Chris Towse - Scripps College

Professor: Chris Towse

Department: TBD

College: Scripps College

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: MATH32
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Towse is one of the most enthusiastic teachers I've ever had! Super great guy. His tests are straightforward and he's clear about what work he wants to be shown but he's strict about it. His grading honestly made me learn the material better and helped me understand calc3 and all of calc more. Wouldn't recommend if you don't like math though.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: MATH032
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Easily the best math teacher I've ever had. He's a very tough grader, but he really wants you to learn and succeed.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: MATH102
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Prof. Towse is an energetic lecturer and a nice person. The material itself is easy. However, his grading is unreasonably harsh. He gave me C-'s on both of my midterms, despite my answers being 95% correct. I lost most of my points for not showing what he deemed enough work, even though he never explicitly explained how he wanted us to show work.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: MATH102
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

He is super friendly in office hours, but he goes everything he wants you to know in class and skips around in the text book a lot. Don't miss class unless you really need to. Exams are straightforward and if you do the homework and ask questions about stuff they are hard not to do well on. Super energetic and kind!

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: MATH22
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Attendance is mandatory because he will make up terms that don't exist to replace actual terms in the textbook to purposefully target kids that don't show up to class so they do poorly on exams. Otherwise everything is better explained in the book. Doesn't keep records of work he assigns-assigns work quickly and arbitrarily after class has ended.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: MATH102
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Super sweet and funny. His lectures get pretty scattered though. The book was not helpful at all. Sometimes he doesnt go over all the material do homework gets kind of difficult. Also he says that it shouldnt take you long to do an assignment, but thats not true. One homework takes me at least 3 hours. I dont know, maybe that is short...

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: MATH22
• 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:

Condescending, scatterbrained, unclear with class expectations, unclear with exam expectations, inconsistent grading on exams

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: MATH032
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Towse is amazing! He really cares about his students and wants us to do well. Though the course contains a lot of material and he can talk really fast to get through everything, if you ask him questions he will go through the concepts slowly and make sure you understand. He answered many of my stupid questions. Take his class! You won't regret it.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: MATH175THRY
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Entertaining lecture.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: MATH032
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

He can be a bit disorganized and sometimes forgets about office hours but EMAIL him with questions or just show up at his office and he is super helpful! The class covers difficult material and he assigns hard homework problems but his tests are very straightforward and he just wants to make sure you have a basic understanding of the topics!

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: MATH032
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Go to his office hours, they're probably the only reason I did well in the class. Homework every class except before exams. Nice guy, a bit rambly, but his class is good and exams are pretty much impossible to fail unless you don't do homework.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: MATH032
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Homework every class (from textbook). Quizzes every Friday. His lectures are conversational and full of enthusiasm, but are slightly scattered. He's also a very picky grader. However, he's there for you when you need the extra help!

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: CALC2
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

I understood most of the concepts in his class, although Towse went through them way too fast in my opinion. He was extremely disorganized and would often come to class late and go overtime, not teaching us the necessary material. We had quizzes every Friday and his feedback on them was overly critical and downright mean.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: CALC3
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

His class is really work intensive. It's a good class because it's very conceptual and not computational. Really smart professor, but sometimes can go over things really really quickly without explaining it properly. He is really funny and his lectures are super interesting. Would recommend him if Math really you and you want to pursue it further.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: MATH31
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

PROS: You will be interested in calculus and want to go to class to hear Towse's lectures. He is really enthusiastic about math! CONS: Many of his lectures may seem unclear. He does not finish explaining the lesson. Go to Math Spot! Quizzes are hard but in the end, you will get a better grade than expected!

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: MATH31
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

THE BEST. lectures are interesting, although frequently go over/run off topic. explanations of problems (in class or office hrs) are SO helpful. quizzes are graded hard, but redo them before tests and you're good. He really emphasizes complete understanding of concepts and step by step problem solving. Class seems harder than it is; ends up fair.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: MATH102
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Towse is very good at explaining difficult subjects (unlike another Scripps math professor I know *cough*). The tests are super approachable if you know what you're doing, but he takes off a lot for small mistakes. But he's not trying to trick you. Make sure to have a buddy to check homework answers with.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: MATH102
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

scatterbrained, yes, but still one of the most organized and helpful teachers I've ever had! I didn't know very much about this class until I took it, but I LOVED it. I would recommend to anyone, math major or not! (and I am not....)

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: MATH102
• 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: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Unfortunately, Towse is totally scatter-brained, which makes learning from him nearly impossible. He is a fun guy, and sometimes he makes and effort to teach well, but he's not very good at it. Towse is okay.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: MATH32
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Towse is great! You can tell that he really wants everyone to do well. His enthusiasm for math makes the class a lot more interesting. He explains why things work instead of just teaching the basics. Sometimes this makes his lectures go a bit over time, but it is totally worth it!