Frances Gulick

This professor has taught: MATH115, MATH140, MATH141, MATH241H, MATH401, MATH402, MATH430, MATH470, STAT401

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Frances Gulick MATH115 Expecting a C Anonymous 05/16/2016	Consider this your warning - do NOT take any classes with F. Gulick. She was outright mean and made what should have been a basic math class into the most difficult course I have ever had the displeasure to have taken. I took Precalculus in high school and got a B, so I figured this would be a review, but instead I had to fight my way to a C. Even if that doesn't deter you, this class is a LOT of work. Multiple difficult online assignments per week and in-class quizzes. Make sure you buy the book - the examples it has will be your lifesaver.
Frances Gulick MATH141 Anonymous 05/13/2016	If you haven't taken calc 2 before or in high school, I do not recommend her. She has very high standards and expects you to know the material before you come to lecture. I had to read the textbook and watch youtube videos (Professor Leonard) before every lecture. I also went to her office hours, my TA's office hours, attended other MATH 141 lectures, and did almost all the book problems but I know I'm not gonna end up with an A. This class requires A LOT OF EFFORT and the way she grades is RIDICULOUS.
Frances Gulick MATH141 didlyjones 02/18/2016	The worst professor I have ever had. She only goes surface deep on each chapter section, and then gives you homework which she gives no information on how to complete. She is also extremely mean, as I was leaving the class one day to use the restroom she yelled goodbye to me as I walked out. She seems to really look down upon the students. It saddens me to see a professor like this still have a job, especially teaching a class that a lot of people find very difficult. I highly recommend avoiding her as a professor.
Frances Gulick MATH115 Expecting an F Niaboc 02/04/2016	I never write these things but I feel its my duty because she is THE WORST PROFESSOR YOU WILL EVER HAVE. I have taken many classes from community college and to umd now, and by a huge margin she is the worst professor on campus, maybe even all of Maryland. It's as if she wants you to dislike her class and math altogether. Everything is made 1000x harder than it has to be. Coupled with that fact is her atrocious teaching style. Like other have said, if you ask a question in class she will make you look like an idiot and condescned you. And she has this very whiny loud old lady voice. Sort of reminds of me of your classical christian school nun type, scratches the board if you aren't paying attention, smacks a ruler on your desk. She is very strict. Everything has to be according to HER RULES on exams. And she will take off excessive points if you don't follow her rules, labeling everything on graphs et cetera. Albeit. she is very friendly in her offices hours which was a surprise. It's probably the only redeeming quality about this class. But everything else about this class far outweighs it. Unfortunately, if you want to get to higher level math classes you have to go through her first, there generally isn't any other options, I wouldn't wish the experience of this class on anyone. Good luck!
Frances Gulick MATH141 Anonymous 09/01/2015	Awful professor with control issues. She is condescending and her lectures are uninformative. Her tests and pop quizzes are overly difficult (especially with her teaching skills). Asking questions results in rude replies and condescending answers. Avoid her classes by any means necessary.
Frances Gulick MATH140 Expecting a C TheTrooth 02/02/2015	Her approach to teaching Calculus I is mediocre at best. If you have never taken a Calculus class before, I would not take your first with the Witch. She has these unnecessary pop-quizzes in lecture called "White Papers" to guarantee attendence. There is usually no curve, and if there is a curve, you will not be happy because if you are on the borderline of a C, you will be getting a C. All bad things aside, she is a very nice lady outside of lecture, and is at least somewhat approachable. If it weren't for that, I would give her 1 star. Bottom Line: Do not waste your time.
Frances Gulick MATH141 Expecting a B Anonymous 04/09/2014	This is my second attempt at 141. My first was with Hamilton, which was a disaster as he went through the material out of order and had unreasonably difficult tests. This semester, everyone but Frances was full, and I braced myself for a serious struggle. I noticed that the majority of the negative reviews were for 115, but she is not that bad for 141. Maybe it's because I'm familiar with the material, maybe she respects her 141 students more than her 115 students. Whatever it is, I'm definitely clicking with her better than most. It's definitely some serious work, yes, and I hate online homework, but if you have the diligence to put up with it, you'll find that her tests are mostly fair. She'll answer questions in lecture and office hours and is not nearly as condescending as everyone makes her out to be. She's actually one of the more personable professors out there. She also gives white papers and quizzes. Quizzes are closed-book, but they're rather infrequent. White papers occur approximately every 2 classes, sometimes more frequently, sometimes less. These are open-note, open book quizzes, and she leaves examples on the board. They're free points that make sure you're on board with what's going on. You can compare answers, but don't copy. You NEED the practice to ensure that you're getting it. That's not to say that this won't be a difficult class. She's preparing future teachers, scientists, engineers, doctors, and whatnot for the rigors of what's to come. She sometimes has her TAs take off points from tests and white papers for the silliest, most stupid reasons but that should only serve to motivate you to do better. It's all about figuring out what she wants from you and to deliver. This class is going to be a serious challenge and anyone who comes out with an A has my undying respect. Come to class, go to office hours, dedicate a strong part of your studying to this class, and if you put in the effort, you can pass. Let this class be your reality check. It'll be tough. You're tougher.
Frances Gulick MATH141 Anonymous 03/06/2014	She is a bit condescending, and at the same time teaches you very little. You will not be able read what she writes on the board. It wont really matter because it is not helpful anyway. I have looked at the notes other classes get in their lectures and realized just how terrible she is. Other teachers seem to want to help make sure you understand the topic. It seems like she is afraid to teach you too much. It is almost as if she believes that if she teaches you any topic too well, then it will be too easy. This results in our class averaging way lower on tests than any other. She does not give you any breaks. White paper quizzes almost every day, even on topics you do not know yet. Worksheet every discussion. Your grade bases heavily on your attendance which sucks because you learn very little in lectures. I was warned this past fall to avoid at all costs and I didn't listen. I really wish I had though. Calc II should not be this hard. At least she's really hot.
Frances Gulick MATH115 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/20/2013	She is an awful professor. I have no clue how she even still has a job teaching. She not only does not teach you ANYTHING in lecture, she does not care about her students AT ALL. If someone is confused and has the nerve to ask her a question, she looks at you like you are stupid and is so rude about it. She has made my semester a living hell. DO NOT TAKE THIS SECTION WITH HER. you will not learn anything and most likely will have to take the class over again. the only reason I have a B in this class is because my TA had to teach me everything. If you want to have a professor that actually cares about their students succeeding, not about making a salary, I would recommend not taking this class. The only reason I gave her 1 star is because I had to, I'd give her 0 if that was possible. AWFUL professor.
Frances Gulick MATH140 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/15/2013	Professor Gulick is not the best teacher, I'll admit. But, if you keep up with the readings in the book for each lecture, you will be just fine as she spends a lot of time proving many concepts. She is entertaining during lecture as well, and i never once hated going to her class. Just make sure you go because she gives small quizzes once or twice a week unexpectedly.
Frances Gulick MATH140 Anonymous 12/13/2013	Frances Gulick was not a good professor. I’m not completely comfortable writing that statement, cause she’s such a sweet lady, but it’s true. If you’re signing up for classes right now, and if you still have the opportunity, I’d recommend switching to another one. Gulick has extremely high, unreasonable standards for how you show your work. She seems to have a set of highly specific criteria in her head that you must meet, but she doesn’t feel like sharing with you until after you’ve made a mistake. I’ll give an example. The first test given out in the class I got all the questions right. All of my final answers were correct, but Gulick managed to nitpick my grade down to a C- because of arbitrary rules that any reasonable math professor would laugh at. For example, I had nearly completed a problem, and was just simplifying my answer like this (I have the work in front of me): h = (3+9)x(4+5) h = 12x20 And, in my final answer, I had my result in a box H = 240 Despite 240 being the correct answer, Gulick took off 50% of the credit for the problem. Her reasons were as followed: “You simplified 240x to 240 without showing x = 1” “h=/=H” So apparently, she only accepts work that solely uses parenthesis for multiplication. You can’t use a little x to show multiplication. Despite x not being a variable in the problem, she felt that it could be confusing for someone looking at the problem as to how the variable x appeared and disappeared. A friend of mine lost points for using a little dot to do their multiplication because it could be mistaken for “taking the dot product” despite dot products not being a part of the problem or even part of the entire course. I also lost points because I capitalized the h when I gave my final answer, which is apparently a completely different variable in her eyes. She also takes off points if you don’t indicate what the final variable is, so if I simply wrote “240” in a box to indicate my final answer, she would have marked off points for not indicating what 240 is equal to. It can be extremely frustrating losing so many points to arbitrary rules and small mistakes which most professors would ignore (you can lose full points off a problem for a simple algebra error) which can be pretty devastating when tests have five to seven problems. It can be really tough to meet her unrealistic expectations for displayed work for tests when you’re struggling just to finish just in time. You usually just don’t have time do all the work and quadruple check your work for small errors. The intended satire in this video is pretty close to truth for Ms. Gulick. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsvLLKQCxeA The website that Gulick uses to assign homework, webassign, can be equally as finicky as she is. Lots of homework points can be lost to webassign not being clear in how it wants you to give your answer. “Oh, you wrote that the answer ‘DNE’ for does not exist rather than ‘N/A’ for this problem? 0 points.” And then two problems later “Oh, you wrote N/A for this problem? The answer was clearly DNE. 0 points” Actually, it doesn’t do that. The website offers no feedback or advice. It’s often a matter of just hoping that the website accepts your answer. The website frequently crashes as well, which can be pretty frustrating when you’ve got a limited amount of time to complete it. Take a look at some of the comments here: http://www.isitdownrightnow.com/webassign.net.html And that’s really just her grading style. Gulick frequently skips algebraic steps while doing work on the board. She’ll go straight from something like: ((((6^2 * 10) + sqrt((50003) - 600)) / 4! ) 4 ) - log(1 * 10^11) = 69 And then move on to the next problem, which can be rather confusing if you’re a minute behind or so. Furthermore, she does focus heavily on proofs, which is great for understanding problems conceptually, but not so great when both the webassign questions and the tests focus heavily on application problems. Her lectures are hard to follow which makes her very frequent pop quizzes (which she calls “white papers”) all the more stressful. All that said, she’s a nice lady, and very approachable. She’s got a corny sense of humor and is very willing to help you out if you need it (and you’ll probably need it, since she’s not at all clear in class). She’s a really nice person, but a terrible professor.
Frances Gulick MATH115 Expecting a C HaliteAnn 12/10/2013	The only reason Frances Gulick is a "professor" at this school is because her husband wrote the textbook. The fact that she is still teaching here makes me wonder if the university takes student evaluations into account at all--if they did, she would probably have been fired long ago. You learn nothing from attending lecture, but must go because of "surprise" quizzes that do nothing but check attendance. She micromanages her classroom and threatens to confiscate electronics as if she's teaching middle school. You can't even use your laptop to follow along her lessons on the online textbook (god forbid you actually try to learn something). I wouldn't mind not being able to use any electronics in her class if we actually learned something. However, her droning lectures mostly consist of pointless rambling, threatening to confiscate someone's phone, and multiple mispronunciations of the word "root." I had already taken PreCalculus in high school and was only taking this class as a refresher, but I ended up getting a mediocre grade because of her nitpicky grading. Trying to relearn any material I had forgotten was incredibly challenging. I essentially had to teach myself. She would vaguely go over some basic concept in class, and then the homework would be incredible complicated and sometimes even unrelated, or even from a later section. If you have any other possible choice, DO NOT TAKE ANY CLASS WITH THIS PROFESSOR. She is a horrible teacher and cares nothing about her students or their grades.
Frances Gulick MATH115 Anonymous 12/10/2013	Professor Gulick is a very unique person. She knows exactly what she is doing in lecture. She does commit mistakes at times. She is not an easy grader. She expects students to work hard and try their best. Nonetheless, she is always open to questions and her office hours she is always available.
Frances Gulick MATH241H Expecting a C Anonymous 02/13/2013	Her ratings on this website really speaks to how terrible of a professor she is. She rambles on without attempting to give her students an understanding of the subject material. While other professors in this course give out a one page cheat sheet for exams, Frances asks, "Why should I?" and asks no questions when all her students fail miserably. Every day I find new reasons to hate her teaching style and mannerisms. If you want to try and teach yourself Calc 3, then I suggest taking a class with her. There are more reasons I could list, but seriously- save yourself a semester of grief and go with ANY other professor.
Frances Gulick MATH115 Anonymous 12/02/2012	Overall terrible experience. teacher does not care about students. Course is basically taught to oneself. Homeworks (on webassign) have material not taught or even gone over in class. I felt like putting in minimal effort on the work required gave the same outcome as putting in my all. You will not learn from the teacher or from the TAs during lab hours, they will tell you how to solve a problem but not explain to you how or why. Very disappointed with class because It did not help me learn the basic math necessary in order to move on confidently onto a harder math course next semester. You spend most of your time on a computer trying to learn the material by yourself. Every class (you meet once a week on mondays and then go wednesdays and fridays to lab) you are given a white paper assignment basically to ensure you attend class. these WPs are very easy but make up a very little percentage of the semester grade. The hardest part of the class are the webassign labs and homeworks which are almost impossible to complete without a TA. My TA was ben he was very disconnected with students, did not want to teach material instead, just gave a simple solution to problems in order to help students earn high points on web assign. If you HAVE to take this class, make sure you choose brad as your TA because although he may be sassy, he is clearly the most knowledgeable and is willing to put in extra time on his part in order to help you learn the material.
Frances Gulick MATH141 Expecting a C nicoleumd 08/19/2012	Frances Gulick is one of the hardest professors I have had yet in my UMD career. I really learned nothing from going to lecture, but was forced to because of the graded pop quizzes and white papers. Lecture was really a waste of time and I could barely understand what my notes said. My TA was helpful, but she makes the TA's take off a lot of points for minor errors grading exams. I wish I had listened more to these reviews before.
Frances Gulick MATH141 Anonymous 05/25/2012	I had a very hard time in her class. She teaches some of the material really well, but a lot of times you will try to do the webassigns and realize that you really haven't learned any of the material on the assignment. She also makes a ton of mistakes when she's solving problems on the board, which can be really confusing later when you're trying to use your notes to study or do the homework. I always thought I was prepared for the exams but as soon as I would see the exam I would realize that it really had nothing to do with what we had learned. For the first exam, she put a question involving the use of the shell method, which she hadn't covered and had specifically said would NOT be on the test. Another test primarily focused on the domains of inverse trig functions, which is something we did go over in class, but makes you feel like you wasted your time studying the material you were actually supposed to be tested on. What makes the tests even worse is that they count as over half of your grade (and she doesn't tell you this in the beginning of the semester) Attendance is absolutely mandatory (for both lecture and discussion). She gives out white-paper quizzes, which are like a pop-quiz based on material she has just covered. (i.e. she does an example and then gives you a similar problem you have to do right then). She gives no warnings about when she will give white-papers so you really had better show up to lectures. In addition, you have to complete ridiculously difficult worksheets in discussion, often involving a proof of how a formula is derived. The whitepapers and worksheets count as a significant portion of your grade. Don't bother trying to talk to her about points, since she just gets really rude and refuses to be at all lenient. She doesn't curve at all, so the grade you see on your tests is probably the grade you will end up with. I really wouldn't suggest taking her class since it is a very painful experience.
Frances Gulick MATH141 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/16/2012	I was initially worried about taking her class because of all of these bad reviews but her section was the only one open. The first few weeks and the first exam was pretty rough, but I attended every class and did all the webassigns and ended up with an A- after struggling to get a B in Calc I. Very reasonable teacher but a tough grader. Having a good TA will help you tremendously. If you want to learn calculus, take her class. If you want good grades and easy work, take someone else.
Frances Gulick MATH115 Anonymous 03/01/2012	Terrible. Her lectures are 90% uninformative and she talks as if we already know the material. If I know the material I wouldn't be in the class. She doesn't focus on why something is a done a certain way and just runs through problems. That isn't really that big of a problem EXCEPT she gives us problems that are almost nothing like what's shes lectured on so when I try to use the processes, it never works out. The teaching method for this class is very poorly designed. In my experience very few people actually learn this way. In the end this class sucked dick. Just a bunch of mindless work. I asked her what I could do to improve myself. She told me to read the book.
Frances Gulick MATH140 Anonymous 12/25/2011	Horrible. Tests are way too hard, don't gauge how well you understand the material, and she's just plain mean. avoid at all costs.
Frances Gulick MATH140 Expecting an A Anonymous 10/19/2011	calc 1 is not hard. frances is decent at teaching, you will understand material easy enough. even the white paper quizzes arent that bad. but frances grades terribly. you always get points off here and there because she doesnt like your notation or the way you do a problem. theres almost no partial credit. even if you know your calc you still get random points off. so unless youre the most careful and meticulous problem solver, it will be pretty hard to get an A. Ive been getting 100 on all the webassign homeworks and the worksheets, but when it comes to the test I end up with a B or a C. And when you contest any points you got off, she somehow makes up some explanation about why its wrong and doesnt give one bit back. when it comes to points on a test, shes always right and youre always wrong. another thing is, she HAS NO CURVE. the averages for tests will be in the 50-60 range, and she wont do anything about it. even the TAs dont seem to be able to make her curve. dont take her unless youre neat and careful in your writing. her husband is supposed to be much better. I was thinking about taking her for math141 (calc 2) but instead im gonna take 8am with her husband. Its worth the sleep sacrifice, i cant deal with these unreasonable bad grades anymore.
Frances Gulick MATH140 Anonymous 05/05/2011	She's okay. I took her for 140 in my first semester and came out with an A. I've always loved math and I took ABcalc in high school and got a 5 but I still retook it. She teaches to her tests- the practice ones that you get are ones that she's given out in the past. If you can do the practice tests you should be okay for the actual test. And by okay, I mean like a C at least. The webassigns are confusing... they purposely make them difficult. It's more conceptual. It's not bad though. They're always due the day of the discussions. They're not terrible though. My only complaint is that she jumps around from topic to topic when teaching so it can be hard to follow her. She also skips the simple steps that people end up needing to ask her about anyway. If you do go to office hours, she is helpful. Also, contact your TA when you need help. And make sure you have a good TA.
Frances Gulick MATH140 Expecting a C- Anonymous 01/25/2011	Avoid her!!! Whatever you do, stay away!! Take Denny or anyone else for 140, she's nothing but bad news. Like many others, I took BC calc in high school and got a B so I thought I could do with a refresher when I got to college - big mistake to do it with her. Webassigns and tests were horrible and she was very unhelpful (and rude sometimes) whenever asking for help at her office hours or via e-mail. I was a student used to getting a lot of work but this was just terrible - I would study for hours and still bomb her exams. Her lectures went way too fast and she sets the speed of the class to match the students who she likes in the front row of the lecture. Her TAs were understanding at least and helpful with problems. Quizzes were annoying and she would grade pretty harshly taking off major points for silly mistakes like forgetting a negative that caused you to get an incorrect answer (even if your methods were good). I guess it's the kind of thing where you either love her or you hate her - I surely knew what camp I was in. If you take her for 140 (which is okay material wise with any other prof), just know what you're getting into but please consider someone else!!!!
Frances Gulick STAT400 Expecting a B eddie 12/17/2010	Avoid Frances Gulick at all costs!... Lectures are a waste of time; she spends the entire time deriving equations and proving theorems, and rarely ever makes time to fit in an example. You will do all of your learning on your own, which makes the weekly homework assignments and quizzes in discussion significantly more difficult. On top of that, she gives pop quizzes and graded classwork assignments during lecture to make sure people are attending. Maybe all of that is necessary to keep freshmen up to speed in Calc I, but this is a 400 level class, and she definitely doesn't teach it like one. The extra work will only drag you down; take this class with a professor who grades you on your exams, not your attendance. And if you're still not convinced, just compare her average GPA to the other STAT profs. It's a no-brainer.
Frances Gulick MATH140 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/15/2010	Despite all the negative reviews on this site, I took Frances Gulick for Calc I, and came out with an 'A'. It took a decent amount of work, but overall I think that she's a quite effective lecturer. IMO her tests are graded quite fairly, and she's a really nice lady if you talk to her during office hours. She does go a little overboard on the proofs during lecture, but after a few classes you learn to only key in on the pertinent information. The only other quipe I have with her was her placement of quizzes on very inopportune days, such as the day after Halloween, the day before Thanksgiving, and nearly every Friday. If you have her for a 9 am lecture, this kills any prospects of going out on Thursday night. Overall, I'd recommend her. But expect to work hard.
Frances Gulick MATH140 Expecting a B Anonymous 11/20/2010	I love her! She teaches well and makes sure you understand what's she talking about. On the hard subjects she goes a little fast in class because she has to cover everything but if you go to her office hours she'll help you and is patient. When I went to talk to her about my grade she was nice and talked to me with the familiarity of a high school teacher. She wants hard-working students to do well in her class and tries to help. Yeah, webassgin sucks but everybody who takes math has to deal with it, not just in her class. And yeah, white papers are a pain especially if you come late but you can talk to your neighbor and ask her questions about it-- how can you not ace them? She's energetic and funny in an awkward way and hers is the one class I don't sleep in at all (and I sleep through ALL my other classes except for my labs b/c I'm standing). She does exam reviews (in class and maybe out of class) and usually gives you an old one to study. Her test questions change but the format and the type of question basically stays the same though there may be a proof type question on there. And if you mess up on the exam, she will go through it with you after the fact so you understand what you did wrong. If you don't study, and don't come to class you won't do well (white papers/quizzes do count). If you want an easy teacher, find someone else (people love her husband). If you want someone who will push you and make you learn this stuff, take her. I'm pretty sure I'll take her for 141
Frances Gulick MATH140 Expecting a C Anonymous 11/08/2010	Shes moves along too fast, without really reviewing the material. Get Denny.
Frances Gulick MATH470 Anonymous 10/27/2010	I avoided taking math classes my whole career here at Maryland because of what people told me about Frances Gulick. And then, my senior year, I'm forced to take a class with her. You know what? I literally have no idea what people have against her. Yes, she's a tough professor. She actually makes you do WORK in COLLEGE! WOW! And I see people complaining about all the homework she gives. Umm. It's called practice. You need it to not only pass but UNDERSTAND the material. I don't understand why someone would take a math course and expect an easy A with minimal work. She's actually one of the best professors I've had to be honest. You can't pass her class by sleeping through it and casually glancing at the textbook the night before a test. She gives out a lot of work, but it's for your benefit. Her teaching style is very visual, and it works for me. The lectures are very proof heavy but you need that knowledge to understand why things work they way they do. So if you want a class that you can skip every day and still pass with a C, this isn't it (and I suspect college isn't really for you if you expect things to work out like that in life, is it?). If you want a challenging and ultimately interesting class with a professor that KNOWS how to teach, take her. Also, she is not still in the math department because her husband runs it. She's in the math department because she's great at teaching math and is very passionate about it. Sounds like a lot of reviewers here need to grow up.
Frances Gulick MATH140 Expecting an F Anonymous 10/20/2010	I took calculus BC in high school and decided I wanted to retake it in college to make sure I fully understood it. If it I hadn't taken it before, I would have NO idea what was going on! The webassigns are awful! Yeah they test your skills but they often have little relevance to what you actually need. The discussion sections are by far the most helpful! The TA's are personable and knowledgeable. The lectures on the other hand are terrible. She goes over proofs for the longest time and then does these little white paper quizes right afterwards. Yes you get to correct your answers at the end of the quiz but she will take off large amounts of points if you forget an = or add a negative or forget a parentheses. Then on the tests, she grades equally frustratingly. My last test I got a 46%. All of the math was right, and I had all the theorems and ideas correct. I got a 46 because I worked through the test and left off little things like a limit or an equals sign or added a negative or left off an x from a little part (and the next line down the x was there! so it didn't even change the answer!!!!) All in all, I recommend taking this class with another teacher... Which is probably what I'm going to have to do next semester...
Frances Gulick STAT400 Anonymous 10/10/2010	I wonder how she's managed to survive this long at Maryland.. When people say she knows her stuff, that is like saying an NBA player knows how to play basketball.. WAKE UP!! Professors HAVE to know what they are teaching.. that's how they make their living off of.. it's HOW they convey the materials and communicate with students that count toward determining whether the professor is good or bad.. And this lady is NOT a good professor.. I regret taking this course with her.. I should have known about this lady beforehand..sigh** but what can I do.. the two things I can do are.. first leave this review here and.. evaluate her at the end of the course.. hoping that the school will do something about it although I highly doubt anything will be done.. As I am writing this I prepare myself to a sleepless night studying hoping that I'd get an A.. although ourumd is very skeptical about her giving A's.. And someone mentioned that she's like an evil..I do not know her personally but seeing her during the lecture tells me she is indeed someone who'd smile and fail you simultaneously :o
Frances Gulick MATH140 Expecting a C purpleeagle 05/16/2010	She certainly knows what she's talking about, but I never did well with her teaching style. She's more into deriving the formulas rather than actually going over the applications. She gives plenty of pop quizzes, webassign HW assignments, and worksheets. The webassigns never helped me to much; I always found myself trying to finish them by the deadline instead of actually learning the material.
Frances Gulick MATH115 Anonymous 05/01/2010	She is a good teacher, I just find that her grading is too hard. I also feel like she may be a bit bias towards certain people when it comes to grades. Whoever called her the devil was absolutely correct. She will smile in your face and will still fail you. You will have to study every night in this class. You don't really have to go to the lectures. Unfortunately, she has "white papers" and pop quizzes that are part of your grade which forces you to go to class each day. I do not recommend you take her. You are going to struggle and get irritated with how she grades. Being in her class has made me hate the name Gulick. Take a different professor. Since her husband also teaches, I would stay away from him as well.
Frances Gulick MATH141 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/20/2010	She certainly knows what she's talking about and expects the same from her students. She'll give in-class problems to do on random days, and there are graded worksheets in discussion so expect to go to class all 5 days of the week. If you've gotten AP credit for this class, do not bother retaking it - you will not learn one new thing in any MATH141 class.
Frances Gulick MATH140 Anonymous 01/10/2010	If you go to her outside of class, she is very responsive and helpful but her lectures are horrible. She spends most of the time with proofs and "surprise" graded white paper assignments in class than actually going over the important information. It is not impossible to get an A in this class but you do it by speaking with her one on one or through TA's help since the lectures are random and she gets sidetracked easily. I think she would be a wonderful high school teacher.
Frances Gulick MATH140 Expecting an A- beane 12/17/2009	Frances loves in-class proofs. This makes a lot of sense; they demonstrate clarity of thought and a straightforward presentation of the material. Unforunately, her rigid concern for this sort of order invariably leads to a sacrifice of precious class time which could be used for review and practice. She incessantly emphasizes the importance of the short class time, and then proceeds to waste it with proofs. While I find the proofs interesting and useful, they tend to confuse and frustrate the majority of the class, to the point that while most of them started out fresh and eager to learn at the beginning of class, they were tired and worn by the end of it. She assigns internet homework after every lecture (before and imediately after tests not included), and expects the student to practice a good deal of problems recommended in the textbook. To paraphrase Frances from her class syllabus, you CAN do well in her class but it requires a LOT of work. This is due largely in part to the rather strange format of the tests. There are generally 5 questions, with mutliple parts to each question. Regrettably, the paucity of test questions leads to a proportional increase in point values per questions. If you make a mistake on part of a question, you can easily lose 5 to 10 points. Coupled with the single point losses for careless error throughout the rest of the test (which are common, because they are so thorough and lengthy), the grade for a test that you were well-prepared for can easily slip into the 80's. WebAssign, worksheets from discussions, and in-class quizzes are collectively a huge part of your final grade. Frances compensates for her exams by allowing a great deal of points to be made up elsewhere. MOST IMPORTANT PART: The tests are relatively straightforward, without much mathematical innovation necessary. She is the math teacher for people who work hard, but don't like math (despite the counter-productive proofs during lecture). If you are of a mathematical bent, you will find her class tiresome and frustating, but will likely get an A with work. If you are not such a person, you will find her class thorough and work-heavy, but you can discover that you will be able to scrape up an A or B with consistent effort.
Frances Gulick MATH141 Expecting a B+ AmazingReviewer 05/21/2009	This teacher obviously knew what she was talking about, but she did not care about her students. Her grading methods of her quizzes were a little harsh and her webassigns take a while to complete. The grading of the tests was a little more fair. The TA's graded the majority of the exams and she would grade 0% to 20% depending if there were 4 or 5 problems on each exam. There was no curve in the class and most people seemed to end up with horrible grades. You will struggle in this class. You will. You will. You will.
Frances Gulick MATH140 Expecting an F Anonymous 02/08/2009	She is literally the devil. I would say "devil in disguise," but she also looks like the devil. She is the WORST teacher I have ever met. Correction-she is the worst HUMAN I have ever met. Disregarding family deaths as excused absences, religious holidays because the U is "secular," this lady is a completely insensitive heartless devil. I have seen more people cry in her class than a theater full of preteen girls watching The Notebook. Avoid her at all costs. If you have to wait to take calc, do it. If you have to defer your college acceptance, do it.
Frances Gulick MATH140 Expecting a B Anonymous 01/24/2009	i strongly agree. she is nothing short of a huge *** and a **. she spends most of the class writing up long proofs on the board that no one ever needs to know. she doesnt care about any of her students, even gave a quiz the day before thanksgiving. she grades ridiculously unfairly like taking off half credit for missing an equals sign or similar things. often goes on to long tangents during class and im pretty sure i know her whole family history not to mention she told us the story how her son missed his calc final like 80 years ago at least once a week along with the story of how her daughter got her car stolen twice cause shes a fuckin idiot and left it unlocked. if i hadnt already taken calc in high school i would have gotten a D or dropped. whatever you do DO NOT TAKE HER CLASS!! itll be your biggest regret of the semester.
Frances Gulick MATH140 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/09/2008	MATH 140 is supposed to be Calculus for engineers, there are hints of this in the class taught by Frances Gulick but overall the class misses the point. F. Gulick attempts force feed her students mathematical proofs throughout the semester and her obsession with notation is enough to convince one that F.Guclick is nothing more than a math teacher harboring a resent against engineers. Her efforts to appear modern by using a projector come out as forced and futile, and lectures can easily morph into useless convoluted time wasters when one of her signature obscure proofs introduced. Those students who hadn't seen calculus before were lead straight to the slaughter, her drop-out rate only tells half the story as some stayed and dragged through the semester like fatally wounded sheep. Overall I would recommend Frances Gulick to anyone who loves unnecessary amounts of work and stress, and strives to build-up a deep hatred for math.
Frances Gulick MATH140 babygnau 12/09/2008	Frances Gulick is a very tough professor, however you do learn a lot in her class. I thought her exams were fair, albeit rather difficult. Overall go to class, and do all of the assignments. I was amazed how many points I lost by not bringing my clicker to class and participating in the clicker problems. Its a hard, challenging class, but if you put forth the effort you should be fine.
Frances Gulick MATH140 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/05/2008	Expect a lot of work, but "A" is not impossible. You have to keep up with your Web Assigns and problem sets in the book to do well on the exams. Her exams are challenging and she's very picky with notations.
Frances Gulick MATH140 Expecting an A- tallboyt 11/17/2008	People seem not to like her, but she's not bad. She will answer questions and offer help all the time. If you study the prac. exams well and do the webassigns at math success there should be no problem. Clickers were used near the end of the year. People who complain typically don't try in class and blame the teacher -- even if she tries to help.
Frances Gulick MATH141 Expecting a B Anonymous 11/09/2008	I actually learned a lot in her class. As long as you goto lecture and do the homework then it is easy to do well on the exams. The exams are straightforward and are based on the homework problems she sets out at the beginning of the semester and webassigns. If you just want an A without doing a ton of work then avoid her, either wise she is a good professor.
Frances Gulick MATH141 Anonymous 07/29/2008	Dr. Gulick is a very good teacher, but challenging. It is not an easy A. She will challenge you any way whatsoever. From pop quizzes, to quizzes in discussion, and web assign(241) and homework/web-assign. I took her for two semesters even though I didn't get A's, I actually learned calculus as opposes to just cramming for the test. DO all your home work on time and you'll be fine. Again, It is not an easy A. SHE DOSENT CURVE. I got 89 the two times but still got B's. If you want a stress free semester, DONT TAKE HER
Frances Gulick MATH140 Expecting an A Anonymous 07/13/2008	Dr. Gulick is a very good professor, those who write these reviews obviously did not show up to lecture, did not do assigned homework, and actually the funniest point that someone tried to make is that "math comes naturally to them." This is a calculus course for engineers, chemists and a couple other majors, IT IS NOT MEANT TO BE EASY! Dr. Gulick sets out the guidelines and expectations the very first day of class and follows the syllabus to a "T." I learned more in this course than probably any other, because Dr. Gulick will take the time and put in the effort to help any student that actually puts forth an effort. Professor's that hand out grades do not do anything for the students, the University, or society that has to deal with engineers that forget decimal places. If you want a passionate teacher, a good class, and to learn a lot than I say to you, "take it with Francis Gulick," if you want an easy math class than head back to kindergarten children.
Frances Gulick MATH141 Anonymous 05/22/2008	you might learn a lot but end up with poor grade. she is the worst teacher ever.. if you are not good on math, stay away. you received 4 credits but it feels like you ware taking 6 credits class.
Frances Gulick MATH141 sccrmic09 05/15/2008	Transfer out of the university before taking her class. Yes its that bad. Exams are completly irrelevant to material in class and web assigns. Grading scale does not exist whatsoever, she just randomly adds points to different catagories at the end of the semester. Her grade distribution compared to the rest of the university is much lower. I'm not just blasting her becuase shes going to give me a bad grade, she dosnt belong teaching anywhere. Don't put yourself through the unnesessary. Heed the Warning...
Frances Gulick MATH140 Anonymous 05/02/2008	Absolute garbage, if there is a worse professor alive, I have never had them. She is a 100 year old, she-devil ***** who is a control freak and a terrible human being. Homework is assigned constantly, and they don't really teach you anything. Every discussion had new problems that were never seen before, and never would be seen again. There was no flow whatsoever to this class. The class is so disorganized it's incredible. The lectures are a pointless exercise in proofs (which she messed up on every single day), the discussions test really obscure extremities of the material, and the homework is generic, but almost inapplicable to the test. It's pretty clear that the only reason this retard has a job is because her husband runs the department.
Frances Gulick MATH430 Expecting a b Anonymous 05/02/2008	STAY AWAY... she is a terrible instructor. he lectures are absolutely pointless and you will not follow anything she says because nothing is interactive... her homework is easy to do but she is so tough on grading it that your grade will go down from the homework and it doesn't help you at all. her tests are too long, and she is again a very tough grader... I am usually an A math student and it comes natural to me, but she was just so tough on grading and did no teaching...
Frances Gulick MATH140 Anonymous 02/22/2008	i think she might be the worst teacher i have ever had in my whole life. she screws up what she is doing constantly in lecture. she is some kind of control freak, she yells at kids when they leave her class early, like she can make them stay! she throws alot of pop quizes to make sure kids show up for lectures. she even yelled at my TA infront of his class, and he was easily one of the best teachers ive had. if i had not already seen calculus before i would have easily failed this course. oh yes, and dont believe what she says about her point scale for grading. i blew off the web assign because she said it was worth 50 points out of 650 total. by the end of the simester it had become closer to 250. im just glad i passed and can move on with my life and never, ever see that woman again
Frances Gulick MATH430 Expecting an A jeffreyb 01/27/2008	Her tests are unreasonably difficult and often do not reflect the material taught. Homework is assigned almost every class and she always ran 5 minutes over. Didn't learn much, but I wasn't really interested in the class.
Frances Gulick MATH140 Expecting a C egloger 12/15/2007	If you ever take a class with her, be prepared to stress about it a lot. She's good at teaching, but the homework and tests are unreasonably difficult. There's a reason why her drop/fail rates are so high.
Frances Gulick MATH140 avigana 11/16/2007	She is an extremely tough professor. The averages on her test are always really low but if you disregard your grade you realize that you learn a lot in her class.