Junyan Zhao

This professor has taught: MATH241, MATH241H, MATH401, MATH606

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Junyan Zhao MATH241 Anonymous 01/22/2026	Professor Zhao expects you to be as fast as him and understand him, and if you don't, he doesn't care. He made asking questions very difficult and always had a condescending tone when I would ask him anything. In order to survive in this, you're going to have to self-study a LOT and use Justin's videos; he was my savior. However, his midterms were relatively easy, as I always received A's on them, but he didn't prepare me for the final exam. The final was significantly harder, and despite all the practice tests you take, you will not be ready. Take this professor if you are intellectually capable of working at a rapid pace and are willing to self-study. His lectures always left me more confused, so using online resources was the best option for me.
Junyan Zhao MATH241 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/20/2026	If anyone has had teachers with accents, then you know how hard it is to understand them. However, Junyan, while having an accent, is actually pretty good at explaining things. But, only if you specifically ask him to explain a concept more in class. Otherwise, his main style of lecture is going through material very quickly through class. He goes through a concept, puts up an example, explains the example very quickly, then moves on to the next concept. This makes it hard for people to keep up sometimes, especially as it gets harder into the theorems and stuff. He is a funny guy, but also seems to not care that much about his students. He said to me that he doesn't even make the exams or know what exactly is on them. It seems he's only here at UMD for research and got stuck teaching kids Calc 3. You will have to self-study A LOT to understand and do good on the exams. The exams are straightforward, problems are very doable, but you have to study on your own because Junyan will not be much help. There was also NO CURVE for our class. The policy was whoever got the highest overall grade, curve them up to 100, then everybody gets the same amount of points. So if the top grade was a 99, everybody else gets a +1% on their final grade. So if you averaged 70s on the exams, you're kinda cooked. Beware.
Junyan Zhao MATH241 Expecting a B Anonymous 01/19/2026	I've seen some variating advice for this course so I wanted to clear the record. A lot of the complaints stem from the fact that people didn't ever ask him to adjust the class to better suit its audience. It is true that he teaches fast and often likes to make certain recurring equations or topics a shape such as "star" to help fit everything on the board but if you ask him to slow down or rewrite something he absolutely will. I found that over the course of the semester his lecturing got better as he received feedback so help him help you early on. The tests are hard but not impossible and are more of a pacing thing than anything else so if taking tests efficiently isn't your strong-suit this class will probably be rough regardless of your professor. Having a great TA(shoutout Noah) definitely helps a lot and probably effected my outcome in this course. Personal bias: I am not great at taking tests which I believe was my biggest obstacle from getting an A, not the teaching, study resources, or course content
Junyan Zhao MATH241 Expecting a B- Anonymous 01/10/2026	Tough to read what is written, and he likes to go through lectures fast. Discussion is very helpful for this class, and practice as much as you can outside the class. Wants you to do well, but isn't ensuring that the content is actually grasped by students. The final was not really related to what was recommended to study or previous practice finals, but was a bit lenient with grading in the end. Study hard and pay attention in class; he really knows what he's talking about.
Junyan Zhao MATH241 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 01/03/2026	Dr. Zhao is a pretty okay professor. He really tries to explain the concepts quite simple so that we get the idea, but honestly to do good in this class, I mainly had to learn on my own and use what he said in lecture to make sure I was on the right track. I also had to practice these concepts a crazy amount to understand. There is no homework, but he will recommend problems from the book every once in a while, and I suggest you do every single one that he recommends as doing them helped me do good on the midterms. This class being (50% on 2 midterms, 10% quizzes, and 40% final) layout kinda killed my grade as I did great on one midterm, bombed the other, and even after studying a ridiculous amount for the final, I still did kinda bad on that one too. I will also say that he goes extremely fast, like faster than all the other professors. Like another professor will be at Chapter 13 and we just started Chapter 14. This speed meant that I had more material to learn on the midterms compared to others with other professors, but a pro was that we finished learning everything in the course before Thanksgiving break started. If you like going fast, I would recommend him. Overall, if you have to take this class with Dr. Zhao, practicing constantly is what I recommend as the exams can get quite tricky.
Junyan Zhao MATH241 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/26/2025	Professor Zhao is a great choice for Calc III. As mentioned in other reviews, he does do a lot of his teaching straight from the textbook, but he explains the concepts much better than the textbook does, and usually reinforces concepts with an example or two. He's also clearly very passionate in what he teaches, which makes lectures very engaging. There are no mandatory homework assignments, but he does post recommended problems to work on to reinforce understanding, so I didn't feel like I was constantly drowning in work for this class, nor like I was falling behind. He does go through the material very fast--he posted a tentative outline scheduling which sections we'd do each day, then instantly blew through his original plan to speed through the material. This makes the last chapter (the most difficult section) a bit tricky to learn--you will definitely have to do a lot of practice on your own outside of class to understand--but it also meant that we finished all the content before Thanksgiving break, and spent the entire time between break and finals just reviewing, giving you ample time to work on the sections you had problems with. His handwriting is small, so sit as close to the chalkboard as you can, it will save your grade. Also, don't feel scared to ask questions during lecture--he answers every question, and answers them well. He doesn't exactly post practice exams, rather just a list of problems to look at in the textbook which cover all the topics that would be on the exam, but if you show up to review sessions, discussions, and lectures, and pay attention to the practice problems that are emphasized in those, then you can figure out which topics to prioritize the most for exams. His exams are definitely difficult--and be warned that his curve at the end of the course is incredibly useless--but if you put the work and do a bunch of practice problems then they're definitely doable. Overall: Great teacher, but his speed through the course is a double-edged sword. I definitely recommend him for 241!
Junyan Zhao MATH241 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/21/2025	I thought he was going to be a better teacher based on all the previous reviews, but he really isn’t. He writes all the class notes on the chalkboard, and half the time you can’t even understand his handwriting. His notes also come word for word from the textbook, and he doesn’t know how to explain math concepts. His lectures are boring, and I feel like he doesn’t really know the content he is teaching. His exams are somewhat fair. There is always one question that is based on content you learn after the exam, but all the other questions are not meant to trick you. The only thing I didn’t like about this course is that exams are worth 90% of your total grade, and the other 10% is quizzes. Therefore, your entire grade is based on assessments, which is really annoying. With the final being worth 40% of your grade, there is no safety in this course, and this year the final was extremely hard, and Zhao did not prepare you for it whatsoever. If you think you are good at math (like me), you are mistaken. Zhao will make this course harder than it already is. Try taking any other teacher before you take him.
Junyan Zhao MATH241 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/21/2025	I would say he's a pretty alr professor. He is a smart guy and he cares about you. his teaching style is more oldschool, where he only writes on his chalkboard. It can be very difficult to see his handwriting alot, so do sit in the front and center. He teaches directly from the textbook and goes over example problems in it. I would recommend having the text book (which is free and provided to you in LMS) while u go in lecture. I skipped like half of his class to self teach myself using justin videos, and I recommend watching him. My TA was the goat (shoutout to Sudheer) so he helped me a lot having a good understanding in the class. Dr. Zhao is also just a pretty funny person. Also he gives optional hw, but do them cuz midterms are similar to the practice problems. He does a linear curve at the end of the exam (highest person get rounded to a 99, everyone else grades increase by that much). It helped me get a A- in this class.
Junyan Zhao MATH241 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/20/2025	Junyuan Zhao is very very funny. I loved attending his classes because he is such a character. For teaching, I’d be confused a lot of time in class but would understand most of it after doing the homeworks he assigns (not graded). If you do the homework, it will prepare you enough to get a good grade on the exam. He’s also very lenient with moving test days, and bumped our scores at the end. Honestly, I’d recommend him just because his class is so fun to attend.
Junyan Zhao MATH241 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/19/2025	Dr. Zhao was an okay lecturer. His lectures were sometimes hard to follow because he moved quickly, and his handwriting was small and difficult to read. I personally found it easier to skip lecture and watch Justin Wyss-Gallifent’s YouTube videos instead, since he explains things more slowly and in a way that felt more logical to me. This class was my most time-consuming course overall, and I found it harder than Calculus II (though I took Calc II in high school rather than college). To prepare for exams, I strongly recommend doing almost every problem in the textbook and completing the weekly worksheets. Discussions were also helpful if you needed guidance or pointers. I’m giving Dr. Zhao 4 stars because his exams are fairly easy and he is very generous with curves. Exams are curved so that the highest score becomes a 100, and he also curves final grades on top of that. As required by the math department, exams make up 90% of the grade, with the remaining 10% coming from quizzes (there were about 13 quizzes total). Dr. Zhao is very chill and seems nice, even though I didn’t interact with him much personally. One downside is that grading can be slow — each of the two midterms took up to two weeks to be returned.
Junyan Zhao MATH241 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/18/2025	50% midterms (2), 40% final, and 10% quizzes/discussion attendance depending on the TA. He goes through content super fast, we finished going over all the material before Thanksgiving break, which had it's pros and cons. There is no graded homework which means you must be very diligent in your personal studying if you want to do well. It can be difficult to take notes because his handwriting on the chalkboard isn't the most legible. And his curve policy isn't the best, he will adjust the highest score to 99 and then adjust everyone else's based on that. Lastly, I felt a little unprepared for the final exam because there was a question we had just never seen before. But overall he is a very nice guy and his midterms were definitely fair!
Junyan Zhao MATH241 Expecting a C Anonymous 12/18/2025	I would not recommend taking Professor Zhao. In his lectures, he simply prints pages from the textbook and works through the derivatives of the equations on the chalkboard. The examples he provides are the same ones found in the textbook, and he solves them extremely quickly. As a result, unless you had reviewed the material before class, it was difficult to fully comprehend the information. When introducing new topics, he rushes through them. Before THANKSGIVING, we had already finished all of the course material. During the following two weeks, each class consisted of reviewing two textbook chapters within 50 minutes. For one of the hardest topics, Vector Fields, we learned all of the theorems in less than two weeks. The only saving grace of the class was my TA, who reviewed the material thoroughly and was far more helpful than the professor. Even the TA expressed confusion about why the professor rushed through the entire textbook. The grading breakdown was 10% quizzes, 25% midterm, 25% midterm, and 40% final. The averages were midterm 1, 74%, midterm 2, 73%, and final, 70%. The class is basically just self-review the whole time, and going to the lecture is a waste of time.
Junyan Zhao MATH241 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/17/2025	Pretty good lecturer, can be engaging and humorous at times, and readily tries to answer any questions as well as he can. Course grades are just 2 midterms, the final, and 10% is discussion, which is graded depending on who your TA is. My TA gave us full credit if we showed up to the 2 discussion sections the day before the 2 midterms. I know other TAs graded based on participation in weekly (ungraded) quizzes. His lecture format is just that he gives some formula or theorem with an extensive definition and description, and gives up to like 4 example problems that apply what he just taught. And then just does it over and over again. His explanations can definitely be lacking, and sometimes he would explain stuff fast, so you might have to spend time understanding and learning some topics. He only curves the final grade enough so that the highest score in the class is a 99%. For my semester, it was curved by only 1.2%. I would highly recommend doing the practice problems he gives before each exam, as they are actually very similar to the questions on the exam. But there have been some questions that are like curveballs that have never been shown.
Junyan Zhao MATH241 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/16/2025	junyan you're lowkey the goat bro keep doing you're algebraic geometry research and all that you a real one g. I be seeing you at the gym too - you a strong motha fucka goes fast, teaches well, funny. highly recommend!
Junyan Zhao MATH241 Anonymous 12/16/2025	Pros: - Seems like a nice guy - TA Sudheer was my guardian angel for this course, but who knows what professor Sudheer will be with in the future Cons: - Writes fast, messily, and with abbreviations on the blackboard. Even sitting in the front I could not effectively comprehend what he was writing - Don't really like the textbook - Calc III in general is just kinda rough if you don't get it - I think he's just too smart for us, he's moving on to a new idea before you ever had a chance of understanding the previous idea Personal Bias: - did not go to office hours - studied mainly on my own
Junyan Zhao MATH241 Expecting a C Anonymous 12/14/2025	TA's would release practice material pretty late (like 3 days before the exam). Zhao speaks very fast, and his lectures come off as disorganized. By Week 10, it was clear that only 30% of the remaining class actually showed up to lecture. Tips for Success: For quizzes, just practice a few problems on the weekly worksheet. s For tests, just use the weekly worksheets to practice. Anything else, is completely overkill. For a 50 minute exam, it's easy to panick from being short on time. Just make sure you are able to do the weekly problems quickly (within 5 minutes). It will give you more breathing room to check your answers later on. This course will really require you to self-study, and it may be more practical, to learn the information, starting from the problem, then working your way up
Junyan Zhao MATH241 Anonymous 12/13/2025	Junyan Zhao is a fast lecturer, so if you can keep up while doing notes then you should be okay. However I highly recommend that you either read the textbook chapter that day's lecture is on before class because he uses the examples in lecture and it'll help you better understand. Also practice, practice, practice- the course is only easy if you practice the topics he teaches- my TA sucked and never gave us anything to practice with so I had to do it all myself. ALSO do not rely on the curve for this class- its shit- this guys curve is literally based on the highest person's grade- so if the best student has a 95% he'll add 4% to it so it becomes 99% and then add that 4% to everyone else's grade. But my semester somebody fucked it up by 100% literally all the exams (Which are 90% of your grade by the way, 25% midterm 1, 25% midterm 2, 40% the final) soooooo.
Junyan Zhao MATH241 Expecting a C- Anonymous 12/05/2025	Professor Zhao is a great teacher in my opinion. He's clearly very passionate about math which makes his lectures engaging, and his course is designed in a pretty fair way (40% final, 50% over 2 midterms, 10% discussion quizzes). My grade is so low because I completely flopped on the first midterm- it really wasn't that bad but I didn't prepare at all. Locked in for the second one and did much, much better. He does a pretty good job explaining the concepts, but he emphasizes derivations and concepts over examples. I personally love the theory, but for a class designed for engineers, I can see why people have some issues with his teaching style. He also goes pretty fast, and his handwriting isn't the cleanest I've ever seen, so the blackboard can get a little messy at times. He answers questions pretty well during lectures. There was no homework in this class, so you have to practice on your own time. He does post example problems from the textbook to work on though. There were also no matlab assignments. Sometimes the course can get a little disorganized; It took a very long time to post the second exam on elms, and the elms page isn't the most organized. Overall, Professor Zhao is great. He's very reasonable, a good lecturer, and a fair grader. Strongly recommend him
Junyan Zhao MATH241 Expecting a C Anonymous 11/26/2025	I strongly recommend not taking Dr. Zhao. It's obvious he knows his stuff but, in my experience, he does not explain it well. He comes in with a stack of paper printed from the textbook and writes it down verbatim, rushes through examples directly from the textbook (again, verbatim) and that is almost entirely the lecture. He does very little explaining and mostly just does the algebra and writes down the formulas. If you already have experience with Calc III or multivariable calc, you might have better luck but if it's your first time taking it...good luck. I had to teach myself this entire semester and I'm suffering to say the least. Please save yourself.
Junyan Zhao MATH401 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/20/2025	Junyan is the goat. Seriously, he explains concepts soooo nicely and really does right by the students. He moved up our final so we didn't have to take it the day before graduation, allowed us cheat sheets on exams, gave us a breakdown of the topics that could appear on the exams, and was in general nice. If you take MATH401 with him, note that a lot of the content was repeated from MATH240/461, so it was really slow in the beginning, but eventually we got to new stuff like 2/3 of the way into the semester. Oh, but the 50 min classes? Yeah that time crunch for the exams is definitely noticeable, so just know your stuff down well. I recommend Junyan.
Junyan Zhao MATH241H Expecting an A+ Anonymous 03/05/2025	Mr. Zhao assigns homework weekly, and he is flexible about offering extensions when needed, and the homework is reasonable. He follows the textbook, making it easy to review or catch up, which is a huge benefit. If you want to learn more math, you shouldn't miss his classes, but if you want to just want a decent grade without much effort, you probably don't want him.
Junyan Zhao MATH241H Expecting an A Anonymous 02/21/2025	He is fantastic! Attendance isn’t mandatory, but he encourages everyone to attend lectures and recitations. Additionally, he aims to give everyone an A. I asked him for a recommendation letter for my internship.
Junyan Zhao MATH241H Expecting an A+ Anonymous 02/19/2025	He is incredibly passionate about mathematics. I don’t understand why other reviews are so critical. I received an A+ and, while it's true that he didn’t strictly follow the syllabus he uploaded, his grading rubric made it fairly easy to earn a high grade—40% of the grade came from homework and 20% from attendance, though he never actually took attendance. Since this is an honors class, it naturally includes proofs, which deepen our understanding of the material. If I were looking for purely application-based learning, I wouldn’t have taken an honors course. If you genuinely want to understand mathematics and the ideas behind it, I highly recommend his class. Otherwise, a standard calculus course might be a better fit.
Junyan Zhao MATH241H Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/12/2024	The other reviews already said it but he's a new teacher so his class was incredibly disorganized. The syllabus that he uploaded wasn't his and he hasn't followed anything on it, so it was essentially useless. We also literally didn't do MATLAB which is part of the course description so that was weird.He also doesn't go to his office hours half the time so you have to email him to set up a time to talk to him. His teaching style was mainly based on proofs and theoretical formulas and he didn't do a lot of practice problems, which makes it difficult to understand.
Junyan Zhao MATH241H Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/12/2024	He was very passionate about math, but a terrible teacher. His lectures were not organized whatsoever and based entirely on the textbook. He spent way too much time on the theory behind equations and not enough time on how to actually apply the concepts from the textbook to real problems. Granted, it is his first year teaching, but if you want a good grade and to actually understand the concepts of Calc III, I don't recommend you take him.
Junyan Zhao MATH241H Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/12/2024	Nice guy and reasonable with the class. However, as a professor, I wouldn't recommend. When he teaches, it feels like he picks things out of the textbook and teaches what he feels is important. Halfway through the semester, I realized that I had to learn the course myself to really connect the content together to where it makes sense. Justine Olav Wyss-Gallifent's youtube channel was clutch. If you take his class, expect to have to learn the content yourself to understand it.
Junyan Zhao MATH241H Expecting a C Anonymous 12/03/2024	Flexible but tough at the same time. Brand new professor, and disorganized. He was helpful in offering extra credit, and he let us pick how we want our grading system to be, but almost everyone got between a 40-60% on the midterm. His style of teaching shows hes interested in the subject, but near the end of the semester it seemed he started to get frustrated with us not knowing things (which is partially his fault for not teaching us long-term memory). He also has never used canvas before and uploaded a syllabus that wasn't even his. Our midterm was October 31st, and we still have yet to even have an assignment created for it on canvas. Although he is very interested in the subject and wants to find a way for us all to pass, he is a typical "new professor" who hasn't found their style of teaching yet.
Junyan Zhao MATH241H Expecting a B Anonymous 12/02/2024	He is a new teacher (this was his first semester ever teaching calculus), so I understand why he was disorganized, but he was disorganized. Lectures were direct readings from the textbook, and it is consistently difficult to follow his approaches. On the other hand, he is incredibly flexible when it comes to grading and timing of assignments. All homework was due at the end of the semester, and the grading was 20% attendance (he doesn't take attendance, so it's guaranteed), 40% homework (participation, but kind of a double edged sword), and 15% midterm, 25% final. I do not feel as though he has effectively prepared the class for the final in any effect, but he is a fun professor and may be better in the future.