Alexandra Jones

This professor has taught: AOSC200, AOSC431, AOSC493, AOSC494, FIRE120, FIRE177, FIRE198, FIRE199, FIRE277, FIRE298, FIRE398, GERM103
Information Review
Alexandra Jones
AOSC431

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
10/23/2024
Dr. Jones is an excellent teacher and mentor, but don't expect to slack off or underperform and get away with an A. Pay attention in class, ask questions, and go to her office hours when you're not sure what to do. She is always willing to work with students, but you need to speak up! AOSC431 was understandable and approachable with her - the assignments were difficult but fair and she always reviewed material before exams. Dr. Jones also emphasizes homework and comprehension over exams, which I appreciate as someone who learns through example. There were many times I sat in her office and she helped me through an assignment. I'm so grateful she ended up being my 431 teacher.
Alexandra Jones
AOSC431

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
10/08/2024
Dr Jones is a great professor. She cares about her students and wants them to succeed. If you put in effort, you will see that reflected. I had some personal issues with the final exam and she was more than happy to work with me and give me the opportunity back. When her office door is open, you can go and ask her questions. She is very helpful. HW assignments were not bad at all. The lecture slides were easy to comprehend and related to the homework. Don't think this class is an easy A though! As I said, put it in the effort, and it will reflect back to you. Not a harsh grader at all. I did better in this class than I expected.
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Expecting a D-
Anonymous
05/16/2024
Absolutely horrible class. Don't take it for fun or a gen ed. The professor and TA's grade too harshly and barely know how to explain anything. Everything is seemingly graded based off their own opinions. They demand absolute perfection, which is especially interesting because the assignments barely make any sense as a whole and how harsh the grading is. The expensive textbook barely helps, assignments are tedious , and exams have way too much to study / remember. The information has no coherence either. The midterm exam average was below average and she blamed us for not studying enough, and she made it a point to mention how she wasn't going to curve it. Even assignments that were open book / open note weren't easy. Presentations were also very disorganized, and projects had extremely flawed formatting. The debate rough draft is graded as if it were the final, and the arguments each group was supposed to make always seemed unrelated to each other due to how incredible broad, or how limited the scope for a certain side was. Absolutely do not take this class.
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
05/15/2024
NOT A GOOD WAY TO BOOST YOUR GPA. Take any other prof. Hardest class I have taken this year even though this is just a gen ed class.
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/08/2024
Ms. Jones is very friendly but sadly she is not the greatest lecturer. I have heard the section with the other teacher for this class is easier but don’t know if that's because of the teacher or the material. Despite being advertised as for non-science majors, I found this class relatively complicated, and the exams are graded without a curve despite the average being around a 70 for the midterm. The TAs were incredibly unhelpful, blunt, and rude. If you are here for an easy lab (and the lab itself is very easy), I wouldn’t say it is a bad idea to take it with her, but maybe scout other options first (like BSCI135).
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Anonymous
05/07/2024
This class is not an easy elective. The TAs are absolutely horrible. The professor is new and expects you to know everything while there are 50 slides per class with tons of information. She leaves no class for review except for one class for the final and leaves minimal study material. I have never seen TA's grade so harshly. Please stay away. The lab was great, just don't take this professor or TAs.
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/07/2024
Dont take with her. This class caused me so much stress this semester. She makes it so hard and she grades so hard. Everyone hated it and was so mad at her. This is not a easy gen ed/lab take with other professor. .
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/06/2024
This class is not easy. I would AVOID this class if its not a gen ed. She lectures you as if you know everything and gives you assignments that are hard for no reason too. Her quizzes are hard and so are her test. PLS DONT TAKE THIS CLASS WITH HER.
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/05/2024
This class was a lot harder than what everyone else says it would be. She includes way more information and does not provide any practice material to study for exams.
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/02/2024
She makes this class so hard. Lectures have so much content and the content is SO HARD. She is such also a harsh grader on top of the hard content. DO NOT TAKE WITH HER
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
05/02/2024
she gets one star bc she somewhat listens to class feedback but she is not helpful when you ask for help and she made this class insanely hard. My friends taking it with Jeff said the average on their midterm was a B+ but for our class it was a D
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Expecting a W
Anonymous
05/02/2024
She ruined weather for me. Class was so hard for no reason. NOT an easy gen ed. She is also not helpful and has no study resources.
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
04/30/2024
She is a really nice person but her lectures are very boring and not engaging at all. She teaches the class like a 400 level course and not like a gen ed. Not an easy A gen ed at all. You will be skipping her lectures about 2 weeks in. She is also a harsh grader and not very understanding.
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
04/25/2024
DONT TAKE. this class is so hard. grading is so harsh content is so hard take it with other professor.
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
04/24/2024
Worst professor I have ever had. Lectures are useless because she is not good at explaining any of the topics. Also, she makes her exams very difficult. Take this class with the other teacher!!
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Expecting a C
Anonymous
04/24/2024
You're gonna hear good things about this class but it has nothing do do with this professor. While she's nice she makes the entire class much more difficult than it needs to be, especially for a gened in such a small department. 99.99% of this class is non AOSC majors but we are all treated like PhD students. The TA's grade incredibly harshly for no reason and the average midterm grade was a D, I failed even though I come to class every day and study. I'm not a stem major but I got an A in comp sci, astronomy, and calc and here I am barely passing. Do not take this class. Not worth it at all.
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Expecting a D
Anonymous
04/24/2024
do not take her class!!!! i was under the impression this was an easy gen ed, but its not. she is the hardest grader and teaches the class like everyone is a science major when this is a gen ed for most. The tests and quizzes are insanely detailed and the workload is crazy. no matter how much you study, and utilize the notes, you will fail. the class average for our mid-term was 50% and there was no curve. there is a cumulative final, a group debate project, and a single-spaced final paper. worst class do not take.
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Expecting a B
Anonymous
04/23/2024
I wrote a very long review to state how terrible she is at creating, instructing, and generally being a professor. This review will not post, but do NOT take this course. The entire class failed the weather midterm and she decided that it was our fault collectively, that should tell you enough.
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
04/10/2024
I want to preface this by saying I am no stranger to difficult classes or classes that are simply difficult for the sake of it - this class fits into the worse third category of it being inexplicably clunky, over-complicated, and generally stupid with the professor significantly aiding in this. I will begin with an anecdote, when my MATH140 class all collectively failed the second (or third? same difference) midterm, our professor talked to us and reflected not only how we could study better in the future, but how he let us down and how he will make it right in the future. When this class all collectively failed the midterm, she blamed US and talked about how we could have studied better, shamed those who did not go to her lectures (which is her reading off of a provided slideshow for an hour and 15 minutes), and was generally flippant. Mind you, the only common denominator in every student that did not do well on this midterm(which was most) was her. After this, I stopped going to lectures. Who really needs them anyways when you can slog through the pre-lecture "quizzes" that apparently cover the chapters we are supposed to read for the subsequent lecture, but are intentionally confusing and require a paid textbook to complete (you can get the first edition, but it says that we need the 2nd, so good luck with that!). Now to the weekend assignments, some are graded on merely completion but often its a simple dartboard in terms of where your grade could end up, with seemingly no rhyme or reason as to why the point deductions are more or less severe by assignment. These usually involve drawing decently complex graphs that we really barely cover, so again, good luck with that! To the final, and worse part of this course, the discussions! Imagine the charm of a stupidly difficult high school physics class, in a windowless basement, for about an hour of your day. That is about the best it gets, but don't worry, on top of stupidly difficult exams and tedious individual assignments, you get to do a group project! It is exactly as fun as it sounds, you have to deal with creating a rough draft of an argument for a climate change debate which is graded like its your final draft, conjure up an entire paper with your group based on that rough draft, and then present your paper and debate another group all with just a single index card! Doesn't that sound like so much fun? Don't you wish you took this class too? Don't do this to yourself, CMSC351 and MATH140 was legitimately less stress, less of a slog, and significantly more fun than a class about weather. I am not sure how that is possible, but it seems like an achievement in and of itself. The one good thing about this class is the lab class if you decide to take it. This is where we actually get to apply the concepts of the class in a more practical and fun setting. However this is the one aspect of the class that the professor doesn't touch, go figure!
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
04/09/2024
DO NOT TAKE THIS IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A EASY GENED/LAB She teaches this class as if its a 300/400 level course class averages are so low for tests/quizzes just dont take it
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
04/08/2024
I thought the class was going to be easy but Dr. Jones makes it difficult. Do not take it with her. She is not good at explaining the material and our class midterm average was a 68% and she wouldn’t curve the grades. I have friends in the other class and we compared exams and their exam was way easier and their class did way better.
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
04/07/2024
DO NOT TAKE PROF Jones unless you are an AOSC major. This is meant to be one of the easier natural science with lab courses and she makes the class insanely hard compared to Prof Jeff. She is a very harsh grader and on top of that she DOES NOT GIVE ANY PRACTICE EXAMS OR PREVIOUS. As a result the exam midterm average was a 68% and she does not curve. Teaches the course as a 400 level class and even as a CS major this is easily my hardest class this semester. If you want to take AOSC please just take Jeffrey.
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Anonymous
04/03/2024
Absolutely terrible Professor. 100% do not recommend. Please save yourself and take Jeff’s class instead if you actually want this class to be manageable and have the best chance at success. Her lecture style is awful and she just talks at you and gives you way too much information. Due to this, people often skip lecture because it’s nearly impossible to actually learn. The midterm average was around a 65 and she told the class she was disappointed and that attending lecture would’ve helped our grades, which just goes to show you that she believes she isn’t the problem even though she is. If you read below, you’ll see students from previous semesters have also complained about her harsh grading, especially on the midterm. She’s a relatively new instructor so precious students were hopeful she’d use their semesters as learning opportunities to provide her future students with better materials, which unfortunately did not happen. No practice exams or materials were given to us to prepare for the midterm. Rather, a giant list of topics was given to us with no resources on how to properly study these topics. The midterm had way too much content tested on it and it was nearly impossible to have that much content absorbed at that point. It’s frustrating to be blamed as students for our performance when we were set up for failure in the first place. She allowed students last semester to redo part of their midterm because of how low grades were but unfortunately she didn’t allow us that chance this time. This class is known as the easier gen-ed. However, this professor will assure you that is not the case when she is teaching. There is absolutely no direction, assistance, or resources provided to see out that students succeed in this course and it’s 100x harder than it should be ultimately. Please please save yourself and take it with the other professor, whom I’ve heard great things about.
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Expecting a B
Anonymous
03/27/2024
This is not the course to take if you want an easy gen ed class. She is relatively new to teaching so her exams are way too hard and she does not give any review or sample exams to study off of. The average of the first midterm was a 68 so take this class at your own risk
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Anonymous
03/26/2024
She teaches the class like a 400 level course. Don't do it.
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
03/26/2024
She's very sweet professor but if you want an easy lab/class for credit DO NOT TAKE HER. I hear this class is much easier with the other professor. She makes it way more difficult then needed and has no practice material or stuff to study. She throws way too much info at you in one lecture and expects you to know a lot more then normal. I strongly recommend taking this with the other professor if you want a good grade.
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Expecting a C
Anonymous
03/26/2024
DO NOT TAKE! everyone says its so easy but she makes this class insanely hard. This is the hardest course I have taken here. You know its bad when everyone in the group me is saying they will be happy with a 30% on the first midterm. DONT DO IT
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
03/25/2024
She is very nice however she makes the class much more difficult than it needs to be. The class is supposed to be for non science majors who need to fulfill DSNS or DSNL credits yet she teaches the material as if this is a major course and not a gen ed. The midterm was extremely hard and she had little to no study materials or practice questions and the practice questions she did have, didnt even have the correct answer posted so you have no idea if you are doing it correctly or not. The quiz was open not yet still graded very harshly and had very in depth complicated subjects. She is just a harsh grader overall and will deduct points for the smallest things. It is clear that the other sections with different professors have a much different experience in this class so DO NOT take this class with her if you are looking for an easy DSNL credit.
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Anonymous
03/19/2024
Do not take this course with her. She teaches the class like a 400 level course and expects you to remember everything. So not worth it.
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
03/06/2024
She is a very nice professor and pretty good at teaching the material. But if you're looking to take AOSC200 as an easy DSNL gen-ed I would not recommend taking it with her. There are closed-book exams on material that's pretty scientific if you're a non-science major, and grading is real harsh.
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
02/22/2023
Very sweet professor! Unfortunately, she made the class a lot more difficult than it was supposed to be.
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/24/2022
This semester was Dr. Jones' first time teaching this course, and although sometimes the assessments were pretty hard, she did her best to roll with that feedback and give everyone opportunities to improve their grades. She wants us to learn and do well. Overall I think she learned a lot and will be very well equipped to teach this class again in the future. Class was very organized and expectations for things to know were very clear. She clearly knew what she was talking about, too. Overall I expected the course to be a little bit easier, but I would recommend taking a course with Dr. Jones.
Alexandra Jones
FIRE298

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/22/2022
She's such a wonderful professor, and I got to know her well over the last two semesters. She's no longer leading the cloud computing stream, but I can bet that she's an amazing choice for any other classes she's teaching.
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/19/2022
Professor Jones is really nice and you can tell she is really knowledgeable and she really wants you to do well. It seemed a bit more difficult than other professors' section because this was her first year teaching this course which also meant she didn't have past quizzes or exams that we could reference. However, she still did provide us with practice problems for example to help prepare us for potential questions. She really does try to work with you and she takes feedback to figure out how to best support the class.
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/14/2022
Professor Jones is a great Professor. It is her first-semester teaching AOSC so some of our quizzes and tests are harder than the other sections because she has never made exams for the class before. She let the class retake a part of the midterm for points back and has been adapting the class to student feedback. She didn't have any practice exams which made studying difficult, but she started giving practice problems after the midterm which helped a lot. She is very knowledgeable about the topics and if you need any help she is more than willing to help. I really enjoyed AOSC200 because it was very interesting and not too difficult. I believe her future sections will be easier as she will have experience and more course materials to give to the class.
Alexandra Jones
AOSC200

Expecting a C+
Anonymous
12/13/2022
This Professor is super nice. But as someone who not in the stem program at umd, I found this course to be super difficult. Everyone told me it be an easy course but I really struggled all semester!
Alexandra Jones
FIRE198

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/04/2021
Professor Jones is great. She is super understanding, I had to miss class due to being sick a few times with no problems. I have thoroughly enjoyed the Cloud Computing stream, even with it being online. It's been challenging but I have learned a lot.
Alexandra Jones
FIRE298

Expecting an A
Anonymous
04/15/2021
Best professor I have had at UMD. She wants you to succeed and will always go out of her way to help you. I'm so glad I picked this stream for the FIRE program!