Mirna Pinsky

This professor has taught: MATH107, MATH113, MATH121, MATH213

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Mirna Pinsky MATH140 Expecting a C Anonymous 11/22/2025	Yeah, the reviews are pretty accurate. I went to every single lecture and I found that the more I paid attention, the more confused I was. She doesnt really explain how to do the problems, she just kind of does it. She also cares a lot about theory, which is cool, but not super helpful when it comes to exams. The exams are terrible. They don't really reflect the extent of what he did in class nor the homework. About half the class took Calc AB and about a quarter took BC, and still even those people don't know whats going on.
Mirna Pinsky MATH140 Expecting a W Anonymous 11/13/2025	Whatever you do, do not join her class. In class, she never goes over what we are supposed to learn, she belittles those who dare ask questions and it really doesn’t matter if you’re there or not. I can’t believe that I went to that class 3x a week for an hour and 15 minutes then went to discussion for ANOTHER hour and 15 minutes, felt confident I knew stuff before the test and I went in and knew nothing she put on those tests. I did the homework, went to tutoring, nothing helped. Hopefully whoever I get next is a bit better.
Mirna Pinsky MATH140 Expecting a C Anonymous 11/13/2025	She might be by far the worst professor, lecturer, or any teacher you will ever have. She has single-handedly ruined almost 30% of people pursuing engineering in her class, as they have dropped out of the major completely because of her. Her teaching style is just to take problems from the textbook and not even explain how the problem works conceptually. She doesn't write the problem down on the whiteboard, so if you don't have the textbook with you, she will just skip multiple steps and write the answer down, which isn't beneficial to students. Second, the practice exams she posts do not reflect the exam AT ALL, so if you go into the exam feeling confident from the practice, good luck. The average of the first exam was 30%, and the second and third had an average of 60%. All of those exams, you would think there was a curve, but there isn't. She takes into account the trajectory of how you improve to boost your grade, but that's it. She is fine with the fact that she is understanding of late worksheets because of external factors, but that doesn't really matter much when exams make up almost the entirety of your grade. If you are thinking of taking Calculus, do it at a community college over the winter or summer. Make sure you do study Calc on your own beforehand if you decide to do this, so that you don't miss anything, because those courses are usually accelerated and too quick to learn everything. Studying before will also help you earn a good grade, so there's no loss to preparing before. Anyways, what I hope you got from this is don't take her, save your GPA, engineering or STEM dreams, and do your best.
Mirna Pinsky MATH140 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 11/10/2025	I have never, and I mean never, had this bad of a teacher/professor/lecturer. She is quite literally the worst person I've met when it comes to teaching. You will not understand the lectures because she just takes problems from the textbook, mind you she doesn't even write it down so you just reads the problem once and goes from there. Doesn't do the process of talking you through a problem and skips multiple steps regardless of whatever we know. Almost 65% of all students in the lecture don't bother showing up and instead focus on teaching themselves. The practice exams she provides are nothing like the actual exam and includes topics in calculus 2 that the TA's mention is something she shouldn't be doing. Your GPA will tank when taking her class as the average for her first exam was 30%, the second exam was 60%, and she's doing this all with NO CURVE. If you've never understood what it means to have a bad teacher, be my guest and take her class and see what it does to you. Many of the students are looking to transfer into engineering but to do that, you need to pass calc(which many are already failing with NO CURVE) and you need to have a 3.0 GPA which this class will help TANK that. I honestly don't know why UMD would do this after all the bad reviews and failing students for a GATEWAY LEVEL CLASS. I hope this review tells you to avoid her and if there isn't any other option, take it at a local community college or wait until next semester. DO NOT TAKE HER!
Mirna Pinsky MATH140 Expecting a W Anonymous 11/06/2025	She cannot teach, she doesn't explain anything and gets mad sometimes when questions are asked. She doesn't know the answer of most of the questions and teaches us as if were suppose to know the content of the course already. I have pulled 2 all nighters learning all the content just for barely any of it to be on the exam itself. This is a Calc one course and most of the class (around 85%) have taken Calc one in high school, but the average on the first exam was 30% and the second was 60%. She has specific methods to get the answers that she barely covers in class, but if you get the answer with a different method then you won't be given the points for that question. If you put her on your schedule I would take her off immediately unless you want a guaranteed failing grade. I don't think that this competitive university and where I'm putting my money should consist of teachers like her.
Mirna Pinsky MATH140 Expecting a C- Anonymous 11/04/2025	Unfortunately these reviews are very accurate. It’s very hard to understand the material with her teaching methods. She is a very kind and funny lady, but if you’re bad at math and expecting to learn from the lectures, don’t take her. Day 1 the room was 3/4 full and now it’s 1/4 full mid way through the semester with many withdrawals and people self studying.
Mirna Pinsky MATH140 Expecting a B- Anonymous 10/27/2025	She might be the worst professor on campus. I am a freshman connections student trying to get into the Computer Engineering program. Mirna Pinsky is EXTREMELY close to single-handedly ruining my chances of getting in. Her style of teaching is just taking practice problems from the textbook, not even writing the full problem down, and then just solving it in the fastest way possible(without showing her work or how to do it), making it IMPOSSIBLE to actually learn the concepts when attending her lectures. About 60% of the 150+ students in her lecture section (3x a week at 3-4:15 pm) have decided to just teach themselves and never come back. The average on the first exam was 30% (I got a 51%), and on the second exam, it was 60%. I even pulled an all-nighter studying a practice exam that SHE posted and still got a 63%. It was NOWHERE NEAR what she put on the test. If you want to suffer in an ALREADY DIFFICULT class by deciding to take her as your professor, by all means, be my guest. But if you want ANY chance of actually knowing what's going on in Calc 1, and to have a good foundation for the rest of your math classes, please, I beg of you, DO NOT TAKE MIRNA PINSKY FOR ANY MATH CLASS.
Mirna Pinsky Anonymous 10/24/2025	You have to learn it all yourself. She’s a nice lady but not a great professor.
Mirna Pinsky Expecting a B- Anonymous 10/16/2025	Not a good teacher but a nice lady. She reads off the text book and goes through problems fast with surface level explanations. If you have her prepare to learn all the coursework by yourself.
Mirna Pinsky MATH107 Expecting an A- Anonymous 03/03/2025	Unfortunately, all of the reviews are pretty accurate. She is a very nice person, but her method for teaching was not the best so I primarily studied on my own. I have gone to her office hours and there have been times when I understood some of the material in class or became even more confused. If there are other professors teaching MATH107, then I'd recommend doing the class with them.
Mirna Pinsky MATH107 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/17/2024	Professor Pinsky is a really sweet lady and it honestly pains me to write this because I feel bad, but if you have a short attention span, I would advise you not to take her class. I had learned the contents of this class in high school, so I was fine most of the time, but if I was learning this all the first time, I think I'd really struggle. Tests are basically the entire grade, which is a little annoying because we also had quizzes like once every week or week and a half. But on the bright side, she's super understanding if you turn something in late!
Mirna Pinsky MATH107 Expecting an F Anonymous 12/16/2024	Her writing style is basically her writing the answers on the board and then going to the next question. She doesnt really take the time to explain the concept, she just speaks about it while she's writing (which is kind of difficult to understand with her accent also). If you're someone like me who sucks at math, i wouldn't reccomend her. Nice tho
Mirna Pinsky MATH107 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/11/2024	She is a nice lady and sweet but cannot teach at a college level. Her teaching habits is subpar, very confusing to keep up with her explanations of problems, and is very unorganized. If you are looking to take MATH107, I highly recommend you take it with any other professor.
Mirna Pinsky MATH107 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/04/2024	She is a nice lady and is very lenient with due dates for assignments and make-ups for quizzes. However, she often gets confused with problems and her teaching style is weak at times. She also has a slight accent, but that was never a significant problem for me. Overall, the class is not too bad, but exams are ~80% of your grade and one bad test can sink your grade, so beware if math is not your strongest subject.
Mirna Pinsky MATH141 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/03/2024	She is nice and will extend due dates for everyone even if only one person emails, however she frequently confuses information. She also skips steps when solving problems and assumes the class knows things we were never taught. You have to pay for Webassign and there is one due every class. She will also hand out worksheets that we have to turn in. She is a lenient grader and offers exam corrections, however, you basically have to teach yourself the concepts. That being said, don't skip the lectures as it is helpful to see what kinds of problems are on the tests. If you can't get someone else you'll live.
Mirna Pinsky MATH107 Anonymous 11/22/2024	Nice lady but cannot teach at a college level. It is an extremely vague teaching style and is not effective for the classroom. Had to teach myself all of the work she provided.
Mirna Pinsky MATH141 Expecting a B Anonymous 10/30/2024	DO NOT TAKE THIS PROFESSOR, she is so buns and cannot teach for her life, she might be a nice lady but she justs yaps and writes on a chalkboard I had to teach myself everything throughout the entire year. 75% of my class dropped out the course before it even ended because of this prof. If she is the last option just dont even take the class at that point and wait till next semester if you want to save you mental health.
Mirna Pinsky MATH141 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/26/2023	Please do not take this professor... she is a sweetheart and her exams are a little easier than a non-fc MATH141 class but for all things holy please do not take her class. Her lectures are pointless, as she makes mistakes and is incredibly uninformative. She doesn't know how to "teach", but she does know how to write on the chalkboard and ramble, which are two very different things. For your mental health's sake, and to not flare up your anxiety every class, do not take this class. And if you are FC just drop her section.
Mirna Pinsky MATH121 Expecting a B Anonymous 04/11/2023	She is very nice, but she is NOT a good teacher. She barely knows what she is doing and often messes up problems. She often teaches using concepts and variables and not examples for a lot of the class so it's just nonsense. Most people are on their phone or zoning out all class. Not engaging at all and she isn't good at explaning things.
Mirna Pinsky MATH121 Anonymous 02/05/2023	She's a nice person, but she teaching is way too unfocused and confusing. She doesn't really explain anything or tell you important information, she just writes on the board and does problems like you should know what to do already. Zoning out during class and just reading the textbook will save you a lot of confusion.
Mirna Pinsky MATH121 Anonymous 02/02/2023	She seems nice, but her teaching style is extremely vague and difficult to understand. She doesn't explain how to solve problems and sometimes skips over important information. The textbook is a better teacher than she is.
Mirna Pinsky MATH107 Anonymous 05/19/2022	Do not take her. Her teaching style is hard to understand sometimes. Also, she is not very understanding if you are sick and miss a quiz. All she does if stuff from the textbook that you can do on your own.
Mirna Pinsky MATH107 Expecting a C Anonymous 12/10/2019	Very hard teaching style not a lot of flexibility when it comes to each students learning style. Problem is read from textbook and then done on board. Not a lot of explanation of terms or vocab.