Guoray Cai - Pennsylvania State University

Professor: Guoray Cai

Department: Computer Science

College: Pennsylvania State University

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: SRA468
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I rated him before for a previous class and he wasn't bad. I lied, He is awful. He doesn't even understand what he's teaching, doesn't accommodate for anything students ask for, and he makes big assignments due Friday nights.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: SRA268
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

His English is pretty decent, not too hard to understand. He spends the lectures going over how to do the worksheets which is pretty helpful

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: SRA468
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Guoray is a good guy. He definitely cares about his class and always wants to help people. There are two tests, one written and one about using the software in class. The written one, along with the weekly quizzes, are all open note. The final project is pretty time consuming, but he gives almost a month of in class time to work on it

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: IST210
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Dr. Cai's class was great, except for the labs. The labs are taught by a TA, and our TA expected that we already knew ASP/general programming principles. Dr. Cai is very clear and a great professor, but your success on the final project will depend on the TA you have. If you have a TA like mine, you WILL have to learn on your own.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: IST110
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Great professor and the nicest guy I've ever met. Take him.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: IST110S
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I had him as a first year seminar for IST, so the class was pretty easy. I do not think he explains directions very well so sometimes it is hard to know what he is looking for in papers and projects.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: IST462
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

He's very friendly, almost to a fault. He goes very slowly through everything, maybe even too slowly, but totally prepares you for exactly what you will be assigned or tested on. Don't miss class though, or you'll be lost, otherwise it's insanely easy. Grades you very easy to where the average score is usually a 90% or better.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: IST210
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Guoray is such a nice guy. He canceled the friday class 3 times becuase he knew everyone just wanted to go home early. Term project can be a pain but he gives you the last 3 weeks to explicitly work on it. There was also an exam that was very hard - I earned a 65% on it. He curved the grades and I ended up with a 102%. Final was optional, 90%+ final average = A.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: IST210
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Like a lot of professors, Cai has a good heart and is smart. He just can't convey that intelligence. His broken english only made learning database more confusing. Databasing in itself is hard for the normal person, like me. This is one of the hardest IST classes, so just get it over with. And if you have the chance, don't take it with Cai

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: IST210
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Cai has a hard to understand accent and he mumbles. If you sit toward the front, you should be fine, but I sat in the back. You get to make your own "cheat sheet" for every exam, which is very helpful. Also, because we had our last exam kind of late, he made the final optional! Day to day, the class was boring but overall it was easy.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: IST210
• 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:

if u already know a lot about databases, take this class you'll breeze through it, if not, id advise another teacher, the final project is pretty much the biggie and we didnt talk about it til the last month and we were expected to know how to do everything

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: IST210
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Dr. Cai is an excellent teacher. He goes over all the material necessary to design a database. He cares about the students; he listens to what they say and makes changes to the syllabus when necessary. He always tries to make himself accessible to the students. The only bad thing about Cai is his 'questionable hygiene.'

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: IST210
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Cai rambles and seems somewhat lost on who or where he is a lot. You still get the point of what he's teaching, but using the same info in lab/projects are different in the SQL code. As long as your final project is solid and you get a good TA (Ergin), it shouldn't be too much of a worry.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: IST210
• 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:

Guoray is crazy. He's literally senile. He's supposedly "easier" than the other teachers but that's just because he doesn't understand databases well enough to go as in depth as they do. There are times when there is utter silence while he draws on the board for 20 minutes, and he always seems confused. He's crazy.

Rating # 15

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

No Comments

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: IST120
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Guoray, Guoray, where to start? There's a big language barrier, and he seems to have a really imbalanced focus with his lessons. His lectures are extremely boring, and he seems confused the entire time. I'm learning in this class just because we spend days ont he simplest things, though.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: IST402
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

This class was in spatial databases. It was obvious that this was the first time it was offered, lectures were disorganized. Exams required knowledge of SQL, but lectures barely covered SQL. However, the work and the group projects were easy, and Cai was willing to help anyone. Hopefully this course will be better and more organized in the future.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: IST210
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Dr. Cai will bend over backwards to help you understand what he's saying. There was a bit of a language barrier but his helpfulness more than makes up for it.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: IST210
• 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:

I don't see how anyone could not recommend this guy. His tests and projects are easy. Just about everyone gets an A or B and he is willing to help out his students. If the class says that an assignment is too hard he would almost always push back the due date or change the assignment. I recommend him.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: IST210
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

His lectures are boring because he is somewhat monotone. however, you should be able to grasp the material from just the lectures, but if not, reading the book is enough to understand. The grading is easy, and the project is easy, and all the exams are cumulative. by the last one its all cakewalk