Malik Magdon-Ismail - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY

Professor: Malik Magdon-Ismail

Department: Computer Science

College: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: CSCI2200
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Good Prof

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: CS2200
• 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:

Grading scheme is awful and does not promote "trying." Exams are multiple choice with work being required, but no partial credit for this work. Homeworks are long and worth little. Your entire grade is pretty much determined by your answer on the few "hard" (non-gimmie) questions on each test. This has been my absolute worst experience at RPI.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: CS2300
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Fantastic lecturer, one of the best I've ever seen. He has super high expectations, the class will be difficult. But you will learn a huge amount of material that is all very useful in CS. Malik is super intelligent and if you listen to him you will learn more in his off comments than in some other entire classes.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: CSCI6100
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

One of the smartest professors in CS. Very challenging course and homework. It's not easy to understand everything, but at least I'll always remember some basic concepts in machine learning that would be very helpful if I'll use them one day.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: CSCI2200
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Great guy, engaging lectures. Course is paced well, but a bit challenging.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: CS2200
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

TOUGH GRADER... NOT RESPECTFUL FOR STUDENTS

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: CSCI4100
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

One of the best professors at RPI. He is a very good lecturer and is clear and easy to understand. His courses are not the easiest, but very much worth it. Very knowledgeable in his research field and is a funny guy.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: CSCI4100
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

The hardest course in RPI I've ever experienced. Got an A, which soaked up all my spare time last semester.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: CSCI2200
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Mind-crushingly difficult professor. Dauntingly intelligent. Sometimes expects too much of students who learn slower than others.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: CSCI4100
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Malik Magdon Ismail's CSCI 4100, Machine Learning, is by far the best course I have ever taken. It was an eye-opening experience, hard as hell, and enjoyable to take.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: CS2200
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

It's tough, but you can learn a lot from this course. Prepare yourself for the peculiar discrete math world.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: CSCI6100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

knows what he's talking about

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: CSCI4100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Excellent professor, but merciless in his homeworks. Helped write the book for his Machine Learning class.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: CSCI6100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

His method of teaching is very effective. He is overall a good teacher.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: CSCI4100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Probably my most influential prof, actually challenges students. Uses real math in compsci courses which many profs in compsci don't. Very smart insanely good memory.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: CSCI1100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Went from teaching us cin and cout to file input, arrays, and sort in a week. Definitely not a CS1 professor.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: CSCI1100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

I am a CS who took CS1 with him. I ended up with a 106% grade in the class. For homework you choose a level of difficulty 1-5 and if you complete the level that you have choosen then you get that level*10 number of points. Most of the level 5s required previous CS experience. Beware of Word Ladders. Grades were given on a full/half/none basis.

Rating # 18

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

A note to anyone who reads his rating from here on out- he is not going to discuss how to solve all of the homework problems he gives you. But there is this funny aspect of Computer Science where the question is not what you know but what you can figure out. Thus, he is doing what he should. Get used to it.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: CSCI1100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Homework assignments were either very easy, or very difficult (or impossible; Malik assigned problems that have yet to be completely solved [NP problems]). Lecture was useful, Lab was not. Tests aren't bad if you know the material. Known to confuse other professors on campus with his intellect.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: CSCI1100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Homework projects ranged from being too easy to absurdly hard. Ways to solve harder project questions were NOT discussed in lecture. Lectures were very repetitive and downright useless by the end of the semester. Tests were fairly easy overall. I succeeded in the class (A-) by reading the book and Google searching the material for more examples.