| Information | Review |
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Boyu Zhang
MATH140 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/13/2024 |
READ THIS REVIEW CAREFULLY!! I know I gave him 4 stars but there was a lot a different factors that go into my review. Boyu is one of the most caring and passionate professors you'll probably meet in the math department, and if you're a math major or just someone who's retaking calculus to understand why it works, I'd take this class with him. However, if you're an engineer/want to know just how to do calculus and have no prior knowledge of it, I would think twice. A lot of times it was really hard to follow what he was doing (eventually throughout the semester you get used to it, and exams also did get easier as time went on, a review below covered that well). That being said, he was really good about answering my countless emails which was great when I couldn't make it to office hours. He'll explain the material as slow as you need if you ask outside of class, and welcomes curiosity. If you do take him for 140, you'll be fine but you'll have to teach yourself (though I think that's how many college classes work), and don't stress when he teaches implicit differentiation, it's not hard, it's just confusing with him. |
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Boyu Zhang
MATH140 Expecting a W Anonymous 12/05/2024 |
I had to withdraw, take DONG QUAN NGUYEN for math140. |
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Boyu Zhang
MATH140 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/05/2024 |
Is very passionate about calculus, and always teaches like he loves the class. But his way of teaching is often hard to follow, as he goes into very detailed proofs and very specific examples where it gets really hard to follow. I often learn nothing going to his lectures and more than half the class end up skipping. His exams were also tough towards the beginning of the year with averages around 60s-70s, but the lowest midterm is weighed less, and your lowest quiz is dropped. His saving grace is the curve at the end, as he makes sure more than half the class gets an A. As long as you score around the mean on his midterms and you can learn the material in discussion and the homework you will do well in his class. |
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Boyu Zhang
MATH140 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/05/2024 |
In the beginning, I was afraid of how this semester would go. Most lectures I would sit confused about what was going on. I would be following along and then halfway through the equation, he would lose me and then I would have to sit through the rest of the lecture daydreaming about what he could've possibly been teaching that day. He got better as the semester went on though, a little more clear, and exams seemed to get better as the semester went on as well. Overall, he is a "good" professor in that he is very enthusiastic about the class and teaching students. Most classes he would be running across the room to the other side of the board or jumping up and down to answer a question when someone finally asked one or teaching us by connecting a folktale he was teaching his kid with that morning. Silly guy. If you take this class, you'll probably be alright. Even better if you already know calculus. |
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Boyu Zhang
MATH432 Expecting an A- Anonymous 08/23/2024 |
Boyu Zhang is a very passionate teacher and wants the best for his students. You will rarely meet another teacher who cares more for his students. He is passionate about math and teaching, and he always seeks to improve his teaching. However, I will admit that he is still inexperienced. He is a young professor, and he likely did not have much experience teaching before. As a result, he sometimes rushes or does not explain stuff clearly, and some lectures may leave you completely dumbfounded. Talk with him outside of class, ask him about math (doesn't have to be related to the class), go to his office hours, and he will take care of you. He is also fair with the curve and curves a good portion of the class to an A. |
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Boyu Zhang
MATH410 Expecting an A- Anonymous 06/01/2023 |
I took this class in the fall of 2023 - Boyu's first time teaching MATH410. The class initially started off with high hopes, but as more time passed by, it was understood that this class would basically be impossible. The grade split was 20% homework (essentially completion/how much you tried), 25% for each midterm (there were 2), and 30% on the final. Homework was weekly (even on the week of tests). Boyu's teaching was very fast-paced, however, he was good at answering questions and clarifying concepts when needed. However, there would be no review of past sections/theorems every class. Once the topic introduction had passed, you were expected to be an expert in it and recall the definition and be well versed in it. This class covers a lot of dense material in a very short time, and other is no forgiveness for the student who falls behind even the slightest amount. Exams (in theory) were nicely formatted - 75% (3/4 questions) of exams would be directly from the textbook. This sounds nice until you look at the textbook. It is almost unreadable at times, unreasonably dense at times, and often steps are skipped. Furthermore, no solutions were ever given to homework or textbook problems. To get solutions to a specific problem you would have to go to his office hours or send him an email - something that isn't feasible for 300+ textbook problems. Often, we had to resort to trying to find half solutions online and working off of those (we didn't understand them well at all). Giving a practice exam with similar types of problems to the exam coming up would be much better. The lack of clear solutions and explanations to practice problems makes this almost impossible to do. When asked about this at the start of the course, Boyu responded "Well its a proof. You will know if your proof is correct or not". This doesn't make sense and just isn't true. The averages of the exams went 64%, 49% and the average of the final was 47%. Apparently, these averages were "good" according to Boyu. The saving grace in this class was the curve. 75-95 A, 65-75 A-, 63-65 B+, 58-63 B-, 53-55 C+, 49-53 C, 40-49 C-, <40 D/F. Boyu is one of the instructors that believes that the curve is necessary, and would rather curve the class at the end rather than give easier/better exams. Essentially, to see how you're doing in the class, just see how you are doing compared to the average. Overall, I would not recommend taking this class with Boyu unless it really is your only option or you are already a genuis at real analysis (then this class review shouldn't matter to you). It is not a simple or straightforward class, and the only way to do well is to spend 10-15 hours outside of class every single week understand the concepts by yourself and trying to solve textbook exercises. How will you find the answers to those problems? Good luck. Try emailing him or finding a math genuis/tutor that can do all of them. |