ENCE215 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Natasha Andrade ENCE215 Expecting a B Anonymous 01/06/2025	tough exams, mostly because of the time constraint. if you do the homeworks (which aren't too hard), and go to office hours, shouldn't be too bad.
Natasha Andrade ENCE215 Expecting a C Anonymous 01/03/2025	Andrade is a challenging professor. While the material isn't too difficult, her teaching style is confusing and often unrelated to tests. Final grading is inconsistent with curves applied to some but not others. This course would benefit from a new teacher with a better approach to the material. This is a required CE course so try and push through.
Natasha Andrade ENCE215 Expecting a C Anonymous 01/03/2025	She's a really tough grader and there's no clear grading criteria for her essay questions on exams. She always says that she looks for "critical thinking" but it's not really possible to demonstrate that with super broad questions when you've only got a very short time to write your answers during the test.
Natasha Andrade ENCE215 Expecting a B Anonymous 01/03/2025	This course is definitely difficult and it takes some time to get used to what Andrade wants when it comes to the critical thinking portion of the class. She can seem harsh sometimes and is very no nonsense, but she definitely cares about you and your learning. She wants you to do well and see you get a good grade. Homework is time consuming but completion graded. Quizzes weren't too tough but make sure not to make small stupid errors that could make you get lots of points off (like me). Debate was interesting and should be pretty easy to do well on if you have a good group. The lectures are interesting and I personally really liked the material. The exams are difficult but I personally found the final a lot easier, as you have a feel for what she wants to see on the short answer problems and the process for calculations. Just put the time in to learn the material and you should be fine.
Natasha Andrade ENCE215 Expecting a C Anonymous 12/20/2024	The course grade is broken up into a few different categories: Homework (10%), Quizzes (15%), Midterm Exam (25%), Debate (20%), Final Exam (30%). This is one of the harder classes grade wise in the civil curriculum (Look at the grade distribution). Definitely one that needs to be prioritized. When it comes to general success, you have to go to class. There are in-class activities that go into the quiz category. All you have to do is show up to get the points. Otherwise, getting 0's can really hurt your grade. You also gain the respect of the teacher by going to class and office hours. Even if its just to ask general questions. Next is homework and quizzes. There is about 1 homework per week. She gives you the answers, but not the process. It is for the most part graded on completion. Do the homework, don't just look it up. If you set aside the time to do the homework, you will understand the content and do well on the quizzes. The quizzes are not hard. Focus on your units while completing the homework and you will be just fine. The midterm. I didn't study for the midterm as much as I should have or correctly. The average was a 67% post curve. It was not easy, but not impossible to do well. At 25%, study for the midterm like it is a final. Redo all the homework problems and when doing the critical response questions, focus on the pillars of sustainability. The midterm is a time crunch, know what you are doing, don't get stuck, and work fast. I failed the midterm making the rest of the semester extremely stressful. Don't get caught with your pants down The debate. For the debate, you are assigned a group. There is one grade for all group members. Part of doing well is who you are assigned in your group. Make sure to be communicative, and get everything done by the due dates. The late penalties are very heavy. When it comes to your part of the debate and anthology, put in the time, read the rubric, and look over your group members work. Don't be afraid to take a leadership role in the group to make sure everything gets done well. The debate is what saved my grade after doing poorly on the midterm. The final. The final average was about 74%. It is less of a time crunch than the midterm. It also focused on pretty much content only after the midterm (no promises on that next semester). Again, put in the time, study, redo homework problems, and get good at the critical thinking questions. I felt the final was very fair. Overall, this class comes down to putting in the effort. As much as I wanted to think Andrade was a bad teacher and that she was out to get me, this is not the case. She can be a tough grader and discouraging at times. She just wants to see that you are committed to your studies. We know what we signed up for as engineering majors. By no means is this supposed to be easy. This is really the last "weed out" ENCE class you will take in the major. Put in the time and effort and get through the class. Wishing the best
Natasha Andrade ENCE215 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/18/2024	I'm gonna first start off by saying that unless you are some insane phenom, this class will take you by surprise and it will lowkey kick your ass a little bit. The content of the class is actually pretty interesting for the most part. We discuss a lot of topics and information relating to sustainable engineering, primarily different energy types (hydro, solar, wind, nuclear, energy transfers, etc). Especially if you're a civil engineer wanting to go into the water resource/environmental track the information is very relevant. But the issues lie with how Prof. Andrade teaches the course. First of all, I think the biggest thing is that this course has basically no reason to exist. Yes, I mentioned how the information is relevant for engineering, but the actual information is so small it could add onto ENCE310 (environmental engineering), or some other classes. The entire class basically consists of like 10 formulas for the energy types, like 5 formulas for when we do storm water management (imo the hardest topic since it's just unlike anything else in the class), and an ungodly amount of dimensional analysis. Seriously, you NEED to be good at that, like the other review mentioned, that is what makes this class so difficult, which again shows why this class should not exist, since the only hard part is converting units. But she takes this to a new level. just as an example, she may give you a storm water runoff area in ft*miles^2, ask you to find the peak rainfall form a graph, which gives it in mm/hour, and then ask you to find the maximum gallons of water a bio-retention pond with an area in meters^2 can hold per second. like seriously? This is just a stupid way of trying to make artificial difficulty, because the actual concepts are really simple, but she needs to add all this unit conversion, where keep in mind the midterm/exams are a time game and with all the absurd dimensional analysis, you will probably not finish it in time. Second, her "critical thinking" questions on the midterm and exam are insane. The computation questions like I mentioned earlier are annoying yes, but again she gives you a formula sheet with a bunch of unit conversions, so the hard part is just writing it as fast as you can, which is annoying but doable and fair. but on the midterms/final, she has these written response questions, where she asks you to think critically about social/environmental impacts given a certain scenario. Now I will say from an unbiased perspective, I think being able to think in that way is very important for engineering, but in the context of a student, it is ludicrous. She is so insanely strict with her grading in them, where that resulted in the midterm average being a 57% . She has no reason to expect us to be able to basically come up with solutions to genuine engineering problems in the real world in the context of a extremely stressful midterm/exam. We're in this class to learn how to come up with solutions, if we already knew the answers we couldn't even be in college. 3rd the debate. Honestly, I actually really enjoyed the debate, as our group actually had a great topic (should the U.S invest in solar or hydro), and it was more fun than stressful tbh. If you put in genuine effort with your group, then you will do fine on it, as she does not go out of her way to take off points unfairly as she does on her critical thinking questions. I know that I've mostly said negative things, but Dr. Andrade is a very passionate professor, and I actually really enjoyed most of the classes she taught where she would give us so much context for what she was teaching us and give us so many examples. I really enjoy her as a person, she's pretty funny and actually has a positive demeanor. I just found her class pretty stressful and sometimes unfair. I wish you good luck if you take this class but also hope you can get some enjoyment out of it :).
Natasha Andrade ENCE215 Expecting a C Anonymous 06/25/2024	She will Fail you with a smile on her face! I have never been more shocked by how much she actually doesn't give a shit about the people in 215. She is very nice so maybe she's doing it on purpose because she claims this to be a "weed out class" but Jesus Christ if you want to pass this class and you are not naturally gifted then you have to go to the tutor otherwise your screwed. Basically, it's topics about how to calculate energy through wind, solar, hydro, etc, and then there's randomly stormwater management so just get ready because I took this class while also taking differential Equations and this class was so much harder just because of her ability to not teach the material she grades on AT ALL and the stuff she goes over in class are "plug and chugs" so they dont help at all. So good luck and God's speed.
Natasha Andrade ENCE215 Anonymous 05/17/2024	Lectures are engaging and the class content is somewhat interesting. Homeworks can take a while but they are posted with answers so you know if you will need to redo problems before you submit. The final project was a bit lame as some of the debate topics were one sided. Exams were similar to homeworks and the math portions are easy to study for. The written portions are a bit annoying with her grading as basically on the best answer in the class will receive full points for that question.
Natasha Andrade ENCE215 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 03/12/2024	Natasha Andrade is a terrible professor. We "learn" a new topic every week such as nuclear energy, solar energy, you name it. The homework and exam problems are literally impossible compared to what she teaches us in class. She doesn't provide us with any information at all to be able to learn anything because she doesn't care about the success of her students. She mentions on the first day of class that a lot of people fail ENCE215. Why do you think that is, Natasha? BECAUSE YOU DON'T TEACH THE MATERIAL. As an engineering professor, you should be doing whatever you can to provide students with enough knowledge to succeed, but she does the bare minimum. Literally every other one of my professors is 10x more helpful than her. She would be way better if she actually taught in depth, exam type problems in class, but she just expects you to learn it all on your own.
Natasha Andrade ENCE215 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/20/2022	I think a lot of people go into ENCE215 thinking it's gonna be easy to bullshit their way through because it has "sustainability" in the name. Actually it's 80% applied physics and applied chemistry, and 20% writing/critical thinking skills. All the exam and homework problems are in the format of a paragraph which lays out some hypothetical real-world application for you. You have to identify how it relates to the equations for different types of energy generation (or population growth or stormwater management) and then solve. If you're good at extracting the relevant info from text, ID'ing what you have to find, and putting all that into equations, you'll do well. Also you HAVE to be good at dimensional analysis because there is TONS of converting units. in the homework and exam problems. Professor Andrade is very nice, a good lecturer, and very available with office hours, but she's not what you'd call a generous grader. I still really liked this class.
Natasha Andrade ENCE215 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/28/2021	ENCE215 was very similar to ENCE100 in the sense that you discuss a new civil engineering topic each week. We covered various types of renewable energy, wastewater system design, and the world population. Each of these sections involved new formulas that were pretty easy to grasp. The homework is based on completion and helps you prepare for the questions you might see on the exams. The quizzes (each week or so) are easier versions of homework questions. The most difficult part of this class is thinking like Natasha. On her critical thinking questions on exams, she wants you to think about sustainability and environmental protection. This mindset is hard to learn when you don't already follow it in your day-to-day life. And answering her thinking questions like she would means the difference between a 50% and a 95%.
Natasha Andrade ENCE215 Expecting a B Anonymous 01/17/2021	I took Natasha Andrade's class in the fall of 2020. Because, she is the only professor who teaches ENCE215 at UMD, if it is a required course, you have to take her, there's no choice. Thereby, I hope this review can allow you to prepare for the twists and turns. First of all, Professor Andrade is a very nice person, but that isn't what most of us prioritize, it's good grades. The class focuses on a new subject each week: nuclear physics, chemistry, fluids (you name it). However, she does provide you with nearly all of the required equations so it isn't as impossible as it sounds. The weekly homework gives the final numerical answer in the problem, so that you can verify with yourself whether or not you completed the question correctly. She will not give you the solution to the problem, but she will answer your questions on how to get on the right track. Now for the bad aspects of her course. She holds only two exams, which are a large chunk of your final grade. Both exams are cumulative. While you receive the necessary equations, you barely receive enough time. The questions are split between calculations, multiple choice, and thought questions. The thought questions have the same grade weight as the calculations, so don't make the same mistake I did in prioritizing one over the other. She does NOT offer extra credit and claims that she never will. Also, the teaching assistant she employed was terrible. If you don't label each calculation step with each sub-solution, you will get a bad grade and have to fight to get it fixed. Finally, the group debate. Is it as bad as it sounds? Yes. Our class was split into two teams, due to our section having only around nine students at the time of the debate. There were dozens of options for the debate, but my team made the mistake of allowing the other team to choose the topic and the side. As others have mentioned in reviews, there is usually one side of the debate which is "environmental". From a completely scientific standpoint, it might be hard to figure this out, but with a keen eye you should be able to determine which has more mainstream environmentalism embedded in it than the other. If you are on the side with the anti-environmental side, you already lost the debate. The best thing you can do to salvage your grade is gather as much scientific evidence as possible. The pro-environment side will have a large selection of glamorous online articles to use as sources, usually with no data. Your side, the opposition, usually doesn't have any bias articles in its favor, but you are usually given a lot of data. Drown the opposition in data and question all of their parameters, and your team will survive. Also, don't act confrontational either in words or body language. The other team has a free pass to use emotions or ethics, you don't.
Maria Rodriguez ENCE215 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/26/2020	Made multiple mistakes, doesn't seem to understand the material that she's assigned to grade.
Natasha Andrade ENCE215 Expecting a B- Anonymous 11/05/2020	I am only half way through the semester. we are doing it online because of COVID but i wanted to originally take her because i had her as a guest lecturer in ENCE100 and shes adorable. Absolutely the cutest nicest person every shes so sweet. BUT MY GOD... when she grades... Its horrible. its just horrible. i would suggest not taking her because im used to getting As in my classes and I really try on my work but her homeworks are so unreasonable and the tests are the exact same. Its just a nightmare. theres way to much work for 200 level course and while she does give alot of partial credit (which is why my grade is still barely a B) her class is a nightmare. Honestly one of the most stressful classes im taking rn and i have two other 300 level classes. Its actually ridiculous.
Natasha Andrade ENCE215 Expecting a B Anonymous 11/03/2020	Dr. Andrade was a great professor. I had her last year and in retrospect, I wish I could've had her for longer! Her lectures weren't boring, different speakers were sometimes brought in every other week, and she will actually help you during office hours (unlike some professors). I never really felt stupid for asking a question and felt respected and like an equal person in her classroom.
Natasha Andrade ENCE215 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/10/2019	Dont llisten to that guy. Dr Andrade is a great professor that takes care of the environment and the knowledge of her students.
Natasha Andrade ENCE215 Expecting a B Anonymous 08/25/2018	At first you may think Dr. Andrade is a nice professor, but don't be fooled. She will tell you she is for good things like the environment and helping people, but she does not show this alleged compassion in the classroom. For the final group project, she makes all students submit peer evaluations. If you get below the class average, regardless of how high the average is (i.e the class average is 9.5/10) and you get a 9.4 she will dock your grade by a whole letter. During this project you have to do things like defend emitting CO2 into the atmosphere in a debate. She consistently picks the side with the generally accepted argument of global warming is bad to win the debate. If you get the less popular view, count on your grade dropping a letter grade. If you go to office hours, she will act like you are wasting her time and will not help you at all. Dr. Andrade also blatantly picks a small group of students to be her favorites. Keep in mind the class has 35 students not a lecture hall of over 100. Favorites are helped during office hours at the expense of other students. If you are a favorite, she will explain exactly what to do during quizzes. If you are not a favorite, she will stand over you and stare at your quiz then tell you you are wrong with 30 seconds left in the quiz with no further explanation. I would not recommend Dr. Andrade, nor would I voluntarily take her courses.
Alba Torrents ENCE215 Expecting a B Anonymous 01/02/2010	Like the other people are saying, her tests and quizzes can be very difficult, but if you go to her office hours and ask specific questions, instead of complaining about hard the material is, she can be very helpful. I for one did not do well on her first midterm, but she helped me with everything that was troubling me. When the final came around, I studied everything really hard, and I ended up doing really well. If only I had figured it all out sooner. It isn't impossible to well in her class. You just have to work hard for a good grade.
Alba Torrents ENCE215 Expecting an A freeman1 12/18/2009	Keep your grade in the top five in your class, get an A and don't have to take the final. Quizes are somewhat hard. Has random information sometimes. Exam is very long. If you finish you are doing good. Most of class wont finish. She is very nice but overburdens the work load. Don't be surprised to have a 40 page reading assignment given two days before its due.
Alba Torrents ENCE215 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/08/2009	Torrents is okay. Shes nice and smiles a lot but that's all your going get from her. Quizzes were very specific and the exam was long... It was hard to truly study for the exam because the material made no sense (i.e. ridiculous stoichiometry - converting lets say trees to diapers or something absurd). Advice: Good luck :)
Alba Torrents ENCE215 Anonymous 12/04/2009	Pros: -Nice -Tries to engage the class, but fails Cons: -Quizzes are hard -Midterm is REALLY REALLY hard & long. -Boring -Horrible accent -Can't teach Pray she doesn't teach this class when you have to take it.
Alba Torrents ENCE215 Expecting a d Anonymous 12/04/2009	Absolutely horrible class. Material was random and unconnected. Everything boiled down to memorizing equations and it was boring. Torrents was a decent teacher. The problem was that the quizzes and exams were the hardest things ever. Everyone mostly had quizzes from previous classes. As far as i could tell, thats the only way to pass. Take Hao the whole year if you have to take this class. Otherwise avoid the whole thing completely.
Alba Torrents ENCE215 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/28/2009	I really enjoyed this class. If you pay attention in class, just follow along and ask her to stop and explain if she's unclear. She can be pretty confusing. Take quizzes really seriously. They are worth a lot of your grade. Make sure you do all the homework she assigns!! Its not that bad if you keep up with the lectures and homework. I really learned a lot from her.
Alba Torrents ENCE215 jmartin1 12/11/2008	avoid her if u can.
Allen Davis ENCE215 babygnau 12/09/2008	Alan Davis is a rather tough professor. He is incredibly knowledgeable but sometimes holds students to higher standards because of this. The example problems he does are helpful but he only does one example for each type of question. Often on the exams questions would be modified from the practice version, but no one would know how to solve it the new way. Davis breezes through complicated stuff too quickly, however, that might be attributed to the fact that ENCE 215 has way too much material to cover. You should learn a decent amount but your GPA might suffer.

Natasha Andrade
ENCE215

Expecting a B
Anonymous
01/06/2025

tough exams, mostly because of the time constraint. if you do the homeworks (which aren't too hard), and go to office hours, shouldn't be too bad.

Natasha Andrade
ENCE215

Expecting a C
Anonymous
01/03/2025

Andrade is a challenging professor. While the material isn't too difficult, her teaching style is confusing and often unrelated to tests. Final grading is inconsistent with curves applied to some but not others. This course would benefit from a new teacher with a better approach to the material. This is a required CE course so try and push through.

Natasha Andrade
ENCE215

Expecting a C
Anonymous
01/03/2025

She's a really tough grader and there's no clear grading criteria for her essay questions on exams. She always says that she looks for "critical thinking" but it's not really possible to demonstrate that with super broad questions when you've only got a very short time to write your answers during the test.

Natasha Andrade
ENCE215

Expecting a B
Anonymous
01/03/2025

This course is definitely difficult and it takes some time to get used to what Andrade wants when it comes to the critical thinking portion of the class. She can seem harsh sometimes and is very no nonsense, but she definitely cares about you and your learning. She wants you to do well and see you get a good grade. Homework is time consuming but completion graded. Quizzes weren't too tough but make sure not to make small stupid errors that could make you get lots of points off (like me). Debate was interesting and should be pretty easy to do well on if you have a good group. The lectures are interesting and I personally really liked the material. The exams are difficult but I personally found the final a lot easier, as you have a feel for what she wants to see on the short answer problems and the process for calculations. Just put the time in to learn the material and you should be fine.

Natasha Andrade
ENCE215

Expecting a C
Anonymous
12/20/2024

The course grade is broken up into a few different categories: Homework (10%), Quizzes (15%), Midterm Exam (25%), Debate (20%), Final Exam (30%). This is one of the harder classes grade wise in the civil curriculum (Look at the grade distribution). Definitely one that needs to be prioritized. When it comes to general success, you have to go to class. There are in-class activities that go into the quiz category. All you have to do is show up to get the points. Otherwise, getting 0's can really hurt your grade. You also gain the respect of the teacher by going to class and office hours. Even if its just to ask general questions. Next is homework and quizzes. There is about 1 homework per week. She gives you the answers, but not the process. It is for the most part graded on completion. Do the homework, don't just look it up. If you set aside the time to do the homework, you will understand the content and do well on the quizzes. The quizzes are not hard. Focus on your units while completing the homework and you will be just fine. The midterm. I didn't study for the midterm as much as I should have or correctly. The average was a 67% post curve. It was not easy, but not impossible to do well. At 25%, study for the midterm like it is a final. Redo all the homework problems and when doing the critical response questions, focus on the pillars of sustainability. The midterm is a time crunch, know what you are doing, don't get stuck, and work fast. I failed the midterm making the rest of the semester extremely stressful. Don't get caught with your pants down The debate. For the debate, you are assigned a group. There is one grade for all group members. Part of doing well is who you are assigned in your group. Make sure to be communicative, and get everything done by the due dates. The late penalties are very heavy. When it comes to your part of the debate and anthology, put in the time, read the rubric, and look over your group members work. Don't be afraid to take a leadership role in the group to make sure everything gets done well. The debate is what saved my grade after doing poorly on the midterm. The final. The final average was about 74%. It is less of a time crunch than the midterm. It also focused on pretty much content only after the midterm (no promises on that next semester). Again, put in the time, study, redo homework problems, and get good at the critical thinking questions. I felt the final was very fair. Overall, this class comes down to putting in the effort. As much as I wanted to think Andrade was a bad teacher and that she was out to get me, this is not the case. She can be a tough grader and discouraging at times. She just wants to see that you are committed to your studies. We know what we signed up for as engineering majors. By no means is this supposed to be easy. This is really the last "weed out" ENCE class you will take in the major. Put in the time and effort and get through the class. Wishing the best

Natasha Andrade
ENCE215

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/18/2024

I'm gonna first start off by saying that unless you are some insane phenom, this class will take you by surprise and it will lowkey kick your ass a little bit. The content of the class is actually pretty interesting for the most part. We discuss a lot of topics and information relating to sustainable engineering, primarily different energy types (hydro, solar, wind, nuclear, energy transfers, etc). Especially if you're a civil engineer wanting to go into the water resource/environmental track the information is very relevant. But the issues lie with how Prof. Andrade teaches the course. First of all, I think the biggest thing is that this course has basically no reason to exist. Yes, I mentioned how the information is relevant for engineering, but the actual information is so small it could add onto ENCE310 (environmental engineering), or some other classes. The entire class basically consists of like 10 formulas for the energy types, like 5 formulas for when we do storm water management (imo the hardest topic since it's just unlike anything else in the class), and an ungodly amount of dimensional analysis. Seriously, you NEED to be good at that, like the other review mentioned, that is what makes this class so difficult, which again shows why this class should not exist, since the only hard part is converting units. But she takes this to a new level. just as an example, she may give you a storm water runoff area in ft*miles^2, ask you to find the peak rainfall form a graph, which gives it in mm/hour, and then ask you to find the maximum gallons of water a bio-retention pond with an area in meters^2 can hold per second. like seriously? This is just a stupid way of trying to make artificial difficulty, because the actual concepts are really simple, but she needs to add all this unit conversion, where keep in mind the midterm/exams are a time game and with all the absurd dimensional analysis, you will probably not finish it in time. Second, her "critical thinking" questions on the midterm and exam are insane. The computation questions like I mentioned earlier are annoying yes, but again she gives you a formula sheet with a bunch of unit conversions, so the hard part is just writing it as fast as you can, which is annoying but doable and fair. but on the midterms/final, she has these written response questions, where she asks you to think critically about social/environmental impacts given a certain scenario. Now I will say from an unbiased perspective, I think being able to think in that way is very important for engineering, but in the context of a student, it is ludicrous. She is so insanely strict with her grading in them, where that resulted in the midterm average being a 57% . She has no reason to expect us to be able to basically come up with solutions to genuine engineering problems in the real world in the context of a extremely stressful midterm/exam. We're in this class to learn how to come up with solutions, if we already knew the answers we couldn't even be in college. 3rd the debate. Honestly, I actually really enjoyed the debate, as our group actually had a great topic (should the U.S invest in solar or hydro), and it was more fun than stressful tbh. If you put in genuine effort with your group, then you will do fine on it, as she does not go out of her way to take off points unfairly as she does on her critical thinking questions. I know that I've mostly said negative things, but Dr. Andrade is a very passionate professor, and I actually really enjoyed most of the classes she taught where she would give us so much context for what she was teaching us and give us so many examples. I really enjoy her as a person, she's pretty funny and actually has a positive demeanor. I just found her class pretty stressful and sometimes unfair. I wish you good luck if you take this class but also hope you can get some enjoyment out of it :).

Natasha Andrade
ENCE215

Expecting a C
Anonymous
06/25/2024

She will Fail you with a smile on her face! I have never been more shocked by how much she actually doesn't give a shit about the people in 215. She is very nice so maybe she's doing it on purpose because she claims this to be a "weed out class" but Jesus Christ if you want to pass this class and you are not naturally gifted then you have to go to the tutor otherwise your screwed. Basically, it's topics about how to calculate energy through wind, solar, hydro, etc, and then there's randomly stormwater management so just get ready because I took this class while also taking differential Equations and this class was so much harder just because of her ability to not teach the material she grades on AT ALL and the stuff she goes over in class are "plug and chugs" so they dont help at all. So good luck and God's speed.

Natasha Andrade
ENCE215

Anonymous
05/17/2024

Lectures are engaging and the class content is somewhat interesting. Homeworks can take a while but they are posted with answers so you know if you will need to redo problems before you submit. The final project was a bit lame as some of the debate topics were one sided. Exams were similar to homeworks and the math portions are easy to study for. The written portions are a bit annoying with her grading as basically on the best answer in the class will receive full points for that question.

Natasha Andrade
ENCE215

Expecting a C+
Anonymous
03/12/2024

Natasha Andrade is a terrible professor. We "learn" a new topic every week such as nuclear energy, solar energy, you name it. The homework and exam problems are literally impossible compared to what she teaches us in class. She doesn't provide us with any information at all to be able to learn anything because she doesn't care about the success of her students. She mentions on the first day of class that a lot of people fail ENCE215. Why do you think that is, Natasha? BECAUSE YOU DON'T TEACH THE MATERIAL. As an engineering professor, you should be doing whatever you can to provide students with enough knowledge to succeed, but she does the bare minimum. Literally every other one of my professors is 10x more helpful than her. She would be way better if she actually taught in depth, exam type problems in class, but she just expects you to learn it all on your own.

Natasha Andrade
ENCE215

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/20/2022

I think a lot of people go into ENCE215 thinking it's gonna be easy to bullshit their way through because it has "sustainability" in the name. Actually it's 80% applied physics and applied chemistry, and 20% writing/critical thinking skills. All the exam and homework problems are in the format of a paragraph which lays out some hypothetical real-world application for you. You have to identify how it relates to the equations for different types of energy generation (or population growth or stormwater management) and then solve. If you're good at extracting the relevant info from text, ID'ing what you have to find, and putting all that into equations, you'll do well. Also you HAVE to be good at dimensional analysis because there is TONS of converting units. in the homework and exam problems. Professor Andrade is very nice, a good lecturer, and very available with office hours, but she's not what you'd call a generous grader. I still really liked this class.

Natasha Andrade
ENCE215

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/28/2021

ENCE215 was very similar to ENCE100 in the sense that you discuss a new civil engineering topic each week. We covered various types of renewable energy, wastewater system design, and the world population. Each of these sections involved new formulas that were pretty easy to grasp. The homework is based on completion and helps you prepare for the questions you might see on the exams. The quizzes (each week or so) are easier versions of homework questions. The most difficult part of this class is thinking like Natasha. On her critical thinking questions on exams, she wants you to think about sustainability and environmental protection. This mindset is hard to learn when you don't already follow it in your day-to-day life. And answering her thinking questions like she would means the difference between a 50% and a 95%.

Natasha Andrade
ENCE215

Expecting a B
Anonymous
01/17/2021

I took Natasha Andrade's class in the fall of 2020. Because, she is the only professor who teaches ENCE215 at UMD, if it is a required course, you have to take her, there's no choice. Thereby, I hope this review can allow you to prepare for the twists and turns. First of all, Professor Andrade is a very nice person, but that isn't what most of us prioritize, it's good grades. The class focuses on a new subject each week: nuclear physics, chemistry, fluids (you name it). However, she does provide you with nearly all of the required equations so it isn't as impossible as it sounds. The weekly homework gives the final numerical answer in the problem, so that you can verify with yourself whether or not you completed the question correctly. She will not give you the solution to the problem, but she will answer your questions on how to get on the right track. Now for the bad aspects of her course. She holds only two exams, which are a large chunk of your final grade. Both exams are cumulative. While you receive the necessary equations, you barely receive enough time. The questions are split between calculations, multiple choice, and thought questions. The thought questions have the same grade weight as the calculations, so don't make the same mistake I did in prioritizing one over the other. She does NOT offer extra credit and claims that she never will. Also, the teaching assistant she employed was terrible. If you don't label each calculation step with each sub-solution, you will get a bad grade and have to fight to get it fixed. Finally, the group debate. Is it as bad as it sounds? Yes. Our class was split into two teams, due to our section having only around nine students at the time of the debate. There were dozens of options for the debate, but my team made the mistake of allowing the other team to choose the topic and the side. As others have mentioned in reviews, there is usually one side of the debate which is "environmental". From a completely scientific standpoint, it might be hard to figure this out, but with a keen eye you should be able to determine which has more mainstream environmentalism embedded in it than the other. If you are on the side with the anti-environmental side, you already lost the debate. The best thing you can do to salvage your grade is gather as much scientific evidence as possible. The pro-environment side will have a large selection of glamorous online articles to use as sources, usually with no data. Your side, the opposition, usually doesn't have any bias articles in its favor, but you are usually given a lot of data. Drown the opposition in data and question all of their parameters, and your team will survive. Also, don't act confrontational either in words or body language. The other team has a free pass to use emotions or ethics, you don't.

Maria Rodriguez
ENCE215

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/26/2020

Made multiple mistakes, doesn't seem to understand the material that she's assigned to grade.

Natasha Andrade
ENCE215

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
11/05/2020

I am only half way through the semester. we are doing it online because of COVID but i wanted to originally take her because i had her as a guest lecturer in ENCE100 and shes adorable. Absolutely the cutest nicest person every shes so sweet. BUT MY GOD... when she grades... Its horrible. its just horrible. i would suggest not taking her because im used to getting As in my classes and I really try on my work but her homeworks are so unreasonable and the tests are the exact same. Its just a nightmare. theres way to much work for 200 level course and while she does give alot of partial credit (which is why my grade is still barely a B) her class is a nightmare. Honestly one of the most stressful classes im taking rn and i have two other 300 level classes. Its actually ridiculous.

Natasha Andrade
ENCE215

Expecting a B
Anonymous
11/03/2020

Dr. Andrade was a great professor. I had her last year and in retrospect, I wish I could've had her for longer! Her lectures weren't boring, different speakers were sometimes brought in every other week, and she will actually help you during office hours (unlike some professors). I never really felt stupid for asking a question and felt respected and like an equal person in her classroom.

Natasha Andrade
ENCE215

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/10/2019

Dont llisten to that guy. Dr Andrade is a great professor that takes care of the environment and the knowledge of her students.

Natasha Andrade
ENCE215

Expecting a B
Anonymous
08/25/2018

At first you may think Dr. Andrade is a nice professor, but don't be fooled. She will tell you she is for good things like the environment and helping people, but she does not show this alleged compassion in the classroom. For the final group project, she makes all students submit peer evaluations. If you get below the class average, regardless of how high the average is (i.e the class average is 9.5/10) and you get a 9.4 she will dock your grade by a whole letter. During this project you have to do things like defend emitting CO2 into the atmosphere in a debate. She consistently picks the side with the generally accepted argument of global warming is bad to win the debate. If you get the less popular view, count on your grade dropping a letter grade. If you go to office hours, she will act like you are wasting her time and will not help you at all. Dr. Andrade also blatantly picks a small group of students to be her favorites. Keep in mind the class has 35 students not a lecture hall of over 100. Favorites are helped during office hours at the expense of other students. If you are a favorite, she will explain exactly what to do during quizzes. If you are not a favorite, she will stand over you and stare at your quiz then tell you you are wrong with 30 seconds left in the quiz with no further explanation. I would not recommend Dr. Andrade, nor would I voluntarily take her courses.

Alba Torrents
ENCE215

Expecting a B
Anonymous
01/02/2010

Like the other people are saying, her tests and quizzes can be very difficult, but if you go to her office hours and ask specific questions, instead of complaining about hard the material is, she can be very helpful. I for one did not do well on her first midterm, but she helped me with everything that was troubling me. When the final came around, I studied everything really hard, and I ended up doing really well. If only I had figured it all out sooner. It isn't impossible to well in her class. You just have to work hard for a good grade.

Alba Torrents
ENCE215

Expecting an A
freeman1
12/18/2009

Keep your grade in the top five in your class, get an A and don't have to take the final. Quizes are somewhat hard. Has random information sometimes. Exam is very long. If you finish you are doing good. Most of class wont finish. She is very nice but overburdens the work load. Don't be surprised to have a 40 page reading assignment given two days before its due.

Alba Torrents
ENCE215

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/08/2009

Torrents is okay. Shes nice and smiles a lot but that's all your going get from her. Quizzes were very specific and the exam was long... It was hard to truly study for the exam because the material made no sense (i.e. ridiculous stoichiometry - converting lets say trees to diapers or something absurd). Advice: Good luck :)

Alba Torrents
ENCE215

Anonymous
12/04/2009

Pros: -Nice -Tries to engage the class, but fails Cons: -Quizzes are hard -Midterm is REALLY REALLY hard & long. -Boring -Horrible accent -Can't teach Pray she doesn't teach this class when you have to take it.

Alba Torrents
ENCE215

Expecting a d
Anonymous
12/04/2009

Absolutely horrible class. Material was random and unconnected. Everything boiled down to memorizing equations and it was boring. Torrents was a decent teacher. The problem was that the quizzes and exams were the hardest things ever. Everyone mostly had quizzes from previous classes. As far as i could tell, thats the only way to pass. Take Hao the whole year if you have to take this class. Otherwise avoid the whole thing completely.

Alba Torrents
ENCE215

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/28/2009

I really enjoyed this class. If you pay attention in class, just follow along and ask her to stop and explain if she's unclear. She can be pretty confusing. Take quizzes really seriously. They are worth a lot of your grade. Make sure you do all the homework she assigns!! Its not that bad if you keep up with the lectures and homework. I really learned a lot from her.

Alba Torrents
ENCE215

jmartin1
12/11/2008

avoid her if u can.

Allen Davis
ENCE215

babygnau
12/09/2008

Alan Davis is a rather tough professor. He is incredibly knowledgeable but sometimes holds students to higher standards because of this. The example problems he does are helpful but he only does one example for each type of question. Often on the exams questions would be modified from the practice version, but no one would know how to solve it the new way. Davis breezes through complicated stuff too quickly, however, that might be attributed to the fact that ENCE 215 has way too much material to cover. You should learn a decent amount but your GPA might suffer.

Reviews for ENCE215