Raymond Lai - Camosun College, Victoria, BC

Professor: Raymond Lai

Department: Mathematics

College: Camosun College, Victoria, BC

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: MATH252
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Raymond is very polarizing: you'll either love him or hate him. If you like self-directed learning, his courses are a dream. Lectures consist of watching him do example problems from the notes and nothing else, so if you can learn those on your own you don't even need to go to class. His tests are fair. His marking is fair. His lectures are useless

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: MATH250A
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Raymond has set up his math courses very effectively. Us students know what will be on each test, usually because he just takes questions from the list of practise questions that he gave us. Very good teacher with excellent math notation. Not great with english but its easy to follow his math. Easy pass if you do the questions he posts

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: MATH250B
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Raymond expects too much from his students. He has little personal skills and is not approachable. Avoid!

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: MATH250A
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Best Math teacher I've ever had. His understanding of the material is exceptional. Spend the time doing his practice exercises and you will receive a good grade.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: 250B
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Simply put, awful teaching skills. lack of emphasizing the important points, the way he marks is just ridiculous. You might lose half of the marks from the question that you do correctly..... If you have another option then don't go for him.....

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: MATH191
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Really awesome math teacher didn't spend too much time going over theory. Got right to doing exercises and examples. Great for me bad for others depends if you actually want to learn or if your a slacker.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: MATH252
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Poor instruction. Class averages of 65%.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: MATH189
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

His classes and tests are tough so you will be over-prepared for the final. He'll have you cursing his name during midterms and singing his praises after finals. I like how he always reseverves a full class for review the day prior to an exam. I wish more instructors did that.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: MATH 250A
• Grade Received: B-
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

The volume of work that Raymond expects is a bit much. Expect a difficult experience, but if you pass know that you have the ability to teach yourself.

Rating # 10

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

avoid if possible or prepare to spend lots of time to figure things out yourself

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: 250B
• Grade Received: C+
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Raymond is pretty generous with part marks, but thats to reflect the difficulty of the tests. Tests were pretty similar to homework problems, but the final was crazy tough. It was a lot harder than any of the tests before it. But Raymond will go out of his way to help you, if you ask, and he does't want to see you fail.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: MATH250B
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Tests are extremely hard and exam is so ridiculously hard that it has to get scaled. Half of the final is on the 3 term tests and the other half is on the last few sections he goes over in the last week of class. Do not study the questions he gives you for the final, almost none of them will be on the final.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: MATH250A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Raymond is very good at going over and explaining steps used to solve examples. Seems quiet, but he has a sense of humor.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: MATH250B
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Very fast, but neat note writing. He is super helpful if you have any specific questions. Some of the textbook questions are harder than the ones that are in the test, mainly know the examples from class.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: MATH250A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

He's awesome, apparently he USED to be a real ass, hence the terrible reviews, but he's improved 100 fold. The one complaint I do have is he speaks math, you want to read ahead in the class BEFORE the lecture, otherwise you'll spend all class stuck on notation, he has no analogies, no laymans explanations. disregard previous negative reviews.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: MATH250A
• 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:

Good teacher and will help with anything that you ask (including material that has nothing to do with your course). He is committed to always doing better as a teacher and learning from his previous mistakes. Very integral person, great teacher, difficult subject; study hard!

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: MATH250
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Brace yourself for a very hard course. Raymond is known for hard tests. He's fast, you need to keep up with his pace, if you fall behind he's more than willing to talk after classes.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: MATH187
• 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:

He's a good teacher. I got 90%+ on every test, but I never felt like he was pushing us through by being an easy marking.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: MATH250
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

If you can avoid having Raymond DO IT. Tests hard... no, hard doesn't even begin to sum up his tests. Be prepared to spend 90% of your time on his class work(any class) just to Pass. Gives really good notes and is really helpful out of class.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: MATH250
• 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:

It will take a while, but you'll learn to appreciate Raymond. His tests are VERY hard, which will force you to study like you've never studied before. What I liked is that Raymond has his lectures down TIGHT, very well organized and purposeful, some of the most organized and structured I've ever seen. However, be prepared to work. Hard.