Amos Confer - SUNY Polytechnic Institute

Professor: Amos Confer

Department: Computer Science

College: SUNY Polytechnic Institute

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: CS220
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Amos Confer is a great professor who cares a lot about his students. He often is available outside of class and will make time for you so you can talk to him. His lectures are all off the top of his head and he is very open to criticism. That being said his assignments are a little tough and if you miss a class you'll have a rough time.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: CS330
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

I took CS 330 with him and it was pretty easy. He graded on 10 handouts and 4 programming assignments. The homeworks were hard, but not too hard. Goes off on tangents a bit but he keeps them on-topic.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: CS220
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Amos is a great teacher in my view. If you are looking for a challenge he is the best option. However if you are just looking to pass it was a very difficult class and you should avoid. He graded basically nothing all semester and also gave barely any homework, the homework he did gave was extremely complex.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: CS220
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Avoid Amos at all costs. By far one of the worst professors at SUNY Poly. He is extremely intelligent, but his classes are boring and he isn't willing to help his students making his homework assignments difficult.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: CET429
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Confer definitely knows his stuff but he doesn't know how to explain what he's teaching. His class is extremely unstructured with no syllabus and your grade depends on the few homeworks and programs that are assigned throughout the semester. Would never take a class with him again.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: CS220
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

His lectures are long and he often runs over the allotted time by a few minutes. He goes off on tangents that don't realte much to the material. There's no tests but there are programs he assigns which are really tough for those who are relatively new to programming. He also assigns homework randomly which is easier but he takes forever to grade

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: CS220
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Lectures are very long but he does know his stuff. The worksheets he assigns for homework aren't too bad but the programs are very tough. He averages all of your grades together though so you can make it up if you do bad on a program. He takes forever to grade sadly but he's not a bad teacher.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: CS220
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Confer does not give out tests in a conventional sense, instead he gives out homework assignments that are averaged together in order to create test grades. Hes much more relaxed than other professors but if you fall behind you will be out of luck.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: CS220
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Amos is a very knowledgeable person, but he also expects most undergrads to be programming whizzes, which only a few might be. He also doesn't structure classes very well, with most lectures consisting of him just talking about various topics that loosely relate to the material you should be learning. Overall, I would say avoid him at all costs.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: CS330
• 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:

Confer is an extremely smart professor and nice, but if you actually want to learn something and get help, I would recommend avoid taking any classes with him unless you have exceptional knowledge in the field of study.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: CS330
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

I would not recommend taking a class with Confer if you have a choice to pick someone else. Although he is a highly intelligent professor, he doesn't really help you when you ask for it. If you ask for help, beware that you will receive a zero if its a program and you are having an issue with getting it to run properly.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: CS220
• Grade Received: C-
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Funny and a nice guy, but beware that if you ask for help, you will get a zero for a grade on the programs. I would recommend another professor if possible.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: CS220
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Confer is a nice professor who is willing to help if asked. The only problem is even when you ask for help, that doesn't mean he explains it in a way for students to comprehend. The programs are tough especially since you have to try and understand the code he wrote. I would not recommend taking his class unless you want a low grade.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: CS480
• Grade Received: C
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

I'm downvoting because while he is a great lecturer he is inflexible, and if you have specail needs forget about accomidations

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: CS220490
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

I took CS 220 and 490 I currently have nothing to complain about do work get an A it's as easy as that. Show what you've done if it looks like progress the better your grade

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: CS220
• 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:

Amos is the best teacher you'll ever have at SUNYIT. Took another one of his classes this year and reminded me how great he is. Literally if not for any other reason then I leave his class feeling like I've learned something.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: CS220
• 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:

I wish he taught more classes. He is a genius, and wanted to spread his genius so he taught at a school in a dying city... anyway. Do the HW, go to lecture, easy A. Only issue i had is he went a bit slow for the first 3 months then tried to cram learning an entire assembly launguage in the last 2 weeks or so. Despite that highly recommended.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: CS220
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

His youth and energy are almost comical juxtaposed with the rest of that department. I'd almost be led to wonder what skeletons are in his closet that he's not able to get a better job elsewhere.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: CSC317
• 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:

This professor is relay helpful, If you don't understand something just ask and he may spend the whole next class going over it again. The class also has lab time so you can go start your programming assignments in lab not all outside of class. He also responds pretty quick to email or the forum if you have a problem. Open Notes Final.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: CS220
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Learn binary math, microcoding, floating point, boolean logic, bitmasks, truth tables, karnaugh maps, circuit diagrams, decoders, AT Robots! Assembly Programming.