Lyn Turbak - Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA

Professor: Lyn Turbak

Department: Computer Science

College: Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: CS111
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

He is nice and accessible, but also very disorganized and an extremely slow grader, who made the class much more confusing than it should be.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: CS111
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Best professor Ive encountered at W. His lectures are fun and useful, teaches the important concepts in his own way. Super helpful in OH and emails, strives to teach you how to solve problem/debug. PSets, quizzes and tests are designed to help you learn well. Kind and understanding in case you fell behind. He grades slow but to me it didnt matter.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: CS111
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Took CS111 with Lyn after hearing he "knows how to make things fun". Unfortunately found his lectures incredibly dull and boring and did not get much out of any of them. He is also an incredibly slow grader with bad excuses to why he couldn't grade (seriously, it's your job?) - I didn't get a single pset back throughout the entire semester.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: CS111
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

So. Much. Busy. Work. I could have gotten through that so much faster, but he gave completely unnecessary work.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: CS111
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Lyn is the best! He is always willing to help and explains things fully and completely in office hours. Sometimes his lectures aren't the most clear, but he never goes at a pace that is too difficult to follow. 10/10 would recommend!!

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: CS251
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

First caveat: When I took the class, there was a lot of homework. That said, he was in the process of changing the course to make the workload more manageable. He took student feedback into account. Super enthusiastic, genuine, caring and treats students like human beings, Deadlines are flexible, but don't get behind.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: CS111
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Lyn is a phenomenal professor. He is extremely energetic and always available when you need him.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: CS251
• 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:

CS251 is meant to be hard. But Lyn made it a nightmare. His assignments took 20 hours per week, even for the best students in the class. They were also terrifying because Lyn didn't grade a single assignment (or test !!) all semester. Nobody had any idea how we were doing in the class. Apparently he's done this before too.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: CS251
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

This class was the biggest mess I've ever experienced. Lyn is sincere and a good teacher but he needs to be more understanding of how his disorganization affects our lives. Assignments were never released or graded on time, and they were impossibly hard.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: CS111
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

His lectures are not all that interesting, though he thinks he's being funny.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: CS111
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

He was always enthusiastic during lectures and tried his best to make the lectures exciting and comprehensive in some way. But his problem sets were ridiculously difficult.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: CS117
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

No syllabus, very disorganized. Class was a nice idea, but I was disappointed in how it was managed.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: CS111
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Extremely hard, gives difficult homework that takes over 4 hours to do, and is not too helpful. I.e. If you ask for help, he'll demand you show him without doing anything else

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: CS235
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

I love this man. But his problem sets are pretty merciless.

Rating # 15

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 professor I've ever had. Completely unreasonable and never listens. Explains things all right, but it's still confusing.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: CS251
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Lyn is the professor of all professors. His passion for OCAML REALLY shows in lectures with his enthusiastic praise of OCAML, and his vehement and acerbic remarks regarding C.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: CS111
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Great professor, great class. Problem sets are fun -- frustrating, but with exhilarating "AHA!" moments -- and not easy by a long shot.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: 230251301
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

The best teacher I've ever had; his passion for the subject is inspiring and is second only to his passion for teaching it. Will do everything possible to make sure all students understand the material. Funny, creative, and generous with his time.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: CS230251
• 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:

Lyn is a great guy, is always available to give help or advice, but he's also chronically late with things, his syllabi tend to be works of fiction, and his assignments can consume the greater part of a week sometimes.