Craig Tracy - University of California Davis

Professor: Craig Tracy

Department: TBD

College: University of California Davis

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: MAT180
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Took his analytical number theory, the most involved topic I have learnt. The most talented and knowledgeable professor. Every time I ask question, he can answer perfectly. Instead of going over the reading, he explores new ways to prove. Difficulty is the price you pay for following a genius, so if you CHOOSE to take his course, get prepared well.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: MAT185A
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

prof tracy always have extremely high expectations on students, which made him "distinguish(ly hard) professor" the later 1/3 of the class is grad lvl and final have very hard problems. But mt is easy and some problems in final r from class (so dont skip!)he was giving lectures as grad classes, so u'll do well iff u do reading on ur own .

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: MAT185A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Don't take 22B with him, but upper math is not too bad. TA was extremely helpful with weekly homework session and office hour. Midterm was easy, but that open-book final was graduate-level. If your major GPA is almost perfect, take with him and enjoy the challenge. Otherwise, don't even try, don't insult yourself, and just take with other professor

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: MAT185A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

MAT 185 complex analysis is an extremely difficult class. He does not give practice exams or homework solutions, making everybody unable to figure out their level of skills and weaknesses. Homework grading criteria was also unclear. You should take him only if you are talent enough to embrace challenges and ace the material completely on your own.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: MAT185A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Does not know how to teach. He spent little to no time going over the basics and dived right into the hard stuff. I have no idea what he's talking about during class, most would agree with me. Never have I been so frustrated in a math class. His favorite thing to say is, "it's in your textbook." We aren't paying tuition to read a textbook!

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: MAT22B
• Grade Received: C
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

No reader for our class so homework was optional. 65% of the class dropped after the first lecture. Make what you will of that. However, he is an incredible professor that is accommodating, but also content heavy on exams. The curve was EXTREMELY generous. I finished with a mid-20% in the class and received a C. Again, make what you will of that.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: 22B
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Professor Tracy's 22B class was amazing. We used the book he wrote, but gave it for free on the website! His class is based on about 6 big topics that will be heavily discussed in class. No HW grade. 30% Midterm 1, 70% final. Seems tough, but all problems are STRAIGHT from the HW. Just read the book! Do the HW problem because they are fascinating!

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: MAT22B
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Extremely difficult!

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: 22B
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Best professor at UCD I've had so far. Also the toughest. Cold calls in class, has crazy long homework assignments, and great lectures. Do the homework and the practice exams and you will be just fine.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: MAT22B
• Grade Received: D+
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Tests make up 90% of your total grade. There's 2 of them. That's pretty crazy considering that this class's main focus is to work with DEs, but you'll be expected to have intuition about physics. I for one am a math major with little experience having only taken 2 physics courses. Lectures are too reliant on extpectancy of intuition.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: MAT22B
• Grade Received: INC
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Smart guy, horrible lecturer. He assumes you have a lot of math and physics intuition and doesn't give you the tools to teach yourself. This should NOT be a 3 unit class. Singlehandedly the worst math experience I've ever had.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: MAT22B
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

I honestly found the textbook completely useless and homework assignments did not help me learn anything. The homework averages were around 70-85 out of 100. I got around 95, but I had no idea what I was doing. One midterm and one final. His homework answer keys and questions are difficult to understand. Skip lecture, he doesn't teach anything.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: MAT22B
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Took him Winter '15. I enjoyed his lectures and he made the subject feel very deep and we used techniques learned in previous courses which made the topic pretty beautiful. The homework was interesting and at the same time difficult for a 3-unit, and the tests were worth a lot.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: MAT22B
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Do whatever you can to avoid this professor. It's extremely difficult to take anything from his lectures and he wrote his own textbook, which the tests are based off of, so it's also quite difficult even to teach yourself.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: MAT22B
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

He dropped mad knowledge. This class was very applied for a math class and now that I am taking PHY 9D I see a lot of the same stuff appearing about 7 weeks in. Very challenging course, especially mystifying near the end. To do well on exams you need to understand the derivations he performs in class. HW was hard, a lot of upper div mathematics.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: MAT22B
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Most difficult math class ever. Doesn't feel like a math course as much as a physics course. Despite the difficulty, he is the only one who teaches this course so there's no choice. generous curve at end & will prep for upper-div, but he assumes a certain level of physics intuition which is not in the prereqs.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: MATH22B
• 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:

This class is incredibly fascinating! Around week 5 you dive off the deep end, but by the time the final rolls around you should be fine. Fair curve, challenging hw, and novel concepts for an intro DE course. Light on rigor, heavy on intuition. He is always willing to stay after class to answer questions. Difficult class but highly recommended!

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: MAT22B
• 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:

Unbelievably hard. Homework takes hours even with a group and have to look up answers online. Book and in class lectures confusing, have to learn on own. Know the proofs listed in book. Genius, buts forgets we aren't. Study with a group needed. Curves generously, only thing that saved me. Sometimes goes over HW probs in class, worth going.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: MATH22B
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

This is the worst math class I even take. He teaches a lot about physics stuff and makes the class much more confusing than what it should be. He is no doubt a genius but he pretends that all his students are as smart as him. The textbook is confusing and I have to read another version of textbook to solve problems.So if u r not so smart, drop it.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: MAT22B
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

really interesting class, just work hard and you'll be fine