Richard Zalik - Auburn University, Auburn, AL

Professor: Richard Zalik

Department: Mathematics

College: Auburn University, Auburn, AL

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: MATH1610
• Grade Received: C+
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

worst professor at AU. horrible, horrible teacher. lectures completely unnecessary considering he's unclear, talks lowly, and writes small. He does almost every problem incorrectly, and is corrected by students. Every missed class is 1 point off your overall grade. final is 40% of your grade. only reason I passed is his TA and prior cal knowledge.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: MATH2660
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Dr. Zalik's lectures can be boring and tedious, this is partly him and partly the material. However, he gives a bonus test at the beginning of the semester that is worth TEN extra points on your final grade. he also sends out and solves a sample test for each test including the final. He also allows you to use MATLAB for the exams.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: MATH1610
• Grade Received: C-
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Poor instruction and too strict of a grading policy. Not the hardest content or ridiculously hard tests, but far from an easy or clear learning environment.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: MATH2660
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Very poor teacher. Starts explaining a topic (poorly, b/c he assumes you know terms and other related topics when you actually don't) then skips all the intermediate explanatory material and goes to the answer. Learned nothing from this class. Only passed b/c he gives "practice tests" before each test which are really the test with numbers changed.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: MATH1610
• Grade Received: C
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Worst math teacher I've had in my life. Growing up I always loved math, but this man has made it my worst subject at school. He writes everything straight out of the book at lecture, messes up often on the examples, and writes very tiny on the board. Grades are pretty much exams and the homework that you do get is graded very toughly. DO NOT TAKE!

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: CALC1690
• 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:

This professor has an unfair process for grading tests and does not grade any of his own tests. He is difficult to understand and does not explain the material at all. He is unwilling to provide guidance or assistance in class or during office hours.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: MATH1610
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Richard Zalik is around 65 years old and refuses to use a microphone. You cannot read his handwriting anywhere in the classroom. For tests, he has two graders, one is really reasonable and the other gives zero partial credits.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: MATH1613
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

This man is extremely rude. I was late signing up for the webassign due to student loans coming in late. Having received an A in biz cal, I explained to him my confidence in being able to make up the missed assignements. He said he wouldn't allow it, claiming it was "not his problem," and then suggested I drop the course.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: MATH2660
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

If you want to actually understand the material, Zalik probably isn't your guy. That being said, he gives a bonus test and he works through practice tests in class which are practically identical to the real tests, so if you put in some effort and look through the textbook it isn't hard to get an A.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: MATH1120
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Terrible teacher. He talks very quietly and doesn't explain anything. Every lecture he just reads the textbook out loud from a powerpoint. You definitely have to teach yourself the material and after the tests are graded ALWAYS go to his office to look them over and if you ask him questions about problems he usually gives you some points back.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: MATH1613
• Grade Received: D
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Entire online course is solely based on webassign, however, the final is cumulative for all calculus 1 courses. I was very unprepared for the final.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: HDUD11
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

do not take this class unless you already have a good understanding of all material beforehand. AVOID THIS PROFESSOR hard to understand and is annoyed if you ask questions

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: MATH1620
• Grade Received: B-
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

One of the most rude men I have ever met. Went into his office hours one time after receiving a subpar grade on the test. I wanted him to walk me through what I did wrong. When I went to meet him in his office he was very late and by the time I finally got in there he basically just told me that I need to do homework and I won't do bad. Not helpful

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: MATH1130
• 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:

HE IS THE WORST. rude, arrogant, not at all pleasant to work with. doesn't show up for office hours, was late to class. didn't even have his right office listed in his email. -200/10 would recommend taking anything from him.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: MATH1130
• Grade Received: D
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

PreCal & trig. The class was unnecessarily difficult. I put an insane amount of work (on my own & with tutors) into this class & still ended the semester with a D.. 20 points higher than the class average. Less than 1/3rd of my class showed up any given day, & many would leave in the middle of class. Worked problems on the board but didn't explain.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: MATH1120
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Not a great teacher, he works problems on the board all class and doesn't explain how he go the answer. Multiple people in my class got up and left in the middle of class. I stopped going to class the last two months because its pointless. The homework and quizzes he gives out on WebAssign are super easy so you'll still make a good grade.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: MATH1120
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

He's a nice guy but a pretty awful teacher. He does scale pretty heavily, so I guess you could stay that makes up for how bad he is.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: MATH1130
• 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:

Zalik was the worst professor. He rushes through the material, and he gets mad when students ask him questions. He does everything through Webassign meaning he does not put anything on Canvas aka your grades which is a real inconvenience. There are only 3 tests throughout the semester and then a final which is 40% of your final grade. Stay away

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: MATH1030
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I took him for Pre-Calc and it was awful. I have a good grasp of the subject thanks to awesome HS math teachers & honestly I stopped & just refreshed with my tutor before tests & homework because class was useless. He talks super fast & quiet and assumes the class knows half of it already. If you actually need to learn math find someone else.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: MATH1120
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Going to class is pointless, all he does is work problems that he can't even explain. He gets upset/rude when people ask questions and doesn't answer them. His grading system is pretty unclear since he doesn't put anything on canvas, and when I asked for clarification he just told me to look at his syllabus (which didn't help). AVOID IF YOU CAN