Information | Review |
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Fushuai Jiang
DATA400 Expecting a C- Anonymous 07/16/2024 |
Do not take his class trust me. If this review saves one person it was worth it. |
Fushuai Jiang
STAT400 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/10/2024 |
TL;DR : DONT TAKE THIS PROF FOR STAT400 UNLESS YOU WANT TO SUFFER Pros: - He tends to go pretty in depth with the material, so you'll def be prepared for any stat classes you'll take in the future - He curved our exams (Spring 2024), which was pretty nice - We had a cheat sheet for all of the exams - If you ask him questions after lecture, he'll usually take the time to try to thoroughly explain the concepts you have questions about Cons: - IT WAS A PROOF BASED CLASS. Note that literally none of the other stat profs do this for stat400, and considering it's an applied stats and probability class, it shouldn't have been proof based - The class was way too difficult for a STAT400 class. Especially when compared to other profs, he went to a level of depth and difficulty that no one was expecting for what is pretty much an intro level stats class. - He focused way to much on the probability portion and not enough on the statistics portion of the class. We didn't even cover some basic stats concepts like hypothesis testing - The exams were waaaaaay to difficult. The average on the first exam and the final was about a 50%, and the average on our second exam was about a 60% - The homeworks are incredibly difficult, and while it's only 1 homework per week, they are graded, and they can take up to 6 or 7 hours to do. - For a decent chunk of the material you'll need to know how to do basic proofs (covered in CMSC250 or MATH310) and you'll need to know how to do double integrals well (MATH241). However, the only actual pre reqs for the class is Calc 1, so if you're taking STAT400 is this prof, you should probably have both of those skills - He pretty much just regurgitates from the textbook, yet his lectures are somehow more confusing than the textbook, so you're better off just using the textbook to learn the material - This class was a really big time sink for me and many others that took this class, so be prepared for that. |
Fushuai Jiang
STAT400 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/27/2024 |
Let me start by saying that I believe this was the first time Dr Jiang taught this course (I could be wrong) so take my review with a grain of salt. I will list the pros and cons and so that i am not just rambling on: Pros: - He is a nice dude. He is definitely approachable and does appreciate feedback from his students. - He does implement a rather sizeable curve on the exams as majority of students score very low on his exams (more on this on the cons). His grade cutoffs are also very inflated (A- is 85+ and 80+ is a B+, passing grade is basically a 60). - He records his lectures (not that great tbh, the projection is barely visible and audio is terrible but that could just be due to the low grade classroom we took the class in). Posts his notes same day as well in case you don't take notes. Cons - Until the class basically cried about it, the course was very proof heavy. As this course is called APPLIED probability and statistics, no one expected to be writing proofs, least of all during exams. I do believe there is a more theoretical version of this course (STAT410) which is dedicated to the theoretical aspects of statistics and probability. Granted he did adjust the course a bit towards the second half of the semester to be more practical, it was so stupid to be required to complex proofs especially since most of his students are CS majors and already do that in CMSC250. -His assigned homeworks are significantly more complex than what is being discussed in class. Yeah I get that homework is supposed to make you think and all but there is no reason to do so if the nature of his exams (which make up 70% of the class grade) are nowhere close to what is being covered by the homeworks. A lot of students definitely rode the curve to a decent grade because half of the class would have scored in the 60s and 70s without it. -Lastly I wanna say that this class is made out to be a rather easy course by a lot of people who took this course before. But I do believe that this is because a lot of students took it with the other profs (fernandes and mestiyage) who teach the course VERY differently from Jiang. All in all, this course IS doable with Jiang. And I do believe that moving forward he will make the course better the more he teaches it and this is just my experience as someone taking him while teaching it for the first time. But if you want to ensure a decent grade with moderate work input, I advice looking at the other professors. |
Fushuai Jiang
DATA400 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/16/2024 |
Dr. Jiang is not a good professor. He doesn't communicate with the TAs, all of his lecture content is directly out of the textbook (and he uses his own preferred textbook instead of the STAT400 standard book), and he answers questions in a usually confusing and occasionally condescending way. He's a nice guy and will help in office hours if you go, but he intentionally teaches this class at a very high difficulty compared to the other STAT400 teachers. Average on the first exam was ~55%. If you don't know a lot about proofs you will definitely struggle in the first half of the class, but even if you know proofs well its still very difficult. Exams are weighted: 20%, 20%, 40%, so pretty much they are the only important grades. This class would only get one star if not for the absolutely massive curve. Most people did really poorly on the exams so the curve was huge, so you might end up with a passing grade even though you didn't do well on the exam. Be prepared to put in a ton of time studying outside of class if you want to understand the content and do well on exams. |
Fushuai Jiang
STAT400 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/08/2024 |
This professor is one of the worst professors I've had in my college experience. His lectures are so horrible that I feel more confused leaving them then going in to them. Half the lecture is spent doing proofs while this is an applied statistics class, not a theoretical one. It's also impossible to read his handwriting and the lecture recordings are so bad quality to the point where it's impossible to read anything. Doesn't know how to explain the things that he teaches, he just writes them down verbatim from the textbook. The only way to do good in this class is by self studying and reading through the textbook, however this is not foolproof as well as the exam questions are miles different from the textbook problems. Don't take this professor for STAT400 unless you want to spend hours every day to just understand the material. Also, we don't learn any R in this class which is a big part of the STAT400 curriculum, which results in 80% of the grade in the class to be solely based on exams. |
Fushuai Jiang
STAT400 Expecting an A- Anonymous 04/19/2024 |
Stay away. The TA gives a practice exam and tells you that its exactly like the exam only for you to take the exam and realize that it was nothing like it. 0 practice problems and 0 teaching from the professors and TA. Absolutely terrible for a college course. |
Fushuai Jiang
DATA400 Anonymous 03/03/2024 |
He writes notes, not that legibly, in notability, and fails to really explain any proof, and instead writes it word for word from the text book. There were times when people had questions, and he stated that "it was outside the scope of the course". His review problems for the test are not close at all to actual problems present on the test and instead are random proofs and questions he's taken over all his lecture. TA's are nice and are the only way to get through the course, but most of the time they have no idea what he's doing. You are allowed a cheat sheet on exams, but it only helps if you happened to copy the right proof down, or else good luck figuring it out intellectually on exams when you likely won't. Overall, take any other professor for STAT400, because they are all way better in terms of grade distribution and teaching ability. If you were forced to take Professor Jiang, then I wish you the best of luck, you'll need it. |
Fushuai Jiang
MATH241 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 02/27/2024 |
[Took class Fall 2023] Fushuai Jiang made Calc 3, which material-wise is relatively easy as it is involves simple vector math and integrals that work out easy, difficult to learn and difficult to pass. Nothing about his lectures were useful or practical towards helping prepare you for the exams. He read straight from the textbook, wasting too much time on concepts. When it came to his example problems during lecture, they were often too easy or too hard. When they were too hard to solve mathematically he would simply give up and cut to the answer, skipping crucial intermediate steps, or not providing an answer at all in which he would say "just use MATLAB." If you were wondering, the answer is no, you are not allowed to use MATLAB on the exam. Here comes the best part of it all- the exams. As a fellow student aptly described in another one review, his exams alternated between being impossibly difficult and insultingly easy (exam one being hard, exam two being easy, and exam three being hard). The impossibly difficult ones were as such due to the fact that they were highly conceptual and not remotely straightforward in what equation should be applied, requiring derivation before you could apply any equation. Another obstacle to these exams was the extremely poor preparation material. The practice exams were essentially useless in application, and as stated prior his lectures are poor and don't teach you WHEN to apply any given equation. Fushuai's only redeeming qualities were that he did not assign graded homework and that he assigned MATLAB problems which were free points. In conclusion, avoid him if possible. If you have no other choice, skip his lectures and either go to Justin's lectures or just view and transcribe Justin's notes. |
Fushuai Jiang
MATH241 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 02/01/2024 |
Terrible teacher; however, if you watch all of Justin's videos and do the "optional" HW examples assigned in the textbooks, it's a "free" A in the class. Discussions are usually unhelpful as Jiang doesn't tell TA's much about how to format the quizzes they make. Quizzes and MatLab are free to grade booster (they dropped 5 of the 9 quizzes given). If you are reading this and are in STAT400, get a textbook, do the HW, and use outside resources, and you will be fine. Also, Jiang said he wasn't going to curve the class but is known for always curving at the end when the averages drop since his teaching is terrible when topics become more difficult. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnlqRLEMESc&list=PLV_e97dP47FE0KsQwaGYpRlQ1c2cv-eiI |
Fushuai Jiang
MATH241 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 01/30/2024 |
Really a great professor overall. I found him to be concise in his lecturing, but still thorough in explaining the material. Definitely made a few mistakes here and there, but it never messed up my understanding much, as someone would usually point it out and he would fix it. He uses the chalkboard extensively, which really helped me see the whole topic laid out. Also a generally approachable guy. Some of the topics did get a little 'huh?' to me later in the course, but I think that's more a fault of Calc III being a complicated course than anything he did. |
Fushuai Jiang
MATH241 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 01/23/2024 |
Decent lecturer, just teaches out of the textbook and moves very quickly, hard to follow everything in lecture enough to ask questions (personally thought his lectures got worse as the semester progressed). Initially said no curve would be given, but gave one at the end of the semester due to bad performance on the third exam. |
Fushuai Jiang
beSkoompin 12/23/2023 |
Lectures rarely make sense, posted homework is same as other teachers and can often not cover what he wants you to know. The midterms were inconsistent and got too difficult too fast. Very disorganized, everyone got a 100 on the third MATLAB assignment since it was never released which was my only plus. Also was often very slow to reply to emails. I used Justin's videos mainly as well but they were often not enough for what he desired. |
Fushuai Jiang
MATH241 Expecting a C- Anonymous 12/23/2023 |
Please save yourself and do not take this professor. The lectures are very boring and he sometimes does not know himself what he is teaching and does not highlight the important parts. I watched professor Justin's lectures all the time and they would be much more detailed and easy to comprehend. Also, The practice exams are not even close to anything to what is actually in the midterms/exams. Jiang is just a very bad teacher and very unorganized when it comes to teaching. |
Fushuai Jiang
MATH241 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/19/2023 |
Jiang is a decent lecturer, he knows his stuff well enough but is also pretty boring. His lectures are heavily based on the textbook so I found it was helpful to reach the textbook ahead of time and come to the lecture to edit/review my notes. Basically 75% of grades are based on exams (30% final and 15% for each of the three midterms) which is annoying but the exams are okay as long as you study and he provides pretty good study material. There are also ten quizzes throughout the semester but he drops the lowest five, and the Matlabs are not bad either. His syllabus claims that he doesn't curve but he ended up curving my class about 10%, although I wouldn't necessarily count on him doing that again since I'm not really sure why he did it in the first place. Overall, he is not terrible but I would definitely try to get Justin if you can. |
Fushuai Jiang
MATH241 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/16/2023 |
For about the first 1/2 of the semester, Jiang was pretty good. Not the best lecturer but he explained it well enough for the tests to seem fair—which could have also done more with it being easier content. The last 1/2 of the semester was, as others are indicating below, a train wreck. It’s like he forgot how to teach well and so many of the concepts were never fully explained. This is likely why the averages were wayyyyy higher for the first two exams compared to the second and the final. If you want an easy A, do NOT take Jiang. |
Fushuai Jiang
MATH241 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/15/2023 |
Jiang is not a great teacher. Nothing is organised all his solutions for the practice midterms are wrong. You have to waste all your time checking if your solutions is right or wrong. My TA is the only reason I did well in this class. My grade in the class started getting better when I stopped going to class and started learning from YT and my TA. |
Fushuai Jiang
MATH241 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/14/2023 |
His lectures are very similar to what the book says, with similar examples and definitions of concepts. Sometimes it gets confusing because he goes into proofs for all the topics only to find out that it doesn't matter for exams. However, the proofs are sometimes nice to know, but not necessary to write down, so it is probably in your best interest to just pay attention to try to understand, but not actually write it down. His tests are pretty straight forward, to where if you can understand discussion worksheets and lectures, you'll do well. I'm not entirely sure what the other commentors are saying, because as long as you try your best to pay attention, his lectures are not unorganized, just a little boring. But learning about calc 3 proofs at 9am aren't always the most exciting. If you don't understand something, either go to the textbook or search Justin Wyss-Gallifent on YouTube, or search up "UMD immortal" on google, and you'll find a very simplified summary of each chapter from Justin Wyss-Gallifent the goat aka the immortal. |
Fushuai Jiang
MATH241 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/12/2023 |
I really have no idea why so many people are hating on this professor. His lectures are just as organized as any other professors, and he’s fairly interesting to listen to. He teaches the theory first usually using pictures and demonstrations before going into examples so you can get a better understanding of the material and he does a good job at that. His review material for exams isn’t the best but he always provides practice questions and you can go back and look at problem sets (which are options) or quizzes for practice. His exams are extremely fair and very representative of the material with nothing that surprises you, especially if you go to his lectures. He drops 5 of his 9 quizzes and they’re again very fair, the TAs tell you ahead of time what’s on them and you go over similar questions in discussion. Overall good teacher. Again could provide better exam review and can be slight disorganized at times, but he makes up for it in everything else. |
Fushuai Jiang
MATH241 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/05/2023 |
Jiang is a good professor in my opinion. Hes fun and engaging for my style of learning at least. The classes are difficult and can be a bit tough to understand but honestly if you go over the notes after class and just do some studying you should be okay. He is a very understanding person overall. |
Fushuai Jiang
MATH241 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/04/2023 |
Jiang is a pretty good lecturer, but he tends to focus on some wild problems for exams. Go to discussion and actually do the homework, and you should be fine for the class. |
Fushuai Jiang
MATH241 Expecting a C Anonymous 12/01/2023 |
Jaing's teaching style is a complete disaster. Trying to follow his classes is like navigating a maze with no exit. The lack of organization is astounding, and it's clear that he has no idea what he's doing most of the time. Example problems are a joke - Jaing messes them up so often that it's a wonder anyone learns anything in his class. I resorted to scouring the depths of YouTube to salvage my education, thanks to the lifeline of Justin's videos. It's a sad state of affairs when another teacher @UMD becomes a more reliable source of information than your own supposed teacher. Tests are a rollercoaster of inconsistency. They swing between insultingly easy and impossibly difficult, with no middle ground. It's as if Jaing delights in the sadistic thrill of watching students either breeze through or crash and burn. The review sheets, touted as a study aid, are nothing more than a cruel joke. They offer zero help when it comes to the complex tests, rendering the entire exercise a colossal waste of time. The only shining light in this abyss of incompetence isso TA Isabelle. It's a shame the rest of the teaching assistants seem to be equally clueless. It's a wonder how anyone can be expected to learn when those in charge of imparting knowledge are themselves fumbling in the dark. Avoid Jaing's class like the plague if you value your sanity and education. |
Fushuai Jiang
MATH241 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 12/01/2023 |
Jaing is a terrible teacher. Classes are very unorganized and he often messes up example problems. I had to watch Justin's videos on YouTube to learn the topics. Tests are either easy or extremely hard, not in between. Review sheets do not help for complex tests and are quite a waste of time to go to class. One TA named Isabelle is very good but the rest simply don't even know how to solve the problems either |
Fushuai Jiang
MATH241 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/29/2023 |
Not a great lecturer as many of these other comments are saying. My TA teaches me most of the content of the course in the discussion periods. He teaches very much by-the-book, and I have my own reservations with the book's structure. Exams are very fair, and you can do well if you study (and he provides enough study material). He also drops your lowest 5 quiz grades, which is nice. |
Fushuai Jiang
MATH241 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/17/2023 |
Professor Jiang is an ok lecturer, but he goes into proofs and tangential explanations without telling you its not necessary to know. The midterms aren't hard, but he doesn't curve the class at all. Homework is optional but not too difficult. Matlab is also not that hard. He's not someone to avoid, but if you can you should take Justin Wyss-Gallifent, whose videos on youtube helped me tremendously on the few occasions I didn't understand what Fushuai was teaching. |
Fushuai Jiang
MATH241 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/16/2023 |
Very unorganized on exam day. Also conducts boring lectures. |
Fushuai Jiang
MATH240 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 04/25/2023 |
Good teacher, records his lectures. His quizzes and tests are very fair. His lectures could be better but his notes are pretty good and contains most of the information you need to know. |
Fushuai Jiang
MATH240 Expecting an A- Anonymous 04/19/2023 |
NOT a great lecturer, but he knows what he's talking about and if you go to his student hours to ask questions, it makes things much more clear. |