Ahmad Esmaili - Stony Brook University (SUNY), Stony Brook, NY

Professor: Ahmad Esmaili

Department: Computer Science

College: Stony Brook University (SUNY), Stony Brook, NY

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: CSE214
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

He is a good professor but be prepared to put in time for his HWs that are due every two weeks(Start early). His tests are pretty similar to the practice tests that he will give so make sure you learn how to do every question in them. Youll come out of this class with a strong understanding of the material if you put in the work.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: CSE214
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Good and funny professor overall. If you have CS background before college then it's an easy A. My friend unbelievably received A who had been taken lots of points on midterm and final with a lot of imperfect HW grades. This class is the final trial to see if you can continue this major. He does give many students a hard time for HW assignments tho

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: CSE214
• Grade Received: D+
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

no. NO !

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: CSE214
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

The best teacher you can have for 214. The class can be challenging, but the material in it is fundamental to the rest of CS. He offers extra credit, where if you do it all he will bump up your grade one letter. He's also really nice and he takes questions during class. Would definitely recommend to take him for 214 if possible.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: CSE214
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

The class had 7 home works that were due every other week. In addition to that, even though you do great in the first and second midterm, but do badly in the final, you can still get a good enough grade. He explains the material very well.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: CSE214
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

This class is a bit intimidating but Esmaili genuinely cares for his students and wants to see people succeed, and while his tests are difficult, he doesn't really throw any curve balls. He's a good choice for 214

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: CSE215
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

He's very knowledgeable in his field and clearly knows what he's talking about, but he's not that great at explaining things sometimes. He goes fast sometimes and his tests can be very difficult. He is accessible in his office hours and will do his best to answer questions in class though.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: CSE214
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Unlike CSE 114, The material from the lecture and textbook do not correspond with each other, so you need to show up to class to actually learn the material. He tried to make the lectures discussion-based and guess what, no one participates. Wish the lecture slides were more clear so we don't need to fill in those missing gaps.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: CSE214
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Exams are fair and he mostly tests you on the theory behind each data structure (usually only 1-2 coding problems). He gives pop quizzes, but they're pretty easy and are mostly there to check for attendance. Do all of the homework assignments; you will learn a lot from them. Esmaili is a very nice guy and he listens to feedback from students.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: CSE214
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Lectures are decent, he just goes over the Power Point but gives extra detail and good tips. Tests are more about the theory than application so you won't have to hand-write code much which is great. Homeworks are long but overall not that hard. Start them early and try to do the extra credit portions. Recommended.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: CSE214
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Great Professor. His lectures are clear and he is very responsive to emails. Attendance isnt mandatory but he sometimes says what will be on the test. There was a total of 7 hw and doing them help in understanding the material. He also gives you a rank so you can know your grade at that point in the semester.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: CSE215
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

He hasn't taught 215 in a while but he does know what he is doing. You don't have to attend lecture besides the occasional pop quiz but it's only worth a few percent of your grade. If you do all the homework, the tests would be fairly easy. I would recommend him if you want a light 215 class if he ever teaches it again.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: CSE130
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

So, there were two groups of people in the class: pro-hackers and students with no cse background at all. It seemed that Esmaili assumed that everyone had background and class was taught in such manner. He is very detail-specific at tests and will ask something non-common. Most people didn't have time to finish midterm(50mins) and average was 60.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: CSE114
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I decided to take class with this professor because I heard good things. However, when taking the class I was faced with a lot of very picky grading that didn't make any sense. He also falsely accused me of academic dishonesty, and even though he admitted I didn't do anything wrong, still gave me a 0 for the assignment. Others have similar stories.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: CSE214ISE311
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Had him for 214, 305 and 311. He's a good prof, learned a lot in 214 and 305 (214 is hard,305 is pretty easy). Classes are always MWF which is a pain. Most recently had him for 311, was his first time doing this class and it showed, the class was very disorganized. Hopefully he cleans it up if he teaches it again, because he's a very capable prof.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: CSE114
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

My favorite professor when I was here. He was tough and I learned a lot. Lectures and expectations were very clear and easy to follow. He offers extra credit with every assignment, which I strongly recommend if you have time since they really helped me learn (given I took the course over the summer - free time to work on this course)

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: CSE214
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Took the class 2 yrs ago. Easy course, but there is no curving, so you have to be perfect to get a good grade! He does NOT relax the grading. More important is the fact that his stuff is really outdated. Not at all helpful for advanced classes you want to take later. Also, he doesn't help you with Java concepts if they are not directly in syllabus!

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: CSE214CSE311
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Enjoyable professor for 214. Great projects that had solid use of other libraries and beat you in the face with object oriented design. Taught data structures well. For 311, this is his first semester teaching it and it's a mess. Lab days with no warning, a lot of time spent on topics not really related to Linux sys admin. Not too useful a course.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: CSE214
• Grade Received: D
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

This professor, while not the worst professor I have had, was very unhelpful in my situation in his class. Possible you wont finish exams. The HW is crucial. I cant stress that enough. However, they can be very difficult. I received a 50/100, 70/100, and 105/160 on the three exams and got a D because my HW avg was a 58 (I did all 8 for the record)

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: CSE102
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

I took CSE102 which was a joke class, but he was alright teaching it