Joel Friedman - University of British Columbia

Professor: Joel Friedman

Department: TBD

College: University of British Columbia

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: CPSC421
• 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:

As a professor, he's on the apathetic side. Rambles occasionally during lecture. Lectures, in general, are remarkably boring. Textbook will be your friend. But, he has a really generous grading scheme, which essentially allows your final exam mark to be your final mark if you do quite well on the final exam. And his exams are easy.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: CPSC421
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Rambles quite a bit and seems unprepared. Textbook (Sipser) is pretty good though. Mostly DFA's, NFA's, basic Turing machine stuff. Pace is really slow. Exams and homework are also not too hard.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: CPSC421
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Not a good lecturer, course moves extremely slow. Just read the textbook, or even the wikipedia pages on the topics, you'll learn more. Better yet, don't take this class. If you did ok in 320 and 421 this is an easy grade, but not worth it imo since you learn so little and it's so boring.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: CPSC421
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

If you did well in the final, you overall grade for this course will be your final grade.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: MATH200
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Lectures were confusing and rarely got the important points across. Not effective at explaining methods clearly. Really loves to demonstrate with tables.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: CPSC421
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Incredibly helpful, nice, and laid-back. Lectures are at a good pace; I only started getting lost near the end of the semester. All-around great professor.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: MATH152
• 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: N/A

Comment:

I don't understand how he could have any nice comments, every thing we do in class has nothing to do with what we are supposed to be learning. Spends half the class trying to decide whether to use the chalkboard or the whiteboard or deciding which color chalk to use.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: MATH152
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Does not prepare notes. Teach the course material using a lot of different terms than what is made standard. Unorganized.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: MATH307
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Joel is seriously awesome.. very nice and willing to help any time. His teaching style is relaxed and non-traditional, but the concepts are emphasized, as is thinking outside the box. The only way to prepare for his tests is to truly understand the material, and if you do, you will do really well.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: CPSC421
• 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: N/A

Comment:

Prepare to learn a lot of the content by yourself.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: CPSC421
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Lecture feels rather slow. Able to miss a class and not really miss much. Does a good job of explaining the concepts.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: CPSC421
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Lectures aren't really worthwhile. The textbook will be your best friend.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: MATH340
• 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: N/A

Comment:

He is either unable to teach, or a very lazy professor. Teaching feels very sloppy in class, and he doesn't seem to care about a lot of things. self study is a must, but again, why pay tuition and come to UBC if you can just buy a textbook and self study at home?! Horrible prof.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: MATH340
• 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: N/A

Comment:

The worst instructor I've ever had in my entire life in UBC. You BETTER switch to other section NOW!!!

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: MATH307
• 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:

First off, very very nice guy. I dun think he gets mad very often. Yes, he is one of those guys. Notes on the board was horrible tho. Useless for hw and mts. They are too complicated and does not link to the hw. A lot of self study if ur taking his course. Exams are ok, a little on the hard side.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: MATH307
• 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:

He gives horrible notes, no examples (or he'll give an "example", and tell you to solve them before showing you how). The midterm was decent, but the final exam was inhumanely hard. He didn't make class interesting (it was torture to sit through the 1.5hr lectures).

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: 307
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

this man is possibly the smartest professor at UBC. check his CV for putnam results.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: MATH307
• 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:

Awesome guy! I really enjoyed the class! He made it simple enough for me to understand, which was good since it had been 3 years since I took the prerequisite... I high;y reccomend him!He cares about the students, and about teaching and that makes the best kind of prof!

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: MATH307
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

A little overenthusiastic (though it is comical), but he really knows what he's talking about. Unfortunately, he has a tough time "dumbing it down" so that students understand what he's saying. Gotta read the text to understand what's going on.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: MATH200
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

good notes and pretty clear. just that his examples are easy then he brings up q's that seem to b too difficult. exams are hard