Richard Trefler - University of Waterloo

Professor: Richard Trefler

Department: TBD

College: University of Waterloo

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: CS745
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

The course is very theoretical and it is difficult to translate the skills learned in a real context. The course consists mainly of note on the board to copy, which makes the course particularly heavy. Nevertheless, the works are quite simple and it gives very good results to everyone. Prepare to eat notations.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: CS245
• 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:

He let a student talk for half of the lecture every time. I couldn't take it so I stopped going to lecture. His assignments are not related to the midterm/exam but they are not hard anyway. You won't learn much in his class because he teaches 40% of the material which is fine if you just want to get through the course and learn nothing.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: CS245
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

visual is not satisfactory, neither are other issues. it can be told that he might be a good researcher and scientist, but certainly not a good teacher.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: SE463
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

I never felt like slapping someone so much in my life.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: CS245
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

He accepted to grad my late assignment so, yes, he is the prof

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: CS245
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

He is passionate about the subject, and the easiest 245 prof. However, his lectures are unclear, and you won't get to really dig into the content. His timing for lectures is bad (we covered the second half of the course in 2 weeks) and his assignments are useless. If you want this course to be easy, he's your guy. But you won't learn anything.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: CS245
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Took this course back in Winter 2011. He's not best at explaining a concept in class, but then the concept is hard to explain anyways. Just ask him for clarifications at the end of class or during office hours, and he'll be willing to help.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: CS245
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Good prof, material for this course is very challenging, in fact the textbook is a translation from a book made for Chinese graduating students. Nevertheless, the prof tried his best, and sometimes you'll need extra help from office hours or tutorial to follow the class.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: CS245
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

The course was very challenging. But he did his best explaining, this class isn't one that you need to slack off in. I had previously dropped this class because of another prof (David Toman) compared to David, this prof is the best I can ever ask for.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: CS245
• 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:

i have no idea what he is talking about in class

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: CS245
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

has no confidence, squeaky voice, vague descriptions. needs to go.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: SE112
• 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:

once claimed a proof was valid by rewriting it as an English sentence and said it obviously true.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: CS360
• 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:

Extremely easy class and Trefler made it interesting. He really engaged the students and kept interest levels high. Tests were easy, explanations were crystal clear. An extremely talented/brilliant professor teaching a decently interesting/very easy course.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: SE112
• 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 had very solid explanations. Well thought out and clear. All those who are complaining about him are obviously stupid. The course was extremely easy and they're probably angry that they didn't get it.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: SE112
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

All of SE2013 can tell you that he was terrible. Exam had almost nothing to do with assignments, and was ridiculous. Doesn't help when he is so obviously trying to sidestep a question he can't answer.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: CS245
• 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'm in his class right now and he's talking about cookies

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: CS245
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I took this class with him last year, I think a different prof is teaching it now. He would have been a better prof if he didn't always look so scared of his students. He liked to ask lame questions and then was surprised when no one answered... I guess he thought we were stupid. Material was boring, he was boring; overall a bad class.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: CS245
• 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:

He's the worst proffessor I've seen. You should go to his class just to see how bad he is. I completely depended on the book and notes (which are good). He can't answer a single question. Ask: "Whats 1 + 1?" He'll say: "Well you really have to think about that I mean numbers are a creation". Btw, he wrote the good comment about himself below.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: CS245
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

He knows the material well and he's enthusiastic about the subject. Unfortunately not many of his students are, and he's not very good at conveying that enthusiasm. If you can get past that, though, he's a pretty good teacher and often willing to talk about the course outside of class.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: CS245
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

non-vocal; doesn't understand how to answer questions; likes to pause profoundly while nodding his head after badly-worded as well as trivial statements; efficient slide reader; On the other hand, cs245 is utterly trivial and useless. Maybe that contributes to his classes's uselessness. Nevertheless, I think he is the only person who teaches it