Alan Wagner - University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC

Professor: Alan Wagner

Department: Computer Science

College: University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: CPSC317
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Does not prepare well. Alan made mistakes on 5 different questions on the final making them some of them unsolvable, students brought it to his attention. Only halfway through the final did Wagner write all the problems with mistakes on the board. The final is worth 45% the least Wagner could do is double check it.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: CPSC417
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

(I had him for CPSC 317 but it wasn't listed as an option here). Dr. Wagner has not only been an amazing prof, he has been very kind and accommodating. If you actually go to class and show him that you care about the subject matter then you'll do fine. He's a very smart guy who cares a lot about the subject matter and about students.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: CPSC317
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Lectures aren't as bad as some people make it out to be. Questions on quizzes aren't excessively difficult, but the quizzes are long. However, the assignments are insanely difficult.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: CPSC317
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I'm a bit of an outlier in that I don't find Wagner's lecturing that horrible, but I despise is his quizzes(which you will have 3 of throughout the term and are 7-10 pages long to be done in 50 minutes) have a lot of points dedicated to something he mentions VERY VERY briefly in class and is not in the textbook or lecture slides, unacceptable.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: CPSC317
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Avoid him if possible. Lectures aren't clear, minimum useful info on the slides. Confusing lectures. Be prepared to read textbooks and self-study, or ask TA for help. Assignments aren't easy, and not quite relevant to lecture contents.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: CPSC317
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

CPSC 317 is a tough course & unfortunately, there are not many good profs that teach this course. Alan certainly did not help. You Need to HEAVILY rely on the textbook as lectures are not useful (lectures were always half empty). Assignments are super tough so find a good partner One good thing Alan did was always give clear learning goals.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: CPSC317
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Extremely bad professor and can't seem to explain very basic concepts well, his thoughts wonders all over the place and constantly make mistakes in the lecture, unless some students catch the mistake, good luck, he will never correct himself. Went to his office hour for help on the assignment and he doesn't know a single thing about his assignments

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: CPSC317
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Not an effective communicator during lectures, will go off on tangents that are irrelevant to the material. Quizzes are worded strangely. Also very little practice material provided. Forgot his own review session and a student had to call him and tell him where it was LOL

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: CPSC317
• Grade Received: C+
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Wagner tends to go on tangents for the majority of the class and is incapable of articulating the information on the slides. Add to that difficult assignments and extremely unhelpful slides (messy, surface-level, and non-covering) - there's a clear reason why basically no one attends his lectures any more. He's trying, but he's just not a good prof

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: CPSC213
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Definitely the worst CPSC experience I have had at UBC. He was never prepared for lectures, and would go on confusing tangents. I left most classes having no idea what he was talking about, and basically had to teach everything to myself. I will definitely avoid taking another class with Dr. Wagner.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: CS416
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

In all 4 years of UBC, I haven't taken a worse class. He makes little to no sense, rambles on about things that aren't applicable, and talks himself in circles. I wish I read the ratings here before I signed up, as they're pretty telling.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: CPSC416
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Nice enough guy, but what a scatterbrain. Impossible to follow, goes off on tangents and gets himself turned around in class. His notes are useless and I found myself finding outside material just to understand the concepts. Did not give a date for the midterm until very far into the term. Changed grading schemes partway through the course. Ugh :(

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: CPSC111
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Very useless teacher. Just read the textbook. He was no help at all with the assignments. But the good thing about him was that he took the class' input about not making the format of the final like the midterms(very long and hard) into consideration . The TA's in this course were extremely helpful. Take advantage of the learning center hours.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: CS417
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He is very hard to understand: he frequently aborts and restart sentences and interperses "...right?" in his speech too often. He's generally unprepared to teach and often confuses himself. Unless heavily anotated, his printout notes are virtually useless. Curveballs appeared in the midterm that seemed more of a trick than a true test of knowledge.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: CPSC417
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

The notes are very difficult to follow and are VERY much on the surface. He makes too many mistakes in class, there are just too many, and expects us to know every single detail that's in the book, though he does not cover it in class. Some bizzar midterm questions as well ... strange prof

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: CS417
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I got 88 in the class but no thanks to his teaching... Makes tons of mistakes, admits to them but won't correct your mark. Avoid if possible.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: CPSC417
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Summer term. He tought 25% of the content but required us to know everything for the midterm and the final from the book. He made numerous errors during lectures yet he expects all the same knowledge from us during examinations. Skip all lectures-read tex

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: CPSC417
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

The notes he makes in class are utterly useless. Either read the book or write down everything he says. If you just go to class to listen and write down exactly what he writes down, you'll end up reviewing your notes wondering wtf was going on that day.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: CPSC417
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

His notes are unclear, not organized especially those from the end of the term. I don't understand why not using powerpoint or pdf. Sometimes, I cannot even what he wrote on overhead projector.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: CPSC417
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

This prof is the wrost one I have ever have,no lecture notes provide, only given poor hand written notes on board, just talk briefly about every concepts. But in midterm, or in final, he tested everything in details. And this course's TA is useless too