Anna Szczekutowicz

This professor has taught: MATH140, MATH141, MATH410, STAT410, SURV410
Information Review
Anna Szczekutowicz
MATH140

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/24/2024
Good lecturer and very chill teacher. Everything was organized and she posted notes after lecture. One downside is that the web assigns are usually due the day after lecture and can take a bit of time to complete, but they aren't worth that much of your grade
Anna Szczekutowicz
MATH140

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
01/13/2024
Anna was the best math teacher I've had. She spends just enough time going over the actual content so that she can focus more on practice problems. She gives an easy version of practice problems during lecture so that students can understand the actually process of doing specific problems, but she ups the difficulty for discussion worksheets and webassigns. Definitely don't be afraid to ask your TA for help on homeworks & make sure you pick a good group to do your discussion worksheets with. Ultimately, the biggest chunk of your grade is going to be exams, so you should spend the most time reviewing for that. You can find practice problems for most of the topics in Paul's Online Math Notes; doing those and reviewing old webassigns is what I found most helpful for quizzes + tests.
Anna Szczekutowicz
MATH140

Anonymous
01/09/2024
I 110% recommend taking this course with Anna. Even though she posts the notes, I found going to her lectures was really helpful because she explained the topic and concepts really well. Especially when she reviewed the material in the class before the exam, as the content she covered on this day as well as her practice exams were important for doing well on the actual exam. In lecture, she managed her time well too. I felt that the practice problems from the textbook were the most helpful for me to get extra practice and feel more confident solving questions. Overall, I think her grading system was very fair too. I also found going to Anna's office hours was helpful, because she was really compassionate and good at explaining if I had any questions.
Anna Szczekutowicz
MATH140

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
01/05/2024
Dr. S is a great lecturer. Her notes are very clear and she explains concepts very well, however she does not really take questions or interact with the class. Be prepared for the exams they start off easy but do get harder. The annoying thing is you actually have to show up to discussions because the worksheets are graded, although a few are dropped. She was very helpful and understanding regarding ADS accommodations too.
Anna Szczekutowicz
MATH140

Anonymous
12/29/2023
I 110% recommend taking this course with Anna. Even though she posts the notes, I found going to her lectures was really helpful because she explained the topic and concepts really well. Especially when she reviewed the material the class before the exam, as the content she covered on this day as well as her practice exams were important for doing well on the actual exam. In lecture, she managed her time well too. I felt that the practice problems from the textbook were the most helpful for me to get extra practice and feel more confident solving questions. Overall, I think her grading system was very fair too. I also found going to Anna's office hours was helpful, because she was really compassionate and good at explaining if I had any questions.
Anna Szczekutowicz
MATH140

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/22/2023
Taking a class with Anna is overall a solid experience. For MATH140 the course structure is 3 lectures a week with 2 TA led discussions. The lectures are mostly done through Anna writing down notes on her Ipad and explaining it as she goes. The lectures can be a bit dry but the notes are fairly simple with her explaining the concepts for each topic and going through a few example problems. The lectures are usually easy to follow and notes are posted after the lecture if you get confused. The discussions are always just one worksheet that you need to complete and you're allowed to leave once you finish. The worksheets can be complicated but you're allowed to work in groups up to 4 and you can ask for help from the TA's. Occasionally in discussion you'll be given quizzes which you'll know in advanced. The quizzes are always 1 or 2 fairly simple problems from whatever unit you're in. The exams and grades given are always fair, you'll pretty much always know what to expect from each exam as long as you've done the notes. The course says you need to buy a textbook but you'll be fine without one, they're only used for extra practice. Reaching Anna or her TA's is fairly easy but she's strict with gradecutoffs, you're not gonna be able to get a sympathy gradeboost from her as mentioned in the syllabus. It can be a difficult course especially if you didn't take calculus in high school, but you're given everything you need to do well. If you're struggling you can go to office hours and attend exam review sessions hosted by TA's.
Anna Szczekutowicz
MATH140

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/22/2023
Goated professor. Covered everything we needed in class and published notes for later review. Class is very organized and Dr. S follows the textbook so it isn't hard to study if you didn't understand the material in class or just want to learn ahead. Parth the TA was also very nice and helpful. The midterms were decent, averages were always around an 80. Take Dr. S if you want to pass Calc 1 and have a good time.
Anna Szczekutowicz
MATH140

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/20/2023
She's a great professor! Fall 2023 was her first time teaching at UMD (she came from UT Austin) and I think she very well being new and all. Her explanations during lecture were extremely helpful and made understanding the content so much easier. She does post all of her lecture notes on Canvas, but I would still highly recommend going to class because her explanations are simply that good. I also really liked my TA and found that the discussion sections, while hard worksheet-wise, really helped boost my understanding of the concepts in lecture. My main issue with this class was that the homework was SO HARD, like unreasonably so. Unfortunately, the profs don't set the homework for Calc 1, the head of the math department does. Anyways, whoever they are likes to make all of our lives a living hell and give problems way harder than the ones practiced in class or on the exam. I would recommend setting aside a minimum of two hours for each homework and starting them early so you have time to go to either Dr. S' or a TA's office hours for help. Also, the final (decided on by all the calc profs) this semester was WAY harder than the previous semesters, so my advice is to study the hard problems from the course because if you don't think it will be on there, it probably will. Overall, she's a great prof and you will learn the content and concepts better than Chadwick's students.
Anna Szczekutowicz

Expecting a D+
Anonymous
12/18/2023
She can’t teach. Her office hours made it impossible for me to go to at and she told me that I couldn’t schedule an appointment with her because it wouldn’t be fair to other students. The TA and her would never give me any good or useful help in class. Worksheets did not represent what we learned in class. Said that she would halve the lowest midterm but she never did and it does not reflect at all in the grading. She posted histograms and bragged about saying her averages for her classes exams were higher than other professors and never once considered how that made the students who worked hard but never did well on the exams felt. She says she cares about the students but it only seemed like she only cared about herself and her status. DON’T EVER TAKE HER CLASS.
Anna Szczekutowicz
MATH140

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/17/2023
I never went into office hours but Ms.S is a really great math professor. She gives you the basics without confusing you and makes sure that you understand the overall topics and why they're important. She is cutthroat in the way that she will not bump or boost your grade. But if you do tons of practice problems and attend all the discussions you'll be set.
Anna Szczekutowicz
MATH140

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/13/2023
Prof S is awesome. She explains concepts well and provides examples of common errors that most students make. She is very reasonable with extending homework due-dates (Calc 1 has so much hw and its all back to back). Her exams are basically everything from the textbook lecture or discussion. If you pay attention and do all your homework, textbook practice and review the lecture examples she does in class you will get out on top. Except fair exams with some curve balls but if you see a curve ball I can promise it will only be 1 question. The 3rd exam was the worst no one finished on time and she took that into account when grading. (Small curve). She does her best to help you succeed. The rest is up to you. Calc here is tough and you gotta be willing to put in the hours to learn how to solve these problems. Professor S made Calc 1 manageable but you gotta meet her half-way. Good luck and pick professor S.
Anna Szczekutowicz

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/07/2023
Love her so much. Her notes are very neat and clear. She works through many problems and scenarios to help with homework and everything she teaches is exactly what's on the exam. She is also very lenient and kind.
Anna Szczekutowicz

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/06/2023
dr. anna is so good at explaining things... the best math instructor i've ever had
Anna Szczekutowicz
MATH140

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/06/2023
Overall really nice professor who cares about her students, always posts lecture notes (no recording though). Really good job explaining concepts and grading harshness is middle-of-the-road. Responsive to emails and just looks out for students, like explaining how course regs work and always always reminding us when and where exams are.
Anna Szczekutowicz

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
11/30/2023
She is very passionate about what she teaches which makes her lectures very engaging (coming from someone who gets bored easily). Lectures consist of copying down notes that she does on her iPad and projects on the board, and she does a very good job at explaining everything as she goes. Attendance is not mandatory, but I would recommend going to class because you will miss out on her explanations for the content, as she does upload her notes from lecture to Canvas but doesn't record lectures. Overall, this is probably one of my favorite classes and I'd definitely recommend her for MATH 140!
Anna Szczekutowicz
MATH410

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/29/2023
She is SO enthusiastic about teaching to the point where her lectures are so freaking engaging lol. IMO she explains the material very and all her proofs are very understandable because she explains the motivation behind each step in a proof. You shooould definitely consider taking ANNA for MATH410 if you ever want to take this course and she is an option. :D
Anna Szczekutowicz
MATH410

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/17/2023
Pretty good prof. Posts all the lecture notes online so attendance is honestly pretty optional. Exams are definitely very fair, but sometimes seem like they weren't planned out very well in advance, but this is offset by the fact that she's very lenient with partial credit. Overall probably the best 410 prof.
Anna Szczekutowicz
MATH410

Anonymous
11/08/2023
Great prof, other 410 reviewer basically summed everything. Only downside is I don't like how tests are memorizing content rather than utilizing them, other than that fair tests. Very nice in person as well. One of the best/better 410 prof's out there, highly recommend.
Anna Szczekutowicz
MATH410

Anonymous
11/01/2023
Very sweet person and great lecturer. The exams, so far, have been in this pattern: Q1 gives you three names (theorems/mathematical objects) and asks you to write their definitions. Q2 asks for a counterexample to some claim. Q3, Q4, and Q5 are free-response proof questions, at least one of which closely models a problem in the notes. And Q6 asks you to prove one of the (shorter) theorems we already had proved in class, so understanding and remembering the proof sketches is key here. I'm not gonna lie, I came out of the first two exams feeling like they kicked my ass. Almost nobody finished them on time. But I somehow got an A on both. She and the grader were very lenient and gave lots of partial credit. So even if you don't fully know some answer, write something anyway. The homework has not been difficult at all, especially after coming from MATH340/341.
Anna Szczekutowicz
MATH140

Anonymous
10/31/2023
Not a good lecturer IMO. Just copies word for word what the textbook says and provides no further assistance. Discussion material and homework are generally 100 times harder than anything she teaches.
Anna Szczekutowicz
MATH140

Expecting an A
Anonymous
10/19/2023
Great calculus professor! Her exams and quizzes aren't too difficult and she prepares you well for them. The homework and in-class worksheets are often difficult but never impossible. She's very nice and understanding, which is reflected in her lenient grading. Her lectures are also super clear and engaging. Solid professor.
Anna Szczekutowicz
MATH140

Expecting an A
Anonymous
10/13/2023
I personally think she's a great lecturer, she explains concepts well and gets straight to the point. However, the way the class is set up is annoying. In discussion, we have worksheets with problems that are 10x harder than what she teaches us and often times the material on the worksheets is stuff we haven't even learned in lecture. There have been multiple instances where we have to solve a problem using a theorem or method we end up learning 2 days later in lecture. I also think some of the questions on web assign are annoying, but I get that isn't her fault. It's also a bit frustrating because it seems like she uses the worksheets from a different prof and also gives us practice exams from a different prof but her exams are quite different so it won't help you that much. She's a good teacher but she should start looking over the material she assigns us before we have to do it.