Reviews for ENCE201

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Peter Chang ENCE201 Expecting a B- Anonymous 06/27/2023	Chang fully expects you to dedicate as much time as possible to learning the content from the textbook before class. He treats his class like office hours, where the only thing he's good for is answering questions. He doesn't try to flesh out concepts; he'll do one example and ask, "do you get it?" and then not even wait 2 seconds to continue. He lectures more about incompetence than actual Matlab. People are scared to ask questions for fear of his condescending comments. He lacks empathy and thinks negative reinforcement is what will make people succeed (think tiger parent vibes). Advice: try not to care too much about what he says/thinks of you and ask as many questions as you need, even if they're simple or stupid. He will make you feel like the stupidest person on Earth, but if you see him as "I just need to do his exams then dip," you'll save your self-esteem. Get tutoring!
Peter Chang ENCE201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 10/06/2022	Dr. Chang gets a really bad wrap, and I think a lot of this stems from the fact that the course content of 201 is very difficult to grasp right off the bat (which students then blame on his teaching). Personally, I think that Chang does a great job of providing students will all the resources that they need to pass the class. His exam grading was very fair, his homeworks were graded for completion to encourage you to actually learn the content instead of stressing about grades, the textbook he recommended for the course was fairly useful when you needed extra help, and the notesheets that he made were incredibly useful. The content he taught and the content he assigned in homework and projects was very relevant to what we saw on exams, so if you put in the work to study it, you could do well. He was also very approachable in office hours, and incredibly accommodating. I once showed up 1 hour late to a 1 hour long exam retake session due to traffic troubles, and he still let me take the exam and was willing to sit with me for as much time as I needed (though it should be noted that I gave him advanced notice that I had an appointment scheduled prior to the retake that was an hour away). Though thus far this has been a rather glowing review, I'm not going to sugarcoat the course. ENCE201 will wipe the floor with you if you do not put in a ton of work. You need to really try on the homeworks and talk to him about any questions you have, make sure to write down any code that he write in class (!!!!!!) because you will likely see something similar on the exams, go to every class, and make full use of the notesheets that he makes for each chapter. Practicing old exams is also very useful for this class, but pay close attention to/ask him about the topics that he says will be on the exam because what he says is what you will see. Also, he can be rather negligent about checking his email, so the best way to contact him is to talk to him after class or during office hours.
Peter Chang ENCE201 Expecting a C Anonymous 07/19/2021	Hands down the worst professor in the entire civil engineering department. The class is already difficult enough, but he makes it a million times worse. As another review mentions, he is extremely unapproachable and condescending. He is very difficult to work with as he is skilled in making any student feel like their questions are extremely dumb within the first 60 seconds that you are speaking with him. He is rude and I would highly suggest going with any other teacher if given the opportunity because he will ruin your semester.
Peter Chang ENCE201 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/11/2016	This is my second semester taking Chang and I am enjoying it. I took ENES220 last semester, and did not go to lecture because the textbook (which everyone must buy access due to pass the class across all professors) was helpful and I did the homeworks with the TF's in Keystone. He posted the solutions for the homeworks which was helpful for the test, but I'm not sure he still does that - so just ask him to if you're in his class. In my class now he posts the answers to the homeworks after they are due, and the answers to optional problems only a few times (I think people specially requested them). Anyway, somehow the classes are both about 20% A's (so far in my current class, ENCE201), which is surprising to me because he curves and this semester gives a lot of partial credit. I really appreciated not having to go to lecture last semester, but this semester he gives in class assignments worth 10% of the grade, so make sure you know which policy he's going to go by with you. In both classes I've been doing well by reading the book. He teaches from it and posts his notes online which is nice, but not necessary. I've heard mixed reviews about going to his office hours (go prepared), but I have not been, because I go to the TA when I need to. Also, when he makes a mistake and somebody catches him or he catches himself, he has this laugh that always makes me smile. He can be a little rough sometimes, and definitely tries to intimidate people to drop his class at the beginning of the semester by giving in class quizzes/assignments. Right before one of them he said "Do you get it? Because you're gonna need to know it. For the quiz! That I'm going to give you! Today!" The whole class was rolling.
Charles Schwartz ENCE201 Expecting an A- jcampb14 12/22/2015	Schwartz is a super busy person and doesn't really have time to teach the class, let alone help with assignments or anything. He didn't have any regular office hours. The grader became a person that would have to help with the teaching. She wasn't very helpful. This class I really felt on my own unless you could catch schwartz by email or appointment. Definitely don't wait until the last minute for any of the assignments. I really liked the fact that it was a lot online. It was easy to reference and work through more problems that way. So that I give a two thumbs up! Shwartz is amazing, and nice but just overworked.
Peter Chang ENCE201 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/24/2015	Peter Chang is an odd man. He can say something and you have not idea if he is joking or serious. He can do a problem, but you miss a fundamental point, not because you were not paying attention but because he never said it. He speaks quietly at the front of the class, but refuses to wear a microphone. He allowed us only one side of a paper for our formula sheet which was not enough, and seemed an arbitrary distinction he made. But he never actually check if we only had one side. He posted the solutions to the homeworks before they were due, but we were never sure if he meant to. He cancelled lecture once every few weeks, unpredictably, because this was a blended learning class and we watched weekly video lectures. That said, between his in class examples, the helpful textbook (buy it!) and recorded Schwartz lectures (you do REALLY have to watch the video lectures) you will learn the material. It is helpful if you have some prior experience programming, but not necessary. He managed to make a large lecture hall (~70 students) feel small enough to ask questions. If you had a question about a video lectures, he will happily do an example problem on them for you an clear it up. His exams seem hard, but he curves them SO much. The first one was terrible, but he was reasonable and did an in-class retake for it. He has the most transparent grading system I have ever seen. After ever midterm (3 of them, 1 final), he released a spreadsheet with all the grades by ID number, with averages and standard deviations like I wish ELMS had. Don't be afraid to take Chang. Watch the videos, go to class (he does graded in class problems), work through the homeworks rather than just typing in the posted answers and you'll be fine.
Peter Chang ENCE201 Anonymous 05/22/2015	By far, the worst professor I've had so far at UMD. He's unapproachable, condescending, overly difficult tests and homework, not much I can say that was good about him. I head rumors about how bad Chang was, and my biggest regret this class was not instantly dropping when saw I got stuck with Chang. There were about 60 people in the class, 40 got C's and 7 got D's. The class itself is difficult but I've seen professors on OurUMD who grade much easier in 201 than Chang. Don't take this class, or any class, with Chang, just wait for a semester where someone easier is teaching it, it'll save your GPA. Overall, the most important thing I learned from this class is to avoid Chang at all costs in the future.
Jianguo Ma ENCE201 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/06/2015	Jack Ma was a very dedicated, organized, and passionate teacher. He speaks softly, and sometimes, by the flickering light of the computer monitor, you might find yourself drifting off a bit. But I had him for GIS which is incredibly powerful software, and he made if fun and easy. I found him a very approachable teacher, and a likeable person.
Charles Schwartz ENCE201 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/10/2012	Very nice guy. Didn't learn anything from class as he doesn't really do any examples. However, the textbook explains the algorithms extremely well so you can learn it on your own. The matlabs homeworks are almost impossible to do alone, so work in groups. Use the book, do the written homework and the tests won't be too bad.
Charles Schwartz ENCE201 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/23/2010	Really good professor. He made lectures as good as they can be. Always showed actual programs in lecture, and coded for the class to help demonstrate how to use matlab (I found it really helpful and something I did not see in ENCE 200). He grades really fair. And is always willing to help you out in office hours or via email. I was really worried about this class, but I did not find it to be as difficult as it was made out to be. Stay on top of the work--you'll do fine.
Charles Schwartz ENCE201 jmartin1 05/15/2009	I thought he was a pretty good professor. he does throw some hard stuff into material and the class gets really boring after a while, but in the end I felt like I learned something significant
Charles Schwartz ENCE201 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/29/2008	Class covers a lot of material in a quick manner. Most of it isn't too hard to understand, but he likes to throw in some book stuff that was hardly mentioned in class. Teaching paralleled book, but not too closely. May seem hard at the time, but with the curving and make-up credit, an A or B is fairly easy.