James Conway

This professor has taught: MATH120, MATH141, MATH141H, MATH240, MATH241, MATH310, MATH341, MATH402, MATH403, MATH405, MATH410, MATH430, STAT400

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James Conway MATH241 Expecting an A- Anonymous 03/14/2024	By far one of the best teachers I have had. Extremely understanding, helped me to work around scheduling conflicts, and very reasonable workload. Matlab assignments are given plenty of time, exams are fair. Very good teacher and interesting to listen.
James Conway MATH141 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 02/13/2024	Professor Conway was a very good teacher and explained everything well. While certain information did not feel necessary, he made sure to get us all the information we would need. (He did show how to get the formulas we needed to memorize, and that process was not important to know.) His exams are very fair and he let us know what we would need to study beforehand. (Ex. one question on volume, one question on integration by parts etc.) However, because his exams were very fair, this made the common final seem much more challenging and many people were unprepared for this. Despite the numerous hours of studying for the final, the rigor made many people's grades drop by significant amounts. Overall though, Professor Conway is a very good professor who welcomes questions and is responsive to emails and when you attend office hours. The discussion worksheets were extremely challenging, however multiple end up being dropped and you can work with the people around you to figure them out!
James Conway MATH141 Expecting a C Anonymous 02/08/2024	Dr. Conway: His teaching strategy is to derive every equation, and unless you are a math major, I don't see the point in it. It would be a better use of time if he spent more time on examples then derivations. However, he stayed on schedule, and was able to cover all of the material. His exams also text to be relatively straight forward if you know what you are doing. MATH141: This class has a lot of material and is very difficult. If you have the opportunity to take it at a community college, I would recommend that. The quizzes during each discussion are the worst since they tend to cover material to a degree we did not reach in class. The final exam was also impossible.
James Conway MATH240 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 01/20/2024	Conway's first time teaching MATH240 was a mixed bag. The good -- very nice guy. Will crack a joke here & there and makes himself approachable. Hires excellent TAs, seriously, they made discussion so worthwhile. All lectures are recorded, all notes are posted to Canvas. MATLABs are straightforward, as are the weekly quizzes. His notes, while hindered by bad handwriting, are VERY thorough. This is where Conway distinguishes himself: you will understand linear algebra in greater depth from him than anyone else. His lecturing is excellent, and his answers to questions are very clear. Critiques -- He's harder than the other professors. His teaching style focused more on abstract and theoretical understanding, not practical examples or more straightforward explanations. It's a perfect example of "doing too much." This means that he will test you on that one bullet point he scribbled down while talking about that one proof. Our exam averages were consistently lower than the other teachers, and this is why. Additionally, his notes feel overstuffed sometimes. He will write down mathematical proofs that fall outside the scope of the course. I also feel like he moved too fast sometimes; he would often finish a section early and then just go off on a tangent and write more to fill the time. I think cutting out the filler & writing slower/more legibly to correct the pace would be sensible, as I don't like feeling like I have carpal tunnel 30 minutes into lecture... I like Conway as a person and I can appreciate how he encouraged a truly comprehensive understanding of the subject matter. But he is not for everyone and demands more from you than I initially expected. He is very receptive to student concerns, and I think he'll improve in future semesters teaching this class.
James Conway MATH141 Expecting an A- djacobs 01/18/2024	Going into this class, I was pretty nervous because I don't consider myself particularly math inclined. But Professor Conway made calculus 2 bearable. He always answered my questions and his office hours were really helpful. If you do the practice exams and follow the class notes, you'll be fine on the exams. The web assigns tend to be a lot more difficult than the real exam, which is better than having it the other way around. Overall, as a non-math person, this class was manageable!
James Conway MATH141 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/26/2023	This class is much more difficult than it needs to be, and that's the mentality you need to enter it with. But Dr. Conway makes it much more manageable. Yes it will take you hours each day between lecture, homework, discussions, and studying, but if you go to lecture his quizzes are extremely straightforward, and fair. He is one of the few professors that cares more about your understanding of the specific concept than trying to make you regurgitate algebra which makes it so much better. He is a great lecturer, and extremely nice and helpful at office hours. WARNING!: you WON'T be prepared for the final, the quizzes are much easier so make sure to really do well on all 4 midterms before going into the final.
James Conway MATH141 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/18/2023	Great professor and good guy in general. His midterms were more than fair (around an 80% average on all of them except the last one) and he does a good job explaining topics in lecture. He does like to go into complicated theory in lecture sometimes but it technically doesn’t hurt to have a deeper understanding of the concepts. He drops your worst 3 homeworks and discussion worksheets as well as cuts your worst midterm in half. I also think he curves final grades a bit as my grade jumped a full letter grade. MATH141 is pretty brutal at UMD but Conway does a good job at preparing you to succeed.
James Conway MATH141 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/16/2023	Great and friendly professor! The class is quite hard and requires you to remember many topics from previous classes. Pros: Recorded lectures and notes (on ipad!), legible handwriting, easygoing, punctual, and easy-to-understand prof, lowest 3 hws/worksheets dropped + lowest exam halved which did wonders for my grade, very fair exams with high class averages (except for the final), fast responses to emails (and accomadating when sick), fast grading for exams (within 1 week), CURVE! (but highly depends on your class + exams) Cons: Webassign formatting kinda sucks, class is fast paced + you have to put in the hours, surprising amount of memorization :/, certain topics are much harder than others, i was not at all prepared for what was on the final (the final was nothing like the exams we had in class, likely because the department wrote it), some worksheets were super difficult Advice: Practice problems + practice exams!!! Do the problems in the textbook and check your answers with the textbook answers. And try on the homeworks and worksheets, they will help you actually learn the content since there are only so many problems that can be covered during lecture. Talk to Prof Conway if you're struggling, he seems like a very approachable professor and he is also quite funny which makes the class bearable. My grade was saved by the curve since the final average was really low (like 60%). I literally got a 50% on the final and got a B-. Prof Conway says he does not curve individual assignments and only looks at the final grades to see if he should curve so definitely don't rely on it. This class was a rollercoaster of emotions for me and I almost got weeded out but I would recommend.
James Conway MATH240 Expecting an A bermudarhombus 12/16/2023	Conway is incredible, he's an engaging lecturer, a fair grader, and is genuinely understanding if you forget to give an assignment .
James Conway MATH141 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/15/2023	He explains concepts super well. Lectures can be a lot cause he needs to go semi-fast to cover all the concepts but he records everything and posts his notes if you need to look back on them. He's also very approachable during office hours and will help you with any concept you're struggling with. The exams were overall pretty fair and he would outline what the general topics of the questions would be before the exam and emphasize what we really needed know. Sometimes homework questions and worksheet question would be overly difficult but I feel like that was more on the department rather than him. The final was pretty tough and the average was really low because he wasn't the one to write it which I think is a bit unfair as the students in the sections with the professor writing the exams have an advantage, but again thats on the department. Overall, calc 2 is a weed out and is bound to be difficult and time consuming, but if you put the work in you should be ok!
James Conway MATH240 Expecting a C Anonymous 12/14/2023	I had a really bad experience in this class. I thought the content was taught in an incredibly unintuitive manner (generally a theorem given with no intuitive context or explanation). There wasn't so much of an effort to give a real grasp or feel for the concepts and everything felt like it was supposed to be retained in isolation which made it hard because linear algebra is a very connected topic. Also the exams were out of 50 so every small mistake you made was amplified tremendously and then review materials were quite different from what the test looked like and asked for. Additionally, the distribution of concepts on the test did not match the way things were emphasized in lectures or quizzes so it felt very nitpicky. A bad time for sure. Would not recommend.
James Conway MATH240 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/14/2023	Conway is a very thorough teacher! I enjoyed his lectures and the consistent posting of notes/recordings of lectures was especially useful if you aren't able to make it to lecture. His office hours are also very useful - he takes the time to whiteboard out any problems you might have questions on and explain it to you patiently, step by step. He does have a tendency to value conceptual questions on assessments, which did make the course a bit more difficult, but overall, he's an excellent teacher!
James Conway MATH141 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/14/2023	Phenomenal professor. Lectures are engaging, and Conway is very approachable and willing to help. Would highly recommend.
James Conway MATH240 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/12/2023	His quizzes are very easy. The TAs will teach you everything you need to learn right before the exam. But he focuses too much time explaining the behind-the-scenes logic and does not do enough example problems in class. He also goes over everything too quickly. The textbook is amazing though, which is why I was able to self-teach myself. The exams are also fair.
James Conway MATH240 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/11/2023	I'm currently taking Conway and I think that overall he is a good professor. The exams are fair and the quizzes are really easy. The only gripe I have with him is I feel that his notes and lectures aren't the best. It might just be me, but I have found that when I watch some of my friend's professors I understand the material a bit better. Overall, I'd recommend taking him his class is not hard enough that you'd have to worry about failing, but I think if you are looking to get an A in this class be prepared to do a lot of studying outside of the resources he gives you.
James Conway MATH141 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/09/2023	Records all lectures and exams are very similar to the practice.
James Conway MATH240 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/08/2023	I honestly think that Prof. Conway might be slightly overrated. I had him for MATH240 and his lectures were very informative and he made sure to cover the breadth of each topic. But he rarely would cover examples and when he did he would make them very confusing. I took linear in high school and I would say the course is very manageable but having a good TA makes it ALOT easier. I had Josue and he is amazing. 5 stars. Conway is by no means a bad choice, and his exams are very fair, but be prepared to do some extra work outside of lecture.
James Conway MATH240 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/08/2023	A lot of these review say Conway is a great professor and even though I do agree but there are some things that may make this class hard for some people. The main thing about his class is that 75% of the final grade is exams, that puts a lot of emphasis on the tests, but the way conway teaches is very theory based, he goes into a lot of detail explaining how formula works. This means that during class he does not go through a lot of practice problems. The exams on the other hand are 100% problems with almost none focusing on the theory behind the formulas. If you want an in depth understanding of lin alg this IS the class for you, but the main problem with this class is that his lecture content and tests don't align well. On top of that he teaches at a really fast speed which makes taking notes and listening at the same time a bit hard. Other than that the quizzes are really easy, he records his lectures, posts his notes, and posts grades to canvas as well as gradescope. If your TA gives good practice problems then this class should be pretty easy, but mine didn't really give a lot of practice problems as I don't know how much it would help.
James Conway MATH240 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 11/29/2023	THE GOAT!!!! Quizzes and exams are easy, matlabs can take some time but are fair. Records everything. Honestly you don't even need to go to lecture or discussion, just doing the homework will prepare you enough for the exams and quizzes. Also the homework is optional. Only downside for me is that he spends a lot of time explaining how specific formulas or concepts work, which could be seen as a good thing if you really want a deep understanding, but is unnecessary for the assessments.
James Conway MATH141 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 11/04/2023	Great professor! Explains everything really well and is happy to answer questions and provide help. Also records all lectures and posts to canvas which is really helpful. Would definitely recommend taking his class.
James Conway MATH141 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/20/2023	Conway was an amazing professor. Recorded, and posted notes (if he doesn't simply email him and ask), and he answered questions well. To me, it was really easy to learn in his class and his practice exams prepared you well for every and any exam he gave, tho series was a pain. Would 10/10 recommend. He does his best to respond to emails even late at night and makes a weedout into a very manageable class. NO QUIZZES. Cons: He could go fast at times during his lectures. The course overall is TA dependent (not in his control), while it is doable, most of your actual learning will happen in discussions as worksheets often mimic exams. A good or bad TA is a big factor in whether you succeed or fail. My TA was amazing, a goat, and he, as well as Conway, are why I was able to do well.
James Conway MATH310 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/19/2023	Professor Conway is a great teacher! He makes the homework’s a little bit tougher so that you can do well on the exams, and he does a great job of breaking down hard proofs and concepts into a framework to do similar proofs(like exam questions). There are no trick questions. It’s a lot of work, but definitely a top tier professor
James Conway MATH141 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/17/2023	Recorded lectures, relative easy and fair exams, good at teaching content. Highly recommend
James Conway MATH141 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/17/2023	Conway had great lecturers and showed example problems in his notes which greatly helped me understand the content. His tests were reasonable and I usually got a B on them. He is transparent about what his exams will cover and his problems aren't too confusing to understand. He seems like a nice guy who truly cares that his students understand the course. I will say what made this course even better was my TA. She was very responsive and the way she reviewed the topics in discussion was easy to understand. Make sure to use the umd test bank and read the textbook when studying and you should be okay in this course.
James Conway MATH141 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/13/2023	Conway is amazing. Great lecturer, fair exams, RECORDS HIS LECTURE <3 and truly a sweet and kind professor. I did pretty badly on the series exam, but besides that, I averaged between an 86-92 on the other three exams, and the averages for Conway's class were pretty high as well (usually high C/low B range, which is amazing compared to other calc II sections I talked to!). He is also SUPER accommodating, before our second exam I was extremely overwhelmed and had awful migraines - and very last minute (I believe 12/13 hours before the exam?) emailed him asking if there was any possible way I could take the exam sometime the following week and explained my situation. Conway responded within 10 minutes of that email and was EXTREMELY understanding, and seemed to genuinely care, and I haven't been able to say that for many of the professors I've had so far. The one thing about this class is that your grade depends ENTIRELY on your exam performance (350 for the four exams + 200 pt final + 50 HW pts + 50 discussion work pts), so one bad exam kind of makes or breaks your grade and for me, that was the series exam <3 :( Overall, GO WITH CONWAY!!! He gives you everything you need to succeed AND ACTUALLY WANTS YOU TO SUCCEED!!!
James Conway MATH141 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/13/2023	I'll keep this short and simple, and give the info that I would want from someone who uses planetTerp. Pros: • Reasonable Exams (provides practice exams which almost replicate the questions, just different numbers for the most part) • Very nice and open to questions, always readily available through email • Good lectures that are recorded too! • Verbally understandable unlike some professors • No weekly quiz's, instead their worksheets (still for a grade tho) Cons •Does not curve, at all. What you see on the syllabus is what you get, no exceptions. Overall I'd recommend very much so, as someone who's taken the class twice already:/ MATH141 is a weed out class, in other words it's going to drop kids from their major and path, if you ask for help when you need it and also use orgchemtutor you will be fine.
James Conway MATH141 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/11/2023	Conway is a great professor who teaches math the way it's actually supposed to be taught. At times he made me forget the reputation Calc 2 has at this school. He doesn't beat around the bush when it comes to teaching topics and not only clearly explains what it is we are learning but actually goes over examples problems and how to solve them. Homework was never too hard and the exams were also pretty similar to the practice exams so I would highly advise doing those. Contrary to most people's experience, my one gripe with the class was my TA, who was overall pretty unhelpful. Even for review discussion he would be super stingy about helping you solve questions despite my being pretty obvious about not having a clue how to solve the problem. Even with a bad TA discussions aren't too bad if people in your section work together or you press the TA hard enough. Not sure if he does curves or not as the semester isn't over yet, but you do get your lowest 3 discussions and homeworks dropped, and your lowest exam gets dropped by half. Definitely a fair class by normal standards and probably one of the easier ones by UMD Calc 2 standards.
James Conway MATH141H Expecting an A Anonymous 05/10/2023	Professor Conway's class, despite being an honors level course, was one of the best classes I've ever taken. Professor Conway is very kind and totally willing to explain things again if students don't understand something. He is also very helpful in office hours if you go. He does go kind of fast in class so you might end up writing stuff down without having time to understand it so I recommend reading over your notes after class and making sure there isn't anything you need him to explain in office hours. Aside from that, he is a great professor and I would totally recommend him.
James Conway MATH310 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/05/2023	I absolutely loved Conway. He is really good at breaking down proofs and making things easy to understand. He goes at a nice pace in his lectures, fast enough you don't fall asleep but slow enough to understand what he is talking about. He cracks some jokes in class, and creates a very collaborative feeling in his class. He is super responsive and incredibly helpful. His exams were very fair, sometimes taking problems straight from the homework. The homeworks are hell, but if you really work on them and try to get it you barely need to study for the exams. He actually encourages you to get help with the homework by working with classmates or even going on the internet. That said, starting the homeworks early makes all the difference. The homework is graded pretty strictly (may have had more to do with my TA), but the exams aren't so bad. The worst homework and quiz is dropped. He's also just like... a reasonable guy. He once wrote the due date for a homework is midnight on Canvas, but on Gradescope it was actually due at 9:30 am that day. Some professors would say tough luck, but when it was brought up in class he corrected the problem and let everybody turn it in on the later time. I also heard from classmates that he was really good with accommodating different issues students may have. This is a hard class and it involves a lot of work, but he made it very manageable. I highly highly recommend him for 310.
James Conway MATH141 nalomar 05/04/2023	One of the best Math professors I have had at UMD. Responds instantly to emails. He goes at the perfect pace in classes. All lectures are recorded and posted. Exams are very fair.
James Conway MATH141 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/04/2023	Lectures are recorded and his style of teaching is very nice. He responds to emails fairly quickly which is another plus. As long as you know the content he's teaching the exams are pretty fair. Would recommend you take him if you ever have the chance to.
James Conway MATH141 Expecting an A- Anonymous 04/29/2023	Conway is a great professor honestly, he responds very fast to emails and tries his best to answer questions during OH. Lectures are recorded so you don't have to show up to class, but make sure you listen to the lecture recording rather than just writing what you see. His exams are easy enough if you do the practice exams because everything on the practice exams that he posts, will be tested on the actual exam so just study the concepts.
James Conway MATH141 Expecting an A Anonymous 03/08/2023	Amazing professor! Really good at explaining stuff and his exams are easy too.
James Conway MATH120 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/26/2023	Goat.
James Conway STAT400 Expecting a D Anonymous 01/19/2023	You will have 3 exams in this class midterm 1, midterm 2, final they account for 90% of your grade. If you fail one of the midterms the final exam is worth 70% of your grade. Lectures were extremely boring and exams were really hard. TA's were great but they did everything for this class. Would recommend you take this diff prof especially someone been at university longer
James Conway STAT400 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/26/2022	I'm happy with Conway. The semester and notes were fairly straightforward and he always posts lecture notes online. Some points were harder for me to grasp (mainly around point estimation) because it felt like he did examples but didn't really explain the process that well. However, the TA's generally did a great job covering the macro view of some topics that helped to balance this out. The exams were generally pretty fair (although without practice exams this semester it was a bit harder to know what to expect but he said this would change for future classes because this was his first semester). The first exam was a bit too hard based on the distribution but with the final overriding the lowest midterm, that wasn't too big of a deal. Overall I would recommend, he is a really friendly guy who does a pretty good job with the straight forwardness of the content and making sure you knew what to be ready for on the exams (and allowed cheat sheets and a calculator for midterm 2 and the final).
James Conway STAT400 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/24/2022	Good professor but could not care less about stat, teaching 3 classes simultaneously so his lectures were word for word the textbook. Recommend Mestiyage instead of Conway 100%
James Conway STAT400 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/24/2022	Prof. Conway is the most responsive instructor that I've met. His lectures are okay, he's making jokes sometimes. The homework was short, and the exams were fair following his practice review. I would haven't gotten a perfect 4 without his help.
James Conway MATH140 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/22/2022	Conway was pretty good. I think his best quality is how accessible he is. Responds fast to emails and on piazza. He is also incredibly helpful in office hours and is willing to take the time to make sure you know a concept well. I think his exams were pretty fair as well. The first one did not go so well, but he allowed it to be replaced by our final, which helped in the end. My only main negative is that he did not provide us practice exams, but this made sense as it was his first sem teaching and he tests differently compared to other profs. Overall, I enjoyed the class
James Conway MATH120 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/21/2022	very easy to follow. Extremely clear grading criteria and tells us what we have coming up for the week before each class so students are on top of things. about 7 quizzes total and three midterms and one cumulative final exam. quizzes and exams are pretty easy if you follow the lecture. no curveball questions. First time I've ever really enjoyed a math class.
James Conway STAT400 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/20/2022	Terrible lecturer. He will spend 20 minutes going over a topic only to say it won't be on the exam. His notes are very disorganized and hard to follow. Although his exams and HWs were fair, I taught myself most of the material. I felt this class would have been an easy A had he been a more organized lecturer. Would recommend taking someone else if possible.
James Conway STAT400 Expecting a B Justacoder 12/20/2022	Straightforward professor. His lectures follow the text book so as long as you read and understand it you should be fine. Homeworks are fair and exams are fine. First exam scores weren't very great so he allowed cheat sheets and calculators moving forward which helped alot. My only complaint is that he pushed to cover more material than we really needed to. We went a chapter farther that what most other classes reach. The last chapter was a bit long so learning it right before the final was not ideal.
James Conway STAT400 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/20/2022	best at office hours; fair tests and teaching practices
James Conway MATH120 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/17/2022	I failed AP Calculus in high school. Professor Conway actually taught me how to understand calculus. It was very easy to follow the processes, which I didn't understand at all in high school. The notes may be straight from the textbook, but he simplifies them in lecture (ex. all the steps he writes out are easy to follow versions from the textbook). He is a super genuine, nice guy, and very understanding. Lectures are not recorded unless the lecture if on Zoom or he cannot hold the class in-person, but he does post his notes online, which I have found to be easy to follow despite the lack of lecture. Quizzes and exams are very similar to homework material and in-lecture practice problems. The practice problems given in discussion are much more difficult than the quizzes and tests, but are immensely helpful (they are also optional). He responds very quickly in emails, and is very approachable in-person.
James Conway MATH120 Expecting an A+ cwill04 12/08/2022	I found the class super easy to follow. He really just reads out the textbook and does problems as we take notes but questions are always welcomed. I think Conway is a nice guy and very understanding when things go wrong. Tests are straight forward and discussions just consist of practice problems and short quizes.
James Conway MATH120 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/08/2022	First year I can actually understand math. His lectures can drag on, and he can sometimes overexploit the content, but the notes are thorough. I usually would not pay attention in class, but use notes and the textbook to understand. Super nice guy, approachable, and likes math puns. Reviews are tough, but exams are overall very decent.
James Conway MATH120 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/08/2022	Very approachable, teaches things pretty slowly which is nice so if you get behind you can catch up easily. Exams and quizzes are much easier than the practice and homework problems. He made a tough class not too bad, would definitely reccomend.
James Conway MATH120 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/08/2022	Great at answering questions and he's very approachable and responsive. I found that he sometimes went slow in class but it was worth it since it clarified the material well and he went through each problem step by step. Unlike some math teachers, he was not out to trick you. (Definitely recommend taking if you're Jewish and keep the holidays because you get off for the holidays and just have to watch a video).
James Conway MATH120 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/29/2022	He's a very approachable guy if you utilize his office hours and also a quick responder. That being said, his teaching style at least in my opinion was not very helpful. The class was basically consisted of him being on his ipad rewriting the textbook word for word. I mostly had to learn the material on my own. Apart for his teaching style, the class material is straightforward and he's very understanding of situations.