Mario Costa Sousa - University of Calgary

Professor: Mario Costa Sousa

Department: TBD

College: University of Calgary

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: CPSC319
• 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:

Mario is the worst prof at UofC. He is unorganized, forgot to book a room for the midterm, notes are awful and will constantly send emails "fixing" his notes. He never released a grading scale for the class and made it impossible to get an A+ (He actually didn't offer out A+, and A was 95% - 100% which only 5 people received). Grades were public

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: CPSC319
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Midterm and assignments were impossible to understand and solve, especially midterm. The Final exam was a waste of time and pretty difficult. NO Grading Scale up until the last minute ( basically, the same day you receive your final grade)

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: CPSC319
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Terribly unorganized and forgetful. Lectures are incredibly boring and repetitive. Mario would send a email, then accidentally send the same email again and again. While it's a very easily class it's almost impossible to understand what he's looking for on tests and assignments. Take it with someone else for your sanity

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: CPSC319
• 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:

Mario is the most disorganized prof I have had the displeasure of taking a class with. Your TA knows more than he does. They'll give conflicting info about assignments too. He forgot to book the midterm exam room, leading to an online exam that was incomprehensible. The material here is not hard, but good luck trying to interpret Marios questions.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: CPSC319
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

A bit unorganized and lectures were mundane to the point no one showed up to class. Did not post a grading scale (and still has not to this date) even though he is required to at the beginning of class in the course. Assignments and midterm were easy though and final exam was difficult but fair.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: CPSC319
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Great set of notes available online. The lectures are taught at a great pace so you understand everything the first time it is taught. The assignments are not too difficult but the final was a bit challenging. Not sure how I could have prepared for the final exam better. Always answers to emails and is very helpful in office hours

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: CPSC319
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Dr. Mario Costa Sousa provides clear, thorough, and complete notes which are available on d2l. The assignments and tests are very reasonable. Everything is clearly outlined. Engineering students will be quite satisfied having Mario as a professor.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: CPSC331
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Very disorganized. He is unclear and difficult to understand. Sent out a critical piece of information he didn't cover in his section over email the morning of the midterm. Avoid if possible.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: CPSC331
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Professor Sousa is honestly one of the worst profs I have had so far. His lectures are extremely disorganized, the material learned in class only slightly mirrored what was to be tested. You WILL end up learning this entire course on your own if you are in his section. Contacting Mario for help is also near impossible.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: CPSC331
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

As others have said, Mario is a great guy. But there were problems with his class. His examples are contrived. He doesn't seem confident when he lectures which can lead to confusing mistakes. He's incredibly disorganized. By the midterm, three quarters of the class didn't bother to show up. The content in 331 isn't too hard. Learn it yourself.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: CPSC453
• 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:

Professor Costa Sousa is a good man who knows his stuff, and cares how you do. On that note, he confuses himself and others with pseudo-mathematical notation. He is horribly disorganized, making it simply impossible to prepare for lectures or term work. In other words, he's well intended but fails horribly in execution.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: CPSC331
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

No feedback on assignments; boring, slow lectures; extremely difficult tests that are far beyond what is taught during class; unengaging; poor organization. To be fair, he did put a lot of effort into his powerpoints and examples, not that they helped anyway.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: CPSC331
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Last review says it all. Literally no feedback given on assignments. NONE. I am glad I passed, but I can't tell you what I did right or wrong since the assignments were never returned. Mario spends most of the lecture mumbling and asking "Is it clear?" You probably need 331, but you don't need Mario. Take someone else.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: CPSC331
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

By far the worst prof I've ever had. Showed up HUNG OVER (no joke) 3 times, cancelled 3 lectures, handed back last 2 assignments day before exam, came unprepared, cared nothing for students, cancelled last assignment(most important one - hash tables). Even the TA's didn't understand his assignment outlines and certain question on his exams!FIREHIM!

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: CPSC591
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Mario has a bit of an organization problem, assignments often get delayed or skipped and about half of what we were supposed to be graded on was skipped. It is a shame because this course is VERY interesting and provides you with many new skills. Mario is very knowledgeable on his subjects but often doesn't have the time to share his knowledge.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: CPSC591
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Very disorganized - the final project was very chaotic because of fears that another assignment would be issued after the end of the semester. Friendly prof, but needs to work on structure.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: CPSC591
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

avoid this prof!!! he's very lazy and disorganized. we didn't take our midterm until two weeks before the end of class b/c he kept pushing it back! our assignments all got pushed back past the end of the class too. avoid avoid avoid!

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: CPSC453
• 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:

A perfectly average teacher. He's not particularly engaging, and he's quite disorganized (our last two assignments were due on the same day as the final) but he seems to know the material well enough to teach it.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: CPSC331
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

looks like a ****star. goes through his slides at lightening speed, but its ok b/c he posts them on the web. he's alright.. pretty average.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: CPSC441
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Kinda dry, but then, I already knew the 80% of the material.