MATH135 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Kendall Williams MATH135 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/20/2024	I don't know why he has so many mid ratings for this class. But, I definitely understand the perspectives of those students. Like they said, he's good because he recorded lectures. I don't think the material was super challenging as long as you came to class, paid attention, and tried your best to review notes, do practice problems, and do all the assignments. I liked him because what you see is pretty much what you get. He does teach exactly from the textbook (which somehow has errors???). I think this was his first time teaching 135 as well. His exams were really fair in my opinion because they were based on the examples we went over in class. If you understand the examples in class, you should be fine. The discussion worksheets with the TAs can be a pain (but all sections had to do this regardless of the professor). The TAs were not the most helpful since they never sat in for class and usually didn't do things exactly as we were taught in class. But they weren't terrible. It does suck that he didn't curve or drop any exams. But you can still pass without it because the other assignments help cushion your grade. Overall, Dr. Williams was very kind and respectful towards students. I would take him again in the future.
Kendall Williams MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/20/2024	alright I got much to say about this man pros - records lectures - goes really slow during lecture and will take any questions and doesn't rush - super chill guy and it not annoying at all to deal with - homework's and discussion worksheets are very easy to do well (the discussion worksheets are actually super complex like never you have ever seen before in class but the TAs really help out) - test questions are very similar to the practice questions in class cons - teaches STRAIGHT from he textbook like it was very clear he had never tough this before and had no depth - it sometimes felt like he had no idea how to solve certain problems or would get confused -lectures are boring as they are just a regurgitation of the textbook - tests are not that hard but the averages were for some reason really low still- he didnt curve, even when the TAs took off 9 points for a question and gave no partial credit when it was clearly deserved for alot of the class
Kendall Williams MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/20/2024	Dr. Williams was entirely disorganized the entire semester, seemingly deciding which problems he would do about 5 minutes before our lecture. He would fumble his way through them, taking way longer than he needed too, and getting the wrong answer with concerning regularity anyway. He writes from the textbook verbatim and then complains that the way the textbook teaches the topic doesn't make sense (he's right but his teaching isn't particularly clear either.) But his exams were easy (if you practiced the kind of problems he did in class) and his final was very similar to the practice finals he provided us.
Kendall Williams MATH135 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/19/2024	Easy enough class, but bad professor. He has no idea what he's talking about and spends class dictating sentences from the textbook that he writes on the board with no further explanation. Many times over the course of the semester, he trailed off in the middle of a problem because he didn't have the foggiest clue how to continue. That being said, Rowland is supposed to be worse, so Williams is still probably the best professor to take for 135. He's fair and his exams are straightforward. The key to success in this class is to skim through the content in the textbook. The material really isn't that difficult, even if he makes it wayyy more confusing than it has to be. He also keeps it all pretty surface level, so not so much depth of understanding is necessary. Also, if you took AP Stat, you've already learned the majority of the material, so that helps a ton.
Kendall Williams MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/16/2024	It was his first time teaching the class, so some things were a little confusing. Overall a decent professor, his lectures consist of writing notes and doing practice problems from the book. Lectures are pretty boring but he does record them. The test typically had questions very similar to the ones we did in class so as long as you're redoing them and understand the process you'll be fine. The mini assignments he had us do in class or for homework were pretty easy and often had multiple attempts which helped boost my grade a little. I'd recommend him for MATH135.
Kendall Williams MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/16/2024	Dr. Williams was a good teacher. Nothing on his exams were unexpected or surprising. His exams were very reflective of what was taught in class (I didn't do any of the ungraded practice problems). Online quizzes and homework were easy and could be done based on what was taught in class. Worksheets and oral exams were easy, but I think they were useless as studying material for the class because they sometimes had nothing to do with what we were learning or they were wayyy easier than whatever we were learning in class. The practice exam review lectures (the lecture before the exam) were reflective of the actual midterms and the practice final exam was a good study source too. Honestly, (I do NOT recommend anyone do this) I studied the night before all of the exams (including the final) and got As on all of them. I literally rewrote all of the lecture notes and did the practice problems from the lecture the night before to study. For the final, I only used the practice final exam. If you can do all of the practice problems he does in lecture or at least memorize the steps to completing a problem, then the exams will be easy for you. The only bad thing about taking him is his communication skills. If you need to retake an exam after being sick or for whatever reason, scheduling a make up will be near impossible unless you meet with him in person. I sent him multiple emails in the same week trying to schedule a makeup (separate and on the same chain) and he wouldn't respond for multiple days or he would respond asking you when you want to take it, then you might answer only an hour later, and he won't answer you back until after the day you stated when you were ready to take it. Also, when you meet him in person about it, he will make it your fault or say that the communication fault is on you. He isn't a mean professor when you talk to him in person about it, it's just inconvenient when you try to do it through email. But in terms of communication overall, it doesn't make sense sometimes. But his grading is generous (he drops some assignments and gives a ton of partial points on exams), and his exams are more than fair.
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/15/2024	Nice guy but a terrible teacher. His lectures were almost pointless because he would spend most of the class talking about a random irrelevant practice problem. His lecture does not prepare you for the exam at all which are ten times harder than the homeworks. I relied HEAVY on my discussion TA and recommend going to those if you don't understand a concept. Had to look up youtube videos and use the textbook to self-teach basically everything for the class. I think he's really good at teaching higher level math but when it comes to lower level, he sucks. He does give a lot of partial credit and exams aren't weighted super heavily which is nice. If this is a class you have to take, you just have to be prepared to self-study your way through. The final wasn't too bad though so that's good, just look through the practice final and look at the exams you took for practice.
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/13/2024	i want to start out by saying he is very, very kind and makes a genuine effort to get to know you personally and to remember everyone's names. that being said, he is not a very good lecturer and his notes are almost illegible. if you take this class, i recommend that you go to every math discussion session as your TA will likely explain the material better than he does. i also recommend that you attend as many GSS meetings you are able. personally, my math is not very strong, but i thought the material in MATH135 was very self-teachable. i did not study very hard for the midterms nor the final and managed a B (sidenote, dr rowland does not do +/- grades.) you can do it!!!
Kendall Williams MATH135 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/13/2024	Overall, probably the best you can get for this course. Explains easier concepts pretty well, but when it comes to more difficult concepts, the professor is not the best at explaining but that might just be the reality of math. Discussions twice a week might be a little redundant and the discussions where the TA does not go over the problems are useless.
Kendall Williams MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/12/2024	Dr. Williams is far by the best math professor at UMD. Mind you I’m not good at math but I have to say he made it very enjoyable and worthwhile for me. I’m glad I took 135 under him, trust me when I say this; he wants his students to succeed!! Tips for this class, literally go over the stuff he did in class and you should be good!!
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/11/2024	This man is the sweetest professor I've met so far at UMD and that's why it hurts so much to say he's a bad teacher. The material isn't that hard but sometimes the problems on exams and worksheets are so convoluted the TAs were like we don't really know how to approach this problem but try their best to give partial credit. I've never gotten above an 89 on a midterm but with the way everything is weighted I can still manage an A even with a B on the final coming up. Rowland's so sweet and tries not to put any pressure on midterms but he is more often than not just rambling during class. I paid attention and went to every lecture but I probably would've been better off just using the textbook (which he does follows). It's crazy how bad his teaching is because you can tell he's like a math genius but the course content is so dumbed down it's like he doesn't know how to convey it in a way that makes sense to regular shmegular people. Don't take him unless you like to self study T_T
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/11/2024	please do not take guys. rambles on, doesn't teach, tests are hard. no resources to do well.
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/10/2024	DO NOT TAKE HIM!!!!! Worst class I have every taken in my entire life. Calc 1 was a breeze but I find this class challenging even though it's easy material!!!!! Wish I just took calc 2 instead of this because at least I would have been taught even though it would have been hard content. He spends the entire class trying to learn people's names and yapping. He never teaches anything, he just scribbles random gibberish. Don't even waste time going to lecture. The content is so easy but he makes it so HARD!!!!! The exams are nothing like the practice exams and impossible to finish. Genuinely the class started with 300 people in the beginning of the year and its now like 30 in class going to the end of the semester. Do yourself a favor and do not take this class!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HE MAKES ME SO MAD BRUH!!!!!!!
Hussain Ibdah MATH135 Anonymous 12/10/2024	Over-complicated topics. I thought he was nice at first, but then he said I would fail the exam because I didn’t understand a certain topic he taught. When I mentioned that I didn’t really understand, he tried to claim that I hadn’t attended class, but then stopped himself when he remembered seeing me in class often. Interestingly, that topic ended up being the one where I got the full number of points****. I wasn’t the only one who had trouble with the question—others in the class also said he never really taught it, and they didn’t understand it either. Literally, pick any professor other than him.
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/06/2024	the other reviews are true overall. he does not teach anything in lecture at all and there's genuinely no point in going. the tas are going to be your actual teachers and they do a great job of it. however, while his homeworks are the same as the other teacher, dr. rowland's exams are much, much easier than kendall willams. i had the privilege of looking at a friends test and, while we did learn the topics on the test, the problems on there were much more complicated than the ones on mine. he is also very nice but that doesn't reflect in his teaching. he's almost too smart to be teaching this class, which i understand. the textbook is going to be your best friend so download it off the internet and read it as you go through the topics.
Hussain Ibdah MATH135 Anonymous 12/05/2024	Over-complicated topics. I thought he was nice at first, but then he said I would fail the exam because I didn’t understand a certain topic he taught. When I mentioned that I didn’t really understand, he tried to claim that I hadn’t attended class, but then stopped himself when he remembered seeing me in class often. Interestingly, that topic ended up being the one where I got the least number of points correct. I wasn’t the only one who had trouble with the question—others in the class also said he never taught it, and they didn’t understand it either. Literally, pick any professor other than him.
Vasanth Pidaparthy MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/04/2024	BEST MATH TA. VERY GOOD TEACHER. THIS IS WHERE I LEARNED MATH.
Kendall Williams MATH135 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/04/2024	Solid is the only word to describe, knowledgable in mathematics but lectures can be boring and choppy. I did have him for his first time teaching it, so that could be why. I did so well because I studied hard with notes and files posted online. His tests were straight forward and I think he's probably the best bet for 135.
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/04/2024	He is a very nice and makes an effort to learn names even though it is a very large lecture. He is also very open to questions and will answer every one. BUT.. The actual teaching during lecture is not comprehensive, he just starts writing things down on paper and does not do a good job explaining concepts before starting practice problems that he doesn't always finish or do correctly. His lectures are confusing and unhelpful, which is why by the end of the semester it's down from 250 to <50. Questions on exams were on the same topics but different styles of questions, often more difficult, which I did not appreciate. The Canvas page is very hard to navigate. I always felt like resources were scattered. TAs in GSS and discussion are better at teaching than the actual instructor. Or even videos on youtube. I don't understand how someone who is so bad at explaining math can be a math teacher. Sure he knows how to do it, but how well can he teach you how to do it? The answer is not very well, at least not for me.
Kendall Williams MATH135 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/04/2024	He is the "better" math 135 teacher in my opinion but we have a very small pool to choose from basically in this sense you have to choose between the lesser evils once again. He does actually teach unlike some of the other teachers however I feel like this might actually be the reason why I dont get a thing in this class. I don't know why but something about his teaching style made it difficult for me to understand anything. He often simply just read straight for the book and barely explained where he got the formula's or numbers that he was using from. He goes on long tangents with notes that everyone is rushing to write down because he takes it straight from the book. Instead of summarizing the book chapter everyone basically writes everything down and has no clue how to approach the situation whenever we are studying since there are literal paragraphs of notes instead of just oh this formula is used for this or this formula is used for that. I swear if he just did that I would be understanding way more in this class but currently I am heavily relying on online math videos and my past pre calc, ap bio, and algebra knowledge. I feel as though I have learnt nothing personally in this class. Another thing is that instead of teaching us that easy or fast ways to do calculations he instead approaches it super difficultly, where in class he basically took 20 mins to do one questions but then expects us to do that same type of questions in a 50 min test that has like several long questions. His tests he also sometimes doesn't even base it on the book, which most of the students have to rely on to understand this class, his tests are all based on his class examples and notes but like I said nothing he does in class ever actually sticks with you. I know some students in the other teachers class and even though he doesn't teach if you understand those chapters from the book then you will get like a B on the tests however in this class even if you understand the book you might not do well in this class. I have had a very downwards line on the tests: from a 85 to a 70 something to a 65% on the last one.
Kendall Williams MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/04/2024	I love his teaching style. He goes through everything in detail (sometimes too much) and works a little slowly, but that makes it very easy to keep up with him. He shows every step he does, explains everything, and does practice problems in class. I felt that the tests were very fair and reflective of the content learned in class with no curveballs. He also answers ALL questions and makes time to ask if anyone has any questions before class starts. Most of the exam questions reflected problems done in class, in the textbook, or on the quizes/homework. Overall, a very personable and approachable professor and I would highly recommend him for MATH135.
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 11/22/2024	He’s a great guy but a horrible teacher for 135. He has not taught a single lesson all semester instead he does problems that he doesn’t finish.
Kendall Williams MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/22/2024	Decent professor, I've heard from others that Rowland is way worse so I picked him. I attribute my success in this course to my own study habits and review not his teaching. He goes very slow in lecture and is hard to follow sometimes because he will sometimes go back on notes he's already written or change them. He also writes down a lot in lecture that doesn't seem to be relevant. The course is easy if you keep up with notes and study though, midterms are heavily based on class material and examples so far. I would say they're decently fair. All in all, fine professor to take if you need this class.
Kendall Williams MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/21/2024	I really liked his teaching style. He goes through a lot of examples and is somewhat slow but goes at a good pace for students to follow along with his notes. He also posts recordings of all lectures so you don't really have to go to class. Exams and homework problems are very straightforward and align with what is taught in class.
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting a B Anonymous 11/19/2024	Nice guy! Do not take 135 with him. Going to the lectures were a waste of time because he simply does not teach! He provides little practice and when he does, the exams are 4x harder than the practice exams. I did better than the averages on most of the exams but I still won't be able to exceed with an A. Tough luck.
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/12/2024	I thing Dr. Rowland is a good teacher overall. He cares about the success of his students and you can tell as he is always willing to meet with you outside of class. You definitely have to learn a lot of material on your own, as what he is teaching in class does not always make sense the first time around partially because the way he explains concepts gets confusing. He gives practice exams which are very similar to the actual exams. And he has a nice policy where he drops the two lowest homework and quiz grades, and half the lowest midterm. Also, all the quizzes are online. If you study and do review then you can get an A. I would take this professor again.
Kendall Williams MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 10/30/2024	Dr. Williams is a decent professor, while his pacing may be slow , he teaches in a very straightforward manner. His homework and practice problem examples are good practice. While this is his first time teaching math 135, he does have 2 practice exams for each exam with solutions. He bases his exams off of those. As long as you go over the examples done in class and the practice exams you'll be fine for the actual exam. As for discussions, it really depends on who your TA is. I lucked out with having a TA who is an easy grader and is ok at explaining. At the end of the day just re watch his lectures and you'll be fine. Keep in mind im not good at math
Kendall Williams MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 10/15/2024	Dr. Williams is a pretty decent professor. He is very helpful and even when you can't attend his office hours he is willing to meet you outside his hours which is pretty nice. The only thing is this was his first semester teaching MATH135 so he doesn't have any practice problems or previous exams to use to study which isn't really helpful. He also sometimes doesn't finish a topic during the lecture yet we have quizzes every Friday. But overall he's pretty good and tries to help his students the best he can.
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting an A- Anonymous 10/15/2024	He does not teach basic math very well. From what I hear from other students, he does teach advanced math better than MATH135. If you end up in his class, start teaching yourself and utilize the TA's for help. Use the practice exams and other practice websites in order to learn the specific topic.
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting a B- Anonymous 10/14/2024	PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do yourself a favor and DO NOT take his class!!! He absolutely cannot teach. His "teaching" style is to post questions that have nothing to do with what we learned previously and then go over them in the lecture, except he doesn't explain what he is doing and typically gets lost himself. I will say, he is the absolute sweetest professor you will ever meet and he does make an effort to learn everyone's name. I can honestly say that halfway through the semester I have not learned a single thing in his class. He is just all over the place. I have heard that most of the math135 professors aren't very good, but he genuinely sucks. I know he has been teaching this course for years so there really is no excuse. People literally laugh at him in class and walk out because of how bad he is.
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 10/07/2024	Dr. Rowland is the nicest guy and is really brilliant, but, he is not good at teaching lower-level math. The lecture was always so disorganized with him jumping from one chalkboard to another so he was very hard to follow. The math itself is quite simple and easy but I think its too simple for his mathy mind to comprehend. You'll definitely end up with a good grade if you put some effort into learning the material on your own, its not hard stuff, but just be prepared to lose your mind in lecture.
Hussain Ibdah MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/21/2024	I took MATH135 so it was a lot easier compared to other math classes. I do think he can overcomplicate certain topics, so I spent most of my time learning on my own. The exams were not too difficult, and they reflected what we learned in class. However, I will say he does not really offer practice exams, his version of practice exams is through quizzes on ELMS. I wasn't really a fan of this. But other than that, he is a nice guy, just not that great at teaching. I really didn't spend too much time on this class each week. His homework is easy. His discussion worksheets are a little challenging but you're able to work with a group on them. Also - He did replace your lowest midterm score with your final score (if your final grade was higher)
Hussain Ibdah MATH135 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/19/2024	He's okay for 135, I took calc before I took 135 and also took AP stats so material wasn't difficult but if there is another professor available I would say take them instead. He wants his students to succeed and has plenty of assignments and opportunities to inflate your grade, even weighing down your lowest midterm if you do better on the final, he also posts a lot of review materials and would even hold weekly sessions explaining topics. Towards the end however, he would get frustrated if you would ask questions which made him feel slightly unapproachable, the TA's are very nice though!!
Hussain Ibdah MATH135 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/14/2024	He's an alright guy but his class kinda sucks ngl. His lectures are pretty boring and hard to see since he uses the chalkboard and he writes from his notes basically copy and paste, his handwriting isnt that good so if ur far away from the board its even worse. If you can read his notes they are actually pretty good there isnt too much exam content and you can basically get all the material without going to class. I put in minimal time studying and I barely got an A- with a tiny curve of like 2%. If ur like me and have a good base of general math and some general bio knowledge its a pretty easy B/A-. This was his first year teaching this class for me.
Hussain Ibdah MATH135 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/08/2024	Dr. Ibdah takes criticism well and works to make sure his students understand the content. He will explain topics again during lecture if it is unclear and always asks the class if they need more clarification. He openly takes questions and responds to emails quickly. He posts his lecture notes for every chapter and his exams are very fair. I have never seen a topic or question I did not do in class or for a quiz. He replaces your lowest exam grade with your final grade if it benefits you as well. The way he explains topics was difficult to understand, making his lectures not as useful to me.
Tamas Darvas MATH135 Expecting a B+ cdalbora 02/05/2024	Tamas was a fairly good teacher and listened to student feedback. His lectures became easier to follow as the semester went on. He is not the best with technology but is very nice and accommodating. If given the choice between him and Rowland, TAKE TAMAS
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/12/2024	Let me start this review by saying that this is probably one of the nicest professors I've ever had. Super considerate, funny, and overall just a nice guy. He is just not a very good teacher. He can be very confusing and tends to spend his lectures answering questions about the homework instead of teaching the subject. The quizzes and homework are very easy: he usually goes over those in class, but the exams can be very difficult and hard to study for. Be warned: the practice midterms seldom match the real one.
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/04/2024	Dr. Rowland is very kind and can be funny sometimes. He’s a great person but not the best professor. He goes on long tangents that barely make sense and takes too long to answer simple questions. But he is a really easy grader and makes the midterms and final quite easy. Also, most quizzes and homework have 2 attempts.
Tamas Darvas MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/18/2023	Tamas is great. Easy class as long as you show up to lectures since they aren't posted or recorded. Your grade is heavily weighted by other assignments, and his midterms are easy. Just don't expect any curve. Highly recommend him.
Tamas Darvas MATH135 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/17/2023	HE IS FANTASTIC, FUNNY, KIND, AND CARING! He is such a good lecturer. He goes through the textbook examples in class and explains each steps one at a time. His lectures were done at a good pace and his funny personality made the class very enjoyable. If you're not strong at math, take his class!
Tamas Darvas MATH135 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/16/2023	very helpful and funny, gives a lot of pop quizzes during lectures (only one question) and very easy. however, a lot of self teaching because he doesn’t really explain some of the concepts
Tamas Darvas MATH135 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/16/2023	If you can, take this professor, he was super sweet and understanding. Although there were certain topics he didn't explain very well (mostly the biological aspects of the class) there was a lot of other support. The TA's were very helpful in discussion so if you're feeling lost after a lecture or two it's pretty easy to catch up. There is homework in the textbook but it's not graded and there are quizzes and worksheets in discussion that can help stabilize your grade although they aren't worth much so it probably won't boost it by a lot. Before every exam he provides practice exams from previous years that are pretty much identical to the actual exams so they aren't too difficult if you study those. So sad he won't teach me again.
Tamas Darvas MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/16/2023	If you have the option to take this class with Darvas then go for it. As long as you keep up with the homework and pay attention in discussion then you'll get an A. Homework isn't graded so it's hard to remember or want to do it. I learned more from discussion than class but he did his best to make sure the class was following along and understanding the topics. Its probably for all of math135 but know that there is a quiz once a week and a graded worksheet once a week, but its pretty easy to get full credit on those. The TA's were really helpful and you could ask for help during the quiz/worksheet. Darvas provides practice exams that are exactly like the upcoming exams and thats extremely helpful when studying. The final isn’t hard but you just need to make sure you really know the material from the exams. I also took this at the same time as bio and chem and it was pretty easy to focus on those and keep this in the background.
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/16/2023	Dr. Rowland is a nice, caring person. He attempts to learn everybody's name and he tries hard to explain the content. He is also very open to questions and walking the class through challenging problems. However, his lectures are somewhat unorganized and honestly a little useless. I went to every lecture, but I hardly paid attention to them because of this. The good news is that this course is super easy, so Dr. Rowland doesn't really need to be that good of a teacher. I mainly used the textbook to write my notes as his notes were kind of all over the place and not very helpful. On the other hand, the discussions were beneficial and were much better at explaining the content than the lectures were, so I would recommend going to discussions over lectures. To prepare for exams, I just completed the practice exams on ELMS and read over my notes. The coursework is hardly time-consuming and I only spent about 2 hours studying per midterm (and 3 hours for the final), with most of that time dedicated to going over the practice exams. Dr. Rowland also usually hosts an online exam review session the night before exams, which I didn't really use, but he basically just answers people's questions and goes over any problems from the practice exams that people wanted help with. The exams themselves are not hard and are pretty similar to the practice exams. As for grading, it's fair, he drops half of your lowest midterm, doesn't use +/-, and is not heavily weighted toward exams. All in all, this is a fairly easy course with plenty of resources and a mediocre, but kind, professor.
Tamas Darvas MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/15/2023	Professor Darvas is a really nice guy and great professor. He genuinely cares about his students and wants them to succeed. The class isn’t hard, mostly statistics and his exams are very fair (the averages are always pretty good). The midterms are very similar to past exams and practice problems we do in class. Overall a great teacher and you should take him.
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/14/2023	DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS!! He's probably the sweetest professor I've ever had and is a great guy, but his teaching style is not it. I've never been in a more disorganized class. The lectures aren't really "learning," it's more like someone asks questions and he goes over them for the entire class period. Also, the practice midterms are not like the real exams so be prepared to have a random question thrown your way. I had to do a lot of self-studying for this class and it takes up a lot of work. Btw, don't depend on the half-dropped midterm, it almost does nothing for your grade
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/14/2023	Professor Rowland as a person is quite endearing. He takes the time to get to know his students, initiates conversations with you, and cracks sardonic jokes. He's very encouraging and accommodating toward his students. Take note, however: once he knows your name and becomes comfortable with you, he will call you out and ask you to answer questions in front of the class. This sometimes involves solving a problem on the front chalkboard. Of course, if you decline, he won't force you, but this is just something he does that might concern some. It's usually the people in front he targets but once in a while he will make his way to the back. The questions are usually easy to answer, though, so don't stress about this. Professor Rowland as a teacher, however, can be challenging, but the content itself isn't. Lectures are usually composed of content material, practice problems, and questions. When covering content, he tends to go off-topic, but when he's taking questions, he often goes through homework and in-class quizzes and gives the answer to you (worth attending for this reason). He provides notes for each topic, and while they can be helpful, they can be equally confusing. If you want organization, it's better to go by the textbook for definitions, relationships, examples, etc. If you ask him a question, his explanations are a hit-or-miss. For explanations, it's better to show up to the discussions and have the TAs explain it to you; I definitely do not recommend skipping the discussions for this class. To get ready for each exam, he provides 2 old exams + answer keys, an online practice exam, and also holds a Zoom review session the night before. The exams are fair and not too hard; grading for partial credit is generous. There is quite a bit of teaching yourself in this class but as long as you put in a decent amount of effort, you should be able to keep an A. Good luck!
Tamas Darvas MATH135 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/12/2023	Tamas clearly knows the content of 135 very well and teaches it in a manner that worked very well for me. He does go kind of fast during lecture when reviewing concepts but does take the time to make sure that he answers any questions that students have. You get one lecture quiz a week, as well as one quiz and one worksheet in the discussion sections. Overall I enjoyed having him and I learned a lot from this class although 135 is not a very difficult course. Take him!
Tamas Darvas MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/08/2023	Tamas is funny and enjoyable, however overcomplicated many topics. His exams are similar to the homework and practice exams. There are two 75 min lectures per week and two 50 min discussions per week so be prepared to spend a lot of time with this course. DIS and hw were the main reason for my grade in the class.
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting a C Anonymous 12/06/2023	Dr. Rowland is a character. He definitely cares about the students and he tries to answer everyone’s questions. He’s not the best lecturer…he gets a bit off topic sometimes and that makes it hard to understand some of the material. He doesn’t record his lectures but he writes clearly on the chalkboard. He uploaded a lot of resources for practice and there’s plenty of HW/ in class assignments that help boost your grade. Overall nice guy and I’d rather take his class again than do Math140 lol.
Tamas Darvas MATH135 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/01/2023	I just don't think he was meant to teach a lower-level math to mostly life science students. I can see him being a blast in courses that are higher level and filled with actual math majors, but he just doesn't break things down clearly enough, or over complicates well-known biological theorems. I am sure he would be wonderful, just not to a struggling bio student
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/21/2023	I'm going to start this review by saying he is a very nice professor. He makes a substantial effort in getting to know his students that attend lecture and is overall one of the nicest faculty members on campus. However, when it comes to his ACTUAL teaching, he is subpar. He rants about the most little things, often gets distracted while teaching a concept, and does not thoroughly explain important things for his course. The notes he posts on ELMS are VERY confusing, and the class averages on exams are always in the 60s-70s despite the course being less difficult than MATH140 or MATH141. He does not curve his exams; however, he will drop half of the lowest exam grade. I'd say invest time into the textbook and/or a tutor if you want to be successful in this course. However, you can still get low B's/high C's on the exam and manage to hold an A in the course (like me!). I feel alright going into the final but I would suggest that anyone taking to not expect him to make the course a breeze. Attending discussion sessions is mandatory if you want to be somewhat prepared for his exams. His class is manageable but good luck if you do not like teaching yourself concepts.
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/17/2023	He is a nice guy just not the best lecturer. He does not teach well during the lectures and will often go on tangents for a singular problem/question during the whole class. Sometimes I question whether I should go to lecture or not because it's repetitive and counter-productive. I will say though, he is one of the most accommodating and caring professors. He really makes an effort to get to know everyone in his lecture (even though they are SO big). I would recommend not to take him if you have the option not to. Good luck everyone!
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting an A- Anonymous 11/14/2023	He's a super nice and funny professor, but I feel like his teaching style does not help me learn at all. I do not often attend lectures because I feel like I struggle to learn anything from it. The textbook also doesn't really help because the course material is usually a bit more difficult or slightly different from the textbook. However, the exams are definitely fair and the discussions are helpful.
Lutian Zhao MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/04/2023	His exams are really easy because his practice exams are just like the actual exam but I wish he had let us solve problems in class on our own instead of working out everything on the board so quickly. leaving everyone confused. He also gives the TA too much power. A lot of them do not properly grade the bio worksheets that we get during discussions, so when you got to him, he is very hesitant or unwilling to regrade it for you because he gave the TA power to grade how they want to grade.
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/15/2023	I came into this class with general mathematics knowledge with iffy knowledge from AP Calc because it was COVID year, and I'd say everything was very manageable. People hating on this guy for no reason. Chillest professor, super nice and understanding, as well as accommodating for student's real-life circumstances. He is a bit over the place for the lectures but he gives good practice for exams, office hours are very helpful, and his class structure points wise is very student friendly (Drops 3 lowest HWs, 2 lowest classworks, half of your worst exam (example: 70/100 becomes 35/50)). Do beware of the second exam, this is designed to bring down the class average. First and third exams should be a breeze, as well as the final. His practice final was very similar to the actual final!! Note that all of this applies to MATH136 as well. Great human, could be a bit better as a lecturer, but I believe the guy is probably too experienced to be teaching an entry-level calculus class anyways.
Lutian Zhao MATH135 Expecting an A+ ReakatheGOAT 05/15/2023	If you are thinking about taking this course instead of Calc 2, I encourage you to do so. This course is manageable and teaches you important topics in biology. Prof. Zhao is a clear lecturer. He covers necessary material in class and doesn’t go on tangents or get off-topic. Exams are fair and will not throw in any surprise questions. You will not regret 135 with Zhao.
Tyler Simmons MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/14/2023	This man was legit the best TA I have ever had for any of my classes. Thank you Tyler I genuinely appreciate you for your help and incredible discussion sections.
Lutian Zhao MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/13/2023	This man is simply a legend. Great teacher, gives great resources for exams and is very approachable and kind. He explained a complex problem to me over email once. He is genuinely a fantastic teacher, and the TAs were also great so shoutout to them. Thank you, Professor Zhao!
Lutian Zhao MATH135 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/13/2023	Zhao was nice, but kind've hard to follow. I learned to do his problems rather than understand his content. Practice exams were basically the exact same as the actual exam. Final was slightly harder because he pulled questions from other professors, who may have worded it differently. Bio discussions are once a week and mandatory, but I felt like it was a useless session. Overall, this was an easy A class.
Lutian Zhao MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/11/2023	TAKE THIS CLASSSSS HE'S SO NICE AND ANSWERS QUESTIONS THROUGHLY
Lutian Zhao MATH135 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/09/2023	Im terrible at math and ill say that now. However he may not be the best professor but the class is very easy. The topics are easy to grasp and the test are identical to what you do in class and the practice midterms (usually practice midterm B). Also go to your math discussion as well as your bio discussion. Almost nobody shows up to the discussion on Monday (math) since it is not mandatory so it is practically a private tutor session with your TA who explains what you will learn all week. Not a bad class not a bad professor overall.
Lutian Zhao MATH135 Expecting an A+ dacosta3 05/06/2023	Lutian Zhao is super nice and very funny. If you want a good grade, I recommend this class. The practice exams are exactly like his exams. This class was pretty easy. Although class and the math discussion are optional, I would highly recommend going. They were instrumental in me understanding the concepts. The bio discussions are not optional and you can not get the homework if you do not go. Do the practice exams, and you will pass.
Lutian Zhao MATH135 Expecting an A+ Manssuri 05/02/2023	He is so kind and very accommodating. I enjoyed his lectures, and he always is very transparent about what will be on the exams. This class can be an easy A as long as you go to the bio discussions and do the homeworks. The bio discussions were the most difficult part in my opinion, and even then it wasn't that bad and he was always very willing to help. I'd highly recommend this professor!
Lutian Zhao MATH135 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 02/15/2023	TAKE HIM. literally the best. He made me love this class. He is really kind and really wants to help his students. It was his first time teaching this class and he did phenomenal. His lectures are really straightforward, he introduces the topic, explains it, gives examples. He has an accent but it was not a problem for me. As for discussion, it’s a lot of busy work because many of the worksheets aren’t on the exams but the TA’s I had were good and easy graders. Especially TA Omar, he is amazing. As for exams, Zhao’s reviews are great, he covers everything on the exam and is great at answering questions. The practice tests are very very similar to the actual test as someone said in another comment. They are not impossible tests, he covers everything in lectures, you just need to go to lecture, take notes, review two days before and you will get an A. MORAL OF THE STORY: TAKE THIS PROF. My class average was an 87 if that isn’t proof enough.
Lutian Zhao MATH135 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 02/03/2023	If I was rating Professor Zhao on how nice he is, it'd be an easy five stars. But I'm sorry, he was just not a good lecturer. He treated lectures like office hours, often helping individual students one at a time while leaving the other one hundred of us to sit and wait. Maybe he stopped doing this later on in the semester, but honestly I stopped going after a few weeks because it felt like such a waste of time. He was all over the place when it came to lecturing, and he didn't explain concepts well. The textbook was barely relevant to the subject of the class, the TAs were unhelpful, and the class felt chaotic all semester. That being said, it's definitely an easy class. The exams were almost identical to the practice exams, so if you know those practice exams inside and out, it's almost a guaranteed A. Zhao also responds to emails quickly, which is nice. And really, he is such a nice guy, just... not amazing at teaching.
Lutian Zhao MATH135 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/25/2023	He's a very nice guy and does his best for his students. The class itself was chaos - the TAs weren't very helpful in discussion and sometimes taught things completely differently from Zhao, the lectures were often more confusing than helpful, and the textbook was hardly relevant. However, the midterms were straight from the practice ones (like literally just different names and numbers), and he took time to clear things up on exam review days, so the disorganized class structure didn't affect exam scores too much. As long as you complete the assignments and make sure you understand the practice exams, you can get a good grade. Also, the lowest exam score was weighted at 50%. The final definitely had some curveballs because it was written by another professor alongside Zhao, but with the midterms you'll probably have a cushion for your grade. That being said, I don't even know what I learned from that class. It was a mix of basic algebra, sequences/functions, and statistics, so I don't know how helpful it would be for someone who actually wants to learn math. For bio majors who just want the credit, though, Professor Zhao is an easy A.
Lutian Zhao MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/29/2022	This was one of the best professors I’ve ever had. He is so kind and cares about his student’s understanding the material. Sign up for his classes right now!!
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/22/2022	As other people have said, he is a nice guy but his teaching style is not beneficial. To do well in this class, you had to do a lot of self-teaching outside of the class. On top of keeping up with other courses, it definitely becomes a lot. The TAs were somewhat helpful, but sometimes the topics also got confusing when they tried to explain them. The first practice exam was very similar to the actual exam, so it was helpful. The last few though have been fairly different, so studying off of the practice exams became less helpful. If you have a packed schedule, I would suggest avoiding taking him because you will spend a lot of time reviewing material outside of the class in order to do well.
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/21/2022	This man is one of the best and funniest profs at UMD. His lectures are fairly disorganized, but he provides more than enough resources to earn a good grade in this class!
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/20/2022	Not very flexible. Unfunny as well.
Lutian Zhao MATH135 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/19/2022	Professor Zhao is such an amazing professor. His exam guides very accurately represent his exams, and he is one of the nicest human beings. Definitely take him if you can because he's a great person and professor. His class is not at all difficult if you go to lectures and discussions, but honestly, as long as you understand the practice midterms, you should be fine.
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/19/2022	Very nice and caring person, but not the best teacher (however, not the worst). His lessons can be a bit all over the place and the notes he posts are written notes, so they can be kind of hard to understand. As long as you pay attention in lecture, he usually goes over all of the equations you'll need to use (math TA will go over everything during discussion which is super helpful so good to go to discussion just for reinforcement). Weekly homeworks are on Canvas, so super easy to complete and he ended up doing a lot of them in class anyway. Gives practice midterms but really hit or miss about whether they are true to the actual exam. Going to office hours can help if you have specific questions. I personally have not touched the textbook this entire semester, but I've heard from some people that they teach themselves the material using that, so could be helpful for some people. Overall, biggest thing is just to create a connection with him and go to office hours if you need help with the homework or understanding something on a practice test. Also, I'm pretty sure he does not do + or - when it comes to grading, so 90-100 is an A, 80-89 a B and so on.
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/18/2022	First, the pros. Dr. Rowland is a nice man, will explain anything to you in office hours, responds to emails very fast, and tries to learn everyone’s name. The cons: he is an extremely bad lecturer and gets lost in the middle of his examples in class. His practice exams are meant to be what you should study from but he makes his exams much harder than the practices and includes problems you likely haven’t seen before. Avoid taking him if possible. I really liked him as a person but I wish I’d gone with the other professor.
Lutian Zhao MATH135 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/17/2022	-This is a very easy class as long as you take notes. Homework questions consist of examples he had gone over during lectures with different values so make sure you take notes. -Practice midterm: STUDY THEM. His exams are outlined and styled after the practice midterms, only with different numbers. -At the end of the semester, he also gives a curve. (Which I personally think it is unnecessary since class average is really high)
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/16/2022	Very nice professor. You can tell he wants his students to do good and understand the material. He always has a review session before each exam and holds office hours where he helps you with things like homework and overall clarity on the material. As said by others, his lectures are indeed all over the place and sometimes it was hard to understand. He had "surprise" quizzes every Friday and would always help out on answering them and allowed us to work with others. He also never had slides, just a doc. I personally found it harder with the doc to follow through but you could still understand. The class, overall, is pretty easy so you won't have a hard time. He drops half of the lowest midterm and his practice exams were kinda similar to the real exams. Just don't use the practice exam as your only way of studying because I did that once and on the real exam there was a whole section I didn't know how to do. Know the material itself and you will do fine.
Lutian Zhao MATH135 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/16/2022	Not the best teacher, but it is an easy class. I didn't go to lectures because i would learn anything in them, but i was still able to learn the material. The practice midterms are identical to the real midterms with a few numbers switched. If you can get a good grade on the practice midterms then you'll do fine on the midterms. *The final is written by the department and is much more difficult than the midterms.
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/15/2022	Do not take MATH 135 with Dr. Rowland. Like everyone else says, he's really nice, but not a good professor. His teaching is so scatterbrained and impossible to follow. The exam averages were in the 60s and 70s. This is a 100-level class.. how does that make sense?? People have said that his exams are close to the practice exams.. well, not anymore. We had 1 exam that was close to the practice exam, and that was it. He tests us like he is a good enough teacher to warrant tests that expand on what we learned in class. I don't think it is impossible to get an A, but we all have other classes and commitments, too. I, for one, had too demanding of a schedule to put hours of work into this class every week in order to just teach myself the material, let alone study it. Take this class with Zhao instead. Everyone in that class had much better things to say (and I would assume better grades too) than people with Rowland.
Lutian Zhao MATH135 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/15/2022	He has really good reviews because he's a nice person, but that's it. Sure, the class is easy A but only because the midterms are practically identical to the practice exams, and the weekly homework assignments aren't bad either. However, the class is very disorganized and chaotic. Nothing makes sense until right before the exam. He doesn't explain things very well, he mostly just does practice problems. The textbook is also very vague. You do good on exams by teaching yourself how to do the practice exam, not by actually learning the material if that makes sense. The TAs also cannot explain things very well. They just do problems with their backs facing the class and expect you to understand. Even though I have an A, this class was very frustrating.
Lutian Zhao MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/15/2022	He is passionate about teaching us this subject. He wants everyone to succeed and is very helpful in office hours. The TAs often clarified things if the lecture was hard to understand, but he is a great professor! The practice exams are very similar to the actual exams so exam prep is pretty easy. I recommend taking his class!
Lutian Zhao MATH135 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/13/2022	Lutian is great!! Cares about his students and emails back so quickly. Midterms are also almost identical to practice midterms. Take him if you can.
Lutian Zhao MATH135 Anonymous 12/12/2022	He is an icon and he is THE MOMENT. literally could not have asked for a better math professor.
Lutian Zhao MATH135 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/09/2022	My favorite professor I had this semester. One of the liveliest, hard-working people I have met. For lectures, he makes sure to write out every single step of the problem to make sure we all understand what is happening. He is so dedicated and tries his best to make us understand everything. He always responds immediately to emails and is very responsive and helpful to questions in class.
Lutian Zhao MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/01/2022	This guy is great, he is very funny and truly cares about his students. This was his first time teaching this course and he did a great job. The practice exams are almost exactly like the exams and I never had to use the textbook at all. This can be a self-taught class if you'd like it to be, I found this easiest because the content was hard to absorb in the large classroom. However, if the large classroom doesn't bother you at all you could just go to lectures, not have to do GSS or office hours, and be totally fine. (Discussion is mandatory)
Lutian Zhao MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/30/2022	He is a really good guy and the practice exams are exactly like the midterms. The homework are pretty easy and this class overall does not take up much time outside of lecture. You can tell how much he cares about his students' success and is always happy to help students out.
Lutian Zhao MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/29/2022	lutian "slay" zhao—he's a really kind person. in addition to his profound kindness, his practice exams are almost identical to his actual exams. with that in mind, this is already a significant proprietor as to why you should select him as your professor. it's really no joke how his practice exams are just the actual exam but with different numbers. he's also really funny. his examples in class are straightforward and going to him for office hours is never intimidating. literally math is my worst subject and i always got horrible grades in math in high school but i am expecting an A in this class. also, just like most math classes, this class does not do + or -. meaning, it's equivalent to an A+, B+, C+, etc. in the grade book. the homeworks are also straightforward but it really just depends on your TA and how useful they'll be. he also drops 50% of your lowest midterm (which is typically the first exam but don't worry it's only hard because of the high school to college transition). also, if you're choosing between professors, PLEASE choose zhao. don't make the same mistake my other friends made. another tip—if you took AP stat in high school it's gonna help you on the third exam.
Lutian Zhao MATH135 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 11/28/2022	Such a charismatic and lively professor. Always tries his hardest to make sure the students understand; his hands are almost always completely covered in chalk at the end of class because of how much he writes on the board to make sure the students understand every step of the process. Excellent, actually the best professor I've had, in terms of responding to emails and problems that I have had. Makes the practice tests almost identical to the actual tests, which really helps you know what you need to study for. The TA's did their best to teach the material, but both of mine have never taken college biology courses so they were unfamiliar with a lot of the terminology the course covered; they tried their hardest to teach us the content so I thank them anyways. Interesting twist on classical mathematics and always looked forward to the lectures :)
Lutian Zhao MATH135 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 11/19/2022	He is a sweet guy who teaches with many examples but the class is not always comprehensive material-wise and you don't really know what the topics are until near test review days. In my opinion, this is a self-teach class but the topics he tests are very surface level so don't get too hung up on not understanding the textbook. The homework is straightforward and the tests mirror the study guide almost completely.
Scott Preston MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/07/2022	Fairly unorganized, and you could get pretty much all the information you needed for the class out of the textbook. Wasn't a great lecturer, but the exams were manageable, and curved when the average was too low.
Scott Preston MATH135 Expecting a P Anonymous 10/03/2022	Extremely disorganized. Your job as a student was to take these rambling, convoluted styles of math problems that were 9 sentences long and form them into complex, multi-step graduate-level math problems (Eigenvectors, Leslie Matrices). He liked to treat them like a puzzle and give you only 30% of the info you needed, expecting you to draw tables and charts and use red yarn to figure out the rest on your own. Then he expected you to set up your own math equation from this bs, then solve it in several steps. This would be like, 20% of an exam grade. The rest were the same way. The book was different than what was on his midterms. The lectures were different than what was in the book. Almost nothing connected, and there's nothing online to help you, and he wrote so fast and jumped around on his slides, that you would be writing notes for the wrong page without realizing it. A total nightmare that almost cost me my mental health. Don't take his class.
Jakob Hultgren MATH135 Anonymous 05/15/2022	If you are taking MATH135 take Hultgren. He is a great professor and is very chill. He makes the class very easy and allows a formula sheet (front and back) for every exam and the lowest exam gets dropped. He also allows 4 formula sheets for the final. He's very accommodating and always is happy to answer questions. He also creates a practice exam and it's almost exactly the same as the actual exam. The material isn't too hard to understand and as long as you understand it you'll do well in the class.
Jakob Hultgren MATH135 Anonymous 05/11/2022	Really nice person, practice exams are pretty identical to the actual exams which was nice and even lets you have a formula sheet. The oral exams were pretty easy, just make sure you are present on that day. Worksheets were kind of random, some were easy, some harder but if you go to the discussions they pretty much can answer your questions and show you how to do the problems. Overall not as much stress with this class considering its a math class compared to others.
Jakob Hultgren MATH135 Anonymous 05/05/2022	Hakob (as he likes to call himself) is a silly little man and honestly this class is really easy. He lets you have formula sheets for all your tests, so you can get away with not studying for an exam if you have a good formula sheet (I managed to score a 97 on one of my tests without studying because of this). He's a really bad lecturer though so that's the only downside but as long as you understand the material it's definitely an easy A.
Scott Preston MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/11/2022	He was a very sweet professor and was willing to help when you needed it. However, as others have said, he's very unorganized. Once, he forgot all of his notes and had to leave class for 20 minutes to go get them. His exams always had some sort of issue(but he'd never blame it on us, he'd just get rid of the question or correct it midtest), the workload was also unnecessarily large in my opinion, he wouldn't teach some things in lecture but they'd be on the homework, and his final grading system wasn't correct in ELMS, which isn't bad but wasn't my favorite. However, I got an A easily because he gave me all the resources to succeed. Don't skip lectures, try to show up to as many discussions as possible, and actually do the homework, don't just copy it. He'll make exam questions identical to the homework!!!!!!
Scott Preston MATH135 Anonymous 12/31/2021	Preston was a good teacher as long as you show up to the lectures it should be easy. His exams are somewhat tough but if you go over his notes you should be fine.
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/19/2021	Professor Rowland is the epitome of great guy, but not so great teacher. You really have to pay attention in class to understand some of the harder problems because he can make it very hard to follow and his work tends to be all over the place. I recommend going to office hours if you have a legitimate question so he can explain it to you one on one. That being said, it is possible to get an A in this class, and he makes an effort to get to know everyone and their names which is a lot more than I can say for most professors at UMD.
Scott Preston MATH135 Anonymous 12/06/2021	WORST PROFESSOR I HAVE EVER HAD AT UMD! I REPEAT: WORST PROFESSOR I HAVE EVER HAD AT UMD! While he was sort of a nice guy, he was the worst professor. He gave zero review for exams, his exams were extremely difficult and unorganized, and do not get me started about his lectures. Preston rambles on during his lectures, hoping eventually he will find what he wants to say. He writes out his notes with his sloppy handwriting, and messes up his own examples!!! He makes no sense at all whatsoever. DO NOT TAKE ANY MATH WITH PRESTON!
Scott Preston MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/01/2021	I have very mixed feelings. I did well in this class, but there were some things about this professor that made it hard to do so. Overall, I think he is a nice and funny guy who loves math, but he is quite unorganized. A lot of problems had numerical typos and that made it 10x harder to understand the homework and tests. The tests are also worded in a ver confusing manner. But, he drops an exam and either one or two homeworks. If you go to class and ask for help, it's easy enough to do well. Sometimes his dry humor can come off as condescending, but he is helpful if you really need it. The homework and tests did not need to be as confusing, time consuming, and difficult as they were made to be. Overall, nice guy, alright class, but took up a ton of my time for what should be an easier class.
Jakob Hultgren MATH135 Anonymous 01/13/2021	I love Jakob, he's so kind. I took the class entirely online in Fall 2020 and it was a mixture of asynchronous and synchronous. His lectures were pretty good, he goes through every step of a problem and provides a lot of examples. There were some times that he would seem to skip a step and he'd write something on his lecture slide that I personally had no idea where it came from, but for the most part I felt that his lectures were really organized and made sense. He had weekly quizzes on Wednesday that were usually pretty ok, sometimes they would pull some out of pocket questions at you. My word of advice would be to do the practice textbook problems. They weren't graded but they were extremely helpful for the quizzes. The only issue with the textbook problems is that Jakob never went over them himself and his TAs would go over them in both a synchronous discussion and a published video the day of the quiz. These were probably my least favorite part of the course, just because it felt like there was a significant disconnect between Jakob and the TAs sometimes; the TAs would often explain how to solve a problem in a way that Jakob didn't teach and not go over all of the problems / go over ones that weren't assigned. There was also a weekly worksheet that was done with a group due Saturday morning, and these worksheets were very hit or miss. Sometimes they were really easy and sometimes they were extremely difficult, there was no way to predict it. They also didn't always align with what Jakob had taught that week, but there was a live discussion on Fridays to go over the worksheet before it was due. The oral exams in that class were also VERY easy, every single time. For the exams, Jakob would publish a practice exam that was usually very nearly identical to the structure of the actual exams, so the exams weren't too difficult. He would also give a lot of time for them and make them open all day. Overall, not too difficult of a class at all, even for someone who's pretty bad at math. Would absolutely recommend Jakob as a professor, aside from how he is as a teacher, he just seems like a really great person--I wish I had the opportunity to have him in person.
Jakob Hultgren MATH135 Expecting an A- Anonymous 01/08/2021	He is a really nice guy and is super approachable. He was also really organized when teaching the class online. His lectures are decent, so I would still use them as a resource to just get an introduction to the material. They're not really helpful in getting an in-depth understanding of the material so I would not rely solely on it. He had one synchronous lecture every week which was not recorded and I did not attend that at all. For discussion, we were able to either choose to attend a synchronous discussion or watch an asynchronous recording. The times on the quizzes/exams were super flexible -- we always had a 24 hour window to complete the quizzes and the exam window was very fair (I think about 1.5 hours something like that). For the final exam, he gave us about a 34-hour window to complete it which I thought was really nice. The textbook really helped the most -- especially the practice problems. We had quizzes once a week which were pretty difficult at times and it matters to do well because that is a section of your grade that will help you in the end. We were assigned into groups of 2/3 to complete a worksheet every week. This also matters to do well on because of the weight on your final grade. I found that at the beginning they were a breeze but they became super difficult. The best method I used was going to discussion sections on Friday to get help from the TA. Then there are "oral exams" every four weeks with your worksheet partner in which you attend your assigned discussion section and the TA will ask you one or two questions based on the worksheet that you did. It's really nothing at all to worry about and most of the time the questions are not math-related. They just ask about applications to the real-world. You should definitely get a 100% on all of them if you just have something to say, even if it's wrong. There is no curve in the class but this is because he drops a lot of assignments at the end which is actually a godsend. I got a D on the first midterm, B's on the next two midterms, and an A on the final. I had a high B/ low A average on the quizzes/worksheet section. I ended with an A- in the class (I had 89.56% and he rounded it without me asking!!). Overall, as you can see with my stats, if you start off a bit slow and do average on the other assignments you should end up with a good grade. The practice exam is identical to the actual exam. As for the material, it really is not bad at all and is way better than calculus.
Jakob Hultgren MATH135 Anonymous 12/17/2020	super nice guy. teaching abilities are ok. You might need to go to office hours every now and then. He gave out practice tests this semester the week of each midterm and they were almost identical to the actual tests. Would recommend over Rowland. This is corona so he taught us how to calculate everything with google sheets and wolfram...just plug and chug and you'll get it:)
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/10/2020	Amazing professor who stays after in office hours to make sure students understand.
Todd Rowland MATH135 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/09/2020	Cool guy but did not teach well and was mostly a self taught class. The TAs carried the class this year and they were actually super helpful. Doing the practice exams were the best form of studying for me and the workload was decent but the worksheets were a little confusing although TAs explained most of it pretty well during discussions. Sorry Todd.
Todd Rowland MATH135 Anonymous 10/27/2020	Dr Rowland is a super nice guy and it pains me to say this, but he’s not a very good teacher. His entire class this semester seems very confused about topics that seem relatively simple. He presents the material using some weird program that has a lot of unnecessary code around the text. His notes are sloppy, disorganized and very hard to interpret. For the most part, the TAs were better at explaining the concepts in a lot clearer manner. However, he is willing to go out of his way to try to help you if you ask, and the grading is very lax. It’s probably difficult to do poorly in this class even if you don’t understand what is going on
Casey Cremins MATH135 Expecting an A- Anonymous 03/24/2020	Cremins gets such a bad rap. He is boring, but about halfway through the semester he began to become more engaging. He stopped reading off the powerpoint and began trying to engage the class and did problems on the board and explained them better. The exams are not awful if you do the homework (exam problems tend to be similar to the homework). He is actively trying to become a better professor.
Laura Iosip MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/25/2019	Learning is easy with her Always does practice problems before quiz Understanding Really teaches the material so you understand An awesome person. She is so nice and helpful.
Laura Iosip MATH135 Expecting an A- Anonymous 11/20/2019	Best teaching assistant ever! quite literally would not be getting through math 135 without her. So sweet and uploads the worksheets and answer keys to a website and that becomes super helpful around exam time. She makes everything so clear and does example problems before the quizzes. I wish she could be the professor instead of Casey Cremmins.
Heyrim Cho MATH135 Expecting a B Anonymous 04/26/2019	She’s a very sweet person and obviously very smart, but is not a very good teacher. Hard to follow lectures and exam questions are all over the place
Casey Cremins MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/05/2019	Reads off slides and does examples directly from textbook. Chooses the hardest questions for his exams, but are not too hard overall. Learned majority from textbook, not from him or the TAs.
Heyrim Cho MATH135 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/18/2018	She is a super smart and nice person, but not the greatest at teaching her material. the quizzes and projects are super easy, but her tests are pretty tough and there may not be a curve instituted, depending on the class average.

Kendall Williams
MATH135

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/20/2024

I don't know why he has so many mid ratings for this class. But, I definitely understand the perspectives of those students. Like they said, he's good because he recorded lectures. I don't think the material was super challenging as long as you came to class, paid attention, and tried your best to review notes, do practice problems, and do all the assignments. I liked him because what you see is pretty much what you get. He does teach exactly from the textbook (which somehow has errors???). I think this was his first time teaching 135 as well. His exams were really fair in my opinion because they were based on the examples we went over in class. If you understand the examples in class, you should be fine. The discussion worksheets with the TAs can be a pain (but all sections had to do this regardless of the professor). The TAs were not the most helpful since they never sat in for class and usually didn't do things exactly as we were taught in class. But they weren't terrible. It does suck that he didn't curve or drop any exams. But you can still pass without it because the other assignments help cushion your grade. Overall, Dr. Williams was very kind and respectful towards students. I would take him again in the future.

Kendall Williams
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/20/2024

alright I got much to say about this man pros - records lectures - goes really slow during lecture and will take any questions and doesn't rush - super chill guy and it not annoying at all to deal with - homework's and discussion worksheets are very easy to do well (the discussion worksheets are actually super complex like never you have ever seen before in class but the TAs really help out) - test questions are very similar to the practice questions in class cons - teaches STRAIGHT from he textbook like it was very clear he had never tough this before and had no depth - it sometimes felt like he had no idea how to solve certain problems or would get confused -lectures are boring as they are just a regurgitation of the textbook - tests are not that hard but the averages were for some reason really low still- he didnt curve, even when the TAs took off 9 points for a question and gave no partial credit when it was clearly deserved for alot of the class

Kendall Williams
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/20/2024

Dr. Williams was entirely disorganized the entire semester, seemingly deciding which problems he would do about 5 minutes before our lecture. He would fumble his way through them, taking way longer than he needed too, and getting the wrong answer with concerning regularity anyway. He writes from the textbook verbatim and then complains that the way the textbook teaches the topic doesn't make sense (he's right but his teaching isn't particularly clear either.) But his exams were easy (if you practiced the kind of problems he did in class) and his final was very similar to the practice finals he provided us.

Kendall Williams
MATH135

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/19/2024

Easy enough class, but bad professor. He has no idea what he's talking about and spends class dictating sentences from the textbook that he writes on the board with no further explanation. Many times over the course of the semester, he trailed off in the middle of a problem because he didn't have the foggiest clue how to continue. That being said, Rowland is supposed to be worse, so Williams is still probably the best professor to take for 135. He's fair and his exams are straightforward. The key to success in this class is to skim through the content in the textbook. The material really isn't that difficult, even if he makes it wayyy more confusing than it has to be. He also keeps it all pretty surface level, so not so much depth of understanding is necessary. Also, if you took AP Stat, you've already learned the majority of the material, so that helps a ton.

Kendall Williams
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/16/2024

It was his first time teaching the class, so some things were a little confusing. Overall a decent professor, his lectures consist of writing notes and doing practice problems from the book. Lectures are pretty boring but he does record them. The test typically had questions very similar to the ones we did in class so as long as you're redoing them and understand the process you'll be fine. The mini assignments he had us do in class or for homework were pretty easy and often had multiple attempts which helped boost my grade a little. I'd recommend him for MATH135.

Kendall Williams
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/16/2024

Dr. Williams was a good teacher. Nothing on his exams were unexpected or surprising. His exams were very reflective of what was taught in class (I didn't do any of the ungraded practice problems). Online quizzes and homework were easy and could be done based on what was taught in class. Worksheets and oral exams were easy, but I think they were useless as studying material for the class because they sometimes had nothing to do with what we were learning or they were wayyy easier than whatever we were learning in class. The practice exam review lectures (the lecture before the exam) were reflective of the actual midterms and the practice final exam was a good study source too. Honestly, (I do NOT recommend anyone do this) I studied the night before all of the exams (including the final) and got As on all of them. I literally rewrote all of the lecture notes and did the practice problems from the lecture the night before to study. For the final, I only used the practice final exam. If you can do all of the practice problems he does in lecture or at least memorize the steps to completing a problem, then the exams will be easy for you. The only bad thing about taking him is his communication skills. If you need to retake an exam after being sick or for whatever reason, scheduling a make up will be near impossible unless you meet with him in person. I sent him multiple emails in the same week trying to schedule a makeup (separate and on the same chain) and he wouldn't respond for multiple days or he would respond asking you when you want to take it, then you might answer only an hour later, and he won't answer you back until after the day you stated when you were ready to take it. Also, when you meet him in person about it, he will make it your fault or say that the communication fault is on you. He isn't a mean professor when you talk to him in person about it, it's just inconvenient when you try to do it through email. But in terms of communication overall, it doesn't make sense sometimes. But his grading is generous (he drops some assignments and gives a ton of partial points on exams), and his exams are more than fair.

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/15/2024

Nice guy but a terrible teacher. His lectures were almost pointless because he would spend most of the class talking about a random irrelevant practice problem. His lecture does not prepare you for the exam at all which are ten times harder than the homeworks. I relied HEAVY on my discussion TA and recommend going to those if you don't understand a concept. Had to look up youtube videos and use the textbook to self-teach basically everything for the class. I think he's really good at teaching higher level math but when it comes to lower level, he sucks. He does give a lot of partial credit and exams aren't weighted super heavily which is nice. If this is a class you have to take, you just have to be prepared to self-study your way through. The final wasn't too bad though so that's good, just look through the practice final and look at the exams you took for practice.

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/13/2024

i want to start out by saying he is very, very kind and makes a genuine effort to get to know you personally and to remember everyone's names. that being said, he is not a very good lecturer and his notes are almost illegible. if you take this class, i recommend that you go to every math discussion session as your TA will likely explain the material better than he does. i also recommend that you attend as many GSS meetings you are able. personally, my math is not very strong, but i thought the material in MATH135 was very self-teachable. i did not study very hard for the midterms nor the final and managed a B (sidenote, dr rowland does not do +/- grades.) you can do it!!!

Kendall Williams
MATH135

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/13/2024

Overall, probably the best you can get for this course. Explains easier concepts pretty well, but when it comes to more difficult concepts, the professor is not the best at explaining but that might just be the reality of math. Discussions twice a week might be a little redundant and the discussions where the TA does not go over the problems are useless.

Kendall Williams
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/12/2024

Dr. Williams is far by the best math professor at UMD. Mind you I’m not good at math but I have to say he made it very enjoyable and worthwhile for me. I’m glad I took 135 under him, trust me when I say this; he wants his students to succeed!! Tips for this class, literally go over the stuff he did in class and you should be good!!

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/11/2024

This man is the sweetest professor I've met so far at UMD and that's why it hurts so much to say he's a bad teacher. The material isn't that hard but sometimes the problems on exams and worksheets are so convoluted the TAs were like we don't really know how to approach this problem but try their best to give partial credit. I've never gotten above an 89 on a midterm but with the way everything is weighted I can still manage an A even with a B on the final coming up. Rowland's so sweet and tries not to put any pressure on midterms but he is more often than not just rambling during class. I paid attention and went to every lecture but I probably would've been better off just using the textbook (which he does follows). It's crazy how bad his teaching is because you can tell he's like a math genius but the course content is so dumbed down it's like he doesn't know how to convey it in a way that makes sense to regular shmegular people. Don't take him unless you like to self study T_T

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/11/2024

please do not take guys. rambles on, doesn't teach, tests are hard. no resources to do well.

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/10/2024

DO NOT TAKE HIM!!!!! Worst class I have every taken in my entire life. Calc 1 was a breeze but I find this class challenging even though it's easy material!!!!! Wish I just took calc 2 instead of this because at least I would have been taught even though it would have been hard content. He spends the entire class trying to learn people's names and yapping. He never teaches anything, he just scribbles random gibberish. Don't even waste time going to lecture. The content is so easy but he makes it so HARD!!!!! The exams are nothing like the practice exams and impossible to finish. Genuinely the class started with 300 people in the beginning of the year and its now like 30 in class going to the end of the semester. Do yourself a favor and do not take this class!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HE MAKES ME SO MAD BRUH!!!!!!!

Hussain Ibdah
MATH135

Anonymous
12/10/2024

Over-complicated topics. I thought he was nice at first, but then he said I would fail the exam because I didn’t understand a certain topic he taught. When I mentioned that I didn’t really understand, he tried to claim that I hadn’t attended class, but then stopped himself when he remembered seeing me in class often. Interestingly, that topic ended up being the one where I got the full number of points****. I wasn’t the only one who had trouble with the question—others in the class also said he never really taught it, and they didn’t understand it either. Literally, pick any professor other than him.

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/06/2024

the other reviews are true overall. he does not teach anything in lecture at all and there's genuinely no point in going. the tas are going to be your actual teachers and they do a great job of it. however, while his homeworks are the same as the other teacher, dr. rowland's exams are much, much easier than kendall willams. i had the privilege of looking at a friends test and, while we did learn the topics on the test, the problems on there were much more complicated than the ones on mine. he is also very nice but that doesn't reflect in his teaching. he's almost too smart to be teaching this class, which i understand. the textbook is going to be your best friend so download it off the internet and read it as you go through the topics.

Hussain Ibdah
MATH135

Anonymous
12/05/2024

Over-complicated topics. I thought he was nice at first, but then he said I would fail the exam because I didn’t understand a certain topic he taught. When I mentioned that I didn’t really understand, he tried to claim that I hadn’t attended class, but then stopped himself when he remembered seeing me in class often. Interestingly, that topic ended up being the one where I got the least number of points correct. I wasn’t the only one who had trouble with the question—others in the class also said he never taught it, and they didn’t understand it either. Literally, pick any professor other than him.

Vasanth Pidaparthy
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/04/2024

BEST MATH TA. VERY GOOD TEACHER. THIS IS WHERE I LEARNED MATH.

Kendall Williams
MATH135

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/04/2024

Solid is the only word to describe, knowledgable in mathematics but lectures can be boring and choppy. I did have him for his first time teaching it, so that could be why. I did so well because I studied hard with notes and files posted online. His tests were straight forward and I think he's probably the best bet for 135.

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/04/2024

He is a very nice and makes an effort to learn names even though it is a very large lecture. He is also very open to questions and will answer every one. BUT.. The actual teaching during lecture is not comprehensive, he just starts writing things down on paper and does not do a good job explaining concepts before starting practice problems that he doesn't always finish or do correctly. His lectures are confusing and unhelpful, which is why by the end of the semester it's down from 250 to <50. Questions on exams were on the same topics but different styles of questions, often more difficult, which I did not appreciate. The Canvas page is very hard to navigate. I always felt like resources were scattered. TAs in GSS and discussion are better at teaching than the actual instructor. Or even videos on youtube. I don't understand how someone who is so bad at explaining math can be a math teacher. Sure he knows how to do it, but how well can he teach you how to do it? The answer is not very well, at least not for me.

Kendall Williams
MATH135

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/04/2024

He is the "better" math 135 teacher in my opinion but we have a very small pool to choose from basically in this sense you have to choose between the lesser evils once again. He does actually teach unlike some of the other teachers however I feel like this might actually be the reason why I dont get a thing in this class. I don't know why but something about his teaching style made it difficult for me to understand anything. He often simply just read straight for the book and barely explained where he got the formula's or numbers that he was using from. He goes on long tangents with notes that everyone is rushing to write down because he takes it straight from the book. Instead of summarizing the book chapter everyone basically writes everything down and has no clue how to approach the situation whenever we are studying since there are literal paragraphs of notes instead of just oh this formula is used for this or this formula is used for that. I swear if he just did that I would be understanding way more in this class but currently I am heavily relying on online math videos and my past pre calc, ap bio, and algebra knowledge. I feel as though I have learnt nothing personally in this class. Another thing is that instead of teaching us that easy or fast ways to do calculations he instead approaches it super difficultly, where in class he basically took 20 mins to do one questions but then expects us to do that same type of questions in a 50 min test that has like several long questions. His tests he also sometimes doesn't even base it on the book, which most of the students have to rely on to understand this class, his tests are all based on his class examples and notes but like I said nothing he does in class ever actually sticks with you. I know some students in the other teachers class and even though he doesn't teach if you understand those chapters from the book then you will get like a B on the tests however in this class even if you understand the book you might not do well in this class. I have had a very downwards line on the tests: from a 85 to a 70 something to a 65% on the last one.

Kendall Williams
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/04/2024

I love his teaching style. He goes through everything in detail (sometimes too much) and works a little slowly, but that makes it very easy to keep up with him. He shows every step he does, explains everything, and does practice problems in class. I felt that the tests were very fair and reflective of the content learned in class with no curveballs. He also answers ALL questions and makes time to ask if anyone has any questions before class starts. Most of the exam questions reflected problems done in class, in the textbook, or on the quizes/homework. Overall, a very personable and approachable professor and I would highly recommend him for MATH135.

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
11/22/2024

He’s a great guy but a horrible teacher for 135. He has not taught a single lesson all semester instead he does problems that he doesn’t finish.

Kendall Williams
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/22/2024

Decent professor, I've heard from others that Rowland is way worse so I picked him. I attribute my success in this course to my own study habits and review not his teaching. He goes very slow in lecture and is hard to follow sometimes because he will sometimes go back on notes he's already written or change them. He also writes down a lot in lecture that doesn't seem to be relevant. The course is easy if you keep up with notes and study though, midterms are heavily based on class material and examples so far. I would say they're decently fair. All in all, fine professor to take if you need this class.

Kendall Williams
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/21/2024

I really liked his teaching style. He goes through a lot of examples and is somewhat slow but goes at a good pace for students to follow along with his notes. He also posts recordings of all lectures so you don't really have to go to class. Exams and homework problems are very straightforward and align with what is taught in class.

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting a B
Anonymous
11/19/2024

Nice guy! Do not take 135 with him. Going to the lectures were a waste of time because he simply does not teach! He provides little practice and when he does, the exams are 4x harder than the practice exams. I did better than the averages on most of the exams but I still won't be able to exceed with an A. Tough luck.

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/12/2024

I thing Dr. Rowland is a good teacher overall. He cares about the success of his students and you can tell as he is always willing to meet with you outside of class. You definitely have to learn a lot of material on your own, as what he is teaching in class does not always make sense the first time around partially because the way he explains concepts gets confusing. He gives practice exams which are very similar to the actual exams. And he has a nice policy where he drops the two lowest homework and quiz grades, and half the lowest midterm. Also, all the quizzes are online. If you study and do review then you can get an A. I would take this professor again.

Kendall Williams
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
10/30/2024

Dr. Williams is a decent professor, while his pacing may be slow , he teaches in a very straightforward manner. His homework and practice problem examples are good practice. While this is his first time teaching math 135, he does have 2 practice exams for each exam with solutions. He bases his exams off of those. As long as you go over the examples done in class and the practice exams you'll be fine for the actual exam. As for discussions, it really depends on who your TA is. I lucked out with having a TA who is an easy grader and is ok at explaining. At the end of the day just re watch his lectures and you'll be fine. Keep in mind im not good at math

Kendall Williams
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
10/15/2024

Dr. Williams is a pretty decent professor. He is very helpful and even when you can't attend his office hours he is willing to meet you outside his hours which is pretty nice. The only thing is this was his first semester teaching MATH135 so he doesn't have any practice problems or previous exams to use to study which isn't really helpful. He also sometimes doesn't finish a topic during the lecture yet we have quizzes every Friday. But overall he's pretty good and tries to help his students the best he can.

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
10/15/2024

He does not teach basic math very well. From what I hear from other students, he does teach advanced math better than MATH135. If you end up in his class, start teaching yourself and utilize the TA's for help. Use the practice exams and other practice websites in order to learn the specific topic.

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
10/14/2024

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do yourself a favor and DO NOT take his class!!! He absolutely cannot teach. His "teaching" style is to post questions that have nothing to do with what we learned previously and then go over them in the lecture, except he doesn't explain what he is doing and typically gets lost himself. I will say, he is the absolute sweetest professor you will ever meet and he does make an effort to learn everyone's name. I can honestly say that halfway through the semester I have not learned a single thing in his class. He is just all over the place. I have heard that most of the math135 professors aren't very good, but he genuinely sucks. I know he has been teaching this course for years so there really is no excuse. People literally laugh at him in class and walk out because of how bad he is.

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
10/07/2024

Dr. Rowland is the nicest guy and is really brilliant, but, he is not good at teaching lower-level math. The lecture was always so disorganized with him jumping from one chalkboard to another so he was very hard to follow. The math itself is quite simple and easy but I think its too simple for his mathy mind to comprehend. You'll definitely end up with a good grade if you put some effort into learning the material on your own, its not hard stuff, but just be prepared to lose your mind in lecture.

Hussain Ibdah
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/21/2024

I took MATH135 so it was a lot easier compared to other math classes. I do think he can overcomplicate certain topics, so I spent most of my time learning on my own. The exams were not too difficult, and they reflected what we learned in class. However, I will say he does not really offer practice exams, his version of practice exams is through quizzes on ELMS. I wasn't really a fan of this. But other than that, he is a nice guy, just not that great at teaching. I really didn't spend too much time on this class each week. His homework is easy. His discussion worksheets are a little challenging but you're able to work with a group on them. Also - He did replace your lowest midterm score with your final score (if your final grade was higher)

Hussain Ibdah
MATH135

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/19/2024

He's okay for 135, I took calc before I took 135 and also took AP stats so material wasn't difficult but if there is another professor available I would say take them instead. He wants his students to succeed and has plenty of assignments and opportunities to inflate your grade, even weighing down your lowest midterm if you do better on the final, he also posts a lot of review materials and would even hold weekly sessions explaining topics. Towards the end however, he would get frustrated if you would ask questions which made him feel slightly unapproachable, the TA's are very nice though!!

Hussain Ibdah
MATH135

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/14/2024

He's an alright guy but his class kinda sucks ngl. His lectures are pretty boring and hard to see since he uses the chalkboard and he writes from his notes basically copy and paste, his handwriting isnt that good so if ur far away from the board its even worse. If you can read his notes they are actually pretty good there isnt too much exam content and you can basically get all the material without going to class. I put in minimal time studying and I barely got an A- with a tiny curve of like 2%. If ur like me and have a good base of general math and some general bio knowledge its a pretty easy B/A-. This was his first year teaching this class for me.

Hussain Ibdah
MATH135

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/08/2024

Dr. Ibdah takes criticism well and works to make sure his students understand the content. He will explain topics again during lecture if it is unclear and always asks the class if they need more clarification. He openly takes questions and responds to emails quickly. He posts his lecture notes for every chapter and his exams are very fair. I have never seen a topic or question I did not do in class or for a quiz. He replaces your lowest exam grade with your final grade if it benefits you as well. The way he explains topics was difficult to understand, making his lectures not as useful to me.

Tamas Darvas
MATH135

Expecting a B+
cdalbora
02/05/2024

Tamas was a fairly good teacher and listened to student feedback. His lectures became easier to follow as the semester went on. He is not the best with technology but is very nice and accommodating. If given the choice between him and Rowland, TAKE TAMAS

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/12/2024

Let me start this review by saying that this is probably one of the nicest professors I've ever had. Super considerate, funny, and overall just a nice guy. He is just not a very good teacher. He can be very confusing and tends to spend his lectures answering questions about the homework instead of teaching the subject. The quizzes and homework are very easy: he usually goes over those in class, but the exams can be very difficult and hard to study for. Be warned: the practice midterms seldom match the real one.

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/04/2024

Dr. Rowland is very kind and can be funny sometimes. He’s a great person but not the best professor. He goes on long tangents that barely make sense and takes too long to answer simple questions. But he is a really easy grader and makes the midterms and final quite easy. Also, most quizzes and homework have 2 attempts.

Tamas Darvas
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/18/2023

Tamas is great. Easy class as long as you show up to lectures since they aren't posted or recorded. Your grade is heavily weighted by other assignments, and his midterms are easy. Just don't expect any curve. Highly recommend him.

Tamas Darvas
MATH135

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/17/2023

HE IS FANTASTIC, FUNNY, KIND, AND CARING! He is such a good lecturer. He goes through the textbook examples in class and explains each steps one at a time. His lectures were done at a good pace and his funny personality made the class very enjoyable. If you're not strong at math, take his class!

Tamas Darvas
MATH135

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
12/16/2023

very helpful and funny, gives a lot of pop quizzes during lectures (only one question) and very easy. however, a lot of self teaching because he doesn’t really explain some of the concepts

Tamas Darvas
MATH135

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/16/2023

If you can, take this professor, he was super sweet and understanding. Although there were certain topics he didn't explain very well (mostly the biological aspects of the class) there was a lot of other support. The TA's were very helpful in discussion so if you're feeling lost after a lecture or two it's pretty easy to catch up. There is homework in the textbook but it's not graded and there are quizzes and worksheets in discussion that can help stabilize your grade although they aren't worth much so it probably won't boost it by a lot. Before every exam he provides practice exams from previous years that are pretty much identical to the actual exams so they aren't too difficult if you study those. So sad he won't teach me again.

Tamas Darvas
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/16/2023

If you have the option to take this class with Darvas then go for it. As long as you keep up with the homework and pay attention in discussion then you'll get an A. Homework isn't graded so it's hard to remember or want to do it. I learned more from discussion than class but he did his best to make sure the class was following along and understanding the topics. Its probably for all of math135 but know that there is a quiz once a week and a graded worksheet once a week, but its pretty easy to get full credit on those. The TA's were really helpful and you could ask for help during the quiz/worksheet. Darvas provides practice exams that are exactly like the upcoming exams and thats extremely helpful when studying. The final isn’t hard but you just need to make sure you really know the material from the exams. I also took this at the same time as bio and chem and it was pretty easy to focus on those and keep this in the background.

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/16/2023

Dr. Rowland is a nice, caring person. He attempts to learn everybody's name and he tries hard to explain the content. He is also very open to questions and walking the class through challenging problems. However, his lectures are somewhat unorganized and honestly a little useless. I went to every lecture, but I hardly paid attention to them because of this. The good news is that this course is super easy, so Dr. Rowland doesn't really need to be that good of a teacher. I mainly used the textbook to write my notes as his notes were kind of all over the place and not very helpful. On the other hand, the discussions were beneficial and were much better at explaining the content than the lectures were, so I would recommend going to discussions over lectures. To prepare for exams, I just completed the practice exams on ELMS and read over my notes. The coursework is hardly time-consuming and I only spent about 2 hours studying per midterm (and 3 hours for the final), with most of that time dedicated to going over the practice exams. Dr. Rowland also usually hosts an online exam review session the night before exams, which I didn't really use, but he basically just answers people's questions and goes over any problems from the practice exams that people wanted help with. The exams themselves are not hard and are pretty similar to the practice exams. As for grading, it's fair, he drops half of your lowest midterm, doesn't use +/-, and is not heavily weighted toward exams. All in all, this is a fairly easy course with plenty of resources and a mediocre, but kind, professor.

Tamas Darvas
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/15/2023

Professor Darvas is a really nice guy and great professor. He genuinely cares about his students and wants them to succeed. The class isn’t hard, mostly statistics and his exams are very fair (the averages are always pretty good). The midterms are very similar to past exams and practice problems we do in class. Overall a great teacher and you should take him.

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/14/2023

DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS!! He's probably the sweetest professor I've ever had and is a great guy, but his teaching style is not it. I've never been in a more disorganized class. The lectures aren't really "learning," it's more like someone asks questions and he goes over them for the entire class period. Also, the practice midterms are not like the real exams so be prepared to have a random question thrown your way. I had to do a lot of self-studying for this class and it takes up a lot of work. Btw, don't depend on the half-dropped midterm, it almost does nothing for your grade

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/14/2023

Professor Rowland as a person is quite endearing. He takes the time to get to know his students, initiates conversations with you, and cracks sardonic jokes. He's very encouraging and accommodating toward his students. Take note, however: once he knows your name and becomes comfortable with you, he will call you out and ask you to answer questions in front of the class. This sometimes involves solving a problem on the front chalkboard. Of course, if you decline, he won't force you, but this is just something he does that might concern some. It's usually the people in front he targets but once in a while he will make his way to the back. The questions are usually easy to answer, though, so don't stress about this. Professor Rowland as a teacher, however, can be challenging, but the content itself isn't. Lectures are usually composed of content material, practice problems, and questions. When covering content, he tends to go off-topic, but when he's taking questions, he often goes through homework and in-class quizzes and gives the answer to you (worth attending for this reason). He provides notes for each topic, and while they can be helpful, they can be equally confusing. If you want organization, it's better to go by the textbook for definitions, relationships, examples, etc. If you ask him a question, his explanations are a hit-or-miss. For explanations, it's better to show up to the discussions and have the TAs explain it to you; I definitely do not recommend skipping the discussions for this class. To get ready for each exam, he provides 2 old exams + answer keys, an online practice exam, and also holds a Zoom review session the night before. The exams are fair and not too hard; grading for partial credit is generous. There is quite a bit of teaching yourself in this class but as long as you put in a decent amount of effort, you should be able to keep an A. Good luck!

Tamas Darvas
MATH135

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/12/2023

Tamas clearly knows the content of 135 very well and teaches it in a manner that worked very well for me. He does go kind of fast during lecture when reviewing concepts but does take the time to make sure that he answers any questions that students have. You get one lecture quiz a week, as well as one quiz and one worksheet in the discussion sections. Overall I enjoyed having him and I learned a lot from this class although 135 is not a very difficult course. Take him!

Tamas Darvas
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/08/2023

Tamas is funny and enjoyable, however overcomplicated many topics. His exams are similar to the homework and practice exams. There are two 75 min lectures per week and two 50 min discussions per week so be prepared to spend a lot of time with this course. DIS and hw were the main reason for my grade in the class.

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting a C
Anonymous
12/06/2023

Dr. Rowland is a character. He definitely cares about the students and he tries to answer everyone’s questions. He’s not the best lecturer…he gets a bit off topic sometimes and that makes it hard to understand some of the material. He doesn’t record his lectures but he writes clearly on the chalkboard. He uploaded a lot of resources for practice and there’s plenty of HW/ in class assignments that help boost your grade. Overall nice guy and I’d rather take his class again than do Math140 lol.

Tamas Darvas
MATH135

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/01/2023

I just don't think he was meant to teach a lower-level math to mostly life science students. I can see him being a blast in courses that are higher level and filled with actual math majors, but he just doesn't break things down clearly enough, or over complicates well-known biological theorems. I am sure he would be wonderful, just not to a struggling bio student

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/21/2023

I'm going to start this review by saying he is a very nice professor. He makes a substantial effort in getting to know his students that attend lecture and is overall one of the nicest faculty members on campus. However, when it comes to his ACTUAL teaching, he is subpar. He rants about the most little things, often gets distracted while teaching a concept, and does not thoroughly explain important things for his course. The notes he posts on ELMS are VERY confusing, and the class averages on exams are always in the 60s-70s despite the course being less difficult than MATH140 or MATH141. He does not curve his exams; however, he will drop half of the lowest exam grade. I'd say invest time into the textbook and/or a tutor if you want to be successful in this course. However, you can still get low B's/high C's on the exam and manage to hold an A in the course (like me!). I feel alright going into the final but I would suggest that anyone taking to not expect him to make the course a breeze. Attending discussion sessions is mandatory if you want to be somewhat prepared for his exams. His class is manageable but good luck if you do not like teaching yourself concepts.

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/17/2023

He is a nice guy just not the best lecturer. He does not teach well during the lectures and will often go on tangents for a singular problem/question during the whole class. Sometimes I question whether I should go to lecture or not because it's repetitive and counter-productive. I will say though, he is one of the most accommodating and caring professors. He really makes an effort to get to know everyone in his lecture (even though they are SO big). I would recommend not to take him if you have the option not to. Good luck everyone!

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
11/14/2023

He's a super nice and funny professor, but I feel like his teaching style does not help me learn at all. I do not often attend lectures because I feel like I struggle to learn anything from it. The textbook also doesn't really help because the course material is usually a bit more difficult or slightly different from the textbook. However, the exams are definitely fair and the discussions are helpful.

Lutian Zhao
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
06/04/2023

His exams are really easy because his practice exams are just like the actual exam but I wish he had let us solve problems in class on our own instead of working out everything on the board so quickly. leaving everyone confused. He also gives the TA too much power. A lot of them do not properly grade the bio worksheets that we get during discussions, so when you got to him, he is very hesitant or unwilling to regrade it for you because he gave the TA power to grade how they want to grade.

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/15/2023

I came into this class with general mathematics knowledge with iffy knowledge from AP Calc because it was COVID year, and I'd say everything was very manageable. People hating on this guy for no reason. Chillest professor, super nice and understanding, as well as accommodating for student's real-life circumstances. He is a bit over the place for the lectures but he gives good practice for exams, office hours are very helpful, and his class structure points wise is very student friendly (Drops 3 lowest HWs, 2 lowest classworks, half of your worst exam (example: 70/100 becomes 35/50)). Do beware of the second exam, this is designed to bring down the class average. First and third exams should be a breeze, as well as the final. His practice final was very similar to the actual final!! Note that all of this applies to MATH136 as well. Great human, could be a bit better as a lecturer, but I believe the guy is probably too experienced to be teaching an entry-level calculus class anyways.

Lutian Zhao
MATH135

Expecting an A+
ReakatheGOAT
05/15/2023

If you are thinking about taking this course instead of Calc 2, I encourage you to do so. This course is manageable and teaches you important topics in biology. Prof. Zhao is a clear lecturer. He covers necessary material in class and doesn’t go on tangents or get off-topic. Exams are fair and will not throw in any surprise questions. You will not regret 135 with Zhao.

Tyler Simmons
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/14/2023

This man was legit the best TA I have ever had for any of my classes. Thank you Tyler I genuinely appreciate you for your help and incredible discussion sections.

Lutian Zhao
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/13/2023

This man is simply a legend. Great teacher, gives great resources for exams and is very approachable and kind. He explained a complex problem to me over email once. He is genuinely a fantastic teacher, and the TAs were also great so shoutout to them. Thank you, Professor Zhao!

Lutian Zhao
MATH135

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/13/2023

Zhao was nice, but kind've hard to follow. I learned to do his problems rather than understand his content. Practice exams were basically the exact same as the actual exam. Final was slightly harder because he pulled questions from other professors, who may have worded it differently. Bio discussions are once a week and mandatory, but I felt like it was a useless session. Overall, this was an easy A class.

Lutian Zhao
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/11/2023

TAKE THIS CLASSSSS HE'S SO NICE AND ANSWERS QUESTIONS THROUGHLY

Lutian Zhao
MATH135

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/09/2023

Im terrible at math and ill say that now. However he may not be the best professor but the class is very easy. The topics are easy to grasp and the test are identical to what you do in class and the practice midterms (usually practice midterm B). Also go to your math discussion as well as your bio discussion. Almost nobody shows up to the discussion on Monday (math) since it is not mandatory so it is practically a private tutor session with your TA who explains what you will learn all week. Not a bad class not a bad professor overall.

Lutian Zhao
MATH135

Expecting an A+
dacosta3
05/06/2023

Lutian Zhao is super nice and very funny. If you want a good grade, I recommend this class. The practice exams are exactly like his exams. This class was pretty easy. Although class and the math discussion are optional, I would highly recommend going. They were instrumental in me understanding the concepts. The bio discussions are not optional and you can not get the homework if you do not go. Do the practice exams, and you will pass.

Lutian Zhao
MATH135

Expecting an A+
Manssuri
05/02/2023

He is so kind and very accommodating. I enjoyed his lectures, and he always is very transparent about what will be on the exams. This class can be an easy A as long as you go to the bio discussions and do the homeworks. The bio discussions were the most difficult part in my opinion, and even then it wasn't that bad and he was always very willing to help. I'd highly recommend this professor!

Lutian Zhao
MATH135

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
02/15/2023

TAKE HIM. literally the best. He made me love this class. He is really kind and really wants to help his students. It was his first time teaching this class and he did phenomenal. His lectures are really straightforward, he introduces the topic, explains it, gives examples. He has an accent but it was not a problem for me. As for discussion, it’s a lot of busy work because many of the worksheets aren’t on the exams but the TA’s I had were good and easy graders. Especially TA Omar, he is amazing. As for exams, Zhao’s reviews are great, he covers everything on the exam and is great at answering questions. The practice tests are very very similar to the actual test as someone said in another comment. They are not impossible tests, he covers everything in lectures, you just need to go to lecture, take notes, review two days before and you will get an A. MORAL OF THE STORY: TAKE THIS PROF. My class average was an 87 if that isn’t proof enough.

Lutian Zhao
MATH135

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
02/03/2023

If I was rating Professor Zhao on how nice he is, it'd be an easy five stars. But I'm sorry, he was just not a good lecturer. He treated lectures like office hours, often helping individual students one at a time while leaving the other one hundred of us to sit and wait. Maybe he stopped doing this later on in the semester, but honestly I stopped going after a few weeks because it felt like such a waste of time. He was all over the place when it came to lecturing, and he didn't explain concepts well. The textbook was barely relevant to the subject of the class, the TAs were unhelpful, and the class felt chaotic all semester. That being said, it's definitely an easy class. The exams were almost identical to the practice exams, so if you know those practice exams inside and out, it's almost a guaranteed A. Zhao also responds to emails quickly, which is nice. And really, he is such a nice guy, just... not amazing at teaching.

Lutian Zhao
MATH135

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
01/25/2023

He's a very nice guy and does his best for his students. The class itself was chaos - the TAs weren't very helpful in discussion and sometimes taught things completely differently from Zhao, the lectures were often more confusing than helpful, and the textbook was hardly relevant. However, the midterms were straight from the practice ones (like literally just different names and numbers), and he took time to clear things up on exam review days, so the disorganized class structure didn't affect exam scores too much. As long as you complete the assignments and make sure you understand the practice exams, you can get a good grade. Also, the lowest exam score was weighted at 50%. The final definitely had some curveballs because it was written by another professor alongside Zhao, but with the midterms you'll probably have a cushion for your grade. That being said, I don't even know what I learned from that class. It was a mix of basic algebra, sequences/functions, and statistics, so I don't know how helpful it would be for someone who actually wants to learn math. For bio majors who just want the credit, though, Professor Zhao is an easy A.

Lutian Zhao
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/29/2022

This was one of the best professors I’ve ever had. He is so kind and cares about his student’s understanding the material. Sign up for his classes right now!!

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/22/2022

As other people have said, he is a nice guy but his teaching style is not beneficial. To do well in this class, you had to do a lot of self-teaching outside of the class. On top of keeping up with other courses, it definitely becomes a lot. The TAs were somewhat helpful, but sometimes the topics also got confusing when they tried to explain them. The first practice exam was very similar to the actual exam, so it was helpful. The last few though have been fairly different, so studying off of the practice exams became less helpful. If you have a packed schedule, I would suggest avoiding taking him because you will spend a lot of time reviewing material outside of the class in order to do well.

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/21/2022

This man is one of the best and funniest profs at UMD. His lectures are fairly disorganized, but he provides more than enough resources to earn a good grade in this class!

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/20/2022

Not very flexible. Unfunny as well.

Lutian Zhao
MATH135

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/19/2022

Professor Zhao is such an amazing professor. His exam guides very accurately represent his exams, and he is one of the nicest human beings. Definitely take him if you can because he's a great person and professor. His class is not at all difficult if you go to lectures and discussions, but honestly, as long as you understand the practice midterms, you should be fine.

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/19/2022

Very nice and caring person, but not the best teacher (however, not the worst). His lessons can be a bit all over the place and the notes he posts are written notes, so they can be kind of hard to understand. As long as you pay attention in lecture, he usually goes over all of the equations you'll need to use (math TA will go over everything during discussion which is super helpful so good to go to discussion just for reinforcement). Weekly homeworks are on Canvas, so super easy to complete and he ended up doing a lot of them in class anyway. Gives practice midterms but really hit or miss about whether they are true to the actual exam. Going to office hours can help if you have specific questions. I personally have not touched the textbook this entire semester, but I've heard from some people that they teach themselves the material using that, so could be helpful for some people. Overall, biggest thing is just to create a connection with him and go to office hours if you need help with the homework or understanding something on a practice test. Also, I'm pretty sure he does not do + or - when it comes to grading, so 90-100 is an A, 80-89 a B and so on.

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/18/2022

First, the pros. Dr. Rowland is a nice man, will explain anything to you in office hours, responds to emails very fast, and tries to learn everyone’s name. The cons: he is an extremely bad lecturer and gets lost in the middle of his examples in class. His practice exams are meant to be what you should study from but he makes his exams much harder than the practices and includes problems you likely haven’t seen before. Avoid taking him if possible. I really liked him as a person but I wish I’d gone with the other professor.

Lutian Zhao
MATH135

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/17/2022

-This is a very easy class as long as you take notes. Homework questions consist of examples he had gone over during lectures with different values so make sure you take notes. -Practice midterm: STUDY THEM. His exams are outlined and styled after the practice midterms, only with different numbers. -At the end of the semester, he also gives a curve. (Which I personally think it is unnecessary since class average is really high)

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/16/2022

Very nice professor. You can tell he wants his students to do good and understand the material. He always has a review session before each exam and holds office hours where he helps you with things like homework and overall clarity on the material. As said by others, his lectures are indeed all over the place and sometimes it was hard to understand. He had "surprise" quizzes every Friday and would always help out on answering them and allowed us to work with others. He also never had slides, just a doc. I personally found it harder with the doc to follow through but you could still understand. The class, overall, is pretty easy so you won't have a hard time. He drops half of the lowest midterm and his practice exams were kinda similar to the real exams. Just don't use the practice exam as your only way of studying because I did that once and on the real exam there was a whole section I didn't know how to do. Know the material itself and you will do fine.

Lutian Zhao
MATH135

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/16/2022

Not the best teacher, but it is an easy class. I didn't go to lectures because i would learn anything in them, but i was still able to learn the material. The practice midterms are identical to the real midterms with a few numbers switched. If you can get a good grade on the practice midterms then you'll do fine on the midterms. *The final is written by the department and is much more difficult than the midterms.

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/15/2022

Do not take MATH 135 with Dr. Rowland. Like everyone else says, he's really nice, but not a good professor. His teaching is so scatterbrained and impossible to follow. The exam averages were in the 60s and 70s. This is a 100-level class.. how does that make sense?? People have said that his exams are close to the practice exams.. well, not anymore. We had 1 exam that was close to the practice exam, and that was it. He tests us like he is a good enough teacher to warrant tests that expand on what we learned in class. I don't think it is impossible to get an A, but we all have other classes and commitments, too. I, for one, had too demanding of a schedule to put hours of work into this class every week in order to just teach myself the material, let alone study it. Take this class with Zhao instead. Everyone in that class had much better things to say (and I would assume better grades too) than people with Rowland.

Lutian Zhao
MATH135

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/15/2022

He has really good reviews because he's a nice person, but that's it. Sure, the class is easy A but only because the midterms are practically identical to the practice exams, and the weekly homework assignments aren't bad either. However, the class is very disorganized and chaotic. Nothing makes sense until right before the exam. He doesn't explain things very well, he mostly just does practice problems. The textbook is also very vague. You do good on exams by teaching yourself how to do the practice exam, not by actually learning the material if that makes sense. The TAs also cannot explain things very well. They just do problems with their backs facing the class and expect you to understand. Even though I have an A, this class was very frustrating.

Lutian Zhao
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/15/2022

He is passionate about teaching us this subject. He wants everyone to succeed and is very helpful in office hours. The TAs often clarified things if the lecture was hard to understand, but he is a great professor! The practice exams are very similar to the actual exams so exam prep is pretty easy. I recommend taking his class!

Lutian Zhao
MATH135

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/13/2022

Lutian is great!! Cares about his students and emails back so quickly. Midterms are also almost identical to practice midterms. Take him if you can.

Lutian Zhao
MATH135

Anonymous
12/12/2022

He is an icon and he is THE MOMENT. literally could not have asked for a better math professor.

Lutian Zhao
MATH135

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/09/2022

My favorite professor I had this semester. One of the liveliest, hard-working people I have met. For lectures, he makes sure to write out every single step of the problem to make sure we all understand what is happening. He is so dedicated and tries his best to make us understand everything. He always responds immediately to emails and is very responsive and helpful to questions in class.

Lutian Zhao
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/01/2022

This guy is great, he is very funny and truly cares about his students. This was his first time teaching this course and he did a great job. The practice exams are almost exactly like the exams and I never had to use the textbook at all. This can be a self-taught class if you'd like it to be, I found this easiest because the content was hard to absorb in the large classroom. However, if the large classroom doesn't bother you at all you could just go to lectures, not have to do GSS or office hours, and be totally fine. (Discussion is mandatory)

Lutian Zhao
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/30/2022

He is a really good guy and the practice exams are exactly like the midterms. The homework are pretty easy and this class overall does not take up much time outside of lecture. You can tell how much he cares about his students' success and is always happy to help students out.

Lutian Zhao
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/29/2022

lutian "slay" zhao—he's a really kind person. in addition to his profound kindness, his practice exams are almost identical to his actual exams. with that in mind, this is already a significant proprietor as to why you should select him as your professor. it's really no joke how his practice exams are just the actual exam but with different numbers. he's also really funny. his examples in class are straightforward and going to him for office hours is never intimidating. literally math is my worst subject and i always got horrible grades in math in high school but i am expecting an A in this class. also, just like most math classes, this class does not do + or -. meaning, it's equivalent to an A+, B+, C+, etc. in the grade book. the homeworks are also straightforward but it really just depends on your TA and how useful they'll be. he also drops 50% of your lowest midterm (which is typically the first exam but don't worry it's only hard because of the high school to college transition). also, if you're choosing between professors, PLEASE choose zhao. don't make the same mistake my other friends made. another tip—if you took AP stat in high school it's gonna help you on the third exam.

Lutian Zhao
MATH135

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
11/28/2022

Such a charismatic and lively professor. Always tries his hardest to make sure the students understand; his hands are almost always completely covered in chalk at the end of class because of how much he writes on the board to make sure the students understand every step of the process. Excellent, actually the best professor I've had, in terms of responding to emails and problems that I have had. Makes the practice tests almost identical to the actual tests, which really helps you know what you need to study for. The TA's did their best to teach the material, but both of mine have never taken college biology courses so they were unfamiliar with a lot of the terminology the course covered; they tried their hardest to teach us the content so I thank them anyways. Interesting twist on classical mathematics and always looked forward to the lectures :)

Lutian Zhao
MATH135

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
11/19/2022

He is a sweet guy who teaches with many examples but the class is not always comprehensive material-wise and you don't really know what the topics are until near test review days. In my opinion, this is a self-teach class but the topics he tests are very surface level so don't get too hung up on not understanding the textbook. The homework is straightforward and the tests mirror the study guide almost completely.

Scott Preston
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/07/2022

Fairly unorganized, and you could get pretty much all the information you needed for the class out of the textbook. Wasn't a great lecturer, but the exams were manageable, and curved when the average was too low.

Scott Preston
MATH135

Expecting a P
Anonymous
10/03/2022

Extremely disorganized. Your job as a student was to take these rambling, convoluted styles of math problems that were 9 sentences long and form them into complex, multi-step graduate-level math problems (Eigenvectors, Leslie Matrices). He liked to treat them like a puzzle and give you only 30% of the info you needed, expecting you to draw tables and charts and use red yarn to figure out the rest on your own. Then he expected you to set up your own math equation from this bs, then solve it in several steps. This would be like, 20% of an exam grade. The rest were the same way. The book was different than what was on his midterms. The lectures were different than what was in the book. Almost nothing connected, and there's nothing online to help you, and he wrote so fast and jumped around on his slides, that you would be writing notes for the wrong page without realizing it. A total nightmare that almost cost me my mental health. Don't take his class.

Jakob Hultgren
MATH135

Anonymous
05/15/2022

If you are taking MATH135 take Hultgren. He is a great professor and is very chill. He makes the class very easy and allows a formula sheet (front and back) for every exam and the lowest exam gets dropped. He also allows 4 formula sheets for the final. He's very accommodating and always is happy to answer questions. He also creates a practice exam and it's almost exactly the same as the actual exam. The material isn't too hard to understand and as long as you understand it you'll do well in the class.

Jakob Hultgren
MATH135

Anonymous
05/11/2022

Really nice person, practice exams are pretty identical to the actual exams which was nice and even lets you have a formula sheet. The oral exams were pretty easy, just make sure you are present on that day. Worksheets were kind of random, some were easy, some harder but if you go to the discussions they pretty much can answer your questions and show you how to do the problems. Overall not as much stress with this class considering its a math class compared to others.

Jakob Hultgren
MATH135

Anonymous
05/05/2022

Hakob (as he likes to call himself) is a silly little man and honestly this class is really easy. He lets you have formula sheets for all your tests, so you can get away with not studying for an exam if you have a good formula sheet (I managed to score a 97 on one of my tests without studying because of this). He's a really bad lecturer though so that's the only downside but as long as you understand the material it's definitely an easy A.

Scott Preston
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/11/2022

He was a very sweet professor and was willing to help when you needed it. However, as others have said, he's very unorganized. Once, he forgot all of his notes and had to leave class for 20 minutes to go get them. His exams always had some sort of issue(but he'd never blame it on us, he'd just get rid of the question or correct it midtest), the workload was also unnecessarily large in my opinion, he wouldn't teach some things in lecture but they'd be on the homework, and his final grading system wasn't correct in ELMS, which isn't bad but wasn't my favorite. However, I got an A easily because he gave me all the resources to succeed. Don't skip lectures, try to show up to as many discussions as possible, and actually do the homework, don't just copy it. He'll make exam questions identical to the homework!!!!!!

Scott Preston
MATH135

Anonymous
12/31/2021

Preston was a good teacher as long as you show up to the lectures it should be easy. His exams are somewhat tough but if you go over his notes you should be fine.

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/19/2021

Professor Rowland is the epitome of great guy, but not so great teacher. You really have to pay attention in class to understand some of the harder problems because he can make it very hard to follow and his work tends to be all over the place. I recommend going to office hours if you have a legitimate question so he can explain it to you one on one. That being said, it is possible to get an A in this class, and he makes an effort to get to know everyone and their names which is a lot more than I can say for most professors at UMD.

Scott Preston
MATH135

Anonymous
12/06/2021

WORST PROFESSOR I HAVE EVER HAD AT UMD! I REPEAT: WORST PROFESSOR I HAVE EVER HAD AT UMD! While he was sort of a nice guy, he was the worst professor. He gave zero review for exams, his exams were extremely difficult and unorganized, and do not get me started about his lectures. Preston rambles on during his lectures, hoping eventually he will find what he wants to say. He writes out his notes with his sloppy handwriting, and messes up his own examples!!! He makes no sense at all whatsoever. DO NOT TAKE ANY MATH WITH PRESTON!

Scott Preston
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/01/2021

I have very mixed feelings. I did well in this class, but there were some things about this professor that made it hard to do so. Overall, I think he is a nice and funny guy who loves math, but he is quite unorganized. A lot of problems had numerical typos and that made it 10x harder to understand the homework and tests. The tests are also worded in a ver confusing manner. But, he drops an exam and either one or two homeworks. If you go to class and ask for help, it's easy enough to do well. Sometimes his dry humor can come off as condescending, but he is helpful if you really need it. The homework and tests did not need to be as confusing, time consuming, and difficult as they were made to be. Overall, nice guy, alright class, but took up a ton of my time for what should be an easier class.

Jakob Hultgren
MATH135

Anonymous
01/13/2021

I love Jakob, he's so kind. I took the class entirely online in Fall 2020 and it was a mixture of asynchronous and synchronous. His lectures were pretty good, he goes through every step of a problem and provides a lot of examples. There were some times that he would seem to skip a step and he'd write something on his lecture slide that I personally had no idea where it came from, but for the most part I felt that his lectures were really organized and made sense. He had weekly quizzes on Wednesday that were usually pretty ok, sometimes they would pull some out of pocket questions at you. My word of advice would be to do the practice textbook problems. They weren't graded but they were extremely helpful for the quizzes. The only issue with the textbook problems is that Jakob never went over them himself and his TAs would go over them in both a synchronous discussion and a published video the day of the quiz. These were probably my least favorite part of the course, just because it felt like there was a significant disconnect between Jakob and the TAs sometimes; the TAs would often explain how to solve a problem in a way that Jakob didn't teach and not go over all of the problems / go over ones that weren't assigned. There was also a weekly worksheet that was done with a group due Saturday morning, and these worksheets were very hit or miss. Sometimes they were really easy and sometimes they were extremely difficult, there was no way to predict it. They also didn't always align with what Jakob had taught that week, but there was a live discussion on Fridays to go over the worksheet before it was due. The oral exams in that class were also VERY easy, every single time. For the exams, Jakob would publish a practice exam that was usually very nearly identical to the structure of the actual exams, so the exams weren't too difficult. He would also give a lot of time for them and make them open all day. Overall, not too difficult of a class at all, even for someone who's pretty bad at math. Would absolutely recommend Jakob as a professor, aside from how he is as a teacher, he just seems like a really great person--I wish I had the opportunity to have him in person.

Jakob Hultgren
MATH135

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
01/08/2021

He is a really nice guy and is super approachable. He was also really organized when teaching the class online. His lectures are decent, so I would still use them as a resource to just get an introduction to the material. They're not really helpful in getting an in-depth understanding of the material so I would not rely solely on it. He had one synchronous lecture every week which was not recorded and I did not attend that at all. For discussion, we were able to either choose to attend a synchronous discussion or watch an asynchronous recording. The times on the quizzes/exams were super flexible -- we always had a 24 hour window to complete the quizzes and the exam window was very fair (I think about 1.5 hours something like that). For the final exam, he gave us about a 34-hour window to complete it which I thought was really nice. The textbook really helped the most -- especially the practice problems. We had quizzes once a week which were pretty difficult at times and it matters to do well because that is a section of your grade that will help you in the end. We were assigned into groups of 2/3 to complete a worksheet every week. This also matters to do well on because of the weight on your final grade. I found that at the beginning they were a breeze but they became super difficult. The best method I used was going to discussion sections on Friday to get help from the TA. Then there are "oral exams" every four weeks with your worksheet partner in which you attend your assigned discussion section and the TA will ask you one or two questions based on the worksheet that you did. It's really nothing at all to worry about and most of the time the questions are not math-related. They just ask about applications to the real-world. You should definitely get a 100% on all of them if you just have something to say, even if it's wrong. There is no curve in the class but this is because he drops a lot of assignments at the end which is actually a godsend. I got a D on the first midterm, B's on the next two midterms, and an A on the final. I had a high B/ low A average on the quizzes/worksheet section. I ended with an A- in the class (I had 89.56% and he rounded it without me asking!!). Overall, as you can see with my stats, if you start off a bit slow and do average on the other assignments you should end up with a good grade. The practice exam is identical to the actual exam. As for the material, it really is not bad at all and is way better than calculus.

Jakob Hultgren
MATH135

Anonymous
12/17/2020

super nice guy. teaching abilities are ok. You might need to go to office hours every now and then. He gave out practice tests this semester the week of each midterm and they were almost identical to the actual tests. Would recommend over Rowland. This is corona so he taught us how to calculate everything with google sheets and wolfram...just plug and chug and you'll get it:)

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/10/2020

Amazing professor who stays after in office hours to make sure students understand.

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/09/2020

Cool guy but did not teach well and was mostly a self taught class. The TAs carried the class this year and they were actually super helpful. Doing the practice exams were the best form of studying for me and the workload was decent but the worksheets were a little confusing although TAs explained most of it pretty well during discussions. Sorry Todd.

Todd Rowland
MATH135

Anonymous
10/27/2020

Dr Rowland is a super nice guy and it pains me to say this, but he’s not a very good teacher. His entire class this semester seems very confused about topics that seem relatively simple. He presents the material using some weird program that has a lot of unnecessary code around the text. His notes are sloppy, disorganized and very hard to interpret. For the most part, the TAs were better at explaining the concepts in a lot clearer manner. However, he is willing to go out of his way to try to help you if you ask, and the grading is very lax. It’s probably difficult to do poorly in this class even if you don’t understand what is going on

Casey Cremins
MATH135

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
03/24/2020

Cremins gets such a bad rap. He is boring, but about halfway through the semester he began to become more engaging. He stopped reading off the powerpoint and began trying to engage the class and did problems on the board and explained them better. The exams are not awful if you do the homework (exam problems tend to be similar to the homework). He is actively trying to become a better professor.

Laura Iosip
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/25/2019

Learning is easy with her Always does practice problems before quiz Understanding Really teaches the material so you understand An awesome person. She is so nice and helpful.

Laura Iosip
MATH135

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
11/20/2019

Best teaching assistant ever! quite literally would not be getting through math 135 without her. So sweet and uploads the worksheets and answer keys to a website and that becomes super helpful around exam time. She makes everything so clear and does example problems before the quizzes. I wish she could be the professor instead of Casey Cremmins.

Heyrim Cho
MATH135

Expecting a B
Anonymous
04/26/2019

She’s a very sweet person and obviously very smart, but is not a very good teacher. Hard to follow lectures and exam questions are all over the place

Casey Cremins
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/05/2019

Reads off slides and does examples directly from textbook. Chooses the hardest questions for his exams, but are not too hard overall. Learned majority from textbook, not from him or the TAs.

Heyrim Cho
MATH135

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/18/2018

She is a super smart and nice person, but not the greatest at teaching her material. the quizzes and projects are super easy, but her tests are pretty tough and there may not be a curve instituted, depending on the class average.

Reviews for MATH135