John G Thistle - University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON

Professor: John G Thistle

Department: Systems Engineering

College: University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: MATH213
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Pros: * Really well-organized * Posts online notes that are Very Good * Exams are fair - no surprise curveball questions, just stuff from assignments and the notes Cons: * The course is hard * People got rekt by this course

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: ECE380
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Notes are extremely hard to follow in class, uses high level language. He's a very smart guy and knows what he's talking about, the mistake he makes is that he thinks we're equally smart. He assumes we're 100% familiar with high level concepts and uses them when teaching without any explanation. He needs to fix a few key areas to improve.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: ECE124
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Amazing prof. Knows what he's talking about, explains things very clearly. Although the course material was quite boring, he did a very good job with lecturing.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: SE380
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

A very good professor that knows what he's talking about. Only downside is that he underestimates how much his class understands and his examples to demonstrate a concept often start off very complicated. Amazingly helpful and knowledgeable though. I went to his office hours and he taught me the course material in a really intuitively way.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: ECE380
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Mr. thistle's class , whether intentional or not, really likes to stand on the height of theory, and bombards student with confusing concepts. However, once you get pass that, you will find that you can apply the theory with great clarity. For the exams, Mr. thistle plays quite fairly, almost no trick question and always in orders.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: MATH213
• 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: N/A

Comment:

Dull. His notes are all confusing and messy. He has a way of making a simple concept seem confusing. Never responds to emails and is unorganized to a point where it hurts the students.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: MATH213
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

One of the worst prof I've had. Really dull lectures, lack of engagement. Doesn't use a textbook and want us to read notes that are messy. Never responds to my emails.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: MATH213
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Dull. Doesn't realize this is a Calculus course and seems to think he's in physics or electrical engineering instead. If you look at previous terms and textbook, it explains things 100000x better. Please just teach the course.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: ECE380
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Worst prof ever.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: ECE380
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Thistle is probably the worst prof I've ever had. No idea how anyone was supposed to be prepared for a final that required a computer to draw the nyquist plots.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: ECE380
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Good prof. He speaks clearly and explains things very thoroughly and methodically. His written notes are decent but supplementary notes are recommended. He is very helpful if you go see him in his office hours. His assignments don't have a lot of examples so it's up to you to find more examples or ask him for more. Midterm was tricky but fair.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: ECE124
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

ece124 used to be se141. this guy does not stop to take questions. he thinks that everyone understands him the 1st time he explains it, even though most students do not. his notes are not that great. the labs are unorganized for the course, the tutorials go over irrelevant ass't questions for success in the course, do past exams and read the text.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: SE141
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Boring Boring Boring. Doesn't know what he's teaching. :S I only went to the first 3 classes in the semester. Learned the course from the textbook. He's a terrible teacher but the exams were fair. I got good grades just by learning on my own.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: SE141
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

he doesnt seem to know what he is teaching and cannot answer students questions

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: ECE380
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I think John did a pretty good job teaching the course material. His course notes could use a revision though. His midterm was on the easier side, but final was a killer. I still thought, I did really well on it, but as it turned out, I didn't. Wondering what the class average for the course is.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: ECE380
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Absolutely worst prof ever, notes are unclear, only a few assignment questions which are not nearly enough, questions on the midterm and final has nothing to do with the assignment questions.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: SE141
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

He uses another professor's slides (which is fine), but I can read off of them too.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: ECE380
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Very irresponsible professor. He chose to NOT follow any textbook (which is fine), but then proceeded to give us barely any homework problems to practice with. He was irresponsible in that he provided homework solutions 2 days before the final exam and simply didn't prepare us (even the top students) for the difficult questions on the exam.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: ECE380
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

I don't see how we were supposed to be prepared. Possibly the high end of the class could get through this; We had to work with physically impossible examples, incorrect homeworks and solutions, and generally the inability to practice for anything. You couldn't, in any meaningful way, prepare for that final, either.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: ECE380
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

We spent way too long on the useless part of the course (which he even said himself was just a build up). He taught us everything that matters in two weeks. He provided solutions for the assignment the day before the exam... and they didn't even make sense and weren't complete ...need I say more?