Tom Hawkins - Boston University, Boston, MA

Professor: Tom Hawkins

Department: Mathematics

College: Boston University, Boston, MA

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: MA193
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

*Easy* A. Good guy and he's happy to help you out. Class moves quite slowly and if you can't figure it out, it's time to get out of engineering. All test and quiz problems mirror homework problems, and homework load is light to begin with. Grade based on attendance, quizzes, and tests. Final not cumulative.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: MA505
• 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:

Terrible teacher. The material could have been interesting but he made it tedious instead. A ridiculously unreasonable grader (very picky) and definitely my least favorite teacher at BU so far. Emphasizes rote memorization over actual mathematical insight.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: MA505
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

He screwed up the diagrams on the board; there were typos galore in the lecture notes and review questions; homework problems were impossible to solve with the knowledge we had from class; tests were extremely difficult and the grading was unforgiving. Truly awful experience.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: MA505
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Horrible class!!! Very sporadic material covered. Very boring lectures because he just reads from his notes for most of it. Homework is very hard. But the tests come directly from review questions, which are sooooo much easier than the homework questions. Still puts me to sleep every lecture. Seems like he could be a nice guy, but very boring

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: MA711
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

He does things in a clear and careful way, which is essential in doing math proofs. Also he thinks through the proofs when he presents them on board, unlike some other math professors who read/copy them out of notes or books..

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: LINEAR
• 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:

EVIL MAN. Tells us day one that attendance doesn't count. JUST reads from lecture slides that r on the net. Gets annoyed & reverses attendence policy when no one shows up to class. Makes attendence (taken from mid-semester) a req to do xtra credit

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: MA193
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

perfect

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: MA711
• 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:

I liked him a lot too. Explained all the details I wanted and graded HW very carefully. Hope he is getting better!!

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: MA711
• 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:

great professor! great lecture. I learned a great lot!!! highly recommended for Phd level real analysis

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: MA442
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Topic of Ph.D rather unusual: history of mathematics. Uses Mathematica software. Honors Math students, be prepared to face the computer screen ripping your hair off about two hours a week. Otherwise, a regular professor. Proofs only need to be memorized.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: MA442
• 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:

The best Professor ever. A really great teacher.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: MA442
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

The man is quite old, and I believe his teaching methodologies are also outdated. He jumps around in the Lay text too much. a regular linear algebra course is probably more helpful for both engineers and math majors. the usual proof emphasis is only memor

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: MA442
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

what a **** ****.