CMSC133 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Nora Burkhauser CMSC133 Expecting an A- Anonymous 01/23/2025	She's a nice professor but has no idea what she is talking about. Hopefully she'll get better as she gains more experience as this was her first semester teaching. Her midterms and final had averages of around 80-85% (except midterm #3 which had an average of around 95%). She barely assigned anything for the first 2/3 of the semester and then the last couple weeks we had multiple things due each week. Couldn't really ask her any questions because it was obvious she was reading from another professor's slides and didn't really know what any of the stuff meant. Made stupid mistakes during class and thought she was funny. She was also a high school teacher before this (specifically for AP CS) and I'm not sure she knows how to teach a college class properly
Nora Burkhauser CMSC133 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/21/2024	Nice professor, but lectures and discussions are very disorganized. The content covered in class jumps from topic to topic and can often differ between lecture and discussion. The content on the midterms and final were generally manageable, but very different than content and practice material given in class. Projects are easy, but often have nothing to do with content covered in class. I felt like I came out of the course with more questions than answers.
Nora Burkhauser CMSC133 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/19/2024	She's a nice person, but not a great lecturer, so her lectures are super skippable. Only take her if you're already comfortable with the material beforehand/from high school. Otherwise, take another prof for ur sake
Nora Burkhauser CMSC133 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/12/2024	I think the students know what they're doing more than she does. She makes a ton of mistakes in lectures and cannot answer questions half of the time (probably more) so going to lectures was a waste of time. Also, her exam review content can be wildly different from the actual exam. Sometimes I feel like I overprepared since the exam only involved a few topics that we learned. While projects are easy, they are not assigned consistently; this semester, we only did 4 out of 7 planned projects. If you only care about grades and have some solid Java knowledge going in, taking Nora for 133 isn't the worst, but please try to take literally anyone else if you can. Nora, if you're reading this, please take all the criticism to mind and improve your ways of teaching, for my sanity and the sanity of future students.
Nora Burkhauser CMSC133 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/05/2024	Class is very straightforward. There are 4 quizzes, 3 midterms, 4 projects, and a final. The class is fair if you take advantage of the office hours.
Nora Burkhauser CMSC133 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/05/2024	Class is super straightforward and easy. Her lectures are boring but slides are posted online after lectures without fail. The slides that are posted are very clear and explain the topics thoroughly. Only 4 quizzes, lowest 2 are dropped, 2 were online. 4 exams, first one is a little tough but the rest of them are super straightforward and easy, only 1 or 2 questions might trip you up (multiple choice). Overall great experience, definitely recommend taking this class with her.
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC133 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/02/2024	Had 133 with Nelson. 133 is basically the same as 131 but with a smaller class (around 20 people) which was helpful for questions. At the beginning of the semester you start somewhat ahead (skip intro stuff like what classes, fields, methods are), and you may be one project ahead than 131, but in the end you take the same exams. We took the same exact exams, in the same exam rooms as 131 with all the other 131 students but they just direct you to hand your exam to a specific TA at the end. Worth it to take 133 just for the smaller class size, definitely take it if you got a 4 on AP CS A
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC133 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/15/2023	This class is basically cmsc131 but you just meet less. I don't think it was a particularly easy course but I would say it was fair. As an average student, I did have to spend some time in office hours. Do not start the projects late. Nelson was a really kind and helpful professor for this and even extended some deadlines for us when we requested him to do so. Overall, you should be ok if you put in effort in this class
Nelson Padua-Perez CMSC133 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/20/2022	Fair course, faster paced 131

Nora Burkhauser
CMSC133

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
01/23/2025

She's a nice professor but has no idea what she is talking about. Hopefully she'll get better as she gains more experience as this was her first semester teaching. Her midterms and final had averages of around 80-85% (except midterm #3 which had an average of around 95%). She barely assigned anything for the first 2/3 of the semester and then the last couple weeks we had multiple things due each week. Couldn't really ask her any questions because it was obvious she was reading from another professor's slides and didn't really know what any of the stuff meant. Made stupid mistakes during class and thought she was funny. She was also a high school teacher before this (specifically for AP CS) and I'm not sure she knows how to teach a college class properly

Nora Burkhauser
CMSC133

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/21/2024

Nice professor, but lectures and discussions are very disorganized. The content covered in class jumps from topic to topic and can often differ between lecture and discussion. The content on the midterms and final were generally manageable, but very different than content and practice material given in class. Projects are easy, but often have nothing to do with content covered in class. I felt like I came out of the course with more questions than answers.

Nora Burkhauser
CMSC133

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/19/2024

She's a nice person, but not a great lecturer, so her lectures are super skippable. Only take her if you're already comfortable with the material beforehand/from high school. Otherwise, take another prof for ur sake

Nora Burkhauser
CMSC133

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/12/2024

I think the students know what they're doing more than she does. She makes a ton of mistakes in lectures and cannot answer questions half of the time (probably more) so going to lectures was a waste of time. Also, her exam review content can be wildly different from the actual exam. Sometimes I feel like I overprepared since the exam only involved a few topics that we learned. While projects are easy, they are not assigned consistently; this semester, we only did 4 out of 7 planned projects. If you only care about grades and have some solid Java knowledge going in, taking Nora for 133 isn't the worst, but please try to take literally anyone else if you can. Nora, if you're reading this, please take all the criticism to mind and improve your ways of teaching, for my sanity and the sanity of future students.

Nora Burkhauser
CMSC133

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/05/2024

Class is very straightforward. There are 4 quizzes, 3 midterms, 4 projects, and a final. The class is fair if you take advantage of the office hours.

Nora Burkhauser
CMSC133

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/05/2024

Class is super straightforward and easy. Her lectures are boring but slides are posted online after lectures without fail. The slides that are posted are very clear and explain the topics thoroughly. Only 4 quizzes, lowest 2 are dropped, 2 were online. 4 exams, first one is a little tough but the rest of them are super straightforward and easy, only 1 or 2 questions might trip you up (multiple choice). Overall great experience, definitely recommend taking this class with her.

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC133

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/02/2024

Had 133 with Nelson. 133 is basically the same as 131 but with a smaller class (around 20 people) which was helpful for questions. At the beginning of the semester you start somewhat ahead (skip intro stuff like what classes, fields, methods are), and you may be one project ahead than 131, but in the end you take the same exams. We took the same exact exams, in the same exam rooms as 131 with all the other 131 students but they just direct you to hand your exam to a specific TA at the end. Worth it to take 133 just for the smaller class size, definitely take it if you got a 4 on AP CS A

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC133

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/15/2023

This class is basically cmsc131 but you just meet less. I don't think it was a particularly easy course but I would say it was fair. As an average student, I did have to spend some time in office hours. Do not start the projects late. Nelson was a really kind and helpful professor for this and even extended some deadlines for us when we requested him to do so. Overall, you should be ok if you put in effort in this class

Nelson Padua-Perez
CMSC133

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/20/2022

Fair course, faster paced 131

Reviews for CMSC133