Steven Pearce - Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC

Professor: Steven Pearce

Department: Computer Science

College: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: CMPT276
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Steve is not a good lecturer, just reads slides of text to you, not even covering useful material, and complains about having to be there. Makes inappropriate jokes and is very unprofessional. Midterm and final are almost all multiple choice and almost half the questions are based on his opinions. Avoid.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: MACM101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

I loved his lectures. class was math heavy, with extra theorems.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: MACM101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Contrary to what a lot of students say about him, I thought he was amazingly witty during lectures. He tries to engage the students with almost a comedic approach. He's very blunt, and let's you know ahead of time what to study and lookout for. Cheat sheets are allowed for midterms, and if you visit his office hours, he's genuinely a caring guy.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: MACM101
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

discourages asking questions in class and ESPECIALLY through email. Lectures are basically useless; read the text and lecture slides. He'll hint half of material on the exams in the last few lectures leading up to an exam. Make sure you know how to answer questions on previous exams-- they will be very similar

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: MACM101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Cheat sheet for midterms. Hints at questions that will be asked. Slides sent in email. Graded homework (10%). Class ends early. Textbook, WIkipedia, few sources for slides. Rude to students and TAs. Expects us to know terminology and material before it is covered (during lectures).

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: CMPT300
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Enthusiastic guy. Seems very intelligent. But horrible lecturer and either is unwilling or unable to pass on basic information on either course material or course logistics. Worth seeing outside of lectures - he's helpful then.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: CMPT300
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I regret not taking CMPT300 with a better prof. He "accidently" sends out the answer key for old final exams but intentionally has some wrong answers on them so people don't just memorize them. More concerned about keeping the average high so he doesn't get fired rather than making sure we learn the material. Final was all MC. I didn't learn much.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: CMPT300
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Clear on what to be expected on exams. Slides are snips of Wikipedia which means he just reads off slides. Read textbooks to grasp concepts before classes. Always double check your grades. Final exams had wrong answer keys, so for the midterm exams. Otherwise, it's easy with Steven

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: CMPT110
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

This class was very disorganized probably because it was his first time teaching Cmpt 110. Overall his lectures were not as bad as it seems and if you read the lectures ahead of time, this class is a breeze. His final had some questions which were not in the study material but it's scaled so you'll end up with a higher grade than expected.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: CMPT300
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I took 2 courses with him back to back and he is fun. He will tell you exactly what is on the exam. You might not understand the stuff in class but reading his slides and marking important ones will do the job. It's highly likely you will end up with good grade without understanding most of the stuff. Good luck!

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: COMP125
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

He was really easy on us UFV students, at least this semester. No quizzes, easy assignments, short lectures. His lectures consist of 70-90 slides but ends up being half of that as he'll tell you what to study and what not to. The midterm was almost all multiple choice, but are really hard and require you to know your stuff to choose the correct 1

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: CMPT300
• 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:

He is a legend, definitely should take his course. He is inspirational, and wont let you just memorize stuff, but let you understand it and absorb it.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: COMP125
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

He is my favourite teacher at university of Fraser Valley. His way of teaching is really interesting and funny, which makes us easy to understand. Hope to get good marks in this course.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: CMPT110
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Very disorganized prof. Copies and pastes material from wikipedia onto lecture slides and tells the class to "read it". Assignments at the start were nothing like lecture material because he ripped it off the online class. Way too much theory. Lazy prof, does not help during office hours. TA is even worse.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: CAMPT320
• Grade Received: B-
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Legend

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: CMPT276
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Most fun course I ever took! Cant wait to take some other course with him!

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: CMPT320
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Hilarious professor who really cares about this class. He has a strange obsession with the incompleteness theorems of Godel. If he brings them up as those results up as "the last significant result in science", mention Tarski's undefinability theorem and Turing's negative proof of the Halting Problem, and you'll gain his respect.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: MACM101
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

3 steps to get a good grade in his class: 1. Go to lectures and write down every single thing that he says is important and the hints he gives out about the midterms/final. 2. Read the textbook, do the chapter examples and problems. 3. Do the homework and keep up with the course materials.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: CMPT320
• 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:

Useless course, boring lectures but pretty much mandatory to go since he tells you what parts of the notes are important.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: CMPT300
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

His programming assignments have gotten tougher over the years; do not underestimate them. Unlike in some math courses where the assignments don't really seem to count despite saying otherwise in the syllabus, in this course, assignments CAN help with your letter grade. He absolutely despises grade-grubbing, so beware of that too.