ENEE290 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Julius Goldhar ENEE290 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/22/2025	Midterms were fair, final was fair, shitty lecturer, nice / funny person, terrible lecturer, gave good practice problems, TA was goat, bad lecturer. If you do practice problems ur not cooked.
Armand Makowski ENEE290 Expecting an F Anonymous 05/20/2025	I could write paragraphs on how much I hate this professor but im going to save myself the time and you should also save your time and patience as well by taking a different professor.
Armand Makowski ENEE290 Expecting an F Anonymous 05/20/2025	The fact that I am here writing a review on this professor actually goes to show how bad he is. I stopped showing up a little after a month into the semester to self teach. I only showed up to most discussion to take the weekly quizzes and to hopefully learn from the GTA which was slightly helpful. Makowski would write his tests and quizzes in such advanced mathematical vocabulary. His homework problems do not really help and the textbook is only covering the basics of his topics. After taking the final, I am actually about to fail this class. Based off other people's reactions too they are also about to fail. Then this guy has the audacity to give us bonus points based off the final without using outside resources. If he has some little suspicion that you are cheating, you get a lovely visit to his office to explain your reasoning on your answers. this just lowkey a test to see who wants to cheat or not cuz everyone is def expected to get that wrong. Lesson learned do not take this guy what so every. it is better to take it the next semester if it doesn't fit in your schedule since you might as well retake it if you're with armand.
Armand Makowski ENEE290 Expecting an F Anonymous 05/11/2025	This has been the absolute poorest I have ever done in a class. The lectures are completely theoretical; he just gives theorems and spends time proving them. He has never done a single problem in class to apply the concepts. The quizzes are always horrible; most of the averages were less than 5/10, and the homework questions he writes himself are so incredibly difficult. He never put in the grades for the first exam on Canvas on the basis that he did not want to discourage us, but that is not even necessary at this point. This is a linear and differential equations class, and we legit spent only two weeks on the diff eq part. I will also never get why he does not just post the lab instructions and the data we need to finish it together, instead of waiting an entire week to do it. This was apparently his first time teaching this course, so we had no practice exams. He also does not curve at all. For your sanity and the sake of your grades, PLEASE waitlist for another professor.
Armand Makowski ENEE290 Expecting an F Anonymous 05/09/2025	I told him I was worried about passing and he said straight to my face I'm 20 and can no longer hide behind my mother... he wishes to make students go through a humiliation ritual only for a glimpse of passing this already difficult curriculum. If you plan on taking him only because he is the only professor for a class you need to take for you to graduate on time, I will tell you with a straight face it is more worth to just wait until next semester. Please listen to the other reviews and NEVER take his class under ANY circumstance, ANY.
Armand Makowski ENEE290 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/08/2025	I wish I could give this professor 0 stars. In my entire life, I have never had a professor or teacher that is this horrendously bad at teaching a subject. There are no examples done in the class at all. The textbook problems he assigns for homework are nothing like any of the questions that are given on his exams and quizzes. The quizzes he gives are the hardest I have ever seen in any class. I always pre-read the textbook sections we cover before lecture, but they are not helpful for this class at all. Makowski only gives theoretical questions and makes you write proofs instead of doing any actual math. That's great if you're a math major and/or already know the topics, but for students who are given a few days to figure out the topics before the weekly quiz, good luck. And when I say they have to figure it out, I mean it. His lectures are almost completely useless. I started doing better in the class after NOT going to the lectures and spending the time learning stuff on my own. Apart from his teaching, he is also simply just a bad person. I haven't experienced this myself, but I have seen and heard of many occasions of Makowski being blatantly disrespectful to students going to him for help. He has also openly shamed people during lecture for minor mistakes or simply for doing something he doesn't like. Armand Makowski has single-handedly ruined my respect for this institution. If the university actually cared about their students, he would not be allowed to teach here. Even the TA's also know that this man is not a good professor. They do try their best to explain things better during discussion, but it really isn't enough due to the difficulty of the quizzes that are given right at the end of class. There is probably a very specific type of person that would learn well in his class, but from my own experiences and the experiences of other students, I can not recommend taking this guys class. It would truly be better to take linear algebra and differential equations as separate classes with different professors just to avoid this guy. If you take him and do really well, you have my full respect. Avoid Armand Makowski AT ALL COSTS.
Armand Makowski ENEE290 Expecting a C- Anonymous 05/07/2025	First, I put C- as a hopeful. Currently not there. I, along with other students, have 100% used chatgpt before. This is what chatgpt thinks of this class: Professor Makowski is clearly knowledgeable in the subject matter, but his teaching style made this course extremely difficult to succeed in. His lectures were heavily theoretical with very few examples, which made it hard to understand how to apply the concepts. This was especially challenging for students who didn’t already have a strong background in differential equations and linear algebra. Quizzes often tested on material that wasn’t fully covered in class, and many students consistently struggled despite preparing using the homework and textbook. Grading for MATLAB projects was unclear, and students lost points for things that weren’t specified in the instructions. Additionally, major grades like exams were returned very late, and Canvas was not updated in a timely manner, leaving students unsure of where they stood in the course (including a curve that is not determined) Overall, the class felt more discouraging than educational. I believe the course would improve with more practical examples, clearer expectations, and better alignment between lectures and assessments. And here is what I think of the class: I personally STRONGLY dislike Makowski. He, while being very smart, just expects us to be at a level of math that graduate students should be at. Even the TAs knew we were in for a ride at the beginning of the semester. Every quiz is unfair, with irrelevant topics based on what we are covering. The homework solutions are hard to follow, and the questions are heavily theoretical. I don't think I have seen a single example in class, and it makes it very difficult to apply what we are learning to the rest of the content that we are expected to complete. Matlab is challenging, but these projects make it significantly worse as you could be doing everything right and still lose points. The exams are split so that half of the points are true false, and the other half comes from two questions. We have an exam less than a week before the final, and we are only covering differential equations for two weeks, with most being assigned as bookwork. God forbid he makes lectures helpful, let alone audible, as he is so quiet even if I sit right in front of him. If anyone else has to take this class, good luck, because you will need it. If you take Makowski by choice, you better preorder some counseling, because you will need some serious intervention for such a detrimental choice for your future.
Armand Makowski ENEE290 Expecting a C Anonymous 05/02/2025	Hell is warm for people like Makowski. I never feel the need to review professors, even with 'bad' professors i'm able to make out the content on my own by self studying and manage to still get a pretty good grade. But this is a special occasion. His lectures make no sense, quizes are ungodly hard, doesnt put any grades on canvas, and is just all around a horrible professor that I would Avoid at all costs!
Armand Makowski ENEE290 Expecting a C Anonymous 04/23/2025	Not a good professor. Works through barely any examples, weekly quizzes don't usually cover the material, and the projects on MATLAB are impossible if you have never taken this class before. Try to avoid him if you can.
Armand Makowski ENEE290 Expecting an F Anonymous 04/21/2025	DO NOT TAKE HIS CLASS! Lectures are useless. He assumes you know all the info he's going to teach. He doesn't use any real examples, only concepts that he completely and overly confuses. He mumbles and is hard to hear (I literally sit front row). Weekly quizzes have nothing to do with the HW or Lectures and most if not all of my classmates have been failing EVERY quiz (many 0/10s, 1/10s, and only a few 3/10s if I'm lucky). Projects get misgraded and our first exam that we took over a month ago has yet to be put into CANVAS. He claims NO CURVE and there's a reason his grade distribution is so low. PLEASE SAVE URSELF FROM HAVING TO TAKE HIM. And the final exam is only one week from the 2nd exam.
Armand Makowski ENEE290 Expecting an F Anonymous 04/21/2025	honestly I have no words. Just save yourself and DO NOT TAKE HIM. His exams, quizzes, and matlab projects are almost impossible since he takes points off for every little mistakes. His lectures are really boring and he just reads off the slides and explain everything in very theoretical way, so if you have no prior experience with Linear algebra and Differential Equation, literally run for your life. Even the TA agrees with me and think he's bad. It is so bad I wanna give him a zero, but that's not possible so I give him a one.
Armand Makowski ENEE290 Expecting an F Anonymous 04/09/2025	this professor is going to make me cry. I have a 30% in the class and I am on my knees and begging to pass. His lectures are made for people who already understand the material, he does not explain anything. I refuse to attend any more lectures as I am better off learning the material myself, he doubles down on these snooze fests by making fun of people during the lectures for unnecessary reasons. I have heard from other people that he has made other students cry and question finishing their major. If you have no prior information to differential equations or linear algebra before this class (actually change my mind, a mastery in these subjects) DO NOT TAKE HIM. His grading curve is insane as well, marking off points for things he did not explain. There are also MATLAB projects in the class, where he will take away points for things he did not say. I received a near zero on my project, even though the code was right, for using a built-in function (inverse of a matrix function). NOWHERE in the rubric did it mention that I could not do this. Quizzes are also based off the material that he just so begins to cover starting the week, therefore you must rely on an external source to learn all of the material prior. AND THE QUIZZES DON'T EVEN MATCH THE MATERIAL!!! I average a 1/10 on my quizzes. I study every week days prior for my quizzes. WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO. I always study up on the homework and the textbook material and I am completely thrown off by every quiz. However the tests were rather reasonable and less luck based. Additionally, he is making the last test and the final exam 1 WEEK APART. Only can I pray that I can just barely pass this class to never take it or this professor again, and I hope nobody falls under the same fate as me.
Calin Belta ENEE290 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 03/07/2025	I had Belta last semester and I'm writing this review to let everyone else know that Belta is a great professor with open note tests. He also teaches the foundations and explains the concepts really well.
Richard La ENEE290 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/19/2025	He posts slides, normally watching youtube videos helped me more. Ask the ta's for the practice problems as they can be helpful for exams. Exams generally do not allow calculators, so expect simple computations and really just testing basic skills. Questions normally are reasonable and exams are graded fairly. The projects are graded leniently and come with decent instruction.
Calin Belta ENEE290 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/30/2024	Great professor. I didn't go to many classes, but his teaching ability seems alright. His midterms and final are very fair, just straight up homework problems. They are also open note so you're not pressured to memorize anything. He had small hw set once a week which only takes a couple hours max a week. Also had 2 matlab projects which were pretty easy. If I put in a little more studying, definitely could have ended with an A, but I barely went to class and didn't study until a few days before each midterm/final. 100% recommend him.
Calin Belta ENEE290 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/19/2024	Love this professor. He doesn't want to trick you and just wants to make sure you understand the content. All exams are open note even the final. There is no practice problems but exam questions are the same exact format as lecture and discussion problems. He also gives a lot of time for tests. Attendance isn't mandatory and he posts slides and worked out problems on elms but recommend you go b/c sometimes his handwriting isn't clear and he does a good job explaining step by step. There was hw once a week but they were pretty doable as well as 2 Matlab projects which were hard to understand but in the end weren't bad.
Calin Belta ENEE290 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/18/2024	GOAT. Everything's open notes and even though his lecture slides aren't super helpful and he isn't that easy to follow in class, his class is easy if you put in the work. Content is relatively easy, nothing super hard. Final and midterms were very fair even though there weren't any study guides or practice exams.
Calin Belta ENEE290 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/15/2024	He is an absolutely amazing professor. He is very considerate and caring towards his students. I absolutely recommend him when taking ENEE290. He actually cares about his students and wants them to pass. All his exams were fair and open-note, and the answers were posted within a few hours after the exam was finished. All of the slides are posted beforehand and the worked-out examples are posted after class in ELMS. If you happen to struggle in class, I recommend you to watch videos on YouTube or go to his office hours. His office hours are extremely helpful and will try to explain to you step by step on questions or concepts you're confused about. Your workload is manageable, with weekly homework and about two projects, each with a two-week deadline. Side note, his handwriting sometimes is hard to read, but other than that, he is a great professor!
Calin Belta ENEE290 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/11/2024	Calin always engages with the students in his class and tries his best to help students understand the content. He went at a good pace and was always willing to stay a few minutes after lecture to explain the material or offer help at office hours. As others said, he always posted notes and slides on canvas and communicated frequently. The 2 open-note exams - based on homework and classwork problems - were so straightforward that I barely had to use my notes during the actual test. I would totally recommend him.
Richard La ENEE290 Anonymous 12/10/2024	Dr. La is a very nice person and a very knowledgeable instructor who goes out of his way to help students when they need it. Unfortunately, his lectures are difficult to follow as he moves quickly through complex equations and explains concepts using examples that are often more confusing than the concepts themselves. ENEE290 itself is also fairly difficult class, covering almost two classes of content in one semester, with the curriculum jumping somewhat abruptly from Differential Equations to Linear Algebra back to Differential Equations. La's exams are hard but have questions similar to the practice exams provided from past years. Homework is assigned about weekly and is graded very generously by the TAs. There are several MATLAB projects that are very challenging and require significant time to complete. La's version of the class is on a massive curve where an 80% is an A, but you will have to work hard for that grade.
Calin Belta ENEE290 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/10/2024	Extremely good professor. Really tries his best to engage with and talk with the class, and is very good with communication. Great professor and posts all notes and lectures. Will always take time to explain concepts to you.
Calin Belta ENEE290 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 11/18/2024	New to UMD, but definitely takes the time to make sure he explains the proofs behind relevant material and lets us know what to expect on exams. Everything is open note, and you can even have pdf note files on your computer. Makes sure to try and have people engaged and posts all the whiteboard work after classes. Slides are posted too before classes for students to follow along or get an idea of the material in advance. If you don't understand any of the material, he'll take the time to try to help you out in class, or you can ask him about it after class or in his office hours. 10/10 great experience so far.
Calin Belta ENEE290 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 11/16/2024	This guy is so awesome. Exams were fully open-note and answers were posted promptly. He posts all lecture slides and examples done in class. No practice exams but I never needed them.
Julius Goldhar ENEE290 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/23/2024	I loved taking this course with Goldhar. As he says from the start, homeworks are difficult so that you find the tests to be easy. Only 2 midterms, and on both and the final he used problems directly from the practice problems he gave out. The course goes very fast, and the best way to describe his teaching is, well, jittery? The diff-eq section was understandable by just giving yourself time to process what you just learned (I'd say it took about a week, from learning + discussion and lab), and for linear algebra there are so many resources online that you'll get the hang of it. Our TA was very reliable, so having him as a resource also probably helped me get a good grade. There's also an immediate +5 curve for the class, an 85% is considered an A-, which is really nice. Its a lot of work, but he knows this, and his leniency with grading makes up for it.
Joseph JaJa ENEE290 Expecting a B+ plannetterpuser63790 03/16/2024	I took ENEE290 in Fall 2023 and JaJa was a good professor. It was the second semester of the class being run and the course was structured to alternate between diff eq and linear algebra. His lecturing was very monotone but if you can get past that, you'll find that his lectures are helpful and he wants you to succeed. When introducing new topics, he generally took us through the derivation for a particular method, be it for diff eq or linear algebra, which I didn't find terribly helpful, but it's there if you learn better like that. Some topics took a few lectures to stick, like when we started covering eigenvalues and eigenspaces in the linear algebra units, but in general, if you know what to ask about, he will try his best to clear any confusion, so much so to the point that when almost the entire class got a question wrong on the first exam, he spent the next lecture taking us through how to answer it properly. The exams were quite easy and covered mostly more recent content. Homework assignments were split between mathy assignments, which I felt were significantly harder than class content and exams, and MATLAB "labs." There was no curve for the class. Overall 3.5/5.
Richard La ENEE290 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/05/2023	This was the first semester of ENEE290 and it went pretty well. It covered basic Differential Equations while also going into Linear Algebra. I will say, La did a lot of derivations in his lectures, just to end up on a formula that you didn't really need the derivation for. La definitely cared about our grades and would always ask to see if we were understanding the material. MATLAB's weren't that hard and the TA was always helpful. Homeworks were fair and not too complicated. The two midterms were very fair and not too challenging. I will say the final had a lot to do and it was hard to get everything done in time, but the class was pre-curved and an 80% was an A. I don't know what future semesters of this class will be like, but he first semester went pretty well and I think it was a bit easier than the MATH246 alternative and we learned all the fundamentals that we needed to.

Julius Goldhar
ENEE290

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/22/2025

Midterms were fair, final was fair, shitty lecturer, nice / funny person, terrible lecturer, gave good practice problems, TA was goat, bad lecturer. If you do practice problems ur not cooked.

Armand Makowski
ENEE290

Expecting an F
Anonymous
05/20/2025

I could write paragraphs on how much I hate this professor but im going to save myself the time and you should also save your time and patience as well by taking a different professor.

Armand Makowski
ENEE290

Expecting an F
Anonymous
05/20/2025

The fact that I am here writing a review on this professor actually goes to show how bad he is. I stopped showing up a little after a month into the semester to self teach. I only showed up to most discussion to take the weekly quizzes and to hopefully learn from the GTA which was slightly helpful. Makowski would write his tests and quizzes in such advanced mathematical vocabulary. His homework problems do not really help and the textbook is only covering the basics of his topics. After taking the final, I am actually about to fail this class. Based off other people's reactions too they are also about to fail. Then this guy has the audacity to give us bonus points based off the final without using outside resources. If he has some little suspicion that you are cheating, you get a lovely visit to his office to explain your reasoning on your answers. this just lowkey a test to see who wants to cheat or not cuz everyone is def expected to get that wrong. Lesson learned do not take this guy what so every. it is better to take it the next semester if it doesn't fit in your schedule since you might as well retake it if you're with armand.

Armand Makowski
ENEE290

Expecting an F
Anonymous
05/11/2025

This has been the absolute poorest I have ever done in a class. The lectures are completely theoretical; he just gives theorems and spends time proving them. He has never done a single problem in class to apply the concepts. The quizzes are always horrible; most of the averages were less than 5/10, and the homework questions he writes himself are so incredibly difficult. He never put in the grades for the first exam on Canvas on the basis that he did not want to discourage us, but that is not even necessary at this point. This is a linear and differential equations class, and we legit spent only two weeks on the diff eq part. I will also never get why he does not just post the lab instructions and the data we need to finish it together, instead of waiting an entire week to do it. This was apparently his first time teaching this course, so we had no practice exams. He also does not curve at all. For your sanity and the sake of your grades, PLEASE waitlist for another professor.

Armand Makowski
ENEE290

Expecting an F
Anonymous
05/09/2025

I told him I was worried about passing and he said straight to my face I'm 20 and can no longer hide behind my mother... he wishes to make students go through a humiliation ritual only for a glimpse of passing this already difficult curriculum. If you plan on taking him only because he is the only professor for a class you need to take for you to graduate on time, I will tell you with a straight face it is more worth to just wait until next semester. Please listen to the other reviews and NEVER take his class under ANY circumstance, ANY.

Armand Makowski
ENEE290

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
05/08/2025

I wish I could give this professor 0 stars. In my entire life, I have never had a professor or teacher that is this horrendously bad at teaching a subject. There are no examples done in the class at all. The textbook problems he assigns for homework are nothing like any of the questions that are given on his exams and quizzes. The quizzes he gives are the hardest I have ever seen in any class. I always pre-read the textbook sections we cover before lecture, but they are not helpful for this class at all. Makowski only gives theoretical questions and makes you write proofs instead of doing any actual math. That's great if you're a math major and/or already know the topics, but for students who are given a few days to figure out the topics before the weekly quiz, good luck. And when I say they have to figure it out, I mean it. His lectures are almost completely useless. I started doing better in the class after NOT going to the lectures and spending the time learning stuff on my own. Apart from his teaching, he is also simply just a bad person. I haven't experienced this myself, but I have seen and heard of many occasions of Makowski being blatantly disrespectful to students going to him for help. He has also openly shamed people during lecture for minor mistakes or simply for doing something he doesn't like. Armand Makowski has single-handedly ruined my respect for this institution. If the university actually cared about their students, he would not be allowed to teach here. Even the TA's also know that this man is not a good professor. They do try their best to explain things better during discussion, but it really isn't enough due to the difficulty of the quizzes that are given right at the end of class. There is probably a very specific type of person that would learn well in his class, but from my own experiences and the experiences of other students, I can not recommend taking this guys class. It would truly be better to take linear algebra and differential equations as separate classes with different professors just to avoid this guy. If you take him and do really well, you have my full respect. Avoid Armand Makowski AT ALL COSTS.

Armand Makowski
ENEE290

Expecting a C-
Anonymous
05/07/2025

First, I put C- as a hopeful. Currently not there. I, along with other students, have 100% used chatgpt before. This is what chatgpt thinks of this class: Professor Makowski is clearly knowledgeable in the subject matter, but his teaching style made this course extremely difficult to succeed in. His lectures were heavily theoretical with very few examples, which made it hard to understand how to apply the concepts. This was especially challenging for students who didn’t already have a strong background in differential equations and linear algebra. Quizzes often tested on material that wasn’t fully covered in class, and many students consistently struggled despite preparing using the homework and textbook. Grading for MATLAB projects was unclear, and students lost points for things that weren’t specified in the instructions. Additionally, major grades like exams were returned very late, and Canvas was not updated in a timely manner, leaving students unsure of where they stood in the course (including a curve that is not determined) Overall, the class felt more discouraging than educational. I believe the course would improve with more practical examples, clearer expectations, and better alignment between lectures and assessments. And here is what I think of the class: I personally STRONGLY dislike Makowski. He, while being very smart, just expects us to be at a level of math that graduate students should be at. Even the TAs knew we were in for a ride at the beginning of the semester. Every quiz is unfair, with irrelevant topics based on what we are covering. The homework solutions are hard to follow, and the questions are heavily theoretical. I don't think I have seen a single example in class, and it makes it very difficult to apply what we are learning to the rest of the content that we are expected to complete. Matlab is challenging, but these projects make it significantly worse as you could be doing everything right and still lose points. The exams are split so that half of the points are true false, and the other half comes from two questions. We have an exam less than a week before the final, and we are only covering differential equations for two weeks, with most being assigned as bookwork. God forbid he makes lectures helpful, let alone audible, as he is so quiet even if I sit right in front of him. If anyone else has to take this class, good luck, because you will need it. If you take Makowski by choice, you better preorder some counseling, because you will need some serious intervention for such a detrimental choice for your future.

Armand Makowski
ENEE290

Expecting a C
Anonymous
05/02/2025

Hell is warm for people like Makowski. I never feel the need to review professors, even with 'bad' professors i'm able to make out the content on my own by self studying and manage to still get a pretty good grade. But this is a special occasion. His lectures make no sense, quizes are ungodly hard, doesnt put any grades on canvas, and is just all around a horrible professor that I would Avoid at all costs!

Armand Makowski
ENEE290

Expecting a C
Anonymous
04/23/2025

Not a good professor. Works through barely any examples, weekly quizzes don't usually cover the material, and the projects on MATLAB are impossible if you have never taken this class before. Try to avoid him if you can.

Armand Makowski
ENEE290

Expecting an F
Anonymous
04/21/2025

DO NOT TAKE HIS CLASS! Lectures are useless. He assumes you know all the info he's going to teach. He doesn't use any real examples, only concepts that he completely and overly confuses. He mumbles and is hard to hear (I literally sit front row). Weekly quizzes have nothing to do with the HW or Lectures and most if not all of my classmates have been failing EVERY quiz (many 0/10s, 1/10s, and only a few 3/10s if I'm lucky). Projects get misgraded and our first exam that we took over a month ago has yet to be put into CANVAS. He claims NO CURVE and there's a reason his grade distribution is so low. PLEASE SAVE URSELF FROM HAVING TO TAKE HIM. And the final exam is only one week from the 2nd exam.

Armand Makowski
ENEE290

Expecting an F
Anonymous
04/21/2025

honestly I have no words. Just save yourself and DO NOT TAKE HIM. His exams, quizzes, and matlab projects are almost impossible since he takes points off for every little mistakes. His lectures are really boring and he just reads off the slides and explain everything in very theoretical way, so if you have no prior experience with Linear algebra and Differential Equation, literally run for your life. Even the TA agrees with me and think he's bad. It is so bad I wanna give him a zero, but that's not possible so I give him a one.

Armand Makowski
ENEE290

Expecting an F
Anonymous
04/09/2025

this professor is going to make me cry. I have a 30% in the class and I am on my knees and begging to pass. His lectures are made for people who already understand the material, he does not explain anything. I refuse to attend any more lectures as I am better off learning the material myself, he doubles down on these snooze fests by making fun of people during the lectures for unnecessary reasons. I have heard from other people that he has made other students cry and question finishing their major. If you have no prior information to differential equations or linear algebra before this class (actually change my mind, a mastery in these subjects) DO NOT TAKE HIM. His grading curve is insane as well, marking off points for things he did not explain. There are also MATLAB projects in the class, where he will take away points for things he did not say. I received a near zero on my project, even though the code was right, for using a built-in function (inverse of a matrix function). NOWHERE in the rubric did it mention that I could not do this. Quizzes are also based off the material that he just so begins to cover starting the week, therefore you must rely on an external source to learn all of the material prior. AND THE QUIZZES DON'T EVEN MATCH THE MATERIAL!!! I average a 1/10 on my quizzes. I study every week days prior for my quizzes. WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO. I always study up on the homework and the textbook material and I am completely thrown off by every quiz. However the tests were rather reasonable and less luck based. Additionally, he is making the last test and the final exam 1 WEEK APART. Only can I pray that I can just barely pass this class to never take it or this professor again, and I hope nobody falls under the same fate as me.

Calin Belta
ENEE290

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
03/07/2025

I had Belta last semester and I'm writing this review to let everyone else know that Belta is a great professor with open note tests. He also teaches the foundations and explains the concepts really well.

Richard La
ENEE290

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/19/2025

He posts slides, normally watching youtube videos helped me more. Ask the ta's for the practice problems as they can be helpful for exams. Exams generally do not allow calculators, so expect simple computations and really just testing basic skills. Questions normally are reasonable and exams are graded fairly. The projects are graded leniently and come with decent instruction.

Calin Belta
ENEE290

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/30/2024

Great professor. I didn't go to many classes, but his teaching ability seems alright. His midterms and final are very fair, just straight up homework problems. They are also open note so you're not pressured to memorize anything. He had small hw set once a week which only takes a couple hours max a week. Also had 2 matlab projects which were pretty easy. If I put in a little more studying, definitely could have ended with an A, but I barely went to class and didn't study until a few days before each midterm/final. 100% recommend him.

Calin Belta
ENEE290

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/19/2024

Love this professor. He doesn't want to trick you and just wants to make sure you understand the content. All exams are open note even the final. There is no practice problems but exam questions are the same exact format as lecture and discussion problems. He also gives a lot of time for tests. Attendance isn't mandatory and he posts slides and worked out problems on elms but recommend you go b/c sometimes his handwriting isn't clear and he does a good job explaining step by step. There was hw once a week but they were pretty doable as well as 2 Matlab projects which were hard to understand but in the end weren't bad.

Calin Belta
ENEE290

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/18/2024

GOAT. Everything's open notes and even though his lecture slides aren't super helpful and he isn't that easy to follow in class, his class is easy if you put in the work. Content is relatively easy, nothing super hard. Final and midterms were very fair even though there weren't any study guides or practice exams.

Calin Belta
ENEE290

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/15/2024

He is an absolutely amazing professor. He is very considerate and caring towards his students. I absolutely recommend him when taking ENEE290. He actually cares about his students and wants them to pass. All his exams were fair and open-note, and the answers were posted within a few hours after the exam was finished. All of the slides are posted beforehand and the worked-out examples are posted after class in ELMS. If you happen to struggle in class, I recommend you to watch videos on YouTube or go to his office hours. His office hours are extremely helpful and will try to explain to you step by step on questions or concepts you're confused about. Your workload is manageable, with weekly homework and about two projects, each with a two-week deadline. Side note, his handwriting sometimes is hard to read, but other than that, he is a great professor!

Calin Belta
ENEE290

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/11/2024

Calin always engages with the students in his class and tries his best to help students understand the content. He went at a good pace and was always willing to stay a few minutes after lecture to explain the material or offer help at office hours. As others said, he always posted notes and slides on canvas and communicated frequently. The 2 open-note exams - based on homework and classwork problems - were so straightforward that I barely had to use my notes during the actual test. I would totally recommend him.

Richard La
ENEE290

Anonymous
12/10/2024

Dr. La is a very nice person and a very knowledgeable instructor who goes out of his way to help students when they need it. Unfortunately, his lectures are difficult to follow as he moves quickly through complex equations and explains concepts using examples that are often more confusing than the concepts themselves. ENEE290 itself is also fairly difficult class, covering almost two classes of content in one semester, with the curriculum jumping somewhat abruptly from Differential Equations to Linear Algebra back to Differential Equations. La's exams are hard but have questions similar to the practice exams provided from past years. Homework is assigned about weekly and is graded very generously by the TAs. There are several MATLAB projects that are very challenging and require significant time to complete. La's version of the class is on a massive curve where an 80% is an A, but you will have to work hard for that grade.

Calin Belta
ENEE290

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/10/2024

Extremely good professor. Really tries his best to engage with and talk with the class, and is very good with communication. Great professor and posts all notes and lectures. Will always take time to explain concepts to you.

Calin Belta
ENEE290

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
11/18/2024

New to UMD, but definitely takes the time to make sure he explains the proofs behind relevant material and lets us know what to expect on exams. Everything is open note, and you can even have pdf note files on your computer. Makes sure to try and have people engaged and posts all the whiteboard work after classes. Slides are posted too before classes for students to follow along or get an idea of the material in advance. If you don't understand any of the material, he'll take the time to try to help you out in class, or you can ask him about it after class or in his office hours. 10/10 great experience so far.

Calin Belta
ENEE290

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
11/16/2024

This guy is so awesome. Exams were fully open-note and answers were posted promptly. He posts all lecture slides and examples done in class. No practice exams but I never needed them.

Julius Goldhar
ENEE290

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/23/2024

I loved taking this course with Goldhar. As he says from the start, homeworks are difficult so that you find the tests to be easy. Only 2 midterms, and on both and the final he used problems directly from the practice problems he gave out. The course goes very fast, and the best way to describe his teaching is, well, jittery? The diff-eq section was understandable by just giving yourself time to process what you just learned (I'd say it took about a week, from learning + discussion and lab), and for linear algebra there are so many resources online that you'll get the hang of it. Our TA was very reliable, so having him as a resource also probably helped me get a good grade. There's also an immediate +5 curve for the class, an 85% is considered an A-, which is really nice. Its a lot of work, but he knows this, and his leniency with grading makes up for it.

Joseph JaJa
ENEE290

Expecting a B+
plannetterpuser63790
03/16/2024

I took ENEE290 in Fall 2023 and JaJa was a good professor. It was the second semester of the class being run and the course was structured to alternate between diff eq and linear algebra. His lecturing was very monotone but if you can get past that, you'll find that his lectures are helpful and he wants you to succeed. When introducing new topics, he generally took us through the derivation for a particular method, be it for diff eq or linear algebra, which I didn't find terribly helpful, but it's there if you learn better like that. Some topics took a few lectures to stick, like when we started covering eigenvalues and eigenspaces in the linear algebra units, but in general, if you know what to ask about, he will try his best to clear any confusion, so much so to the point that when almost the entire class got a question wrong on the first exam, he spent the next lecture taking us through how to answer it properly. The exams were quite easy and covered mostly more recent content. Homework assignments were split between mathy assignments, which I felt were significantly harder than class content and exams, and MATLAB "labs." There was no curve for the class. Overall 3.5/5.

Richard La
ENEE290

Expecting an A
Anonymous
06/05/2023

This was the first semester of ENEE290 and it went pretty well. It covered basic Differential Equations while also going into Linear Algebra. I will say, La did a lot of derivations in his lectures, just to end up on a formula that you didn't really need the derivation for. La definitely cared about our grades and would always ask to see if we were understanding the material. MATLAB's weren't that hard and the TA was always helpful. Homeworks were fair and not too complicated. The two midterms were very fair and not too challenging. I will say the final had a lot to do and it was hard to get everything done in time, but the class was pre-curved and an 80% was an A. I don't know what future semesters of this class will be like, but he first semester went pretty well and I think it was a bit easier than the MATH246 alternative and we learned all the fundamentals that we needed to.

Reviews for ENEE290