Harry Tamvakis

This professor has taught: MATH130, MATH404, MATH405, MATH406, MATH432, MATH600, MATH601, MATH606, MATH607, MATH620, MATH660, MATH669, MATH808B, MATH808C, MATH808D, MATH808G

Sort By:

Information	Review
Harry Tamvakis MATH405 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/08/2024	Great guy. His lectures are well-structured, if fast, and he explains things clearly, going into great depth on each topic. Homeworks are challenging but manageable, and they push you to think deeper about the concepts. Exam averages tend to be low, but there are plenty of extra credit opportunities to help you boost your grade. He answers any questions you may have very thoroughly and doesn't make you feel stupid, and he's also willing to talk about concepts beyond the scope of the class if you're interested. It's clear he's extremely knowledgeable and passionate about what he does.
Harry Tamvakis MATH406 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/21/2023	Professor Tamvakis is just wonderful. When it comes to teaching, he presents great lectures which 95% of the time provide all the information and formulation necessary to complete the exams. He offers outstanding help during office hours which is always useful in completing the homework, and he leads you through the entire process to the final answer rather than some other professors who are afraid of telling you if you answer is right or wrong. The homework is hard, of course, but I appreciate the difficulty because it can make the exams feel easy, which is great of course considering that the homework is only 20% of the final grade. When it comes to exams, he provides exam review problems and goes over most of the problems the class before the corresponding exam. The review problems are always harder than the exam problems so it truly prepares you for what will appear on the exam, in addition to the homework. And best of all, there is a curve AND there is extra credit on every exam and on most of the homework! Definitely would suggest taking MATH406 with Tamvakis as it is one of the hardest math classes you can take!
Harry Tamvakis MATH406 Expecting a C Anonymous 12/17/2023	Professor Tamvakis is a great professor! He is a great lecturer and is always willing to meet with his students to help them out. He assigns weekly homeworks, 2 of which he allows to be turned late for full credit. With that being said, the homeworks can be challenging and long. The exams were pretty straight forward, no big surprises. He is also a quick grader so you'll recieve your exams back within a week. He gives review worksheets prior to each exam covering the content that the exam will be on them. As far as grading goes, he is a fair grader. He also curves the class at the end of the semester which is always nice. On the other hand, be aware that he does not use canvas at all, except to make announcements and distribute reviewsheets. So going to lectures is a MUST. He does not post any notes or slides on canvas or his website. Also, you won't know your grade until the end of the semester, unless you manually calculate it yourself. Overall, I would recommend Professor Tamvakis, you'll definitely learn a lot with him.
Harry Tamvakis MATH405 Expecting an A fiftyseven 12/25/2022	Harry is a really good lecturer who you can tell enjoys the subject he teaches. Lectures are rather quickly paced and in-depth, but he'll be happy to answer any questions whenever. As others have said, the homework is rather difficult. It took me a quite a bit of time per homework, but the homework was very good at reinforcing the concepts learned in-class. His content mostly matched that of the textbook, but he did diverge in places and he doesn't give out notes so if you're one to skip occasionally, make sure you have a way of ensuring you get all the content. Overall I'd highly recommend him if you're comfortable with the class not necessarily being the easiest thing in the world as he teaches it very well. In case the difficulty dissuades you, I'd like to also note that the homework grading was always pretty chill and he seemed to curve a pretty large amount at the end.
Harry Tamvakis MATH405 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/22/2022	His lecturing is mediocre. He goes through topics at high speed, pausing for a second and asking if people have any questions like a student that is lost will have enough time to formulate a question. He isn't willing to give out notes before or after lecture. He isn't willing to tell you what section of the book he is going to cover before lecture. These things give the impression that he just wants to come to class, write on the board for an hour, then leave. Not good. His homeworks are extremely difficult but thankfully he gives you 2 free late passes which were very much appreciated. I would not take this class with Harry alone, having a friend to talk to about homework problems is essential to doing well. He also doesn't pull any punches with his exams. It was so bad that I spent the time before the final terrified and in tears that I would fail the class. Never has an upper level math class put me under so much stress. In conclusion I wold not recommend taking 405 with Harry unless you are doing so with a friend, and/or feel comfortable with the topics covered.
Harry Tamvakis MATH405 Expecting a B Anonymous 11/13/2022	His lectures are great, but first note that he sometimes went really different from the books, not only one chapter but multiple chapter. while he doesn't have any notes available on elms. You have no place to go back to check and you have to have pretty good notes. The HW are brutal. It it really difficult and you have to spent so many times to finish it. Also no answers key. Exams are really hard. There is no study guide and most of the exam problems aren't any hw problem nor class example we did. However, his lectures are very straightforward and he answers questions in the office hour. So if you are a student who is determined to put your times to study math, Tamvakis is great.
Harry Tamvakis MATH406 Expecting a C Anonymous 05/04/2022	Very straightforward and easy-to-understand lectures, but he gets angry at the American education system (he's Greek) sometimes and takes it out a little on you.
Harry Tamvakis MATH404 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/29/2020	As a professor, he lecturing is very straightforward. He takes a little bit of time to emphasize some interesting parts or stories from math history to make the lecture a little bit more engaging. His homeworks are pretty difficult and take some time to think through. His exams are significantly easier if you understand the concepts involved. Overall the class was a good class in person. Online, Professor Tamvakis had a good setup with a document camera and live meetings although it was a little bit less engaging than in person (he would go over his prewritten lecture notes instead of say, writing on a board).
Harry Tamvakis MATH404 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/24/2020	I'm surprised no one has reviewed Tamvakis since 2009. This man will make you work like a dog. His homeworks are brutal. His lectures are fast-paced. Everyone struggles, from the brightest students to the not so brightest students. My mans is absolutely crazy. He is a bit impatient and thinks everything is trivial. Sometimes he asks the class a question and scoffs when nobody can answer him. All in all, a good dude.
Harry Tamvakis MATH432 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/10/2019	He goes very fast, and the homework is hard. But I think he is a good professor and he is usually always available as stated. You need to put in a lot of work to do well in the class. MATH432 has a reputation as one of the most difficult undergraduate classes and Tamvakis lives that up. Unlike most of the professors of previous, he chose to forego any discussion on the basics of algebraic topology for more specialized topics, like metric space completion and Arzela-Ascoli.
Harry Tamvakis Expecting an A Anonymous 12/19/2009	he is a very good prof. his lectures are very organized and he really knows what he is doing. he is well educated and will often give you random math history. engage him in class and ask good questions he doesnt' mind and will like you if you ask good questions. take notes in class, they will help you and take notes fast cause he writes very fast and you need to keep up. his homework is good. I always liked his extra problems that weren't from the book and the bonuses are fun. I am not sure how he will curve the tests but if you are a good student you don't need it.