Binhai Zhu - Montana State University, Bozeman, MT

Professor: Binhai Zhu

Department: Computer Science

College: Montana State University, Bozeman, MT

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: CSCI338
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

I took the course in the summer. I knew it's going to be tough based on the previous student comments. But Binhai did a great job and the exercise problems were especially helpful. He also posted the solutions in a timely way. I admit that without a final exam makes my life easier.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: CSCI112
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Binhai should not be teaching a freshman class. He is incredibly rude to students and is not willing to help us succeed. When students come to him for questions, he would brush them off and just give them an answer so that they would leave him alone. He would also constantly tell us how he doesn't have time to help us and we need to talk to the TAs

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: CSCI338
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Binhai is an infamously bad teacher at MSU. Learning from him is difficult for most students, and his tests are based on few points. I'm normally an A student but barely passed his class. I knew the material, his grading criteria were just unclear and questions asked on tests required sheer luck rather than knowledge.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: CSCI338
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

He doesn't explain or give context for difficult concepts or techniques. He writes down examples and expects you to magically know what it means. I learned most of what I needed to know from a youtube playlist called "Theory of Computation" on channel "hhp3". It follows the Sipser book pretty well. Watch it before class to get context.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: CSCI338
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Tough to follow and he doesn't exactly stimulate interest. Be ready to put in a fair amount of time outside of class self-studying if you really want to grasp the material.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: CSCI305
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I happened to have access to 2015's material. He is re-using a lot of them, to content-wise the course is very similar to 2015. I completely disagree with the previous two reviews. I think he organized the contents very well, i.e., if you miss 1-2 lectures you can easily catch up if you do study the stuff on web --- if you really study after class.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: CSCI305
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Honestly, avoid at all costs. His lectures consisted of him reading off the slides provided by the textbook and him mumbling a lot; they were completely worthless. His tests are extremely hard and I have not heard of a single time when he did not use a gratuitous curve.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: CSCI305
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Binhai did not seem to know the material, his lectures were wholly unhelpful, and he did not do anything to foster learning with students, so I feel like I did not learn anything in the class, even though I came out with a good grade. The class was not difficult if you gave yourself ample time for Labs, and studied for the tests.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: 338
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Tough materials, but you will learn a lot.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: CSCI338
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Unclear in everything

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: CS510
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Binhai will give you a good grade if you show your interest in algorithm. Take your notes and prepare your exam carefully because he may ask you any questions mentioned in the class!!

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: CS510
• 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:

Very hard course. Every CS student should take at least one course from Dr. Zhu. You need to work very hard to undestand and get good grade.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: CS510
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

He knows a lot!

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: COMP418
• 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:

Sometimes very tough. But if you really want to learn and approach him, you will learn a lot.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: CS550
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

He really gets excited about theory and algorithms.

Rating # 16

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

Worst CS Professor? Probably.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: CS350
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

He is Ok. Very knowledgable of the material, but makes fun of questions especially if he thinks it is stupid (and they always are). He thinks everything is trivial.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: CS350
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

No Comments

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: CS324
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

No Comments

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: CS324
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

No Comments