Michiel Smid - Carleton University, Ottawa, ON

Professor: Michiel Smid

Department: Computer Science

College: Carleton University, Ottawa, ON

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: COMP2804
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Professor Smid is excellent at providing and explaining the material, but you have to go to class to understand it. Reading his free book is good to understand what he says in class but it's not enough to study solely on that. Assignments are challenging but going to TA office hours really helps. All his past exams and assignments online.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: COMP2804
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Make sure to show up to class otherwise you won't do so good. The textbook is honestly useless, its vague and doesn't explain things very well. The textbook was written in such a way that its supplementary to the lecture notes, not vice versa. Otherwise Michiel is a good prof and provides all his previous midterms/assignments to students to study

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: COMP2804
• 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:

Fantastic professor, hard course. You could probably get away with just using the textbook. He writes the textbook and teaches out of it, but you should go to hear his explanation.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: COMP2804
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

My best advice is to camp the TA hours and do the assignments YOURSELF. They are challenging, and if you think Chegg will save you then you're terribly wrong. Michiel's midterms will realize this for you, hence the bad reviews. Study hard, don't cheat, this is a difficult course. You need to know discrete math in CS, it is what makes it a science.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: COMP2804
• 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:

Great lecturer, great textbook written by him. Assignments and tests fair. You can survive with just the textbook and skipping class.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: COMP2804
• Grade Received: B-
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Great professor - he's a great lecturer and is very thorough with his explanations. Attending his class is almost a must if you can't grasp the material by yourself. I found the assignments to be hard but the exams weren't too bad if you studied previous ones (he posts all of them)

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: COMP2804
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

If you don't understand anything see Smid immediately during his office hours, hardly anyone does. Assignments can be tough but there not worth much, so don't fret if you do badly. Learn and do well on the midterm and final. The TA's are helpful, specifically Alexa. If your close to a pass/fail Smid is more likely to try to pass you then fail you.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: COMP2804
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

If you plan on a part-time semester, this is a perfect course to squeeze in as it's very time demanding. For notes: copy his chalkboard work during lectures. Grade is based on 4 assignments + midterm + final. TA hours are crucial to solving assignments. Midterm and final very similar to past ones which he posts + their solutions: best way to study.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: COMP2804
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

A very bad class, do not take this class unless you have to. The professor is unhelpful at explaining this material.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: COMP2804
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Fantastic prof but tough material. He is very knowledgable about the subject but he teaches PRINCIPLES through examples so get ready to do some of the work yourself on assignments and going to TAs is pretty much a given. Great prof tho and very fair and quickly replies to emails.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: COMP2804
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Unhelpful at conveying the course content, the course would be much easier if the material was taught differently. Assignments are too long, the course textbook is a handbook he wrote himself which doesn't contain questions with answers. There is very little studying resources provided other then his textbook and assignments.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: COMP2804
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

The questions he posts are similar to the type of questions MIT students get. Don't know why this is a mandatory course and why he has to make it this difficult. Most of us wouldn't take 2804 if it wasn't a prerequisite for 3804. By the way Comp 3804 is way easier. Outside of academia most of 2804 has no purpose. He should be teaching at Waterloo.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: COMP2804
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Excellent professor. Provides help if you need it, and does a good job at breaking down difficult concepts

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: COMP2804
• Grade Received: B-
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

I am not a fan of this guy or his teaching methods. His examples in class vs the assignments he gives are world apart in difficulty level. I camped out in the TA hours to even get good marks in his assignments. His exams are all mutiple choices and are so much more easier than the assignments. His lectures are very boring but he does explain well.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: COMP2804
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Michiel Smid is very good at explaining things. His assignments are hard, going to TA office hours of his office hours is pretty much necessary unless you are really good at math-based courses. A tutorial in 2804 would be nice to have. Also, he is quite a funny guy.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: COMP2804
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Micheal Smid is one of those "older" professors that may have been brilliant at one time but now has become stagnant and is just coasting until retirement. His lectures involve going through the examples from the textbook, which he wrote. Neither of which goes into much depth. Expect to spend all your time asking the TA's for help.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: COMP2804
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Awful at answering and clarifying questions. If you hope to do well in the course be prepared to spend time teaching yourself the majority of the material. Trying to decipher some of his questions just to understand what is being asked can be difficult and frustrating. It's almost like he his gone out of his way to make the course difficult.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: COMP2804
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

awful the worst feedback i have ever seen asking him a question is like taking your life into your own hands his answers really don't make sense. it feels like he goes out of his way to be be difficult i have had bad professors before but this guy takes the cake if you want anything above a B prepare to teach yourself everything and DO NOT SKIP!

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: COMP2804
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Assignments where vague at best little to no preparation for what is expected the text book is a week substitute to poor lectures its clear he knows a massive amount about his material but his choice of delivery and assessment leaves a lot to be desired

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: COMP2804
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Awesome prof! I didn't go to many of his lectures but his clarity in what was needed to pass and expected of students is unparalleled. I got told he replaces the exam with the midterm, not true. Hence the A- :)