Rebecca Hwa - University of Pittsburgh

Professor: Rebecca Hwa

Department: TBD

College: University of Pittsburgh

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: CS1571
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Homeworks are doable (maybe 1 or 2 are harder), clear grading criteria, exams are not hard if you know the material well, will definitely take again.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: CS1538
• Grade Received: B-
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Simulations is an awful class because most of the work is entirely based off of statistics. It's not a CS class at all, and if you expect to do something interesting with programming, you'll be disapointed. Hwa is actually a pretty good teacher compared to the rest of the department, and the course isn't cake but it's passable.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: CS1571
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Hwa is obviously a very smart woman who knows a lot about AI. Assigned relevant projects that helped me understand the material. Projects took a lot of work. Tests were difficult. Would sometimes get confused in lecture and mess up examples. Willing to help if you don't understand the material. Made hard material understandable.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: CS1571
• 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:

Great lectures and--get this--she actually **writes on the board**, instead of reading from slides. Hugely appreciated. AI is very hard, but Hwa steps through each of the problem types, slowly so you can make sense of what's going on. Happy I took this class, but be prepared to work. It finally clicked at the end for me. & I'm appreciative of that.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: CS1671
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

I could see this class being troublesome if you don't come in with some background knowledge. Office hours are really helpful, though, and the textbook is good too. Homework assignments can be a lot of work, but they changed to shorter paper-and-pencil questions once we had the team project to work on, so that was a bit of a relief.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: CS1571
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

She makes it make sense. Coverage this semester was cool because we got into a bit more machine learning. Her assignments and exams seem to be a little tougher than other professors' though. Be ready to put time into understanding what you're doing. Lots of opportunities for exam practice.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: CS1538
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Kinda boring class, but Hwa teaches it pretty well. Exams are pretty difficult.(averages in the 50s) Assignments aren't too bad and are graded pretty easily. A lot of the course is the theory behind simulation, and you only really get to apply it in the final assignment/project.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: 27502750
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

I did not see Hwa is ready to teach this course: no slides, the topics are too old, and the textbook she recommends is also old. The author himself of that book has told his students not to read his book because it is outdated. about 1/3 time Hwa spends in a lecture is to copy the definition literally from the textbook to whiteboard. Boring

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: CS1671
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Excellent teacher. Very accessible, in or out of class. Very clear, logical lectures. The projects she assigns are especially good -- probably the best projects I've ever had to do, as far as learning the material. Clearly puts a lot of thought and effort into teaching, and does it well. Her class is challenging, but in the best way.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: CS1571
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Best professor I've ever had at Pitt. You will work your butt off and you will learn more than in any other class. Extremely sharp and has knowledge of course material far deeper than most professors. If you get lost (and you probably will) go to her office hours, she's extremely helpful and patient, but doesn't talk down to students.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: CS1571
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Not prepared for class at all. Rarely has examples ready and usually has to waste time thinking of something. Worst grading scale ever, X/5, so one error in a program immediately bumps you down to a 80%.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: CS1571
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

She has great potential but hasn't reached it yet unfortunately...

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: CS1571
• 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 CS profs I've had by far. Extremely helpful outside of class and she actually TEACHES in class. One of the only CS profs that doesn't just read off a PPT slide - can't recommend her higher. Just don't expect anything close to a free ride - her class took some work, but was worth it.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: CS1571
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

You will work a lot. You will learn a lot. She is very accessible outside of class and puts in 110% effort to get us to understand AI. Very, very fast in grading and returning projects. Homework is graded fairly. I think she purposely doesn't use powerpoint, which forces us to come to class.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: CS1571
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Teacher gave an unsufficient amount of time for most assignments. Teacher gave unsufficient time to fully complete the midterm. Dwells on statistics in CS1571. Does not clarify things well. Does not come prepared to class with slides of the material. Don't like the class. Teacher is 2/5.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: CS1571
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

She is a great teacher and is really smart too.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: SOCIALIMP
• 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:

Excellent prof, very helpful in and out of class.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: CS1590
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Exceptional effort for first time with the class. Always available for help and put way more time into the class than can be expected of most teachers, especially with research going on simultaneously.