide any examples of how to actually use the concepts. If you do not have programming experience before college, good luck.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 01/03/2021	Nelson is a kind professor who will help you navigate your programming career and learning how to learn. He is decent at teaching and makes the class enjoyable. Do not be fooled by his jokes, if this is the first time that you are learning JAVA, be prepared to work hard in this class, the kids who took JAVA is high school will make it harder for you to get a good grade. I would take Nelson over Yoon for sure. Overall, if you can't get Fawzi(hard exams) then you will be ok with Nelson (he is big on giving your old exams and other resources).
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/23/2020	Had him for online semester. The lectures were pretty slow but he definitely knew what he was talking about. The exams were a bit tougher than usual but I do feel that they were fair.
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/22/2020	I took this course in Fall 2019 Pros: + Competent and informative lecturer. A lot of people say he's boring, but I honestly disagree, he makes extensive use of example code to ensure students understand what's going on. + Projects are good applications of what you are learning. + Tests are fair.
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/18/2020	Extremely difficult exams.
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/18/2020	Pedram's lectures are super boring and monotone, but he is a good professor who explains his concepts very clearly. Watching his lectures on a faster speed is essential. CMSC132 was organized super well online (lectures, slides, and code examples always uploaded), although discussions often felt like a mixed bag because we would often just go over random Java topics that we weren't tested on. Around halfway through the semester, the difficulty of the projects and quizzes/tests (especially quizzes/tests) did spike a lot. You did have 8 hours for every quizz/test, though which was very generous. The first half of the course is pretty laidback 131 review.
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Anonymous 12/09/2020	Lecturing skills were overall okay. The format, however, was just going over what's next in the course until 50m is up. It felt a bit unorganized and the class felt dry as a whole.
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 11/29/2020	Great lecturer, gave reasonable workload and challenging but rewarding and thought-provoking tests and projects. Only small thing is that he didn't exactly go out of his way to show himself on camera or talk to students directly, but overall I can't blame him during a pandemic. Never felt like his work was busy work and always gave us access to the slides and notes we needed.
Matthew Simmons CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 11/20/2020	Very helpful, engaging, responsive, and dedicated TA. Held review sessions before every exam too.
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 11/20/2020	Clear and thorough lecturer. Modified the class (exams/quizzes) to fit online learning well. Nothing really to complain about. (Some people dislike his monotone lecturing style but I think it sounds fine at 2x speed) The TAs really do most of the office hours, grading, synchronous teaching, but that's not a problem because CS TAs are mostly pretty cool.
Anwar Mamat CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/18/2020	Took this course in the summer and Anwar was a great professor for it. Made class very fun, and made it easy to understand. Plan on taking his 330 class
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/14/2020	He's pretty monotone when he talks, but he explains things well, and his projects are okay. The quizzes are brutal though.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 10/29/2020	Had him for 132 in Spring 2020 and I couldn't recommend him more. Some other reviews say he's rude but I never got that vibe from him. In fact, he's one of the kindest and most humble professors I've had. He genuinely cares about his students. If you have to choose a prof to take online, I'd recommend Fawzi. He handled the transition to online learning very well.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 10/28/2020	I had Fawzi for both 131 and 132. He's definitely the professor you want for either of these, if you really want to learn the material. His lectures are easy to follow and he makes the class interesting and fun. He's also very friendly outside of class. I went to his office about 6 times and he was always welcoming and helpful.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 10/13/2020	Fawzi is the best! He knows the material inside and out. If you watch his lectures, you'll understand everything. He's really good at explaining even the most difficult concepts. He's also a fun person with a great sense of humor that he uses to make the class even more enjoyable. I get the feeling he has a low tolerance for "whiners", which might explain some of the lower ratings. Lol
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a P Anonymous 06/09/2020	Fawzi is a pretty solid lecturer for beginners and his exams are pretty fair. He is open to explaining any conceptual problems you have about what he's teaching (as long as you're willing to wait in the long line for him). However, his quizzes and some of his later projects can be much more difficult than how he formatted them in CMSC131. Specifically for the quizzes, some of them seemed straight up unfair (considering the resources his class provided and the content we had covered). I would say that his CMSC132 class is doable, but be prepared for the spike in difficulty transitioning from his CMSC131 class.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/23/2020	Although some of his rules may be annoying (no electronics, sitting in the front row always), he is a good lecturer. You just need to pay attention in class, write down the things he repeats, and thoroughly study for the exam. I would definitely recommend him as a teacher.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Expecting an A kjmehta 05/17/2020	Great guy
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/07/2020	Fawzi is a good lecturer. I will give him credit in that he is able to present the material clearly and in a way you will understand. However, as a human being, he is very rude. He constantly is making comments to make himself sound so much better than you. He is rude in office hours about your concerns. I felt as though he did not take the time to feel the concerns or engage with the students. There were plenty of comments he made in class that left me feeling offended or upset. That being said, if you do not care about personality, he teaches well. If you want to have a good relationship with a professor, or are the kind of person who needs office hours with a professor, don't take his class.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 03/07/2020	This class was very hard but I feel like Nelson made it bearable. He's very funny and keeps you engaged in the material. I didn't really study for the first half of the class so I didn't do so well early on but later on I payed more attention to his lectures and was able to do much better.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 03/06/2020	Amazing professor! Had him freshmen year fall seamster and it was a great way to begin at UMD. He cares about his students and gives them every possible tool needed to succeed. His lectures are super fun and entertaining, and projects and exams are all definitely fair.
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/19/2019	His lectures are fine, he sticks closely to the slides and may elaborate with examples. If you understand the slides there's no need to go to class. Pedram is great, super understanding and accommodating whenever I spoke to him.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/18/2019	Go to class, do the midterm reviews and discussion worksheets to study for exams and you should be fine. Also, start early on projects so you can get an idea of what is asked of you before the stress of a deadline.
Shyam Pujara CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 10/29/2019	shyam is the best TA i've ever had at this university. he's a blessing to the education system. i don't know how i would've passed CMSC132 without his dedicated support. thanks shyam!
Venae Sidhu CMSC132 Anonymous 10/23/2019	best discussion TA teacher of all time. would recommend to everyone!! kind and extremely helpful!
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 10/21/2019	Nelson is a really good professor who explains things very well and gives you the resources you need to do well in the class (lecture videos, old exams, discussion questions). His lectures are also entertaining which is something that I miss now that I no longer have him.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting a C Anonymous 09/22/2019	Larry is highkey boring and unapproachable. For 80% of lectures I attended, I would fall asleep. He doesn't allow cell phones or laptops in class and will call you out every single time he sees it and then complains about how he has to rush through material. It probably adds up to like 10 mins of lecture in addition the times he tells people to not sit in the back rows like every 5 minutes. Also he doesn't record lectures which sucks because I learn better when I rewatch lectures and his posted powerpoints can be vague. I'm currently taking him for 216 and i still hate it lmao.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Anonymous 09/09/2019	Herman is an okay lecturer. The main things he has going for him are that his exams are fair, and the graded worksheets are basically free real estate. The lecture slides skim important information, and his lectures are styled so that he asks questions, and the half-dead students give inaccurate answers three, four times, and he needs to clarify the whole concept again. It's inefficient. Just do CMSC132 under Nelson or Fawzi.
Anwar Mamat CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 08/20/2019	Anwar is a great lecturer for 132. He also explains concepts very well. His lectures slides are great too. He doesn't put anything on the exams that he doesn't cover in lecture. Exams are also pretty easy. I usually finish with 20 minutes left and use the rest of the time to check my answers. I also dislike the MC section, which make up a fair portion of the exams, because they're just memorization and can be kind of tricky. Projects are hard to implement, but the project tests aren't hard to pass. I think I got a 100 on most of my projects. When I took it, projects were 40% of the grade, which should make the class an easy A.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Anonymous 08/19/2019	I had Fawzi for both CMSC 131 and 132. I felt that his class for 131 was far better planned and overall the projects and exams were fair. However, for 132 his quizzes were a disaster, his teaching got more confusing, and whenever students approached him in office hours he was extremely rude. Honestly the most overhyped CS professor at UMD
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 06/20/2019	He is unapproachable and can be very rude at times. His grading scheme is very nit-picky, and he is very unforgiving. For example, if you don't write your name on every other page in an exam, you instantly lose 10% of that exam grade. In addition, he never releases how much he's curving, but if you ask him, the curve is based on your attendance to his class (he takes attendance everyday). I would advise staying away.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 06/16/2019	132 with him was drastically different from 131. Pop quizzes were really difficult and he was kind of a douchebag in office hours.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A+ StardustGogeta 06/09/2019	Larry is a fun and hilarious teacher, and I must recommend taking his class. His projects have very clear expectations and his tests are straightforward (with lots of review material provided). He is also extremely careful about what he says and takes the class very seriously. (He will correct himself in the next class if you let him know about a mistake he made in lecture.)
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 06/01/2019	Yes, he's a good lecturer. He was horrible for 132 regardless. Incessant pop quizzes. Rude during office hours. Unfair exams. I've heard only good thing for his 131 class but don't drink the Kool-Aid: Fawzi isn't all that.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/28/2019	I had Fawzi for CMSC131 and CMSC132. Pros: He is a really good lecturer that keeps students engaged and makes normally hard material easy to understand via great analogies, detailed examples, and in-class demonstrations. Cons: Beware of pop quizzes. Also, there are instances of him giving difficult projects. Additionally, in his office hours, he tends to be a bit more condescending that what his lecturing style implies. Overall, my experience in his class has been a positive one. You will definitely learn a lot from him. However, be prepared to put in a lot of work every day.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/10/2019	Herman is a straightforward, clear instructor who makes lectures boring, yet comprehensible. He is very picky about coding style and his exams are very short, so it is easy to lose a lot of points. You can still earn a good grade if you do the exam practice and review the worksheets. Overall, he's not as bad as people say he is, but he is annoying.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Anonymous 04/22/2019	This review gives 2 stars for his 132. (For his 250, it will be 4 stars.) I take his 132 after reading reviews of his 131 here, and realize that his 132 is pretty hard. He delivers content a bit fast in class, while the materials he provides on the website are not good enough to study for quizzes and exams. His quiz drives me mad. If you take his 132, you'd better take notes carefully and make sure everything is covered. On the other hand, I recommend his 250, it's much easier than his 132, cool and relaxing. By the way, he's really strict, just don't miss any assignment. I feel like he's not quite approachable.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 04/17/2019	Fawzi is a solid lecturer. He explains concepts extremely well and is generally very articulate and well-spoken. However that being said, his quizzes for CMSC132 are unnecessarily difficult and he's often rude and condescending if you approach him at office hours.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/24/2018	He is funny and makes lecture interesting, but attendance isn't mandatory and he records lectures. The exams were sometimes difficult but practice exams were released. He responds to student concerns (changed the release tokens from 24 to 12 hours) and is fair.
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/24/2018	Great, effective lecturer. He can be boring, but I think that can be overlooked when considering how well he can explain the concepts taught. However, I took this class when Nelson was co-teaching. I'm not sure how well he fares on his own
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/22/2018	Good teacher, exams can be vague.
Anwar Mamat CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/13/2018	Anwar is a good choice. You will have to learn some things on your own as he doesn't go through everything fully. The amount of notes he provides for students is AWESOME. His tangents are funny but were less appreciated when we had to speed through topics at the end of the semester.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/13/2018	He is not a very effective lecturer, as I end up teaching most of the material to myself outside of class. He gets distracted very easily and will look to call anyone out that is talking to their neighbor or on their phone, even if they are not bothering anyone. This ends up being a distraction to the entire class and I find it hard to focus or take him seriously. He posts lecture slides that are very helpful and they reflect the content that will be on the exams. He is a fair teacher but I do not enjoy going to lecture.
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/09/2018	Pedram is an excellent lecturer. Class is super well structured, and he considers when it might be more effective to show you example code, then slides, or the slides and then the example code. In general, though Nelson is the one posting Piazza updates, he is simply there in lecture, teaching like he always does. I've heard when he is not co-teaching with someone like Nelson, his exams are very difficult, so take that into consideration. He is also very boring. A good majority of my section stopped showing up to either lecture or discussion because of this.
Michael Donahue CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 11/30/2018	He's alright. Nothing special.
Ryan Sutton CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/30/2018	A good TA who always showed up on time. He was understanding of those who asked for help. Often, the content of discussion lasted about 20 minutes since we were just going through slides quickly. As it was an 8am discussion, the majority of people started to skip, which was unfortunate.
Melika Abolhasani CMSC132 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 07/29/2018	Often shy at times, Melika was absolutely brilliant. She was slated to teach 351 one semester but she left the University to pursue other careers. She was my TA for 132. She would help me time after time again with my code, and draw pictures and diagrams to help me understand the data structures. She was at her best when I had one on one time with her. She was very receptive to student concerns during her office hours and tried to help as much as she could with the time she had. Her lab sections I thought were pretty helpful. If i didn't understand something from lecture, she always cleared it up and made it easier for me to understand. A shame she had to leave the University, because she was very gifted.
Anwar Mamat CMSC132 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 06/27/2018	He is a horrible lecturer. Do not take him unless you are willing to basically learn all the material on your own outside of class. To make matters worse, he has tons of clicker questions to penalize you for not going to his pointless lectures. And he doesn't allow laptops in class for students who actually want to learn while he's "teaching." The one good thing about his classes is that the grading structure is fair, and the class is organized, but he just has no idea how to communicate the material. He doesn't seem to understand that coding in front of the class in a ridiculously small font while providing little explanation as to what he's doing is not the best way to teach computer science. Going from him one semester to an actually competent lecturer like Eastman the next was a night and day difference.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/03/2018	Herman is honestly one of the best professors ive had. I thoroughly enjoyed his class and teaching style. His tests were difficult but very fair. And his projects are so detailed, they can be very easy. His lectures are boring but like what do u expect, its a lecture... But i do learn a lot. I highly recommend just sitting there and listening. I barley took notes in this class just cuz his slides are so detailed, u dont need to. He also recommends to read chapters ahead of time which really helps. The worksheets are all similar to his tests. Its not that hard to pass, u just gotta try
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/16/2018	He knows his stuff but does not know how to test on knowledge. Midterm averages were pretty low, and about 15-20% of the class had to drop the class just because of those. He's definitely a nice guy, but the TAs weren't great, and the lack of TA office hours will leave you scrambling if you need help on a project.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting a C Anonymous 05/11/2018	Teaches well and wants students to succeed but is an asshole to anyone who doesn't sit in the front. Detailed project notes but difficult tests.
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Anonymous 05/11/2018	No Piazza forum to ask questions only TA hours. When I asked the TA why he doesn't set up a piazza forum, he quoted Pedram and said "I'm too lazy." Average on the midterms were about a ~60%. Pedram has a very monotone voice and as a result is very boring. Projects were alright, start early and you should be straight. Going to TA hours on the day a project is due is like waiting in line at a yeezy shoe release. I wouldn't take him if I were you.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/11/2018	Very mean guy. Would not recommend. I passed his course, but I hated going to lectures.
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting an A tomorrow 05/11/2018	A good professor overall with answers to all your questions and willing to admit if he doesn't know the answer off the top of his head. Entertained every question a student threw at him, even if he had to defer to later in the class to answer it. Many felt his midterms were extremely difficult, but they're fair tests of your knowledge in the class. They're challenging, but they're not impossible if you study all the content and can write the code. For all the exams, Pedram said what the coding section would be on (of course not the specific question but the general topic) to make sure you knew going in.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/03/2018	Although he does yell at students to move up to the front row, cites random studies that have little relevance to the class, and prevents students using their laptops and phones, Herman is overall a really good professor. Believe it or not, he does these annoying things because he cares about making students doing their best. If you genuinely care about learning the material and pay attention during the lectures, you can definitely succeed. His jokes and humor are different, but he does this to make his class as interesting as he can. Before the exams, he always posts ungraded homeworks and practice exams, and for our 3 exams, the review material was similar to the real thing. Between taking Pedram and Herman for CMSC132, I got stuck with Herman due to scheduling and was initially upset, but looking back, I am glad that I was and would take Herman over Pedram if I had to do it again.
Raghav Bhasin CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 02/10/2018	Now that I'm in 216 I have great appreciation for Raghav who prepared me for the content for this semester. Extremely friendly.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/30/2017	Not the most entertaining professor and a bit dry but overall learned a lot during the class. The project guidelines are extremely detailed and specific which is very nice. Exams are fair.
Timothy Wang CMSC132 Anonymous 12/14/2017	Very friendly and helpful TA. He prepared his own slides for every discussion and shared it in a Slack channel with the whole section.
Cameron Moy CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/14/2017	He was my discussion TA. He not only knew the material, but was able to communicate it well.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 11/20/2017	Easy to follow.
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 11/19/2017	Pedram is really good at balancing teaching concepts and explains the actual code that goes into the course. The only caveat I’d say about pedram is his discussion sections aren’t always relevant.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/19/2017	First CS professor I've had and seems to be one of my favorite professors so far. CS material can be really confusing but Nelson uses simple analogies to make sure his students understand what's going on. Really engaging as well, both inside and outside the classroom. If you have the chance to take him, do so.
Pedram Sadeghian CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/19/2017	What you would expect from a professor. He goes through the material relatively well, but fails to engage the class in any way. I was fortunate enough to have Nelson post his lectures for the class so I don't go to lectures anymore, but overall I feel the class is still manageable by just reading the power point slides posted online. CMSC132, in general: Quizzes can be annoying I recommend taking them seriously because they can really impact your grade if you don't do well. Projects: Projects were relatively easy I would just give yourself enough time to do them. Midterms: Overall, were generally fair but have very nitpicky questions in some cases, doing the practice midterms that are posted is more than sufficient study material.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Expecting an A- lactaid 11/19/2017	Nelson is a great professor. He tells jokes to make class interesting. Some may find this distracting however. I took him for 132 and 216. He's a really nice guy. The projects are difficult but they can be rewarding.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Expecting an A mike 11/11/2017	Nelson is one of the best professors I have had at Maryland. He always keeps his lectures interesting with jokes and stories. He also is great at teaching the material so it's easy to understand. His projects take some time, but he gives a great explanation of exactly what you need to do. Definitely try to take your CS classes with Nelson (everyone calls him by his first name).
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Anonymous 12/30/2015	Nelson is absolutely and unequivocally the worst instructor I have ever had the misfortune of taking a class with. He is decent at lecturing most of the time, but that is not too much of a merit, since he just reads off slides. I have asked questions both in class, and in office hours, and I have never received a satisfactory answer. For example, one time in class, he offered an opportunity for us to ask questions about the current project we were working on. When I asked a question, he told me my question was too complicated to understand, and instead of letting me clarify, he instead told me that he wouldn't answer my question, and would be moving on to the next topic. I decided to go to his office hours to try and clarify my question. However, he would not even let me finish my question before interrupting, and repeatedly telling me my confusion regarding the project was because I had not read the public tests (which is a solution not remotely related to my original question). He was very rude and discourteous the entire time I was in his office. He uses Piazza (sort of like a forum), under the pretense of having TAs or fellow students being able to help answer questions regarding the class. However, he only uses Piazza as a way to avoid answering nuanced questions himself. This was quite obvious the other times I had attended his office hours, when he would simply tell me to ask my question to the TAs instead. As noted in other reviews, he stops lecture to call out students unnecessarily for the most ridiculous things. Aside from it not being funny, it is quite embarrassing to be put on the spot like that. He is able to still be popular among students because he makes frequent jokes all throughout class. While some of them can be funny, a lot of the jokes I find to be annoying. He jokes about marijuana, cocaine, drinking, etc., in order to project a "chill" image which the typical college student will find hysterical. To summarize this review, Nelson has repeatedly proven he is rude, unable to answer questions that are nuanced, and desperate to be liked. Those genuinely are the three most dangerous traits an instructor can have, as he will find opportunities to belittle you throughout the semester if he knows you don't like him. Stay away from his class at all costs.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/02/2015	People told me Nelson was awesome before I chose his class, but honestly I'm a little disappointed now. He jokes a lot during the lecture, with makes the class seems easy, but I just feel like I cannot really learn from him. Also I don't like him making fun of students in the lecture. I think his exams and quizzes are fair, but the projects are really hard. I personally won't recommend him. In my opinion, he might be a good guy but just an okay professor.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A lordwill753 05/06/2015	Larry Herman has his pros and cons, but overall I thought he taught the material well. PROS: -Very detailed and course oriented. Almost never goes off on tangents. -Likes to use funny analogies to explain concepts in class, which helped me remember more clearly. -Projects were fair and were more practical than the ones I did last semester for 131. -Exams were generally easy, and stuck to the practice problems he posts on ELMS. -His obsession with koalas is hilarious. CONS: -Tends to be abrasive and mean in class sometimes. God help you if he catches you with your phone more than once. -Typically doesn't fully answer questions from people in lecture because he claims he needs to rush through material, leaving people even more confused sometimes. -Not exactly the most approachable or nicest person around, which might discourage people from going to office hours. You'll learn in his course, and you'll learn a lot. But Larry isn't the nicest guy around.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 04/06/2015	I’ve only taken 2 comp sci classes at Maryland but I definitely learned a lot from Mr. Herman. Starting with the cons: Mr. Herman means well but seems to lack skill in social interaction (unless he is disciplining someone). He never seemed to want to look me in the eye when I tried to ask him questions before or after lecture, and talks like a robot at times. He is not the greatest lecturer: he repeats himself often and kept saying that he was "behind" for the last 5 weeks or so of the semester. During that time he didn't really ask if there were questions on the new material, but is very responsive if you go to his office hours or ask for help outside of class. Very strict about the "No laptops or electronics" policy...he kicks people out of class for texting during lecture. I think he got his count up to 20 between two of his three lecture periods when I was in 132 with him. Switching gears though, Mr. Herman is very knowledgeable about Java and the computer programming paradigm. His lecture slides are an amazing resource, sometimes better than the textbook (which, for 132, I highly recommend you get, even if you’re a Java expert, as it contains a lot of powerful concepts and goes into detail on some foggy areas beyond the 132 curriculum that are still good to know).
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/14/2014	I would like to start off by saying that Herman is not as bad as many people say. I feel that most of the low reviews he gets are from freshmen who are not prepared for the amount of work this class will take. With that being said, I will give you as honest a review of him as I can. Keep in mind that this is my second high level programming class (I'm an EE major so I already saw many of the concepts presented in this class in my 150 class) I'll start off with the bad. Herman can be kind of an asshole at times. He follows his syllabus to the letter, so if he specifies that he will only answer programming questions in office hours, HE WILL ONLY ANSWER THEM IN OFFICE HOURS. Like even for simple yes or no questions, he will only answer them during office hours which can get really annoying. His exams are another negative point. For a 100 level programming class, I felt that there were unnecessarily difficult, and this was having already seen most of these concepts in another class already. His exams are often extremely specific, sometimes testing concepts that were only vaguely mentioned during a lecture and are often unnecessary to know for practical programming purposes. With that being said, Herman is an extremely good teacher. I honestly thought he was a good lecturer, may not have been the most interesting but hey, you try and keep this stuff interesting through 5 different lectures of the same topic. If you want to be successful in this class, go to his lectures as much as possible. I would also recommend using his office hours a lot, not because he will only answer questions during them but also if you ask him a question then you will get a detailed and thorough answer that will almost surely help you. Like I said, I have seen most of the programming concepts presented in this class in a previous coding class, however, I still found his projects to be rather straight forward. If this is your first high level programming class I would suggest starting early, but you should not have difficulty completing them on time and getting a good score on the project. Overall, I would recommend Herman if you really want to learn the topics presented in 132. Yes he is an asshole, but it will be worth putting up with because you will learn a lot.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/04/2014	People give Larry a hard time, but I don't think he's too bad. I find his expectations reasonable, and I think he does a pretty good job of teaching the material. That said, he's kind of a jerk. His classroom rules are ridiculously strict, and he wastes a solid 5-10 minutes of every class yelling at people for using cellphones in class or telling people who walk in late that they should attend later lectures. He's not a particularly approachable teacher, and even discourages asking questions because he fell behind on the course material. I feel like I'm learning a lot from Larry, but the actual classroom experience is pretty annoying. Despite my objections to the way Larry approaches his teachers, I disagree with the reviews that say that the class is too difficult or that the workload is too much. The projects give me a greater understanding of the material and the tests seemed like a good barometer of my knowledge. Not an easy class but appropriate for the subject matter.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/25/2014	At first, I really didn't like him, and I never really got over annoying things that he does such as go over administrative stuff at the start of each lecture and calling out anyone on their cell phone during class. He's not necessarily the nicest person ever, but he is an extremely smart person and does a good job explaining things. He posts 3 old exams before each midterm, and the tests are fair and not hard if you prepare for them. If you regularly attend lecture and did well in 131 you should be fine even if you get 'stuck' with Larry in 132. At the end of the day he's a smart guy and good teacher
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting a B watergems 08/23/2014	I had a problem with Larry Herman's lectures. (1) He lectures off slides that are sketchy and incomplete, speeds through them, often flipping before students who write really quickly can jot down notes, and refuses to post slides in advance so that students can prepare for how he speeds through them and take notes on the slides themselves. (2) He uses vague ambiguous, conceptual verbiage that doesn't convey the underlying technical specifics so that you can learn the material in a concrete way from his lecture delivery. For example, on joining concurrent threads: "A thread can wait for another one to terminate by calling join(). public final void join() returns when the thread it's called on quits" There is no specific technical information in that passage that tells you what to do or what is happening in the software. Here is the kind of specific, technical language that is more helpful, from in the tutorials on docs.oracle.com: "The join method allows one thread to wait for the completion of another. If t is a Thread object whose thread is currently executing, t.join(); causes the current thread to pause execution until its thread terminates." Yet, Herman teaches with fuzzy, untechnical language but tests to a much higher level of technical rifor than he lectures with. (3) All the students in the class who have language disabilities or communication disorders are completely swamped with trying to make sense out of his terrible lectures off sped-through slides and ambiguous language, and finding alternative instructional materials/spending days in the tutoring lab inorder to compensate sucks time that is frankly unavailable to CS students. (4) HIs tests are unreasonable to an absurd degree. He tests on variable names that are in example code that come as side downloads to his lectures. His use of variable names in such side code downloads is nonstandard. The amount of pedantic memorization he requires is excessive.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting a C Anonymous 06/24/2014	Way too much work for a 4 credit 100 level class. Larry seems to forget that some of us are taking other classes. I am seriously not one to complain about work overload as I am usually pretty good at time management but good god this is another level of crazy.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/29/2014	Herman is possibly one of the worst computer science "instructors" at UMD. From day one, I came into the class not expecting much after reading most of the reviews on here and on Course Eval. Larry is one of the rudest people in the entire computer science department and always has a smug look of discontent on his face when he teaches in his monotone voice. His tests border on unfair. He gave our section a test in which the average was 15 points lower than the other sections yet he didn't curve it or even acknowledge it. He takes attendance by forcing students to sign a sheet which in the end did nothing, he punished students for asking questions which were on the "course information posted on ELMS," he talks about rules and guidelines for 20 minutes every class and then complains about not having enough time for questions. Overall, I would NOT recommend Herman and ask that you stay away, as far away from this man as possible if you want to do well in CMSC132.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A umdee 04/25/2014	Decent professor in terms of communicating the material. Most of the other reviews cover his unique style like the no electronics policy, taking attendance every lecture, and not letting students sit in the back. At first I hated his style, but later on I realized that the way he teaches drills the material into your head and forces you to pay attention. If you attend most of his lectures and sit in the front and pay attention, I guarantee you'll get an A. His exams were fairly straightforward, but the only thing I didn't like about them were the extremely specific details to which questions were asked. He would change one little obscure thing to see if you really knew your stuff. Annoying, but manageable. Overall, Herman is decent at teaching. Sure, he's not the best or most exciting professor out there, but he gets his job done provided you, the student, do your part.
Larry Herman CMSC132 titan89 02/02/2014	There is a reason larry has the worst average gpa for this class. He is a very bad teacher and your best hope is to get a good TA. Dont take him if there is another option. His exams are impossible and the average for the final was a D. He will try to trick you or put long instructions, MAKE SURE YOU READ THEM CAREFULLY. Even if you miss one detail that could make you end up with a C. Avoid this guy at all costs. He is monotone as well. People who say he is good for 216, well he should teach that class then. To the guy above me. WHATS YOUR POINT? 1) All the professors in universities teach as much or more than herman does. There no excuse for him reading off slides the whole lecture and then testing on one concept he went over for 30 seconds. He cant teach period. 2) You got a B so you have no right to say his exams arent hard or tricky and people should have done better. Why dont you try taking a good professor who can actually teach like fawzi or nelson and then compare them with herman. 3) Again you got a B. Maybe you shouldnt be in CS by your own standards. Try taking a guy who is actually interested in teaching his/her students like fawzi and nelson.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 01/27/2014	Here are the points against him, and I'm going to give you reasons why those things are not true, or don't matter. 1) He is boring. Yeah, YOU try teaching 9 lectures a week and tell me if you can keep all of them interesting. What are you expecting? Entertainment? He's here to teach you and it's your responsibility to learn. He's nice and is always helpful in office hours. He moves deadlines if the class says they need more time. That more than makes up for class being "boring." 2) He tries to "trick" you on exams. They're not tricks if you know what you're doing. Do you think you'll get hired anywhere if you don't know what you're doing? 3) He makes you work "too hard" for an A. People who don't like Larry are either not good at working hard or don't want to. If you don't want to, you probably shouldn't be in CS. His exams are just difficult enough that you have to study the material and understand it on a deeper level, and that's not a crime. If you want to coast through classes, you probably shouldn't be in CS.
Larry Herman CMSC132 installgentoo 02/12/2013	The short review is as follows: Larry Herman is good at teaching but terrible at conveying his expectations. You need to understand and memorize EVERYTHING he mentions, even in passing, to excel in the class, and you need to start on programming projects much sooner rather than later because they are deceptive when you first read the description. In detail: Mr. Herman is the best lecturer I have had in the past five semesters. In addition to knowing the course material, he is typically capable of conveying it to the class. His M.O. is to lecture using PowerPoint slides, asking the class if they understand before he discusses examples. MOST of these slides are posted on Blackboard a few days later, but they often have questions without answers on them. The examples that he presents in class are always basic illustrations of the topic at hand. He also maintains the class's interest when he talks about the more pedantic aspects of OOP by seamlessly working brief, amusing comments into his lectures. On the other hand, however, I must remark that the class is heavily geared toward audial instruction. That is, the "learn by doing" aspect of the class is lacking. I was disappointed that there was little middle ground when it came to the difficulty of assignments. While the worksheets in discussion were similar in difficulty to the lecture examples, projects were significantly time-consuming. Part of this may have been because while I personally learn best by reading the book/writing code, the text for the class only discusses data structures, and not other topics covered in the class (Out of five, only the second and third projects focused predominantly on creating data structures. The first was a review of CMSC131, the fourth was about graph traversal, and the fifth was about multithreading, I/O, and connecting to the Internet). Furthermore, tests were obnoxious, in the sense that perhaps 20% of each test dealt with trivia. In the case of the final, this took the form of, "Do you happen to remember this fact about Java that I mentioned offhand halfway through the semester, and that you probably never used when you were completing the projects?" The rest of each test was either writing code or tracing a program. The grading is stringent - I recall losing 8% on the second exam because I implemented (correctly) an O(n^2) algorithm instead of an O(n log(n)) algorithm. Basically, in most cases, it does not suffice in this class to get your program to compile and function correctly; you must also write it efficiently and know other ways you could have achieved the same functionality. All in all, Mr. Herman has been my second-favorite teacher at UMD (after Prof. James Schafer of the Math department), and a few, but not all, of my complaints about the class are not his fault. I was actually signed up for Mr. Emad's section of 132 at the beginning of the semester, but I switched out immediately after sitting in on one of Mr. Herman's lectures. Best decision so far of my college career. One final note: as you progress through the class, make a condensed version of your notes to serve as a rudimentary study guide for exams. It will be very helpful.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 09/21/2012	Fawzi is the best natural teacher I've ever seen in my life! If you go to the lectures you will learn the material. Period. He's also pretty entertaining and tries to keep things informal and low-key. If you see a few "mixed reviews" on sites like this, let me tell you why: Fawzi has a very low tolerance for students who are obnoxious during class. If you act like an ass during the lecture, he will shut you down! It's pretty funny to watch. So you'll find a few negative reviews from some of those people. But trust me, Fawzi is the best instructor you could possibly get. I'll take him for any course I can.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 08/30/2012	This guy is brisk, jovial, relaxed, and accessible. Most lectures are teeming with material, but he somehow makes it all digestible and light. Thing is, some of the topics (like data structures) won't stick to your mind in just one lecture; so you must re-read the slides, draw memory diagrams, and then explain them to yourself until you're comfortable enough. The projects are appropriate for the subject matter and most of them have their easy or advanced sections already implemented so you can focus only on the stuff you need practice on. Quizzes and exams are all easy as long as you go through the slides and maybe some of the example code. The discussion exercises are seldom helpful, but good for collaboration. I got an A+ and the class is my favorite (most informative) CS class yet.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/01/2012	He doesn't care about his students. Don't take his class. He knows his stuff, but expects his students to already know the content that he is there to teach about. Worst professor I've had at Maryland by far
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 02/20/2012	He is a great professor if you're smart. When I mean smart, I mean you know the material well, or pick it up while he's teaching. Everyday he comes to class he is disorganized but is a decent professor. He spends at least five mins per slide complaining about how the slides are wrong or not how he would have done it. The same with the coding examples you see on the CVS. He ASSUMES you remember almost everything from 131 but many friends of mine that tested or AP'ed (not sure how to say it) out of 131 have told me how much 132 sucks because he assumes you know more than you actually do. He is very meticulous with his grading and excessively strict. He is notorious for not curving the class so don't expect it. He curved for our first midterm (we had two) because the average was like a 65% percent. He told us that the exam was going to be easy, however many people didn't finish. He's not for the average b student because he caters to the smarter crowd. Try to talk to him in person and tell me he isn't an self absorbed asshole. He invites questions but will sometimes ignore simple questions he assumes we should already know. He is rude and even if the TA's agree with you that one of his exam questions are unfair he will debate it to no end until you give up and realize it's impossible to convince him otherwise. Don't get me wrong, he's not a bad professor and I would even recommend taking him as a professor. I just think he's an asshole. Remember, he caters to the smart.He's a decent, but not the best, professor. The only reason I had an 85% was cause I know how to program decently even though I failed one exam. He's good in the sense that he expects alot from you and in turn you work harder because he doesn't curve. He's tough but not horrible.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 01/22/2012	I enjoyed this class a lot from the academic perspective. I have seen him cut students short as is being argued below, but he needs to do so to teach all of the material, and when he does realize he had not heard someone's idea or question through that he should have, he will immediately apologize. He is confident but he does not devalue his student's ideas. In fact he encourages it, and I am confused by comments to the contrary. I may be biased since I had few difficulties understanding the actual material; however, I am new to programming, and did do a lot of work outside the class to keep my grade up and be able to ask suitable questions. Some students asked questions that they should ask during office hours. I have taken advantage of this in the past and he is very thorough at explaining things as long as other students' time is not being completely wasted.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A CompSciGuy 01/16/2012	Fawzi rocks! The reviews by the angry student below do not represent my views at all. Fawzi's lectures are thorough and clear, his exams are fair, and he has a great sense of humor. I actually looked forward to going to his lectures! In office hours he isn't going to debug your code for you, but he'll give you enough hints to get you going if you're stuck. I thought his exam reviews were extremely helpful -- he went over everything that we asked him to in great detail. The exams looked exactly like what he had prepared us for. He really seems to care about teaching and I'll take any class with him that I can.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a D Anonymous 12/17/2011	The guy is awful and you are not a great programmer. Everyone who has not gone to his office, loves him. Everyone who has seen him personally, thinks he is a world class douche. I will admit, I am spiteful now because he gave me a D for being less than a point away from a 70 (did bad on the final, was doing well until I took it). I asked him for something, anything to make up the small difference and not screw me for the next year, but he said it wasn't his problem and that was all. If you are a natural programmer, take him. If you need someone who is kind and willing to be nice behind the scenes as well, take ANYONE else. I have found Golub, Nadua-Perez, Plane,much more approachable. Fawzi really is a jerk if you are a guy who is a below average programmer.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A bdepalo 12/16/2011	Fawzi was a great professor. He explained all the course material in a way that was easy to understand and retain. I took AP Comp Sci in high school and had no problem in this class. Those who dislike Fawzi must have either skipped class often or are not cut out to be Computer Scientists.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Anonymous 12/04/2011	Insufferable prick.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 11/28/2011	Fawzi Emad is a good professor in the things that he does. However, he is not willing to adapt his style for students who do not learn from his particular style of teaching. He expects you to come to every class, and will tell you what to expect on exams and such only in class (he also teaches using slides). This is not unreasonable; however, for people who learn best by doing and have a hard time following lectures, this can be a problem. On the first midterm, there was a big portion of the grade that was not tested via a project beforehand which can be very problematic for kinesthetic learners. He also does not offer review problems, or even a sheet listing things to study. However, it should be noted that if you attend class, keep track of the general topics discussed, and take very brief notes, then go back and study slides before the exam, you can do very well. You MUST do these things to succeed, because Fawzi will often test on things that he mentioned once in class that are just historical facts and you won't find in the materials. Also, pay attention to what appears on quizzes, because it is likely to reappear on exams. Basically, I would say that if you know yourself to be a kinesthetic learner, avoid his class because it will be a struggle to go by his style of teaching, but it is possible to do well with some work outside your normal way of learning.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Anonymous 09/14/2011	Fawzi is an excellent professor. Explains the material really nicely and keeps the lectures interesting. Definitely disagree with the idea of him not caring about his students. He takes time to answer all questions in class and is very thorough in doing so. The idea of him not caring about his students is quite far from what it seems like in my class at least.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 09/12/2011	I also disagree with the person two/three posts below... I had Fawzi for both 131 and 132. I can assure you that he always went out of his way to help us learn the material. His classes are actually FUN and he is always upbeat and energetic.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Expecting an A+ fma1 08/23/2011	I took CMSC132 during the summer and I say he's not a bad professor. Lecture material was kind of boring to me as a lot I already knew, but Nelson tried to connect it to real life examples. The two things I didn't like were that he would make jokes time to time and he would pay too much attention to me. I got 100% on his pop quiz, so I was actually paying attention. I understand why he makes jokes, but I didn't come to class to listen to jokes. I came to learn about OOP. So whenever he did that, I would study something else.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Anonymous 05/24/2011	Lectures: In most of his classes, he starts out by talking about something in his life (or ends up talking about it), which is fine - if I weren't paying for classes! It takes up time, and sometimes he doesn't go over as much as he wanted. He absolutely hates if someone's using a laptop or phone in class, which is understandable...but he sounds like a douchebag when he asks someone to put it away. He usually goes over his slides by reading them, and not really adding to them. If he does add to them, write it down, cause his quizzes and tests are nitpicky. He rarely writes on the board, and if he does, make sure you're in the front, cause he writes small ! Quizzes: I don't think he writes his own quizzes. The set up of the worksheets usually have nothing to do with the quizzes. Don't focus on what the worksheets are on, cause most likely, it's not gonna be on the quiz. There were only 2 times where the class knew what the quizzes were on. He doesn't even really give the TAs a heads up on anything, so the TAs are clueless until the day of the quizzes. Also, most of the time, the average on the quizzes are around 20-25 points out of 40, so don't give up... Homework & Projects: Don't ever ever turn anything in the night it's due. If the server goes down, he may or may not give an extension. Try to get all the points on the Homework, cause that will help your grade. Even though you only need to get HALF of your tests working on the projects, try to get 60-70%, cause his TAs might rule out some of the public tests that you thought you passed. Plus, going above the minimum means you'll probably be above the curve. Try to get some secret tests done, too....cause some people don't do those, and that's about 30 points. TA: Try not to get Gleneesha, cause she'll just point on the board at code and expect you to understand what it does. She doesn't really explain anything, and if she does, it's not thorough. It makes me think she doesn't know anything. Granted, I heard all TAs sucked, especially for CS, but it'd be nice to have someone who DIDN'T have to Google some answers in front of you... Books: Don't bother buying them. I bought them halfway through the semester thinking they'll help, but I have yet to actually use them. Half the class didn't buy any, and they're doing fine. He also asked the class (of those who bought them) if they were useful, and everyone said no. Don't bother.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/14/2011	Okay. I had this guy for 131 and 132. He's probably one of the better teachers in the department. He's a decent teacher. Not incredible. He is good at conveying the information, and you will learn the material pretty well. However, there are a few majors problems. First off, I don't think he cares much about his students. He is really into himself, and if you get in his way he will stomp you into the ground. Yes, he will teach you what you need to know, but he makes it fairly obvious that he doesn't care much about the students, but more about the fact that his boss wants him to teach in a certain way. Everything usually needs to go the way that he wants it, otherwise he will get angry. A big problem with his grading and tests is that he stresses trivial stupid points that don't have much to do with the class. Some of the tests will have not much concepts, but some stupid esoteric stuff about Java that does not really matter. Another big problem was that he used lecture slides made by the department that he didn't like. He was always commenting on how the slides were wrong and stupid. Well, if he didn't like them, then he should make his own. He's a little bit rude as well when it comes to dealing with students, and helps very little with actual exam preparation in the weeks before the final. Overall, 131 and 132 aren't too bad. The projects take some time, but if you work hard you can get an A. You should probably take this guy over some of the other 131/2 professors, but you should know what to expect. He just isn't as great as everyone says he is. By the way, I'm not one of those students who happened to have a bad encounter with Fawzi or anything. I did fine in the class and didn't have any personal issues with him. I'm just telling you what you need to know about this guy.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A awesomeblosom 02/21/2011	I'd taken this class before in high school, so I was decently well off. If I hadn't taken the class before, it wouldn't have gone so well. Herman is a very dry teacher, who doesn't teach very well. He knows his stuff, he just doesn't know how to convey it very well. I'd advise against taking him for higher level classes. Book is not neccessary, just look things up on the internet.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting a D Anonymous 01/26/2011	Larry Herman is THE WORST Comp. Sci. teacher I have ever had. Please stay away from him, and avoid him at all costs. He has a very monotone voice and he will put you to sleep no matter what. He is a very cocky professor and expects the worst from students. He would always expect students to answer his questions wrong, but they would say the right answer so then he would reword the question so no one would understand it. He always emphasized that the Honors class did way better than us, but the fact is that they did better because he was not teaching the Honors section. Quizzes averaged around the 50-60% in our class, and it was solely because he does not explain concepts well. If you have no choice but to take the class with him, expect a lot of self-teaching and expect a lot of stress. He assigns projects that are always half-assed and is always revising them up to the last second. He says "Umm...um...um..." a lot, and he makes awkward comments to girls. Overall, he is a very awkward person and he seems to be the only uninteresting Comp. Sci. professor. Quizzes are easy if you learn everything by yourself. Exams are graded in a strict manner so it is really hard to get a decent grade on the exams (1 midterm, and the final). Besides wasting time trying to figure out how the projection boards work, he goes off in tangents. Most of the class stopped attending his lectures, so he started taking attendance. So people went to the lectures just to sign the attendance sheet. He will call you out if you have your laptop out, if you are sitting in the very back, if you come to class late, or if you leave early. He is extremely annoying and rarely sympathizes with you (except if you are a girl).
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/17/2011	Herman is a good lecturer. I had taken AP Comp Sci AB and gotten a 5 coming into this class, so I knew a decent amount of the material beforehand. His lectures are generally well done and he knows what he is talking about. He has some weird habits though. Whenever something goes wrong he will always make up like 100 excuses as to why it's not his fault. He's kind of pompous, but class was pretty enjoyable. The quizzes were pretty easy imo, but the class averages were always terrible (25-30). Look over the past couple lecture slides before the quiz!!! The midterm and final were both very fair. Homework & Projects: Do NOT wait until the night before it's due to start. Seriously, don't. The projects and homework are all doable, but they will take serious effort on your part. You will get stuck, you will have to redesign code, you will have to use the debugger, and you will have to read all the specifications beforehand. That being said, it is possible to do well on all the projects. I got 100% on all the public tests for projects. I can't comment on how the office hours works, I never had to go to them. TA: Gleneesha was a pretty terrible TA imo. I went to most of the discussion sections, but I only learned a couple things from them. The worksheets that they give you in discussion are useless, I would just use the time to study notes and work on projects. Books: Overpriced and not needed. The internet is the only resource you need. Overall: I thought the class was pretty good. Herman has gotten some pretty awful reviews but I think a lot of them are frustrated students who didn't put enough effort in the class.
Larry Herman CMSC132 sallen429 01/13/2011	Boring... Pedantic... Out of touch with students... Laurence is a crap CS teacher and avoid him if possible. He turned me off to the field of compsci and after his class I changed my major.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Anonymous 12/19/2010	Larry is easily one of the most boring professors the CS department has to offer. While some professors' tangents can be a nice break and funny...Larry's are not funny. He teaches in a way that, I think, is very hard to understand--and Java is already a very abstract concept. With less examples, and more powerpoint slides, you're almost on your own. If you end up with a crap TA...good luck.
Larry Herman CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/17/2010	So larry is NOT a bad guy at all and he is sometimes very funny in class with his jokes during lecture, but beware if you have him prepare for lots and lots of stress. The beginning of this course proved to be very easy because before the midterm exam (end of october) all we had were 2 quizzes, 1 homework, and 1 project. Note that the grading system is sooooooo stupid that if you make a mistake that doesnt even make an impact on your work, you WILL lose alot of points. So be careful and read the directions because even if you show that you understand the problem and explain it very well, you will lose full credit if you dont follow the exact directions. That is what happened to me, i lost 2 letter grades on a quiz on something that stupid even though i clearly understood the problem. After the midterm he just threw everything at us at once, all the hws, projs, and quizzes giving us barely anytime, he had to give a hw and a prog at the same time over thanksgiving because he had to fit it all before the semester is over! I had no problem with this because i knew the material already but for those who dont know the material, your pretty much screwed. Also office hrs are always packed so go early if you need help. I took ap programming in high school and i understood every single topic in the class but yet i still couldnt get an A+. The reason is because of the grading again. It is just terrible and he is very slow at getting your work back. It is december 17 and only 40% of our grades have been posted. We still havent gotten back our proj 2,3,4 and hw 2,3 back yet which is the majority of our grade. Plus the TAs do not know what they are doing. Most of the time i think im smarter than them. If you want an A or even a B you must know the topic before you take the class, or else you are pretty much screwed. I had to go into office hours many times to correct some stuff they weren't clear on. One of the secret test was written wrong for project one and i had to argue it too and i still dont know if he changed it because he hasnt updated the grades yet. All programmers know that when comparing objects you either return a negative or postive number or zero. On the stupid secret test they wrote it so that it checked to see if you did -1,1 and 0. That is wrong and i had to tell Mr. Herman. Plus the submit server doesn't work all the time so turn in your projects early. The problem with not getting our many projs and hws back is the fact that we cant go in to see Mr. Herman to see what we did wrong cuz the semester is over!! so if i find out that they graded something wrong (which is very likely) contacting and arguing will prove to be so much pain. So over all this class will be easy yet stressful for those who know the subject and a horrible nightmare for those who dont know it well. So good luck to those taking this class!! You're going to need it haha
Larry Herman CMSC132 Anonymous 12/01/2010	While it is obvious that Larry Herman knows his stuff, classes weren't all that interesting and sometimes dragged on. His examples seem almost insulting - I think he would be able to get his points across quicker if he explained concepts using graphs and diagrams rather than drawing reluctant volunteers to the front to do something for him. He isn't a terrible person, not at all, but I also wish he would answer simple questions (such as small questions about the syllabus) via email. But I think he has the right to ask that project-related questions are asked during office hours, since it takes a while to sit down with someone and debug a program. My biggest problem with him though is that he started giving the projects late, meaning that we're getting one less project than the syllabus indicated and having back to back projects. And he takes forever to put up the lecture slides! I think it'd be better to put the slides up BEFORE the lecture and then editing them after! It would make it much easier for everyone.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/21/2010	Nelson is a great teacher. He's very upbeat and likes to tell lots of really geeky jokes during class. He'll know if you're not paying attention and he'll call you out on it, but it's not a big deal. The class is certainly not an easy one. Make sure you have plenty of time to do the projects. Nelson is very accessible and always there to help.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Anonymous 05/20/2010	Funny teacher whose ppt lectures are relatively more interesting. Just do not expect him to help you with any personal programming issues. Easy A. Point questions toward TA. Sometimes does not show up to classes for unknown reasons. Does not do anything he doesn't get paid for, I guess. If you have questions just be sure to ask during class so that he will actually give you an answer.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Anonymous 05/13/2010	Terrible professor. If you have a backround in programming you will be fine. But if you are taking the class because you are forced to take a programming class and are not a CMSC major and do not spead time programming "just for fun" you will be lost. And he is not helpful. Most of my conversations with him were as follows; I dont understand this.... Well, we went over that in class. Yes I remember, but I didnt understand it in class either. And I still dont understand it. Well why dont you understand it? I went over it in class. I know, but I dont understand it. OVER AND OVER AND OVER
Larry Herman CMSC132 Anonymous 04/28/2010	Herman did not make the class enjoyable whatsoever! I slept every single class until I discovered the Diamondback crossword puzzle. He needs to show more enthusiasm and be able to effectively teach the class. Also, he wasted a lot of time pulling teeth for random questions directed at the class. There was only one person in my class who actually was able to keep his eyes awake long enough to pay attention. And that guy just happens to be the biggest computer geek I've ever seen. He literally had the projects done two days after they were released. Everyone else just quietly and miserably failed.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/03/2009	He likes to joke around a lot in class and its pretty funny at first but really gets old and annoying after about the first week. When asked a question in class, he'll most likely respond "come to my office hours" or "go to the TA office hours". Then when you go to his office hours, he gets irritated and tells you that he already went over it in class. He always emphasizes the fact that he cares about his students and wants to see them successful in class. I really question that... Best advice I can give you for this class is to start the homeworks and projects early and do take advantage of the TA office hours. They help out a lot. Also he posts practice quizzes and exams which are pretty good study material for the real thing. Oh yea, and never go to his office hours asking about a project that is due soon. I went to ask a question about a project three days prior to the due date about a question the TA's couldn't even answer. He spent 10 minutes lecturing me about how "successful programmers" start projects early so that they aren't cramming to do it at the end. Then he told me to go to TA office hours... Overall not a hard class but don't expect too much out of Nelson.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Anonymous 11/24/2008	the only reason im giving nelson any stars at all is because he explains concepts pretty well during class. other than that, if you have to take 132 this semester, take it with fawzi. nelson wastes A LOT of time saying jokes that have NOTHING to do with class. he may seem funny at first, but when you really need help and he doesn't answer your question, it's not funny anymore. when people ask him questions, he either says "ask the TA", "we already went over that", or "come to my office hours". ive gone to his office hours and he just sends me back to the TAs. he also is not considerate of our time. he gave a project AND homework at the same time (homeworks are like mini projects). i also agree with the person below me about EVERYTHING they mentioned.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Anonymous 11/19/2008	i lot of people liked him. but to me he was very annoying and got on my nerves. he tries too hard to be funny, and most of the time isn't funny at all. he also says he does not care if u don't pay attention in class as long as you don't disrupt the class. but he himself disrupts the class every 5 min to yell/joke at some kid for not paying attention when the student wasn't even disrupting the class
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Expecting an A pluralfacade 05/17/2008	Awesome guy. I've had better teachers, but Nelson keeps class interesting with his jokes, and the way he ran his class really helped me to get a solid grip on the material.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/12/2008	I took him a few years back, he is pretty good at teaching, but goes overboard with the jokes every now and then to a point where you feel kind of embarrassed and annoyed. Some days he is on the money with his comedy show, but some days I really felt like telling him to stfu. The only other complaint was that he rushed the end of the semester pretty hard, so make sure you stay on top of the material. During the last week he made us memorize details for dozens of design patterns which were all on the final.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/16/2007	Quite simply, Nelson is among the best professors UMD has to offer. His class is immensely interesting, he is very funny, and he is a fair grader. The work isn't very hard, but if it is, he is very helpful. No complaints.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Expecting an A unitar 12/04/2007	I actually took class with Nelson in Fall 2006, but felt that he was such a good teacher he deserved a review now that this site is up. Nelson is an excellent teacher that keeps his students laughing, which keeps the material interesting. Take every class he teaches!
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Anonymous 11/15/2007	Nelson is a good teacher. Like everyone has said he tells jokes during class to keep the boring subject material interesting. He also does a good job explaining the projects. I got an A in his class.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC132 Anonymous 11/06/2007	I took 132 with Nelson a few semesters ago, but I did want to mention that he is a great teacher. He keeps class interesting, always cracking jokes and telling stories. My only complaint is that sometimes I was in the mood to just learn what I needed to and leave, and sometimes the jokes were a little too much. Other than that, I learned a lot and had a bit of fun, too. Got an A in his class.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/21/2024

puts a strange emphasis on the reading abilities of students with accomodations.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/20/2024

Provides a lot of study material for exams, sometimes makes lecture actually engaging, and uses a really good textbook as a supplementary (technically optional, but very helpful) resource for course material. The exams are exactly like his practice material, and if you do everything he assigns (homework + discussion worksheets) the class is very easy. The projects help with understanding all of the material covered in class on a more practical level, although the project packets are verbose and the grading is harsh on style. He is very slow at grading projects, so take feedback from project 1 extremely seriously. Larry is definitely not as bad as some people make him out to be, but he is unreasonably strict about using devices in lecture and sometimes falls behind on material because he interrupts lecture to point out pedantic administrative things.

Pranav Palle
CMSC132

Anonymous
11/20/2024

BTF - Best TA Forever!

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Anonymous
11/20/2024

He is a very divisive professor. His class is very organized. He posts good practice material in the form of optional homeworks and practice exams. His lectures, while boring at times, are very good and full of detailed explanations of the content. He have very distinct speaking habits, to say the least. His lecture slides are very bare bones, so you will have to attend lecture and take good written notes. Pro tip - focus on things he says and writes on paper. He has graded worksheets that are graded on effort, but they are randomly distributed in lecture and discussion. Attendance in lecture is mandatory. His project are very long and thorough, which makes them significantly easier. Exams are relatively hard. Not easy, but doable with studying. My TA sucked though, which didn't help. Overall, he would not be my first choice, but not someone to intentionally avoid.

Nora Burkhauser
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/19/2024

Exams have tough questions, projects are just her copying other lecturers, does not know simple things, gets confused during lectures. Does not even record properly half the time, we don't have videos on random days when she just "forgets" to record. 2nd Midterm was surely designed by her, because it was super tough and I swear she didn't go over half the things which were on the exam in depth. Every quiz has a different format, first one was on elms, second on grade scope, third was on paper and fourth one was as many tries as you want. Some of the quizzes have really abstract questions too, and there's no way a premier institute like UMD employed someone like her in the CS department. Lectures are just me trying to slog through the hour, and the TA's are average, some grading tougher than others. If you can choose a different professor, PLEASE DO SO. I had Pedram in CMSC131 and I still go back to his lectures to understand stuff when she confuses me.

Nora Burkhauser
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/18/2024

Her exams are so weird, hard but easy at the same time. I feel like they dont really test you on what you know and just really odd questions. I would say run and pick someone else but also im not suggesting herman. I dont know why she is lecturing and why umd got this lecturer who doesnt know anything considering umd is supposed to have a good cs program. I would say if you watch the lectures on the recording and not go to the lecture that might be better. I also think you should go through all the slides once to prime your brain before you watch the lectures. And then watch a video trying to explain the concept so you know when she is messing up in the lecture because that happens quite a bit. The one thing i hate are the exams and quizzes. The exams are just so damn weird. not like the practice at all. I think im doing really good in the class (95) because im studying all on my own and using chat gpt to give me help! Save ur self if u can

Nora Burkhauser
CMSC132

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
11/17/2024

Give a hamster the 132 slideshow and it will do a better job at teaching than Burkhauser. You can try to self study but her practice exams are not reflective of the midterms at all. The questions on the quizzes are worded so weirdly, like the hardest part is figuring out what the question is actually asking, and does not reflect your knowledge of cs. Do not get burkhausered, run while you can.

Nora Burkhauser
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
11/16/2024

She does not even teach and makes so many mistakes during lecture. While she teaches she would always correct herself and it is so annoying. The second midterm was horrible, I think our average was like 10% less than Herman's average. If you have the choice, pick Herman or anyone else. She should stick to high school where there are less lectures and more group work or smth, she's definitely not fit to be a lecturer.

Ilchul Yoon
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
11/15/2024

Yoon is a very very nice guy, he also understands the content very well, but it might be hard to understand him, but if you focus and show up to lectures you will be fine. You can also review lectures as they are recorded. The projects and exams are fine, assuming you actually put in the work.

Ilchul Yoon
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/15/2024

If you understand what he is trying to say, then you are fine. You cant just hear the words without their context, you will be lost. Very passionate professor, but also expects a lot from you too. Its hard, but its worth it, put in the work and you will be fine. Lecture are also recorded which is a plus.

Nora Burkhauser
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/14/2024

She is so lazy and doenst make her own tests or projects. my current project is literally just nothing and she told us to make it

Nora Burkhauser
CMSC132

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
11/04/2024

her practice exams are not helpful at all and don't prepare for exams. she doesn't explain things well and . she may be lenient in the way that she drops quizzes and deadlines she can be flexible but idk, the exams themselves are hard and she does not teach well.

Nora Burkhauser
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
10/07/2024

She usually takes way too long to explain something super simple. we were doing linked lists and idk why she is taking so long to explain something that just takes two seconds

Nora Burkhauser
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
09/27/2024

Terrible professor. Has never taught college before (only high school) and it definitely shows. Will confuse you on information that should not be confusing because she will make errors, correcting only using the answer key. I enjoyed the concepts and discussions, but dreaded going to lectures because of her as a professor. Take someone else.

Ilchul Yoon
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
09/20/2024

Pretty good professor, anyone who says otherwise is trolling in the class and can't lock in. I learned a lot and I believe I am prepared for the next step in my Computer Science journey.

Nora Burkhauser
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
09/16/2024

This teacher is badddddd. She doesnt know how to teach and is really bad at her job. She is confused half the time and is confused all day. She is boring to listen to. I had her in the MMH building so the building was ass. the seats were ass. Everyone was confused. she is bad. Better than Herman if you can study by yourself tho. I think she may be lenient but idk. have fun if her and Herman are your only options

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
08/26/2024

anyone that gives <5 stars for fawzi is salty they got a bad grade. lock in. 🐿️ fawzi is an S tier CS lecturer.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
08/23/2024

I didnt mind larry, but wouldnt really recommend him either. The lectures are sooooo boring, genuinely fall asleep every time. The practice exams are key to doing well in this class, do them religiously. Projects are pretty easy. Final exam was pretty hard so start studying for that early on. Via email and stuff he is very much not flexible, id recommend office hours for questions/extensions.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a C-
Anonymous
08/04/2024

This is a Summer CMSC132 course in which the lectures are all recorded and everything but exams are purely online. I felt he provided a great level of assistance for myself, he uses easy to understand metaphors for confusing concepts, and goes into great detail for whatever section we are on. In addition, he is a funny man who made me laugh there and there which helps improve the overall experience. A C- is a close call, but it would have been much lower without his teaching.

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
06/28/2024

You can tell that Elias is familiar with the topics he is teaching and is a knowledgeable person, but it doesn't seem like he knows how to explain them properly. A lot of times, he would explain the data structures or the algorithms but it would all be so theoretical that I would be lost on how to code it. I liked that his exams, quizzes, and labs would focus more on the theory and concepts. Overall, had a great semester with him!

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
06/23/2024

Elias is a rather nice person but his teaching style is jumpy and all over the place. He tends to teach the material at a very surface levels but his projects require extensive knowledge of the material. His projects tend to by copycats of Nelson and/or Fawzi with a twist making them much harder with little to no direction. He can be quite a confrontational person and always bats for he's TA's. He always claims their right and never listens to here your thought. His office hours are disorganized and TA's can help much giving very little surface help most of the time that you could have figured. He gives practice but it's also surface level, though his exams are easier than others . He constantly forgets to update information and has typos all over the place. He also has favorites and will exclusively only write them rec. letters because they suck up to him. His rating is much higher due to how likable he can be with the masses, but his teaching is subpar and disorganized. If you have the option, take Nelson or Fawzi. Otherwise you are probably stuck with him.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
06/20/2024

I actually really enjoyed Larry's class, lectures could be a bit boring but if you're able to pay attention he covers the material very thoroughly so going to class will help. He gives graded worksheets which you get 100 on for showing up. Project descriptions are extremely long but the detail will help you a lot, and most projects should take you maybe 2 days max. He also offers extra credit on many projects for submitting early, which should help your grade a lot. Also, no electronics allowed in class is a little annoying but I think it actually did help me focus. I thought that his exams were pretty fair, and he gives an extremely long practice document (~20 pages) and if you work through it, there should be almost no surprises on the exam.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting a C+
Anonymous
06/17/2024

Cares more about his Giraffes then his students. His lectures are entertaining however. Strict grader is an understatement

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
06/12/2024

Nice guy but he teaches very surface level and doesn't go into much detail, leaving it on you to figure out. He will bat for his TA's and always take their side when a problem occurs and has a bit of a superiority complex. He thinks he is the funniest guy out there but really his jokes are not so. His exams are comparably easily, but the 3rd one was very hard as little time is spent on data structures in his class. He really overemphasis other concepts while this class mainly a DSA in java. Gives very little practice. He gets people to like him and seems nice which is the reason his rating is high. Projects are mostly Nelsons with a twist making them harder than they need to be. Very little instructions are given and there is very little direction given , something needing to rely on the public tests to even figure out what is happening. TA's can even really debug during office hour and only give you knowledge that you know most the times. (Best TA's are Enric and Dominic by far)

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Anonymous
06/11/2024

i only took herman because he was better than the other professor. the course is not bad but herman was a pain to be in a lecture with. only pro of this class: free worksheet grade worth 10% of grade. class consists of: 3 exams surprise worksheets in discussion/lecture (mostly in discussion) free 10 point of you try on them 9 projects class participation (2 times) final exam his first exam was really bad and the class average was 67. second exam was a little better and again the third was bad. the final was also hard. he put a lot of questions on end-of-semester material which threw a lot of people off. Like I said the worksheets are basically free points as long as you come to lecture. he doesn't want anyone skipping class so he uses these worksheet by giving them randomly. if you want to report an absence to make up one of the worksheets, good luck because he's really annoying about giving an excused absence. you basically use the absence website and have to wait for him to respond which he doesn't do for weeks, most likely months. his grading is a mess, most of the stuff was graded a week AFTER the final basically giving us no time to discuss our grades or see how we were doing through the semester. the lectures are very detailed which I liked but some of the time but sometimes he got so detailed and stuck on one thing. also theres no coding examples in lecture. he has slides he reads off of and writes on sometimes. he does post the slides but WITHOUT the stuff he wrote so its up to you to come to class and take notes. the TA's are awesome and honestly feel bad for them. they have to personal grade all the projects of all 500~ students because ig he doesn't want to use release test and make things simple (weird considering how much he complains about having a big course and having a hard time grading). TA's have to give the coding examples and summarize the lectures, give us ws, and go over it all in 50 minutes. projects are not terrible just challenging. all his project descriptions are 9 pages long with SO MUCH EXTRA STUFF. he does offer extra credit for some of them. the secret tests make me mad because you have write a bunch of student tests and cant even figure out if you passed or not because HE DOES NOT GRADE ANYTHING!!! overall an okay lecturer but there are no grades on time, hard exams, and make sure go to your discussion because thats the only way you'll learn. I'm really mad about my grade even though I passed the class.

Ilchul Yoon
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
06/02/2024

Certainly the worst professor I have taken at Maryland. Such an unorganized class that was difficult to pass unless you spent time teaching yourself the concepts, which I did. Yoon is a generally nice guy but can not teach to save his life. Lectures are all over the place, jumping from rambling and mumbling about one topic to the next. Projects and exams were usually horribly spaced out, oftentimes with a project due date and exam happening within a day or two of each other. Avoid at all costs. If you have to take him for whatever reason, utilize W3Schools, Baeldung, and Stack Overflow. I got very high grades on the exams, projects, and final because I put the time in pretty much teaching myself.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Expecting a C-
Anonymous
06/01/2024

To echo my other review of Nelson, he makes you feel welcomed in a room of hundreds. The course content of 132 is so so important as principles of CS, and he instructs in an engaging fashion. Start your projects early, as always ;)

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/31/2024

Coming into this class I was nervous it was going to be tough given his rating, but now I can say that Larry is a great lecturer. His lectures go super in-depth and if you pay attention you will do good on exams. The first exam was tough but he adjusted accordingly. He is very strict about his procedures which at first was hard to get used to but it ended up being ok. He had random worksheets in discussion so you couldn't skip unless you had an excused absence which was very annoying. The worksheets do help a lot for the exams though. There was also a lecture participation grade where you had to answer 3-4 questions over the semester for 2% of your grade. Overall a great instructor that you can learn a ton from. Exams are fine along with projects. Don't be scared to take him.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Anonymous
05/29/2024

if you have larry herman, you will spend countless hours reading paragraphs of absolutely no substance. he has quite literally mastered the art of taking 3 sentences to say something that can probably be said in 5 words what a boring ****ing class. make of that what you will.

Ilchul Yoon
CMSC132

Expecting a C+
Anonymous
05/27/2024

He's a nice guy and does try to teach what you need to learn from a basic OOP class. Exams are tricky and can be a bit lengthy if you don't manage your time well. If you know the concepts covered in lecture well you will be fine for the projects. But still do start them at least a couple of days before due date. TAs are good for figuring out project issues as well as going over practice material for exams. Discussion is your friend because yoon gives hints about exam questions through discussion problems. I did bad because I couldn't figure out how to properly study for the exams till the final which I got a 94 on. 132 is not supposed to be a hard class.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/25/2024

I was about to give him one star but here are my thoughts from the eyes of an international student having decent amount of knowledge with programming beforehand: - Required Participation: This doesn't make sense at all in my opinion. Yes I understand it's like free 10% of your grade, but like it doesn't make any sense to make it a requirement. Especially when the class size is huge and he doesn't end up looking at the people that he should be picking on. A lecture hall is where the lecturer gets to speak and the students listen, plus it's a cs major.... and discussions exist for a reason.... - Projects: While his projects aren't bad (and yeah no release tests BUT only secret tests, and you basically get the answers in the project document about secret tests if read carefully), the styling requirements is not fun.... Keep in mind, this is an LEP requirement class, so I think those requirements should only go to classes that are computer-science classes (like anything from CMSC216 onwards), because it affects people's grade for no reason. - Exams: He promised... PROMISED that there won't be any sorting algorithm tracing questions on the final, and drumrolll.... there was indeed an entire page worth of that. I think overall his exams are not hard, and he provides sufficient amount of resources (e.g. ungraded hw assignments, exam practice doc, etc.) to help us prepare well for the exam. Now, one thing that I think is pretty harsh about his exams is the fact that it's very dense. It's very detailed and it can throw you off quite a lot. I suppose this class is great at training you to be a better programmer and coder for future career reasons, but honestly in terms of grade, say bye bye to that. I think of it like a trade-off. - No Phones: Look, we live in 2024. Things have changed, and we know it too. I am aware that there are individuals who think that not having devices in front of you can help you focus, but I think that if you know how to properly use technology (which you should because you are in college at this point), you can do so much with it to help you learn things. His policy about no phones in class doesn't make sense to me, and personally speaking, I Google and read slides as lecturers go over lessons so that it's kind of like an aid to me and I learn more in the end. It's more about how we should use technology to facilitate and better our lives, just like how OpenAI wants us to... I honestly have more to say about this professor, but here's my TLDR takeaway: Mr. Herman is very old-schooled, which makes the class quite a challenge for some (if not many) students like us to be able to get the grade we should get, rather than what his system thinks about us. Yes, you will learn quite a lot from Herman because he's very skilled and knowledgeable, but it's challenging and honestly you're better off getting another professor if you're taking 132 with him because it's just a LEP requirement course. And remember, I believe that just because you're skilled and smart, doesn't always mean that you're well off teaching someone about it (teaching itself is an ability that needs to be learned and mastered).

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/22/2024

Pros: Elias is a really sweet professor and imo is a better lecturer than Nelson (whom I had for 131), as he tends to stay on topic better and is a very clear speaker. He's also very young, so he understands situations that come up very well. All of the exams were very easy including the final, and this semester he used MCPS grade rounding (so an 89.5 became an A- rather than a B+), which was very nice of him in an easy class. He also has ample extra credit opportunities on his projects, and he gives a free point on all the exams. Cons: He will often say he'll post something (study guides or answer keys) on some day, and it won't actually be posted until several days after the date he said he'd post it on. He doesn't go over lecture code really, it's mostly theory. This may be problematic in labs where you need to write code you haven't learned yet. Also, piazza for this class (response-wise) is pretty dead. Nelson's 131 piazza was consistently answered/active, but Elias' wasn't.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/22/2024

General idea for students taking Herman's class next semester (Using - and + to signal bad and good, = is a net nuetral) = Rigorous grading rubric on Projects, rigorous enough to where I likely averaged below the average score on each project because I was the type of student to rush projects last minute. This is less so of an issue on Herman's end and more so an issue with me, but I will say that it is possible to do projects the last day before it's late if you know exactly what you are doing. For students taking any class of Herman's, read the style guide to projects before you get hit hard by early projects. + Despite the Rigorous grading rubric on Projects, there's extra credit given on projects for only submitting once, and for submitting 2 days early on the projects worth 3.5% of your total grade, which are both 3 points of extra credit. + The project descriptions will say exactly what you need to test for on the project, if you follow with the wording of the project, you're likely to pass most, if not all of the secret tests. = Will not allow students to leave early during an exam. I know this is something a little bit petty to write about but it's something that he does in order to prevent students from leaving and talking about the exam to the next group of students. He also does have a penalty for not including important information, so just remember to write your information correctly on the front and on every odd numbered page. = Graded worksheets. This idea in general is interesting because this is something that usually occurs in Gen-Ed based classes, but he implements it here in order to encourage students to attend class and discussions. This is a coin-flip based activity as students previously have pointed out, with the spring 2024 semester having 10 graded worksheets out of 28 worksheets we did this semester. = No electronics in class, plus no recording of lectures. This is both a good and a bad thing for students. Personally speaking, I likely could of spent time writing my projects during the class time if I was allowed an electronic in class, but he does allow electronics for students with specific accommodations which allow them to have a device out. For those students, it is better to ask him and have Lecturer Herman know who you are so he won't waste time calling you out for something that you're meant to have in the class. He does waste time calling people out on having electronics out, and it's likely wasted up to maybe 1/2 to a whole lecture this semester, but I'd say the intention makes up for the wasted time. + Great organization, has structure to the class, may occasionally throw in a joke or stutter, but Herman's only human, this is something that happens to people in general. + TA's are great and are willing to help. Despite not going to any TA's office hours, the TA I had for discussion was great (I had Minsi). The discussion TA's go over the worksheets usually immediately after they are collected if it's graded, or after like half the class if not. The TA's also go over example questions which Herman writes to give students an understanding on questions which likely would have some basis on the exam. Note: Grading TA's grade projects, while the Discussion and Grading TA's grade exams. = Expect harder exams which test you on topics which you may not of studied upon. This is why TA's and their discussion help so much!, as the first two exams during Spring 2024 were on the same day as a discussion. Each exam is not a pushover and is structured similarly. There is usually multiple choice, short answer, and a writing prompt. The final had a lot more on this style, but overall, I did above average on exams because of my TA and my general knowledge of the course. Generally speaking, I barely clenched an A (I had a 92.74%) out this semester as 93% of the class passed the class this semester, so there was no curve in the class as a result. This will change as students in Fall 2024 who enter into college now need a B-, so take that into account. If you want a Lecturer who has generally strict guidelines and will have you reeling to study and do projects early, take Herman. I personally may not have fully enjoyed the class as a result, but the way he does his class should warrant higher rating than the around 3 stars that he does currently.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/22/2024

Ok so Herman gets a bad rep, but in reality he is a very good teacher who really cares about your learning. He gives VERY good practice material for the exams, and he doesn’t give curveball questions. However, the reason I didn’t rate him 5 stars is because his grading is very slow. Somehow his tests are graded super quickly, but the majority projects aren’t graded until after the final exam, so you don’t really know where you stand in the class until the end. My advice for people taking this class is to utilize ALL of the extra credit opportunities. My grade was super close in the end and if I had slacked off on one project I would have ended with an A-.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/22/2024

Best professor I've had at UMD. People like to shit on him but I think it's just because they haven't put in enough work for his class. If you actually study you will do well. You will actually learn in this class if you pay attention. Every lecture was fulfilling because I felt like I was actually learning something. He explains things thoroughly and gives great analogies that break things down so that it's much simpler to understand. I did fall asleep in his class but that's because I'm sleep deprived and I fall asleep in all of my classes. The "pop" worksheets he gives are literally free points. You get full credit even if you get all the answers wrong or even you don't finish it. You just gotta shop to discussion/lecture. You also get extra credit on projects if you submit 2 days before the deadline and if you only make one submission (it's extremely easy to only make one submission because it's just public tests on the submission server and you already have the public tests in eclipse LOL). His project descriptions are very lengthy and detailed (he's a yapper) BUT very very useful because it's so easy to tell what the edge cases are so you'll be able to pass the secret tests. His exams are extremely fair. Even though I ate absolute dogshit on the first exam (if I did better I would've gotten an A in the class) I still thought my exam score was fair because I barely studied for it and just overestimated my knowledge. But it made me realize that I should actually try and learn how to study and also it put me into the right mindset for all of my classes and my future classes. For the rest of the exams and the final, I got above 90 because I actually put in the work. By putting in the work I literally just mean studying 1-2 days before. Cramming might not work for everyone but the point is that I'm not telling you to work yourself to the bone, just put in a little more effort. His practice problems are literal crack for the actual exam too. He also has participation points that are worth 2% of your grade. I'd say participate 3-4 times and you're good. I know this can be difficult if you have social anxiety (as do I), but to be blunt about it, nobody cares about you and they're all focused on their own participation points and trying to answer questions. Honestly, the participation points helped me pay attention in class. If I were to critique one thing it would be that he grades very very slow. It's the TAs who are grading but I think it is a result of him being kind of disorganized. After we took the final, half of our shit was still ungraded. Literally was shaking in my boots waiting for my projects to be graded. But otherwise, larry is the GOAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/22/2024

The course is well structured and the projects were very good. I went to all of the lectures but didn't really learn much from them, since Elias's teaching style just doesn't suit me very well. However, Elias is very nice and understanding. He provided good resources to prepare for exams, and exams were graded very fairly.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/22/2024

Pretty good instructor. He definitely gets a bad rep from some people due to his style of teaching, but he's a pretty decent lecturer who's generous with extra credit opportunities. He's extremely organized and does a good job explaining concepts and using analogies to help us better understand new concepts. His project descriptions were annoyingly long at first, but I grew to appreciate them because they are EXTREMELY specific; there was very little confusion on what needed to be done. The style requirements and secret tests were also annoying, but they force you to write good comments and thoroughly test your code. What I really appreciated about Larry was that he provides a TON of practice material in the form of worksheets, optional homeworks, and practice exams. His answer keys are also super descriptive as well. The only things I disliked about Larry were that he doesn't record lectures, the slides he gives are super bare bones, he basically forces you to go to lecture and discussion, his sleep-inducing monotone voice, and the fact he will stop teaching to tell a person to put their phone away in a room of 300 people at least twice per lecture. Overall, I would take Larry over Yoon, but not over someone like Nelson.

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/21/2024

For reference, I review all my professors, and my average review is 4.2, 4.13 weighted by credit. Singularities/Unique because: - 3 "late tokens" on projects. Submit 48 hours late thrice a semester for no penalty. Outside of those, submit on time or get a zero (dw, extensions are a thing). - 3 75 minute exams, which including the final only weigh 50%. - About 15 labs and quizzes, all in discussion (go to discussion). - In his early-mid thirties - Lots of office hours You will probably like: - Genuinely a good human being, is understanding, does actually want you to succeed - Can actually have a conversation about normal topics you would talk about with your friends (apologies to Arsenal fans) - Funny guy, you'll stay engaged during lecture, though he manages to have time to start classes off topic and the occasional tangent during boring topics You may be frustrated by: - He is still learning how to properly conduct a class on his own, meaning: - In an (successful) effort to increase discussion participation, Elias structures the class so that all but 3 discussions had graded work. - Directions/instructions will often be unclear - Majority of projects will be borrowed but don't always line up with what he's taught. Original project(s) you get from him may still be rough around the edges. - Covers a lot of content compared to other 132 options, but at the 30,000 foot level (see below reviews) - Intentionally doesn't cover stuff at times so that you practice it in the corresponding project. Makes it clear when/why he is not, at least. - Lack of cohesion between Elias and TAs. He keeps most stuff under wraps to avoid leaks, but this has its costs, like conflicting answers to the same question, or no answer at all from TAs. People who TA for Elias are all very kind people, but they're also put in a bad spot by his system (they don't recommend :)) Think of it this way: If we had to teach a college course ourselves, we would all be worthy of a 1-star review after our first year. In just a few years, Elias has earned himself a 3 from me and an overall 4.5 star, and you'd think it's only getting better as he settles in. Yes, he was far from my favorite professor this semester, but I have patience and faith that he will improve in the coming semesters since he is committed to doing better, and hopefully this review will be outdated in a few years.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting a C
Anonymous
05/21/2024

I cannot stress enough DO NOT TAKE THIS MAN. He is way too old to be teaching a class this size. He gives absolutely no shits about any of his students. You can’t contact him unless you go to his office hours in which the lines are horrific for. Projects are easy but he will make sure he milks every single mistake you made to take points off. Midterms were so horrendous he would give you practice exams and then put similar questions on the midterm but solved in a different way to throw you off. The final was actually the most specific questions that no one except people who have never touched grass could solve. The lectures are a waste of time and the slides he post are so vague you might as well not even look. It seems like he made this class as hard as he could just so he can weed out 50% of students. All in all he was the most condescending professor I have ever sat down with and anyone who had a good experience with him was probably a white male.

Ilchul Yoon
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/20/2024

Yoon is a nice guy, and that's about it. 132 had to be the most unstructured, annoying, and overall terrible class I've taken so far at UMD. Yoon is smart and seems nice, but he can not teach to save his life. I taught myself just about every concept in this course because his lectures were incomprehensible and all over the place. W3 schools, Baeldung, and the Javadocs will be your best friends if you take Yoon for 132. Our class average was a 77, I got a 90, so I'm not just crashing out because I did poorly. I truly mean it when I say to avoid him at ALL COSTS. It is absolutely pitiful that the CS department at Maryland even allows this to go on for this long.

Ilchul Yoon
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/19/2024

Yoon is a nice guy, is approachable, and is happy to help you during office hours, that is about all the positives though. The man cannot teach at all. Every single lecture I attended I walked out more confused than when I entered and learned absolutely nothing. His lectures come off as disorganized and unprepared. During the second half of the semester, I pretty much stopped coming to most lectures and would just look at what he was teaching that day on the lecture slides and watch YouTube videos on it. The TAs are just as confused as us a lot of the time. His project specifications are very broad and confusing a lot of times. If you take Yoon be prepared to teach yourself the entire course.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Anonymous
05/19/2024

PROS: -Very thorough notes and exam review materials, you can study just based off his optional homeworks and lecture notes and exam review -Exams were fair and not really any trick questions or curveballs -Worksheets based on completion instead of accuracy, so as long as you try you get full points -Participation points (honestly can either be a pro or a con, but its an easy 2% boost to your grade if you just raise your hand two or three times in the entire semester) -TAs were awesome and very helpful CONS: -Lectures and discussions are not recorded and you don't know when worksheets will be given, so you have to go to as many classes as you can -Odd lecturer. I was initially going to say "boring" lecturer, but he does include some jokes and has his moments. It's more so that he has a handful of very repetitive vocal patterns or habits that genuinely put me to sleep. I don't know how he did it but I swear I was actually trained like a dog to start zoning out every time he went "uhhhh" or "weellll" -Projects were just not ever graded. They graded in bulk once around midterms right before the class drop deadline so you can get a rough estimate on whether you need to drop his class or not, and then once again after the final. Currently I'm still waiting for finals and all of my projects since March to be graded. I know this is a problem with the department as a whole, but it's still necessary to mention -Devices not allowed during lecture. Not even those tablets people have specifically for notes. He will call you out in the middle of class if he sees you with your phone or laptop or whatever out

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/18/2024

Pros: Elias is a great lecturer, and I'm really glad I took 132 with him. His teaching style really clicked for me. When learning data structures, he would give us time to practice drawing out the structure ourselves. He's very clear on what topics will be on the exam, and they were overall fairly easy (80s averages). He also has his and Nelson's previous exams for practice. Lectures were really engaging, and Elias was always helpful during office hours. He's also a very understanding person and always wants you to succeed in class. Cons: Lecture pacing is fairly inconsistent. In the first half of the lecture, he puts a lot of time and care into helping us understand the core material. However, the final third of the lecture feels kinda rushed. He takes a long time to respond to emails and usually doesn't post the solutions until the day before. Some of his lectures do lack some detail, it was sometimes difficult for me to start my projects. Overall, the positives for Elias heavily outweigh the negatives. I strongly encourage taking him for 131/132 if you can; he's awesome despite some organizational issues.

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/18/2024

great professor! you do have to put the work in if you want to do well (going over lecture code yourself, redoing labs/worksheets, etc) but Elias and his TA's are really helpful in office hours. Also occasionally drops hints about exam questions which is helpful. Exams/quizzes are pretty easy too as long as you understand the material.

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/17/2024

Elias gets great reviews because he's nice and his exams are relatively easy, but that has made him overrated as a teacher. The biggest issues are that he is very disorganized and has a bad TA system. Elias is not responsive to emails and often makes mistakes in his work, even on his own answer keys. On Piazza, the wait time is often very long even right before project/exam dates because the TAs are slow and also seem to cancel office hours all the time. He needs to keep them on a tighter leash, because the contrast between this and Nelson's class is crazy. Additionally, his slides aren't detailed and gloss over important info, and he screwed up a LOT when we were covering topics like hash tables and tree traversal. However, he is very helpful and articulate when you talk to him individually, so I think the potential to be an excellent professor is there if he cleans up the issues with more experience.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/17/2024

Random graded worksheets in lecture and discussion. No electronic devices in lecture. Not terrible, but by no means a great "instructor".

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/17/2024

Professor Gonzalez is a great teacher who keeps the classes interesting and understandable, especially during more complex lectures. He has a great sense of humor and keeps things casual with students to limit stress and tension. Quizzes were made very easy since we could write a sheet of notes prior and use it during the quiz. All lectures are recorded, making it easier to review for exams. The only issue I had was that he taught TAs the material in a different way than he taught current students, making it challenging to determine certain problems were meant to be completed. Besides that, I would definitely recommend Gonzalez.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/14/2024

Aura. The defining trait of instructor, lord, king, his majesty, baron, leader, and most importantly of all, friend Herman. When I first walked into his classroom, I was amazed at the vigor and passion this man demonstrates in his lectures. With his sidekick Ginny the Giraffe, I experienced 16 wonderful weeks of inheritance, data structures, recursion, concurrency lectures from this beautiful and amazing man. I now know my true calling as a data structure extraordinaire. My life has been forever changed. Thank you, Larry Herman. Real talk he's pretty good tbh. Provides good practice and more then enough resources to do well in the class as long as you actually attend lecture and discussion. His lectures are pretty boring sometimes and him randomly calling out people for using their cellphones, disrupting the flow of lecture can be very annoying but most of the time he's pretty solid. Lecture slides are also pretty good so if you miss lecture you don't have to worry about missing much.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/13/2024

Doesn’t record lectures, has random graded worksheets that are a huge chunk of your grade on random lectures or discussion days, makes participation apart of your grade too. Boring, dry, and doesn’t curve at all. Do not take him if there are any other options.

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/13/2024

This was a very messy class. I want to deal with the Pros/Cons, and I hope this will be helpful to anyone considering Elias in the near future Pros: -Elias is an incredibly kind and understanding professor. His office hours are accessible. -Projects are constructive and pretty free reign. I enjoyed them. The free reign thing seems to lead to weird grading disputes though. -Quizzes are somewhat open-note and straight-forward. -Exams are not too bad in the scheme of things. Final exam is a little less cumulative than you'd expect. Not A Pro or Con?: -His lecture style is informative, but somewhat boring and a bit too focused on singular problems. A lot of lectures had ~50% of time allocated to going over one example. Cons: -You will NOT get a response in emails and Piazza is 50/50. -There is a good chance you will need to address some sort of errors in this class. I had 2 separate TAs give me 0/100s on distinct projects without thought due to their own lack of care and technical difficulties only to go through the regrade process and get 100%s on both. It is hard for me to not place some blame on the lecturer for this when it occurs multiple times. -The practice exam keys he makes are full of errors and sometimes even the exams had confusing/outright incorrect information on them. -Elias himself sometimes sends a hundred different mixed signals on things like which concepts will be on the exam. -Discussion sections are full of labs. It got tiring and non-constructive at certain points. They should have been spaced out a bit more. I am very mixed overall about my experience in this class. He is still probably worth taking over Hogan/Yoon if they're teaching. I believe in the future he will iron out these "growing pains," since he is relatively new and pretty young, but for now, I cannot justify a score above a 3/5.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/13/2024

Strict lecturer, very knowledgable about material and is sometimes funny. He does do everything he can to make sure his students succeed in his class. He makes a big deal about having no electronics in class. Lectures/discussions are mandatory in the sense that he gives graded worksheets (based on completion) on random discussions/lecture days. He posts homeworks, but they were optional. He doesn't post recordings of lectures, but he posts his lecture slides on canvas. His exams are hard if you do not study, but if you study the worksheets provided during discussions and the practice exam he provides, and do the homework he posts, then you will be more than fine. Projects were chill, he made like 8-9 page requirement pdfs for each project, a lot of reading but it was nice to have very elaborate requirements for projects. I would say overall this class was fine, just make sure you go to class.

Ilchul Yoon
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/12/2024

Super chill prof

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/11/2024

My honest opinion on Herman is that he is a really nice guy and I honestly think that he is rated poorly here for no reason. His exams I wanna make clear are not easy but they are not hard, they are the most fair exams you will ever take here at this school. However his lectures are boring and quite frankly I have fallen asleep in them a couple times, but I think if you really want to do well in this class it is fairly simple. Go to discussion, do the worksheets, do the homwork and study the practice exams as if you do the practice exams a couple times, u can start to get a feel as how the exam will be. Also if you ever need anything just talk to him as he is really nice and wants everyone to succeed ( just don't call him professor).

Michael Cortina
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/11/2024

Explains the content well and greatly helped me to understand it even after just not listening to Larry in most lectures.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/10/2024

If you take Larry's course and you hate him, expect to hate every comp sci course you take in the future. If this is for your major and you want to make sure you know the basics, take this course and pay attention. Herman is extremely good and making sure you understand the basic concepts of programming and building off of those concepts. He knows how to connect new concepts to old ones, and drill the old concepts into your memory. I'm not sure where the people who say he is boring come from. It is the ONLY class I've ever taken where the class clapped after an explanation. He is funny, and has little skits that really do help you remember important concepts. He descriptive enough to make sense but not overly so to bore a class with proofs and theory. And he loves giraffes! He repeats information that is important to make sure you remember. If he repeats something WRITE IT DOWN. Sit in the front of class, pay attention, and it is the easiest A and possibly the most helpful class you will have in your whole degree. The exams felt extremely fair, the concepts on it were always something he mentions in class a lot, hence why you should write down what he repeats. Projects descriptions are verbose and tell you EXACTLY what to do and what he wants. Some people might hate this and think it is finicky, but I'd beg for a project description like this from a job or a later class. The things he mentions about coding style and off the wall comments you can tell come from a great deal of experience in the field, do not take his advice lightly.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/09/2024

Pretty decent professor, though he says no electronics allowed during lecture, if you are using a ipad to take notes, he typically turns a blind eye. There are pop graded worksheets during discussion and lecture so make sure you go to every single one, though they are just graded off of completion. His projects are just straight up words but very descriptive of what is required. Exams are pretty fair.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/09/2024

Definitely try to avoid him. His lectures are pretty boring, however bearable if you really try hard to focus. He tries to make it fun so I don't judge him for this. Like you can see from other comments, he does not provide any lecture recordings. His powerpoints are pretty much useless if you go to his class. And the important tracing details or concepts he often writes on the powerpoint, which he doesn't save and include on the uploaded version. So, you have to follow his tracing in class and write them down. His projects are extremely difficult to get 100% on. He is ridiculously strict on styles, like an empty line above each block(start of an if or for loop for example), and comment for each block. You need to add an honor pledge, name, section number and other things to each project, which is fine, but he doesn't mention it in class. He only mentioned looking at the style guide, which is an 8 page pdf. Thus the average on the first project was probably around 70%... His exams are fair to be honest. I messed up on the first. Then he made a really easy exam 2. Exam 3 is also fair, probably his regular difficulty, and the average is in the mid 80s. He barely provides any coding examples, which can be the most useful thing when you study, review or start projects. This is the worst thing I have experienced in his class. I learn from looking at code most of the time, and I believe most students do. Thus be aware of this. There are often coding examples in the textbook, but often doesn't hint you on how to start on the projects. I got an A+ in CMSC 131 barely going to class. And I believe getting an A with Larry is definitely doable. It's just going to be much harder, while you are learning the same amount as taking any other lecturers. Or his teaching style is different compared to what I'm used to.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/09/2024

Herman is the best instructor I've had in the CS department yet. Yes, exams can be tricky, but he sends out extensive preparation in the form of 15 page PDFs. If you do all of the prep and understand the lectures, you should be fine. He has many style preferences that people like to complain about, but I think they are actually good style and make you a better programmer. Project descriptions were very long, but isn't that a good thing? I thought it was. There was no room for misunderstanding and you always knew the expectations. He was also extremely organized, which I could really appreciate. If you follow his really clear directions he lays out for this class, you will have nothing to complain about. He even gives extra credit on some projects.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/09/2024

Definitely try to avoid him. His lectures are pretty boring, however bearable if you really try hard to focus. He tries to make it fun so I don't juge him for this. Like you can see from other comments, he does not provided any lecture recordings. His powerpoints are pretty much useless if you go to his class. And the important tracing details or concepts he often write on the powerpoint, which he doesn't save and inlcude on the uploaded version. So, you have to follow his tracing in class and write them down. His projects are extremely diffcult to get 100% on. He is ridiculously strict on styles, like an empty line above each block(start of a if or for loop for example), and comment for each block. You need to add honor pledge, name, section number and otherthings to each project, which is fine, but he doesn't mention in class. He only mentioned to look at style guide, which is a 8 pages pdf. Thus the average on the first project was probably around a 70%... His exams are fair to be honest. I messed up on the first. Then he made a really easy exam 2. Exam 3 is also fair, probably his regular difficulty, and the average is in the mid 80s. He barely provide any coding example, which can be the most useful thing when you study, review or start projects. This is the worst thing I have experienced in his class. I learn from looking at code most of the time, and I believe most students do. Thus be aware of this. There are often coding examples in the textbook, but often doesn't hint you on how to start on the projects. I got an A+ in CMSC 131 barely going to class. And I believe getting an A with Larry is definitely doable. It's just going to be much harder, while you are learning the same amount as taking any other lecturers. Or his teaching style is different comparing to what I'm used to.

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Anonymous
05/07/2024

He has some flaws, but I honestly don’t these issues are serious enough to take him down to a 4-star (he’s often very late to respond to emails, but there are a lot of opportunities to talk to him in person and TAs are also very helpful in most cases). He’s incredibly nice and understanding. Exams are easy if you look at his study guides and practice exams. Great CS professor!

Ilchul Yoon
CMSC132

Expecting a C+
Anonymous
05/07/2024

His workload actually makes me depressed like I've never had a worse course on my mental health

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/05/2024

I took 132 with Fawzi last semester and it was overall a positive experience; if I could I would give a 3.5 stars. Tests were fair and he is overall a great organized lecturer who can teach you material in a simple manner. He doesn't allow the use of technology in the classroom however. While I understand why he does this, I still think that its up to students at this point if they want to be distracted rather than pay attention to lecture since this is college, and the money they waste is on them. Fawzi also does not record lectures. Again, while I understand his reasoning, if you end up being sick and cant come to lecture, you are screwed since slides have minimal information on it, and you have to have a friend give you notes(sometimes listening to Fawzi is the best way to learn the material). Other than that, quizzes were a little annoying each week but it helped me keep up with what we were learning. Fawzi is also the perfect teacher where he is academically challenging but also good at explaining concepts, meaning that he prepares you for the harder stuff to come in your CS degree. If you have the chance to take Fawzi, do it. While there are some challenges, you can still get an A if you study hard since he is reasonable. At the same time, you will be prepared for the rest of your time at UMD.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
04/30/2024

Fawzi is a great lecturer. If you attend and pay attention to his lectures, you will do fine in classes. The studying resources are not the greatest, but at least he provides you with general questions that help you prepare for quizzes and exams. The only downside I would say for the class are the harsh quiz rubrics where mistakes can cost you lots of points. Be very careful to make sure you are not missing anything on quizzes, but this harsh grading style is really helpful for exams to not make the same mistakes again. I would recommend him for 132!

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
04/24/2024

Pros: - Understands content well, easy exams for the most part - Willing to help & cares Cons: - Not responsive to emails at all - His lectures are extremely bare bones and often inadequate for learning - He has limited practice material and is very late at posting keys - Office hours for TAs are disorganized and usually pretty useless

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
04/24/2024

I google "GOAT" and it took me here. But seriously Elias is an excellent instructor. He makes learning fun and his classes are very enjoyable. He truly wants to see you succeed. Open note quizzes, relatively easy exams, and he uses Nelson's projects and they're not too bad. Lectures can feel kind of useless at times and you should prioritize reviewing the material outside of class. Tbh, I've been to maybe 7 lectures all semester and have been putting in medium effort and I have a 97%. Take this class with Elias, he's probably better than anyone else teaching it except Nelson (depends on who you ask).

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
04/22/2024

Pros: =Fair Exams; if you did the practice exams and review the notes, you should be set =Project descriptions are thorough and understandable, grading is very objective which means if you read the guidelines you will do well Cons: =2% of grade is on class participation but class environment is hostile. He makes attempts to be cool and make jokes, but jokes are at the expense of students including those who attempt to answer his questions. He is then baffled on why no one wants to participate. =Random in class worksheets make it so you must attend every lecture TLDR: Sarcastic and mean but course work and exams are fine.

Ilchul Yoon
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
04/22/2024

Pros: - Records and posts lectures and only has two quizzes the entire semester so if you keep up with materials covered in lecture on your own you essentially don't have to show up at all besides for the 2 quizzes and the 3 mid terms. I have an A in the class while quite literally not going to a single lecture or discussion, but rather by just watching the lecture videos and trying to understand the materials covered. - TAs record their sessions as well. - The lecture code provided helps a lot for knowing how to do certain projects. - Midterms are pretty fair as long as you study. Make sure to study for the small details that may not seem as important. If he mentions it, there is a good chance it'll be on the exam. The majority of the points on the mid terms come from writing code, but that ended up being a positive for me. As long as you study the material he covers and the lecture code he provides, the coding problems are a breeze. Cons: - Not the best at teaching. His lectures are very dry, he has a strong accent that makes understanding certain things hard when he talks too fast, and he does not know how to effectively teach and explain certain topics. However, as long as you kind of get the gist of what he is talking about, you can learn about the topic just from the lecture code examples and there are plenty of resources online to learn the topics further. I wouldn't necessarily call him a 'bad' teacher but definitely not good. - I found the projects to be a 6/10 in difficulty on average. Most of the projects I'd give a 5/10, in terms of difficulty, it would take on average an hour for me to do them. However, there are two projects in this class that are quite difficult. I'd give them a 8/10 for difficulty. These projects took me around 4-8 hours to do, and one of them I couldn't figure out how to do so I just took the L on it. My advice would be to at least try to start every project as soon as you can so that if it ends up being a harder project you give yourself time to finish it. I'm still going to end up with a A in projects due to most of them being relatively easy.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
04/18/2024

He is good at lecturing, good notes, he could probably beat Goku imo, he easily has multiversal++ AP and is FTL

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
04/18/2024

He is a really nice professor and knows the material he is teaching. As a student coming in with no previous knowledge about java and had cmsc131 with Nelson, I think that Elias is pretty bad at explaining the topic since most of the time he would simplify too much of the topic that students will only know the basics of how a function works, but they would not have enough knowledge to actually code it. He barely goes over the lecture code and does not explain what the code does, which makes it hard to understand when he talks about it.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
04/14/2024

Everyone hating on Larry (at least in 132) have a) never met him and b) majored in CS because they thought it would be an easy 100k out of college. I will say, he is an overly thorough man, but as I have taken his class, I have realized that is probably why he is such a great programmer. Thinking slowly and methodically on exams is crucial because he puts things in there that you will definitely miss if you try to speed through. If you don't try in this class then you won't get an A it is so simple. Also if you have to, pinch yourself to stay awake in lecture because they can actually be really helpful. His practice problems are nearly identical to the actual exams, and for every exam, I just repeat the practice like 5 times. I missed a total of 2 questions over 2 exams using this method. The projects take some time, but you should be able to finish in around 2 days max unless you get stuck. For the first project I didn't follow the style guide which cost me a letter grade. But, I was able to get the points back because extra credit is offered on almost every project. If you make your student tests well you should be able to pass every test (secret tests included). Coverage is a very useful tool for this and making your code efficient. Every discussion has a worksheet and it's basically a dice roll if it is graded. This is how he keeps people coming to discussion, but I always show up late and have never gotten points off. I have also skipped a couple times and gotten lucky. I used to think he was evil too but he's actually so chill. If you are someone who is actually going to study then herman will be a breeze. Also, don't do anything out of order with him. I think he has OCD so he gets really upset when people a) knock on his door a couple minutes before office hours b) don't get in the quuly. Its kinda weird but still worth because he's actually the goat.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
03/15/2024

Great professor

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
03/12/2024

Fawzi is an okay professor. Although he is a very good lecturer he barely provides any resources to study so it is quite hard to prepare for exams. 132 is quite easy if you understand data structures. Since this is a coding-heavy class it is really easy as you can just look at code examples from class and projects to study. I am currently taking 250 with Fawzi and it is not a good idea since 250 is a mostly math course and he provides little to no practice for exams. He is an okay professor for 132 but don't take him for 250.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
03/11/2024

Exams are really hard; not at all like the review, the professor is very monotone and boring and exams are so tricky do yourself a favor and dont take him!!

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Anonymous
03/09/2024

Pros: - Really sweet professor, nice, younger - Knowledgable, definitely knows the subject well - Exams are relatively easy, provides some practice Cons: - Not responsive to emails - His lectures aren't super detailed at times. He goes over topics, but skips over on some of the smaller details that exam questions specifically test. It will fall upon you to fill in gaps of your own understanding. - He posts Nelson's past exams and a few of his past exams but doesn't post the solutions to his until last minute. - TA resources are decently inadequate. OH system is disorganized (and quite frankly not long enough), TAs don't respond to Piazza posts in timely manner

Ilchul Yoon
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
03/01/2024

Asked the most obscure, in-depth questions about some inbuilt functions on the first exam.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
02/28/2024

Pros: - Great Lecturer (I don't personally think his voice is that easy to fall asleep to) and far more organized than Nelson - Gives a LOT of practice material for exams - VERY thorough when explaining concepts which I appreciate - Great project descriptions Cons: - His exams are tricky. They will be asking for very specific answers. - No lecture recordings in case you miss class (this did encourage me to go to class though so it's not all that bad) - No technology in class (Lowkey this helped me focus so much better but to each their own) - Lots of graded worksheets (you learn a lot, but there is one very week) Overall, he is a strict professor, but he definitely knows what he is talking about. If you actually want to LEARN and not get super off track every lecture (*cough* elias and nelson *cough*) Larry is the professor for you. His classes are not easy but you will absolutely learn. I personally enjoy his frankness and monotone voice because he gets straight to the point. Sometimes his jokes make me cringe, but if you can look past that, he's great!

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
02/28/2024

Herman is extremely boring to listen to, his projects are unreasonably difficult to get 100% in, his grading TAs will mark you off for every little detail, his tests are outrageously difficult to study for, and he does not allow electronics in class. DO NOT TAKE HIM.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Anonymous
02/22/2024

At first I didn't necessarily like the way he taught since I suppose I was more used to having professors recording their lectures and letting us have our electronics out. With Fawzi, although he does not record lectures, doesn't let you have electronics out, and has weekly quizzes that he doesn't tell you what is going to be on it (it's honestly very predictable what's going to be on the quizzes if you go to lecture and pay attention), he is honestly an outstanding lecturer. He explains everything so clearly yet quickly. Fawzi isn't a bad professor, his lecture examples are very helpful and the coding problems on his exams are almost from those examples and discussion lab work. If you come into lecture, pay attention, and try to at least take notes and have good study habits, you will be fine. It is okay to stress over this course because I struggled too, but he does not trick us on exams and quizzes, they are straightforward and he provides us so many resources for us to study from. TA's give us study questions and hold review sessions. The projects can be VERY annoying but if you start early and go to office hours you will be a-ok.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
02/22/2024

Simply put, Fawzi is the GOAT. I didn’t even consider myself to be that interested in CS before this course, but he makes his lectures super engaging and he always sounds excited about what he teaches. Even though the material for this course is sometimes a bit tricky, he always explains things super well and makes things easy to understand (also his coding examples REALLY help explain the concepts he’s teaching). The “no laptops” during lectures rule may seem kind of annoying, but it honestly really helps you focus and learn better. If you take him though, DO NOT SKIP LECTURE. He does allow you to voice record lectures on your own if you need to, but he will not post the lecture recording - just the slides which are pretty bare-bones. This way of teaching really helped me stay on top of things and succeed, but I can't guarantee it will work for you.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/05/2024

tough but fair professor. would recommend pros: good lecturer, you will learn a lot very responsive with regrade requests exams are tough but fair, pretty much asks stuff from lecture and projects and if you take good notes you will do fine cons: lectures arent recorded and slides are pretty bare :/ but lectures are very captivating so isn't the biggest chore going to them THREE RELEASE TOKENS A DAY this will annoy the hell out of you but honestly forced me to start projects early and have good habits apparently not accommodating? didn't have any experience with this but can imagine how this can be concluded weekly quizzes are annoying, but kept me accountable with the weekly material tbh and weren't worth that much points wise fawzi is a very old fashioned professor, but you will learn a lot and adopt good habits

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/31/2023

An honest review after taking Fawzi for 131 and 132: His class is not easy. If you want an easy grade, take someone else. However, if you want incredibly engaging lectures and projects that are interesting to implement, you take Fawzi. If you're willing to put a bit of extra effort in to get the best CS experience, TAKE FAWZI. He has weekly quizzes, which I liked because it forced me to study weekly instead of cramming. His quizzes and exams are very fair. If you've been attending lectures, taking notes, and studying often, you'll have a great chance at an A. Pros: - Very engaging lectures (You won't fall asleep) - He's very good at explaining concepts using examples. - Interesting Projects (Lots of very useful TAs during discussions and 9 am-5 pm office hours) - The TAs hold review sessions before every exam which are VERY helpful Cons: - Lecture slides aren't always detailed (You need to listen to details in the lecture because he may test you on it) - Projects can be difficult and time-consuming, but there are lots of OHs to help - Fawzi's class becomes difficult if you get sick because lectures are mandatory if you want to do well in the course (He does not record lectures)

Aram Zaprosyan
CMSC132

Anonymous
12/28/2023

He was very knowledgeable on the subject matter and would illustrate concepts in very easy-to-understand ways on the whiteboards in office hours. He was nice, a good listener, and great at explaining concepts in different ways until I understood

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/28/2023

Larry is very particular about how he wants the projects to be done and submitted, so read the project descriptions very carefully. His practice material is very closely related to the exams, so he does provide a lot of good study material. However, he has a thing with unexpected graded worksheets in lecture and discussion sections, making going to class very important. He is also very boring but teaches the material decently well.

Sohum
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/27/2023

Amazing TA. Helped me in office hours a bunch!

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/23/2023

Very understanding professor and gives practice exams. I slacked off but if you work hard enough then it is an easy A. Def recommend him. Hes very funny and his lectures are engaging.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/21/2023

Fawzi is a pretty entertaining professor and presents material very well. That being said, he doesn't post lecture videos and the slides are pretty vague, so make sure to show up to class and take good notes. Exams and quizzes are pretty fair, just make sure you study the material, he does test you sometimes on some things that you might not find to be too important. Pretty similar to other reviews here, the way he structures his class forces you to develop better learning habits, but his lecturing is good, so it's fine.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a C+
FozzyBear1
12/21/2023

He’s a fine lecturer. Talks super fast and doesn’t record his lectures. His lecture slides are useless. Weekly quizzes suck. His midterms were straightforward and his final was challenging but fair. His quizzes and exams are graded ridiculously, with minor errors taking off almost all the points of a problem. No piazza. He seemed like a nice enough guy. I think he might be a better choice for a class like 250, but for 132 I’d take someone else.

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/19/2023

Prof. Gonzalez is a sincere professor and truly wants his students to succeed, which is something really rare. He tries his best to make computer science fun and interesting and isn't just a boring coding lecture like most other professors. He is really understanding and accommodating to students' situations. He is thoroughly a good person.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
12/19/2023

Super mixed feelings about Fawzi. On the one hand, he is a super captivating lecturer and interesting person to listen to. He is clearly very intelligent and talented. The issue is that he's fully aware of this, and comes off as really egotistical and stubborn. He doesn't like being corrected and can treat questions very rudely sometimes. I'm new to programming and ended with a B-, and because I had a heavy courseload this semester and was kind of spread thin, I will definitely admit that I could have put more work into this class. HOWEVER. I personally thought that the weekly "mystery topic" quizzes were ridiculous ("You should be studying everything", he says). Again, I was taking a fairly heavy courseload and while it would be nice to study All The Course Content All The Time, in my opinion it's kind of an unreasonable ask on a weekly basis. My quiz average is what ultimately tanked my grade, despite doing well on the midterms and *decent on the final. It will feel like he doesn't really want everyone to succeed so that whoever's not up to par will be naturally weeded out. If you're taking 132 with Fawzi, you'll have a super engaging lecture to look forward to, but make sure you have the time and bandwidth to do what he expects of you. It's a lot, but you can succeed in this class if you prepare!

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/19/2023

The Fawzi rule: if you see his name next to a course, you take it. (Unless another section has Nelson, then it depends on your personality). Pros: - The clearest, most focused and concise lecturer there is. Every lecture, he gives you exactly what you'll be expected to know: no confusion/ambiguity/wastes of time. You just have to be there, and you'll understand. I'm not lying: going to lecture felt like connecting a flash drive to my brain and downloading the entire course. He's just that good. - No recordings as is noted, but the slides are substantial enough that if you took notes in your lecture, you can find everything you need. - Extremely cracked at answering questions. Assuming you ask appropriate ones (no out of pocket ones), he'll be super clear and go in-depth. As a bonus, he'll often say "I might ask you that on an exam" when answering questions, then tell you the answer. I think at least 4 times in the semester, somebody's asked a question, Fawzi's said that, and then that question shows up on the exam (free points!). - Quizzes are veryyy predictable. I think I correctly predicted what would be on them for 8/10 quizzes we had. Essentially, he takes what you did the previous week, have a definition section, and a coding section which will be a slight variation of code done in lecture/lab. Essentially, if you study your definitions, do the labs, and remember the programming examples from lecture, you're guaranteed at least a 90 on all of them. - Exams are extremely fair. Exam 1: 85 median, Exam 2: 89 median, Final: 85 median. As mentioned before, he'll sometimes give you exam questions&solutions in lecture if you ask questions. Just like the quizzes, his exams are just definitions/applications of rules + coding problems. The coding problems are highkey easy: on every single exam, he stole a problem off of one of our labs, so if you study the labs, you'll be good. This really came to a head in the final: we had 3 programming questions, one was ripped straight off a lab, another straight off an example we did in class, and another straight off a project we did. Provided you study the code in the lecture examples, your labs, and your projects, you have nothing to worry abt :) Cons: - Fawzi really does not exist outside lecture. If you have a problem, I don't think he'd be that flexible. He'll answer quick emails but nothing else. But don't worry, bc the course + lectures are clear enough you shouldn't need that extra help/support.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/19/2023

Great lecturer and very fun professor. His lectures are sometimes fast paced but that is because he has to get through all the material. TA office hours were from 9-5 Monday through Friday. He really makes you understand the material through weekly quizzes and programming projects.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A
homework420
12/19/2023

Great professor, has a clear talent for explaining things in a clear and concise manner. He also responds to email in an imrpressively timely manner, given that he had like 600-700 students this semester. That being said the class has a lot of material, so do NOT miss a lecture. Overall a very fun course though and you certainly learn a lot.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/19/2023

Beautiful professor, can be funny and personable, course does take work but a very enjoyable class and lectures are very engaging Take Fawzi whenever possible

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/18/2023

Fawzi is an amazing lecturer. He makes everything super clear and entertaining. It is easy to get near perfect scores on the projects as long as you test your code. Quizzes are a bit stupid at times and graded harshly. I find his study questions helpful for studying for quizzes. Exams are fair. All grades were rounded which was nice.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/18/2023

I had a pretty great experience with Fawzi and his class. I felt like the quizzes and exams were pretty fair, and the projects were always somewhat neat. He's a great lecturer, and his classes are always pretty entertaining to sit through to some degree. As some other people have mentioned, though, his powerpoint slides are pretty barebones and he doesn't record lecture, which makes it a little difficult if you have to miss class at some point. He also doesn't allow you to take notes on your laptop, but that didn't really end up being a problem for me because he didn't make a fuss about people writing on tablets.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/18/2023

i'd give him 4.5 stars if i could, but i rounded up to 5 since 4 is too low. fawzi's a pretty fair grader and test/quiz writer imo. most of the quizzes and tests have content that he covered pretty extensively in class. only reason i would dock him 0.5 is because you're never explicitly told what to study/expect for the weekly quizzes, but it's relatively easy to extrapolate based on the content we've covered in the last week. also, ta grading isn’t very standardized either. i got 0.5 points taken off on a quiz for missing an annotation but one of my friends got 2 points taken off so it’s really just luck atp. he's also a really good lecturer and if you focus in class, you'll definitely understand what he's talking about. he gives study questions before every quiz, so i'd suggest studying with another person (this really helped me this year). overall, definitely take fawzi if you have the option.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/18/2023

Fawzi can sometimes have a boring lecture here and there, but overall he's a very smart man who knows a lot about the courses he teaches. He makes the information very easy to understand and if you pay attention in class, it should be smooth sailing.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
12/18/2023

To start off with the pros, Fawzi is a genuinely good lecturer and explains things very well. His midterms this semester were also extremely easy, but I think he was trying something new this semester with midterms, since they are generally known to be very difficult, but atleast for this semester the midterms were really easy and fair. In the beginning of the semester he mentioned that his final would be generally easier than his midterms which is why he weighs it 30% of the grade. However, the final was an absolute dumpster fire. Especially compared to the midterms, the final felt way too difficult. I also don't like how he has us do quizzes every week, and will tell TAs to not tell us what is on those quizzes, so there are many times I try and study for quizzes but what comes up on the quiz is not something that I studied, because I assumed the quiz would be about another topic. I also feel like his project descriptions in this class were not very good. They were extremely brief and many of the projects, except for a few exceptions, were really basic and uninteresting. I had him for 131 as well and I felt his projects in 131 were much better and creative. Him also not recording lecture and posting incomplete and not detailed slideshows really puts him down from other professors as I feel it is unfair that I have to struggle to catch up if I cannot make it to a single lecture due to sickness, or etc. Like there is no way for me to attend every single lecture 3 times a week for the entire semester. He also never gives us practice material with answer keys when it comes to these quizzes or tests and no previous exams to practice with. I would say there are definitely better options than him, like for 131 and 132, it would be better to go with nelson, elias, or pedram. Even Larry Herman would be better for 132 since he atleast records lectures and gives extremeley comprehensive project descriptions. I would say he is still better than Yoon, but I personally feel is quite an overrated professor. If you genuinely feel like you would be able to attend every single possible lecture, then you would be fine, since lecturing is his biggest pro.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/18/2023

Fawzi might be one of the best professors I've ever had. All of his lectures are engaging and he presents the course content in a very thorough and straightforward way while still making it entertaining. He's a very funny guy and takes every opportunity to make a joke which keeps the whole class engaged. Quizzes are graded very quickly and exams are graded within two weeks or so, which is very reasonable. He also had TA office hours from 9-5 Monday-Friday which was a dream and helped so many times. Unfortunately since so many students take CMSC132 it was very packed, but still helpful nonetheless. The only downside I would say are that the quizzes are a bit difficult and the end of the class was a bit rushed, but overall, take Fawzi for any class you can, he's amazing.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/15/2023

Fawzi does an excellent job of teaching the content. You can tell from his teaching style how experienced he is. Exams were fair but were graded a bit harshly. There were weekly quizzes and no recorded lectures. The TAs provide review materials and comprehensive study guides for midterms.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A
terp12344
12/15/2023

Don't believe any of the negative reviews here. If you want to succeed in any of Fawzi's courses, you will. He explains everything clearly in lectures and doesn't put any sort of trick questions on quizzes or exams. Sometimes he puts tricky questions on quizzes, but they are always still based on content he explicitly went over, and he makes quizzes worth barely any of your grade, so getting points off doesn't matter much in the long run. His no-technology policy is pretty unpopular, but I would recommend using an iPad if you have one. I sat in one of the front rows and used one all semester and he never said anything.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/13/2023

Fawzi's the man. His lectures are incredibly engaging, and basically 9–5 office hours meant that if I ever had an issue it was trivial to rock up to office hours the next day and get my question answered. If you're sick and miss a lecture, however, it IS pretty punishing since he doesn't post recordings and the slides/examples he posts are pretty barebones. (I missed the lecture on Big-O and the relevant theorem involving limits: imagine my horror when it was on the first midterm!) In terms of coursework, I didn't struggle much. Some might say the weekly quizzes were a bit much, but given that they're only ever on the lecture content from the week prior it's trivial to study for them. The projects were also fairly easy, and the later ones were actually super fun. I'd 100% recommend Fawzi for future 132 students.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a B-
johnparis
12/13/2023

Fawzi is quite good for a teacher, the only negative I can think of is how harsh he grades things, not to say its super bad its only like getting a 90 instead of a 94 or something, like its very minimal but it adds up over assingments. Definitely helps you understand the content though and weighs the 2 midterms and final as like 60% so as long as u study for the exams you should do fine overall in the class. This does mean though that if you aren't too good at exams its a little rough. If you're coming into UMD after taking ap csa Fawzi is great definitely feels like you're just picking it back up.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Anonymous
12/12/2023

Fawzi is a great professor, and I know you guys want to know the pros and cons. So I listed it below. Pro: -Fawzi knows what he is doing; yes, every professor does, but he excels in the material and teaches it in a way that makes you understand. He teaches with passion, and you will get that feeling within the first few lectures. -Exams aren't too bad if you study and review materials consistently. -Two-sided coin here: Weekly quizzes help you prep well for the exam so you don't have to completely procrastinate. -Fawiz stays mostly on topic, doesn't go on tangents, and tries diligently to make the class interesting with his own life experiences. Cons: -TAs. Some are great, while others are very skeptical. Some TAs waste your time in office hours while others know how to guide you correctly, so make sure you know what you are doing and are willing to "waste" time in some cases. Quizzes: As mentioned, quizzes can be annoying, but they are good practice, so again, a two-sided coin Overall, take Fawzi if you can. He is the GOAT.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/12/2023

Great lecturer. Really made the hour fly by. I'd be scribbling down notes and then all of a sudden it's time to leave!

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/11/2023

fawzi is a tough cookie! he initially came off as rather rude and unapproachable, but he definitely warmed up to students as the semester progressed. he's an amazing lecturer and is able to present all of the content in an engaging and straightforward manner, but he doesn't post recordings and his slides don't go into detail about what was covered in his lectures. he also goes through the course content fairly quickly, so if you are unfamiliar with 132 content and struggle with taking notes in lectures, i'd be careful with taking fawzi. besides that, we had 10 quizzes and 2 exams, all of which were fair and graded quickly. we also had 8 projects that aligned well with the content of the material we were learning in class, and ta office hours from 9-5 every weekday. the only complaint i have about him is his grading is a little unnecessarily harsh at times (primarily for small mistakes on quizzes), and the style grades for projects were very subjective and varied widely depending on your ta (my friends and i all lost different amounts of points for making the same mistakes). all in all though, i really enjoyed 132 with fawzi this semester and am excited to take 250 with him next semester :)

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/10/2023

Fantastic teacher, great organization, fair exams. Homeworks are optional but are good practice, lots of study material for exams.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/09/2023

He teaches content in a way that is very easy to understand. The exams and quizzes are very representative of what we learn in class.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/06/2023

Fawzi is a great professor! I thoroughly enjoyed the class since he taught the content well and cracked a few jokes here and there. We get a quiz in discussion once a week (mostly on Wednesdays) which are helpful for brushing up on topics learnt. The exams are fair as well the projects! We got review material for exams and the TA's hosted a review session for each exam. The TAs for 132 vary quite a bit. Some of them are really helpful while others just confuse you more. The TA I had was nice but did not know a lot of the syntax and course material. Overall, I loved the class and for any CS classes in the future I would love to have Fawzi as a professor again.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/06/2023

The greatest professor at UMD. He WILL make you interested in CS. He WILL make you enjoy data structures, algorithms, threads et cetera. For an intro level class he makes it just difficult enough for the challenge but not so easy that all the unserious people can get through. You need to be on top of shit when you take Fawzi but it is so so so so worth it.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/05/2023

TLDR: Very solid professor, probably a must have unless you tend to miss class Fawzi is a great lecturer, responds to emails quickly, and gives very fair assignments. His lectures are thorough and cover all content that he quizzes/tests on. There are multiple TAs at office hours from 9AM-5PMish so you can get help easily. The coding projects are very doable as long as you don't procrastinate until the last day. The quizzes and exams are fair as he only tests us on content gone over in class. He sometimes flat out tells us that a specific topic will be quizzed/tested on. The main downside is the fact that Fawzi doesn't post recordings of lectures and the slides aren't that useful without the verbal content. If you miss a class, you'll probably have to ask someone go over the content with you or give you their notes (if they're thorough).

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/04/2023

It's pretty simple: If you see Fawzi's name, you enroll in his course. Fawzi is so good at presenting material in a straightforward, easy-to-understand way. His lectures always keep me engaged. Some others might complain that he only posts slides and not recordings, but I think you do need to show up to every lecture to gain a complete understanding of the course. Much of what's discussed in lectures isn't on the slides. His exams are also very fair (and graded very fast). I'm not sure if this is just Fawzi or all 132 professors, but we had TA office hours 9-5 Monday through Friday, which is helpful. I would be happy to take all of my future CS classes with him.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/04/2023

He is good at lecturing, but the powerpoints have hardly any information, and makes it hard to review. He is rude to other students, and his grading is horrible. For little syntax errors, he will dock off almost all your points even if everything else is right. If he makes a mistake, he is always right an dyou are punished for such.

Aram Zaprosyan
CMSC132

Anonymous
11/23/2023

Teaches well but dry

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/22/2023

Nelson is fantastic! He makes an effort to learn names of people despite his lectures being huge. He is funny and cares about students well being. He is also very responsive to student complaints. For example, if he sensed that people were behind on a project he would give us extra release tokens or an extension. He records lectures and gives comprehensive exam review guides.

Alan Liu
CMSC132

Anonymous
11/18/2023

TA Alan is the GOAT. To explain why, I shall tell the following tale. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (EPIC VOICEOVER:) UMD! Three months into the rule of Anderson. His legions are the masters of the world, the stomp of its sandals heard from McKeldin in the west to the great lecture halls of Iribe in the east. As oppressed peoples everywhere writhe under the Anderson lash, freeman and vassal are united in one compulsory worship: the emperor, Anderson, is Godhead-lord of every man's body and spirit. For those who will not submit, the galleys, the arenas, even questioning await! But there is a new wind blowing from the east, from the dusty halls of CSI, that will soon challenge the vast house of Anderson-that edifice wrought of brick and blood which now seems so secure!

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
11/12/2023

Fawzi is a nice guy. Lectures themselves can sometimes be a bit boring but he is very well spoken and makes the content accessible. The course is hard, but not unnecessarily so. Purposefully takes away resources and information that other professors might give you, but it forces you to really learn the content. Show up to class and study and you'll do well.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a C
Anonymous
11/09/2023

He is really good at lecturing, but that's about it. He has weekly quizzes that are simply unfair and tanked my grade despite doing really well on all the exams and projects. Fawzi does not care about his projects as much as his quizzes, so if you like projects that make you learn the content, don't take Fawzi. (Also no technology allowed in class and lectures are not recorded) I think he would be better as a CMSC131 professor than 132, so if you're making that debate between Nelson and Fawzi, Fawzi for 131 and Nelson for 132.

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
11/01/2023

Elias is a good person. And he is who you want if passing the class is all you care about. However, if you want to have a deep understanding of the content, you probably shouldn't go with him. He has a lot of positive reviews because people tend to remember not what you do but how you make them feel. Elias is a poor lecturer and made mistakes on nearly every exam and project we had. He was too lenient on the TAs to the point where most of them basically weren't doing their job. His study guides are also misleading. This is due to him adding topics to previous study guides and calling them new. For example, he had concepts from the beginning of the semester and even from 131 on the study guide for the 3rd midterm. And, big surprise, none of those old concepts were on the midterm. But everything on the study guide is "fair game" for the exam so it can be confusing to decide how you should spend your time studying. BUUUUUUUT, Elias has a really great personality and is EXTREMELY forgiving and just wants to see you succeed. He makes you feel good as a student. That's what people tend to remember. And that's why his reviews are so good. I would try to get him if you struggled in 131 or are still unsure about pursuing CS beyond 132.

Alan Liu
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
10/25/2023

Legend!

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
VarunS924
10/18/2023

Fawzi is a great, entertaining professor. He goes through many examples and answers questions thoughtfully, and all of his assignments and assessment are very fair. Make sure you follow everything on the style guide because the graders tend to be picky about that. Very relaxing class if you have prior coding experience.

Mukund Shankar
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
10/18/2023

The greatest TA I have had so far. He is always prepared and make sure that everyone understands the course material.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Anonymous
10/17/2023

Unfair exams, weekly quizzes, no piazza, no lecture slides, no lecture recordings, no practice exams, and no study guides. Must I say more? Students receive ZERO context as to what exams/quizzes will be on, so you are left to "study everything" as he constantly tells us. Not only that, but there is no leniency. This means that, for a 100-level course, you either get the question right, or lose 90% of that problem's total points. There is no curve, and he will look for every opportunity to dock points. Needless to say, take someone else if you actually want to pass.

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
10/16/2023

Easy but dry

Joseph Cho
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
09/05/2023

The goat himself Joseph. Please be aware of the Joseph multiplier. If he says it was completed in 2 hours, multiply by 2.5. Great TA and thoroughly answers questions.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
07/06/2023

I actually really enjoyed him as a professor. I had Nelson for 131, and I found that I enjoyed Fawzi's style of lecturing a lot more (Nelson gets off-topic A LOT which can make his lectures hard to follow along. Fawzi's lectures are straightforward and concise and are pretty engaging). The con I would say for Fawzi is that his exams are HARD and he gives no study material or practice exams (all of the study material you can find is made by the TAs and those resources are nothing like his actual exams). He also doesn't record lectures and there are weekly quizzes.

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
06/25/2023

Very nice and down to earth teacher. He was a CS student here not too long ago, so he is understanding if you talk to him. Knowledgeable on the subject and generally prepared. Explains topics well. The projects aren't too bad, but it wouldn't hurt for him to be a little more specific at times. Same goes with the occasional poorly written test question. But I believe these are largely due to him being a newer teacher and I'm sure he will improve as time goes on.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Anonymous
06/22/2023

He is not that considerate. He doesn't give out practice exams, which sucks because his exams are hard and he asks about nuanced things that he mentions in passing in lectures. He is a captivating lecturer, so learning during class is not the worst. The downside is that nothing is recorded, so if you miss lecture you are screwed. He is good for someone highly proficient with a lot of CS experience. Honestly, just try and take another prof. your grade will be better off. I think that the reveiws here are skewed, I am surprised its so high considering so many people complained during the semester about him kinda setting you up to fail for eg there is 2 midterms as opposed to the other classes that get 3(makes more of a difference than you would expect). If he would provide more materials/make his class and grading more fair he could be a better prof tbh.

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
06/04/2023

I had Elias for both 131 and 132. He is an excellent professor that all should not hesitate to take. He is helpful, responsive to emails, and cares about all the students a lot. The reason I gave a 4 star despite giving him a 5 star for 131 is for two reasons. First off, my TA was terrible. If you get a bad TA consider going to a different section. My TA was not very knowledgeable and discussion was a waste of time. Also, throughout this semester I felt that Elias' lectures tended to be very boring. Besides these two semi minor details, Elias is excellent and deserves a 5 star rating.

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
06/04/2023

So good!! Elias is so understanding and his exams are fair. He records his lectures so I learned by watching the recordings and they were really helpful.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
05/26/2023

In general, he's a great professor. He gives you study questions and posts the slides and code examples, and his TAs are great resources. The only thing I had a problem with is he wouldn't record his lectures but he would let you voice record them. He doesn't allow computers or tablets in lectures and he's a tough grader when it comes to quizzes and exams, though his exams and quizzes are fair. My advice for this class is to study the slides and code examples hard, his quiz questions are always based on stuff you can find on lecture slides. Also for projects get them done asap so you can go to the TAs for help if you get stuck. If you go to the TAs on the last day they're gonna be packed.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/24/2023

I honestly cannot fathom how he has such good reviews on here. His class has many issues, one of which is that he is just a very rude and inconsiderate person. He does not care if you get sick or have a personal issue, even if it’s something serious or entirely outside of your control, and will often be rude in his responses (many people I know who have taken his class have had this experience). The lab exercises and projects often do not line up well with the lecture content; for example, by project 3 (mid-February) the only non-131 concept on the project was enumerations, which we had learned on the first day of class. We also wasted lab time by doing multiple labs on GUIs, which are not actually assessed on quizzes or exams. This means that you are getting quizzed on concepts that you might not have ever gotten a chance to practice before, and it can be difficult to anticipate what will be on the quizzes since they don’t always line up well with lectures. He also only has two midterms, both of which are fairly challenging, and there is no review material besides the TA-made review packet. Fawzi also follows what seems to be a standard practice among the CS professors of not posting grades or assignments in Canvas. Although he did provide a grade calculator, he did not update it very regularly, so it was difficult at times to know how you were doing in the class. The only reason I did not give one star is because he explains concepts well in lecture. Frankly, I just did not have the patience for Fawzi’s condescending and rude disposition and would not recommend him as a professor for 132.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a C+
Anonymous
05/22/2023

Great lecturer, everything he taught made sense. But if you slack off you will fall behind very quickly (what happened to me). Quizzes were fair and the exams weren't bad, only complaint is that they took points off for the smallest things such as forgetting a semi colon while handwriting code. Projects were very fun and the TA's were very helpful. Only advice is to be on top of your game and start the projects somewhat early as you only get 3 release tests every 24 hours.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/21/2023

To start with the positives, Fawzi is genuinely a good lecturer. He presents concepts in a way that's really easy to wrap your head around. That's about where the positives end, though. The biggest problem with Fawzi is that he barely provides you with the materials you need to succeed; he's practically setting you up to fail. Although he provides you with study questions, they're basically useless since they don't resemble what's on the exams or quizzes at all. He doesn't give you practice exams, and the fact that there's a quiz basically every week basically just adds unnecessary stress. Beyond the exams, his projects are theoretically fun, but they're difficult, and the fact that he has only three release tokens every 24 hours is just annoying. Genuinely, Fawzi is really only good at lectures; everything else is just annoying at best and frustrating at worst, really. I wouldn't recommend taking him over Nelson, that's for sure.

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Expecting a B
kathleenMiles
05/20/2023

Gonzales is actually not a good professor. I wish I had taken Fawzi instead and not trusted all of these positive reviews. Gonzales is nothing but a copy of Nelson with a few twists. If you are given a choice between Nelson and Gonzales, then it would be better to take Nelson anyway. Gonzales for the entire semester wore a face mask, even when coming to lecture. Evidently he cared a great deal about the risk of COVID infection. Also evident was that he did not care about this enough for his students, because the office hours room was a windowless room in the AV Williams Building with no ventilation in which students were supposed to go to be crammed as sardines. If there was ever a greater risk of infection, it was this place. However much Gonzales cared about his own health, he did not care enough about that of his students to get a different room for them. With regards to the projects, the only advantage over Nelson was that the first deadline would not cost you points if you missed it, but was rather just extra credit. However, the extra credit would barely be one or two points. I doubt that it would be enough to swing your grade by any significant amount either way. Gonzales cannot lecture or teach well at all. His teaching style is terrible, with no continuous train of thought. His slides are atrocious, with the code lacking basic things which he asks for in the same projects such as proper indentation and variable names. You are far better off using Nelson's slides for the subject. I stopped going to his in-person lectures early in the semester. I could not understand anything. He records his lectures anyway, so you can be confused at home instead of in the lecture hall. Office hours were brutal and a complete mess. It was common to find a ten-person line of students for two TAs who were in attendance. In any case, Gonzales would go to bat for his own TAs. He seemed to forget that this class was being run for the students and not for his teaching staff. He allowed them to cancel and reschedule their office hours however much they wanted. You might end up in desperation at office hours, only to find out all the TAs cancelled last minute. Because of the extreme latitude Gonzales gave his TAs, they abused it to the point where you would have days where there would be zero TAs at all, followed by days when there would be three or four TAs all at the same time. Never present when you actually needed them, of course. Most of the time, there would just be one brave TA (Dominic) holding down the fort reading through some crummy Google Doc office hours queue system instead of something respectable like the Quuly that Nelson used. Out of desperation I just stopped going to office hours. It was less effort for me to spend the weekend holed up in my room, than to waste time during the week trying to get a few minutes with a TA who would never show up. What was also frustrating was the sheer number of typos that Gonzales is capable of. During the final exam, he actually had to pause time for him to go through them. On the second exam, he gave us some hashing question with some ridiculously large calculations. He realized that we were wasting our time on them and put up the values of the calculations on the projectors. Good luck if you were one of those people who had already wasted large amounts of time during the exam calculating things by hand. This kind of flip-flopping and lack of consistency was typical. For instance, he allowed, then banned, then allowed again notes while doing the quizzes. Gonzales provided little support for his exams. His "practice questions" would be mostly unrelated to the final exam and hopelessly RIDDLED with errors. You will spend more time trying to figure out what is wrong with the question than actually answering it. Most frustratingly of all, Gonzales always REFUSED to do the common-sense thing and provide answers to his own sample questions. He would constantly tell us to crowd-source answers on Piazza. Which of course, never happened. At least had past exams WITH SOLUTIONS that you could practice with which would make things dead easy. Gonzales' communication was just very snarky and condescending in general, although he was decent enough in person. You will be going to him in person often, because he often does not resopnd to email. He would write things like "as a treat for you all there will be no lecture today". I wonder what that implies about his own evaluation of his own teaching. Discussions were really depressing. My TA in particular would give a confusing explanation, then react sharply to the most innocent clarifications.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
05/20/2023

Pros: Has a pretty fun teaching style, was always engaged in class. Answered emails fairly well, tho there were times when he didn't. A great lecturer overall and a fun professor, with engaging projects that will you make you fall in love with CS overall. Cons: Weekly quizzes felt suffocating more than anything, but they did help in cramming material. NO preparation for any exams at all (for context other professors gave review material to their students). No recorded lectures so if you're sick at all, GOOD LUCK.

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Anonymous
05/20/2023

DO NOT HAVE UME HABIBA as a teacher assistant. SHE IS THE WORST. You will teach yourself everything. if you go to office hours, just know you will be helping yourself. She says i dont know; i dont think so. Then it actually is. like how are you so clueless. Elias says one thing will be on the exam then it is not. He says this won't be on the exam; it is on the exam. like, come on bruh.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Expecting a C
Anonymous
05/19/2023

His TAs are HORRIBLEEEE. I had both Fawzi and Nelson, and Fawzi's TAs are way more helfpul when it comes to projects. Nelson is for people that kind of know how to code already, and Fawzi is for people who have little experience coding and want to learn more.Sometimes I feel like going to Nelson's lecture is pointless. He does record everything, but his lecture slides are self explanatory. He is an average professor.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/18/2023

Nelson's lectures could be more focused, but honestly just having a professor who cares about your well-being is more important to me, and that's what you'll get. He is very compassionate when you have extenuating circumstances or need an extension for some reason or another. He's funny too, but don't talk too loudly or he'll call you and your friends out.

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/17/2023

His reviews are true. He is very very good. I had him for 131 and 132 both. He is an amazing teacher and makes the class very engaging. I looked forward to his lectures. The class is not that hard. If you put in the work, you can do well. He does not throw any trick questions on the quizzes, tests, or projects. It is all straightforward.

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/16/2023

This dude is such a goat. His lectures are amazing and I can always relate to him since he’s not old and weird. He is also such a NICE AND CARING person. Class is very straight forward. Same with the projects. Take him

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting a C-
Anonymous
05/15/2023

I had Pedram for 131 and 132. He has the most monotone voice and he talks really slow. Sometimes he contradicts what he says. However, I recommend you watch every single lecture just to prepare especially for the final. I also recommend watching youtube videos on all of the topics he teaches. His projects were medium-hard. Just camp out at office hours and they will help you A LOT. You CANNOT memorize the practice exams. You HAVE to actually understand it because his exams are really open ended. It is vital that you understand the content and do a bunch of practice problems until you get them right. Pedram tries to redirect everything to a TA so sometimes contacting him is pointless unless its for grade issues.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/11/2023

Great lecturer and very personable. Made sure to at least try to know some students of his 200+ student CMSC132 lecture. Has a great understanding of the topics he teaches and answers questions to the best of his abilities, no matter how abstract. Compared to Nelson, this class is completely different; DO NOT EXPECT HIS CLASS TO BE ANYTHING LIKE NELSON'S. If you want an easy A, take Nelson sure; but if you want to be challenged in a fair and constructive learning environment take Fawzi. He has weekly quizzes and I see a lot of people complaining about this but if you stay on top of them they are a great grade booster; they are NOT that hard if you take the time to review just a little bit. Does not record his lectures but I enjoy being forced to go to class, to be honest; having Nelson last semester made me kinda lazy about CS because of his recorded lectures. Although recordings are useful, they just are no supplement for really taking notes, especially if you're watching them on 2x speed. His projects are super cool, fun, and challenging at the same time. If you like the problem-solving aspects of CS you will thoroughly enjoy his projects; not only that he makes neat GUIs for some of them that I have shown friends (that aren't into CS) that have genuinely found them interesting. TLDR: Fawzi is a challenging professor, take Nelson if you want an easy time. But if you take Fawzi's class, it will be as rewarding as it is challenging, and you will be prepared for the next steps in your CMSC journey.

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/11/2023

Gonzalez is a very nice person and one of the most down-to-earth professors I've met at this school. Despite this ,I feel as though his lectures at times can be subpar in terms how he teaches the content. But with a combination of good TA, I think most of them are good but apparently there is one who isn't, and taking at least a little bit of time to go over concepts you might struggle with (either office hours or self studying), you should be good. Projects were never to hard as long a you take time to understand the concept and work on them consistently. His exams were definitely a curveball from how you would expect a CS exam to be like, but I think they are really good at forcing you to understand some of the topics conceptually and I think this is reflective of his teaching style. I think the lack of practice exams compared to 131 may also be a bit of a shock. Overall a pretty good professor and class.

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/11/2023

Insanely nice, projects were the same as nelson, but he made the class super enjoyable. He had some really good TA's, office hours were super key before exams. He was very reasonable and ha just moved up from high school. Take him if you can

Hana Chitsaz
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/11/2023

Great TA, and made the class enjoyable. Always helpful when it came to questions and projects, very knowledgeable on the topcis

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/09/2023

There are some mixed feelings on Fawzi but I feel the majority of people enjoy him. I'll discuss the pros and cons: Pros: His quizzes and exams are certainly fair. He will never throw material that is overly complicated or has not been done on quizzes/labs/projects on the exam. I did not attend labs and barely studied and was able to complete quizzes with relative ease. If you do attend labs and study, you should expect at least a B in Fawzi's classes, with a very solid chance of an A. CMSC132 is a very fast-paced course, but he does not ask overly specific questions that would make you have to study for 5 hours. He is very easy to understand and his teaching style is not bad. You can tell he is really determined to teach at his best every single lecture, and will even apologize if he feels he is not explaining it to the best of his ability. Goes over concepts, even if most people understand, multiple times to ensure that EVERYONE in the class understands, even if it is boring to the more advanced programmers. Cons: Although some of his projects can be pretty straightforward, others can be very challenging. I do not suggest procrastinating on his projects, especially if he specifically mentions it is a harder project. Projects are worth roughly 3% of your grade so doing good on most, if not all of them, is very important. He does not record lectures. He expects his students to attend all of his lectures, so it is important that you do so if you want to keep up. Missing one lecture could put you pretty far behind. If you are someone who does not feel like attending all of the lectures, I suggest you do not take Fawzi or find someone who will write down notes and give them to you.

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Expecting a C+
Anonymous
05/08/2023

Elias is great. His projects are literally the same projects as Nelson's, so I don't really understand what the review below me is talking about. However, it's true that his project descriptions are unclear (for example, due dates contradict with each other in the title and in the body paragraph). He doesn't respond to emails sometimes, but literally GO TO OFFICE HOURS!! I only started going after some midterms and I really wish I'd visited from the beginning of the semester. He's very accommodating in-person. Just be honest about your reason for an extension, make-up, or grade concerns, and Elias will do his best to help you. In terms of lecture, I honestly preferred him over Nelson because they're fun and engaging, but not straight up stand-up comedy. That way, I was able to come out of lecture with understanding of the material instead of several concerning (yet still funny LMAO) jokes. (Regarding my expected grade -- I got 0s on a few project assignments because I'd been struggling to get my grade up for MATH141 (UGH) so I just messed up on those. Before taking a 0, make sure to talk with Elias. This was my biggest mistake y'all... Don't do what I did! My other project grades were all solid 95s-100s, so you really would be helping yourself by talking to the instructors.)

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/05/2023

By and large, Fawzi is a good lecturer, but his slides lack depth of content and thus do not help when preparing for exams. The projects were challenging, but possible with some time and thought. He just did not personally teach the way that I learned. He taught by talking at you for 50 minutes three days a week and expecting you to memorize everything that he said, no matter how insignificant you think it might be. If you have to take him, just be sure to take good notes and go to office hours for help, but I would personally recommend choosing another professor if possible.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/05/2023

When first learning how to code I would say Nelson is the absolute best as he gives a lot of leeway in all types of situations. Such as extensions for just any reason and is fairly quick with his responses. Exams are all fair and can be a cakewalk if you study the previous exams throughly. In any scenario where he can help you he will. Projects actually matter in that they actually count for a significant amount of the class and they are all fairly easy. MOST IMPORTANTLY ADVOCATE FOR YOURSELF ASK FOR WHATEVER YOU NEED(increased tokens, extensions on projects, etc…).

Samuel Lam
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/04/2023

I know they say that TAs are not out to get students, but he definitely is. He is the only TA that literally grades worksheets to determine if your effort was up to his standards, which are unnecessarily high. I remember talking to Larry about Samuel, and even Lary felt that Samuel was being overly harsh with his discussion-classroom policies. Samuel is really quiet and you can tell he doesn't want to teach and that he shouldn't teach.

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/04/2023

Best CS professor ever!!! Very chill, records all his lectures, can use three 48-hrs extensions among all the projects per semester (but if u email him, he will grant u more). Very reasonable and flexible.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a C
Anonymous
05/04/2023

I like the way Fawzi teaches his class and he makes sure that you understand the content he teaches. His quizzes are fair but at times you get points taken off heavily for small mistakes you make. The midterm is fair and the projects are fun to do. The only bad thing I can really say is that his lectures aren't recorded.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a C-
Anonymous
05/04/2023

If I am being completely honest, Fawzi is a fairly good lecturer but when it comes to exams and quizzes and general stuff...oh boy. I understood everything conceptually in lecture but when it came to quizzes and exams, I was absolutely 100% lost. It is hard to really know WHAT to study because nobody can tell you what topics are necessary to study for the exam. The exams test you on the most intricate tiniest details possible that you will NEVER EVER need to know in the real world. It is hard to remember every small detail. Such as knowing the asymptotic complexities for the insertion of a linkedList, knowing what URL stands for, etc... There are only two exams whereas other classes split into three exams. So both exams are extremely content heavy. I had Nelson for 131 and regret not taking him again for 132. Fawzi's lectures are extremely fast paced, he doesn't record lectures, nor does he allow electronic devices (laptops/tablets) out in class at all. Not to mention, you can never get any access to his previous exams so there is NO understanding of just how much we need to study or what needs to be studied. The study question sets that get posted on canvas have ZERO answer keys so there is absolutely no way in knowing if you are getting the correct answers or not. When asking Fawzi questions regarding what was said prior, he will redirect you to his TAs and tell you to go to office hours which makes the huge assumption that you even have time to attend office hours. I failed both midterm exams even after studying lecture notes, slideshows, in class examples, and the study questions. There is no curve. I currently have a 65% but am hoping that with passing the final with a 75%, I can get a C-. His expectations are way too high for a class such as this. This class has made me debate my whole career as a Computer Engineering major and this is just a 100 level course. What annoys me the most is that Fawzi is always making comments in class such as "Guys I don't even look at my slides until right before class and I gotta quickly re-teach myself the material"... He is always commenting on the fact that he writes Android programs etc... It is just an ick. Not to mention, when you express concerns about potentially failing his class he gives no strategies or help on how to pass the class. He just says study and see what happens. Well I studied my butt off and still failed the exams. For projects, they will start out by being open projects and then after the first three, they are all closed projects. He gives three release tokens that regenerate every 24 hours and THREE only. No negotiations which has completely screwed me over on some projects because if you are failing release tests, you are kinda screwed. It is extremely frustrating and annoying. If you have the chance, avoid taking Fawzi unless you can somehow magically absorb information like a sponge.

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Anonymous
05/02/2023

Elias is a nice teacher, but overall his projects are harder than Fawzi or Nelson projects in my opinion. He is also very lenient and understanding. The one issue is with the TA's. Certain TA's like Hana, Dominic, etc. are all very nice, but there are some exceptions to this. There's one really condescending and rude TA, he's been named here for a 131 review before, and mentioned without a name on another review.

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Anonymous
05/02/2023

Good teacher. His projects are harder than Fawzi or Nelson and his exams can be inconsistent and confusing sometimes, but he's a very nice professor. Lenient with extensions. Only downside is some of the TA's in this class can be condescending or rude to students sometimes. The discussions are also pretty useless or boring at times; in my discussion most students don't even bother to show up unless there's a quiz. Overall not a bad class, mostly due to Elias being an understanding and fair teacher.

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/01/2023

Elias is one of the best professors I’ve ever had. He genuinely cares about his students and their success in his courses. If he makes a mistake he holds himself accountable and will not penalize you for it and in fact it will most likely benefit you. The lectures are useful and he will provide great examples which really help you learn the concept. He also gives out fair exams that you will do well on if you study. His TA’s are really really good. Specifically Hana, Dominic, Ipsa, and Tanaya. They all will go out of their way to explain things if you don’t understand something and work hard to provide the best assistance. There’s only really one TA that is unhelpful. Regardless, if you get the chance to take Elias for 131 or 132 you 100% should.

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/01/2023

Hands down one of the best CMSC teachers, if you get the chance to take him take it. Super helpful, and will explain and answer questions . Lectures are interesting and recorded in great quality, his office hours are very useful and he will help you and link you to valuable resources. His tests and projects are very fair, and often link with what Nelson is doing. Ta's can really help you out, but overall he is just a great guy. He taught high school before and doesn't care if the exam scores are high, he also curves and gives bonus points on exams and projects. Great guy, and his exams, lectures, projects, and overall class are a billion times easier and more interesting than Fawzi's. Elias GOATzalez

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
04/30/2023

Super chill, exams are reasonable, easygoing professor

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
04/27/2023

He is a fine instructor and explains the topics thoroughly and well. His project descriptions are very lengthy but very descriptive, so you can easily tell what the secret tests will check, making it very easy to thoroughly test your program. However, he is incredibly boring and makes sure you do not miss any lecture or discussion because he has random graded worksheets. His exams are also not easy because his multiple choice may have multiple answers and are on random small details you had one slide on in a random lecture. It is not easy to contact him or TAs outside of class because office hours take forever, and they do not accept any emails.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
04/22/2023

I think Larry Herman is a great instructor. His lectures can get pretty boring, but he covers everything you'll need to know and explains it all very well. His textbook readings are long and more boring than the lectures, but they are very helpful in learning the material. He gives graded worksheets in lectures and discussions, which means attendance is required if you want a good grade, but they weren't very hard, they covered relevant material and they were only graded for completion. His projects are not easy and they take a long time, but they are doable if you pay attention in lecture and do the assigned readings. The project instructions are very, very long, but they cover everything you'll be graded on and the expectations are very clear. His exams are fair, and he gives a lot of helpful preparation and study material. This class was a lot of work, but I learned a lot from it and thought Larry did a great job.

Mathew Cimmerola
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
04/13/2023

kind of loud and hard to understand. otherwise a decent TA

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a C-
Anonymous
04/07/2023

If you're stressing over Nelson, Fawzi, or Gonzales, DO NOT CHOOSE FAWZI. He makes you take a quiz every single week and they are literally my downfall. He gives you 3 release tokens that refresh every 24 hours instead of 12. AND THERE ARE ONLY 3. I genuinely love learning and computer science, but his assignments stress me out. I had a better time in Nelson and a better grade. I am literally on the verge of failing this class right now. So I'll be grateful if I even get a C-. There are no recordings and he goes really fast, so good luck if you're a literal beginner in computer science that is struggling to understand.

Yuvraj Delada
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
03/27/2023

Absolutely amazing TA - very chill and nice and explains things perfectly

Yuvraj Delada
CMSC132

Anonymous
03/25/2023

10/10 TA, would highly reccomend

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
03/16/2023

Worst professor I've ever had it's not even close.

Brian Lau
CMSC132

Expecting a C+
Anonymous
03/08/2023

Awesome TA. Great size. Look thick. Solid. Tight. Brian if you're reading this keep us all posted on your continued progress with any new progress pics or vid clips. Show us what you got man. Wanna see how freakin' huge, solid, thick and tight you can get. Thanks for the motivation.

Elias Gonzalez
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
03/08/2023

I want to disagree with a lot of these reviews about Elias. Don't get me wrong, he's a super cool guy and very supportive/understanding of his students. However, his teaching methods suck. His lectures are absolutely useless because his teaching style is just so jumpy. He doesn't go deep into what he's talking about and only provides a super shallow and confusing explanation of a concept. I feel like we haven't learned much in class. We've been learning more from YouTube videos than lecture themselves. I've heard Fawzi is better because he can clearly explain things and says it in a way that actually makes sense. Overall, the class is easy, but it's just annoying that he doesn't teach well. I guess that's going to be every CS class from now on, (especially seeing the reviews on CMSC351).

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Anonymous
02/02/2023

There are so many reviews about Herman's teaching and while that's great and all, I just want to share this: https://www.reddit.com/r/UMD/comments/ilwf1k/cs_department_at_umd/ And honestly, not surprised

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
01/30/2023

Larry receives too much hatred. He runs a very tight ship, and admittedly has a few faults that can be really annoying, but he is a really, really good teacher as long as you take the time to pay attention during his lectures and devote some time to making sure your projects are up to par. If you're looking to blow off this class or just get it out of the way, don't take it with Larry. He doesn't allow any sort of technology in his class, and that includes laptops, so all notes need to be handwritten. Larry is also 100% unreachable outside of class or office hours, but honestly, every single thing that he does, says, or writes is so unbelievably thorough that as long as you pay attention to what he provides you with, you won't need to contact him anyway.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Anonymous
01/27/2023

Annoying as hell. Makes stupid jokes during the class and is not good at explaining.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
01/21/2023

Honestly wasn't that bad of a professor. His project descriptions are very thorough about what is required of you, and as long as you follow them you should be good. The final exam was definitely waaaaay harder than any of the previous exams and definitely tanked most people's grades down atleast a little bit

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
theGreat
01/19/2023

Pros: - Good lecturer - Answers all questions - Covers content well - Well organized - By the book - Old fashionedish professor that is very straight forward - Knows his stuff Cons: - Sooooo boring - Is not generous with points - Attendance is part of your grade

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting a C+
Anonymous
01/11/2023

Does his job of making both CMSC131 and CMSC132 weed out classes.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
01/09/2023

Herman is literally awful. DO NOT TAKE HIM. The good reviews on here are from people who have been coding for years. Herman's class will strain you to another level. His exams are AWFUL and you can study all the course material for weeks and still leave with a failing grade. He is incredibly rude and condescending and will never respect you as a person. He requires you to meet with him if you have an excused absence, which seems fine until you realize he has no ordering system so in a class of 500 students you'll likely never be able to get his attention. Same with the TA's office hours are absolute chaos. His projects are maybe his only good aspect. They are very detailed and you either know it or don't. However, his TA's will find any little thing for your code to be wrong. You'll never get a 100 unlike Pedram or Fawzi who rely on public and release tests. Herman should be your last option and even then I would suggest waiting until another professor comes available. DO NOT TAKE LARRY HERMAN. His 216 course is only doable if you really know what you are getting into.

Srinidhi Hegde
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/07/2023

He's a truly awful TA. I'm not sure if he just doesn't know the content and is trying to get out of teaching, but he berates students during office hours for not understanding the content instead of helping them. He treats students like they're beneath him. An awful TA and an even worse person.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/07/2023

Professor Herman will provide you with good resources to teach yourself the content, but he is boring and lacks basic social etiquette. His slides, practice exams, projects, and other resources are really clear and helpful. His grading is also quite lenient. It's quite an easy A if I'm being honest. However, that's where his positives end. His TAs are horrible in my experience. I'm not sure if he selected them, but if he did, he focused more on choosing TAs that would obey him rather than those who will teach well. His lectures are extremely boring. They do not help at all. He repeats everything thrice and talks incredibly slowly. He then complains about the CS department putting too much content in the course. This would've all been excused, but he gives worksheets that are graded for completion randomly in lectures, effectively making attendance mandatory. However, that's all irrelevant compared to his social etiquette. I'd strongly recommend avoiding office hours. Every time I've been to office hours, which is only when I needed to receive credit for an excused absence, he always makes me feel uncomfortable. He has many quirks. He makes a thing about calling him instructor and not professor. He doesn't let you email or message him. If you need a graded worksheet excused, you will have to go to the one office hour block he set at a reasonable time and wait over an hour to meet with him to have him excuse the absence. In short, Larry will make the learning experience very easy, but will undeniably be a pain to deal with.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/03/2023

Sometimes boring, but in my opinion he's quite funny. Good lecturer that can explain things well. Only thing that's annoying is how long the project descriptions are and how specific his requirements are. Make sure you go to lecture and discussions because they sometimes have graded coursework (which is based on completion - just make sure you're there).

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/30/2022

Solid professor. Some of the practice exams don't reflect what the actual test has format wise but you get 3 years of practice for each test and quiz. Lectures make you want to fall asleep but solid at explaining and records all of his lectures. Just go to office hours for any project you're struggling with and they'll help you out.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
12/30/2022

He’s good. He makes it tricky sometimes. Final is much harder than the rest of the course high basically tanked by grade 10%.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/28/2022

Larry's a good teacher with very fair and doable exams. A lot of people complain about his lengthy project guidelines, but I kinda liked them. He basically tells you every edge case and addresses any possible point of confusion in those directions. He's annoyingly strict about certain things (like calling him professor as opposed to instructor) and kinda came off as unapproachable, but after talking to him a couple of times during office hours I realized he means well. I would give him a higher rating if he didn't grade so slowly. The semester ended a week ago and he still hasn't graded our final exams and given us our final grades. In fact, it wasn't until this week that the majority of our project grades were put into canvas. I get that its a large class and grading projects are difficult, but I feel like this was slow for even CS.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/26/2022

He's a great teacher and explains all the concepts and algorithms really well. You basically have to go to lecture because he screws up the recordings and sometimes forgets to record the stuff he does on paper. Not having electronic devices is more of a pro than a con but you can always go to office hours and ask for permission to use it (as long as you have a decent reason). Projects are fairly easy, received almost a 100 on all of them. Exams are mostly easy, just don't screw up the programming question because it is often worth half of the exam grade (I screwed it up because I was so uncomfortable writing code on paper, hence my grade). Make sure to read/skim over the textbook because some of the information that he briefly mentioned in lecture shows up on the exam and shows up in the textbook (My friend made quizlets and they were super helpful). PRACTICE WRITING CODE ON PAPER BEFORE YOU TAKE EXAMS! Never take your phone out in class even if you're in the back (Herman has a hawk eye for phones) because he will call you out and the entire lecture hall will look at you.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/26/2022

He's a very slow teacher, but good at explaining things. If you already know what he's talking about you will be bored out of your mind. I think I fell asleep in 80% of his classes. Also he has random graded worksheets in the discussions(why is 2 discussions a week neccesary) which suck when you have discussion at 8 and it's 30 degrees outside.

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/26/2022

Pedram is a great professor and was good for my first CS class here at UMD. He always recorded lectures so you could go back after or if you weren't in class. Was also super responsive to emails and agreed to meet with me early in the semester when I felt I wasn't doing as well as I could be. Exams were very fair and he gave good specifications beforehand so you knew which subjects to focus on. Everything was very well organized and well put together and the TA team for my semester was amazing.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/24/2022

Larry can be boring but he is a great instructor. Everything in the class is very fair. If you have the opportunity to take him please do :)

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Anonymous
12/24/2022

Pedram is a good professor and very accommodating too. But one thing that makes his class stand out the most compared to others are his TA's. His class has one of the best groups of TA's ive ever encountered. Matthew, Sandeep, Alec, Brian, Daniel, Jason, Alexis, Gabriel and Syed do an amazing job at assessing to students needs and helping them with what ever problem they encounter. Helping and educating them in the process too. Projects are reasonable, exams are fair, and the final was nothing out of the ordinary. Definitely a class you could get an A in if you put in the effort.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/24/2022

Can't deny that he's a great lecturer and he gives you all the tools (optional homework, practice worksheets, exam prep) to succeed and learn a lot. He has a lot of rules, both for assignments and being in class, that he's very strict about. Super slow grader, though - we took our final a week ago and only 4/9 projects have been graded so far.

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting an A
iapyges
12/23/2022

Pedram’s lecturing style is good overall. He’s a bit of a slow talker, but he does an excellent job of drawing out visually how each data structure/algorithm works. He records every lecture and posts it on Panopto, so if you need to skip class you can just watch the recording. Quizzes and exams were fair. Pedram makes old assessments available as practice, which are definitely worthwhile to do. For exams, he also gives a summary of what’s going to be on it, which is helpful for targeting your study. Additionally, Pedram is a fan of remixing questions which have appeared earlier on quizzes/exams or elsewhere in the practice. Projects were my favorite part of the course. The project descriptions, public tests, and questions posted to Piazza are sufficient to get a full understanding of the project. As long as you complete them and do a decent job, they’re an easy A. It was doable but stressful for me to do most of the projects in the 48 hours before they’re due. His TAs were uniformly of high quality and a great resource during office hours. Pedram himself is a little harder to reach: his office hours are by appointment only.

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/23/2022

Pedram is not a good Java lecturer to say the least. Besides Java having particularly poor design for some elements, his lectures in the first half of the course weren't all too useful: particularly regarding generics. However, he's a pretty decent data structures lecturer. He usually draws out the concepts in conjunction with reading the slides. The provided material was top-notch, and some of the TAs' contributions made it even better. The exams are challenging but not overwhelming (the vocab stuff can be pretty obscure sometimes, but that's to be expected). I would recommend this professor, but not overwhelmingly.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/22/2022

Larry is alright but will make the class more of weed-out than it has to be. The project guidelines are detailed but the style requirements can be pretty stupid. The discussion sections are alright but there graded attendance worksheets are worth too much of your grade and are pretty useless and annoying. His lecture slides are alright but he never really addresses non-obvious student questions and can be a little intimidating and unkind (unintentionally or otherwise). The tests aren't terrible but there was always 1 or 2 really specific and trivia-like MC questions. He does do very well in giving large practice tests and optional HWs. Overall, he's not a bad option but he won't wow you with charisma, passion, kindness, or competency. If you're taking Larry, you'll get a dependable, bland, quality education.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/21/2022

I liked the way he taught the class, since he taught it in a way that helped you programs run on a fundamental level, so I felt like I had a better foundation from this class than 131. However, his class was quite boring. This might not be his fault, since the material he's working with isn't exactly riveting in my opinion, but the class is not engaging and I never really wanted to go to class. He also is very strict about his policies, which are genuinely pretty antiquated (no electronics of any kind in class, etc.). I found the projects fair, but there was some material that wasn't covered in any project. If you're a cs major (which I'm not), he's likely a good professor to have since he is good at explaining how it all works, but he doesn't make it very fun.

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/21/2022

Had Pedram for 131 and 132, very solid experience. Exams are challenging but not unfair. Best way to prepare is to use the practice exams.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/21/2022

Larry is an amazing instructor and a great lecturer. All of his slides are clear with plenty of examples and are provided to you very soon after each lecture along with a recording. The topics in 132 can be confusing the first time you hear them but Larry always did an excellent job of using examples to explain them. Additionally, in every discussion section there are worksheets that are essentially graded on completion, but are SO helpful. The problems on the worksheet really help you understand the lecture material and are representative of the exam questions. When the exam comes around these worksheets alone are usually enough to help you get practice but Larry also provides a 20 page practice set with exam questions. AND on top of that there are optional homework to do to get even more practice. All of these materials have solutions that are thoroughly explained. The projects in this class were challenging but doable and the project descriptions are more than clear. There was also always enough time to complete them, and the TAs were very helpful. The class is organized and Larry keeps everyone updated regularly with his news feed. He couldn't be more clear about instructions and what's going on in class. I can't say enough great things about Larry's teaching style, if you have the opportunity you HAVE to take Larry. In addition to being a great lecturer he is also funny and this semester gave away chocolate every single class to two random people. TAKE LARRY!!!

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/21/2022

Herman gets a lot of flack because he doesn't allow electronics in lecture, he has graded worksheets in discussion, and he is a very monotone, boring, lecturer. With that being said, the dude can teach. His notes and lectures are unbelievably thorough, and so if you can stay awake, you'll walk away with a really good understanding of the material. The projects and exams are both very fair as well. If you can get around his idiosyncrasies, he's ultimately just a really fair, thorough, instructor, which is dope. Love you Larry

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/21/2022

This guy is the GOAT. The only people that don't like him are the ones who can't resist the urge to check their phone every 5 minutes. As long as you go to class and put the work in, you will succeed in his class. World class instructor. Would recommend.

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/16/2022

Pedram was an excellent lecturer. Slides are very organized, great code examples, good explainer, provides ample context for programming practices, concepts, principles etc. Posts lecture videos to Panopto, which are exactly like in-person lectures. Projects are very well constructed, and if you start them early and put effort into them, you'll enjoy and gain A LOT from them. Pedram's TAs this semester were also excellent, very helpful. Make use of Piazza; even if not asking questions, make sure to read it regularly to hear useful discussion and tips for the current project or upcoming exam. Not the most captivating lecturer, but certainly one of the best explainers.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/15/2022

I feel like people hate Larry because of his strict no phone policy and his required discussion worksheets. However, I thought he was a great lecturer with a cute and quirky personality. He is very organized, good at explaining concepts, and gives us plenty of resources to help understand the material. His labs may seem intimidating at first because of the lengthy project guidelines, but you'll realize that it's better to have more information about the lab than less; you'll never be confused about what you have to do. As long as you attend lectures/watch the recordings, the labs are extremely fair and doable (takes 4-10 hours). He also offers 3-10 extra credit points on some labs for turning it in early. His exams are extremely easy compared to other classes and the upper quartile has consistently scored over 90. He is an amazing teacher and I would really recommend taking this course with him. The only complaint I would have is that projects take a long time to be graded, but that is probably just because of the size of the class.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/08/2022

Larry’s alright at lecturing and he’s obviously knowledgeable and been teaching for a while. He sometimes goes a bit too in depth(or repeats himself 3-5 times) and quickly falls behind. I find myself falling asleep in his lectures from time to time. The content in 132 is fairly easy as long as you have a basic grasp on programming. However, I’ve found that his TAs will do anything to avoid giving a perfect score. They are petty and believe no one should get a perfect score. On all of my projects I have gotten -1% because of “lack of detailed comments.” This isn’t the case. Herman in office hours said he’d get them regraded but he has not done so. It’s an alright class and you will do well if you know the content, but don’t expect a 100% on anything.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/18/2022

Good teacher explains stuff well but doesn't u let use phone during class

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
11/07/2022

Honestly, Larry is pretty underrated. Pretty good lecturer, can be boring at times. He's strict about masks and electronic usage, but once you learn to really focus on the lecture it doesn't make much of a difference. He can be funny and does his best to make the class interesting. The projects can be tedious but his descriptions are very good. The exams are very fair as long as you do the practice exams, worksheets, and stay on top of lectures. If you're self-motivated, I highly recommend him.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Anonymous
10/31/2022

He makes me want to fall asleep in his lecture. His projects are so complicated unnecessarily when compared to other professors.

Brian Lau
CMSC132

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
10/26/2022

the best ta!!!! go to his office hours, you will not regret it, i went every week and it helped me so much! i'm not even in his section but i could never understand what any of the other tas were saying except for him so i started going specifically to see him, brian lau is so good at explaining ei don't think i would have passed the class without him. THIS MAN IS A LIFE SAVER!!!

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Anonymous
10/19/2022

Soooooooooooooo Maryland law requires me to inform you that Larry Herman is actually a pretty decent not-professor. In all seriousness, he has his personality quirks, but I haven't found any faults in his teaching style or in his knowledge of the course material. The lecture slides cover pretty much everything you need to know and they include very helpful examples for Eclipse. Lectures are recorded and put on canvas. Projects are reasonable, his instructions are pretty long but they cover pretty much every edge case you need to consider. They are due roughly every week and a half or two weeks. I usually dedicated around 10 hours for each project, but of course this depends on its length. And he gives extra credit on a few of them if you just turn it in early. I disagree with the bottom review. I didn't do programming at all outside of class and I did fine. Of course, you should remember material from CMSC131/AP Comp Sci A/whatever, but he gives a pretty detailed review sheet and dedicates a few lectures at the beginning for this. He doesn't allow electronics in class, going so far as to point people out from across the room who he thinks are on their phone, which a lot of people don't like. He also doesn't really like it when people take notes word-for-word off the lecture slides (this is not a good way to take notes, anyway). And his lectures can put people to sleep, but at least he's funny. If you can get past these things, though, and work diligently on the projects and studying for exams, you will do well. Overall, I'd highly recommend him, especially over a professor that's confusing but nice.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

terpsCompSci1
10/17/2022

This dude is amazing

Brian Lau
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
10/12/2022

Had Brian as my TA for 132 over the summer, he was absolutely fantastic. Really great at explaining concepts, and just an overall great guy

Brian Lau
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
10/03/2022

The GOAT TA

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
08/15/2022

He's good at explaining the concepts... but that's the only plus point I have for him. He's got his TAs taking points off for missing a semicolon or parenthesis - that's not how coding works and losing points on things like that teaches you nothing relevant to being a programmer in the real world. He also speeds through his lectures and doesn't really save much time for answering questions. If you ask him a question outside the syllabus, a lot of the time his answer is 'I don't know.' Basically, he knows the material and not much past that. Also, he doesn't record his lectures so if you miss a class because you're sick or something like that, good luck catching up :( He isn't very understanding if you have to miss the weekly quiz (yes, there's a stressful quiz every week) for any reason that's not 'I'm severely ill' - he won't even reschedule. He also doesn't allow laptops in lectures - and taking handwritten notes for a CS class isn't really easy (in fact it doesn't make sense IMO). You'll get the A if you work for it, but I know for a fact that you wouldn't have to work so hard if you managed to get a spot in one of Nelson's classes instead.

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
08/07/2022

I struggled a bit with 131 as it was my first time coding so I was nervous going into 132 knowing it would be more difficult and cover far more complex topics. I thought Pedram did a great job explaining it and his code examples helped me learn it pretty seamlessly. I had to put way more time into the projects but it paid off because they were instrumental in how well I was able to understand concepts. He was also very helpful in the Q&A sessions and reviewed all the important material that we needed to know for tests and projects. Very great option in my opinion.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
07/06/2022

Fawzi is a fantastic professor. Yes, he doesn't record lectures(unless on a religious holiday or if he is sick), but this encourages you to attend class and pay attention. His two midterms were COMPLETELY fair-game, and his final exam was difficult but was not as hard as I thought it would be. The secret to doing well in his course? Study his notes and lecture examples every day after class. His exam questions are ALWAYS based on his lecture examples and slides. Be diligent in your studying, and make use of his office hours, as they run 8-5, Monday-Friday, administered by TA's who are extremely knowledgeable and will help you with not only projects, but concepts as well that may seem confusing to you during lecture.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
06/07/2022

He's a decent lecturer, but still confused as to why he is so overrated. I definitely do not think his lectures are boring, I did get sleepy a lot of the times but that's probably because I had 8AM classes and was always extremely tired. He makes jokes and I think he tries to be an engaging professor. I will however say that he uses his pencil and a paper to visualize what he is describing, and his handwriting is very ineligible and he has to erase so many times that I can't help but bother about the amount of eraser dust he produces. I wish he just uses a tablet when he wants to draw things. What I disliked the most was his lecture slides that he makes on his own, which severely lacked a lot of information. He seems to hate the lecture slides the CS department made but the department's slides are far more helpful. He doesn't record lectures because he wants to encourage students to attend to his lectures, so you kind of always have to attend his lectures since you will miss out a lot if you are absent as his lecture slides are lackluster, but frankly, if you study the department's slides, I don't think his lectures and slides were particularly helpful at all. Aside from that, he is extremely unapproachable. I'm not sure if he is "rude" per se as I haven't had a proper conversation with him, and he can be pretty sweet like asking "how are you?" to his students, but when someone asks him questions, he can be really condescending. I think I asked him questions only two times throughout the semester, during the exam and after the lecture, and both of the times he was very cold. Maybe I was asking dumb questions to his eyes, because he does seem to love whenever his top students ask advanced questions during the lecture. I think he also makes his exams on his own, and in my opinion, those are much harder than the practice exams provided by the department. I did decently on the second midterm and the final exam, but I did pretty badly on the first midterm, which hurt my grade the most, because I had no idea his exams would be as difficult. I'm not saying his exams are the worst, but you definitely need to study consistently on everything that he covers, and he also teaches things that the department curriculum does not seem to include just because he "likes" those particular topics. His projects are enjoyable though. You might not wrap your head around initially for some projects, but once you do, they're pretty easy to solve, and the GUI he makes for some projects are quite fun. I still can't figure out the solutions for his secret tests however...

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
06/03/2022

Genuinely a wonderful person. You can tell that he really cares about his students and wants everyone to succeed. The course itself was pretty easy, although Nelson didn't go too in depth into the particulars of most topics, just focused on an overview and how to do things without too many details. That's not my favorite way of learning information (jumping right into looking at code), but the exams and projects were fairly straightforward. I always felt like I knew what to do and like I could get help whenever I needed it. He records every class, which makes it easy to do well even if you can't make it to every lecture or discussion.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/31/2022

This class was alright. Nelson's projects are not well-written in my opinion, and it's hard to understand what is actually wanted us to do. Sometimes, it's also hard to understand where to begin the projects, but that's different for everyone of course. Nelson made the exams pretty easy though, especially the final exam. He's also responsive through Piazza and understood if we needed deadlines pushed back for projects, so I most definitely appreciated that. Discussions are alright, but they are definitely not necessary to attend.

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting a C
Anonymous
05/25/2022

I understand why he's rated the lowest compared to all the other professors, but he isn't too bad. If he's the only one available, you should be fine.

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/21/2022

I really enjoyed having Pedram for 132 this semester. Lectures were really helpful and material was interesting. Projects weren't too difficult when started early, and quizzes felt honestly somewhat easy. However, I will note that this semester he co-taught 132 with Nelson, so I can't speak to his class when it's not cotaught. Very nice and approachable as well, would definitely recommend.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Anonymous
05/19/2022

Fawzi continues to be an excellent CS prof as he maintained his sense of humor and teaching style that he had in 131. Any tips are obvious things you should already be doing (going to class, starting projects early, etc). The only problem I had with his class was that there were only 2 midterms, the second of which had an enormous amount of information that was covered. The projects can be challenging, but most of the TAs are great resources for help on class or project material. The final was fairly daunting and could've been designed better, but nevertheless, I would absolutely take Fawzi again if I could.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/19/2022

Fawzi had a lot of positives that really made the semester quite good! His lectures are very informative and he's very good at what he does. After I left a lecture, I really felt like I knew what I was doing. I completely understood each thing he taught. The review before mine wraps up my thoughts completely, but I will reiterate them. Fawzi, like was stated, is a VERY good professor which will make sure you understand his concepts. I had Nelson for 131 and switched to Fawzi for 132. Altogether, I highly prefer Fawzi. Lecturing is better, exams better reflect what we've learned, labs are useful, and the quizzes were fair. All in all, so long as you studied you should be fine. As for criticism, I am not a big fan that he didn't record lectures. It makes it hard to catch up or do well if you have any need to miss class. I also had been a bit upset initially when he said no computers in class, but those who wanted to takes notes on it ended up ignoring it and taking notes anyways. He does try to hold people at the end of class and gets upset if you leave early. There was only 2 exams which were weighted heavily which also covered an extremely large amount of information. All in all, I would absolutely recommend taking Fawzi if you want a strong foundation in CS fundamentals and data structures as a whole. However, it may be best to not take him if you are to not keen on going to every class or if you think that you aren't going to really put in the time to study for every exam.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Anonymous
05/18/2022

Unpopular opinion but without bluff like some of these other reviews. (NOTE: I had Nelson first semester and received a very good grade so 132 with Fawzi was a shock. I have completed the course but chose to leave it optional out of confidentiality). Fawzi is too fast paced in lecture. On top of that his powerpoint are next to useless and he doesn't record lectures. On top of that he doesn't give fair exams in my opinion. I will admit the midterms were fair, but they test the smallest details which you wouldn't need in the real world or which a compiler would pick up. For example, on one of the exams I declared a variable incorrectly, with the rest of my code is logically and syntax correct I only received 2/14 points. I approach external TA's who said I should receive points, but when I approached Fawzi on the regrade he refused to give points back and gave an excuse as to why. In additions we only had 2 exams unlike other classes, where they would split we had all of OO(Object oriented programming) and the entire second exam on every DS (data structure). Outside of the course work to sum up Fawzi in a few words: - shrewd/out right disrespectful - Doesn't help in office hours. Always acts like he's better and we know nothing. - not lenient at all - Was sick and couldn't make it for a quiz. Fawzi told me either to come for the quiz or receive a 0 (this was the second time I was sick and couldn't use a self attested note). Especially for a time while we are still in a pandemic this was out right disrespectful and foolish that he is willing to risk the health of his TA's and students for a quiz. - doesn't care about his students mental or physical health - Over this semester I was struggling with my mental health a bit and when I approached Fawzi about his essential response was I don't care. He is not as nice and caring as nelson, I didn't receive any help throughout the course during this. Outside of that office hours were always packed and the TA's were quite bad. - comes off as some high achieving professor with lots of publications and no time for his students when in reality he's a lecture (massive ego problem) Outside of this his class is taught like we are all high end comp sci people who know what we're doing. His exams once again are more difficult than nelsons. If you could I would avoid Fawzi at all cost and take Nelson. Nelson was one of the best professors I've had across all departments. Other Notes (sorry if repetitive to some other parts of the review): - Doesn't give practice exams - Doesn't tell us a concept list like Nelson or any other teachers - Refuses to record lecture - Steep late penalty (20% off your highest score if submitted at or after 11pm. 100% off after submitting 24hrs after the deadline). - 1 practice packet with questions that don't resemble exams a week - Quizzes were very hard for weekly assignments (we also didn't know the context) - Purposely goes into harder concepts which aren't relevant material to the course (refers to 351 and theoretical CS concepts we don't learn a lot). - Final Exam is the worst. 30% of the grade. Everything we wouldn't have been tested on for an FRQ was there. You cannot expect first time students with no experience to come in and redo parts of their project by hand. You cannot make students code out concepts you referred to for 5minutes in a lecture. You cannot make students code a question we have never seen a code example for and something which was barely touched in class. A final is cumulative that includes everything we were taught not everything after the midterms and the concepts we barely went over. - Labs also aren't too helpful and I think he should adjust the labs to have a due date of completion so students actually do then and cut down on the weight of the final exam. a final worth 30% dropped by grade from B to (well you can do the math for that :)). - Projects in others classes are worth way more overall than ours. Final thoughts: I wish I took nelson when I had the opportunity to while registering. If I could go back into that time and choose nelson I would've probably got a B+ at the lowest. Nelson's exams side by side Fawzi's are much easier on relevant materials and won't make or break your grade such as Fawzi. Unlike the other reviews I can't say that he enjoys teaching. From what I experienced he enjoys the idea of being the smartest in the room at what he does which isn't a trait for a good teacher.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/18/2022

Fawzi is an incredible lecturer who cares about his students learning and understanding the material. He's been teaching 132 for a while, so his materials for the course - including lectures, labs, and projects - are incredibly polished. It is also evident that he frequently practices giving his lectures in order to stay on top of his game. The material felt well-paced and, even though there were only two midterms, the testable material felt fair and it was not hard to succeed if you took good notes in lecture and sought extra help when needed. With that in mind, make sure to take good notes in lecture! Fawzi does not allow the use of laptops for taking notes, and he does not record his lectures. You will need to be on top of your game and write things down in a way that really helps you to understand the content because the lecture outlines he posts online are really not so helpful. Also, start projects early. They are a joy to complete, and procrastinating will really hurt you with some of the projects in this course. If you have the option to take Fawzi for 132, do it. He is a top-notch professor and a cut above the rest of the instructors for this course.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Anonymous
05/16/2022

The nicest, most understanding teacher. His classes are entertaining and he really makes an effort to get to know his students (even in a huge lecture). He presents the information clearly and the tests are very fair. The projects take time but he preps his TAs really well to help. Not an easy class, AT ALL, but Nelson goes above and beyond for his students. Also has very good slides and all classes are recorded (he posts the slides before class and the recordings the second class ends).

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/13/2022

This might be an unpopular opinion because everyone seems to love Fawzi at UMD, but he's just not my type of lecturer. He goes through topics super fast during class and his speed of talking is just a little too fast for me to comprehend. Can't doubt that he genuinely loves what he does and is always really enthusiastic about class though. My least favorite fact about him is that he never records lectures. Sometimes if you're lucky he'll record them on religious holidays but other than that if you ever miss a class you're screwed. I had to miss class for a lot of personal reasons and it really brought me behind and I struggled to bring my grade back up. Additionally, we only had 2 exams throughout the whole course. We literally learned about every type of data structure within one unit and were tested on it all at once. This is simply just too much information for one exam while most other 132 lecturers had at least 3 or four exams. Splitting it up would've not only helped my grade but would have allowed me to focus more on specific topics for specific exams. I just always felt super overwhelmed around exam time because they were pretty much making or breaking your grade. Also it's a good idea to remember that he's not as lenient as Nelson. He doesn't allow computers or phones during class and he usually won't do any extensions unless you have a really good reason. His exams seem to be more difficult than Nelson's but a lot of people are okay with that since they like his style of teaching. This is all just me speaking from personal preference though.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/11/2022

Fawzi is by far the best professor I've ever had (I'm only a freshman btw). His lectures are extremely informative and easy to follow, so DON'T MISS A SINGLE ONE! (He doesn't record them) Fawzi's exams and quizzes are extremely fair, and his projects weren't lifeless. I had Nelson for 131 and he was also a good option that had his pros, but Fawzi's projects are more satisfying when completed. Fawzi's projects often have GUIs that make you feel a sense of accomplishment after completing them. If I could, I would take every CS class with him. Yea he doesn't allow you to have laptops out, but you really don't need them in the first place to be able to follow through. Take his class and you won't regret it unless you never go to office hours or you start your projects late.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Anonymous
05/11/2022

If you ever have the opportunity to take him for 132, seize it. Fawzi is funny, knowledgeable, and honest. If you want to do well in his class, I would recommend: 1) Starting Projects Early! Looking at the description is a good start, but I would suggest trying to code as much as you can, submitting, and reviewing the results from the submit server. If you are confused, try to debug the code yourself before seeing a TA. 2) Attending Lectures! Fawzi's lectures are usually entertaining, but he knows when the content is boring and when students like to skip. Sometimes he will give you the topics for the quizzes and coding tricks. 3) Attending Discussions! Discussions usually focus on coding and other technical things which are tested or used in a project. It's in your best interest to show up, do the lab, and ask for help. If you finish the lab, you can usually ask your TA questions about the class or the project.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/09/2022

Nelson is a super funny guy, and he really cares about preparing his students for the future. Very helpful in office hours. In addition to teaching material very efficiently and being very responsive to feedback, Nelson will teach you to advocate for yourself, a skill that is useful for the rest of your life. He is very specific about how to prepare for exams and projects and provides many resources. Amazing professor.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/07/2022

I like Nelson a lot, I had him for 131, just took him for 132, and am planning on taking 216 with him. Yes he can get carried away sometimes with messing around, but he teaches you absolutely everything that you need to know for projects/quizzes/exams. Everyone I've ever met who doesn't like Nelson has just been lazy and didn't care to understand what he was saying. Great fun guy.

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Anonymous
05/02/2022

He is ... ok! That is the best thing I can say in terms of lecturing. He is a very nice man, incredibly receptive to any questions and very flexible with extensions regarding religious holidays. He is a bit monotone but thats honestly fine. His TAs were good - when they actually showed up to office hours or discussion sections. The projects were fine with the exception of a few and the DS/A part of the course was a nice introduction to it. I recommend if you already have familiarity with programming and data structures, Fawzi would be better teaching you from the ground up if you wanted something more comprehensive.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a B
akl2025
04/27/2022

I'm really happy to take Fawzi again for CMSC132 (it was a close call because there was only one available spot left for me, probably someone dropped out), mostly because I like his teaching styles and his TAs. 3 tips to get good grades in his class: 1. Don't skip the lectures! Fawzi doesn't record his lectures 2. Start projects early! You don't want to come to TA office hours 2-3 days before the due date 3. Review weekly! There are weekly quizzes (don't get discouraged because you get low grades, it's a good review for midterms and final) The only thing that is challenging in his course is that you have to study everything for his tests (no idea what he will put on specifically - you know what lectures he will cover, but the contents are massive). It's fair but difficult, sometimes.

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
04/22/2022

Had him Fall 2020. As other reviews state, his lectures are incredibly dry, but informative. He drones on even at 2x speed. The class is structured well. Projects, exams, and grading are all pretty fair. The third exam was absolutely brutal though. Still, if you keep up with everything (and practice advanced recursion) you'll be fine. Didn't interact with students much if at all, I'm still not even sure what he looks like. A remarkably average, bland professor.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
03/22/2022

(And CMSC216.) He talks fast but he goes at a slow/followable pace given how much material he has to cover each lecture. He's one of the most organized professors I've had. His project descriptions are notoriously long, but they detail the entire project so I wouldn't complain much. His practice exams are very good practice for the actual exams. He's a bit strict on rules like masks and no electronics but honestly we all need a professor to put their foot down for the students that are distracting to the rest of the class.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
02/24/2022

Larry can be boring but he's very great at explaining difficult concepts very clearly. He goes slow which gives you time to understand the material really well. He also gives a lot of practice for exams. and he uploads all of his presentation pdfs. His project descriptions are very detailed and cover pretty much every edge case you have to consider. He can be a bit strict about the rules but as long as you wear your mask and don't use electronics, you're fine. I would highly recommend him.

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
01/23/2022

Pedram was a good person to take CMSC132 with. He and the TAs worked hard to make the class a good experience, and it showed. There were a lot of projects, sure, but Pedram's lectures and positive attitude made the class more enjoyable. A little boring during some of the lectures, but still good.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/25/2021

He's ok, but I wouldn't recommend if you had other options tbh. His lectures are dull and I fell asleep a third of the time. He tries to be engaging during lecture by telling jokes and asking questions (which I appreciate), so I honestly think its his voice/how he speaks that makes me sleepy. Another thing about lecture is that he doesn't allow use of technology and will call you out if he sees you using your phone or if its on your desk. You should def still try to pay attention during lecture, especially when he's writing on paper. His project descriptions are great though. Make sure to closely read and (I recommend) take notes on project restrictions, edge cases mentioned in method descriptions, etc., especially considering how I've been told incorrect information multiple times by his TAs this semester (don't think this is a Larry issue tho). If you have to take him, I highly recommend doing all the worksheets, practice exams, and HOMEWORKS (they're optional but you will likely see questions similar to or on the material covered in them). His exams are very Larry-y, but once you get used to his exam question style, you can do well. Overall, his class is doable, but you really need to study and get familiar with his tests/worksheets if you want to succeed.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/21/2021

Fawzi is one of the best lecturers at this university. He's very clear with describing topics, and goes through a lot of examples in class (which are posted) to help you understand the topics. I would strongly advise against skipping lecture since his slides are very basic, so you want to make sure that you are taking good notes. You do have weekly quizzes in discussion, but if you take notes and make sure that you understand the material, you should be fine. His exams are pretty straight forward, but he doesn't have practice exams for you to study from. He does however model his exams off of the quizzes and weekly study questions that he posts, so I would say they are pretty manageable (no trick questions). Office hours are also pretty helpful (usually run from 9-5 every weekday) for clarifying topics. Some of the projects can be a little tricky, but if you start early and go to office hours you'll be completely fine. I think he has a slight curve (couple of points) based on the class averages. I had him for both 131 and 132, and would definitely recommend taking him if you want a solid understanding of intro CS concepts and data structures!

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/18/2021

Great guy, but I'll be the first to admit that his lectures are dry and his voice is very monotone. I think the difficulty and projects are fair. The TAs he has more than make up for any gaps due to Pedram, honestly the best TAs out of any class I've taken. Quizzes and tests were fair, I don't know what these people are talking about when they said the practice was nothing like the actual exam (obviously he has to change it up from the practice somehow). Only time where this was especially evident was studying for the final since there was legitimately no resources to help practice, but it's due to the CS department not Pedram specifically I believe. Overall, not the worst option, but for sure not the best for 132.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Anonymous
12/17/2021

Great instructor. Explains difficult concepts well and learned a lot of material this semester. Made computer science interesting and I look forward to taking 216 with him next semester. Also, great project descriptions. Overall, Herman is incredible and I encourage you to take him.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/17/2021

Larry is a fairly good instructor (not professor). His lectures can be a little dry at times (somewhat unavoidable in an intro course), but he is very good at teaching you what you need to know. His project descriptions are remarkably thorough, making it fairly easy to do well on them (provided you put in the work). His exams can be a little tricky, but provided you study you ought to do well.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/16/2021

I think Mr. Herman is a very good instructor (though he makes it very clear that he is NOT a professor; he once gave us a mini quiz at the beginning of a lecture about this)! Now, I should mention that I did have some programming background prior to the course, so I cannot say for sure what your learning experience will be like if you are new to programming besides taking CMSC131. However, I really enjoyed his teaching style. He gives plenty of examples of concepts, and he puts a significant amount of effort into making comprehensive practice exams and homework assignments so that you are well prepared for the midterms. You can also download his slides and (some) code examples after class to further examine them. He does not allow electronic devices in class, and if he catches you using one, he will not hesitate to call you out. I thought that was annoying at first, but his philosophy is that you should be actively listening to his commentary rather than writing everything down on the slides. In fact, when he sees people writing slide material in their notebooks, he won't stop them but he will interject with something like "you don't have to write this stuff down because the slides will be on ELMS later." I think that his philosophy worked well for me, but your mileage may vary of course. He is also very knowledgeable about Java and the Object-Oriented paradigm and will write notes to himself to correct unclear information in his slides or to investigate the answer to a question he was asked. The homework comes in the form of coding projects. His project descriptions are very well defined (albeit lengthy) and help reinforce the material covered in lectures. However, they are graded pretty slowly (the last four projects have not been graded yet as I write this review), but maybe that will change in the future. He also makes a good attempt to engage with his students. He frequently asks questions throughout the lecture to his students and corrects them if necessary. As a bonus, I think he genuinely wants to entertain us and be friendly. For one, he always suggested saying your name when you answered a question. During the last half of the semester, he raffled chocolate and other candy using a specialized program he made. And lastly, you can count on him to try to crack a few jokes every lecture (and even in his assignments too). Yes, they are definitely "dad jokes," but nonetheless they still made me chuckle and I appreciated it. Oh yeah and the sheep thing. He likes sheep. But apparently his favorite animal changes from semester to semester, so look forward to that I guess.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/16/2021

Mr. Herman is a really good professor. He knows what he's talking about and he explains complicated topics extremely well during lecture, in such a way that I don't even feel the need to ask questions. He gave us so much practice with the discussion worksheets and exam prep, and it made taking the actual exam not too hard because the style was very similar. You learn the fundamentals of CS in this course and Herman is a great professor to get that knowledge from.

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting a C
Anonymous
12/15/2021

Took 131 with him (with zero coding experience) which was brutal, figured the online nature of it made it harder and gave him another short in person. It was pretty much just as brutal, his exams and quizzes are horribly written and super unclear. He gives practice exams but they are absolutely nothing like what the actual exam will be like. If you haven’t coded in highschool don’t even bother.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/14/2021

Let me begin this review by saying that Herman's teaching style is a bit of an acquired taste. If you don't think you can acquire the "taste," then you will likely not agree with the rest of this review. That said, although at times I did feel myself starting to fall asleep in class, Herman generally made lectures un-boring enough to thoroughly absorb the content. Lectures even sometimes included interesting off-color dry humor, such as casually referring to "the almighty above" whilst describing algorithm complexity. Herman's exams were generally fair, you just have to read (a fact that my expected A- shows that I can't always do). Projects were equally fair, as long as you are not scared away by an 8-page password-protected PDF as your assignment description. The complaints about grading turn-around time aren't unfounded, but it isn't as bad as some horror stories that I have heard from other instructors/professors. I am still giving Herman 5 stars because this really isn't his fault, it's the TA system's fault. Finally, I just want to say if you can bare some quirkiness in an instructor (Herman isn't a professor, he will make this abundantly clear) and possibly one too many sheep references, take Herman.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Anonymous
12/13/2021

I attended 3 lectures with friend he seems like cool dude. Kinda boring though. xoxo Sheena Sheep.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/07/2021

I am a Larry enjoyer. While his lectures can sometimes be a little dry, his jokes are funny and the content is always delivered well. I found that studying from the discussion worksheets and lecture notes was the way to go, since the exams resemble the homework very closely. A lot of material gets covered quickly, so make sure to stay on top of it.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting a C-
Anonymous
12/05/2021

I think Herman is good. He seems to care and some of his jokes can be funny. I am very thankful that he records our lectures because he goes kind of fast in class and he gets mad if you take notes on the lecture instead of listening to everything he says. I would've preferred taking Pedram for 132 as I had him for 131 and I think he is more of an actual person. He is a nice guy and helped me a lot throughout last semester. Herman just kind of feels like a hermit crab to me. Hes a good teacher but I dont think hes anything special.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
07/02/2021

All in all an amazing instructor. He is funny, engaging, and gives easy exams and quizzes. I learned a lot from this CMSC132 class when I took him back in Fall 2019. Excellent choice to take.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/26/2021

This semester was definitely an improvement from last semester when I took 131 with him. Fawzi kept up with the informative lectures and related coding examples, providing helpful study questions, and assigning projects and discussion assignments relevant to the course material. The quizzes and exams were much better time-wise this semester, hence me actually doing better this semester since I get stressed under a ton of pressure. Lectures were almost always out ahead of time, so we had plenty of time to watch them, and quizzes and exams always tested material that was on the lectures. I definitely recommend taking the class with him if possible!

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/23/2021

Pedram's lectures are slow but he explains things really well. His exams are super challenging though, and they cost me big time. I wish I had some prior knowledge of data structures before I took this class with Pedram because I quickly got overwhelmed by so much new material. If you have some previous knowledge though, I don't think the class will be too bad for you.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/21/2021

This is an inherently hard class but Nelson tries his best to make sure everyone is on pace. Office hours are a big help for for this class. The projects are challenging but if you've learned Java before it shouldn't be a big problem. Nelson's lectures/slides are very helpful and he usually does not test on contents he didn't teach. He also really cares about his students' mental health.

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/11/2021

Took this class Fall 2020. Pedram is a good lecturer. He might be a little boring, but he runs through plenty of examples and is very clear. The online exams are very fair, not very difficult but a little time-consuming. Start on them early and you can definitely finish in the allotted time.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/08/2021

Prof. Fawzi is super reasonable and super knowledgeable. I would choose him over Nelson again (although I hear Nelson is great too). I loved the projects and the lectures were always informative and easy to understand. The quizzes are challenging but not unreasonable.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/04/2021

Online lectures are asynchronous and are informative and well structured with lots of examples. Weekly Wednesday quizzes can be challenging but most of the time was on recent material. Exams and quizzes are both timed, however, the time given is reasonable and the content of the assessments is also reasonable. Also had Fawzi for CMSC131 last semester (Fall 2020 - Online) and enjoyed him thoroughly.

Hrishik Rajendra
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
04/14/2021

Amazing TA, he's actually really good and one of the best TAs for CMSC132. If you know him and can take CMSC132 while he's TAing, definitely take this class. 10/10!!!

Rahul Narla
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
04/14/2021

Great TA, actually amazing, I needed help and he sat with me for like an hour and helped me out. His concepts are very clear and he knows his stuff. ABSOLUTE GOAT!!!

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
01/19/2021

He sounds like Ben Shapiro if you put his lectures on 1.5x speed but he is very hands off with the online format. You will pretty much only talk to the TAs and there is no live interaction at all with Pedram. His exams weren't that hard imo, but the projects were difficult not because they were hard to implement but because it was difficult to understand what needed to be implemented from the instructions. I've had bettter CS teachers and I've had worse. Decent.

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
01/12/2021

Exams were extremely hard, had to spend almost the entire day on them. He was a fine lecturer considering the asynchronous nature of the class.

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Anonymous
01/09/2021

His exams are extremely difficult and take nearly 8 hours to complete. Although he may brush over exam concepts in lecture, he doesn’t provide any examples of how to actually use the concepts. If you do not have programming experience before college, good luck.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Expecting a C+
Anonymous
01/03/2021

Nelson is a kind professor who will help you navigate your programming career and learning how to learn. He is decent at teaching and makes the class enjoyable. Do not be fooled by his jokes, if this is the first time that you are learning JAVA, be prepared to work hard in this class, the kids who took JAVA is high school will make it harder for you to get a good grade. I would take Nelson over Yoon for sure. Overall, if you can't get Fawzi(hard exams) then you will be ok with Nelson (he is big on giving your old exams and other resources).

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/23/2020

Had him for online semester. The lectures were pretty slow but he definitely knew what he was talking about. The exams were a bit tougher than usual but I do feel that they were fair.

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/22/2020

I took this course in Fall 2019 Pros: + Competent and informative lecturer. A lot of people say he's boring, but I honestly disagree, he makes extensive use of example code to ensure students understand what's going on. + Projects are good applications of what you are learning. + Tests are fair.

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/18/2020

Extremely difficult exams.

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/18/2020

Pedram's lectures are super boring and monotone, but he is a good professor who explains his concepts very clearly. Watching his lectures on a faster speed is essential. CMSC132 was organized super well online (lectures, slides, and code examples always uploaded), although discussions often felt like a mixed bag because we would often just go over random Java topics that we weren't tested on. Around halfway through the semester, the difficulty of the projects and quizzes/tests (especially quizzes/tests) did spike a lot. You did have 8 hours for every quizz/test, though which was very generous. The first half of the course is pretty laidback 131 review.

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Anonymous
12/09/2020

Lecturing skills were overall okay. The format, however, was just going over what's next in the course until 50m is up. It felt a bit unorganized and the class felt dry as a whole.

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
11/29/2020

Great lecturer, gave reasonable workload and challenging but rewarding and thought-provoking tests and projects. Only small thing is that he didn't exactly go out of his way to show himself on camera or talk to students directly, but overall I can't blame him during a pandemic. Never felt like his work was busy work and always gave us access to the slides and notes we needed.

Matthew Simmons
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
11/20/2020

Very helpful, engaging, responsive, and dedicated TA. Held review sessions before every exam too.

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
11/20/2020

Clear and thorough lecturer. Modified the class (exams/quizzes) to fit online learning well. Nothing really to complain about. (Some people dislike his monotone lecturing style but I think it sounds fine at 2x speed) The TAs really do most of the office hours, grading, synchronous teaching, but that's not a problem because CS TAs are mostly pretty cool.

Anwar Mamat
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/18/2020

Took this course in the summer and Anwar was a great professor for it. Made class very fun, and made it easy to understand. Plan on taking his 330 class

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/14/2020

He's pretty monotone when he talks, but he explains things well, and his projects are okay. The quizzes are brutal though.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
10/29/2020

Had him for 132 in Spring 2020 and I couldn't recommend him more. Some other reviews say he's rude but I never got that vibe from him. In fact, he's one of the kindest and most humble professors I've had. He genuinely cares about his students. If you have to choose a prof to take online, I'd recommend Fawzi. He handled the transition to online learning very well.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
10/28/2020

I had Fawzi for both 131 and 132. He's definitely the professor you want for either of these, if you really want to learn the material. His lectures are easy to follow and he makes the class interesting and fun. He's also very friendly outside of class. I went to his office about 6 times and he was always welcoming and helpful.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
10/13/2020

Fawzi is the best! He knows the material inside and out. If you watch his lectures, you'll understand everything. He's really good at explaining even the most difficult concepts. He's also a fun person with a great sense of humor that he uses to make the class even more enjoyable. I get the feeling he has a low tolerance for "whiners", which might explain some of the lower ratings. Lol

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a P
Anonymous
06/09/2020

Fawzi is a pretty solid lecturer for beginners and his exams are pretty fair. He is open to explaining any conceptual problems you have about what he's teaching (as long as you're willing to wait in the long line for him). However, his quizzes and some of his later projects can be much more difficult than how he formatted them in CMSC131. Specifically for the quizzes, some of them seemed straight up unfair (considering the resources his class provided and the content we had covered). I would say that his CMSC132 class is doable, but be prepared for the spike in difficulty transitioning from his CMSC131 class.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/23/2020

Although some of his rules may be annoying (no electronics, sitting in the front row always), he is a good lecturer. You just need to pay attention in class, write down the things he repeats, and *thoroughly* study for the exam. I would definitely recommend him as a teacher.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Expecting an A
kjmehta
05/17/2020

Great guy

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/07/2020

Fawzi is a good lecturer. I will give him credit in that he is able to present the material clearly and in a way you will understand. However, as a human being, he is very rude. He constantly is making comments to make himself sound so much better than you. He is rude in office hours about your concerns. I felt as though he did not take the time to feel the concerns or engage with the students. There were plenty of comments he made in class that left me feeling offended or upset. That being said, if you do not care about personality, he teaches well. If you want to have a good relationship with a professor, or are the kind of person who needs office hours with a professor, don't take his class.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Expecting a C+
Anonymous
03/07/2020

This class was very hard but I feel like Nelson made it bearable. He's very funny and keeps you engaged in the material. I didn't really study for the first half of the class so I didn't do so well early on but later on I payed more attention to his lectures and was able to do much better.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
03/06/2020

Amazing professor! Had him freshmen year fall seamster and it was a great way to begin at UMD. He cares about his students and gives them every possible tool needed to succeed. His lectures are super fun and entertaining, and projects and exams are all definitely fair.

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/19/2019

His lectures are fine, he sticks closely to the slides and may elaborate with examples. If you understand the slides there's no need to go to class. Pedram is great, super understanding and accommodating whenever I spoke to him.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/18/2019

Go to class, do the midterm reviews and discussion worksheets to study for exams and you should be fine. Also, start early on projects so you can get an idea of what is asked of you before the stress of a deadline.

Shyam Pujara
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
10/29/2019

shyam is the best TA i've ever had at this university. he's a blessing to the education system. i don't know how i would've passed CMSC132 without his dedicated support. thanks shyam!

Venae Sidhu
CMSC132

Anonymous
10/23/2019

best discussion TA teacher of all time. would recommend to everyone!! kind and extremely helpful!

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
10/21/2019

Nelson is a really good professor who explains things very well and gives you the resources you need to do well in the class (lecture videos, old exams, discussion questions). His lectures are also entertaining which is something that I miss now that I no longer have him.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting a C
Anonymous
09/22/2019

Larry is highkey boring and unapproachable. For 80% of lectures I attended, I would fall asleep. He doesn't allow cell phones or laptops in class and will call you out every single time he sees it and then complains about how he has to rush through material. It probably adds up to like 10 mins of lecture in addition the times he tells people to not sit in the back rows like every 5 minutes. Also he doesn't record lectures which sucks because I learn better when I rewatch lectures and his posted powerpoints can be vague. I'm currently taking him for 216 and i still hate it lmao.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Anonymous
09/09/2019

Herman is an okay lecturer. The main things he has going for him are that his exams are fair, and the graded worksheets are basically free real estate. The lecture slides skim important information, and his lectures are styled so that he asks questions, and the half-dead students give inaccurate answers three, four times, and he needs to clarify the whole concept again. It's inefficient. Just do CMSC132 under Nelson or Fawzi.

Anwar Mamat
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
08/20/2019

Anwar is a great lecturer for 132. He also explains concepts very well. His lectures slides are great too. He doesn't put anything on the exams that he doesn't cover in lecture. Exams are also pretty easy. I usually finish with 20 minutes left and use the rest of the time to check my answers. I also dislike the MC section, which make up a fair portion of the exams, because they're just memorization and can be kind of tricky. Projects are hard to implement, but the project tests aren't hard to pass. I think I got a 100 on most of my projects. When I took it, projects were 40% of the grade, which should make the class an easy A.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Anonymous
08/19/2019

I had Fawzi for both CMSC 131 and 132. I felt that his class for 131 was far better planned and overall the projects and exams were fair. However, for 132 his quizzes were a disaster, his teaching got more confusing, and whenever students approached him in office hours he was extremely rude. Honestly the most overhyped CS professor at UMD

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
06/20/2019

He is unapproachable and can be very rude at times. His grading scheme is very nit-picky, and he is very unforgiving. For example, if you don't write your name on every other page in an exam, you instantly lose 10% of that exam grade. In addition, he never releases how much he's curving, but if you ask him, the curve is based on your attendance to his class (he takes attendance everyday). I would advise staying away.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
06/16/2019

132 with him was drastically different from 131. Pop quizzes were really difficult and he was kind of a douchebag in office hours.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
StardustGogeta
06/09/2019

Larry is a fun and hilarious teacher, and I must recommend taking his class. His projects have very clear expectations and his tests are straightforward (with lots of review material provided). He is also extremely careful about what he says and takes the class very seriously. (He will correct himself in the next class if you let him know about a mistake he made in lecture.)

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
06/01/2019

Yes, he's a good lecturer. He was horrible for 132 regardless. Incessant pop quizzes. Rude during office hours. Unfair exams. I've heard only good thing for his 131 class but don't drink the Kool-Aid: Fawzi isn't all that.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/28/2019

I had Fawzi for CMSC131 and CMSC132. Pros: He is a really good lecturer that keeps students engaged and makes normally hard material easy to understand via great analogies, detailed examples, and in-class demonstrations. Cons: Beware of pop quizzes. Also, there are instances of him giving difficult projects. Additionally, in his office hours, he tends to be a bit more condescending that what his lecturing style implies. Overall, my experience in his class has been a positive one. You will definitely learn a lot from him. However, be prepared to put in a lot of work every day.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/10/2019

Herman is a straightforward, clear instructor who makes lectures boring, yet comprehensible. He is very picky about coding style and his exams are very short, so it is easy to lose a lot of points. You can still earn a good grade if you do the exam practice and review the worksheets. Overall, he's not as bad as people say he is, but he is annoying.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Anonymous
04/22/2019

This review gives 2 stars for his 132. (For his 250, it will be 4 stars.) I take his 132 after reading reviews of his 131 here, and realize that his 132 is pretty hard. He delivers content a bit fast in class, while the materials he provides on the website are not good enough to study for quizzes and exams. His quiz drives me mad. If you take his 132, you'd better take notes carefully and make sure everything is covered. On the other hand, I recommend his 250, it's much easier than his 132, cool and relaxing. By the way, he's really strict, just don't miss any assignment. I feel like he's not quite approachable.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
04/17/2019

Fawzi is a solid lecturer. He explains concepts extremely well and is generally very articulate and well-spoken. However that being said, his quizzes for CMSC132 are unnecessarily difficult and he's often rude and condescending if you approach him at office hours.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/24/2018

He is funny and makes lecture interesting, but attendance isn't mandatory and he records lectures. The exams were sometimes difficult but practice exams were released. He responds to student concerns (changed the release tokens from 24 to 12 hours) and is fair.

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/24/2018

Great, effective lecturer. He can be boring, but I think that can be overlooked when considering how well he can explain the concepts taught. However, I took this class when Nelson was co-teaching. I'm not sure how well he fares on his own

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/22/2018

Good teacher, exams can be vague.

Anwar Mamat
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/13/2018

Anwar is a good choice. You will have to learn some things on your own as he doesn't go through everything fully. The amount of notes he provides for students is AWESOME. His tangents are funny but were less appreciated when we had to speed through topics at the end of the semester.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/13/2018

He is not a very effective lecturer, as I end up teaching most of the material to myself outside of class. He gets distracted very easily and will look to call anyone out that is talking to their neighbor or on their phone, even if they are not bothering anyone. This ends up being a distraction to the entire class and I find it hard to focus or take him seriously. He posts lecture slides that are very helpful and they reflect the content that will be on the exams. He is a fair teacher but I do not enjoy going to lecture.

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/09/2018

Pedram is an excellent lecturer. Class is super well structured, and he considers when it might be more effective to show you example code, then slides, or the slides and then the example code. In general, though Nelson is the one posting Piazza updates, he is simply there in lecture, teaching like he always does. I've heard when he is not co-teaching with someone like Nelson, his exams are very difficult, so take that into consideration. He is also very boring. A good majority of my section stopped showing up to either lecture or discussion because of this.

Michael Donahue
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
11/30/2018

He's alright. Nothing special.

Ryan Sutton
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/30/2018

A good TA who always showed up on time. He was understanding of those who asked for help. Often, the content of discussion lasted about 20 minutes since we were just going through slides quickly. As it was an 8am discussion, the majority of people started to skip, which was unfortunate.

Melika Abolhasani
CMSC132

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
07/29/2018

Often shy at times, Melika was absolutely brilliant. She was slated to teach 351 one semester but she left the University to pursue other careers. She was my TA for 132. She would help me time after time again with my code, and draw pictures and diagrams to help me understand the data structures. She was at her best when I had one on one time with her. She was very receptive to student concerns during her office hours and tried to help as much as she could with the time she had. Her lab sections I thought were pretty helpful. If i didn't understand something from lecture, she always cleared it up and made it easier for me to understand. A shame she had to leave the University, because she was very gifted.

Anwar Mamat
CMSC132

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
06/27/2018

He is a horrible lecturer. Do not take him unless you are willing to basically learn all the material on your own outside of class. To make matters worse, he has tons of clicker questions to penalize you for not going to his pointless lectures. And he doesn't allow laptops in class for students who actually want to learn while he's "teaching." The one good thing about his classes is that the grading structure is fair, and the class is organized, but he just has no idea how to communicate the material. He doesn't seem to understand that coding in front of the class in a ridiculously small font while providing little explanation as to what he's doing is not the best way to teach computer science. Going from him one semester to an actually competent lecturer like Eastman the next was a night and day difference.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
06/03/2018

Herman is honestly one of the best professors ive had. I thoroughly enjoyed his class and teaching style. His tests were difficult but very fair. And his projects are so detailed, they can be very easy. His lectures are boring but like what do u expect, its a lecture... But i do learn a lot. I highly recommend just sitting there and listening. I barley took notes in this class just cuz his slides are so detailed, u dont need to. He also recommends to read chapters ahead of time which really helps. The worksheets are all similar to his tests. Its not that hard to pass, u just gotta try

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/16/2018

He knows his stuff but does not know how to test on knowledge. Midterm averages were pretty low, and about 15-20% of the class had to drop the class just because of those. He's definitely a nice guy, but the TAs weren't great, and the lack of TA office hours will leave you scrambling if you need help on a project.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting a C
Anonymous
05/11/2018

Teaches well and wants students to succeed but is an asshole to anyone who doesn't sit in the front. Detailed project notes but difficult tests.

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Anonymous
05/11/2018

No Piazza forum to ask questions only TA hours. When I asked the TA why he doesn't set up a piazza forum, he quoted Pedram and said "I'm too lazy." Average on the midterms were about a ~60%. Pedram has a very monotone voice and as a result is very boring. Projects were alright, start early and you should be straight. Going to TA hours on the day a project is due is like waiting in line at a yeezy shoe release. I wouldn't take him if I were you.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/11/2018

Very mean guy. Would not recommend. I passed his course, but I hated going to lectures.

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting an A
tomorrow
05/11/2018

A good professor overall with answers to all your questions and willing to admit if he doesn't know the answer off the top of his head. Entertained every question a student threw at him, even if he had to defer to later in the class to answer it. Many felt his midterms were extremely difficult, but they're fair tests of your knowledge in the class. They're challenging, but they're not impossible if you study all the content and can write the code. For all the exams, Pedram said what the coding section would be on (of course not the specific question but the general topic) to make sure you knew going in.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/03/2018

Although he does yell at students to move up to the front row, cites random studies that have little relevance to the class, and prevents students using their laptops and phones, Herman is overall a really good professor. Believe it or not, he does these annoying things because he cares about making students doing their best. If you genuinely care about learning the material and pay attention during the lectures, you can definitely succeed. His jokes and humor are different, but he does this to make his class as interesting as he can. Before the exams, he always posts ungraded homeworks and practice exams, and for our 3 exams, the review material was similar to the real thing. Between taking Pedram and Herman for CMSC132, I got stuck with Herman due to scheduling and was initially upset, but looking back, I am glad that I was and would take Herman over Pedram if I had to do it again.

Raghav Bhasin
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
02/10/2018

Now that I'm in 216 I have great appreciation for Raghav who prepared me for the content for this semester. Extremely friendly.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/30/2017

Not the most entertaining professor and a bit dry but overall learned a lot during the class. The project guidelines are extremely detailed and specific which is very nice. Exams are fair.

Timothy Wang
CMSC132

Anonymous
12/14/2017

Very friendly and helpful TA. He prepared his own slides for every discussion and shared it in a Slack channel with the whole section.

Cameron Moy
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/14/2017

He was my discussion TA. He not only knew the material, but was able to communicate it well.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
11/20/2017

Easy to follow.

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
11/19/2017

Pedram is really good at balancing teaching concepts and explains the actual code that goes into the course. The only caveat I’d say about pedram is his discussion sections aren’t always relevant.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/19/2017

First CS professor I've had and seems to be one of my favorite professors so far. CS material can be really confusing but Nelson uses simple analogies to make sure his students understand what's going on. Really engaging as well, both inside and outside the classroom. If you have the chance to take him, do so.

Pedram Sadeghian
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/19/2017

What you would expect from a professor. He goes through the material relatively well, but fails to engage the class in any way. I was fortunate enough to have Nelson post his lectures for the class so I don't go to lectures anymore, but overall I feel the class is still manageable by just reading the power point slides posted online. CMSC132, in general: Quizzes can be annoying I recommend taking them seriously because they can really impact your grade if you don't do well. Projects: Projects were relatively easy I would just give yourself enough time to do them. Midterms: Overall, were generally fair but have very nitpicky questions in some cases, doing the practice midterms that are posted is more than sufficient study material.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
lactaid
11/19/2017

Nelson is a great professor. He tells jokes to make class interesting. Some may find this distracting however. I took him for 132 and 216. He's a really nice guy. The projects are difficult but they can be rewarding.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Expecting an A
mike
11/11/2017

Nelson is one of the best professors I have had at Maryland. He always keeps his lectures interesting with jokes and stories. He also is great at teaching the material so it's easy to understand. His projects take some time, but he gives a great explanation of exactly what you need to do. Definitely try to take your CS classes with Nelson (everyone calls him by his first name).

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Anonymous
12/30/2015

Nelson is absolutely and unequivocally the worst instructor I have ever had the misfortune of taking a class with. He is decent at lecturing most of the time, but that is not too much of a merit, since he just reads off slides. I have asked questions both in class, and in office hours, and I have never received a satisfactory answer. For example, one time in class, he offered an opportunity for us to ask questions about the current project we were working on. When I asked a question, he told me my question was too complicated to understand, and instead of letting me clarify, he instead told me that he wouldn't answer my question, and would be moving on to the next topic. I decided to go to his office hours to try and clarify my question. However, he would not even let me finish my question before interrupting, and repeatedly telling me my confusion regarding the project was because I had not read the public tests (which is a solution not remotely related to my original question). He was very rude and discourteous the entire time I was in his office. He uses Piazza (sort of like a forum), under the pretense of having TAs or fellow students being able to help answer questions regarding the class. However, he only uses Piazza as a way to avoid answering nuanced questions himself. This was quite obvious the other times I had attended his office hours, when he would simply tell me to ask my question to the TAs instead. As noted in other reviews, he stops lecture to call out students unnecessarily for the most ridiculous things. Aside from it not being funny, it is quite embarrassing to be put on the spot like that. He is able to still be popular among students because he makes frequent jokes all throughout class. While some of them can be funny, a lot of the jokes I find to be annoying. He jokes about marijuana, cocaine, drinking, etc., in order to project a "chill" image which the typical college student will find hysterical. To summarize this review, Nelson has repeatedly proven he is rude, unable to answer questions that are nuanced, and desperate to be liked. Those genuinely are the three most dangerous traits an instructor can have, as he will find opportunities to belittle you throughout the semester if he knows you don't like him. Stay away from his class at all costs.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/02/2015

People told me Nelson was awesome before I chose his class, but honestly I'm a little disappointed now. He jokes a lot during the lecture, with makes the class seems easy, but I just feel like I cannot really learn from him. Also I don't like him making fun of students in the lecture. I think his exams and quizzes are fair, but the projects are really hard. I personally won't recommend him. In my opinion, he might be a good guy but just an okay professor.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
lordwill753
05/06/2015

Larry Herman has his pros and cons, but overall I thought he taught the material well. PROS: -Very detailed and course oriented. Almost never goes off on tangents. -Likes to use funny analogies to explain concepts in class, which helped me remember more clearly. -Projects were fair and were more practical than the ones I did last semester for 131. -Exams were generally easy, and stuck to the practice problems he posts on ELMS. -His obsession with koalas is hilarious. CONS: -Tends to be abrasive and mean in class sometimes. God help you if he catches you with your phone more than once. -Typically doesn't fully answer questions from people in lecture because he claims he needs to rush through material, leaving people even more confused sometimes. -Not exactly the most approachable or nicest person around, which might discourage people from going to office hours. You'll learn in his course, and you'll learn a lot. But Larry isn't the nicest guy around.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
04/06/2015

I’ve only taken 2 comp sci classes at Maryland but I definitely learned a lot from Mr. Herman. Starting with the cons: Mr. Herman means well but seems to lack skill in social interaction (unless he is disciplining someone). He never seemed to want to look me in the eye when I tried to ask him questions before or after lecture, and talks like a robot at times. He is not the greatest lecturer: he repeats himself often and kept saying that he was "behind" for the last 5 weeks or so of the semester. During that time he didn't really ask if there were questions on the new material, but is very responsive if you go to his office hours or ask for help outside of class. Very strict about the "No laptops or electronics" policy...he kicks people out of class for texting during lecture. I think he got his count up to 20 between two of his three lecture periods when I was in 132 with him. Switching gears though, Mr. Herman is very knowledgeable about Java and the computer programming paradigm. His lecture slides are an amazing resource, sometimes better than the textbook (which, for 132, I highly recommend you get, even if you’re a Java expert, as it contains a lot of powerful concepts and goes into detail on some foggy areas beyond the 132 curriculum that are still good to know).

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/14/2014

I would like to start off by saying that Herman is not as bad as many people say. I feel that most of the low reviews he gets are from freshmen who are not prepared for the amount of work this class will take. With that being said, I will give you as honest a review of him as I can. Keep in mind that this is my second high level programming class (I'm an EE major so I already saw many of the concepts presented in this class in my 150 class) I'll start off with the bad. Herman can be kind of an asshole at times. He follows his syllabus to the letter, so if he specifies that he will only answer programming questions in office hours, HE WILL ONLY ANSWER THEM IN OFFICE HOURS. Like even for simple yes or no questions, he will only answer them during office hours which can get really annoying. His exams are another negative point. For a 100 level programming class, I felt that there were unnecessarily difficult, and this was having already seen most of these concepts in another class already. His exams are often extremely specific, sometimes testing concepts that were only vaguely mentioned during a lecture and are often unnecessary to know for practical programming purposes. With that being said, Herman is an extremely good teacher. I honestly thought he was a good lecturer, may not have been the most interesting but hey, you try and keep this stuff interesting through 5 different lectures of the same topic. If you want to be successful in this class, go to his lectures as much as possible. I would also recommend using his office hours a lot, not because he will only answer questions during them but also if you ask him a question then you will get a detailed and thorough answer that will almost surely help you. Like I said, I have seen most of the programming concepts presented in this class in a previous coding class, however, I still found his projects to be rather straight forward. If this is your first high level programming class I would suggest starting early, but you should not have difficulty completing them on time and getting a good score on the project. Overall, I would recommend Herman if you really want to learn the topics presented in 132. Yes he is an asshole, but it will be worth putting up with because you will learn a lot.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/04/2014

People give Larry a hard time, but I don't think he's too bad. I find his expectations reasonable, and I think he does a pretty good job of teaching the material. That said, he's kind of a jerk. His classroom rules are ridiculously strict, and he wastes a solid 5-10 minutes of every class yelling at people for using cellphones in class or telling people who walk in late that they should attend later lectures. He's not a particularly approachable teacher, and even discourages asking questions because he fell behind on the course material. I feel like I'm learning a lot from Larry, but the actual classroom experience is pretty annoying. Despite my objections to the way Larry approaches his teachers, I disagree with the reviews that say that the class is too difficult or that the workload is too much. The projects give me a greater understanding of the material and the tests seemed like a good barometer of my knowledge. Not an easy class but appropriate for the subject matter.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/25/2014

At first, I really didn't like him, and I never really got over annoying things that he does such as go over administrative stuff at the start of each lecture and calling out anyone on their cell phone during class. He's not necessarily the nicest person ever, but he is an extremely smart person and does a good job explaining things. He posts 3 old exams before each midterm, and the tests are fair and not hard if you prepare for them. If you regularly attend lecture and did well in 131 you should be fine even if you get 'stuck' with Larry in 132. At the end of the day he's a smart guy and good teacher

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting a B
watergems
08/23/2014

I had a problem with Larry Herman's lectures. (1) He lectures off slides that are sketchy and incomplete, speeds through them, often flipping before students who write really quickly can jot down notes, and refuses to post slides in advance so that students can prepare for how he speeds through them and take notes on the slides themselves. (2) He uses vague ambiguous, conceptual verbiage that doesn't convey the underlying technical specifics so that you can learn the material in a concrete way from his lecture delivery. For example, on joining concurrent threads: "A thread can wait for another one to terminate by calling join(). public final void join() returns when the thread it's called on quits" There is no specific technical information in that passage that tells you what to do or what is happening in the software. Here is the kind of specific, technical language that is more helpful, from in the tutorials on docs.oracle.com: "The join method allows one thread to wait for the completion of another. If t is a Thread object whose thread is currently executing, t.join(); causes the current thread to pause execution until its thread terminates." Yet, Herman teaches with fuzzy, untechnical language but tests to a much higher level of technical rifor than he lectures with. (3) All the students in the class who have language disabilities or communication disorders are completely swamped with trying to make sense out of his terrible lectures off sped-through slides and ambiguous language, and finding alternative instructional materials/spending days in the tutoring lab inorder to compensate sucks time that is frankly unavailable to CS students. (4) HIs tests are unreasonable to an absurd degree. He tests on variable names that are in example code that come as side downloads to his lectures. His use of variable names in such side code downloads is nonstandard. The amount of pedantic memorization he requires is excessive.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting a C
Anonymous
06/24/2014

Way too much work for a 4 credit 100 level class. Larry seems to forget that some of us are taking other classes. I am seriously not one to complain about work overload as I am usually pretty good at time management but good god this is another level of crazy.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
05/29/2014

Herman is possibly one of the worst computer science "instructors" at UMD. From day one, I came into the class not expecting much after reading most of the reviews on here and on Course Eval. Larry is one of the rudest people in the entire computer science department and always has a smug look of discontent on his face when he teaches in his monotone voice. His tests border on unfair. He gave our section a test in which the average was 15 points lower than the other sections yet he didn't curve it or even acknowledge it. He takes attendance by forcing students to sign a sheet which in the end did nothing, he punished students for asking questions which were on the "course information posted on ELMS," he talks about rules and guidelines for 20 minutes every class and then complains about not having enough time for questions. Overall, I would NOT recommend Herman and ask that you stay away, as far away from this man as possible if you want to do well in CMSC132.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
umdee
04/25/2014

Decent professor in terms of communicating the material. Most of the other reviews cover his unique style like the no electronics policy, taking attendance every lecture, and not letting students sit in the back. At first I hated his style, but later on I realized that the way he teaches drills the material into your head and forces you to pay attention. If you attend most of his lectures and sit in the front and pay attention, I guarantee you'll get an A. His exams were fairly straightforward, but the only thing I didn't like about them were the extremely specific details to which questions were asked. He would change one little obscure thing to see if you really knew your stuff. Annoying, but manageable. Overall, Herman is decent at teaching. Sure, he's not the best or most exciting professor out there, but he gets his job done provided you, the student, do your part.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

titan89
02/02/2014

There is a reason larry has the worst average gpa for this class. He is a very bad teacher and your best hope is to get a good TA. Dont take him if there is another option. His exams are impossible and the average for the final was a D. He will try to trick you or put long instructions, MAKE SURE YOU READ THEM CAREFULLY. Even if you miss one detail that could make you end up with a C. Avoid this guy at all costs. He is monotone as well. People who say he is good for 216, well he should teach that class then. To the guy above me. WHATS YOUR POINT? 1) All the professors in universities teach as much or more than herman does. There no excuse for him reading off slides the whole lecture and then testing on one concept he went over for 30 seconds. He cant teach period. 2) You got a B so you have no right to say his exams arent hard or tricky and people should have done better. Why dont you try taking a good professor who can actually teach like fawzi or nelson and then compare them with herman. 3) Again you got a B. Maybe you shouldnt be in CS by your own standards. Try taking a guy who is actually interested in teaching his/her students like fawzi and nelson.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
01/27/2014

Here are the points against him, and I'm going to give you reasons why those things are not true, or don't matter. 1) He is boring. Yeah, YOU try teaching 9 lectures a week and tell me if you can keep all of them interesting. What are you expecting? Entertainment? He's here to teach you and it's your responsibility to learn. He's nice and is always helpful in office hours. He moves deadlines if the class says they need more time. That more than makes up for class being "boring." 2) He tries to "trick" you on exams. They're not tricks if you know what you're doing. Do you think you'll get hired anywhere if you don't know what you're doing? 3) He makes you work "too hard" for an A. People who don't like Larry are either not good at working hard or don't want to. If you don't want to, you probably shouldn't be in CS. His exams are just difficult enough that you have to study the material and understand it on a deeper level, and that's not a crime. If you want to coast through classes, you probably shouldn't be in CS.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

installgentoo
02/12/2013

The short review is as follows: Larry Herman is good at teaching but terrible at conveying his expectations. You need to understand and memorize EVERYTHING he mentions, even in passing, to excel in the class, and you need to start on programming projects much sooner rather than later because they are deceptive when you first read the description. In detail: Mr. Herman is the best lecturer I have had in the past five semesters. In addition to knowing the course material, he is typically capable of conveying it to the class. His M.O. is to lecture using PowerPoint slides, asking the class if they understand before he discusses examples. MOST of these slides are posted on Blackboard a few days later, but they often have questions without answers on them. The examples that he presents in class are always basic illustrations of the topic at hand. He also maintains the class's interest when he talks about the more pedantic aspects of OOP by seamlessly working brief, amusing comments into his lectures. On the other hand, however, I must remark that the class is heavily geared toward audial instruction. That is, the "learn by doing" aspect of the class is lacking. I was disappointed that there was little middle ground when it came to the difficulty of assignments. While the worksheets in discussion were similar in difficulty to the lecture examples, projects were significantly time-consuming. Part of this may have been because while I personally learn best by reading the book/writing code, the text for the class only discusses data structures, and not other topics covered in the class (Out of five, only the second and third projects focused predominantly on creating data structures. The first was a review of CMSC131, the fourth was about graph traversal, and the fifth was about multithreading, I/O, and connecting to the Internet). Furthermore, tests were obnoxious, in the sense that perhaps 20% of each test dealt with trivia. In the case of the final, this took the form of, "Do you happen to remember this fact about Java that I mentioned offhand halfway through the semester, and that you probably never used when you were completing the projects?" The rest of each test was either writing code or tracing a program. The grading is stringent - I recall losing 8% on the second exam because I implemented (correctly) an O(n^2) algorithm instead of an O(n log(n)) algorithm. Basically, in most cases, it does not suffice in this class to get your program to compile and function correctly; you must also write it efficiently and know other ways you could have achieved the same functionality. All in all, Mr. Herman has been my second-favorite teacher at UMD (after Prof. James Schafer of the Math department), and a few, but not all, of my complaints about the class are not his fault. I was actually signed up for Mr. Emad's section of 132 at the beginning of the semester, but I switched out immediately after sitting in on one of Mr. Herman's lectures. Best decision so far of my college career. One final note: as you progress through the class, make a condensed version of your notes to serve as a rudimentary study guide for exams. It will be very helpful.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
09/21/2012

Fawzi is the best natural teacher I've ever seen in my life! If you go to the lectures you will learn the material. Period. He's also pretty entertaining and tries to keep things informal and low-key. If you see a few "mixed reviews" on sites like this, let me tell you why: Fawzi has a very low tolerance for students who are obnoxious during class. If you act like an ass during the lecture, he will shut you down! It's pretty funny to watch. So you'll find a few negative reviews from some of those people. But trust me, Fawzi is the best instructor you could possibly get. I'll take him for any course I can.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
08/30/2012

This guy is brisk, jovial, relaxed, and accessible. Most lectures are teeming with material, but he somehow makes it all digestible and light. Thing is, some of the topics (like data structures) won't stick to your mind in just one lecture; so you must re-read the slides, draw memory diagrams, and then explain them to yourself until you're comfortable enough. The projects are appropriate for the subject matter and most of them have their easy or advanced sections already implemented so you can focus only on the stuff you need practice on. Quizzes and exams are all easy as long as you go through the slides and maybe some of the example code. The discussion exercises are seldom helpful, but good for collaboration. I got an A+ and the class is my favorite (most informative) CS class yet.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/01/2012

He doesn't care about his students. Don't take his class. He knows his stuff, but expects his students to already know the content that he is there to teach about. Worst professor I've had at Maryland by far

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
02/20/2012

He is a great professor if you're smart. When I mean smart, I mean you know the material well, or pick it up while he's teaching. Everyday he comes to class he is disorganized but is a decent professor. He spends at least five mins per slide complaining about how the slides are wrong or not how he would have done it. The same with the coding examples you see on the CVS. He ASSUMES you remember almost everything from 131 but many friends of mine that tested or AP'ed (not sure how to say it) out of 131 have told me how much 132 sucks because he assumes you know more than you actually do. He is very meticulous with his grading and excessively strict. He is notorious for not curving the class so don't expect it. He curved for our first midterm (we had two) because the average was like a 65% percent. He told us that the exam was going to be easy, however many people didn't finish. He's not for the average b student because he caters to the smarter crowd. Try to talk to him in person and tell me he isn't an self absorbed asshole. He invites questions but will sometimes ignore simple questions he assumes we should already know. He is rude and even if the TA's agree with you that one of his exam questions are unfair he will debate it to no end until you give up and realize it's impossible to convince him otherwise. Don't get me wrong, he's not a bad professor and I would even recommend taking him as a professor. I just think he's an asshole. Remember, he caters to the smart.He's a decent, but not the best, professor. The only reason I had an 85% was cause I know how to program decently even though I failed one exam. He's good in the sense that he expects alot from you and in turn you work harder because he doesn't curve. He's tough but not horrible.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
01/22/2012

I enjoyed this class a lot from the academic perspective. I have seen him cut students short as is being argued below, but he needs to do so to teach all of the material, and when he does realize he had not heard someone's idea or question through that he should have, he will immediately apologize. He is confident but he does not devalue his student's ideas. In fact he encourages it, and I am confused by comments to the contrary. I may be biased since I had few difficulties understanding the actual material; however, I am new to programming, and did do a lot of work outside the class to keep my grade up and be able to ask suitable questions. Some students asked questions that they should ask during office hours. I have taken advantage of this in the past and he is very thorough at explaining things as long as other students' time is not being completely wasted.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A
CompSciGuy
01/16/2012

Fawzi rocks! The reviews by the angry student below do not represent my views at all. Fawzi's lectures are thorough and clear, his exams are fair, and he has a great sense of humor. I actually looked forward to going to his lectures! In office hours he isn't going to debug your code for you, but he'll give you enough hints to get you going if you're stuck. I thought his exam reviews were extremely helpful -- he went over everything that we asked him to in great detail. The exams looked exactly like what he had prepared us for. He really seems to care about teaching and I'll take any class with him that I can.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a D
Anonymous
12/17/2011

The guy is awful and you are not a great programmer. Everyone who has not gone to his office, loves him. Everyone who has seen him personally, thinks he is a world class douche. I will admit, I am spiteful now because he gave me a D for being less than a point away from a 70 (did bad on the final, was doing well until I took it). I asked him for something, anything to make up the small difference and not screw me for the next year, but he said it wasn't his problem and that was all. If you are a natural programmer, take him. If you need someone who is kind and willing to be nice behind the scenes as well, take ANYONE else. I have found Golub, Nadua-Perez, Plane,much more approachable. Fawzi really is a jerk if you are a guy who is a below average programmer.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A
bdepalo
12/16/2011

Fawzi was a great professor. He explained all the course material in a way that was easy to understand and retain. I took AP Comp Sci in high school and had no problem in this class. Those who dislike Fawzi must have either skipped class often or are not cut out to be Computer Scientists.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Anonymous
12/04/2011

Insufferable prick.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
11/28/2011

Fawzi Emad is a good professor in the things that he does. However, he is not willing to adapt his style for students who do not learn from his particular style of teaching. He expects you to come to every class, and will tell you what to expect on exams and such only in class (he also teaches using slides). This is not unreasonable; however, for people who learn best by doing and have a hard time following lectures, this can be a problem. On the first midterm, there was a big portion of the grade that was not tested via a project beforehand which can be very problematic for kinesthetic learners. He also does not offer review problems, or even a sheet listing things to study. However, it should be noted that if you attend class, keep track of the general topics discussed, and take very brief notes, then go back and study slides before the exam, you can do very well. You MUST do these things to succeed, because Fawzi will often test on things that he mentioned once in class that are just historical facts and you won't find in the materials. Also, pay attention to what appears on quizzes, because it is likely to reappear on exams. Basically, I would say that if you know yourself to be a kinesthetic learner, avoid his class because it will be a struggle to go by his style of teaching, but it is possible to do well with some work outside your normal way of learning.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Anonymous
09/14/2011

Fawzi is an excellent professor. Explains the material really nicely and keeps the lectures interesting. Definitely disagree with the idea of him not caring about his students. He takes time to answer all questions in class and is very thorough in doing so. The idea of him not caring about his students is quite far from what it seems like in my class at least.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
09/12/2011

I also disagree with the person two/three posts below... I had Fawzi for both 131 and 132. I can assure you that he always went out of his way to help us learn the material. His classes are actually FUN and he is always upbeat and energetic.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
fma1
08/23/2011

I took CMSC132 during the summer and I say he's not a bad professor. Lecture material was kind of boring to me as a lot I already knew, but Nelson tried to connect it to real life examples. The two things I didn't like were that he would make jokes time to time and he would pay too much attention to me. I got 100% on his pop quiz, so I was actually paying attention. I understand why he makes jokes, but I didn't come to class to listen to jokes. I came to learn about OOP. So whenever he did that, I would study something else.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Anonymous
05/24/2011

Lectures: In most of his classes, he starts out by talking about something in his life (or ends up talking about it), which is fine - if I weren't paying for classes! It takes up time, and sometimes he doesn't go over as much as he wanted. He absolutely hates if someone's using a laptop or phone in class, which is understandable...but he sounds like a douchebag when he asks someone to put it away. He usually goes over his slides by reading them, and not really adding to them. If he does add to them, write it down, cause his quizzes and tests are nitpicky. He rarely writes on the board, and if he does, make sure you're in the front, cause he writes small ! Quizzes: I don't think he writes his own quizzes. The set up of the worksheets usually have nothing to do with the quizzes. Don't focus on what the worksheets are on, cause most likely, it's not gonna be on the quiz. There were only 2 times where the class knew what the quizzes were on. He doesn't even really give the TAs a heads up on anything, so the TAs are clueless until the day of the quizzes. Also, most of the time, the average on the quizzes are around 20-25 points out of 40, so don't give up... Homework & Projects: Don't ever ever turn anything in the night it's due. If the server goes down, he may or may not give an extension. Try to get all the points on the Homework, cause that will help your grade. Even though you only need to get HALF of your tests working on the projects, try to get 60-70%, cause his TAs might rule out some of the public tests that you *thought* you passed. Plus, going above the minimum means you'll probably be above the curve. Try to get some secret tests done, too....cause some people don't do those, and that's about 30 points. TA: Try not to get Gleneesha, cause she'll just point on the board at code and expect you to understand what it does. She doesn't really explain anything, and if she does, it's not thorough. It makes me think she doesn't know anything. Granted, I heard all TAs sucked, especially for CS, but it'd be nice to have someone who DIDN'T have to Google some answers in front of you... Books: Don't bother buying them. I bought them halfway through the semester thinking they'll help, but I have yet to actually use them. Half the class didn't buy any, and they're doing fine. He also asked the class (of those who bought them) if they were useful, and everyone said no. Don't bother.

Fawzi Emad
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/14/2011

Okay. I had this guy for 131 and 132. He's probably one of the better teachers in the department. He's a decent teacher. Not incredible. He is good at conveying the information, and you will learn the material pretty well. However, there are a few majors problems. First off, I don't think he cares much about his students. He is really into himself, and if you get in his way he will stomp you into the ground. Yes, he will teach you what you need to know, but he makes it fairly obvious that he doesn't care much about the students, but more about the fact that his boss wants him to teach in a certain way. Everything usually needs to go the way that he wants it, otherwise he will get angry. A big problem with his grading and tests is that he stresses trivial stupid points that don't have much to do with the class. Some of the tests will have not much concepts, but some stupid esoteric stuff about Java that does not really matter. Another big problem was that he used lecture slides made by the department that he didn't like. He was always commenting on how the slides were wrong and stupid. Well, if he didn't like them, then he should make his own. He's a little bit rude as well when it comes to dealing with students, and helps very little with actual exam preparation in the weeks before the final. Overall, 131 and 132 aren't too bad. The projects take some time, but if you work hard you can get an A. You should probably take this guy over some of the other 131/2 professors, but you should know what to expect. He just isn't as great as everyone says he is. By the way, I'm not one of those students who happened to have a bad encounter with Fawzi or anything. I did fine in the class and didn't have any personal issues with him. I'm just telling you what you need to know about this guy.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
awesomeblosom
02/21/2011

I'd taken this class before in high school, so I was decently well off. If I hadn't taken the class before, it wouldn't have gone so well. Herman is a very dry teacher, who doesn't teach very well. He knows his stuff, he just doesn't know how to convey it very well. I'd advise against taking him for higher level classes. Book is not neccessary, just look things up on the internet.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting a D
Anonymous
01/26/2011

Larry Herman is THE WORST Comp. Sci. teacher I have ever had. Please stay away from him, and avoid him at all costs. He has a very monotone voice and he will put you to sleep no matter what. He is a very cocky professor and expects the worst from students. He would always expect students to answer his questions wrong, but they would say the right answer so then he would reword the question so no one would understand it. He always emphasized that the Honors class did way better than us, but the fact is that they did better because he was not teaching the Honors section. Quizzes averaged around the 50-60% in our class, and it was solely because he does not explain concepts well. If you have no choice but to take the class with him, expect a lot of self-teaching and expect a lot of stress. He assigns projects that are always half-assed and is always revising them up to the last second. He says "Umm...um...um..." a lot, and he makes awkward comments to girls. Overall, he is a very awkward person and he seems to be the only uninteresting Comp. Sci. professor. Quizzes are easy if you learn everything by yourself. Exams are graded in a strict manner so it is really hard to get a decent grade on the exams (1 midterm, and the final). Besides wasting time trying to figure out how the projection boards work, he goes off in tangents. Most of the class stopped attending his lectures, so he started taking attendance. So people went to the lectures just to sign the attendance sheet. He will call you out if you have your laptop out, if you are sitting in the very back, if you come to class late, or if you leave early. He is extremely annoying and rarely sympathizes with you (except if you are a girl).

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/17/2011

Herman is a good lecturer. I had taken AP Comp Sci AB and gotten a 5 coming into this class, so I knew a decent amount of the material beforehand. His lectures are generally well done and he knows what he is talking about. He has some weird habits though. Whenever something goes wrong he will always make up like 100 excuses as to why it's not his fault. He's kind of pompous, but class was pretty enjoyable. The quizzes were pretty easy imo, but the class averages were always terrible (25-30). Look over the past couple lecture slides before the quiz!!! The midterm and final were both very fair. Homework & Projects: Do NOT wait until the night before it's due to start. Seriously, don't. The projects and homework are all doable, but they will take serious effort on your part. You will get stuck, you will have to redesign code, you will have to use the debugger, and you will have to read all the specifications beforehand. That being said, it is possible to do well on all the projects. I got 100% on all the public tests for projects. I can't comment on how the office hours works, I never had to go to them. TA: Gleneesha was a pretty terrible TA imo. I went to most of the discussion sections, but I only learned a couple things from them. The worksheets that they give you in discussion are useless, I would just use the time to study notes and work on projects. Books: Overpriced and not needed. The internet is the only resource you need. Overall: I thought the class was pretty good. Herman has gotten some pretty awful reviews but I think a lot of them are frustrated students who didn't put enough effort in the class.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

sallen429
01/13/2011

Boring... Pedantic... Out of touch with students... Laurence is a crap CS teacher and avoid him if possible. He turned me off to the field of compsci and after his class I changed my major.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Anonymous
12/19/2010

Larry is easily one of the most boring professors the CS department has to offer. While some professors' tangents can be a nice break and funny...Larry's are not funny. He teaches in a way that, I think, is very hard to understand--and Java is already a very abstract concept. With less examples, and more powerpoint slides, you're almost on your own. If you end up with a crap TA...good luck.

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/17/2010

So larry is NOT a bad guy at all and he is sometimes very funny in class with his jokes during lecture, but beware if you have him prepare for lots and lots of stress. The beginning of this course proved to be very easy because before the midterm exam (end of october) all we had were 2 quizzes, 1 homework, and 1 project. Note that the grading system is sooooooo stupid that if you make a mistake that doesnt even make an impact on your work, you WILL lose alot of points. So be careful and read the directions because even if you show that you understand the problem and explain it very well, you will lose full credit if you dont follow the exact directions. That is what happened to me, i lost 2 letter grades on a quiz on something that stupid even though i clearly understood the problem. After the midterm he just threw everything at us at once, all the hws, projs, and quizzes giving us barely anytime, he had to give a hw and a prog at the same time over thanksgiving because he had to fit it all before the semester is over! I had no problem with this because i knew the material already but for those who dont know the material, your pretty much screwed. Also office hrs are always packed so go early if you need help. I took ap programming in high school and i understood every single topic in the class but yet i still couldnt get an A+. The reason is because of the grading again. It is just terrible and he is very slow at getting your work back. It is december 17 and only 40% of our grades have been posted. We still havent gotten back our proj 2,3,4 and hw 2,3 back yet which is the majority of our grade. Plus the TAs do not know what they are doing. Most of the time i think im smarter than them. If you want an A or even a B you must know the topic before you take the class, or else you are pretty much screwed. I had to go into office hours many times to correct some stuff they weren't clear on. One of the secret test was written wrong for project one and i had to argue it too and i still dont know if he changed it because he hasnt updated the grades yet. All programmers know that when comparing objects you either return a negative or postive number or zero. On the stupid secret test they wrote it so that it checked to see if you did -1,1 and 0. That is wrong and i had to tell Mr. Herman. Plus the submit server doesn't work all the time so turn in your projects early. The problem with not getting our many projs and hws back is the fact that we cant go in to see Mr. Herman to see what we did wrong cuz the semester is over!! so if i find out that they graded something wrong (which is very likely) contacting and arguing will prove to be so much pain. So over all this class will be easy yet stressful for those who know the subject and a horrible nightmare for those who dont know it well. So good luck to those taking this class!! You're going to need it haha

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Anonymous
12/01/2010

While it is obvious that Larry Herman knows his stuff, classes weren't all that interesting and sometimes dragged on. His examples seem almost insulting - I think he would be able to get his points across quicker if he explained concepts using graphs and diagrams rather than drawing reluctant volunteers to the front to do something for him. He isn't a terrible person, not at all, but I also wish he would answer simple questions (such as small questions about the syllabus) via email. But I think he has the right to ask that project-related questions are asked during office hours, since it takes a while to sit down with someone and debug a program. My biggest problem with him though is that he started giving the projects late, meaning that we're getting one less project than the syllabus indicated and having back to back projects. And he takes forever to put up the lecture slides! I think it'd be better to put the slides up BEFORE the lecture and then editing them after! It would make it much easier for everyone.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/21/2010

Nelson is a great teacher. He's very upbeat and likes to tell lots of really geeky jokes during class. He'll know if you're not paying attention and he'll call you out on it, but it's not a big deal. The class is certainly not an easy one. Make sure you have plenty of time to do the projects. Nelson is very accessible and always there to help.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Anonymous
05/20/2010

Funny teacher whose ppt lectures are relatively more interesting. Just do not expect him to help you with any personal programming issues. Easy A. Point questions toward TA. Sometimes does not show up to classes for unknown reasons. Does not do anything he doesn't get paid for, I guess. If you have questions just be sure to ask during class so that he will actually give you an answer.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Anonymous
05/13/2010

Terrible professor. If you have a backround in programming you will be fine. But if you are taking the class because you are forced to take a programming class and are not a CMSC major and do not spead time programming "just for fun" you will be lost. And he is not helpful. Most of my conversations with him were as follows; I dont understand this.... Well, we went over that in class. Yes I remember, but I didnt understand it in class either. And I still dont understand it. Well why dont you understand it? I went over it in class. I know, but I dont understand it. OVER AND OVER AND OVER

Larry Herman
CMSC132

Anonymous
04/28/2010

Herman did not make the class enjoyable whatsoever! I slept every single class until I discovered the Diamondback crossword puzzle. He needs to show more enthusiasm and be able to effectively teach the class. Also, he wasted a lot of time pulling teeth for random questions directed at the class. There was only one person in my class who actually was able to keep his eyes awake long enough to pay attention. And that guy just happens to be the biggest computer geek I've ever seen. He literally had the projects done two days after they were released. Everyone else just quietly and miserably failed.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/03/2009

He likes to joke around a lot in class and its pretty funny at first but really gets old and annoying after about the first week. When asked a question in class, he'll most likely respond "come to my office hours" or "go to the TA office hours". Then when you go to his office hours, he gets irritated and tells you that he already went over it in class. He always emphasizes the fact that he cares about his students and wants to see them successful in class. I really question that... Best advice I can give you for this class is to start the homeworks and projects early and do take advantage of the TA office hours. They help out a lot. Also he posts practice quizzes and exams which are pretty good study material for the real thing. Oh yea, and never go to his office hours asking about a project that is due soon. I went to ask a question about a project three days prior to the due date about a question the TA's couldn't even answer. He spent 10 minutes lecturing me about how "successful programmers" start projects early so that they aren't cramming to do it at the end. Then he told me to go to TA office hours... Overall not a hard class but don't expect too much out of Nelson.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Anonymous
11/24/2008

the only reason im giving nelson any stars at all is because he explains concepts pretty well during class. other than that, if you have to take 132 this semester, take it with fawzi. nelson wastes A LOT of time saying jokes that have NOTHING to do with class. he may seem funny at first, but when you really need help and he doesn't answer your question, it's not funny anymore. when people ask him questions, he either says "ask the TA", "we already went over that", or "come to my office hours". ive gone to his office hours and he just sends me back to the TAs. he also is not considerate of our time. he gave a project AND homework at the same time (homeworks are like mini projects). i also agree with the person below me about EVERYTHING they mentioned.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Anonymous
11/19/2008

i lot of people liked him. but to me he was very annoying and got on my nerves. he tries too hard to be funny, and most of the time isn't funny at all. he also says he does not care if u don't pay attention in class as long as you don't disrupt the class. but he himself disrupts the class every 5 min to yell/joke at some kid for not paying attention when the student wasn't even disrupting the class

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Expecting an A
pluralfacade
05/17/2008

Awesome guy. I've had better teachers, but Nelson keeps class interesting with his jokes, and the way he ran his class really helped me to get a solid grip on the material.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/12/2008

I took him a few years back, he is pretty good at teaching, but goes overboard with the jokes every now and then to a point where you feel kind of embarrassed and annoyed. Some days he is on the money with his comedy show, but some days I really felt like telling him to stfu. The only other complaint was that he rushed the end of the semester pretty hard, so make sure you stay on top of the material. During the last week he made us memorize details for dozens of design patterns which were all on the final.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/16/2007

Quite simply, Nelson is among the best professors UMD has to offer. His class is immensely interesting, he is very funny, and he is a fair grader. The work isn't very hard, but if it is, he is very helpful. No complaints.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Expecting an A
unitar
12/04/2007

I actually took class with Nelson in Fall 2006, but felt that he was such a good teacher he deserved a review now that this site is up. Nelson is an excellent teacher that keeps his students laughing, which keeps the material interesting. Take every class he teaches!

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Anonymous
11/15/2007

Nelson is a good teacher. Like everyone has said he tells jokes during class to keep the boring subject material interesting. He also does a good job explaining the projects. I got an A in his class.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC132

Anonymous
11/06/2007

I took 132 with Nelson a few semesters ago, but I did want to mention that he is a great teacher. He keeps class interesting, always cracking jokes and telling stories. My only complaint is that sometimes I was in the mood to just learn what I needed to and leave, and sometimes the jokes were a little too much. Other than that, I learned a lot and had a bit of fun, too. Got an A in his class.

Reviews for CMSC132