Raluca Rosca

This professor has taught: MATH113, MATH115, MATH240, MATH241, MATH241H, MATH274, MATH341, MATH401, MATH461, MATH463, SPHL610, STAT464

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Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting an F Anonymous 10/22/2024	If I could leave no stars, I really would. One of the worst professors I have ever had in my entire life. DO NOT TAKE HER!!! Expect to teach yourself ALL the material. She explains things in the most complicated and confusing way.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 07/18/2024	It's really not that bad. You can do it
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 06/20/2024	This class is not as hard as people make it seem. I put off taking this class for three semesters because of the reviews. Don't let them scare you. I am not a math person, I never did AP calc in high school, and I still got an A by studying hard for the exams, reviewing concepts weeks in advance, and asking lots of questions during GSS. This class is harder than it needs to be, but there are SO many precalc resources at UMD and online. Organic Chemistry tutor, undergrad tutoring through the math department, and GSS helped a ton. I don't even think Rosca is teaching anymore but this class is 100% doable. It is definitely possible to do well if you work hard. - I found lectures useful at the beginning of the semester and always attended, but towards the end I stopped going because Rosca would just explain one problem in a very tedious way or focus on the theoretical concepts rather than just explaining how to do a certain type of problem. - There's a lot of homework but none of it is weighted enough to matter. Exams are the only real thing. - Exams were difficult but not impossible. They were always very similar to the four or five practice exams in Canvas. The first exam covered fairly simple concepts that anyone can master with a little effort. The only really hard one was the third because it had a ton of trig concepts, which were definitely harder to grasp - The GSS sessions were the most helpful. TAs and the prof were not the best at explaining.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Anonymous 06/02/2024	Dr. Rosca's teaching style just didn't work for me. I felt like lectures were pointless and confusing, and I would end up having to teach myself everything. Dr. Rosca would waste so much time on one problem and go into depth and then announce that you didn't even need all that information for this class causing us to waste the majority of the class on something we didn't even need to know. I just don't think this professor is cut out to teach this class because they overcomplicate things resulting in the people who struggle with math to get low grades (the exam averages were in like the 50s and there is no curve). The only good thing about this class is that you get an entire piece of paper (front and back) for each exam and you can put whatever you want on it.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting a B+ chadvader29 05/13/2024	Honestly, I rarely attended lecture, so I barely even saw this professor. The reason I stopped going, however, is a good enough one to still give her 1 star. Her lectures are blatantly over-complicated and poorly explained all while spending the entire thing on one or maybe two problems, making them infuriatingly slow. I found the lectures more confusing than helpful and realized that it was a waste of time to get up for a 9 AM class that was not helping me whatsoever. Furthermore, this class is entirely too much work for a 3 credit course. 3 lectures AND 3 discussions a week is simply ridiculous. The midterm exams have no curve. The first 2 midterms had average failing grades of around 50, a FAILING grade was the average and it was still not curved. The class is BS with this professor, do not even consider her unless it is the only section available and you badly need the course credit and try to test out of it first.
Raluca Rosca MATH401 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/30/2024	Difficult to follow lecture; I would have preferred to read directly from the course notes. We did not finish all of the course's chapters. Finals are in a couple weeks, and I am still waiting on our midterm grade.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 04/30/2024	A lot of these reviews a really overdramatic... Professor Rosca was not a bad teacher at all. In lectures she did have pretty bad handwriting, but going to office hours and the TAs really helped. As long as you really try and practice the concepts you're fine.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting a D+ Anonymous 04/26/2024	If you can avoid it, do NOT take a class with her as your professor. I am in Math115 and I have never struggled with math as much as I have in this class. The class averages for a majority of the exams are under 60% because she truly does not know how to teach. Not only does she not know how to teach, you can tell she believes it isn’t her fault based on her attitude on exam days and when people are asking for help or potential curves. Her ways of explaining are over complicated and her problems on exams are way more difficult than anything discussed in class as if she wants you to fail. For a precalculus class, it should not be this difficult. If you see her name when choosing classes, run. Wait till another semester or beg on your knees for a teacher to replace her because she is the worst teacher I have ever had.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting a P Anonymous 04/10/2024	If you have an option, don't even look at this professor's direction. You can hardly understand any of the steps she does in lectures, and when you try teaching yourself, you find out its a lot easier than what she teaches in class. It's gotten to the point when going to lectures is just not necessary. Don't even get me started on the exams. They are more or less similar to the different versions she uploads on canvas, which trips almost everyone out. I guess she means well, but she overall sucks as a professor. Just look the other way! You'll thank me later.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting a P Anonymous 01/26/2024	𝗛𝗔𝗟𝗧! 𝗗𝗢 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗘𝗡𝗥𝗢𝗟𝗟, 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁, 𝗗𝗢 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗬𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗖𝗔𝗡 𝗧𝗢 𝗕𝗘 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗗 𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗦!! First, the positives: the prof is sweet, mostly. Patient, understanding 1-on-1. But that's where the good stops. Now, everything else. The moment I saw decimals in the quadratic formula and fractions in polynomials I knew I was fucked. She chooses long-winded, awful problems that are tedious and made unnecessarily hard. She adds extra steps that I have never seen before in my life. The class is so bullshit chaotic that I don't even think the TAs graded anymore, they just kinda accounted and made 70% of the classes grade more/less C-, or else it would have been a fail. You're made to download like 4 softwares, and do 15 hours a week on software like "exam prep" that does NOT count lecture or assignments. All of this was a distraction and this SOLE CLASS burned me out and made anything else impossible for years. I actually LOST the confidence I had in my math abilities and dropped my LEP because of this class. She doesn't think about questions and the practice doesn't nurture your understanding. You know how some classes use questions progressively difficult so you get stronger? No, this class hit you with trick questions and curveballs upfront, and then you spent a discussion working on ANOTHER single trick questions and nobody spoke. So I don't understand how the discussions, the class, OR THE EXAM PREP itself, was supposed to help you on the exam! This class was traumatic for me. I am lucky I didn't drop out.
Raluca Rosca MATH401 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/29/2023	Teaches directly from Justin's notes, to the point where going to class was only necessary for the groupworks. Also writing this a week and a half after finals, and I STILL DON'T HAVE THE MIDTERM/FINAL GRADES!
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/22/2023	Overall, Dr.Rosca isn't as bad as many people make her out to be. Her lectures can be hard to follow because she skips steps towards the solution but she does provide many resources on Canvas which are more useful. The information is very difficult but the WebAssigns and practice exams really help out with the exams. She does offer extra credit and allows a formula sheet in exams so take advantage of that. Teaching yourself the material outside of lecture is crucial because of all that the lecture lacks but with a good formula sheet and studying, you can do good in the class.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Anonymous 12/19/2023	It is not impossible to excel in this class. Many of my friends who took her class with me has always complained about how her teaching methods are inefficient, and often overcomplicated. This is very true and she often goes overboard trying to solve one problem when it can be solved by just a few steps. However I found that technique quite useful. Other students complains about how certain teachers expects their students to have already known certain topics and thus find it unnecessary to explain “basic” stuff. Therefore they would skip some steps and leave students wondering how they got from one step to another. When Dr. Rosca teaches, she goes into detail on how to solve one problem while also trying to compensate for students who might not know certain topics. It can be overbearing sometimes but for people like me who did not have the same background knowledge as other people, it was helpful. I think one of the traps that people fall on was that they were just trying to get 10/10 on all the assignments but not really put in the efforts into learning, hence they would do bad on the exams where they don’t have the resources except for a cheat sheet, which doesn’t help when you don't know the concept, and . Dr. Rosca tests her students about their understanding of the concepts which is why she emphasizes the importance of showing your work.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/14/2023	If you can get out of her class, definitely do it. She is a nice woman, however her teaching is awful the TA's are essentially useless. Mine left before anyone in the class even did. She is hard to understand, you have to decipher her handwriting, and you will be up all hours of the night doing homework, exam preps, post lectures, etc. Just don't do it. And If you have to, you are MUCH better off teaching it all yourself .
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/07/2023	If there is anyone else take them. I had taken pre-calc in high school and got straight A's, however once I got to her class I was more confused than ever. The only reason I was able to understand anything was cause of my wonderful TA and past knowledge(from 2/3 years ago), but not everyone is going to get lucky like that. Avoid her if you can. But I will say she is very organized when it comes to tests and exams and will give you practice exams which are somewhat similar.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting a D+ Anonymous 12/06/2023	PLEASE READ: I will say, that Dr. Rosca is better with one-on-one learning with those who come to her office hours. However, she oversimplifies the material and dives too deep into theories and conditions for problems. She expects the students to know topics such as logarithmic or trigonometric functions but fails to realize that not all students come from the same advantaged high schools/colleges with better resources. For instance, my high school lacked any AP CALC classes and its highest math class offered was Algebra II. Had it not been for the friends I made through academic trauma bonding and sharing knowledge, I would have failed this course miserably. Similarly, there are Pre-lecture quizzes (on lessons you don’t know about beforehand), Post-lecture quizzes, Exam Prep assignments, and Discussion quizzes. She gives a small curve if you did well on the latest exam you have done (Sunset Provision Curve: Exam2%- Exam1%/3). In conclusion, this class is intimidating to take if you have no prior experience in Precalculus. I highly suggest you buddy up with your neighbors and get phone numbers as soon as possible if this is a class you must take.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/04/2023	Dr. Rosca is not a good professor. If you're someone who needs to be taught to learn, you will have a very hard time with this. Her lectures are incomprehensible, and she overcomplicates things to a huge extent. Her only saving grace is her outside of class assignments. The pre and post lecture assignments are what taught me the material for this course. If you study and use the resources she's provided on her canvas, then you'll do okay. But it takes a lot of work. I never go to class, as her teaching just baffles me. She is a very sweet woman, I've spoken with her several times, however her teaching ability is subpar. Main takeaways: Her canvas page has a lot of good resources, but she is a bad teacher.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 12/03/2023	Shes not as bad as people say shes just mid. she came off to me as mean but after going to her hours she is really nice and sensible. Also shes really understanding and understands if you misses and exam and sorts. The thing is this class is just hard. pre calc is just a harder than calc at umd. Sure her lectures may not be the best but its not like there horrible. At worst just dont even go and do the hw. The exams are really hard though so you cant bull shit it you have to study. If you have to take this class calm down your not cooked just know you need to really study multiple hours a day going over the practice exams.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting a C- Anonymous 11/28/2023	All of the reviews you see here are extremely accurate. She is a nice person, but the class is horrible and only gets worse throughout the semester. I would honestly take MATH140 instead, as it is the difference between Pre-Calc and Calc. MATH140 will be easier than MATH115 because of this professor.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting a C- Anonymous 11/06/2023	honestly, if you can work around this course I 100% would UMD obviously doesn't care for its lower-level math courses. The teacher means well and is nice but cannot teach.
Raluca Rosca MATH401 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/27/2023	As others have stated Dr. Rosca is a nice person but is quite bad at teaching. Her lectures were unorganized and were directly copied off of Justin's MATH401 notes. She would often make errors on the board failing to catch them until others pointed it out. And perhaps worst of all, she does not grade exams... as in she doesn't even have a grade in the first or second midterm before we take the final exam. I don't know if/why this is allowed but it means you go into the final exam with 0 idea of how you are doing in the class. Ultimately, I had my final grade entered into Testudo without knowing what I actually ended up scoring on any of the exams (midterms or finals). I am inclined to say she just takes your groupwork/homework scores and uses that to determine your final grade in the class, but this is just a guess. The material covered in class, however is easy and shouldn't be a problem. Justin's notes are thorough and the math is not hard at all. Overall, I would pick a different professor for 401 if possible!
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting a C- Anonymous 05/09/2023	She clearly understands the subject matter but does not teach it well. Her classroom management skills leave a lot to be desired, with her lectures and even timed quizzes running well beyond the 50 allotted minutes. She is also incredibly condescending, despite the chicken-scratch notes she puts in the Canvas files. Your TA is most likely going to be a better resource than her.
Raluca Rosca STAT464 Expecting a C Anonymous 05/01/2023	She's a very nice lady but is extremely slow in teaching content. She can go an entire class period talking about the theory to the one equation we need to know, and by that time most of us are already confused. She does include practice problems in her worksheets, but we can usually only get to one per class due to how slow she teaches. Our syllabus is vastly different from what she has actually made us do in class - there is much less homework and quizzes to do but that means we have less points to cushion exam scores (the average is 60). Rosca did let us have an extra week of studying before an exam because it was obvious we were very unprepared (class still averaged a 60 regardless), but she has not made it clear whether there is a curve or really any acknowledgement of how we are collectively scoring low. Attendance is not mandatory, but she only solves problems in class or in office hours - if you miss those, even self-studying the textbook is likely not enough to do well on exams.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting a C- Anonymous 12/29/2022	Dr. Rosca's class was honestly a very humbling experience. Take it from someone who always earned a A- or B+ in their math classes in high school, failing the first exam was not something I took lightly. Saying you have to put in the work simply isn't enough to pass the class. You have to breathe, eat and sleep MATH115. Overall, what I recommend you do to pass the class is to average at least a 65% on all ur midterm exams and final. Also, ATTEND HER OFFICE HOURS!!! The sole reason I passed the class was due to Rosca's generous curve after she saw the amount of hard work I demonstrated every time I attended her office hours (which was about once a week). This class is definitely passable. Don't let the low star reviews intimidate you. Unfortunately you may find yourself dropping other classes for this one, but if this is a gateway math course to another one It's definitely worth it in the end.
Raluca Rosca MATH401 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/28/2022	Final grades were due days ago and she still has yet to grade our first 4 exams… the whole class went into the final only having homework and geoupwork grades in :(
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/24/2022	Does not teach the class accurate information at all and attending lectures is a waste of time. If you have Rosca, you will have to teach yourself every single concept. Exams are light however as they are always a synthesis of the practice exams she give yous on ELMS. TA's will be your best friend, and Rosca is still a nice person, but quite literally dog as a teacher. Put in the work and you'll be fine.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/18/2022	Rosca is a very nice lady and very intelligent. But she does not know how to teach. She will often talk in circles and confuse you. She doesn't know how to simplify information so that people can understand. I HATED how much work was assigned in class that didn't help for exams and was only about 5% of your grade. For the exams, utilize the practice exams that she offers - those will help you TREMEDOUSLY on tests. IF and only IF you have to take this class, watch videos on YouTube to help explain the material. The TA's are somewhat helpful. Just be prepared to look elsewhere for proper teaching of the material. The actual Precalculus material is not difficult, its the professor.
Raluca Rosca MATH401 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/16/2022	After a few weeks, the entire class went downhill. I went to the lectures, but you do not need to. Very easy class. She started getting lost in lectures while reading from the textbook and sometimes just showed the textbook on the projector and read from it. We were expected to have 200 points of homework, but we were only assigned 2 or 3 in the first month, and then she stopped doing that. 2 exams, with in-person and take-home portions. Group works were fine, just had to go to them, and almost always got full credit. The exams were extremely fair compared to previous exams for the course, but we were always assigned the in-person portion weeks later than expected. The second take-home portion was released late and made due on reading day. The worst part of this class was that no exam grades have been released and I just took the final. Not one. Weird.
Raluca Rosca MATH401 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/16/2022	Very nice person, kind-hearted, and often has a bit of humor. She clearly understands the material, but it seemed a few weeks in the class started to die down and her reviews started to make sense. Although for MATH401, the class is not particularly difficult (due to easy material and maybe Justin's notes (which the course is run on) being fantastic, so it does not matter the teacher), she made it quite frustrating. We were told to expect some 200 points of homework assigned (one every other week or so), but we were only given 3 assignments and they were all at the start and only on the first few topics. We also were told to have 2 exams with in-person and take-home portions, which we did get, however, the take-home portions were released weeks after she said they would be and the second one was due 4 days before the final. She was extremely lenient with the due dates, but that does not matter as NO EXAM GRADES WERE POSTED for the entire semester. I am not sure if this was her fault or that she did not have enough help, either way extremely aggravating.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting a B- imighttransferlolz 12/14/2022	She is genuinely a nice person and tries to add little math jokes here and there, and I will say she definitely knows her stuff. She is very smart. The textbook we used was great, too. However, she is really not made to be a lecturer. I think, since she's taught higher level math before, she might expect you to know more than you actually do. This class is definitely possible, but you don’t really learn anything in lectures. You’ll have better luck using something like khan academy to learn basic concepts, and then review the lecture recordings or use discussion time to really find out how to solve problems in the specific way she teaches it. But, my biggest mistake was that, since I already took calculus in HS and assumed I knew the material, I didn't try harder. You are truly on your own. If you don't solidify your study/practice habits before the first exam, don't expect to do well. It's crucial to understand the unit in entirety before moving on (i.e. you can't just study something "later" or "before the exam"). I STRONGLY suggest doing the exams she gives you or provides to you on elms; 70% of the time it's the EXACT same format as the exams. If you understand the basic concepts and how to do problems, as long as you do the practice exams, you will be ok. It was a frustrating experience and I was consistently frustrated following lectures, which would then lead me to give up, stop attending lecture, etc. If you're like me, you definitely have to be disciplined. If you learned precalculus/calculus before, don't expect this to be the same. I strongly recommend taking the class with a different professor. It will save you hours of outside studying if you have a professor that can teach during lectures. If you can't get a different professor and if you can't decode the answer keys (i.e. if you can't look at a problem and know what's going on without someone there telling you what's happening mathematically)... I really don't think you can pass this course. Half the reason I was able to pass was because I had prior math experience and could look at the answer keys to understand why or how something was happening. I will say that if you plan to go past MATH115, taking the class with Rosca (with it being frustrating, busy work, etc.) might not be a terrible choice avoiding entirely. Her teaching style (minus the lectures... I can't recall a time where I actually learned anything) will give you the critical thinking skills, time management at a college level, and definitely train you to do hard math, study, etc. I really don't think Rosca deserves the ABSOLUTE lowest rating because I didn't know how to study. She is a bad lecturer, assigns a lot of busy work, etc., but this class will teach you how to be accountable for your own learning. But then again, this is tuition money down the drain if you have to retake it.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/11/2022	Prof Rosca is not a bad person, but she is a TERRIBLE lecturer, her handwriting is horrible, she is hard to understand, and she often over complicates things that aren't even relevant to course material or what will be on exams. By the end of the semester, no one comes to her class because she posts lecture videos online. There are 2 part quizzes that you HAVE to attend lecture for and you only get about 5 minutes for 3 or so problems. You will spend hours doing homework on WebAssign that is a small portion of your grade, and is alien compared to actual exam and discussion quiz material. Her lectures do not line up to what is on Exams and Discussion Quizzes, the only saving grace is the study modules she releases before exams. They contain practice exams from previous semesters with solutions, and they are very similar to the actual exam, so your best bet is to study those. If you can avoid taking this class with Rosca, please do. My best advice would be to stay away from any lower level course that she teaches. (I've heard that she isn't as bad in higher level courses)
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting a C- Anonymous 12/06/2022	Like mentioned before. Rosca herself is not a bad person but I will most definitely say I struggled a lot when it came to her lectures. She is not clear when it comes to explaining anything at all. Its very difficult to understand her thought process and even when asking other friends they were struggling as well. The workload is a lot for this class, you are given post lectures, prelectures, and exam preps. There was no curving at all. The grading system she uses is very harsh on you. She requires you to spend 9 hours outside of lectures to study for this course. Her accent isn't that strong and its not that difficult to understand her, but her handwriting is atrocious. Extremely DIFFICULT TO READ. I really despised this class to be honest and it was the only class I did poorly in during my 1st semester. Granted I will give her the benefit of the doubt, the practice exams are extremely useful when it comes to upcoming exams. If you are taking this class (unfortunate) using the practice exams to study are extremely beneficial. GOOD LUCK IF YOU'RE TAKING THIS CLASS.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting a C+ mmpc1919 12/05/2022	Rosca is not a bad person, but a bad teacher. The class is very fast-paced and she skips steps when demonstrating problems, which can lead to a lot of confusion. There is also always work to do. There are pre and post-lecture work needed to be done after each lecture and exam-preps which are so annoying and can take up to hours to do. She does not curve for exams but you can have a full page, front and back, formula sheet. The discussions aren't too bad but there are quizzes in them that are apart of your grade.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 06/07/2022	Rosca is a lovely lady but a terrible teacher. I retook this class because of how horrible the curriculum is with her teaching style. Lectures consist of 50 minutes of her just writing down problems followed by 3 or 4 questions from students. The lectures don't give you time to reflect on any of the work, and the homework assignments seem alien compared to what was taught in class and the discussion. This class is passable, but you have to do extremely well on all of the exams in the course since it's 20% of your grade. That's the only way to stay above water in this class, or you'll need an insane score on the final to even get up to a B. So if you can take anyone but Rosca for this class, please save yourself and do it.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting a C- WALIK 05/24/2022	Rosca is by far the worst professor I've ever had in my life. Her grading policies are absolutely ridiculous, Her exams will single-handedly pass you or fail you, nothing else in the class even matters. Her lectures are completely unintelligible, she will spend 10 minutes working on one problem to get the answer wrong and have to start over. I would estimate that 60% of the class was on the brink of not passing this semester. If you can take Math120 over Math115 I would HIGHLY recommend doing so. If you do have to take Math115, do NOT take it with Rosca. I would rather take this as a summer class than tank my GPA intentionally ever taking this class in person again.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting a D Anonymous 05/23/2022	I genuinely believe that Dr. Rosca is a nice lady, however, she is very difficult to understand at times and her handwriting is often hard to read. Sometimes she'll throw problems on tests that are not like anything on the practice exams, which sometimes makes studying feel useless. Tests are the majority of the grade, so you have to do well on them
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/23/2022	There are many problems with this course and the way it is structured. Rosca is difficult to follow in lecture often, and if you do not have a good TA leading your discussion session and have schedule conflicts preventing you from attending the guided study sessions - buckle up. You absolutely will need extra resources and outside help to understand the content. Outside of how difficult the material is and that you may end up teaching yourself, this course was very disorganized. Last minute changes were a regular occurrence, grading took so long I did not know how I did on one test before moving onto the next. Also the expectations of tests/assignments to receive full credit was never clearly defined and so again unless you received your test/assignment back you did not know why you had points deducted. Lastly, expect strange wording of problems on assignments and tests. Some were in the textbook, but never covered in lecture or on any homework, and some were just bizarre and confusing. I can say this with confidence as I had several math TAs and another mathematics Professor say so. I did well in the course because I am naturally math inclined and I put in 100% effort. A lot of people had to drop out, many were taking it for the second time with this Professor, and many had to just accept any passing grade.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting a C- Anonymous 05/11/2022	Rosca as a person is not bad, but her class is the most difficult. The exams are the majority of your grade so good luck passing if you even slightly pass those. She posts the lectures online so that's a plus, but everyone in this class is down bad. We're struggling as a whole. Make sure to peer study.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/16/2021	To be completely honest, she is not that bad of a lecturer, but people do find her lecture difficult to understand. She does tend to teach by the book and sometimes people get confused as to where she gets a certain variable and number from. But these things are clarified during the discussion lab. The two-part quizzes are not that bad as long as you study the related content. The exams are fair since most of the content is covered during exam reviews. So, I highly recommend you to participate in exam reviews sessions and don't just look at the video recordings.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/15/2021	She’s not as bad as most people say- the hardest part of this class is trying to understand her handwriting(which you get the hang of) and her thick accent. She records her lectures and posts them so lecture isn’t mandatory except when there are the 2-part quizzes which are in the syllabus. If you have a question she is nice to explain it, not petty like some other teachers. Home work is a bit much but helpful, Rosca is definitely a good choice.
Raluca Rosca STAT464 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/15/2021	Not a huge fan. She's a nice lady, but I frequently leave class not understanding what we just did. Her accent isn't an issue, but she does use odd terms of speech that can complicate your understanding of topics. Her handwriting is definitely not great. On the brighter side, she did give us exams that were very similar to previous practice exams which made taking tests easier even if you have little clue what is going on. She took 4-5 weeks to return our first test to us, which was really annoying as I had no idea what my grade was until literally the drop-add with a W deadline. Overall, would definitely not take again, the class is much harder than the grade average indicates.
Raluca Rosca MATH401 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/09/2021	Rosca is terrible at lecturing - she just reads from the textbook and whatever extra analysis or computation she provides is pretty unorganized. Thankfully, though, the textbook itself - written by the legendary Justin Wyss-Gallifent - is incredible. It's comprehensive, written well, and very simple to understand. The course content itself is really fun and interesting, and with a better lecturer the class itself would be great. I actually really enjoyed the class, but that was mainly because the content was really interesting and the groupworks/exams were relatively easy. Lectures are skippable if you time them right - there are groupworks assigned during class that are only announced during previous lectures.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/04/2021	She is probably one of the worst professors you could get. Like many others have said, her handwriting is messy, the problems on her exams do not match the problems on the practice exams, the solution keys for the practice exams have multiple incorrect answers, and so on. She also has a thick accent (which I really don't mind, but if English is already not your first language you may struggle to understand what she is saying). As well, when you try to voice your concerns to her, she is very dismissive. I tried to tell her once that the solutions on the answer key were wrong and this was very misleading to students who are relying on her answers to check their work and prepare for the exam. She just seemed very annoyed and claimed that you should be able to check your work by yourself and that you shouldn't rely on her keys for the right answers. So yeah, try to avoid her class at all costs.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting a D Anonymous 11/23/2021	Worst teacher i have ever had. Lectures are confusing and all over the place. Exams are all trick questions and her study guides are terrible for preparing for exams. Her handwriting is illegible. If you can make sure to avoid this class.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Anonymous 10/24/2021	The material in the class has been more like Algebra II than Precalculus from what I remember learning in high school, so take that as you will. Her accent is fine, it is hard to understand at times but mostly okay. The bigger issue is her handwriting. She does some practice problems during lecture but writes in all-caps and it's really really hard to decipher. Also since she writes with pen, if there is a mistake she'll scribble it out and it just makes everything even more difficult to understand. Lecture is better off not going to. There's some quizzes in lecture but the dates are listed in the syllabus so just go then, otherwise, you're probably better off learning from Khan Academy or something else. I think that having a TA who is nice and can explain the concepts well is helpful, so if you aren't feeling good about them during the first week, definitely try switching into a different section if possible. I'd recommend to avoid Dr. Rosca for math classes if possible, but it seems like she's the only one that teaches 115...
Raluca Rosca MATH401 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/27/2021	She just reads off the textbook. What she covers in 3 lectures I usually covered in 30 minutes. Stopped going to the lecture after the first week. The class is easy though, which is nice.
Raluca Rosca Expecting a B+ Anonymous 04/05/2021	Dr. Rosca isn't a bad teacher... but let's be real, I hated this class. I don't think this kind of stuff needs to be taught. Once you have pre-calc 1 and 2 you should be good to move on to calc, I have no idea why a "calc prep" class is needed exclusively for UMD and I feel bad for everyone involved. I don't find her accent distracting. She'll pronounce "these" like "zees" and "those" like "zhose" and I find it kind of charming, like I'm at Oxford or something. There are a LOT of assignments in this class, but its ok. I bombed almost all of my tests and did the WA/Exam Prep and got 90s-95s on those and wound up managing.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting an A- Anonymous 04/02/2021	Rosca is alriiiiight. Her accent is difficult to understand. The grade distribution was CRAZY. There were so many homework that counted toward like almost nothing % of your grade. She was disorganized all the time, but exams were fair, I'd say.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting an A- Anonymous 02/06/2021	Rosca has a bad rep, which is understandable. Her accent makes it really hard to understand her, and sometimes when she explains things it becomes even more confusing. But to anyone who has to take her class, I really recommend going to her office hours. She's really great one-on-one, and many of the confusing concepts that are presented in lectures are easily explained if you just ask.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/17/2020	Rosca wasn't a bad teacher. She knew what she was talking about, but didn't know how to explain some things so the students would understand. Most of the students taking this class already took pre-calculus or calculus before so she expects you to know or have a general understanding of the material before she teaches it. There are plenty of resources for you to pass this class. Definitely email your TA if you have any questions!
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/08/2020	TBH this class was pretty rough in the beginning because it was so disorganized and the syllabus was so hard to understand. Rosca was not very undrrstanding at all. And I quite frankly got a C on the 1st exam. BUT, besides all that happened before the first exam, the class started getting better! Rosca actually compensated for our needs and asks for our opinion on the format of the exam (we even got a test that was supposed to be wednesday pushes back to friday). The TA's were all extremely helpful as well as the GSS sessions were extremely beneficial especially right before an exam. On the second exam I got a 97.5 (I woulda gotten a 100 but I made stupid mistakes) and the third exam I got a 88 (there were two questions I wasnt very confident in and those were the ones I lost points on) So overall, I give a solide 4 stars to her as a professor. If it wasn't for usthe students voicing our concerns out to her a few times during lecture I dont really think those changes would actually have happened. Just make sure you study like at least a week before the exam, complete all the practice test provided, and ask questions the TA office hours because there are litterally there to help you. Lastly, she gives many opportunties for bonus points like surveys, posting on piazza, little freebie assignments. So if you fail this class its on you.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting an A Anonymous 10/19/2020	This professor is SO confusing and far from helpful when you have an issue or are confused. The only reason I am getting an A is because it is precalc and I took calculus in high school, so if you took it before it is bearable but if not, good luck. The only good thing is that after we stress out about quizzes or tests and take them, she will just cross them off and they won't count in the final grade, but it is still frustrating seeing grades of 10/10 not be accounted for. The actual course content and assignments are easy and you have multiple attempts on the majority of them so that is a plus but as for her as a professor, she is awful.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting a C- Anonymous 12/10/2019	terrible, no words to describe this lady just god awful at her job. she just doesn't even try and relies on the TAs to save the students. Save urself while you can! I would give 0 stars if I could.
Raluca Rosca MATH401 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/06/2019	This professor can't teach at all. Every time we are doing a problem from previous midterm/final exam, she always struggled to explain how to do it. I am completely loss during the lecture and review session. Only few students who are above average could follow her.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting an A- Anonymous 03/14/2019	She was a terrible professor. She has a thick accent (tee-tah!) and doesn't really teach concepts well. She is so bad at making online quizzes and has many mistakes in her pre-lecture quiz keys. Webassign was some shit too. She lets you have a cheat sheet (front and back) for exams though.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 01/19/2019	Attendance is required through daily quizzes. That wouldn't be a problem if they were worth going too. Attending lecture is no better than just reading the book and watching a Youtube video.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting a W Anonymous 11/24/2018	The worst teacher I have ever had. If you can avoid taking her class you probably should because she will teach you nothing and punish you for it. Had to drop the class mid-semester.
Raluca Rosca MATH115 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/21/2017	Dr. Rosca gets a bit of a bad rap. Halfway through the semester, she began allowing us to bring notes for the quizzes and exams. She's very responsive to concerns and set up an online forum to discuss previous exams from the testbank. Still, not much gets done during lecture. As with ANY math class, you have to study outside of class.
Raluca Rosca MATH240 Anonymous 12/17/2015	Absolutely the worst teaching experience I’ve had in my life. Dr. Rosca’s research better be damn good, because her teaching could not be worse. She excels at leaving students confused, upset, and totally lost. You could get an A without ever attending lecture, and by the same token you can attend every lecture and still fail if the material confuses you, as it did me. Avoid at all costs.
Raluca Rosca MATH463 Expecting an A akeyser1 09/01/2015	Dr. Rosca is a very good teacher. She explains very difficult concepts systematically and is always available if you have any questions or concerns. Some of the other reviews said her exams were atrocious; I don't think that's fair. Her class is all about mastery and gaining mathematical maturity. If you do the homework and THINK, you'll be fine.
Raluca Rosca MATH240 Anonymous 01/12/2015	The actual class isn't that hard, in my opinion. However, I think Rosca could have done a better job with engaging the class. She reads off PowerPoints for most of her lectures, which I thought was a bit obscure. Some of the material that was a bit confusing wasn't taught very well by her, so I had to rely on YouTube to teach me some of the concepts. She's very nice at office hours though, so go to those if you need additional one-to-one help. Although not terrible, you should probably see if you can get a different professor for Linear Algebra.
Raluca Rosca MATH240 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/23/2014	She's pretty mediocre as an instructor. She does have the slides that have a good deal of the most important info in the book displayed for you, so it's a good way to guide your notes. Bring the book with you to class so you can write in notes if you fall behind the lecture. She's got an accent(surprise, surprise) and has a drab monotone, and isn't particularly good at communicating material, but she can help you in office hours. A good TA will help tremendously, but one with yet another accent, that moves through material very quickly, like mine, will leave you reeling for your book to study yourself. It's not a bad idea, anyway, since just about everything you need to know in the course is in it, and all the homework exercises are in it. I think this is in every 240 section, but watch out for the MATLAB projects. If you go in with no MATLAB experience and little to no CompSci experience, prepare for long nights of figuring things out. If you've never used MATLAB before, maybe try MATH206 or play around with it before you take this course. One more thing: 100 points are for quizzes in discussion based on homework(12 total, 2 dropped, 10 points each), 100 for four MATLAB projects(graded out of 25), 300 for three 100 point midterms, and 200 for the final, for 700 total. One nice thing she did is if you do better on the final than on your lowest midterm (going by percentages), then 1/2 of the points you earn on the final will replace your lowest midterm, in addition to your final grade out of 200. Great for a final-exam recovery if one of your exams sucked. In summary, she's not that good of a teacher, but she does a good job setting up the course to help you succeed if you put in the work. I couldn't avoid Rosca, as she taught every 240 section this semester, but shop around and see if there's someone better. If not, at least she's not so bad that it would worth putting off a required course that only she teaches that particular semester.
Raluca Rosca MATH240 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/22/2014	Dr. Rosca was an all around good professor. Her midterms were fair and her final was easy. She also replaces your lowest midterm with your percentage from your final if higher and drops two of the weekly quizzes. Many people do not show up to class since she teaches out of the book and uses Powerpoints also on Elms, but she was a decent lecturer. Rosca had a bad reputation from being hard the previous semester and especially hardly curving, but this semester her grades were overall higher.
Raluca Rosca Expecting an A- TerpStudent9000 12/09/2014	Avoid this professor however you can. A majority of people I have asked have said the same thing about her: she is a terrible teacher. Her introductions to topics give you no better understanding of the material and she often leaves you confused. If you do well in this class, it will have had nothing to do with this professor. You could miss 95% of the lectures and still get an A. I prefer a professor that could at least help me out in starting to understand the material. Only take her class if her section is the only one that fits into your schedule, otherwise, steer clear of her.