Reviews for ENAE311

Information Review
Christopher Cadou
ENAE311

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/27/2023
There's plenty I could talk about when it comes to taking a class with Cadou, but I'll try to keep it to the main points. First off, the classes he teaches are extremely difficult to begin with. I took ENAE311 with him which has a 2.6ish average GPA over all professors. This class is not one you can just go to lecture and expect to pass, no matter the professor. So I think him teaching hard classes gives him a tough starting point on ratings. With that being said, there are certainly many elements of his teaching that do not work well. The most obvious one is his exams and grading. He takes an eternity to grade exams. Our first exam took over a month to get back and just so happened to be released the day after the drop deadline. The final exam took him 3 weeks as well and we didn't get final grades back until after Christmas. His exam grades are generally low. My semester the averages were: Exam 1 - 62% : Exam 2 - 58% : Final - 67%. He gives weekly quizzes which are a nice grade boost but are poorly written at times. In terms of his lectures, he focuses a lot of time on the derivations of equations, writing derivations that take multiple pages. He'll spend like 15 minutes doing a derivation when you really only need to know the final equation. He said multiple times in class that derivations can be on the exam, but I never saw any in my semester. Overall, his class is really about how much effort you put in. I got a 71% on the first exam and then grinded like crazy for the next two exams and pulled out an A in the class. If you're willing to work for it an A or B in his class is very reachable as he curved the class 9% for me.
Christopher Cadou
ENAE311

Expecting a C-
Anonymous
12/26/2023
Cadou is a very nice man, but unfortunately a nice guy does not a good teacher make. He chose to spend the lectures deriving the complex formulas and neglected to provide many examples of test questions. The optional homework assignments were nothing like the exams, and the exams themselves felt unfair in difficulty, and even included material that was exclusive to the supplemental texts. I'd avoid this guy.
Benjamin Silbaugh
ENAE311

Expecting a C-
Anonymous
12/21/2023
Man is a hypocrite. Shows up late to class 5-15 minutes everyday and I can’t even get a ONE DAY extension for homework because I should “learn time management.” First few weeks seemed okay and then I didn’t know what was going on. I am also switching majors because of this guy. The only good thing about him is that he is mostly helpful with homework during office hours. If that’s all you need, and you can get the homework done on time, then he is just ok.
Christopher Cadou
ENAE311

Expecting a C+
Anonymous
12/13/2023
Dr. Cadou is one of the least considerate professors I have ever had. He released grades to Midterm I hours after the drop deadline and released grades to Midterm II less than a day before the Final. The averages on both exams were very low and he has given no indication of a curve. He blames students for not understanding things, even when not a single student did a question right. Maybe it is the fault of the professor when nobody does something right? Apart from terrible timeliness, his lectures are only mildly helpful. He chooses to use 90% of the lecture for derivations and then has to rush through the 10% of the lecture that is important. Take anyone else before taking Cadou.
Christopher Cadou
ENAE311

Expecting a C+
Anonymous
11/30/2023
One of the worst professors I have ever had. He drones on about derivations in lectures, rarely covers examples and glosses over concepts, provides "optional homework" and quizzes which will almost certainly be pushed to the back of the priority list considering the other classes you will likely be taking concurrently. These homeworks are also a poor way to prep for exams, as his exam problems are FAR more difficult and long than homework problems. He takes far too long to grade (first midterm released AFTER drop deadline), and his opportunities to earn anything back are extremely punishing. Do not take any class with Cadou. He does not deserve your time and effort.
Benjamin Silbaugh
ENAE311

Anonymous
08/30/2023
He's a generally newer professor, but already he really seems like he wants his students to succeed. He tries to teach as much as he can, with exams generally matching what we saw on the homework. There were reviews right before each test which were also nice. However, while he does a good job with teaching a class, he really struggles on organization. He tends to lose track of himself when writing on the board, getting lost within his own notes. He's also really bad with getting grades posted on time; 4/8 of all our HW grades for the semester weren't revealed until after the final. The final wasn't released until two weeks later! Silbaugh's doing the best he can, but there's a lot he needs to work on.
Benjamin Silbaugh
ENAE311

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
08/05/2023
Awesome professor! He seems really passionate about teaching and cares about his students. Yeah, he pushes you to get stuff done on time, but he doesn't "shame" you if have a good reason for being late.
Benjamin Silbaugh
ENAE311

Expecting a C
Anonymous
06/19/2023
Instructor really sucks! Came to class 5 min late every single darn lecture! Takes an ETERNITY to grade hw! Posted our final grades a week after they were due! And then shames us if we ask for an extension bc “we should manage our time better.” 🙄🙄🙄
Ashish Nedungadi
ENAE311

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/23/2023
Dr. Nedungadi is a very good professor and really cares about his students. He is very helpful during the lecture and off-class hours if you have questions. Honestly, there is nothing bad to say about him. Sometimes he will repeat the same things multiple times but maybe it is his way to make sure everyone understand the material.
Christopher Cadou
ENAE311

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
12/24/2021
Cadou is a very busy professor and tends to get caught up in other responsibilities. Do not expect your grades back to you in a timely fashion as they tend to take weeks to grade. While his lectures are very thought out, they tend to be theory based and really does not cover examples in class. For exams, he recommends you study the homework questions however these tend to be far easier than the exams. Do not try and blow this class over, as you will need to teach yourselves a lot of the concepts in order to pass.
Christopher Cadou
ENAE311

Anonymous
12/17/2020
Cadou is an okay teacher, but he definitely has a lot of other commitments which shows through his grading timeline/resources provided. His lectures are fine to follow, but good luck if you're just looking at the pdf because his handwriting is pretty hard to read without him talking along side it. It took him over a month to grade our first exam and we finally received grades after the withdrawal date. The average ended up being in the 30s, so this was very concerning for class. That being sad, he did allow us to retake the exam (had the weekend after we took it to turn it in) which helped to boost the average. I think he took feedback from the first exam EXTREMELY well when writing the second exam. It was much more manageable time-wise & point distribution was more even across questions (45 pt question on the first exam that most people failed). Since the withdrawal date had been pushed back this semester, he promised to have exam 2 and other assignments in by that date (which was less than a week over Thanksgiving Break) and he fulfilled that promise. All in all I think he's a pretty decent professor and does really care about his students. I think he can just be a little oblivious to flaws in how the course is managed. If you put in the work the class really isn't a problem class.
Christopher Cadou
ENAE311

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/02/2018
Cadou's lectures are hard to follow because he spends a lot of time deriving complicated formulas rather than doing any actual examples. The homework assignments for this class were very time consuming and difficult. A few times I compared my homework assignments to the ones for the H section. The were almost the same, but ours had additional problems that added a lot of difficulty. The regular section should not have had HW harder than the H section. The exams were pretty easy and made up for the difficult homework. As long as you know which formulas to use, they're not hard. Some of the problems on the midterm were exactly the same as the weekly review problems. Cadou grades by giving the person with a the highest grade in the class a 100% and adds that percentage to everyone else's grade. I had an 89% after the final and ended up with an A.
Pino Martin
ENAE311

Expecting a B+
Molasses
01/09/2015
Pino is a very odd teacher. She gets nervous easily and makes mistakes (fundamental mistakes, like the writing down an equation that implies the total opposite of physical laws). As such, it can be difficult to trust your notes. She doesn't show up to tests, frequently misses class, and 8AM office hours. Her Exam problems are worded in the most confusing way. Our TA had to call her multiple times to figure out what her questions were asking. All in all it doesn't seem like she enjoys teaching and the amount of effort she puts into her class reflects that. Maybe she is more interested in higher level courses but her inability to teach easy material of ENAE311 is upsetting. Just read the book, its better explained than anything she lectures.