Brian Levine - University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA

Professor: Brian Levine

Department: Computer Science

College: University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: CS591SP
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Brian is the highest energy professor in this school. His disorganization is almost like a dance that he ends up pulling off at the end of each class. Take careful notes, as you're testing on Brian's thoughts, not so much the reading material. Otherwise, he is inspirational and a great speaker and loves to talk about his P2P work. Tests were easy.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: 365
• 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:

Really nice and helpful guy, but you really have to work for your grade. If you really want to learn about security, this is the class for you.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: CS187
• 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:

Seriously, NOT EXAGGERATING, the greatest lecture style course that I have ever taken. Levine keeps things super interesting and seems to finally teach in a format that works without boring you with slides or painfully forcing you to participate. Great guy, great class!

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: CMPSC187
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Levine was an interesting professor and was rarely dull. Very helpful, but the submission system was clunky and he few exceptions to his grading if you got screwed by it. Listened to student input on exams, and graded accordingly. Programs were challenging, but generally interesting and graded fairly. TA's are selected well. Slightly disorganized.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: CS187
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

He knows how to teach, and is a nice guy. Helpful during office hours. Entertaining during lecture. Attendance is mandatory though.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: CS187
• 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:

He is clever, more than that, he knows how to present what's in his mind in clever and efficient way, and this made him such a great instructor comparing with other Prof.s(And if you visit his homepage, you will see he is also great in research) He had to pick up Java to teach this class, but still he made this class intellectually entertaining.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: CS187
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Funny, charismatic, genuinely invested in helping students. Data structures is a hard class that is made difficult by Levine's sometimes-less-than-clear diagrams, but as long as you keep up with your reading in the textbook, you'll manage class easily. Programs and tests are challenging, but that's the only way to learn CS.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: CS365
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Amazing teacher, amazing class; a must to take before you graduate. It's a lot of work, yes, but you learn a LOT, and the stuff you learn is pretty cool.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: CS491C
• 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:

Awesome professor.

Rating # 10

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

Best part was one lecture where he discussed Napster. Showed how to download a Pixies song. I would have rather had several smaller projects rather than a couple large ones.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: CS653
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

oh god, I thought he was a graduate student. I was wondering who this cute guy is when I came to know that he is a professor. It was funny but many had had that experience....:)

Rating # 12

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

On top of his field, and an excellent professor. Discuss computer security with his sometime :)

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: CS691
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

He has a lot of useful insight on projects that are being worked on. He seems to know a lot about a lot.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: CS515
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

No Comments

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: CMPSCI515
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

He's smart and knows he is, so it seems to me that the entire class is a who's smarter than who class and it's basically impossible to get a question right without him adding to what you say.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: CMPSCI653
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Young; had blue hair; distracting; good teacher; gave good homeworks.