Richard Tam - Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN

Professor: Richard Tam

Department: Mathematics

College: Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: MATH153
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

I had this teacher in 1995-1996 at IUPUI. I stumbled across my report card recently and began having flashbacks of the Vietnam war, and I wasn't even in Vietnam. It is not appropriate to call him any term related to educator. An educator actually cares if students learn something from your efforts. How is he still employed there?

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: MATH537
• Grade Received: B-
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Didn't learn a thing in class and you weren't expected to. Just memorize the test questions coming to class is a waste. Boring lecturer. Doesn't seem to care about the topic or that students blatantly cheat.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: MATH166
• Grade Received: C-
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

He made me hate math.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: M511
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Stay away from this terrible professor. He is the worst prof that I've so far at IUPUI

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: MATH266
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Worst professor I've ever had. Avoid at all costs. Does not curve the course. If you have to take him make sure it's not a summer course.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: MATH154
• 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:

About average in teaching Math 154. The tests problems he uses are often taken directly from sections in the textbook, however the tests were pretty short. He can be tough grader with the tests, though. I really have no complaints.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: MATH154
• Grade Received: WD
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Tam is impossible to understand, he goes entirely too fast for someone just starting out in the Trig / Analytic Geometry world. I would not recommend him, as he talks to the chalkboard more than he explains what he's doing to the students.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: MATH15400
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Homework isn't mandatory, but you will need to do it in order to get an A. Tam speeds through lectures, but you'll understand it if you do the homework. Extra credit available on each exam.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: MATH15400
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

He's very rude when asked questions, and he doesn't explain what he's doing when he's solving problems on the board. He just ends up with an answer, and everyone gets super confused as to how he arrived at it. I've basically had to teach myself everything so far. Going to class is useless unless there's a test/quiz because you only get confused.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: MATH266
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

He crammed more into a 6 week summer course than all the other professors taught in a whole semester. Extremely difficult exams. Quizzes straight from homework problems.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: MATH266
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Overall an OK professor. He is really passionate about math. So passionate that sometimes he couldn't help working out unrelated proofs that took up large portions of the class. He gave us outlines of the tests which told us every type of problem that would be on it, but sometimes he would pick pretty hard problems, which upset a lot of people.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: MATH266
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

The lectures were not very helpful, most learning was done in the MAC outside of class. The exams were much more difficult than any of the assignments and quizzes

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: 154000
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

1.) speaks broken English at best 2.) talks to the board 3.) asks questions like "anyone have questions from the hw?" but then proceeds to not look at the class to see if anyone has their hand raised, proceeds to do random examples. Completely disconnected from the class 4.) Exams are completely full of the "exception" problems.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: 15400
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

I am a mathematically inclined student, && math usually comes quite easily for me. This course has been the hardest math class I have ever taken. Tam is so hard to understand and doesn't take time to really teach material he just speeds through the lecture. He is also a soft spoken gentleman and is hard to hear.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: MATH17100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

STAY AWAY FROM HIM. This class is based on simple concepts, but he made them extremely difficult in they way he created his exams and quizzes. Shows no mercy to his students. He will not help you in any way!

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: MATH171
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

AVOID HIM AT ALL COSTS! He defines everything, relates it to every possible function it relates to, applies it to real world concepts, and then might tell you what it is that you're supposed to be learning. Our entire class spent everyday in the mac together because we were all so lost. He is horrible and could care less about your grade.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: MATH17100
• 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:

This professor is the terrible kind. Not like the decent, the terrible. The kind who gives you 20 homework questions, and the quizes are those same questions, but come test time, THE TEST HAS NOT A SINGLE QUESTION IDENTICAL TO THE HOMEWORK. Very funny&Entertaining, but those qualities are not what gets you A's in classes. Not recommended.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: MATH153
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

He is very hard to understand and is not good at teaching. He's very smart but does not know how to teach people what he is talking about. I only come to class to take the quizzes and tests because I don't understand him!

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: MATH166
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

do not take a class with this guy he was very unreasonable his quizzes are really easy and then his test are extraordinarily hard every one failed them the first test we took was so awful as class that she said the score we going to give us a mental shock

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: M165
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Excellent professor/lecturer. He gets right to business promptly every class. Very patient, which is good because explaining complicated mathematics can be tedious. He also provides extra summaries of all the material in each section BONUS. This site has several bad reviews of R. Tam, however, this seems unwarranted because he is a good professor.