Richard Sowers - University Of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign

Professor: Richard Sowers

Department: TBD

College: University Of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: MATH424
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Really rude and incredibly condescending. Huge superiority complex, and does not care about anyone's feelings or about treating people with basic human kindness. Very disorganized and spacey as well.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: MATH461
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

HIs classes are interesting. Go to class and you will pass the exams. Exams are easy. Not accessible outside class.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: MATH410
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

His classes are really lively and interesting. He gives extra credit for projects. Exams are easy if all his lectures are attended. He connects bookish knowledge to the real world recent applications. I will love to take his class again.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: MATH410
• Grade Received: C
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Try to take Math 415 instead. This used to be a good course then they revamped it. Professor sowers is an ok professor during lectures but gets off topic a lot. Pop quizzes weekly and necessary to go. Biggest issue was he would lecture on 10 subjects, test you on 2/3 but wouldn't give you support to succeed (no practice problems or book problems)

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: IE300
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Worst teacher I have ever had in my life (which is saying a lot). He is extremely unprepared for lectures. He has countless mistakes on every lecture slide that makes it nearly impossible to follow According to him, if you "stare at the notes long enough" they will make sense. He is very disorganized when it comes to assignments and deadlines.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: IE410
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Sowers is one of those guys that is so smart it affects his ability to teach. I went to class bc the course was difficult but i never got anything out of lecture.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: MATH424
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

He is the worst professor i have ever met in this country.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: MATH424
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

I dropped this class on the last day. Math has some extended deadlines, it was shortly before the final. Retaking it created a couple issues, but I was stressed by the arbitrary nature of the class. About 3 (not long) homework problems all semester, no syllabus, no book, only partially distributed notes with errors, gave identical exam 2 and 3. Wat

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: MATH424
• 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:

Sowers' class was the worst class I've had at UIUC. He had no plan for the class and made it up as he went along. We didn't cover the material that one expects to learn in real analysis. The whole experience was a waste of my time and money and its a disgrace that the math dept. has so little oversight over their courses.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: MATH424
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

He is the worst teacher I have ever met. Before him, I thought all the American professors are friendly, helpful and experienced in the teaching field, but he is absolutely not. He doesn't teach real analysis and he doesn't follow what he said.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: MATH424
• 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:

The consensus of the class is that he isn't teaching us the material he should be teaching us and that's not good for anyone. All the exams are a lot harder than he first tells us they wll be because he doesn't adquately prepare us for them. I hope for your sakes he doesn't teach this honors course again, you won't learn real analysis.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: IE300
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Read the textbook, do the homework, sit in the front of the class room. Simple recipe to guarantee an A. Sowers is a menacing dude, extremely menacing, and quite funny too. I'll miss the witty speeches given before surprise quizzes and him calling out students who leave once they realize there isn't a quiz... only to quiz them at the end of class!

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: IE300
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Dr. Sowers cares that his students understand the material, and though his exams can be challenging, he doesn't use trick questions and he gives lots of partial credit. He's got a great sense of humor, too, which really helps you stay awake in class - the material can be quite dry at times.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: IE300
• 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:

Keeps lectures interesting by involving students and has a good sense of humor. If you pay attention in lecture you will hardly need to look at the text book. Exams are very straight forward, not too hard to get an A.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: MATH461
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Does not quite prepare the lectures, but he is very familiar with this field. Really likes to ask students questions in class, which makes me a bit stressful. The exams are not difficult, if you have tried several old exams from his archival.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: MATH461
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

His teaching order was different from the textbook, which made it hard to use the book efficiently. The way he carries his class could be made more comprehensible, but overall, he is a good teacher, dedicated and demanding.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: MATH386
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Awful prof. Speaks fast and confuses everyone. Also uses notation different from the book , which made class confusing. However, he had a nice curve at the end. So I managed to get an A-.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: MATH361
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

One of the best in the department.