Fawzi Emad

This professor has taught: CMSC122, CMSC131, CMSC131H, CMSC132, CMSC250

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Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/29/2025	Excellent lecturer, but not much else going for him. Abysmal grading system throughout the semester. If I took him again I would spend more time preparing for exams.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/29/2025	Fawzi might be the best professor I have ever had honestly. Coming into the class, the content seemed to be pretty intimidating, but he taught in a way that made everything stick completely. The grading was broken down simply by just quizzes and exams. I felt the exams were really easy, legit just testing if you understood the fundamentals of the topics he taught, with no real curveballs. Final was a bit harder, but that is to be expected. I will say though, lectures were pretty boring, because he would basically spend the entire time doing a bunch of practice problems, but I found this to actually be super helpful as I just learnt a lot more this way personally. Though, this made discussion virtually pointless, there would basically just be a worksheet, and thats about it. As for the quizzes, fawzi's policy would be that there may or may not be a quiz during discussion, as an effort to motivate people to go. But, this just basically turned into a lot of people coming just during the last 20 min of class, because quizzes would always occur during that time. As for Fawzi himself, some have said that he says some weird things during class (which he kinda does), but this didn't really affect me too much. Other than that, the way he taught just really stuck with me, and I felt like he really set us up well for the exams (averages were pretty high too). Definitely would recommend for this class.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/27/2025	I'm a weirdo who watches all my YouTube videos at 2x speed. Because of that, I found the pace Fawzi went at to be perfect for me. Doesn't record lectures. Otherwise, I found him to be a great professor who's passionate about the subject, but I recognize he might not be the best fit for everyone.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/27/2025	Fawzi is overall a very good professor. He makes his lectures fairly engaging and mostly I am able to follow. Don't be deterred by the "pop quizzes" in discussion. If you do the homework's and review his in class examples through out the semester (as opposed to cramming for exams), you will get 20/20 on most if not all of the quizzes. His exams are extremely fair. Sometimes on the homework there are quite difficult problems but these don't appear on quizzes/exams. Overall definitely take him if you can.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/27/2025	Great professor! I thought I would hate this class, but it was actually my fav last semester. His quizzes and exams are all pretty easy as long as you study what he covered in the lectures. He gave out pretty high grades on everything except Exam 3. All the other exams were graded very easily. Fawzi is pretty entertaining to listen to and I actually looked forward to this class. Can't say the same for 216. :-(
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/25/2025	This class was soo interesting. Loved it. He's a good professor. I definitely could've gotten an A, but his grading really messes u up. Each exam was out of 50 points so 1 simple probability question (10 points) wrong would literally bring you down to a 90%. My fault for getting a 10/20 on a quiz though. Like his exams are relatively easy BUT if u get something wrong you're lowkey done for. There are "pop quizzes" but honestly just expect a quiz every discussion or ask a friend. Take Fawzi! he's not so bad. He has a thing for telling us he's unprepared for class or doesn't wanna be there pretty often though lmao.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/24/2025	Fawzi is the best professor in the C.S. department, hands down! I actually enjoyed going to this class. There are a lot of quizzes, but they were pretty easy. The tests were fair and not too long. Take any class with him that you can!
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/24/2025	Fawzi is clearly really passionate about math and his enthusiasm makes the lectures pretty fun and engaging, imo. He's a good lecturer that communicates concepts pretty well, but he does go REALLY fast - fast to the point where you can't really take notes and absorb what he's saying at the same time. I think my biggest gripe about this class was the lack of resources and the way exams and quizzes were handled. Firstly, the lecture slides are super bare bones, to the point where you're kind of screwed if you miss class for whatever reason. Plus, he lectures so fast that it's hard to take detailed notes sometimes to fill in whatever is missing from the slides. This issue wasn't a big deal for some things like the proofs, where he gives us a lot of examples, but was a major problem in the probability unit. He also never provided the answers to the discussion worksheets, which were pretty important for studying for quizzes and exams (especially probability). Secondly, exams are super short, which might sound good at first, but a single mistake can cost a large chunk of your grade on the exam. Lastly, POP QUIZZES. These were by far the most annoying aspect of the class. You basically have to expect a quiz during every discussion. My discussion TA wasn't very good, so this made going to discussion even more painful.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/23/2025	It's funny how the reviews for Fawzi are so divided! Let me make this easy for you: If you want to learn the CMSC250 material, then you 100% want to take Fawzi's class! He is the best lecturer (best teacher) I've ever seen. He's engaging, inspiring, and at times hilarious! If you're lazy or just not a good student and you want to pass CMSC250 without doing any work, without coming to class, and without learning anything, then he is not your guy. People are whining because Fawzi expects them to actually put in some effort! Maybe switch your major. Upper level classes are gonna be a lot worse. It's not really that hard to get an A in this class. You need to come to all the lectures, study the things he says are important, finish all the worksheets that are given out in the discussions, and keep up with the homework questions (which are not graded). The questions on quizzes and exams are totally reasonable and the grading is fair. The exam medians were always over 80%. He also gave quizzes that were super easy and totally predictable (if you've been keeping up). At the end of the semester he posted an announcement with the final grade distribution: 31% got an A+/A/A- 34% got a B+/B/B- 25% got a C+/C/C- 10% were D+/D/F What's the problem? This was my favorite class so far at UMD. I went in knowing nothing about how to write a proof and honestly, now I kind of feel like an expert at it!
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/22/2025	Fawzi is my favorite professor I’ve ever had so far at UMD, at least as it stands through my first year. I’m going to preface this review: I took MATH310, another proofs class in the math department, a semester before this class, and as a result, knew almost all the proofs content (about 2/3 of the course) beforehand except for modular arithmetic. I still went to his lectures though. Full breakdown below: Lectures: Fawzi is probably the best lecturer I’ve had at Maryland. I had a subpar professor for MATH310, and as a result, struggled with proofs worse than I had struggled with any math class in my life (as someone who considered myself a math person). I managed to salvage a 78% in the class, but I was for sure no expert in proofs before taking this class. Fawzi has a way of breaking down concepts in a very simple, easy to follow, and entertaining way that makes his lectures really easy to follow and understand. I feel like as a result of taking 250, I understand proofs way better than after MATH310. Exams: He did complain that he wrote exams that were consistently too easy and mentioned they were going to get harder, but they never got harder, so I’ll take it. His exams consistently have pretty high scores, take mostly lighter content from the lecture, and are basically what you expect from going to lecture. He can be somewhat nitpicky on proof structure, but there’s no math professor out there that DOESN’T nitpick proof structure. One thing I will say is he can sometimes grade things pretty harshly with regards to partial credit. Quizzes: The pop quizzes are the biggest issue with this class for me. They’re mainly a way of keeping people going to discussions, since any given discussion can have a quiz, so you have to go to all of them. All the quizzes are pretty straightforward, and you should normally score 20/20 on them if you’re keeping up with the material. Don’t be afraid to send a regrade request if your grade is messed up and you have an equivalent answer, but don’t send any begging for partial credit (the same applies to exams). He won’t budge on that. TL;DR: Fantastic lecturer, pretty simple exams, and nice person. Not a fan of pop quizzes in discussion go. I feel like if he recorded lecture and announced quizzes, he’d be rated much higher, but he is 100% worth taking for any CS class.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/20/2025	exams were kinda hard but fawzis my goat i genuinely love his teaching style so much i wish he taught higher level cs classes because i miss his slides and examples and sidetracks about his love life or what diet he was on. just do all of the examples on the slides and you should be fine. i know it is a lot of work but you have to put in effort in this class in general to do well, its not fawzi's fault. homeworks are annoyingly long but they actually also rlly help for exams and anythings excusable for this guy i love him
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/19/2025	intro: class itself isn't necessarily very hard and lectures are chill but damn this grading kinda hits you like a stick (amongst other things) pros: - he's a really good lecturer. has his ways to keep things entertaining, on pace, and engaging. chairs example is a famous one (when you take it), or has good personal stories every now and then, or brings up something really random to keep class somewhat engaging - the content itself is, pretty easy, all things considered. - exams are pretty fair overview of content (sometimes he might ask something that was barely mentioned in class, so you just have to pay extra attention). - lecture slides (and sometimes the examples) are posted BUT BUT BUT they aren't necessarily very helpful as the slides themselves are just pretty bare/a high overlook of what was going on in class neutral: - this year we had no graded homework (so if you think it'll help to float a grade), but honestly, some of the questions asked on this year's homeworks were more difficult than the type of things we were learning in class -- homework solutions are also posted (for us this year, mightve been different in past) but not necessarily any explanations if youre confused - discussions, besides quizzes, were mainly review of midterms/exams after taken, or extra worksheets for extra practice and explanation - partial credit is very iffy at times. sometimes he'll give a decent amount (carried through mistakes such as a wrong answer in part (a) won't cause you extra lost points in part(b)), or you'll just get no credit AT ALL for a problem you accidentally get wrong - lecture is paced VERY FAST. might be hard to write all necessary notes, depending on your writing speed. laptops are technically not allowed but i don't remember anyone being called out for it in class, unsure if anyone had them out or not - seemed pretty passionate about content in class and the only reason this is in neutral is because he'll sometimes go on a tangent about non-course content or do some extra work that you don't need to do/understand at all, which is alright all things considered - grading is all 4 exams (including final) and quizzes only, so lock in - i would say it is somewhat crucial to pay attention in lecture to succeed in this class, as a lot of the things/examples/content he does in lecture shows up frequently in graded work cons: - sometimes he just doesn't really answer questions in the way that people want them to be answered in lecture - on top of questions, questions during an exam are basically entirely useless unless its an error with the exam/question - POP. QUIZZES. this was really annoying. he will not tell you when quizzes are, and just says that its possible to have a quiz in every discussion. basically near-required attendance as for many weeks you'll be having a pop quiz for both discussions in a week, and rarely are you off if its not review day for a midterm/exam/break. overall, i think pop quizzes are just a really unfair format to get students to be engaged. i had a big issue with this as it was just annoying to study for days we had no quizzes, or to be double-slammed by unforeseen pop quizzes out of nowhere during an extremely busy week. - grading can hit like a truck, one mistake can basically cost you a whole percentage point of your grade (now apply it to 3 midterms, and people potentially start dropping whole letter grades in a couple of weeks) -- essentially, questions are worth a lot of points - no practice exams/any decent resources for studying for midterms/finals, i would say homeworks and notes are your best bets (also worksheets if you attend discussion) conclusion/tldr: pretty much the main 250 professor, i would take him but grading distribution/point distribution can be extremely hurting to your grade if you are not careful, you need to be pretty consistent in exams/quizzes to keep a high grade liked his lectures, quizzes/exams were fair, and content was not bad, just be careful. did not like the pop quiz format at all.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Anonymous 05/17/2025	I took Fawzi for CMSC132 in fall 2023 and it is still to this day one of my favorite classes I have ever taken at UMD. This is the gold standard for a CS class at UMD. His lectures were very engaging and he explained things super clearly (despite teaching a bit quickly sometimes). Discussion exercises really helped reinforce the material and the discussions quizzes were very fair. Not to mention his exams were also super fair with high medians. Projects as well were very interesting (especially the Blackjack game, minimum snippet, and graph algorithms maze gui). Final exam was also super fair. Just in general, this class was very well structured. TAs were also top-notch (shoutout to Aram, Rebecca, Day, and Amelia). I really loved this class and I hope he teaches it again in the future as he is mainly teaching CMSC250 now. Overall Rating: 5/5
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Anonymous 05/16/2025	He is a really nice professor and an entertaining lecturer. He does sometimes go off topic in lecture and does ramble on a little but overall not bad. He did change the fact that the HW's are no longer graded, as many students in the past semester or two had been cheating on them, so the grades were entirely made up of quizzes and exams, with quizzes taking up 20%, each midterm being 18% and the final being 26%. The only bad thing that I have to say is that the point distribution on some exam questions are not great. Some questions are worth like 10% of your grade and are fill in the blank, so if you get that wrong, bam there goes 10%. He can be lenient with partial credit, but not always. Not the best but not the worst prof, so if you get someone better def go for them, but he isn't too bad, just got to make sure you lock in for the exams.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Anonymous 05/16/2025	Mediocre professor. He seems to be so passionate about the topic that he races through his slides and never gives enough time to understand the content. He also doesn't really "teach", always just feels like he's simply reciting his slides. This made the class just feel like a memorization game instead of learning the content. So if you do bunch of practice and memorize you'll be fine, but just not a great teacher if you're trying to learn, but also doesn't seem like there's any better alternative professor for 250.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/04/2025	W professor super engaging and actually cares about the topic and students
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A- Anonymous 04/24/2025	Player Tip: always expect a quiz in discussion.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A Anonymous 03/19/2025	Fawzi is a storied professor who really does have a passion for Discrete Math. The only problem is that he's getting on in age, and he's clearly not as devoted to managing the class as he would've been in previous semesters. I took him in Fall 2024. I felt that some of his choices were designed to punish students who didn't attend lecture or discussion. He didn't record lectures or examples, and his slides were lackluster. Weekly, sometimes even biweekly, quizzes were annoying, but if you did the worksheets handed out in discussions the week before you'd do okay. Unfortunately, he didn't drop any quizzes, even on some that the entire class largely didn't do well on. Fall 2024 was also the first year he did three midterms. Review guides for the midterms were posted and in tandem with discussion worksheets are more than enough to do well. Midterm 1 was much too easy, so on Midterm 2 he heavily penalized mistakes. One mistake early on in the setup of a proof question would lose you all the credit for the entire question, ~ 20% of your total grade. I also have heard about instances of unsavory behavior in the class. Allegedly, Fawzi reused exam questions and quizzes from previous semesters, which meant that some students had an unfair advantage. Overall, much of the success you'll have in this course rides on attending lectures + discussions and doing the work promptly, quite fair. Not so fair that you'll have a leg up if you find someone who already took the class + did well.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A- Anonymous 03/13/2025	Every recent review was written by overly emotional freshmen that thought CS is just writing while loops in Java for 4 years and finding the perfect VSCode theme until you get a 160k job offer at Google. This class is fine, a B or above is easily attainable if you can do the bare minimum of being able to think for yourself, write proofs, and plug in basic probability formulas. Sincerely, a current junior.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Anonymous 03/03/2025	I hate his lectures and I hate the way things are graded. The discussions are completely useless and just for a quiz at the end. If you take the class, skip the first 20-30 minutes of discussion and just come during the actual quiz. Also, some questions are a bit ambiguous.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B Anonymous 02/22/2025	An incredible lecturer, the best I have ever had. He did get a bit too much when it came to the homeworks and the exams were a bit too much, however, he is still an incredible lecturer!!
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 02/22/2025	Truly one of the greatest lecturers I have had in my entire educational career. He made the curriculum come alive in a way no other teacher ever has for me. There were days I would love to just keep having him lecture. However, he is not necessarily the best as an overall professor due to his lack of office hours and outside of class communication. Would 1000% recommend for all students to take him at least once!
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B Anonymous 02/20/2025	Extremely good lecturer. However, his homework is terribly annoying to do and too long. Overall amazing though. His lectures are actually memorable and he has lots of energy.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B Anonymous 02/16/2025	He is a decent lecturer, however, very unlikable. He purposefully doesn't record lectures, which is so unnecessary and making our lives harder. Also, I had to show up to literally every discussion even though I learned absolutely nothing during them because there were unannounced quizzes. So, if I didn't show up and there was a quiz, I'd get a 0. The discussions were useless, the TAs just gave us a worksheet each time that we did by ourselves in silence. Fawzi also doesn't curve, not even 0.1%. Have fun with him :)
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 01/25/2025	I really enjoyed having Fawzi as a proffessor. His lectures were engaging and I never really felt bored while in them. He can be a little cringe from time to time but honestly, that adds to the atmosphere. People get on him for being overly picky with grading, and while I also have encountered this, if you pay attention and go to lecture he gives you all the tools you need to succeed. The biggest issue for me was the no recording lectures thing so you really have to be there. I think I could have easily gotten an A if I had shown up at every lecture. He also has pop quizzes in discussion so you want to be in a later discussion and make friends in the earlier ones.
Fawzi Emad Expecting a B- Anonymous 01/25/2025	Looking back, this class was mostly about practice. Allotting yourself at least 2-3 hours per week to just crunch through practice problems is key. The difficulty is mostly set by whatever Fawzi gives during lecture, and if you can do those problems, you should be good for the exams. There may be some multiple choice/short answer questions that look similar to those on the discussion worksheets, so make sure you understand those as well. Homework problems are mostly good for extra practice, but pay especially close attention to questions that look/feel similar to ones that Fawzi has done during lecture. If Fawzi says some of the homework problems are purposely harder than what he expects you to know for the class, they're probably not going to be graded for that specific homework. If you can’t figure out how to properly do the lecture-like problems, ask the GroupMe, ask the Discord, ask your TA, or ask any of the CMSC250 Iribe TAs who are available until 6pm. The grade I got can mostly be explained by the 5-6 lecture problems that I didn’t fully practice on my own, which admittedly cost me a fair chunk of my exam grade due to how the points are weighted. So, fair warning: if you don't study enough of the lecture-like problems, you may lose a decent chunk of your grade.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a C Anonymous 01/18/2025	WOW. I could not have gotten a worse professor. Fosho worst prof ive ever had at mayland. BRO this guy has to be evil. First of all, he purposefully chooses the most random questions to put on his midterms. We could have a whole chapter or section focused on a topic, and he will make sure to go out of his way to put the most randoommmmmmm edge case question on the midterm. There was one i remember, he didnt put a question similar to 99% of the practice problems or slides, he put the one question that was legit one random slide. SECONDLY THIS GUY HAS TO BE EVIL. He has a 'gracious' policy for being sick for a lab. GOD i guess i should just go f my self if i lord forbid wake up sick, and cant go to class. On two seperate occasions I woke up sick and thought it would be irresponsible to attend lab, in fear of spreading whatever I had to my fellow classmates, so I emailed bro as soon as I woke back up, and it was 'too late'. He legit has a policy where if ur sick and the absence is unexcused he will excuse it, but he never did. I had lab at 8 am, I emailed him at 10 am, and it was too late. Like am I supposed to predict when I will be sick and email him the day earlier???????? I also emailed him after not doing too well on the first midterm asking for help and guiadence as to what to do moving forward. And essentially he told me to review the lecture slides.......... like.......... um......... thats what ive been doin.......... huh..??????? I saw the positive reviews and was excited, stay clear gang.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Anonymous 01/16/2025	do not take him. please save yourself. genuinely my biggest college regret is taking fawzi over teli. fawzi is such a harsh grader you can study so long and understand the concepts but your grades just won’t reflect that bc he seems to enjoy showing off his ego rather than figure out how to best help his students do better. don’t take him, and save yourself. please
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B Anonymous 01/06/2025	I really liked this class overall. Even though it was annoying at times, I appreciated that lectures were not recorded, as it basically forced me to attend class. More importantly, Fawzi’s lectures were actually interesting and extremely helpful for doing well on exams, unlike many other professors. This is definitely one of those classes where it’s really hard to do well on exams if you don’t attend lectures. While the lecture slides are posted, you won’t fully grasp the material unless you’re in class. TIP: practice all the lecture examples on your own outside of class, this will help! I thought the three midterm exams were fair and closely aligned with the examples covered in lectures. The homeworks were also genuinely helpful for understanding the material, and office hours were usually helpful for both completing the homeworks and clarifying concepts (though the quality depended on the TA). Discussions were mandatory because of random quizzes, but if you don’t have an 8 a.m. class, you’ll know in advance whether there’s a quiz. The quizzes weren’t too bad and usually covered concepts from 2–3 lectures prior, giving you enough time to fully understand the material. The only thing I really disliked about this class was the final exam. It was significantly harder than the midterms and included questions on topics we barely covered in lectures or discussions. This was frustrating because the midterms had always been consistent with what was taught. While I’ll admit I could have done a better job preparing for the final in advance, as it covers a lot of information, I still felt the final was unreasonable.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a D- Anonymous 01/06/2025	lowkey just a chill guy whos super into squirrels and poker
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/04/2025	For reference my average review is just over 4 stars (I review all my professors for consistency) What I liked: - Hilarious, veteran, competent lecturer who knows how to run a class - Small curve applied at the end of the course - 9.5 homeworks, weekly and useful - 2 discussions/week: usually Tuesday quiz, Thursday review What I didn't like: - odd grading scale, less partial credit than I would have liked. Plus T/F questions worth 5% of an exam are rough - I understand why he doesn't want to mislead people with practice exams, but lack of midterm review materials was a bit frustrating. Would rate 9/10 if that were possible because of this Miscellaneous: - No recordings, slides intentionally cryptic to encourage attendance which was ~80% throughout the semester - 3 midterms, Easy/Hard/Hard with Medium final - If you want to get to know Fawzi, you can. Approachable and appreciates talking to students
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a C Anonymous 01/01/2025	He's a great lecturer and a wonderful teacher, but there are some legitimate problems and difficulties with how Fawzi runs the class. He doesn't record anything and posts bare-bone slides to encourage students to come to class. However, posting recorded lecturers and better notes would help as this is a math class which requires a decent bit of practice. He lectures well, but often speedruns through certain things because he either has to cover a lot or he thinks the concept is not that hard. This can make it harder to learn some of the more difficult topics like probability and combinatorics. And the only other source of help is the TA table. He is a VERY HARSH grader, he wants things (especially proofs) done in a very specific way. If you don't do it in that way exactly, he'll pretty much give you a 0 for the questions. He awards little to no partial credit, and both him and the TAs enforce the rubric mercilessly. His homeworks can be lengthy, so make sure to start early. The quizzes and exams are not hard, but his grading makes it very easy to get a bad grade. Overall, this class is doable, but you'll have to study extra hard just to master his specific quirks with the content that he wants you to know.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/30/2024	He is a good lecturer from what I've heard. His tests are not that hard, but his grading is very harsh. So a couple mistakes will dock your test grade more than you think it would. He gives one hw set a week which doesn't take too long and gives a pop quiz in discussion once a week. The quizzes are not hard so I wouldn't let that scare you. Workload is on the lighter side. I also never went to lecture and ended up with a B-. So if you go to lecture, you can definitely get a good grade in his class.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a C Anonymous 12/27/2024	Fawzi is an engaging lecturer, but don't let his personability and normalness (compared to the rest of the CS professors) fool you, he is a hard ass with grading and his exams are difficult to study for. Proofs and discrete structures is already something that was difficult for me to wrap my mind around and the fact that he gives no practice exams makes his exams difficult and hard to predict. His pop quizzes ranged in difficulty in my opinion, and always expect one in discussion every week. Overall, you will learn a lot in Fawzi compared to Teli, but if you are someone like me who needs to practice a lot before exams, expect to review every single slide show if you even want to be somewhat confident before an exam. Also, make sure you are extremely specific when writing proofs on his exams/quizzes or he'll dock you too many points per mistake.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/25/2024	I don't understand the rise in Fawzi hate this semester. 100% of the quizzes and 95% of exams were material we had explicitly covered in lecture. He's an amazing lecturer and is able to communicate concepts both succinctly and completely. I honestly felt like the grading was pretty fair in terms of point deductions. Sometimes the TAs do make mistakes on grading, but you can submit a regrade request and get the points back in a few hours. The only downside is that he does not provide enough practice material to make you feel prepared enough for the exams. But when you think about it, that actually makes sense, there are only so many types of proofs you can ask about a topic.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Anonymous 12/24/2024	DON'T LISTEN TO THE GOOD REVIEWS. i did and i shouldn't have. don't take fawzi unless you want to go through mental manipulation bc you think you'll be prepared for an exam and then you make one small mistake and fawzi takes off 16 points for it. he may be a great lecturer, but at the end of the day that can only do so much if everything else about his class sucks.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Anonymous 12/24/2024	SAVE YOURSELF AND YOUR MENTAL HEALTH AND SANITY AND DONT TAKE FAWZI. never met a professor with an ego like his. he is so discouraging and makes you feel stupid in class if you dont understand something right away. any other professor, i genuinely think i wouldve gotten an A in this class, but fawzi and his terrible harsh grading made me miserable. don't make the same mistake as me. save yourself!!!
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/22/2024	Fawzi is a great lecturer but a very harsh grader with unfair exams. His rating is inflated due to the lower-level CS courses he teaches (his average rating for CS 250 is around 2.6). He often acts as though everything in his class is very easy, even when the questions are difficult. He claims to curve only if the class average is too low, and he did end up curving by one letter grade, suggesting that the class was struggling a lot.
Fawzi Emad Anonymous 12/21/2024	don't listen to the good reviews. those people probably know number theory from before and had ample time during the sem. DO NOT TAKE FAWZI. YOU WILL SUFFER AND REGRET YOUR LIFE DECISIONS.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/20/2024	I think Fawzi is a pretty reasonable professor. Firstly, he's (generally) a great lecturer which I appreciate more than I can convey considering I am someone who usually goes to her classes. Secondly, his exams and quizzes are pretty straightforward if you attend his lectures, do the discussion worksheets, complete the homeworks without cheating and actually understand them, and practice a bit on your own. I got an A+ in this class and I (almost certainly) promise you can too. Here's how: 1) GO TO LECTURE. Do it. Fawzi will tell you things in lecture that you will not get off the slides. Exam #2, he told us to review definitions. What do you know? We're asked to write out a theorem on the exam. The people who weren't in lecture were cooked. You probably will be too because Fawzi clearly puts a lot of emphasis on going to lecture. 2) Pay attention in lecture. I try to take notes while he's talking but do whatever works for you. This will make step #3 significantly easier. 3) If he does a problem in lecture, do it again, by yourself, at home. This is a 4 credit (I think) college-level math course. You're not going to learn everything just by sitting in lecture. If anything isn't absolutely crystal clear to you (and even if you think it is), do it again. This really isn't half as hard as it sounds as long as you do it immediately after lecture instead of allowing the lectures to pile up. I would take notes in pencil on paper during lecture and rewrite them on my iPad once I got home, based on his lecture slides. 4) If he gives you a worksheet in discussion, do it and understand it. A lot of times, our discussion quizzes were practically lifted from the previous discussion's worksheet. 5) Do your homework and understand it. Usually the level of difficulty of the homework is harder than the exams but every once in a while, we'd get a homework question on the exams. Do all of those things and you'll be fine. The only reason Fawzi gets one star off is because on the final exam, there was a bunch of weird stuff about ordinals and cardinals and equivalence classes that I didn't feel adequately prepared for by the class. Honestly, I'm just being petty and his real score is more like a 4.5. Anyway, I really enjoyed this course and would happily take it again.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Anonymous 12/20/2024	"It is so bad, I want to give you a zero, but that's not possible, so I give you a one" —Tyra Banks My biggest issue with him is that his grading is inconsistent and harsh. Especially when he gives an in class example and you answer in the exact same way for the exact same question on an exam/quiz as he did in class, you will get points off because it's not detailed enough. If you have no experience with proofs, like I did, you will be unaware of how detailed to be. My second issue with him, he unwilling to help students outside of class.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/19/2024	Lowk a chill guy who really likes squirrels, nothing much against or for him. You can def just past using his notes and lectures feel optional imo. There ARE POP QUIZZES. But usually on thursdays and occassionaly both thurs and tues. So just know if there is a quiz or not.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a C- Anonymous 12/19/2024	If you're a CE major, I definitely don't recommend him due to his more strenuous schedule compared to CS majors. This professor's class could significantly impact your GPA and possibly your performance in other courses due to the sheer time it demands. From the start of the semester, lectures felt rushed, as if the professor was speeding through foundational topics without giving students time to absorb the material. The middle portion of the course improved somewhat, with clearer explanations and straightforward examples. Homework was a challenge. The assignments were extraordinarily lengthy, and his in-class examples often didn’t provide much help in solving the problems. To make matters worse, homework grading was frustrating since only a subset of the assigned questions was graded. The professor didn’t inform students beforehand which questions would be graded, so even if you completed all the homework, your grade could suffer significantly if the ones chosen for grading happened to be the ones you got wrong. Exams followed a similar pattern. They included questions where a lot of the points given often strayed from the main course theory, instead testing how quickly you could manipulate the problem to produce a proof. This approach felt more like a test of speed and cleverness than a fair evaluation of course knowledge. Grading overall felt harsh and unforgiving. On exams, small errors could result in significant grade penalties often a grade letter due to the odd point system used for midterms. While the professor’s lecturing skills were semi-decent, the overall class structure left much to be desired. The combination of rushed lectures, unreasonably difficult assignments, and harsh grading makes this a class to prepare for cautiously—or avoid if possible.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/19/2024	Fawzi is a great teacher and explains topics thoroughly while also keeping his lectures engaging. I learned enough from the lectures and homework that I barely needed to study for the exams except for reviewing my notes to brush up on older topics. There were a lot of complaints about his grading this semester but most of them boil down to either losing too much partial credit for getting part of a proof wrong or not getting any partial credit for probability questions where the answer is just a number in a box. I found his partial credit on proofs to be pretty generous and the probability questions to be easy enough that partial credit really wasn't necessary. The grade cutoffs weren't published but I got a 91.6 and got an A so he definitely adjusts them to be reasonable. He also posted some grade statistics after the final: 28% of you received a grade of A+/A/A- 38% of you received a grade of B+/B/B- 22% of you received a grade of C+/C/C- 11% received a grade lower than C- Overall he's a great lecturer, genuinely cares about his students, and his grading isn't that hard. You should definitely take him for 250 if you can.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/19/2024	Overall I'd recommend fawzi as he's a good lecturer in a class full of new concepts. Just don't be stupid and you won't get points off idk. PROS: - Good lecturer, passionate about material, explains concepts well, which is important as mathematical proofs are a foreign concept to most people taking this class - Exams are moderate difficulty and are always easier than homeworks—the homeworks are good preparation for exams CONS: - Quizzes in discussion means you have to actually go to discussion sometimes; take a later section so you can hear from earlier sections if there's a quiz today or not - Provides no exam review material except for one set of slides he partially covers in class, and the slides may or may not include solutions. There's also no textbook for the class which could make up for a lack of review material - Lecture notes are somewhat minimal which is to encourage you to attend class—which I did!—but this can make studying for exams tricky. - Some argue he's a harsh grader, others argue that proofs are easy to F up and therefore tank your grade. I can't really judge without taking 250 with a diff prof.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/19/2024	he was ok, but sometimes it's not clear what he expects you to know especially in the final few lessons
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a C Anonymous 12/18/2024	super harsh grading. it felt like every proof had to be done his way and that limited intuitive thinking. Great lecturer but the exams ruined my grade because of the lack of partial credit.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Anonymous 12/18/2024	Exams and final are worth 70% of your grade and when they are graded, you get little to no partial credit(even for proofs). No practice exams and lectures aren't even recorded. Not to mention pop quizzes that are worth %15 percent of your grade. Avoid at all costs.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/18/2024	He is an excellent lecturer and great at clarifying and explaining topics. The only reason he may not answer every question is because he has a lot of material to get through, and he will take time answer your question if you wait after class. He also picks really good TA's so I also found office hours helpful. The homeworks are a bit time consuming though. I think the best way you can succeed in this class is by attending every lecture, asking questions, and going to office hours for help. Unfortunately he does not post recorded lectures, which wasn't a problem for me personally but it can be tough if you get sick. I think a lot of the reasons people struggle in this class are simply due to them missing lectures. I honestly don't think the pop quizzes are a problem, because I attended every discussion section anyway and they were good practice. For everyone saying there is "no practice material" there is actually a LOT of material on the lecture slides, and most exam questions are directly based on those examples. The only reason I am not giving him 5 stars is because I agree that he can be harsh with grading, but my best advice is to just write as much information as possible on your proofs to make sure you get the most credit. Overall, I learned a lot from this class.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/18/2024	Great professor, knows the material well and teaches it well. Grades harsh and wants you to write proofs in a specific way, but he makes it clear beforehand how he wants you to write the proofs. If you take Fawzi for CMSC250, you will understand the material well.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/18/2024	Fawzi was a great instructor! I really enjoyed the content of this class, and I think the disdain towards his grading is a bit overblown. Notes: - His lecturing style is engaging and informative. I found myself understanding the content super well with Fawzi's explanations, and he has a great way to simplify concepts into terms you understand. Some people find his lecturing to be too fast, but I thought his pacing was perfectly fine, especially with important topics like induction, where I felt he actually clarified the concept really well for longer than he probably needed to. If you are concerned with his lectures being too "fast", definitely go to office hours or ask people in your class about the concepts. He is also funny and charismatic, which goes a long way with keeping you coming back to class. - His lecture slides are bare bones, but I don't see this as a negative as long as you actually put effort in to take notes in his class, if you know you might be confused with the material and look to study it later. I wrote good notes for the entire semester and made sure to keep track of things Fawzi wouldn't write on the slides and wouldn't provide on ELMS, which is especially helpful for the Probability unit. As long as you attend lecture, I guarantee you will be fine in this class. - His tests are fair, and his grading was fine (at least for me) for MOST of the topics. As long as you follow the proof structure that Fawzi provides you and keep track of the specific things he wants you to say in the proofs, you will be fine. My advice would be to study EVERY bit of the lectures that an exam will cover, and do as much practice as possible. You never know when that one topic from the last lecture covered on the exam will be a good part of it, so prepare for the worst. To avoid being graded super harshly, follow the style from class examples EXACTLY and start the homework early! - His proof requirements can be inconsistent. Fawzi sometimes wants you to cite certain things like closure, and sometimes does not. It's your job to keep track of what to include, but to be safe I would include as many rigid and specific things he includes in his proof examples as possible and try to match the style of his examples as closely as possible. That way, in a proof-based test, you will not suffer from losing so many points. - A good amount of practice is provided, which others may disagree with, but the quizzes, homeworks, and worksheets in discussion are all sufficient practice if you do them, look over them, and understand the solutions well. - No answer keys are provided for practice worksheets and quizzes. Instead, you have to go to discussion where your TA MIGHT give answers to a FEW of the worksheet questions, but barely, and you will go over every quiz and test in discussion too. - You can also watch Discrete Math playlists on YouTube to better understand content, which was especially helpful for the beginning logic stuff as well as probability for me. I recommend you do this to succeed in this class most, and that way you won't be caught off guard by what Fawzi might ask. I had a lot of fun in this class, and found the content, especially towards the end, really interesting. Be prepared to put in work, though, if you want an A. Make sure to study hard for the midterms and do well so the final isn't super stressful.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Anonymous 12/18/2024	if there is an option for teli, DO NOT TAKE FAWZI. PLEASE. i trusted reviews and thought it would be ok, but i have never been so insanely stressed out about a class. you can study so hard and understand something well, but doing well on exams feels impossible. there is NO PARTIAL CREDIT and the smallest mistake will drop your grade so much. also, fawzi is a good lecturer, but doesn’t record which is so inconvenient if you want to review a concept. he also has an ego and says things that can easily demotivate students, especially if they’re already struggling. do yourself a favor and please do not take fawzi. he may be fine for 131/132 but do not take 250 with him. PLEASE. if i could do one thing about college so far differently it would be to take teli instead.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/18/2024	Good lecturer. One of the few classes that I actually attended. Curved our class at the end bc a lot of us failed earlier tests. The best way to study is to review class examples, since tests are usually just a spinoff of what he went over in class. Also its important to go to class if you want to do well on tests since he's nitpicky about how to do problems.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/18/2024	Fawzi's a pretty good lecturer who is very passionate about the subject. His midterms and final were pretty fair, he doesn't give an curve ball questions; questions were easier than the homework. Just study and make sure you understand the material. I guess, the only downside were random quizzes during discussion.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a C Anonymous 12/18/2024	Fawzi is an entertaining guy and very enthusiastic about discrete math but hasn’t been the best teacher. Theres pop quizzes every week which make them somewhat predictable and he encourages collaborating on homework. However, exams are very iffy. He is very bad at giving partial credit and the TAs grade inconsistently. He provides no practice material to prepare for exams and no answer sheets to the worksheets he hands out in discussion. He doesn’t record lectures and only posts his slides which are very minimal in terms of information, only really serving as guidelines for his lectures. When in class he speeds through examples without giving you enough time to write them down either. Overall, Teli seemed like a much better option this semester.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/18/2024	Seeing this semester's reviews, I'm not quite sure what is up with his grading being inconsistent. He has always been a harsh grader but in Spring 2024, I have no recollection of him being that inconsistent. Nobody likes pop quizzes, true. Nobody likes harsh grading, true. But he is a great lecturer and if you go to class and study then you will do fine. "There is no practice material." The practice material are the proofs. Do the proofs from scratch so you actually understand the logic of the proof. The probability part of the course might be annoying not having solutions but there are so many proofs you can practice and redo. The proofs are simple enough where if you are missing some big chunk of it, I'm not sure how you can justify much partial. I can understand certain algebra mistakes but if you are just waving your wand over wrong algebra and magically getting to your conclusion then that isn't just a "small error". I don't like the strict formatting but it is common for intro to proof courses. In short, Fawzi is a great lecturer, and if you manage to do well in his class, you will find the rest of the lower levels to be a breeze. If you are usually on the verge of failing, then don't take him. If not, take him. He's been reasonable in my experience, so if this semester truly has been that bad, he'll curve appropriately.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/17/2024	One of the better lecturers i've had so far, but like everyone else is saying the grading is ridiculous. Had an exam question i did be marked completely wrong because his rubric required you to do it one specific way, despite the way I did it being completely right. Had to go to office hours to get credit for it. Pop quizzes are annoying, just make sure to not take the early discussions if you can avoid it and check the groupme to see when there are quizzes. DO NOT RELY ON HIS SLIDES they have pretty much nothing on them, so you have to actually be in lecture to learn anything. Also doesn't give practice exams
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/17/2024	PROS: Good lecturer and speaker. Relatively engaging lectures. Quizzes aren't incredibly difficult. CONS: Grading is pretty harsh and if you don't do it his exact way, you'll lose so many points. So you absolutely need to pay attention to the way he SAYS you need to do things (not the way he actually does them). Speaks too fast at times (jarring in the beginning of the semester, you'll probably get used to it as the semester goes on). You absolutely MUST attend lecture as much as possible. Most of Fawzi's golden nuggets of information aren't written down, he says it out loud, so you need to be there at lectures (doesn't record lectures). Pop quizzes in discussion. I had discussion at 8AM, so it was especially brutal to wake up, but not too hard. Almost no practice material at all. You'll have to use other professors' practice exams, go through the lecture slides (where information is minimal since, again, he speaks more than he writes), and use practice worksheets that are only handed out during discussion. NEUTRAL: With Fawzi, you should be listening 90% of the time and writing down 10% of the time. He speaks way too fast for you to be writing down everything he says and you'll fall completely behind. Instead, genuinely listen and try to get the content into your head instead of writing it down to review later. Again, do as he says, not as he does. For some, this style of teaching is amazing, and for others it's infuriating.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/15/2024	He's an engaging speaker and good lecturer but my problem with him is that he grades really harshly and it's easy to lose hella points on his exams fast. He also does pop quizzes in discussion which is really annoying but as long as you keep up with the lectures the quizzes themselves are usually fine (but he does grade them harshly). The slides for his lectures are really bare so you need to be there in class or be prepared to learn the material on your own entirely and find a friend that was in class to tell you about the specific things fawzi requires that you write.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/15/2024	Fawzi is a tough grader and you can pretty easily lose alot of points on his exams. He also does pop quizzes in discussion although these are normally a grade booster (dont take the first discussion so you know when the quizzes are). Fawzi would act shocked when the entire class messed up an exam question which was quite frustrating as that is clearly a reflection of his teaching abilities and not our studying. His lectures are pretty decent but he doesnt record them and his slides are extremely bare so you have to be there. Overall, mid.
Fawzi Emad Expecting a C+ Anonymous 12/14/2024	Great speaker and lecturer, however as everyone else is saying the grading is very harsh, little to no partial credit on most problems. His gives pop quizzes but they are kind of easy to predict what is gonna be on them. He has a very dry sense of a humor which I thought was funny but some people might perceive it as rude or arrogant. Like I said great speaker but exams are graded super harshly. If you want an easier grade take Teli, If you want to understand the course material take fawzi
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/14/2024	He’s a great lecturer, but his biggest strength is in his ability to turn a simple class into one of the most stressful classes I’ve taken in my college career. Be warned: You will leave Fawzi’s class with a great understanding of the core concepts but also with some severe PTSD if you care about your grade.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/14/2024	I took Fawzi because of his high reviews, but now that I look back, its clear his reviews were boosted by 132 and 131. Fawzi is a good lecturer but is the harshest grader I've ever had. He gives little to no partial credit on all questions, which makes it especially hard because this class is centered around proofs, and one little wording mistake can cost you 10 or so points. His exams are also out of lower point totals, so one mistake can drop you almost an entire letter grade. For example, his third midterm this year was out of 51 points, meaning a 10 point loss on a proof would automatically drop you to an 80%. Do not take Fawzi unless you are confident of being perfect.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/12/2024	Honestly a good lecturer, a little arrogant but he's ok. His grading makes no sense though and he doesn't seem to care about his students much.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/12/2024	I think fawzi was terrible for 250. Only giving 2 stars because the homeworks were helpful. Everything else about this class is terrible. I thought fawzi was fine for 132, but for 250, avoid him at all costs
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/12/2024	I regret taking 250 with Fawzi. While he explains the material decently in lecture, his grading is a nightmare. A single mistake on a proof can cost you the entire question, and there is no partial credit. Homework is returned so late that it’s practically useless as feedback before exams. On top of that, no practice problems or exam reviews are provided, so you’re left guessing what might appear. I understood the concepts but still performed poorly due to his grading style. If you value your GPA or your sanity, avoid him.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/11/2024	A decent lecturer, but... NO PARTIAL CREDITS + HARSH GRADING!? The two midterms almost ruined my grade
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a C- Anonymous 12/11/2024	Grades harshly, but is a nice person outside of grading
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Anonymous 12/10/2024	Great professor but he gives pop quizzes in discussions though so you have to stay on your toes with the lecture material + homework.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/10/2024	Grading is very harsh. Has no practice material whatsoever. Good person though.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/09/2024	Great lecturer. Grading is harsh so just don’t mess up.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/08/2024	Please do not take Fawzi. I thought it was a good idea to take him given how high his reviews are for 131/132. He probably does teach those classes well, but by registering with him for 250 I unknowingly sealed my fate as a victim in his heinous game of human chess. His grading is insanely bad: make a small mistake and the penalty is insanely severe. Do questions correctly, but not the way Fawzi likes, and you pretty much got it wrong. He’s arrogant and rude (and he straight up swindled a student out of their money in the middle of a lecture just to prove how good of a mathematician he is). Succeeding in his class is a matter of luck, not skill. Don’t take him.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a C- Anonymous 12/08/2024	AVOID FAWZI. He doesnt give enough practice material for exams. Pop quizzes. He speeds through everything in lecture and assumes its easy. VERY LOW exam totals. Which means 1 question wrong and your B is now a D. VERY easy to do poorly on exams. Never provided answers to any worksheet. Exam's are graded like this : you get full points or basically none. I made a super silly algebra mistake and got a 3/12 on a question. He's one of the worst professors ive had. Many straight A students got lower exam grades bc of his grading. I did not enjoy any part of his class. I wish I took Teli. Pretty much all my friends felt the same. We took Fawzi bc of the reviews but as the semester progressed his reviews kept going down and he kept making exams harder and harder to well on. He makes up his own probability questions for exam 3 and its really hard to intrepert what hes asking. You can think of it in many ways but only the fawzi way works. Same with induction if you write out anything in a manner that did not align with fawzi you got 0/15 even if you were correct. Just dont take his class. Its really been a pain and im glad its almost over I never wanna see his face again
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Anonymous 12/07/2024	do not take fawzi. he doesnt give you any resources for the class and his lecture slides are bare bones. his grading is harsh and if you miss a small part of a question he just gives you no credit. he has random pop quizzes every week. he has no sympathy for students and does not care if you fail.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/05/2024	DO NOT TAKE 250 WITH HIM!!!!! He is a good lecturer do not get me wrong, however you won't get any partial credit. If you miss a lecture then good luck. Grading criteria is super wack, if you get most of the problem right but mess up towards the end then you get no credit. No practice materials so you just have to study everything and then the exam has stuff we barely practiced. I have to spend 2-3 hours everyday to stay on top of this class. Telli is a much better option or just literally anyone else.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an F Anonymous 12/05/2024	I have all A's in all of my other classes. I know I'm a good student, so for those who say if you get a bad grade with Fawzi we're mad we got a bad grade, it's not that. Fawzi has inconsistent rubrics and everything with him is so black and white. No partial credit whatsoever. If you make a mistake on one problem, you're done.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/03/2024	He is a good lecturer, just complaining mainly about exams and how harsh they are graded. Other than that, I would consider himself to be very well versed in the subject.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/03/2024	Great lecturer. I really feel like I understand the content thanks to his lecturing. Responds to emails quick. Cares about the material. There's the positives. However, despite how strong of a lecturer he is, I can't give him any higher than 3 stars (would give a 2.5 if I could) due to the structure and organization of this class. Fawzi likes to say that if you come to all his lectures, you'll be golden. This could not be further from the truth. I have attended every single lecture, and yet, I still failed the second exam. There is incredibly inconsistent grading (my friend & I put down the same thing for HW, yet she got points and I did not). There is little to no partial credit. There is NO review material. There are pop quizzes and none of them are dropped. There are arbitrary and low point values for exams. There is a lack of empathy for the plight of the students in this class. I am teetering on the verge of a B and a B-, and I have put a great amount of effort into this class. Please do not take Fawzi for 250 unless you are very confident in your test-taking abilities.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a C- Anonymous 12/02/2024	it has been a bumpy ride. he's rude and unforgiving. no practice material. any worksheets we get don't have answers keys. inconsistent grading. i hate him.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A- Anonymous 11/26/2024	Fawzi is the best professor for 250, hands down. He's very approachable, decently funny, and is second to none at explaining concepts. He does come across as arrogant but isn't as rude as people make him out to be. The problem lies only in the grading - it is harsh and punishes those who do problems wrong. The course has 11 quizzes, 10 homeworks, and 3 midterms. The homeworks are rather straightforward though are completely reliant on your understanding of the concept. Quizzes are the same, however they are generally harder. These are typically graded high since none of them throw curveball questions especially if you study the lecture material, however the TAs grade them. The TAs are very inconsistent with grading, meaning questions could be right and a TA would give you credit, but a different TA would not because either they perceive something as wrong or do the question wrong themselves. It's also not helpful that TAs who do the grading and regrading are random for both, so you may have a question right but both the grading and regrading TAs will not give you credit, meaning you'd have to personally email or visit Fawzi (who is a lot more understanding than the TAs). Generally though, the HWs and Quizzes are a small part of your grade so even if you fail one you'd still be fine. The main portion of your grade lies in the exams. Exam 1 had a median of 87, Exam 2 had a median of 72, and Exam 3 has yet to be released at the time of writing. Now, the exams aren't typically hard, but they are very easy to screw up on (Exam 3, for the most part), which is why so many people are disgruntled with their grades. I'd say that grading for exams is fair but perhaps too fair, with Fawzi and his TAs grading based on how much of your answer is correct. Exam 2 in particular was graded with a heavy hand, meaning a lot of people who screwed up on a proof lost a lot of points. On Exam 2, the worst proof for many people was the last set proof which was the easiest to make a mistake on. Once a person made a mistake (most likely at the start of the proof), the rest of their proof would be very wrong, giving them a very low grade for the question. Hence, so many 1-star reviews on how "Fawzi is an unfair grader", even though the students had the question wrong and would most likely not do well with other professors either. Just be careful on the exams and you should get a good grade. Overall, while Fawzi is a great lecturer and a nice guy (though arrogant), the grading is very harsh for people who don't perform well in the class. In a way, he's preparing students for upper level courses where the grades are bad if you don't get with the program early on. However, most people expect 250 to be the class they can slack on and still get an A like their 100-level courses, meaning people don't get why they have such a bad grade even when their performance isn't good. Basically, just expect 250 to be hard and leave no room for error, and you'd do fine.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B Anonymous 11/25/2024	I took Fawzi for 132, and I hold that he taught that course very well, I gave him a 5-star review. 250 has been the opposite experience, I found it to be an absolute headache of a class. 1) Unrecorded lectures and borderline unusable slides/written work: - Fawzi does not record lectures to make you attend class in person, which would be serviceable if he made the slides comprehensively cover everything he says, but they don't. Frequently he will say stuff that is just not available online, so you are ****ed if you don't go to class. Especially regarding probability/statistics and proofwriting. 2) Unannounced pop quizzes: - On material you covered 2 weeks ago in lecture and 1 week ago in discussion, but the TA doesn't even go over approaches to problems or concepts, they simply regurgitate random worksheets at you, the answers to which are not made available, so that no, you may not prepare for an exam with them easily. In fact, the worksheets aren't even available online, so you have to go to class or grovel for someone to share them. 3) Shoddy exam prep: - Besides the quizzes, worksheets, and slides, which have the countless issues listed above, there is no other exam prep provided. There are no extra problems provided for practice, there's no textbook for the class. This would be fine if there were many approaches to solve some of the problems Fawzi presents, however, he makes it very clear that the TAs will be extremely picky with their grading, as per his order, so will receive a ZERO for an answer that is partially correct. This leads us to discuss the exams. 4) Exams: - There are so few questions on the exam that they only really cover ~40% of what material you have to prepare on, which coupled with the no partial credit leads to you basically needing to get every question correct or your letter grade will be nuked. I wish we had 75 minute lectures, so our exams would be more extensive and actually indicative of a student's mastery of the subject. Btw HWs are due at 11pm, not midnight. For some reason. I could go on and on, but it's not needed. Just comparing my experience to my friend, a student of Teli's 250 section sums it up the best. Their lectures are recorded, slides are extremely detailed, quizzes are on a set schedule, only have 2 exams + a final which is NOT cumulative, and prof Teli gives extra credit, just cause. I don't mean to come across as unreasonable writing this review. I think I am genuinely learning in this course and think that even if roughly 20% of the issues experienced were fixed, Fawzi would be the guy for 250. But, the fact that the issues compound and make each other thoroughly more annoying to deal with has genuinely soured my CS experience this semester. That being said, Fawzi is an excellent orator, and I think he genuinely cares, so perhaps he will fix up the course for his next batch.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a C- Anonymous 11/25/2024	Let me start by saying Fawzi seems like a great guy, he's funny and reminds me of a few of my friends. He repsonds to emails quick. He is a good lecturer and I promise you, you will learn the material if you take him, but other than that... I have to say his overall structure and grading is terrible and inconsistent to the point where it's unfair for many students. I'll say he's a good lecturer and out of all of my CS required classes as a sophomore (cmsc216, 250, stat400), I understand the material from 250 the best. It's crazy how easy/elementary the material comes across I feel like I could teach middle schoolers the course. Though my grade and many other people's grades/efforts don't reflect this understanding of material because of horrible/inconsistent/harsh grading system. For comparison I know barely anything in my stat400 class but have a B because the teacher understands many of the student's struggles and accomodates us, though I'm condifdent to say I know and actually comprehend the material in fawzi's course 99%, though my grade won't refelct that. Most instuctors drop a quiz or two, or half the lowest mid-term. Fawzi doesn't do any of that. He has pop-up quizes once a week, 4 exams, and long homeworks which is okay for a 2XX CS class. He keeps solutions to worksheets/quizzes/exams to himself/TA's forcing people to go to discussion for the answers, which is fine, I've gone to pretty much all the discussions except a few because of usal stress as a CS major. The issue is he doesn't release them after the discusssion section which is just holding many people back unless you ask around in the study chat. Granted, I've been able to understand material from those assingments 100% but your grade won't reflect that because of a tiny mistake here or there. I promise you, I'm no sloucher I spent almsot 3, 70 page front and back notebooks worth of practice problems and review for Fawzi's class and never felt more confident going into his exams, but the he does not allow for almost any partial credit, depsite understanding the material compared to other instructors. Multiple times I've heard him express how much he feels bad for his TA's so he tries to make it so they have an easy time grading. So his questions/style on exams/quizes is creative in such a way that it's hard for you to get partial credit, and the ta's have an "easier time" grading. At times It feels like Fawzi cares more about making his TA's have an easy time grading rather then focus on his students ability to pass especially if we do understand the material. The grading is the most inconsistent/harsh I've ever seen in my life. On an exam I wrote the exact same thing as a friend, but I lost points for it from a TA. I asked another TA, and they said I should've gotten points for that. I sent a re-grade request but the ta denied it saying essentially saying because I messed up the latter part of a proof I shouldn't have gotten points for a previous part which was correct. It was frustrating to see someone else get credit for something I did too, I emailed Fawzi about it and he did kindly fix the mistake himself. I've heard many errors like this from multiple students too. Overall, he's a good lecturer, funny, but lacks empathy to understand some of the students. You will learn, but his grading system is unfair, harsh, inconsistent, and TA's are inconsistent. Pray you have a TA who's willing to understand your thinking and help you like I did, not just say you're wrong. He favors his TA's having an easy time grading rather then students who're also paying thousands of dollars to be there depsite understanding material may fail and have to waste money. I hope this helped.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Anonymous 11/24/2024	Don't take Fawzi for 250. He's been teaching the class for so long that he really doesn't care anymore. He's pretty rude to students who ask questions during lecture, so I would probably advise not to even try. Exams are okay-ish, sometimes a little unfair IMO. For discussions, you have a weekly pop quiz and you are not told what it is on nor are you told what day it is on so you are forced to go to every one. He's a stickler about technology in the classroom, which is absolute BS in my opinion. Homeworks are slow to be graded. I highly recommend you avoid him and highly recommend for him to call it a day and just retire at this point.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a C- Anonymous 11/23/2024	Save yourself while you can. I understand all the material and spend hours every week studying—however, one mistake on the exam and ur cooked. Lectures are fine, discussions depend on ur ta (mine was cool), and lastly tough grading. No practice material aside from lecture examples and discussions/quizzes (no answer sheets for them btw).
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 11/22/2024	Good lecturer and nice guy. Lectures were often too fast to take good notes and the slides online barely had anything on them. ZERO resources online, studying for exams is brutal. He grades insanely strict on exams. I had a good understanding of all of the concepts and could even explain them , but when it came to the exams I never preformed well. Weekly quizzes were never relevant to what we went over in discussion. Punishment for a small error on an exam problem pretty much changes your letter grade. If you are a good exam taker and very very very very very meticulous, maybe fawzi is for you.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A- Anonymous 11/22/2024	Please do not take Fawzi for 250. He is very particular about grading. He'll take off major points on exams for small mistakes, and the level of detail expected on each proof is very ambiguous and inconsistent. The homework is also very slow to be graded, so you usually won't get feedback on your work until after the exam. There are also no practice exams, no practice problems and the way he approaches proofs in lectures does not reflect how he expects proofs on exams (he often scoffs at tedious steps, saying they're boring, then taking off points if you do the same but get the right answer.) He loves touting "no points for effort". Fawzi also comes off as very rude in lectures. He puts on a brash persona at the expense of brushing off student questions that he doesn't understand and breezing through topics he says are easy. You can tell he does care, but his lecturing persona makes it seem he has little regard for his students. I can see why people like Fawzi as a lecturer, but I would never recommend anyone take his class. Exam questions, quizzes, and homework are easy enough. The problem is with Fawzi.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a D+ Anonymous 11/22/2024	The grading is insanely unfair! I feel as though I have a good grip on the subject matter, and yet his insane grading has put me in danger of failing… DO NOT TAKE FAWZI FOR 250!!!
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B- Anonymous 11/21/2024	Inconsistent grading and bad rubrics. Total points on exams are very low and you'll get a letter grade less if you make a small mistake on a proof. Barely any review material and there are no answers for worksheets. Join the main GroupMe and Discord if you want to survive. You can't beat the Fawzoids. Fawzi's grading put me on a liquid diet :(
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 11/21/2024	absolute 🐐🐐, if you only show up to lectures and discussions (only for the quizzes) and you'll do well, there isn't anything he puts on exams/quizzes that he doesn't say in lecture. all his assignments are fair, if not easy.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a C- Anonymous 11/21/2024	you will have weekly pop quizzes in discussion (that's not my problem). my problem with them is the drastically inconsistency with the grading. there should be have been no way i got a 0 for a quiz with little feedback besides "answer is wrong" and then submit a regrade request and receive an 80%. this happened multiple times. the other discussion days you will have worksheets that are too long to complete in the time and the ta's only have time to go over one or two problems. unfortunately these worksheets do not have an answer key so you have no idea if you are doing them right or wrong. when i go to office hours to confirm my answers on these worksheets, the ta's on duty are rude or simply just don't want to be there. posting a solution sheet for the worksheet would solve this. fazwi is the ta's boss he should be sure this isn't happening. now in lecture, this man goes over material way too quickly. in the process of doing this, he skips over the key details like where he is coming from to get to his conclusion. not only does he go way too fast, he doesn't record his lecture, which ig wouldn't be a problem if his slides didn't have two bullet points on them and if he posted the work for his in class examples. now speaking of his in class examples, he skips steps. which doesn't sound that bad right? well if you use his in class examples to help prepare for your weekly quizzes/exams, you are screwed. because you have practiced skipping steps, you will eventually skip steps on quizzes/exams. even if you approach the question the 'fawzi way' and get it right, you will lose most of your points due to the fact you skipped those steps. so if you literally answer the question the way fawzi showed you how to, you will get the question wrong. for exams, i would have no issues with preparing for them if there were adequate resources to do so. there are no practice exams. you can do the worksheets as practice, but once again in order to check if you are doing the question right, you need to ask a ta. you can try redoing your quizzes as practice, but a lot of them are not graded in time before the exam to prepare throughly and the quizzes don't even have an answer key (it becomes the same problem as the worksheets). also, exam questions are graded too harshly. i got a 0 for a proof that i did right (except for the last step) where i missed one word. i submitted for a regrade request and got points taken off from another question (which didn't get a regrade request). also when i have emailed him to set up an appointment with him to ask for help (his office hours are by appointment only), he is incredibly rude and not understanding. i got sick during the semester and i was bedridden. when i had emailed him asking to send the examples he did he class, he refused and "strongly encouraged" me to come to class instead. that is not only a health hazard to other students but is absolutely ridiculous to hear. not only did i not have any in class examples but the lecture slides became useless because there is so little information to go off of. overall: one star for his squirrels, zero stars for fazwi. tl;dr: inconsistent grading, no decent practice material, you’re screwed if you’re sick, and he edges to proofs.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A- Anonymous 11/20/2024	If I could give him a negative rating I would.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A- Anonymous 11/19/2024	I’ve seen a lot of reviews echoing the sentiments of “anyone who complains is just upset they got a bad grade.” I strongly disagree with this, and I find it upsetting that people are so quick to shoot down any criticism of Fawzi regardless of how valid it is. In truth, Fawzi is an excellent lecturer who is great at explaining difficult concepts. He’s also a fairly engaging and charismatic guy. He also employs one of the most bizarre grading schemes I’ve ever seen; questions on exams and quizzes are graded in a binary fashion (either you got it 100% correct or completely wrong). So make a small algebra or logic mistake on a question that you otherwise did correctly, and Fawzi gives you a 0%. Combine this with the fact that each exam/quiz has very few questions, and a super small mistake can drop you a full letter grade. In an attempt to ensure people attend lectures, Fawzi intentionally keeps his slides pretty bare bones and doesn’t post lecture recordings (which can pose an issue if you have a legitimate absence). To ensure discussion attendance, he doesn’t post any answer keys for the worksheets we complete, which is a shame considering these worksheets are one of the only things you can study off of for the exams (there aren’t any practice exams). So yes, he is an excellent lecturer, but he also has a lot of legitimate issues that can make taking 250 with him frustrating at times.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 11/19/2024	Fawzi is an amazing lecturer who chooses very good TAs. Everything he gives on exams and quizzes is almost identical to what he gives on practice worksheets and homework, so if you review thoroughly you will get a good grade. Anyone who complains definitely did not put the work in.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a C- Anonymous 11/18/2024	DO NOT TAKE HIM FOR 250!!!!!!!! I know I should've locked in, BUT... (1) No practice exams / worksheets for the exams. (2) Homework is hard (START EARLY AND TALK TO TAS). (3) Not a lot of questions on the exam, so each question is weighed heavily (if you mess up a multiple choice, you go from an A to a B). (4) Has very specific formatting. (5) Quizzes and exams are both graded equally harshly (one of my friends got a 0 even though he got 50% of the question right). I.e. NO POINTS FOR EFFORT. However, he is very cool and buff. And likes squirrels (me too). How did he get Coca Cola in a Pepsi school? Who knows...
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A- Anonymous 10/14/2024	He is a great lecturer and very engaging, He talks fast, but therefore can repeat concepts many times, which makes remembering concepts easier. Would not recommend if your brain works more slowly at processing auditory information but for students who already watch videos at 2x speed he is perfect. Posts his slides and lecture materials, which are more than enough. There are pop quizzes, but they are generally easier than the lecture materials. Tests are easier than quizzes. However, quizzes and tests are very strict about grading since answers will be discrete.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 08/26/2024	anyone that gives <5 stars for fawzi is salty they got a bad grade. lock in. 🐿️ fawzi is an S tier CS lecturer.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B- Anonymous 08/13/2024	Horrible, horrible teacher. Funny guy but avoid him at all costs for CMSC250. Provides no meaningful review materials, no answer keys for many of the practice sheets, and zero practice exams. If you miss lecture you're screwed as his slides are dogshit and barebones, he posts no notes, and doesn't record. He has random discussion pop quizzes, which force you to go to the useless discussions. Additionally, he has little regard for his students and doesn't seem to care if you succeed in his class or not. In a class that's easier to grasp like 132, this guy's strict policies and teaching styles don't matter as much, but for a conceptually harder class like 250, please avoid Fawzi like the plague for your own good.
Fawzi Emad CMSC122 Expecting a B Anonymous 08/05/2024	The summer course was very well made. The projects all vary in difficulty and some may even seem easier than the past ones. Weekly quizzes helped with understanding the material taught in the previous week and helped somewhat with the exams. It's important to take notes from his lectures as they were in the quizzes or exams. I'd say the exams were wayyy easier than when I took 131 with Pedram. Overall, great class and great professor to learn from.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 08/05/2024	I first had Fawzi for 132, and my opinion of him as a professor has not changed: he's an excellent lecturer and a very fair professor overall. He makes his lectures really engaging and does a great job of explaining difficult concepts and providing helpful examples. There are some complaints about the pop quizzes in this class, but these were honestly pretty easy as long as you briefly studied the recent topics before each discussion (just twice a week). I also felt that the exams were extremely fair and super similar to the examples he did in class--I never felt blindsided by anything that appeared on them. The homework assignments weren't too long either, though some of the questions on them were sometimes tricky. However, the exam questions were always easier than the homework assignments which made them pretty good practice material. Fawzi forces you into having good study habits with this class between the pop quizzes and the lack of recorded lectures, but this honestly really helped me stay on top of things and not fall behind. That being said, I could see why this may be another person's reason for disliking this course structure--it comes down to preference. I personally had a great time both times I had Fawzi as my professor :)
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a C Anonymous 08/04/2024	If you are reading this to decide to take Fawzi for 250 I urge you not to. He said he is retiring (at least to us when we were taking 250 with him in spring 2024) so fall 2024 might be his last time teaching. He provided no resources to prepare for the exam. No practice exam. No answer key to weekly worksheets. Popup weekly quiz which was annoying AF (you don't even know what topic they are on- sometimes they are behind from what we are covering in lecture). You can't use your laptop or tablet during lectures. He edges to proofs (someone legit asked him if he edges to proofs in LECTURE) He does not record lectures (Which would be fine if his slides were not 2 bullet points - basically useless). This girl saved us by providing her notes in the groupme shoutout to her fr! Asked some weird questions on the final about probabilities. Overall I hated every moment!
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a C- Anonymous 08/04/2024	This is a Summer CMSC132 course in which the lectures are all recorded and everything but exams are purely online. I felt he provided a great level of assistance for myself, he uses easy to understand metaphors for confusing concepts, and goes into great detail for whatever section we are on. In addition, he is a funny man who made me laugh there and there which helps improve the overall experience. A C- is a close call, but it would have been much lower without his teaching.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A- Anonymous 08/04/2024	The Fawzi hate from this semester is baffling. Yes, the pop quizzes and not recording lectures is annoying, but he’s the best lecturer in CS and his exams are very fair. There is a lack of practice material but the exam proofs are very similar to the easier examples he covers in class. Discrete math is a challenging subject in general and people are taking it out on him.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a W Anonymous 07/29/2024	I could not have picked a worse professor for CMSC250. Fawzi was not the correct choice. Reading the other reviews, CMSC132 is all he is good for.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a W Anonymous 07/11/2024	Literally could not comprehend what Fawzi taught and he didn't explain concepts very well. The quizzes and exams were also very hard for this class. This class is also very hard to grasp and Fawzi kind of assumes a lot of things to be easy and then does not explain them...
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B Anonymous 06/17/2024	While Fawzi makes lectures interesting and I like him as a person, his 250 class was kind of tricky. This was his first time doing 250, so we had no practice exams or questions to go off of. The weekly quizzes were honestly really easy, as long as you study for a bit before class. The thing that messed me up in his class was definitely the probability sections, but I found the proofs to be simple and just a matter of memorizing a format. The homeworks were also quite challenging, and while some of them were based on class examples, a lot of them were a lot more advanced. However, the exam proofs were definitely easier than the homeworks. I would recommend doing the homework and quiz proofs by hand to study for exams, as he often pulls from those.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/30/2024	250 in Spring 2024 was a tough class. I'm not the best at discrete math, and I haven't been, so obviously I found this class getting harder in later units. There were worksheets every discussion, and if there was a quiz (we weren't told whether it was on Tuesday or Thursday) we'd have 20 minutes at the end to do it. Study material was sparse. Fawzi did not give us answer keys to the discussion worksheets, nor did he want TAs to give answers for them, which were quite difficult and time consuming to do. Fawzi's attitude towards the course was "just look at my slides and you'll be fine," which is misleading for a weed-out course. In lecture, sometimes he'd start talking about stuff that weren't on the slides, so you had to be in lecture for it. He did give worked out proof examples from lecture but that was about it. I took a beating in the class early on mainly because I didn't study well enough, but even towards the end when I was better about studying for this class, I would have appreciated more study materials about the probability and combinatorics units. He's a great lecturer, and he won't put you to sleep or send your mind wandering, but it'll be brutal if you don't get discrete math easily.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Anonymous 05/27/2024	Fawzi is a good lecturer, but not a good professor. He's good at conveying material, but doesn't record lectures or have much on his slides (which is inconvenient if you can't make it to class or need references to look back on). He also doesn't provide any study material, although reviewing past quizzes + homeworks are helpful. He did unannounced quizzes this semester, which just seems like a way to make the class harder for the students. Majority of your grade is made up of exams, which affected my grade a lot. He also lowered my grade when asking for a regrade, and is a harsh grader overall. He's a decent at best, but his class can be tricky + some of his policies are just not student-friendly; however, if you study a lot and really understand the material, you should be fine.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/26/2024	in my review for fawzi's 132 class last semester, i called him a tough cookie, and that ended up being even more the case for 250. to provide some context, fawzi is a math guy at heart (his degree is in math and he originally started teaching math at umd before pivoting to cs). i think that really showed with this class; i think his explanations of concepts was not as clear or well broken down as in 132 since he expected us to have more of an understanding of certain concepts than most people actually do (although to be fair this was his first time teaching the class in a while). overall, he was still a good lecturer, but he would sometimes lecture on topics tangentially related to 250 that aren't testable, and wasn't always very clear about this. his homeworks were generally straightforward with a few curveballs thrown in, but he gave us a week for each so as long as you start early, it wasn't a problem. his exams were easier than his homeworks and always reasonable, but since they're rather short, even a small mistake can lose you quite a few points. his final was definitely tricky, but still reasonable. overall, a solid choice for 250, but definitely be careful if you're the type of person to be careless on exams since small mistakes can add up quickly in this class
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A- homework420 05/24/2024	The grade structure of the course was as follows: -15% homework (10 homeworks 1.5% each) -15% quizzes (10 quizzes 1.5% each) -40% exams (2 exams 20% each) -30% final The lectures itself were very interesting, every other part of the class was very mid. The TA I had for discussion seemed very uninterested in teaching us much and essentially put the bare minimum in. Fawzi decided to give us pop quizzes in discussion to get everyone to come to every discussion. But every week the earliest discussion would just tell everyone if there was a quiz or not, so towards the end of the semester people only showed up if there was a quiz. The exams were very fair, but the grading was a bit harsh at times. Overall you learn a lot from Fawzi's courses, but they are also quite stressful.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/22/2024	i’d give him 3.5 if i could. he’s definitely better for 132 than 250. maybe it’s because it was his first time teaching the class in 5 years but i didn’t like his style of teaching as much. i kind of zoned out during his lectures because he lectured more at us (i.e. reading through the proof rather than having us go through it ourselves and then checking answers). his exams were pretty fair but the final messed almost everyone up. i also didn’t like the fact that quizzes were unannounced, so you pretty much had to go to every discussion (the quizzes were fair though). if there wasn’t a quiz, discussion didn’t feel really helpful either.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Anonymous 05/19/2024	fawzi is a good lecturer, he knows the material well and has a sense of humor. however, most of my qualms are with the way the course was organized. pop quizzes every week in discussion. the lectures aren't recorded and the slides without the recordings are pretty much useless. there are no resources or practice for exams. no piazza. the exams are fair but are graded quite harshly - you would get no credit even if the problem was done partially right. take him only if you are certain you will show up to class every time.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/18/2024	Fawzi is a great lecturer and does a great job at explaining the content simply. His quizzes are pretty easy, and so is the homework which is also graded lightly (although you should go to office hours frequently especially for some of the more challenging hw questions). The 2 midterms were also pretty predictable, although the final was definitely harder in my opinion. The only main flaw with his class is that he does not provide enough material to study with (no practice exams). Towards the end, his worksheets are all you have to go off of and they're clearly much harder than anything we would get on an exam (so pretty unrealistic practice). All in all, if you're willing to put a lot of time into the course then it might work out well for you! but if not, consider another prof
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/17/2024	CMSC250 is a hard course but taking it with Fawzi makes it 2x harder.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/17/2024	Fawzi is an incredible professor who makes his lectures as engaging as possible. He teaches well and really cares about his students. He's also really funny and kind. Fawzi's passion for math definitely rubbed off on me throughout the semester and made me like the material more. Weekly quizzes in discussion were kind of annoying but encourages you to constantly study the material, especially since you never know what they're going to be on. However, if you're the type of student who needs extra resources for studying, Fawzi probably isn't the professor for you. Fawzi posts slides, but they're very barebones since he wants you to come to lecture. He does post the proofs he does in class, which I found very helpful. He doesn't provide any practice for exams, so you have utilize your own resources. I had to miss some lectures due to excused absences and trying to teach myself the material wasn't so easy. Overall, I highly recommend Fawzi, but going to class and studying your notes is extremely important for your success.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/17/2024	CMSC250 with Fawzi is really interesting and I would definitely recommend him. I think Fawzi is the single best lecturer in the CS department, he is so engaging and did a fantastic job of presenting the content. Additionally, his exams, quizzes, and homework are very fair. The homework gives you tricker problems to push your understanding, but then there really aren't any curveballs on quizzes or exams. I'm only getting a B because I bombed a midterm that was perfectly doable. However, I can't give him 5 stars because he's honestly lazy. There was no practice/review material before exams. Zero. He gave the excuse that he hasn't taught the course in years and his old exams are from forever ago, but he could just make a new study guide or practice exam or literally anything and didn't. Pretty important for a proofs & logic class...
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/16/2024	I'm coming back after giving him glowing reviews in CMSC132 to drop it down a bit. He mentioned at the start of class that he hasn't taught 250 in a while, and it kind of shows: this really felt like him getting the rust off. There were definitely times in lecture (which aren't recorded: come to class!!!) where it was clear he intuitively understood a concept that we as students just didn't get; the pop quizzes in discussion were also pretty harsh. The exams were tough but mostly manageable. Overall, though, he's still a great lecturer and I'd recommend taking him for this class in the future, if he teaaches it next semester.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/15/2024	Probably the best math professor I’ve ever had, and will most likely stay that way for some time. Fawzi is incredibly good at lecturing and explaining otherwise confusing topics when it comes to all of discrete math. I came into this math incredibly scared of proofs and how they work, since it’s a completely new realm of math you aren’t really exposed to before. However, fawzi provides really good examples and explanations of why each step of a proof is done, and how to build your own critical thinking needed for proofs. He still has his downsides, such as no recorded lectures, with his lecture slides being mostly useless without the solved examples or notes to accompany them (he does post full examples of proofs for those examples). He also doesn’t provide review exams, which can be pretty annoying especially when this class covers a large amount of material. However, he does do in class review days, and worksheets are provided in discussion (whether they are actually useful depends entirely on your TA). There are also pop quizzes in discussions that mostly happen on thursdays, though one did happen on a tuesday once which was strange. These were never very hard, but it was annoying as their content typically lagged a week or two behind what was talked about in that discussion (though this wasn’t always the case.) Overall, I would highly recommend taking fawzi for cmsc250, though even with him teaching don’t expect it to be an easy course.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Anonymous 05/14/2024	Pros: Good Lecturer, fair exams. Cons: 0 practice exams, doesn't record lecture, doesn't upload answers to slides, will test you on material he went over for 7 minutes on a random Wednesday 3 weeks ago. Worksheets have no answer keys and aren't uploaded online, exam solutions aren't posted. There's also no piazza and Fawzi has no office hours. He also has pop quizzes during discussion. Like I guess if you're going to go to every single class and take the most impeccable notes for 50 minutes then yeah you'll be fine, but otherwise he makes this class hard for no reason. Like he won't even give a practice exam for the test because "it's hand holding," or "the practice exam would be too different." Overall really bad experience if you try to self teach yourself stuff. Plus the CS program is more competitive now than ever, so you'll meet people who just intuitively understand the most complex stuff and get 100's on exams, skewing the average. If you don't have a strong background in math some of these courses can be downright insane and the instructors don't really care. In my opinion this class really reflects the core issues of CS here. You can study for hours and barely hit a 70% because you forgot some minuscule detail that was worth 8 points, then the next part is worth another 8 points. Classes like these will have you worrying more about memorizing little details rather than actually understanding about the applications of the content towards Computer Science. I could do a strong induction proof of the top of my head, but I could not tell you what I would even use it for in real life. Kline has lower reviews but you can literally get a 60% on all his exams and pass the class because they're weighted much lower and he gives out extra credit. For classes here, I would advise you to take the professor with the easiest grading and learn the content on your own. You will be able to apply it to your own interests that way. Do not take Fawzi.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/14/2024	Cons: 1) Does not record lectures 2) Slides are utterly useless (unless you go to lecture, which defeats the purpose of posting the slides) 3) Does not record 4) Grading rubric is inconstant and takes of too many points for small mistakes 5) Pop Quizzes every week 6) No practice exams provided Pros: 1) Good lecturer if you go to lecture 2) Homeworks are decent 3) sometimes does fun activities in class
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/12/2024	Good lecturer but he does not give you good resources to succeed in the class. Doesnt even provide any practice tests.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a C Anonymous 05/12/2024	Do not take this class with Fawzi. No lecture recordings or notes. Homeworks are hard and take hours. Quizzes are unannounced so every quiz is a pop quiz. Didn't help that in lecture he refused to comment on whether or not he edges to proofs.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Anonymous 05/09/2024	Didn't ever really go to class but you are able to learn the course material based off of the slides that he provides. Despite him slides being very brief (He says that you shouldn't learn off of slides but instead off of lectures) and him not recording his lectures, it is still possible to learn most of the course through the slides. You also have "pop" quizzes every week but it tends to fall on Thursdays. Homework is also very fair and so are exams.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/08/2024	Fawzi's style of lecture is extremely infuriating, where you HAVE to take notes on the exact words that he says. For one of the exam questions, he asked us about the history of a proof, which was entirely irrelevant to the actual course itself. I had gone from liking Fawzi in 132 to very much disliking him in 250 based on his way of writing exams and teaching.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Anonymous 05/05/2024	Most overrated prof. Not sure how good he is for 132 but do not take him for 250. Bro speeds runs through the slides, giving you minimal examples, and excepts you know most of the things he teaches, his homework is hard and long, he gives weekly unannounced quizzes on random topics, so you might want to have a friend in the morning discussion tell you if there will be a quiz. You will most likely have to attend his lectures because he posts half his notes and examples and other half its your responsibility. The only reason he gets 2 stars is that he sort of tells you how the exam will be structured, like what type of questions, so it sort of makes studying easier, but only if you go to lectures and take notes because he doesn't provide any practice questions or study guide.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/05/2024	I took 132 with Fawzi last semester and it was overall a positive experience; if I could I would give a 3.5 stars. Tests were fair and he is overall a great organized lecturer who can teach you material in a simple manner. He doesn't allow the use of technology in the classroom however. While I understand why he does this, I still think that its up to students at this point if they want to be distracted rather than pay attention to lecture since this is college, and the money they waste is on them. Fawzi also does not record lectures. Again, while I understand his reasoning, if you end up being sick and cant come to lecture, you are screwed since slides have minimal information on it, and you have to have a friend give you notes(sometimes listening to Fawzi is the best way to learn the material). Other than that, quizzes were a little annoying each week but it helped me keep up with what we were learning. Fawzi is also the perfect teacher where he is academically challenging but also good at explaining concepts, meaning that he prepares you for the harder stuff to come in your CS degree. If you have the chance to take Fawzi, do it. While there are some challenges, you can still get an A if you study hard since he is reasonable. At the same time, you will be prepared for the rest of your time at UMD.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Anonymous 05/03/2024	Horribly organized
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/30/2024	Fawzi is a great lecturer. If you attend and pay attention to his lectures, you will do fine in classes. The studying resources are not the greatest, but at least he provides you with general questions that help you prepare for quizzes and exams. The only downside I would say for the class are the harsh quiz rubrics where mistakes can cost you lots of points. Be very careful to make sure you are not missing anything on quizzes, but this harsh grading style is really helpful for exams to not make the same mistakes again. I would recommend him for 132!
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A- Anonymous 04/24/2024	I had Fawzi for CMSC 132 and he was alright for this course. The quizzes and exams were fair and the projects started to get a little bit hard towards the end but still doable. For CMSC 250 Fawzi might be one of the professors. His lectures are quite good but the thing is he goes so fast that you have no idea what you just listened to for an hour. His fast pace would be okay if he gives you a lot of practice for exams but he gives you nothing. In my opinion, his philosophy that giving practice exams is like spoon-feeding is false. The goal of this course is to learn so giving more practice just helps you learn more effectively. I think as a mostly math course there should be way more practice for those that want it. He posts homework assignments almost every week which are sort of useful but most of them are just way too hard for exams so those are kind of pointless. His TAs also grade them harshly for some reason. He has worksheets during discussions which are kind of good but most of the time way too easy or way too hard. And that finally brings me to the worst part of his class: pop quizzes. If you end up taking this course with him take a later discussion time. The quizzes are fair and not worth much but it is just so stressful and there is no need for that extra stress. I know that Kline is not that much better but try to take someone else if you can.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a D+ Anonymous 04/23/2024	Fawzi is a great lecturer, no doubt about that. However, you can tell he is very lazy and doesn't care about his students when you try to reach out to him about anything. I emailed him about ways to improve in his course and the man literally copy and pasted general suggestion and tips for students taking CMSC131. He also doesn't record his lecture and gives weekly quizzes. If you're pairing this up with cmsc216, this will screw with you. You constantly have to back track to study old stuff for his quizzes while you have projects in other classes due that day. Keep in mind, you won't know what day are his quizzes, nor the content you might expect on them. His regime is more suited if you were taking his classes alone (like cmsc 131 and 132), but when you link this up with another important 4 credit class, it will push you to your limit with this sort of unnecessary stress and could turn these weekly quiz grades against you in the end (worth 15%). I'll admit his exams are fair, but getting some stuff wrong can severely penalize you. It's also important to note that Fawzi doesn't give out practice exams or study guides. If you're not a great test taker, Fawzi is not your guy.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Anonymous 04/19/2024	This was Fawzi's first semester teaching 250 after a 5 year hiatus, and he implemented unnecessary difficulties to the course. Mainly, his quizzes were unannounced and his lectures were NOT recorded. You pretty much go into quizzes blindly, not knowing when they are, or what will be tested :). Of course, he also does not allow technology in the classroom, which is not that big of a deal because its basically a math course anyway. If you are looking for a chill experience in 250, I highly advise against taking Fawzi. It's a bumpy ride and you will practically spend all your time studying proofs to no avail. There are 2 exams each worth 20% and a final worth 30%, homeworks and pop quizzes are 15% each. He may be a good teacher in other classes but 250 was just not it.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/18/2024	He is good at lecturing, good notes, he could probably beat Goku imo, he easily has multiversal++ AP and is FTL
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 03/12/2024	Fawzi is an okay professor. Although he is a very good lecturer he barely provides any resources to study so it is quite hard to prepare for exams. 132 is quite easy if you understand data structures. Since this is a coding-heavy class it is really easy as you can just look at code examples from class and projects to study. I am currently taking 250 with Fawzi and it is not a good idea since 250 is a mostly math course and he provides little to no practice for exams. He is an okay professor for 132 but don't take him for 250.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Anonymous 02/22/2024	At first I didn't necessarily like the way he taught since I suppose I was more used to having professors recording their lectures and letting us have our electronics out. With Fawzi, although he does not record lectures, doesn't let you have electronics out, and has weekly quizzes that he doesn't tell you what is going to be on it (it's honestly very predictable what's going to be on the quizzes if you go to lecture and pay attention), he is honestly an outstanding lecturer. He explains everything so clearly yet quickly. Fawzi isn't a bad professor, his lecture examples are very helpful and the coding problems on his exams are almost from those examples and discussion lab work. If you come into lecture, pay attention, and try to at least take notes and have good study habits, you will be fine. It is okay to stress over this course because I struggled too, but he does not trick us on exams and quizzes, they are straightforward and he provides us so many resources for us to study from. TA's give us study questions and hold review sessions. The projects can be VERY annoying but if you start early and go to office hours you will be a-ok.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 02/22/2024	Simply put, Fawzi is the GOAT. I didn’t even consider myself to be that interested in CS before this course, but he makes his lectures super engaging and he always sounds excited about what he teaches. Even though the material for this course is sometimes a bit tricky, he always explains things super well and makes things easy to understand (also his coding examples REALLY help explain the concepts he’s teaching). The “no laptops” during lectures rule may seem kind of annoying, but it honestly really helps you focus and learn better. If you take him though, DO NOT SKIP LECTURE. He does allow you to voice record lectures on your own if you need to, but he will not post the lecture recording - just the slides which are pretty bare-bones. This way of teaching really helped me stay on top of things and succeed, but I can't guarantee it will work for you.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/05/2024	tough but fair professor. would recommend pros: good lecturer, you will learn a lot very responsive with regrade requests exams are tough but fair, pretty much asks stuff from lecture and projects and if you take good notes you will do fine cons: lectures arent recorded and slides are pretty bare :/ but lectures are very captivating so isn't the biggest chore going to them THREE RELEASE TOKENS A DAY this will annoy the hell out of you but honestly forced me to start projects early and have good habits apparently not accommodating? didn't have any experience with this but can imagine how this can be concluded weekly quizzes are annoying, but kept me accountable with the weekly material tbh and weren't worth that much points wise fawzi is a very old fashioned professor, but you will learn a lot and adopt good habits
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/31/2023	An honest review after taking Fawzi for 131 and 132: His class is not easy. If you want an easy grade, take someone else. However, if you want incredibly engaging lectures and projects that are interesting to implement, you take Fawzi. If you're willing to put a bit of extra effort in to get the best CS experience, TAKE FAWZI. He has weekly quizzes, which I liked because it forced me to study weekly instead of cramming. His quizzes and exams are very fair. If you've been attending lectures, taking notes, and studying often, you'll have a great chance at an A. Pros: - Very engaging lectures (You won't fall asleep) - He's very good at explaining concepts using examples. - Interesting Projects (Lots of very useful TAs during discussions and 9 am-5 pm office hours) - The TAs hold review sessions before every exam which are VERY helpful Cons: - Lecture slides aren't always detailed (You need to listen to details in the lecture because he may test you on it) - Projects can be difficult and time-consuming, but there are lots of OHs to help - Fawzi's class becomes difficult if you get sick because lectures are mandatory if you want to do well in the course (He does not record lectures)
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/21/2023	Fawzi is a pretty entertaining professor and presents material very well. That being said, he doesn't post lecture videos and the slides are pretty vague, so make sure to show up to class and take good notes. Exams and quizzes are pretty fair, just make sure you study the material, he does test you sometimes on some things that you might not find to be too important. Pretty similar to other reviews here, the way he structures his class forces you to develop better learning habits, but his lecturing is good, so it's fine.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a C+ FozzyBear1 12/21/2023	He’s a fine lecturer. Talks super fast and doesn’t record his lectures. His lecture slides are useless. Weekly quizzes suck. His midterms were straightforward and his final was challenging but fair. His quizzes and exams are graded ridiculously, with minor errors taking off almost all the points of a problem. No piazza. He seemed like a nice enough guy. I think he might be a better choice for a class like 250, but for 132 I’d take someone else.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/19/2023	Super mixed feelings about Fawzi. On the one hand, he is a super captivating lecturer and interesting person to listen to. He is clearly very intelligent and talented. The issue is that he's fully aware of this, and comes off as really egotistical and stubborn. He doesn't like being corrected and can treat questions very rudely sometimes. I'm new to programming and ended with a B-, and because I had a heavy courseload this semester and was kind of spread thin, I will definitely admit that I could have put more work into this class. HOWEVER. I personally thought that the weekly "mystery topic" quizzes were ridiculous ("You should be studying everything", he says). Again, I was taking a fairly heavy courseload and while it would be nice to study All The Course Content All The Time, in my opinion it's kind of an unreasonable ask on a weekly basis. My quiz average is what ultimately tanked my grade, despite doing well on the midterms and *decent on the final. It will feel like he doesn't really want everyone to succeed so that whoever's not up to par will be naturally weeded out. If you're taking 132 with Fawzi, you'll have a super engaging lecture to look forward to, but make sure you have the time and bandwidth to do what he expects of you. It's a lot, but you can succeed in this class if you prepare!
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/19/2023	The Fawzi rule: if you see his name next to a course, you take it. (Unless another section has Nelson, then it depends on your personality). Pros: - The clearest, most focused and concise lecturer there is. Every lecture, he gives you exactly what you'll be expected to know: no confusion/ambiguity/wastes of time. You just have to be there, and you'll understand. I'm not lying: going to lecture felt like connecting a flash drive to my brain and downloading the entire course. He's just that good. - No recordings as is noted, but the slides are substantial enough that if you took notes in your lecture, you can find everything you need. - Extremely cracked at answering questions. Assuming you ask appropriate ones (no out of pocket ones), he'll be super clear and go in-depth. As a bonus, he'll often say "I might ask you that on an exam" when answering questions, then tell you the answer. I think at least 4 times in the semester, somebody's asked a question, Fawzi's said that, and then that question shows up on the exam (free points!). - Quizzes are veryyy predictable. I think I correctly predicted what would be on them for 8/10 quizzes we had. Essentially, he takes what you did the previous week, have a definition section, and a coding section which will be a slight variation of code done in lecture/lab. Essentially, if you study your definitions, do the labs, and remember the programming examples from lecture, you're guaranteed at least a 90 on all of them. - Exams are extremely fair. Exam 1: 85 median, Exam 2: 89 median, Final: 85 median. As mentioned before, he'll sometimes give you exam questions&solutions in lecture if you ask questions. Just like the quizzes, his exams are just definitions/applications of rules + coding problems. The coding problems are highkey easy: on every single exam, he stole a problem off of one of our labs, so if you study the labs, you'll be good. This really came to a head in the final: we had 3 programming questions, one was ripped straight off a lab, another straight off an example we did in class, and another straight off a project we did. Provided you study the code in the lecture examples, your labs, and your projects, you have nothing to worry abt :) Cons: - Fawzi really does not exist outside lecture. If you have a problem, I don't think he'd be that flexible. He'll answer quick emails but nothing else. But don't worry, bc the course + lectures are clear enough you shouldn't need that extra help/support.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/19/2023	Great lecturer and very fun professor. His lectures are sometimes fast paced but that is because he has to get through all the material. TA office hours were from 9-5 Monday through Friday. He really makes you understand the material through weekly quizzes and programming projects.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A homework420 12/19/2023	Great professor, has a clear talent for explaining things in a clear and concise manner. He also responds to email in an imrpressively timely manner, given that he had like 600-700 students this semester. That being said the class has a lot of material, so do NOT miss a lecture. Overall a very fun course though and you certainly learn a lot.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/19/2023	Beautiful professor, can be funny and personable, course does take work but a very enjoyable class and lectures are very engaging Take Fawzi whenever possible
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/18/2023	Fawzi is an amazing lecturer. He makes everything super clear and entertaining. It is easy to get near perfect scores on the projects as long as you test your code. Quizzes are a bit stupid at times and graded harshly. I find his study questions helpful for studying for quizzes. Exams are fair. All grades were rounded which was nice.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/18/2023	I had a pretty great experience with Fawzi and his class. I felt like the quizzes and exams were pretty fair, and the projects were always somewhat neat. He's a great lecturer, and his classes are always pretty entertaining to sit through to some degree. As some other people have mentioned, though, his powerpoint slides are pretty barebones and he doesn't record lecture, which makes it a little difficult if you have to miss class at some point. He also doesn't allow you to take notes on your laptop, but that didn't really end up being a problem for me because he didn't make a fuss about people writing on tablets.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/18/2023	i'd give him 4.5 stars if i could, but i rounded up to 5 since 4 is too low. fawzi's a pretty fair grader and test/quiz writer imo. most of the quizzes and tests have content that he covered pretty extensively in class. only reason i would dock him 0.5 is because you're never explicitly told what to study/expect for the weekly quizzes, but it's relatively easy to extrapolate based on the content we've covered in the last week. also, ta grading isn’t very standardized either. i got 0.5 points taken off on a quiz for missing an annotation but one of my friends got 2 points taken off so it’s really just luck atp. he's also a really good lecturer and if you focus in class, you'll definitely understand what he's talking about. he gives study questions before every quiz, so i'd suggest studying with another person (this really helped me this year). overall, definitely take fawzi if you have the option.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/18/2023	Fawzi can sometimes have a boring lecture here and there, but overall he's a very smart man who knows a lot about the courses he teaches. He makes the information very easy to understand and if you pay attention in class, it should be smooth sailing.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/18/2023	To start off with the pros, Fawzi is a genuinely good lecturer and explains things very well. His midterms this semester were also extremely easy, but I think he was trying something new this semester with midterms, since they are generally known to be very difficult, but atleast for this semester the midterms were really easy and fair. In the beginning of the semester he mentioned that his final would be generally easier than his midterms which is why he weighs it 30% of the grade. However, the final was an absolute dumpster fire. Especially compared to the midterms, the final felt way too difficult. I also don't like how he has us do quizzes every week, and will tell TAs to not tell us what is on those quizzes, so there are many times I try and study for quizzes but what comes up on the quiz is not something that I studied, because I assumed the quiz would be about another topic. I also feel like his project descriptions in this class were not very good. They were extremely brief and many of the projects, except for a few exceptions, were really basic and uninteresting. I had him for 131 as well and I felt his projects in 131 were much better and creative. Him also not recording lecture and posting incomplete and not detailed slideshows really puts him down from other professors as I feel it is unfair that I have to struggle to catch up if I cannot make it to a single lecture due to sickness, or etc. Like there is no way for me to attend every single lecture 3 times a week for the entire semester. He also never gives us practice material with answer keys when it comes to these quizzes or tests and no previous exams to practice with. I would say there are definitely better options than him, like for 131 and 132, it would be better to go with nelson, elias, or pedram. Even Larry Herman would be better for 132 since he atleast records lectures and gives extremeley comprehensive project descriptions. I would say he is still better than Yoon, but I personally feel is quite an overrated professor. If you genuinely feel like you would be able to attend every single possible lecture, then you would be fine, since lecturing is his biggest pro.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/18/2023	Fawzi might be one of the best professors I've ever had. All of his lectures are engaging and he presents the course content in a very thorough and straightforward way while still making it entertaining. He's a very funny guy and takes every opportunity to make a joke which keeps the whole class engaged. Quizzes are graded very quickly and exams are graded within two weeks or so, which is very reasonable. He also had TA office hours from 9-5 Monday-Friday which was a dream and helped so many times. Unfortunately since so many students take CMSC132 it was very packed, but still helpful nonetheless. The only downside I would say are that the quizzes are a bit difficult and the end of the class was a bit rushed, but overall, take Fawzi for any class you can, he's amazing.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/15/2023	Fawzi does an excellent job of teaching the content. You can tell from his teaching style how experienced he is. Exams were fair but were graded a bit harshly. There were weekly quizzes and no recorded lectures. The TAs provide review materials and comprehensive study guides for midterms.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A terp12344 12/15/2023	Don't believe any of the negative reviews here. If you want to succeed in any of Fawzi's courses, you will. He explains everything clearly in lectures and doesn't put any sort of trick questions on quizzes or exams. Sometimes he puts tricky questions on quizzes, but they are always still based on content he explicitly went over, and he makes quizzes worth barely any of your grade, so getting points off doesn't matter much in the long run. His no-technology policy is pretty unpopular, but I would recommend using an iPad if you have one. I sat in one of the front rows and used one all semester and he never said anything.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/13/2023	Fawzi's the man. His lectures are incredibly engaging, and basically 9–5 office hours meant that if I ever had an issue it was trivial to rock up to office hours the next day and get my question answered. If you're sick and miss a lecture, however, it IS pretty punishing since he doesn't post recordings and the slides/examples he posts are pretty barebones. (I missed the lecture on Big-O and the relevant theorem involving limits: imagine my horror when it was on the first midterm!) In terms of coursework, I didn't struggle much. Some might say the weekly quizzes were a bit much, but given that they're only ever on the lecture content from the week prior it's trivial to study for them. The projects were also fairly easy, and the later ones were actually super fun. I'd 100% recommend Fawzi for future 132 students.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B- johnparis 12/13/2023	Fawzi is quite good for a teacher, the only negative I can think of is how harsh he grades things, not to say its super bad its only like getting a 90 instead of a 94 or something, like its very minimal but it adds up over assingments. Definitely helps you understand the content though and weighs the 2 midterms and final as like 60% so as long as u study for the exams you should do fine overall in the class. This does mean though that if you aren't too good at exams its a little rough. If you're coming into UMD after taking ap csa Fawzi is great definitely feels like you're just picking it back up.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Anonymous 12/12/2023	Fawzi is a great professor, and I know you guys want to know the pros and cons. So I listed it below. Pro: -Fawzi knows what he is doing; yes, every professor does, but he excels in the material and teaches it in a way that makes you understand. He teaches with passion, and you will get that feeling within the first few lectures. -Exams aren't too bad if you study and review materials consistently. -Two-sided coin here: Weekly quizzes help you prep well for the exam so you don't have to completely procrastinate. -Fawiz stays mostly on topic, doesn't go on tangents, and tries diligently to make the class interesting with his own life experiences. Cons: -TAs. Some are great, while others are very skeptical. Some TAs waste your time in office hours while others know how to guide you correctly, so make sure you know what you are doing and are willing to "waste" time in some cases. Quizzes: As mentioned, quizzes can be annoying, but they are good practice, so again, a two-sided coin Overall, take Fawzi if you can. He is the GOAT.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/12/2023	Great lecturer. Really made the hour fly by. I'd be scribbling down notes and then all of a sudden it's time to leave!
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/11/2023	fawzi is a tough cookie! he initially came off as rather rude and unapproachable, but he definitely warmed up to students as the semester progressed. he's an amazing lecturer and is able to present all of the content in an engaging and straightforward manner, but he doesn't post recordings and his slides don't go into detail about what was covered in his lectures. he also goes through the course content fairly quickly, so if you are unfamiliar with 132 content and struggle with taking notes in lectures, i'd be careful with taking fawzi. besides that, we had 10 quizzes and 2 exams, all of which were fair and graded quickly. we also had 8 projects that aligned well with the content of the material we were learning in class, and ta office hours from 9-5 every weekday. the only complaint i have about him is his grading is a little unnecessarily harsh at times (primarily for small mistakes on quizzes), and the style grades for projects were very subjective and varied widely depending on your ta (my friends and i all lost different amounts of points for making the same mistakes). all in all though, i really enjoyed 132 with fawzi this semester and am excited to take 250 with him next semester :)
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/09/2023	He teaches content in a way that is very easy to understand. The exams and quizzes are very representative of what we learn in class.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/06/2023	Fawzi is a great professor! I thoroughly enjoyed the class since he taught the content well and cracked a few jokes here and there. We get a quiz in discussion once a week (mostly on Wednesdays) which are helpful for brushing up on topics learnt. The exams are fair as well the projects! We got review material for exams and the TA's hosted a review session for each exam. The TAs for 132 vary quite a bit. Some of them are really helpful while others just confuse you more. The TA I had was nice but did not know a lot of the syntax and course material. Overall, I loved the class and for any CS classes in the future I would love to have Fawzi as a professor again.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/06/2023	The greatest professor at UMD. He WILL make you interested in CS. He WILL make you enjoy data structures, algorithms, threads et cetera. For an intro level class he makes it just difficult enough for the challenge but not so easy that all the unserious people can get through. You need to be on top of shit when you take Fawzi but it is so so so so worth it.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/05/2023	TLDR: Very solid professor, probably a must have unless you tend to miss class Fawzi is a great lecturer, responds to emails quickly, and gives very fair assignments. His lectures are thorough and cover all content that he quizzes/tests on. There are multiple TAs at office hours from 9AM-5PMish so you can get help easily. The coding projects are very doable as long as you don't procrastinate until the last day. The quizzes and exams are fair as he only tests us on content gone over in class. He sometimes flat out tells us that a specific topic will be quizzed/tested on. The main downside is the fact that Fawzi doesn't post recordings of lectures and the slides aren't that useful without the verbal content. If you miss a class, you'll probably have to ask someone go over the content with you or give you their notes (if they're thorough).
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/04/2023	It's pretty simple: If you see Fawzi's name, you enroll in his course. Fawzi is so good at presenting material in a straightforward, easy-to-understand way. His lectures always keep me engaged. Some others might complain that he only posts slides and not recordings, but I think you do need to show up to every lecture to gain a complete understanding of the course. Much of what's discussed in lectures isn't on the slides. His exams are also very fair (and graded very fast). I'm not sure if this is just Fawzi or all 132 professors, but we had TA office hours 9-5 Monday through Friday, which is helpful. I would be happy to take all of my future CS classes with him.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/04/2023	He is good at lecturing, but the powerpoints have hardly any information, and makes it hard to review. He is rude to other students, and his grading is horrible. For little syntax errors, he will dock off almost all your points even if everything else is right. If he makes a mistake, he is always right an dyou are punished for such.
Fawzi Emad CMSC122 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/23/2023	I came into the class with prior coding knowledge so it was pretty easy. Fawzi is also an entertaining lecturer for the most part, so lectures are never boring. However, it is very difficult to miss a lecture as the content on the slides is barebones and Fawzi doesn't record. Fawzi also gave us reviews for the midterms which helped me brush up on skills. As long as you show up to lecture, this class is not bad.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 11/12/2023	Fawzi is a nice guy. Lectures themselves can sometimes be a bit boring but he is very well spoken and makes the content accessible. The course is hard, but not unnecessarily so. Purposefully takes away resources and information that other professors might give you, but it forces you to really learn the content. Show up to class and study and you'll do well.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a C Anonymous 11/09/2023	He is really good at lecturing, but that's about it. He has weekly quizzes that are simply unfair and tanked my grade despite doing really well on all the exams and projects. Fawzi does not care about his projects as much as his quizzes, so if you like projects that make you learn the content, don't take Fawzi. (Also no technology allowed in class and lectures are not recorded) I think he would be better as a CMSC131 professor than 132, so if you're making that debate between Nelson and Fawzi, Fawzi for 131 and Nelson for 132.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/02/2023	Truly among the greatest professor I've ever had. Inspired and proved to me that truly can code as well as anyone else. The summer course that I took with Fawzi was probably my most impactful experience in higher education.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 10/22/2023	Easy but is the driest
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A+ VarunS924 10/18/2023	Fawzi is a great, entertaining professor. He goes through many examples and answers questions thoughtfully, and all of his assignments and assessment are very fair. Make sure you follow everything on the style guide because the graders tend to be picky about that. Very relaxing class if you have prior coding experience.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Anonymous 10/17/2023	Unfair exams, weekly quizzes, no piazza, no lecture slides, no lecture recordings, no practice exams, and no study guides. Must I say more? Students receive ZERO context as to what exams/quizzes will be on, so you are left to "study everything" as he constantly tells us. Not only that, but there is no leniency. This means that, for a 100-level course, you either get the question right, or lose 90% of that problem's total points. There is no curve, and he will look for every opportunity to dock points. Needless to say, take someone else if you actually want to pass.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B- Anonymous 07/06/2023	I actually really enjoyed him as a professor. I had Nelson for 131, and I found that I enjoyed Fawzi's style of lecturing a lot more (Nelson gets off-topic A LOT which can make his lectures hard to follow along. Fawzi's lectures are straightforward and concise and are pretty engaging). The con I would say for Fawzi is that his exams are HARD and he gives no study material or practice exams (all of the study material you can find is made by the TAs and those resources are nothing like his actual exams). He also doesn't record lectures and there are weekly quizzes.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Anonymous 06/22/2023	He is not that considerate. He doesn't give out practice exams, which sucks because his exams are hard and he asks about nuanced things that he mentions in passing in lectures. He is a captivating lecturer, so learning during class is not the worst. The downside is that nothing is recorded, so if you miss lecture you are screwed. He is good for someone highly proficient with a lot of CS experience. Honestly, just try and take another prof. your grade will be better off. I think that the reveiws here are skewed, I am surprised its so high considering so many people complained during the semester about him kinda setting you up to fail for eg there is 2 midterms as opposed to the other classes that get 3(makes more of a difference than you would expect). If he would provide more materials/make his class and grading more fair he could be a better prof tbh.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/26/2023	In general, he's a great professor. He gives you study questions and posts the slides and code examples, and his TAs are great resources. The only thing I had a problem with is he wouldn't record his lectures but he would let you voice record them. He doesn't allow computers or tablets in lectures and he's a tough grader when it comes to quizzes and exams, though his exams and quizzes are fair. My advice for this class is to study the slides and code examples hard, his quiz questions are always based on stuff you can find on lecture slides. Also for projects get them done asap so you can go to the TAs for help if you get stuck. If you go to the TAs on the last day they're gonna be packed.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/24/2023	I honestly cannot fathom how he has such good reviews on here. His class has many issues, one of which is that he is just a very rude and inconsiderate person. He does not care if you get sick or have a personal issue, even if it’s something serious or entirely outside of your control, and will often be rude in his responses (many people I know who have taken his class have had this experience). The lab exercises and projects often do not line up well with the lecture content; for example, by project 3 (mid-February) the only non-131 concept on the project was enumerations, which we had learned on the first day of class. We also wasted lab time by doing multiple labs on GUIs, which are not actually assessed on quizzes or exams. This means that you are getting quizzed on concepts that you might not have ever gotten a chance to practice before, and it can be difficult to anticipate what will be on the quizzes since they don’t always line up well with lectures. He also only has two midterms, both of which are fairly challenging, and there is no review material besides the TA-made review packet. Fawzi also follows what seems to be a standard practice among the CS professors of not posting grades or assignments in Canvas. Although he did provide a grade calculator, he did not update it very regularly, so it was difficult at times to know how you were doing in the class. The only reason I did not give one star is because he explains concepts well in lecture. Frankly, I just did not have the patience for Fawzi’s condescending and rude disposition and would not recommend him as a professor for 132.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 05/22/2023	Great lecturer, everything he taught made sense. But if you slack off you will fall behind very quickly (what happened to me). Quizzes were fair and the exams weren't bad, only complaint is that they took points off for the smallest things such as forgetting a semi colon while handwriting code. Projects were very fun and the TA's were very helpful. Only advice is to be on top of your game and start the projects somewhat early as you only get 3 release tests every 24 hours.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/21/2023	To start with the positives, Fawzi is genuinely a good lecturer. He presents concepts in a way that's really easy to wrap your head around. That's about where the positives end, though. The biggest problem with Fawzi is that he barely provides you with the materials you need to succeed; he's practically setting you up to fail. Although he provides you with study questions, they're basically useless since they don't resemble what's on the exams or quizzes at all. He doesn't give you practice exams, and the fact that there's a quiz basically every week basically just adds unnecessary stress. Beyond the exams, his projects are theoretically fun, but they're difficult, and the fact that he has only three release tokens every 24 hours is just annoying. Genuinely, Fawzi is really only good at lectures; everything else is just annoying at best and frustrating at worst, really. I wouldn't recommend taking him over Nelson, that's for sure.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/20/2023	Pros: Has a pretty fun teaching style, was always engaged in class. Answered emails fairly well, tho there were times when he didn't. A great lecturer overall and a fun professor, with engaging projects that will you make you fall in love with CS overall. Cons: Weekly quizzes felt suffocating more than anything, but they did help in cramming material. NO preparation for any exams at all (for context other professors gave review material to their students). No recorded lectures so if you're sick at all, GOOD LUCK.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/11/2023	Great lecturer and very personable. Made sure to at least try to know some students of his 200+ student CMSC132 lecture. Has a great understanding of the topics he teaches and answers questions to the best of his abilities, no matter how abstract. Compared to Nelson, this class is completely different; DO NOT EXPECT HIS CLASS TO BE ANYTHING LIKE NELSON'S. If you want an easy A, take Nelson sure; but if you want to be challenged in a fair and constructive learning environment take Fawzi. He has weekly quizzes and I see a lot of people complaining about this but if you stay on top of them they are a great grade booster; they are NOT that hard if you take the time to review just a little bit. Does not record his lectures but I enjoy being forced to go to class, to be honest; having Nelson last semester made me kinda lazy about CS because of his recorded lectures. Although recordings are useful, they just are no supplement for really taking notes, especially if you're watching them on 2x speed. His projects are super cool, fun, and challenging at the same time. If you like the problem-solving aspects of CS you will thoroughly enjoy his projects; not only that he makes neat GUIs for some of them that I have shown friends (that aren't into CS) that have genuinely found them interesting. TLDR: Fawzi is a challenging professor, take Nelson if you want an easy time. But if you take Fawzi's class, it will be as rewarding as it is challenging, and you will be prepared for the next steps in your CMSC journey.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/09/2023	There are some mixed feelings on Fawzi but I feel the majority of people enjoy him. I'll discuss the pros and cons: Pros: His quizzes and exams are certainly fair. He will never throw material that is overly complicated or has not been done on quizzes/labs/projects on the exam. I did not attend labs and barely studied and was able to complete quizzes with relative ease. If you do attend labs and study, you should expect at least a B in Fawzi's classes, with a very solid chance of an A. CMSC132 is a very fast-paced course, but he does not ask overly specific questions that would make you have to study for 5 hours. He is very easy to understand and his teaching style is not bad. You can tell he is really determined to teach at his best every single lecture, and will even apologize if he feels he is not explaining it to the best of his ability. Goes over concepts, even if most people understand, multiple times to ensure that EVERYONE in the class understands, even if it is boring to the more advanced programmers. Cons: Although some of his projects can be pretty straightforward, others can be very challenging. I do not suggest procrastinating on his projects, especially if he specifically mentions it is a harder project. Projects are worth roughly 3% of your grade so doing good on most, if not all of them, is very important. He does not record lectures. He expects his students to attend all of his lectures, so it is important that you do so if you want to keep up. Missing one lecture could put you pretty far behind. If you are someone who does not feel like attending all of the lectures, I suggest you do not take Fawzi or find someone who will write down notes and give them to you.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/05/2023	By and large, Fawzi is a good lecturer, but his slides lack depth of content and thus do not help when preparing for exams. The projects were challenging, but possible with some time and thought. He just did not personally teach the way that I learned. He taught by talking at you for 50 minutes three days a week and expecting you to memorize everything that he said, no matter how insignificant you think it might be. If you have to take him, just be sure to take good notes and go to office hours for help, but I would personally recommend choosing another professor if possible.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a C Anonymous 05/04/2023	I like the way Fawzi teaches his class and he makes sure that you understand the content he teaches. His quizzes are fair but at times you get points taken off heavily for small mistakes you make. The midterm is fair and the projects are fun to do. The only bad thing I can really say is that his lectures aren't recorded.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a C- Anonymous 05/04/2023	If I am being completely honest, Fawzi is a fairly good lecturer but when it comes to exams and quizzes and general stuff...oh boy. I understood everything conceptually in lecture but when it came to quizzes and exams, I was absolutely 100% lost. It is hard to really know WHAT to study because nobody can tell you what topics are necessary to study for the exam. The exams test you on the most intricate tiniest details possible that you will NEVER EVER need to know in the real world. It is hard to remember every small detail. Such as knowing the asymptotic complexities for the insertion of a linkedList, knowing what URL stands for, etc... There are only two exams whereas other classes split into three exams. So both exams are extremely content heavy. I had Nelson for 131 and regret not taking him again for 132. Fawzi's lectures are extremely fast paced, he doesn't record lectures, nor does he allow electronic devices (laptops/tablets) out in class at all. Not to mention, you can never get any access to his previous exams so there is NO understanding of just how much we need to study or what needs to be studied. The study question sets that get posted on canvas have ZERO answer keys so there is absolutely no way in knowing if you are getting the correct answers or not. When asking Fawzi questions regarding what was said prior, he will redirect you to his TAs and tell you to go to office hours which makes the huge assumption that you even have time to attend office hours. I failed both midterm exams even after studying lecture notes, slideshows, in class examples, and the study questions. There is no curve. I currently have a 65% but am hoping that with passing the final with a 75%, I can get a C-. His expectations are way too high for a class such as this. This class has made me debate my whole career as a Computer Engineering major and this is just a 100 level course. What annoys me the most is that Fawzi is always making comments in class such as "Guys I don't even look at my slides until right before class and I gotta quickly re-teach myself the material"... He is always commenting on the fact that he writes Android programs etc... It is just an ick. Not to mention, when you express concerns about potentially failing his class he gives no strategies or help on how to pass the class. He just says study and see what happens. Well I studied my butt off and still failed the exams. For projects, they will start out by being open projects and then after the first three, they are all closed projects. He gives three release tokens that regenerate every 24 hours and THREE only. No negotiations which has completely screwed me over on some projects because if you are failing release tests, you are kinda screwed. It is extremely frustrating and annoying. If you have the chance, avoid taking Fawzi unless you can somehow magically absorb information like a sponge.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/03/2023	Took him last semester. Personally vibe with his faster teaching pace. Just make sure you're on top of things because it is abit difficult to catch up. Also go to lectures and take notes.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 04/25/2023	Projects require some thinking. Exam 2 covers lot of material and final exam had tricky questions. The final topics that are taught are not covered by quizzes and exams so things like recursion only showed up on the final exam, not even in the projects. Good lectures but doesn't record, teaches some interesting topics slightly outside Java. Good prof, would recommend.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 04/25/2023	Projects require some thinking. Exam 2 covers lot of material and final exam had tricky questions. The final topics that are taught are not covered by quizzes and exams so things like recursion only showed up on the final exam, not even in the projects. Good lectures but doesn't record, teaches some interesting topics slightly outside Java. Good prof, would recommend.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a C- Anonymous 04/07/2023	If you're stressing over Nelson, Fawzi, or Gonzales, DO NOT CHOOSE FAWZI. He makes you take a quiz every single week and they are literally my downfall. He gives you 3 release tokens that refresh every 24 hours instead of 12. AND THERE ARE ONLY 3. I genuinely love learning and computer science, but his assignments stress me out. I had a better time in Nelson and a better grade. I am literally on the verge of failing this class right now. So I'll be grateful if I even get a C-. There are no recordings and he goes really fast, so good luck if you're a literal beginner in computer science that is struggling to understand.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A Anonymous 03/09/2023	Amazing professor. Teaches the subject very clearly and obviously loves the subject he teaches as well as teaching itself. Readily engages with students during his lectures. You do need to attend his lectures if you cannot get notes from a classmate though, as he does not record his classes and his lecture slides are really just so he remembers what to say during class.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting a D+ Anonymous 12/25/2022	So I can see the appeal of Fawzi's teaching, however it did not work for me. He made his projects interesting and was overall an interesting person who would take time to delve into concepts using examples in lectures which sounds very helpful. However, I found it quite frustrating when I had been sick for a little over 2 weeks when the only way for me to catch up on what we are learning was through someone else's notes. There not being recordings and how little information there is on his slideshows made catching up nearly impossible for me. Also weekly quizzes were a nussiance since he would not really tell us what topics would exactly be on the quiz. I remember one week, we were learning 2D arrays and the next quiz was coming up, so I thought the quiz would be on 2D arrays. I studies 2D arrays quite a bit, however the quiz was on something completely different. On a random topic taught weeks ago. I guess it can give incentive to be ontop of previous topics but that was quite the nuissance. TAs can be helpful, but they are often crowded and you have to wait your turn for every question you want to ask. Overall, he is a decent lecturer and I see the appeal, but did not work for me, or anyone who needs to review topics through recordings.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 CCX001 12/20/2022	He's a decent lecturer but if you rely on slides for notes you are doomed. Fawzi's slides provide no information and he does not do recorded lectures, so you are stuck with trying to listen and copy down notes. It doesn't help that he talks fast and teaches content outside 131 for upper level courses. He does weekly quizzes and has 2 exams. Both are graded strictly and he does not provide practice exams nor tell you what will be on there. The projects look cool but can quite difficult and you will find yourself at the TA's a lot. DO NOT TAKE FAWZI
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Anonymous 12/20/2022	Hes a decent lecturer, but he doesn't have lecture recordings like other professors. The main problems I have with his class are his quizzes, exams, projects, and content. Fawzi likes to give weekly quizzes which are annoying to do, he also does not provide any sample exams so you are stuck trying to figure out what will be on there. His projects are quite difficult and you will find yourself at the TA's for most of it. Fawzi also likes to teach more than required, he likes to teach upper level stuff which was annoying considering this is a 131 introductory course.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/16/2022	Good lecturer and keeps class engaging. Weekly quizzes were a pain as a mistake will drop the quiz grade to basically a B. Projects were interesting and not too time consuming for me. The finals were kinda hard this year but that might just be me not studying enough. You cannot use electronics during his lectures and he doesn't record his lectures so you have to always be there in person. Overall, good lecturer but you will have to work for a decent grade especially if you have no prior programming experience.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/16/2022	Fawzi is a great professor and I'm continuing to have him in Spring 2023 for CMSC132. While I'd say his tests can challenge you and question some things as he can bring up some slightly interesting topics on there, the content and the way he lectures is amazing and I am glad to have him again because I'm here to learn and not slack off from what it seems like from Nelson's class. Nelson can seem easy and great, but Fawzi does challenge you and academically pushes you to where you want to be. It may seem subtle at first, but it will start to become more rigorous as time goes on. As someone who normally gets As in classes, this A- does not disappoint and nor would having a B or B+ to say the least.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/11/2022	Fawzi is a good lecturer, and he genuinely deserves a lot of credit for making the course so easy to understand for new comers. That said, my biggest gripe with Fawzi is the way he approaches quizzes and exams; he gives weekly quizzes which, while not difficult, are annoying. Furthermore, Fawzi gives two exams for 131, but he doesn't provide a practice exam for either, which is really just annoying. Still, he's a good lecturer and is good at making sure the content is understandable.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/10/2022	Fawzi's projects are very interesting, and he is very good at explaining concepts to you. He does a good job of planning question time into his lecture especially on days with harder content, giving you time to really understand it. He has weekly quizzes that account for 15% or so of your grade, these quizzes I find are pretty easy to study for if you go to discussion every time. He gives optional labs during discussion that often reflect the concepts that will be on the quizzes, at least for the programming questions. If he is asking about concepts or has multiple choice questions, you would have to review the study questions ahead of time. The biggest resource for exams and quizzes in this class is your own notes, write down everything he says. A lot of things he says are not on the slides, his slides are for him to remember what to tell you so you can't skip class and easily understand the new material, if you have never seen it before. He doesn't record his lectures either. He also does not allow you to use laptops in class because it is really easy for you to get distracted and do other things so all notes you take are going to be on paper. His exams are easier, and they are fewer exams than Nelson's class, but the tradeoff is you have weekly quizzes.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/07/2022	Nothing on his test is stuff he never discussed in lectures. He's strict but not too strict. In my opinion his projects were very interesting which made it a whole lot easier to do. I highly recommend him.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/07/2022	Overall I thought he was a good professor, he teaches pretty well in my opinion (but that may be due to myself having a little of CS experience beforehand) and he's pretty interesting! Compared to Nelson, Fawzi sticks to the lecture consistently during the entire time and always teaches till the class ends and I usually enjoy his lectures. He doesn't record his lectures unfortunately and doesn't allow laptops which wasn't the worst for me personally but I think it's worth it compared to taking Nelson. Projects are a little abstract to start out with but end up usually being for myself. They're rewarding because most of his projects are GUI based so you can see the progress of making something work which is fun. Compared to Nelson's projects, you learn the content better and just have more fun. Nelson's projects are more open ended ish but just aren't fun when compared to Fawzi. Fawzi has almost weekly quizzes that are 15% of your grade and you usually have no idea of how to figure out what will be on the quiz beforehand so usually screwed on what to study for besides the Study Sets he gives you. This is one of my least favorite parts of the class. He has 2 exams which is less than Nelson's but doesn't give you really any material to study for his exams, unlike how Nelson gives you practice exams for his tests. I feel like tests are not a good descriptor of the content to learn in the class and can sometimes feel like "How was I supposed to know this?" during the exams, but that's probably just me not being an absolute CS god unlike some people in the class. I think you should definitely take Fawzi over Nelson, Nelson goofs off too much and just doesn't have as good of content as Fawzi even if it comes at the cost of being harder. Maybe if you plan on just taking CMSC131 and that's it take Nelson but that's really the only edge case I can think of
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/02/2022	The professor teaches really well.
Fawzi Emad Anonymous 12/02/2022	Excellent Professor.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/02/2022	Excellent Professor. He explains concepts really well and gives fun interesting projects. If you're regular, the course won't be too hard for you. There are quizzes every week, but I think they keep you on track and make Comp sci easier overall. Would definitely recommend him for CMSC131 especially if you don't have much experience with programming before.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A harshith 10/19/2022	Fawzi is harder than Nelson. He is a better teacher, but he is slightly harder. I would recommend taking him for 131 over Nelson to build a strong foundation though. If you are doubtful of passing though, take Nelson.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Anonymous 10/17/2022	he talks too fast he is annoying and he is not beginner friendly
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 08/15/2022	He's good at explaining the concepts... but that's the only plus point I have for him. He's got his TAs taking points off for missing a semicolon or parenthesis - that's not how coding works and losing points on things like that teaches you nothing relevant to being a programmer in the real world. He also speeds through his lectures and doesn't really save much time for answering questions. If you ask him a question outside the syllabus, a lot of the time his answer is 'I don't know.' Basically, he knows the material and not much past that. Also, he doesn't record his lectures so if you miss a class because you're sick or something like that, good luck catching up :( He isn't very understanding if you have to miss the weekly quiz (yes, there's a stressful quiz every week) for any reason that's not 'I'm severely ill' - he won't even reschedule. He also doesn't allow laptops in lectures - and taking handwritten notes for a CS class isn't really easy (in fact it doesn't make sense IMO). You'll get the A if you work for it, but I know for a fact that you wouldn't have to work so hard if you managed to get a spot in one of Nelson's classes instead.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 07/06/2022	Fawzi is a fantastic professor. Yes, he doesn't record lectures(unless on a religious holiday or if he is sick), but this encourages you to attend class and pay attention. His two midterms were COMPLETELY fair-game, and his final exam was difficult but was not as hard as I thought it would be. The secret to doing well in his course? Study his notes and lecture examples every day after class. His exam questions are ALWAYS based on his lecture examples and slides. Be diligent in your studying, and make use of his office hours, as they run 8-5, Monday-Friday, administered by TA's who are extremely knowledgeable and will help you with not only projects, but concepts as well that may seem confusing to you during lecture.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 06/07/2022	He's a decent lecturer, but still confused as to why he is so overrated. I definitely do not think his lectures are boring, I did get sleepy a lot of the times but that's probably because I had 8AM classes and was always extremely tired. He makes jokes and I think he tries to be an engaging professor. I will however say that he uses his pencil and a paper to visualize what he is describing, and his handwriting is very ineligible and he has to erase so many times that I can't help but bother about the amount of eraser dust he produces. I wish he just uses a tablet when he wants to draw things. What I disliked the most was his lecture slides that he makes on his own, which severely lacked a lot of information. He seems to hate the lecture slides the CS department made but the department's slides are far more helpful. He doesn't record lectures because he wants to encourage students to attend to his lectures, so you kind of always have to attend his lectures since you will miss out a lot if you are absent as his lecture slides are lackluster, but frankly, if you study the department's slides, I don't think his lectures and slides were particularly helpful at all. Aside from that, he is extremely unapproachable. I'm not sure if he is "rude" per se as I haven't had a proper conversation with him, and he can be pretty sweet like asking "how are you?" to his students, but when someone asks him questions, he can be really condescending. I think I asked him questions only two times throughout the semester, during the exam and after the lecture, and both of the times he was very cold. Maybe I was asking dumb questions to his eyes, because he does seem to love whenever his top students ask advanced questions during the lecture. I think he also makes his exams on his own, and in my opinion, those are much harder than the practice exams provided by the department. I did decently on the second midterm and the final exam, but I did pretty badly on the first midterm, which hurt my grade the most, because I had no idea his exams would be as difficult. I'm not saying his exams are the worst, but you definitely need to study consistently on everything that he covers, and he also teaches things that the department curriculum does not seem to include just because he "likes" those particular topics. His projects are enjoyable though. You might not wrap your head around initially for some projects, but once you do, they're pretty easy to solve, and the GUI he makes for some projects are quite fun. I still can't figure out the solutions for his secret tests however...
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Anonymous 05/19/2022	Fawzi continues to be an excellent CS prof as he maintained his sense of humor and teaching style that he had in 131. Any tips are obvious things you should already be doing (going to class, starting projects early, etc). The only problem I had with his class was that there were only 2 midterms, the second of which had an enormous amount of information that was covered. The projects can be challenging, but most of the TAs are great resources for help on class or project material. The final was fairly daunting and could've been designed better, but nevertheless, I would absolutely take Fawzi again if I could.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/19/2022	Fawzi had a lot of positives that really made the semester quite good! His lectures are very informative and he's very good at what he does. After I left a lecture, I really felt like I knew what I was doing. I completely understood each thing he taught. The review before mine wraps up my thoughts completely, but I will reiterate them. Fawzi, like was stated, is a VERY good professor which will make sure you understand his concepts. I had Nelson for 131 and switched to Fawzi for 132. Altogether, I highly prefer Fawzi. Lecturing is better, exams better reflect what we've learned, labs are useful, and the quizzes were fair. All in all, so long as you studied you should be fine. As for criticism, I am not a big fan that he didn't record lectures. It makes it hard to catch up or do well if you have any need to miss class. I also had been a bit upset initially when he said no computers in class, but those who wanted to takes notes on it ended up ignoring it and taking notes anyways. He does try to hold people at the end of class and gets upset if you leave early. There was only 2 exams which were weighted heavily which also covered an extremely large amount of information. All in all, I would absolutely recommend taking Fawzi if you want a strong foundation in CS fundamentals and data structures as a whole. However, it may be best to not take him if you are to not keen on going to every class or if you think that you aren't going to really put in the time to study for every exam.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Anonymous 05/18/2022	Unpopular opinion but without bluff like some of these other reviews. (NOTE: I had Nelson first semester and received a very good grade so 132 with Fawzi was a shock. I have completed the course but chose to leave it optional out of confidentiality). Fawzi is too fast paced in lecture. On top of that his powerpoint are next to useless and he doesn't record lectures. On top of that he doesn't give fair exams in my opinion. I will admit the midterms were fair, but they test the smallest details which you wouldn't need in the real world or which a compiler would pick up. For example, on one of the exams I declared a variable incorrectly, with the rest of my code is logically and syntax correct I only received 2/14 points. I approach external TA's who said I should receive points, but when I approached Fawzi on the regrade he refused to give points back and gave an excuse as to why. In additions we only had 2 exams unlike other classes, where they would split we had all of OO(Object oriented programming) and the entire second exam on every DS (data structure). Outside of the course work to sum up Fawzi in a few words: - shrewd/out right disrespectful - Doesn't help in office hours. Always acts like he's better and we know nothing. - not lenient at all - Was sick and couldn't make it for a quiz. Fawzi told me either to come for the quiz or receive a 0 (this was the second time I was sick and couldn't use a self attested note). Especially for a time while we are still in a pandemic this was out right disrespectful and foolish that he is willing to risk the health of his TA's and students for a quiz. - doesn't care about his students mental or physical health - Over this semester I was struggling with my mental health a bit and when I approached Fawzi about his essential response was I don't care. He is not as nice and caring as nelson, I didn't receive any help throughout the course during this. Outside of that office hours were always packed and the TA's were quite bad. - comes off as some high achieving professor with lots of publications and no time for his students when in reality he's a lecture (massive ego problem) Outside of this his class is taught like we are all high end comp sci people who know what we're doing. His exams once again are more difficult than nelsons. If you could I would avoid Fawzi at all cost and take Nelson. Nelson was one of the best professors I've had across all departments. Other Notes (sorry if repetitive to some other parts of the review): - Doesn't give practice exams - Doesn't tell us a concept list like Nelson or any other teachers - Refuses to record lecture - Steep late penalty (20% off your highest score if submitted at or after 11pm. 100% off after submitting 24hrs after the deadline). - 1 practice packet with questions that don't resemble exams a week - Quizzes were very hard for weekly assignments (we also didn't know the context) - Purposely goes into harder concepts which aren't relevant material to the course (refers to 351 and theoretical CS concepts we don't learn a lot). - Final Exam is the worst. 30% of the grade. Everything we wouldn't have been tested on for an FRQ was there. You cannot expect first time students with no experience to come in and redo parts of their project by hand. You cannot make students code out concepts you referred to for 5minutes in a lecture. You cannot make students code a question we have never seen a code example for and something which was barely touched in class. A final is cumulative that includes everything we were taught not everything after the midterms and the concepts we barely went over. - Labs also aren't too helpful and I think he should adjust the labs to have a due date of completion so students actually do then and cut down on the weight of the final exam. a final worth 30% dropped by grade from B to (well you can do the math for that :)). - Projects in others classes are worth way more overall than ours. Final thoughts: I wish I took nelson when I had the opportunity to while registering. If I could go back into that time and choose nelson I would've probably got a B+ at the lowest. Nelson's exams side by side Fawzi's are much easier on relevant materials and won't make or break your grade such as Fawzi. Unlike the other reviews I can't say that he enjoys teaching. From what I experienced he enjoys the idea of being the smartest in the room at what he does which isn't a trait for a good teacher.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/18/2022	Fawzi is an incredible lecturer who cares about his students learning and understanding the material. He's been teaching 132 for a while, so his materials for the course - including lectures, labs, and projects - are incredibly polished. It is also evident that he frequently practices giving his lectures in order to stay on top of his game. The material felt well-paced and, even though there were only two midterms, the testable material felt fair and it was not hard to succeed if you took good notes in lecture and sought extra help when needed. With that in mind, make sure to take good notes in lecture! Fawzi does not allow the use of laptops for taking notes, and he does not record his lectures. You will need to be on top of your game and write things down in a way that really helps you to understand the content because the lecture outlines he posts online are really not so helpful. Also, start projects early. They are a joy to complete, and procrastinating will really hurt you with some of the projects in this course. If you have the option to take Fawzi for 132, do it. He is a top-notch professor and a cut above the rest of the instructors for this course.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/13/2022	This might be an unpopular opinion because everyone seems to love Fawzi at UMD, but he's just not my type of lecturer. He goes through topics super fast during class and his speed of talking is just a little too fast for me to comprehend. Can't doubt that he genuinely loves what he does and is always really enthusiastic about class though. My least favorite fact about him is that he never records lectures. Sometimes if you're lucky he'll record them on religious holidays but other than that if you ever miss a class you're screwed. I had to miss class for a lot of personal reasons and it really brought me behind and I struggled to bring my grade back up. Additionally, we only had 2 exams throughout the whole course. We literally learned about every type of data structure within one unit and were tested on it all at once. This is simply just too much information for one exam while most other 132 lecturers had at least 3 or four exams. Splitting it up would've not only helped my grade but would have allowed me to focus more on specific topics for specific exams. I just always felt super overwhelmed around exam time because they were pretty much making or breaking your grade. Also it's a good idea to remember that he's not as lenient as Nelson. He doesn't allow computers or phones during class and he usually won't do any extensions unless you have a really good reason. His exams seem to be more difficult than Nelson's but a lot of people are okay with that since they like his style of teaching. This is all just me speaking from personal preference though.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/11/2022	Fawzi is by far the best professor I've ever had (I'm only a freshman btw). His lectures are extremely informative and easy to follow, so DON'T MISS A SINGLE ONE! (He doesn't record them) Fawzi's exams and quizzes are extremely fair, and his projects weren't lifeless. I had Nelson for 131 and he was also a good option that had his pros, but Fawzi's projects are more satisfying when completed. Fawzi's projects often have GUIs that make you feel a sense of accomplishment after completing them. If I could, I would take every CS class with him. Yea he doesn't allow you to have laptops out, but you really don't need them in the first place to be able to follow through. Take his class and you won't regret it unless you never go to office hours or you start your projects late.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Anonymous 05/11/2022	If you ever have the opportunity to take him for 132, seize it. Fawzi is funny, knowledgeable, and honest. If you want to do well in his class, I would recommend: 1) Starting Projects Early! Looking at the description is a good start, but I would suggest trying to code as much as you can, submitting, and reviewing the results from the submit server. If you are confused, try to debug the code yourself before seeing a TA. 2) Attending Lectures! Fawzi's lectures are usually entertaining, but he knows when the content is boring and when students like to skip. Sometimes he will give you the topics for the quizzes and coding tricks. 3) Attending Discussions! Discussions usually focus on coding and other technical things which are tested or used in a project. It's in your best interest to show up, do the lab, and ask for help. If you finish the lab, you can usually ask your TA questions about the class or the project.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B akl2025 04/27/2022	I'm really happy to take Fawzi again for CMSC132 (it was a close call because there was only one available spot left for me, probably someone dropped out), mostly because I like his teaching styles and his TAs. 3 tips to get good grades in his class: 1. Don't skip the lectures! Fawzi doesn't record his lectures 2. Start projects early! You don't want to come to TA office hours 2-3 days before the due date 3. Review weekly! There are weekly quizzes (don't get discouraged because you get low grades, it's a good review for midterms and final) The only thing that is challenging in his course is that you have to study everything for his tests (no idea what he will put on specifically - you know what lectures he will cover, but the contents are massive). It's fair but difficult, sometimes.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting a B- akl2025 04/27/2022	I took Fawzi for both CMSC131 and 132 in Fall 2021 and Spring 2022, respectively. He is an amazing lecturer and a "fair" professor. 98% of what will be on a test is what he has taught in class, but sometimes throws 1 or 2 multiple choice questions that he briefly mentioned. Moreover, the teacher assistants are super helpful: I can't make it in his class without their support, especially when it's for coding projects and reviewing for midterms (they make review slides and coding examples in my semester, and I hope the next TA will do that too). I never have an office hour with Fawzi, but the TAs are more than enough (he recruits amazing ones). There are 3 advices to give to new students who take his class: 1. DO NOT SKIP CLASS! Fawzi posts lecture slides but most are similar to outlines. To truly understand it, it's better to attend classes and see his thinking processes with examples and drawings. He is strict with time, so he prioritizes delivering all the contents he has for the lecture first then asking questions second. 2. START PROJECTS EARLY! The day Fawzi posts the announcement that the next project is available is the day you should start right away! The TAs are there to help you. Immediately go to them if you don't know how to start. Don't wait until the last 4 days, unless you love being in a long queue of ~20 students (each takes like 5 minutes, give or take another 5). 3. REVIEW LECTURES WEEKLY! Fawzi usually gives weekly quizzes and it's a good way to know what you need to review for midterms. I regret that I didn't do this weekly, which gave me lots of stress the day before the quiz or exam. This not only maintains good scores for all assignments during the semester but also helps you solidify your understanding of all contents for the final. Pros: - Great lectures (easy and clear to understand, good examples) - Fair exams (what you have learned) - Supportive, friendly, and super helpful TAs Cons: - Exams: because he tests all of what you have learned (some topics appears a lot and some only appears once), you have no idea what will worth lots of points. You study EVERYTHING, which is just ... a lot. - He doesn't record lectures (maybe once or twice if it's Friday before a holiday weekend). - Optional: "nerds" who ask a lot of advanced questions at the front and interrupts the lectures. PS: I failed the final (D), but all other assignments were high (B+). They balanced out.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A Anonymous 02/18/2022	Fawzi was pretty nice and his TAs were wonderful. I appreciated his teaching style (giving the specifics of each topic we covered) and discussing the concepts before jumping straight into the code. The weekly quizzes were a bit of a drag, but they did make sure that I learned and retained the material. Exams seemed fair and I would've taken him for 132 if I didn't have schedule conflicts. DO NOT SKIP CLASS THOUGH! He does not record and the slides are very barebones.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Anonymous 02/03/2022	Really nice and made class enjoyable to come to
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/22/2021	I’m glad I chose Fawzi for 131, and I would take him again for 132 if my schedule allowed me to do so. As a beginner, I felt like his lectures were effective because his teaching style somehow got the material to stick in my head. He is straight to the point, but also occasionally throws in some humor to keep the class engaged. Lectures never really felt rushed, I think he was good at time management and knew when to cut off a lecture to not rush a topic. I’m not really sure if he has office hours, but TA hours (from 9-6) were a godsend. I don’t think I would’ve passed this class without his TAs. The TAs were helpful for getting me through the projects, but they also seemed to help other students with any questions about course content. There were 2 major exams throughout the semester and 1 final. I thought they were all fair questions - study the study questions and notes from lecture, as well as last quizzes. Quizzes were basically weekly and also fair. The front of the worksheet was usually multiple choice or short answer questions, and the back was a coding question, and you had 20 minutes to do the quiz.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/21/2021	Fawzi is one of the best lecturers at this university. He's very clear with describing topics, and goes through a lot of examples in class (which are posted) to help you understand the topics. I would strongly advise against skipping lecture since his slides are very basic, so you want to make sure that you are taking good notes. You do have weekly quizzes in discussion, but if you take notes and make sure that you understand the material, you should be fine. His exams are pretty straight forward, but he doesn't have practice exams for you to study from. He does however model his exams off of the quizzes and weekly study questions that he posts, so I would say they are pretty manageable (no trick questions). Office hours are also pretty helpful (usually run from 9-5 every weekday) for clarifying topics. Some of the projects can be a little tricky, but if you start early and go to office hours you'll be completely fine. I think he has a slight curve (couple of points) based on the class averages. I had him for both 131 and 132, and would definitely recommend taking him if you want a solid understanding of intro CS concepts and data structures!
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Anonymous 12/17/2021	Extremely easy to understand, excellent lecturer, very charismatic, and knowledgeable on the subject. Just all-around an excellent professor. He is incredibly invested in making sure his students understand the concepts, which is why he doesn't allow laptops in any of his lectures, but don't let that scare you off at all. Don't skip a class, start all the projects early, and you will easily pass this class. I will definitely take him for 132 next semester. I have heard that he can be very egotistical and arrogant in one-on-one conversations, but that's never happened to me.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/15/2021	Compared to Pedram, who I had for the same course, Fawzi taught this better in almost every way. He's very enthusiastic, makes jokes, and really tries to make sure the class understands difficult concepts before moving on. For really difficult things, he'll always tell you if it is testable material. Besides that, his quizzes are generally easy, projects can be finished in a couple of days, and the exams are fair. Also, this TAs this semester were very helpful whenever I did have problems with a project. I would recommend choosing him regardless of your experience with Java.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/13/2021	I LOVED FAWZI! He is the best CS professor you can ask for! His lecture is fun and easy to understand, his quizzes and exams are super easy. And he will give you a head start on the upper-level course, so it will be easier when you get to the higher-level CS course! !! There are also chances for you to be engaged in competition in his course where he will give out prizes to you and make you feel like a STAR! ! ! ALSO, his projects are super easy and some you can even put on your resume!
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Anonymous 12/08/2021	Absolute King of a prof. He's as funny as he is knowledgeable, and is an all-around great choice. His lectures are entertaining and informative, and he will pause periodically and wait for someone to raise their hand. After each lecture, he'll post his slides and any code he used in class as examples. As someone who's had a few years of experience in Java, the projects are challenging but always fair and well-implemented (and there's always a TA who can help you). Each week, he'll post practice questions that he'll occasionally directly copy onto quizzes and exams. The quizzes are easy but frequent enough that you're always forced to keep up with the information. The exams can be challenging but are never impossible. In each discussion section, he'll give a lab that is very reflective of any quiz or exam coding questions. Overall, Fawzi makes you want to learn and understand the info and I can't recommend him enough.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/26/2021	This semester was definitely an improvement from last semester when I took 131 with him. Fawzi kept up with the informative lectures and related coding examples, providing helpful study questions, and assigning projects and discussion assignments relevant to the course material. The quizzes and exams were much better time-wise this semester, hence me actually doing better this semester since I get stressed under a ton of pressure. Lectures were almost always out ahead of time, so we had plenty of time to watch them, and quizzes and exams always tested material that was on the lectures. I definitely recommend taking the class with him if possible!
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/08/2021	Prof. Fawzi is super reasonable and super knowledgeable. I would choose him over Nelson again (although I hear Nelson is great too). I loved the projects and the lectures were always informative and easy to understand. The quizzes are challenging but not unreasonable.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/04/2021	Online lectures are asynchronous and are informative and well structured with lots of examples. Weekly Wednesday quizzes can be challenging but most of the time was on recent material. Exams and quizzes are both timed, however, the time given is reasonable and the content of the assessments is also reasonable. Also had Fawzi for CMSC131 last semester (Fall 2020 - Online) and enjoyed him thoroughly.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A- Anonymous 04/20/2021	Good lecturer, although he gave less time than some other professors for quizzes and exams which made them somewhat difficult.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting a B Anonymous 04/02/2021	I had Fawzi for 131 last semester and he did an outstanding job. I really felt like I learned the material completely. I can't recommend him enough.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting a B CrazeddRabbi 01/13/2021	His lectures (which were asynchronous) were always out in a timely manner, and when they weren't he would give you an extra two or three days to watch them. His lectures were not only well-taught and understandable but also entertaining, as he constantly cracks jokes. He is also very responsive to emails.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting a B- Anonymous 01/11/2021	Solid lecturer, though wouldn't recommend taking him if you don't do well under pressure due to the time constraints he had for tests/quizzes.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting a C Anonymous 01/03/2021	I am a rising senior in CS and Fawzi is one of the best teachers that I have had alongside Teli. He explains the concepts well and is good at gauging what a freshman understands better than Yoon. You can't go wrong with taking him or Nelson.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/26/2020	I took Fawzi for 131 and will be taking him again for 132 in the spring. He is a great lecturer, explaining concepts well and then illustrating them with examples. He also keeps them fairly entertaining (which is hard to do with pre-recorded lectures, I'm sure his in-person classes are even better). All of the projects were fairly straightforward and most of the time you end up with a cool final product. If you watch all his lectures and study your lecture notes, you'll do fine on quizzes/exams. He covers everything that winds up on his tests in his lectures.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/15/2020	He''s a great professor and all his lectures explain the concepts thoroughly. During COVID his lectures are recorded and it mandatory to watch for a grade. He posts them a day early. His exams and quizzes are timed. He makes silly jokes in his lecture and overall, I definitely recommend him as a professor for this class.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/14/2020	Fawzi was a solid professor with quality lectures and enjoyable, reasonable projects. His lectures were asynchronous and you had all day to watch them, which was convenient. If you enjoy challenges, then I guarantee you will like his Soldiers project which was a lot of fun to work with. The biggest downside is that his quizzes are little tough and can be tight on time. He also comes off a bit rude in his class-wide emails, however whenever I personally emailed him, he was receptive and kind.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/05/2020	Really enjoyed his class - though lectures were recorded online, I was never bored when watching them, plus he makes the content really easy to understand for a beginner CS course; plus, quizzes + projects were not bad - would definitely reccommend!
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/03/2020	The actual GOAT. I have minimal background programming experience and took this class to see if I enjoyed CS. Fawzi was a great professor with a great sense of humor and very fair exams/quizzes. He taught me so much about CS and I am very glad I took it with him, plan on taking 132 with him next semester to. If you can, take Fawzi.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 11/02/2020	Such an awesome teacher for 131 and 132. He's fun and fair, and he's a good lecturer that makes sure you understand the material–as long as you pay attention during his lectures and show up, you can do really well in the class. He also let me take my first 131 exam in his office after I accidentally slept through it, so I pretty much owe this man my life.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 10/29/2020	Had him for 132 in Spring 2020 and I couldn't recommend him more. Some other reviews say he's rude but I never got that vibe from him. In fact, he's one of the kindest and most humble professors I've had. He genuinely cares about his students. If you have to choose a prof to take online, I'd recommend Fawzi. He handled the transition to online learning very well.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 10/28/2020	I had Fawzi for both 131 and 132. He's definitely the professor you want for either of these, if you really want to learn the material. His lectures are easy to follow and he makes the class interesting and fun. He's also very friendly outside of class. I went to his office about 6 times and he was always welcoming and helpful.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 10/13/2020	Fawzi is the best! He knows the material inside and out. If you watch his lectures, you'll understand everything. He's really good at explaining even the most difficult concepts. He's also a fun person with a great sense of humor that he uses to make the class even more enjoyable. I get the feeling he has a low tolerance for "whiners", which might explain some of the lower ratings. Lol
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/25/2020	AMAZING professor. Clearly always prepared for his lectures, makes everything understandable and attention-holding, and easy to talk to. Great class even if you haven't done CS before. Overall, I had a great time in his classes (took CMSC131 and 132 with him). Projects are doable and interesting but will take time. He also has pop quizzes (better in 131 than 132 there). I learned so much from him!!
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a P Anonymous 06/09/2020	Fawzi is a pretty solid lecturer for beginners and his exams are pretty fair. He is open to explaining any conceptual problems you have about what he's teaching (as long as you're willing to wait in the long line for him). However, his quizzes and some of his later projects can be much more difficult than how he formatted them in CMSC131. Specifically for the quizzes, some of them seemed straight up unfair (considering the resources his class provided and the content we had covered). I would say that his CMSC132 class is doable, but be prepared for the spike in difficulty transitioning from his CMSC131 class.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/07/2020	Fawzi is a good lecturer. I will give him credit in that he is able to present the material clearly and in a way you will understand. However, as a human being, he is very rude. He constantly is making comments to make himself sound so much better than you. He is rude in office hours about your concerns. I felt as though he did not take the time to feel the concerns or engage with the students. There were plenty of comments he made in class that left me feeling offended or upset. That being said, if you do not care about personality, he teaches well. If you want to have a good relationship with a professor, or are the kind of person who needs office hours with a professor, don't take his class.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/18/2019	I was worried taking this class with basically no cs experience, but fawzi definitely made everything feel doable. His lectures are great and because of the way his slides are made, you HAVE to attend every lecture if you don’t have a strong background. His quizzes are also very easy but he doesn’t drop so you have to make sure you go to every lecture and consistently stay up to date with his study questions. The two midterms are almost entirely straightforward questions and are very simple to study for by looking at past quizzes/study questions. The projects are easy A’s if you start them the day you’re assigned, which I made a habit. Overall, this class was the most time consuming class I’ve had so far, but also one where I learned the most. I definitely recommend taking fawzi, as I believe you’ll learn the most from him.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/27/2019	Fawzi is an amazing proffesor, one of the best in CMSC. He makes topics that could be really hard as easy as possible. Homework always fits well with the exams. Warning that he has a dry sense of humor so if you're not prepared for it you might think he's making fun of you. Hilarious and cares about his students.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A- Anonymous 11/16/2019	Fawzi is AMAZING! I don't see how anybody could give him a negative review. He is a true professional who loves teaching and cares deeply about his students. He's the best natural "teacher" I've ever had (including college and high school). The lectures were informative and held my attention the whole time. He was also very helpful and encouraging to me during office hours. I wish I could take another class with Fawzi!
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Anonymous 08/19/2019	I had Fawzi for both CMSC 131 and 132. I felt that his class for 131 was far better planned and overall the projects and exams were fair. However, for 132 his quizzes were a disaster, his teaching got more confusing, and whenever students approached him in office hours he was extremely rude. Honestly the most overhyped CS professor at UMD
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Anonymous 08/15/2019	Fawzi is pretty overrated. Maybe it's just me since everyone else seems to love him, but he was under-prepared for class almost every single lecture. Maybe its because I was his first class of the day, not entirely sure, but he'd frequently forget about slides or not have materials ready. His lecturing style was alright, but nowhere near as phenomenal as people make it out to be.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 08/11/2019	Trust these reviews. Fawzi knows how to teach CS to beginners unlike any other professor in the department. I came in with absolutely no knowledge of Java and got an A+. By no means is his 131 class easy, conversely it is actually very difficult. I am a business major adding CS and this was definitely the hardest class I've ever taken. You need to work really hard and study literally every day to do well in this course. Fawzi is an astounding lecturer and if you sit in the front, ask questions, and take notes on everything he says, you can do well. Fawzi is miles better than any other professor (including Nelson/Pedram) for CMSC131. Take him!
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting a B Anonymous 08/06/2019	Great Lecturer
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 06/16/2019	132 with him was drastically different from 131. Pop quizzes were really difficult and he was kind of a douchebag in office hours.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A- Anonymous 06/01/2019	Yes, he's a good lecturer. He was horrible for 132 regardless. Incessant pop quizzes. Rude during office hours. Unfair exams. I've heard only good thing for his 131 class but don't drink the Kool-Aid: Fawzi isn't all that.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/28/2019	I had Fawzi for CMSC131 and CMSC132. Pros: He is a really good lecturer that keeps students engaged and makes normally hard material easy to understand via great analogies, detailed examples, and in-class demonstrations. Cons: Beware of pop quizzes. Also, there are instances of him giving difficult projects. Additionally, in his office hours, he tends to be a bit more condescending that what his lecturing style implies. Overall, my experience in his class has been a positive one. You will definitely learn a lot from him. However, be prepared to put in a lot of work every day.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Anonymous 04/22/2019	This review gives 2 stars for his 132. (For his 250, it will be 4 stars.) I take his 132 after reading reviews of his 131 here, and realize that his 132 is pretty hard. He delivers content a bit fast in class, while the materials he provides on the website are not good enough to study for quizzes and exams. His quiz drives me mad. If you take his 132, you'd better take notes carefully and make sure everything is covered. On the other hand, I recommend his 250, it's much easier than his 132, cool and relaxing. By the way, he's really strict, just don't miss any assignment. I feel like he's not quite approachable.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 04/17/2019	Fawzi is a solid lecturer. He explains concepts extremely well and is generally very articulate and well-spoken. However that being said, his quizzes for CMSC132 are unnecessarily difficult and he's often rude and condescending if you approach him at office hours.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting a B+ fellowterp2022 01/21/2019	Everything I want to say has already been said by all the 5-star ratings of Fawzi Emad! This man is an enthusiastic, organized, well-spoken professor who is passionate about whatever he teaches. Of course, if you don't put effort into reviewing concepts and doing the CS projects early, your grade will reflect that. I liked his teaching style. Very straightforward and to the point, plus his humor to enhance the learning environment. Fawzi is surely the way to go when deciding which professor to learn from! In fact, I'm taking him again for CMSC132 and CMSC250 this semester :)
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/13/2018	Fawzi is a good lecturer, has good explanations. He is sometimes rude to students, specifically women, in lecture and in office hours.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/13/2018	One of the best computer science instructors I have ever had. He is extremely organized, and is great at explaining new topics in lecture. He is enthusiastic when teaching and wants to see you succeed. I would prioritize signing up for his class over anyone else.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Anonymous 11/20/2018	Fantastic professor, he is very engaging and pretty funny. The course (CMSC131) covers a lot of ground, so things move very fast-paced, but Fawzi does a great job covering everything. Study Questions are great for exam preparation (but not sufficient alone). Projects are not too difficult but become increasingly more time-consuming as the semester progresses, thus starting early is a good idea. Exams are very fair, not too difficult, not too easy. Things that are passed by in lecture may show up on the exam, so it is a good idea to make it to every lecture and take detailed notes. Definitely practice writing chunks of code on paper if you are not used to it, those are usually the most difficult portions of the exams and you won't have a lot of time to think of how to go about the problem, so it's important to know your approach immediately. Do the labs, the code that you have to write in those often resemble the code problems on the exams. Fawzi is superb at explaining abstract concepts and their practicality. The class is not an "easy A", but if you put in the work then you should be fine and will certainly learn a lot. The man is good at his job.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/17/2018	Excellent lecturer! This was my favorite class to go to. The projects are interesting the exams were not too bad. Take that with a grain of salt since I have programmed before. He posts weekly study questions and those are the guide to acing the exams.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/11/2018	This guy is both hilarious and very passionate about teaching. My favourite teacher so far! Take him whenever you can
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Anonymous 05/11/2018	Fawzi's way of explaining the material really makes it stick. I'm not sure what it is. He just makes you see why a concept is useful or why it matters and the explains it in a logical manner. Everything just clicks.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting a C Anonymous 05/12/2016	BEST PROFESSOR FOR CS! He is so funny and passionate about the topic. However the class is really hard, especially for people who have never coded before, like me. I struggled a lot in this class. You need to dedicate a lot of time to understanding the material. Class is hard but Fawzi is awesome!!
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/19/2015	Best professor in the Computer Science Department, and I don't think it can even be debated. I've taken him with both 131 and 250. Fawzi teaches every course with a genuine interest and enthusiasm that just makes you want to learn and grasp every concept. His ability to teach with clarity is absolutely amazing. In addition, he's always there to help if you have any difficulties with the material. His quizzes, homeworks, and exams are incredibly fair and with a good amount of studying, doing well in the class shouldn't be an issue. CMSC250 is traditionally known as one of the weedout courses, but with Fawzi it never seemed like one. If you ever get a chance to decide between Fawzi and another professor, you pick Fawzi, end of discussion.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/15/2015	Fawzi is the best teacher I have had at UMD, if not the best teacher I've ever had. He knows the material very well, is actively interested in it, and loves to spark interest in others. His tests are not necessarily easy, but they are a very fair reflection of the course. The best part about Fawzi, though, is that he's just a really cool guy. He has a great balance of nerdy, intellectual habits and a perfectly normal personality. He's the type of person you'd want to have as an uncle.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A lordwill753 05/06/2015	Fawzi was a really fun and engaging professor for 250. Although the material in the class is fairly difficult, he manages to make the material fun and engaging sometimes. He's actually funny, which is another plus since his jokes will probably wake up the class if they ever decided to doze off. Tests were pretty fair too, sticking to questions that were on quizzes. The homework assignments were challenging, but at the same time doable. Overall a great class for me, and I definitely would take Fawzi again if I could.
Fawzi Emad CMSC122 Expecting an A+ the_champ2490 01/21/2015	Amazing professor. Makes the material very interesting and got me involved in computer science. I am a business major and he was so good I started coding in my free time! Some people had trouble with certain parts of the class, but that was not his fault, but a function of the material. Bottom line: Take Fawzi for anything he teaches. He is the man.
Fawzi Emad CMSC122 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/19/2014	Fawzi is a FANTASTIC professor! I entered 122 with absolutely zero knowledge or experience in the subject, and by the end he had me switching my major! He is exciting in class, extremely fair in his tests, helpful in assigned projects, and if you go to lectures he makes the material incredibly easy and understandable! With computer science, part of it will always be a natural aptness to computers and thinking in code that not everyone has. However, for beginners and non comp sci majors, Fawzi is more than ready to help and always willing to repeat ideas. If you are ever stuck, I've never been to a more productive office hours!
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A collegeben 12/11/2014	Fawzi was an excellent professor for 131. He was really great at explaining the concepts and his projects were fair and fun to do. I would definitely take Fawzi if you get the chance. His class wasn't particularly easy, but if you want to learn the material and have a bit of a challenge take a class with him.
Fawzi Emad CMSC122 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/19/2014	Great instructor. His enthusiasm keeps you from falling asleep in his class. Projects aren't too bad, but I've never had programming experience so javascript was difficult for me. I heard he's helpful during office hours but I never went. Take this if you want comp sci experience, but not if you want an easy DSSP gen ed credit.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 tdsouza 01/18/2014	As an freshman who is a CS Major with no prior experience in Computer Science, I can say that Fawzi Emad is an amazing professor. He keeps the class interesting while also teaching the material in an extremely clear fashion. However, if you are new to programming languages like Java, there are obstacles that you have to overcome (Don't worry, they're not to bad!). 1. Fawzi can't review every topic with a fine tooth comb because it's only a semester-long course, therefore the rate at which new material is introduced is fast. You will have to attend pretty much every lecture if you want to be at a good pace, and you must take copious notes - Fawzi doesn't use the textbook (don't buy the textbook, it's completely useless). 2. The projects. The first two projects are very easy and doable...however the difficulty then increases quickly. PROJECTS ARE THE MOST CRUCIAL IN GETTING A GOOD GRADE!!! The biggest problem students have with the projects is not figuring out what to do...it's actually completing the project on time. Fawzi gives you about a week and a half to do the projects, but most people wait till the last minute and their grade suffers mightily. PLEASE START YOUR PROJECTS EARLY. I CAN'T STRESS THAT ENOUGH. Now that I'm done addressing those who might be new to programming entirely, let me broaden my view to everyone taking the class. Fawzi's tests are perfectly fair. Not too easy, but definitely not hard as well. Study well, and you'll do fine. PAY ATTENTION TO THOSE STUDY QUESTIONS. They're the keys to a good test score. Quizes and Labs count for a small portion of your overall grade, but make sure you don't BS them. Fawzi's Final Exam was definitely tougher than both his midterms, so don't blow that off and make sure you study hard for that one. Fawzi is a fantastic professor and I can't imagine any professor better in the CS Department who is better.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 09/23/2012	Incredible professor. Teaches everything himself; never need to buy or look at the book (nor will it help you to). Take good notes in class; they are your only source of substantial information because truth be told, the online lecture slides (which are written by another professor anyway) are convoluted and give much extraneous information. Do not skip exams (as obvious as it sounds, it happens) or quizzes because he strictly adheres to university policy and will give you a zero. You can get by with showing up late but if you try and leave lecture early he will stop you and make you feel terrible in front of the entire class. Start projects early (especially those toward the end of the course) since nobody can get it perfect the first time. Review the study questions he puts online, they mirror key questions on the exams. I came into this class a Business major with no computer programming experience whatsoever, but he goes out of his way to make sure that everyone understands the material.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 09/21/2012	Fawzi is the best natural teacher I've ever seen in my life! If you go to the lectures you will learn the material. Period. He's also pretty entertaining and tries to keep things informal and low-key. If you see a few "mixed reviews" on sites like this, let me tell you why: Fawzi has a very low tolerance for students who are obnoxious during class. If you act like an ass during the lecture, he will shut you down! It's pretty funny to watch. So you'll find a few negative reviews from some of those people. But trust me, Fawzi is the best instructor you could possibly get. I'll take him for any course I can.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 08/30/2012	This guy is brisk, jovial, relaxed, and accessible. Most lectures are teeming with material, but he somehow makes it all digestible and light. Thing is, some of the topics (like data structures) won't stick to your mind in just one lecture; so you must re-read the slides, draw memory diagrams, and then explain them to yourself until you're comfortable enough. The projects are appropriate for the subject matter and most of them have their easy or advanced sections already implemented so you can focus only on the stuff you need practice on. Quizzes and exams are all easy as long as you go through the slides and maybe some of the example code. The discussion exercises are seldom helpful, but good for collaboration. I got an A+ and the class is my favorite (most informative) CS class yet.
Fawzi Emad CMSC122 Expecting an A Anonymous 07/18/2012	Fawzi was a great professor. Anyone saying he taught poorly probably just doesn't like Computer Science, not Fawzi. I don't know how you can make a computer class anymore simple or interesting. The TA's and his own office hours were extremely helpful for the projects. The tests and quizzes were straight from the lecture slides so if you go to class and then review them as study material you will get an A; the final is no exception. I had fun in this class and am now going to declare a Computer Science minor
Fawzi Emad CMSC122 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/29/2012	Programming is not really my thing, but Fawzi made the class more than bearable. His sense of humor and teaching style were very amusing and overall this was a great class. He grades reasonably, and the assignments were mostly pretty cool (except for one of them that drove me up a wall.) BTW, I thoght I was getting a C, but ended up with a B! Fawzi is more than fair when it comes to grades. Somebody else said Fawzi wasn't helpful in office hours, but that's total B.S. I don't know why that kid is so pissed off - Fawzi knows the material backwards and forwards and will go out of his way to make sure you understand it. I got a lot of help in office hours from Fawzi -- he was totally chill.
Fawzi Emad CMSC122 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/24/2012	The class was fun! Fawzi is truly a gifted instructor and does a great job making sure that everyone learns the material. I met with him several times during office hours and he was very personable and helpful. The exams were very fair (actually, they were pretty easy). The projects were reasonable, but don't start working on them at the last minute because office hours get crowded on the day the projects are due. This is a course for beginners, so you don't need to know anything beforehand. But be prepared to do some work. The projects take a good amount of time and there are frequent quizzes that you'll need to study for. Overall, this was a great class for me -- I learned a lot and enjoyed it quite a bit.
Fawzi Emad CMSC122 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/14/2012	This class consisted of 2 midterms, the final, 10 quizzes, 5 programming projects, and an 8 page paper. The paper sounds bad but it's easy, basically if you do it and it's coherent, you should get an A. The class is easy in the beginning, until you start talking about Javascript. However, I ended up getting an A in the class and I had no prior programming knowledge whatsoever. He tries to make lectures interesting and talk about things that could be useful and get you interested in computer programming, if you aren't already. The tests have at most three questions where you have to write programs, and the rest are short answers, so he tries to help out the people who might not be good at writing programs and functions. Good class to take if you are willing to put in a little work for the A.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/01/2012	He doesn't care about his students. Don't take his class. He knows his stuff, but expects his students to already know the content that he is there to teach about. Worst professor I've had at Maryland by far
Fawzi Emad CMSC122 Expecting a B WilliamR 04/22/2012	I'm finishing up CMSC122 with Mr. Emad this semester. So far (as a second semester Freshman) this is the best class I've had in college. I'm actually changing my major to Computer Science as a result of my experiences in this course. Mr. Emad's teaching style is outstanding -- he is very enthusiastic and his explanations are always logical and easy to understand. The exams were reasonable (not too long and at the right level) and the projects were decent. I'm looking forward to taking CMSC131 with Mr. Emad this summer and continuing on in the major.
Fawzi Emad CMSC122 Expecting a C graduate 04/20/2012	1st: If you are a JOURNALISM MAJOR dont take this class with him. and btw that expected grade is a C if he doesnt act like a complete douche. He teaches 122 as if you already know coding and caters his class to people that will be majors or are trying to get into the major. His grading is arbitrary and doesnt give you a rubric for the projects. Sketch. His grading is harsh, unforgiving and frankly unnecessary for an introductory class. He doesnt curve, but takes off chunks of your grade for senseless things. He needs to think more about his audience, which is the key to being a good teacher. Don't cater your class to people that already know material. Bring everyone up or reconsider your profession
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 02/20/2012	He is a great professor if you're smart. When I mean smart, I mean you know the material well, or pick it up while he's teaching. Everyday he comes to class he is disorganized but is a decent professor. He spends at least five mins per slide complaining about how the slides are wrong or not how he would have done it. The same with the coding examples you see on the CVS. He ASSUMES you remember almost everything from 131 but many friends of mine that tested or AP'ed (not sure how to say it) out of 131 have told me how much 132 sucks because he assumes you know more than you actually do. He is very meticulous with his grading and excessively strict. He is notorious for not curving the class so don't expect it. He curved for our first midterm (we had two) because the average was like a 65% percent. He told us that the exam was going to be easy, however many people didn't finish. He's not for the average b student because he caters to the smarter crowd. Try to talk to him in person and tell me he isn't an self absorbed asshole. He invites questions but will sometimes ignore simple questions he assumes we should already know. He is rude and even if the TA's agree with you that one of his exam questions are unfair he will debate it to no end until you give up and realize it's impossible to convince him otherwise. Don't get me wrong, he's not a bad professor and I would even recommend taking him as a professor. I just think he's an asshole. Remember, he caters to the smart.He's a decent, but not the best, professor. The only reason I had an 85% was cause I know how to program decently even though I failed one exam. He's good in the sense that he expects alot from you and in turn you work harder because he doesn't curve. He's tough but not horrible.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 01/22/2012	I enjoyed this class a lot from the academic perspective. I have seen him cut students short as is being argued below, but he needs to do so to teach all of the material, and when he does realize he had not heard someone's idea or question through that he should have, he will immediately apologize. He is confident but he does not devalue his student's ideas. In fact he encourages it, and I am confused by comments to the contrary. I may be biased since I had few difficulties understanding the actual material; however, I am new to programming, and did do a lot of work outside the class to keep my grade up and be able to ask suitable questions. Some students asked questions that they should ask during office hours. I have taken advantage of this in the past and he is very thorough at explaining things as long as other students' time is not being completely wasted.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A CompSciGuy 01/16/2012	Fawzi rocks! The reviews by the angry student below do not represent my views at all. Fawzi's lectures are thorough and clear, his exams are fair, and he has a great sense of humor. I actually looked forward to going to his lectures! In office hours he isn't going to debug your code for you, but he'll give you enough hints to get you going if you're stuck. I thought his exam reviews were extremely helpful -- he went over everything that we asked him to in great detail. The exams looked exactly like what he had prepared us for. He really seems to care about teaching and I'll take any class with him that I can.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a D Anonymous 12/17/2011	The guy is awful and you are not a great programmer. Everyone who has not gone to his office, loves him. Everyone who has seen him personally, thinks he is a world class douche. I will admit, I am spiteful now because he gave me a D for being less than a point away from a 70 (did bad on the final, was doing well until I took it). I asked him for something, anything to make up the small difference and not screw me for the next year, but he said it wasn't his problem and that was all. If you are a natural programmer, take him. If you need someone who is kind and willing to be nice behind the scenes as well, take ANYONE else. I have found Golub, Nadua-Perez, Plane,much more approachable. Fawzi really is a jerk if you are a guy who is a below average programmer.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A bdepalo 12/16/2011	Fawzi was a great professor. He explained all the course material in a way that was easy to understand and retain. I took AP Comp Sci in high school and had no problem in this class. Those who dislike Fawzi must have either skipped class often or are not cut out to be Computer Scientists.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting a B Anonymous 11/28/2011	Fawzi Emad is a good professor in the things that he does. However, he is not willing to adapt his style for students who do not learn from his particular style of teaching. He expects you to come to every class, and will tell you what to expect on exams and such only in class (he also teaches using slides). This is not unreasonable; however, for people who learn best by doing and have a hard time following lectures, this can be a problem. On the first midterm, there was a big portion of the grade that was not tested via a project beforehand which can be very problematic for kinesthetic learners. He also does not offer review problems, or even a sheet listing things to study. However, it should be noted that if you attend class, keep track of the general topics discussed, and take very brief notes, then go back and study slides before the exam, you can do very well. You MUST do these things to succeed, because Fawzi will often test on things that he mentioned once in class that are just historical facts and you won't find in the materials. Also, pay attention to what appears on quizzes, because it is likely to reappear on exams. Basically, I would say that if you know yourself to be a kinesthetic learner, avoid his class because it will be a struggle to go by his style of teaching, but it is possible to do well with some work outside your normal way of learning.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Anonymous 09/14/2011	Fawzi is an excellent professor. Explains the material really nicely and keeps the lectures interesting. Definitely disagree with the idea of him not caring about his students. He takes time to answer all questions in class and is very thorough in doing so. The idea of him not caring about his students is quite far from what it seems like in my class at least.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 09/12/2011	I also disagree with the person two/three posts below... I had Fawzi for both 131 and 132. I can assure you that he always went out of his way to help us learn the material. His classes are actually FUN and he is always upbeat and energetic.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Anonymous 06/12/2011	I disagree with the person one below me. Fawzi is a really nice guy, and he does care about students. You'll find that out if you go to his office for help. He is definitely one of the best teachers in the CS department if not the best. Teaching people how to program isn't an easy task, and no one does it better than Fawzi. If you've never programmed before you'll have a hard time while taking cmsc131. It's because learning how to program for the first time is really hard, and you'll have to work extra hard in that class. He'll make sure that you learn all the material needed. He doesn't always write the exams, but he'll look at the exams and make sure there isn't anything that he didn't cover. When I took 131, he was running the class, and he wrote the exams, and the exams were very reasonable. On the other hand 132 was run by Nelson, and the exams weren't that great, but still fair. Yes, CMSC389C (C++) didn't go that well, since it was the first time the class was being offered, and Fawzi tried to cover too much stuff in 3 weeks, which didn't work out so well. Fawzi hates curving, but he ended up doing a 10% curve in that class. Fawzi cares about his students, and he'll definitely straighten out that class the next time he takes it. Fawzi has recently started to teach from slides, since he has some physical issues from writing on the blackboard for a long time, and his doctor told him not to write on blackboard. This is kind of unfortunate. He is not like one of those dorky CS professors, he's a very fun guy. On response to the reviewer one below me. Fawzi is a human being. He'll only get angry when there's a very good reason to be angry. One time a student was asking Fawzi if he could gchat with him over the weekend if he has any questions!!! You expect your professor to sit in front of his computer all weekend so that he can answer students' questions! Now who wouldn't get angry at that? I took 4 classes with Fawzi. And I would never take a class with anyone else if Fawzi's teaching it.
Fawzi Emad CMSC122 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/16/2011	Let me begin by saying that CMSC122 is probably one of the most demanding CORE classes out there, and you should take it only if you're willing to LEARN something (not a class where you can beat around the bush and get an A). With that said, Dr. Emad makes the rigorous challenge of learning a programming language for the first time insanely fun. He's a great guy, and overall a professor that can actually TEACH. I usually suck at programming, but because of his guidance, I can actually program independently now. You will have to work your tail off in his class, but trust me, in the end it's the most accomplished feeling you'll ever have. Wish I actually majored in Compsci now, since he made everything seem so interesting!
Fawzi Emad CMSC132 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/14/2011	Okay. I had this guy for 131 and 132. He's probably one of the better teachers in the department. He's a decent teacher. Not incredible. He is good at conveying the information, and you will learn the material pretty well. However, there are a few majors problems. First off, I don't think he cares much about his students. He is really into himself, and if you get in his way he will stomp you into the ground. Yes, he will teach you what you need to know, but he makes it fairly obvious that he doesn't care much about the students, but more about the fact that his boss wants him to teach in a certain way. Everything usually needs to go the way that he wants it, otherwise he will get angry. A big problem with his grading and tests is that he stresses trivial stupid points that don't have much to do with the class. Some of the tests will have not much concepts, but some stupid esoteric stuff about Java that does not really matter. Another big problem was that he used lecture slides made by the department that he didn't like. He was always commenting on how the slides were wrong and stupid. Well, if he didn't like them, then he should make his own. He's a little bit rude as well when it comes to dealing with students, and helps very little with actual exam preparation in the weeks before the final. Overall, 131 and 132 aren't too bad. The projects take some time, but if you work hard you can get an A. You should probably take this guy over some of the other 131/2 professors, but you should know what to expect. He just isn't as great as everyone says he is. By the way, I'm not one of those students who happened to have a bad encounter with Fawzi or anything. I did fine in the class and didn't have any personal issues with him. I'm just telling you what you need to know about this guy.
Fawzi Emad CMSC122 Kevin Garcia 04/25/2011	Very friendly and approachable person. Clearly passionate and knowledgeable. Unfortunately, he has apparently injured his clavicle from years of writing on the board, so he gave lectures from a PowerPoint. He seemed a little out of his comfort zone. Nonetheless, great professor. If you know nothing of HTML, CSS, or Javascript he'll make sure you do by the end of the class! Always has office hours and always willing and able to address any concerns.
Fawzi Emad CMSC250 Expecting an A+ rockinbassman 03/21/2011	Fawzi was a great teacher. Fawzi sets his expectations at a reasonable level and then expects you to meet them, unlike many teachers that expect WAY too much and then curve. Curves always seem to add more stress to the class than necessary. Fawzi always did a good job conveying his thoughts, and was also good at coming up with multiple ways to explain the same concept for people who were struggling. Fair exams too. Don't expect much of a curve, but you shouldn't need it since he's fair.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 recjra 02/07/2011	Fawzi is an excellent professor. I went into his class not having any programming experience and I came out with a great foundation in Java. He really enjoys teaching, so his enthusiasm made the class fun and interesting. His grading is very fair and he is very helpful and personable.
Fawzi Emad Expecting a B Anonymous 02/04/2011	I had Fawzi for both CMSC131 and CMSC132, and got A's in both classes, although both of my A's were very challenging and I worked hard to make sure I did well. If you are reading this page for 131 or 132, please take Fawzi's class. However, for an upper level class (meaning 250, 351, or in my experience 389C winter class) please do not take Fawzi unless it is necessary. He taught CMSC389C for the first time and threw so much material and difficult concepts at us in a 3 week winter class (without a TA or office hours), that half the class didn't finish the final project, and since the final project was so difficult and right at the time of the final exam (who gives a final exam for winter class?), the class average was horrendous as well. He was reluctant to curve, and even then it didn't make up for an extremely difficult class with very little allowance for people with no knowledge of C++. Hopefully he improves it in the future, but please take Nelson's winter class or someone else's class, trust me, you'll be better off.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting a B Anonymous 11/19/2010	Excellent teacher, obviously I'm not the only one with this opinion looking at others people's appraisals. He knows java in and out, explains everything you need to know about the upcoming projects and he's just a likable person. His great personality makes the class bearable. If you have to take CMSC131, try to take it with Fawzi.
Fawzi Emad Expecting an A Anonymous 09/01/2010	Fantastic. Explains concepts very well, with very good examples, is helpful at office hours, and very friendly and approachable. Not an easy A, but you will learn lots.
Fawzi Emad CMSC132H Expecting an A Anonymous 05/14/2009	Fawzi is a great guy. Really nice and respectful to students and he understands students very well. He is very funny too and an interesting teacher. He will often start the class saying "What the hell am I doing right now?" or something like that because he will chat with students almost to the point that he forgets he has to teach. But don't worry, you will always get through all the material for the day and you will understand it well enough. Biggest recommendation: start the projects early. You will be amazed at how good you feel and the stuff you can do when you've already finished your CS project early.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A+ Rahulm5000 01/02/2009	Awesome professor. Makes sense of difficult concepts. Students of other professors always come in and sit in on his lecture because he is always a better teacher. His exams are really easy also. He gives 2 mid terms and one final, about 8 quizzes, and 8 projects.
Fawzi Emad Expecting an A Anonymous 12/21/2008	Fawzi is an excellent teacher. He won the teacher of the year award at the University of Maryland in 2006 and after taking his course I can definitely say he deserves this. Fawzi is one of the most helpful, interesting, and knowledgeable teachers at the University. If you get him as your teacher you will be very lucky because his teaching methods are exceptional and you will learn a lot. He is not an easy professor though and many of his tasks are quite challenging, but he does value hard work and effort. Fawzi deserves the 6 golden stars!!
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Anonymous 11/07/2008	He is a great teacher, he is fun to listen to, he has a great way of making difficult concepts easy to understand, and he is quite approachable. Very nice.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Anonymous 09/05/2008	Not all professors are great communicators; Fawzi exceeded my expectations, providing excellent information in easily understood terms. Fawzi's classes had a good energy, making it easy to ask questions and get clear, concise answers.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Anonymous 08/31/2008	I dropped this class. he caters to those who already know the programming language. yes, he has a good personality, but if you don't know the material to begin with, expect to fail. not my fave.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 bcwik 08/06/2008	Fawzi really is a excellent teacher, definitely one of the best at UMD. He explains everything extremely well, providing concrete examples along with easy-to-understand explanations of the material. I didn't have to buy anything for the class (books), just go to class and you will get a good grade, which is easy because the class is very enjoyable. If you can, definitely take a class with Fawzi.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/12/2008	Had him for 131 and he is damn good. One of the best profs in the CS department. However, there is a downside, in that if you don't know some level of programming before walking in, you will have trouble. This is partially because Fawzi does not curve extra to cope with kids who know code inside out and still take the class. As his GPA spreads say, he is a tough professor, and curves pretty minimally, but in the end, he is a solid teacher. Regardless of the grade you get, you will know the material to a good extent.
Fawzi Emad Expecting an A Anonymous 04/11/2008	Fawzi is one of the greatest professors I have ever had. He's the most friendly guy in the world and explains everything with great clarity. Class was never boring and, unlike some other CMSC classes, he backed up all his notes with actual code and showed us how it all worked. Fantastic.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Dez 02/29/2008	the best professor Ive ever had in all of my educational experience. Very approachable, very cool, very nice. Ver good person, i wish he taught all my cmsc courses.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting a B pluralfacade 12/12/2007	Probably the best teacher I have ever had in college. Don't bother buying the textbook; just go to his lectures and you'll learn everything you need to. He's very friendly and approachable outside of class and will always try his best to help students out. He is pretty fair when it comes to tests, quizzes and projects - you will be challenged, but you will also learn a lot from him as long as you study.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Expecting a B- trimalchio 11/29/2007	Fawzi is a great professor, he's incredibly approachable and he'll help you with any problems you're having. His class wasn't a walk in the park but it also wasn't made any more difficult than it had to be. Fawzi's exams were fair and he taught you what was necessary to understand the material you were expected to know. One problem was that the book required for 131 was not even mentioned once by Fawzi, I assume the only reason it's required was for the other professor's lecture and sections. Make sure that the text is going to be used before you buy it for this class. Also, Fawzi is a computer science advisor for non-freshmen, and he's really nice if you come in wanting to get advice about classes. He's just generally a cool guy.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 pelers 11/08/2007	Excellent professor, one of my favorites. His lectures are interesting and he's a fun guy. He does an excellent job explaining material and caters to the beginners in the class. Will definitely be looking for him teaching other courses I need to take.
Fawzi Emad CMSC131 Anonymous 11/06/2007	I took a class with Fawzi a few semesters ago, and he is still the best professor I've had. This was the first comp sci class I took at UMD, and he went into great detail about all subjects, while still keeping the class interesting. I went to just about every class (something I never do now) because I knew I'd learn a lot and have a fun time. Great guy, great teacher...if you have the option, take a class with him