Stephen Birkett - University of Waterloo

Professor: Stephen Birkett

Department: TBD

College: University of Waterloo

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: SYDE114
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

doesn't help at all and takes weeks to reply to emails

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: SYDE312
• 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:

Overall really knowledgable prof but very disorganized. Often when I go through my lecture notes again, I find a lot of mistakes which apparently haven't been fixed since before. He tends to overcomplicate things making the course harder than it needs to be. He does a great job at bell curving using projects, but class avg was 53% for 2018 final...

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: SYDE351
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

I had professor Birkett for SYDE 351 and SYDE 312. Overall, his exams are tough but he likes students that work hard. In other words, if you don't skip his class (yes he actually notices) and approach him for help outside of class, you're set. He is also one of the nicest professors I have met when approaching him for help outside of class.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: SYDE312
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

By far the worst prof I've had in university. Lectures are useless because you can barely hear him and his notes are chicken scratch. He tells the class to give him feedback on how to improve but he never changes. Communication with the class is horrible. Assignment questions barely help for his tests.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: SYDE312
• 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:

Nice guy. Alright teaching. Just knows this stuff too well so he thinks it's easy for us too. Final midterm took place 2 days before the final exam, with another assignment due within the week. What kind of scheduling is that. -_-"

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: SYDE114
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Really great prof! He is understanding of any situations that will happen to your life. His tests and exams are very fair and would not be a problem if you do your assigned homework questions.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: SYDE114
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

He was very nice, chill and he has a great accent! His tests often reflected the lectures and assignments. However, he was very vague when lecturing, which made the course much harder to understand. The TAs didn't help at all, they had a 2 hour tutorial and just wrote a couple of equations on the board (didn't explain them) and did nothing else.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: MTE351
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Really decent prof. He is very easy to understand, and provides concise notes. He picked a great textbook, too. Helpful for feedback on project, though he could perhaps give homework for the 2nd half of the course.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: MTE351
• 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:

Notes are very unorganized and his lectures can be confusing to follow along. He tries his best to be helpful.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: SYDE351
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Great proff, really helpful with project information and was willing to take extra time to address individual questions. He talks a little softly but if you're paying attention you'll hardly need to study for his exams

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: SYDE351
• 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:

Very hard to go back and understand notes taken, because they are pretty disorganized. Overall, course is fair, just everyone forgot to study ALL 100 of the definitions before the midterm.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: SYDE114
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

very unclear, but very dedicated to helping. Too bad he can;t help.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: SYDE114
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

committed prof but needs to be more clear with his teaching methods. confuses a lot and thn sometimes he does examples wrong in the class. so students keep practicing the wrong stuff. needs to go easy on final exam. questions are hard and very long.if he makes the exams a bit easier i think he wud be a better proff..

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: SYDE114
• 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:

Dedicated prof, very helpful. Constantly uses Yahoogroups to communicate with class and keep people informed. Responds fast to emails. Downsides: talks softly, likes to use abbreviations, hard to read writing.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: SYDE312
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Worst lectures ever. Never really explained anything, so you have to use the text. Tried to be funny, but was usually just plain confusing. Never seemed too keen on trying to help.

Rating # 16

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

Most dedicated prof ever. will sacrifice all his time to his students. uses powerpoint slides for lectures which are boring, fell asleep many times. he also fakes an english accent..very amusing. A curious fellow.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: SD312
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Really nice guy

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: SYDE114
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

very organized, goes out of his way to help you out (yahoo groups, replies almost immediately extra tutorial sessions before each test). Can be tricky in tests, loves definitions...