Florian Potra - University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Professor: Florian Potra

Department: TBD

College: University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: MATH225
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

There is no reason not to take a professor that isn't him. He is by far the worst professor I've had at UMBC. His lectures include reading you the text book and doing the two easiest problems out of the textbook. I sat at the back of the class and watched as half of my peers took out their laptops and watched a khan academy video. Takes attendance.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: MATH221
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

He does not teach well, but the class is an easy A. You have to read the book and study the material yourself. just use youtube. The homeworks are out of the book and are easy. The tests are only 3-4 questions with 3-4 parts per question and are not hard. Go to the review session he has, it is basically the exam. Nice enough guy.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: MATH221
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Pretty much every negative review about Potra is right. I can't blame him for having an accent, but I can blame him for never making any sense, and for not actually teaching the class. If you have him, then Khan Academy and the textbook will be your best friends, occasionally takes attendance but it counts toward grade. Never posts to blackboard.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: MATH221
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Be prepared to learn everything on your own. The Assignments are from the textbook and he posts all the questions beforehand, the Assignments are due by every Monday depending on the sections he covered in class. The Exams are only 3 questions and he does have a review session prior to the exam and gives similar problems to the one on the exam.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: MATH221
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Nice enough dude I guess, but an absolutely terrible teacher. Class consists of him solving random problems from the book, not teaching material. There's no correlation between what's solved in class and what's on the tests. Tests are always three questions, so hopefully you read the book. 80% of your grade is based on three tests. Don't recommend

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: MATH221
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Taking this professor basically means you will be teaching yourself the material in your free time. Lectures consist of random book problems being solved which may or may not be relevant. Very rarely was something useful learned during class which was helpful on the homework of tests. Grading is not consistent at all

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: MATH221
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

All he does is teach directly out of the book. He does not speak or write clearly so it is very difficult to understand. I basically taught myself the material. The tests are not too hard and a 85% is an A so you should be able to pass.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: MATH301
• 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:

This guy's absolutely terrible. Had to take 301, and other 301professors' classes were full. With his bad reputation,teaching,accent,gibberish lectures many dropped after couple weeks. Reviewers below r absolutely right, he NEVER EVER answered emails, left us confused many times in class. He never cared if we were actually learning anything. AVOID

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: MATH221
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Horrible professor. Has a terrible accent and just mumbles and solves problems on the board without explaining anything. Doesn't answer e-mails, and the exams (while easy) are only three questions long. You must read the book or use other sources other than him to pass the class. Absolutely terrible.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: MATH221
• 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:

He doesn't teach us then gives up 3 question quizzes so if you miss one problem you're getting a d

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: MATH301
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Does not prepare anything for lecture. Looks at the book then decides what he wants to teach. Rants for 2 hours. Jumps around in the book and moves way to fast to understand. You will need to learn everything from the book

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: MATH301
• 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:

He does not like teaching, and his lectures are tangential or gibberish. horrible handwriting. NO help outside of class, does not answer emails EVER. Buy the book, and use it like crazy if you can't avoid him entirely. He grades tests easily, but the first one was two questions out of several sections in the book. Good luck.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: MATH221
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Material is easy enough, but could never understand a word he said. Homework due every week, straight out of the textbook. Always scheduled quizzes and never remembered to actually have them. Two exams -- he tells you what's on them so they're not too bad. Attendance is mandatory; if you don't show up to sign the attendance sheet, you lose points.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: MATH221
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Not a great professor: he was difficult to understand and his lecture notes were scattered and almost incomprehensible. As a math major, I refuse to take another course with him.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: MATH302
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Doesn't always speak clearly or write neatly on the board, so lecture can be hard to follow at times. On the other hand, homeworks are few, test questions are straight out of the book and a list of possible questions is given to you beforehand, so you don't really have an excuse to do poorly. Funny guy, has some interesting anecdotes.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: MATH221
• 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:

I highly recommend this teacher if you german, french, spanish, portugese, brazilian, or 1000 other things. Just so long as english isn't one...this is considering he barely speaks english either, which is awesome considering i speak english so i had to drop class.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: MATH225
• 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:

The first unit was fine. But he had trouble keeping order during exams and it was hard to learn under his instruction for the next two exams. Did not gain much from the class.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: MATH225
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I never understood his lectures. I used the book to learn the material. There were only a few homeworks graded in the entire semester(don't fail a homework).There were 2 exams and a final. We learned very little in the class. Since people were doing poorly, he gave a lot of extra credit. I probably failed the final but I still did well in the class

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: MATH225
• 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:

good man, great story teller, slight east europe accent, class was disrupted, he had family issues to attend to. tells you what is on exams(2, final, usually open note, 3 probs. no quizzes. good office hrs. hw is light/helpful. kept class intrstng, knwldgble, happy man, best diff eq teach ive had, nevr take lynn, recommended - *STAY STRONG, POTRA*

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: MATH301
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Not very good at explaining the concepts, but will help you if you ask, or go to his office hours. His arbitrary grading and frequent tangents don't help. Gave a lot of extra credit. Be prepared to do a lot of studying on your own.