Reviews for Giovanni Fo
Average Rating:| terp339 Course: MATH130 Grade Expected: A- December 23, 2012, 7:32 pm | Professor Forni is a very nice man but is awful at teaching. He goes off on tangents during lectures and it is very difficult to keep up with him. I completely stopped going to lecture and just went to discussion instead. He has very nice and helpful TAs that understand the students. Forni's exams are impossible, I got a 43% on one exam but still managed to get an A- in the class. He curves very generously to compensate for his difficult exams. Overall awful professor but a good curve |
| Xi Cheun Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: May 16, 2012, 10:37 am | He teach very fast and very confusing. He does curve the class alot but if you are a student who needs to know the material very well I would NOT recommend him at all! |
| ronnyb Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: May 6, 2012, 10:15 am | This is by far the worst professor i have ever meet in my life. Enough said. |
| studentXYZ Course: MATH405 Grade Expected: February 11, 2012, 10:35 am | Well, people below do make a quite-true comment on him. However, I have to say something else. Don't expect the teacher to teach you everything in the classroom, especially in the math class. If you don't do homework, don't read the text carefully, don't go to his office hour, then don't blame at last. I took MATH405 with him. I believe 405 is the most or second most difficult math class for undergrade(you guys can confirm this with anyone in math department or any students who have ever taken this class). His lecture is "terrible", full of abstract content and lots of stuff that presume you have already known. But, he is patient both in and out of classroom. You can bring your homework to his office, he will do every single one for you step by step. And he curve a lot, as long as you got a score above the average, you can guarantee to get a B. And usally, this B finally turns to an A- or even A on your transcrept, because he really CURVES a lot. Guys, don't blame how fxxxxxx bad the professor he is if you don't attend lecture, nor do homework. Blame yourselves, cuz you are students, you are supposed to be responsible for what you have ever done. Last, I want to say, if you devote your time into it, you really learn a lot, far more than the course coverage, from him. He is knowledgable and smart. You know, he was a Ph.D. from Princeton U. xD |
| Anonymous Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: A November 15, 2011, 1:00 pm | After the first few days of class I thought I was really going to like this guy. Unfortunately, those feelings haven't stayed the same due to the fact this guy just rambles on about derivatives without teaching. Just to give you an idea how bad of a teacher he is, the class average for the first midterm was a 39. He's arrogant in the fact that he expected people to get everything right on these tests when in reality, they were nearly impossible. The only reason why I'm doing well in the class is because I took calculus last year. I've talked to kids who didn't take calc and are in my class and they are completely lost. There are so many other teachers you can take for this class. I advise you NOT to take a class with Forni. |
| a778999 Course: STAT400 Grade Expected: A May 18, 2010, 12:28 am | What everyone else said. His lectures were awful so I had to rely on my TA to learn the material. Homeworks were pretty easy but do not prepare you for the tests at all. Even though the tests are open book, the book doesn't help at all. I failed my second midterm but still got an A because of the generous curve. |
| Anonymous Course: STAT400 Grade Expected: A November 18, 2009, 7:57 pm | His lectures are impossible to followw, so you must learn everything from the book. His tests are created to be IMPOSSIBLE! He himself said that a student should be able to only understand half the test. That sentiment was reflected in the average grades (the first midterm average was a ~45, and the second was a 32). The final was do-able. Avoid if possible. |
| Anonymous Course: STAT400 Grade Expected: June 3, 2009, 3:41 pm | Good lecturer: no, a terrible lecturer Smart: may be but definitely not a smart teacher Tests: hard, at least 2 problems not doable Approachable: not really, sometimes didn't show up during his office hours Should I take him: I suggest to do everything possible to AVOID taking any class (esp. STAT400) with him Are lectures helpful: 95% of lectures that I attended were not very helpful, other 5%: don't know. Test avg: Test 1 -> low-mid 50s, Test 2 -> low-mid 30s...I'm not kidding!! Curve: Huge curve, basically if you do avg on test, its a B Other comments: -If you have questions about homework, don't go and ask him. He will do everything but answer your question. -Even though he is a stats professor, he won't give you a grade distribution which is sad |
| Anonymous Course: STAT400 Grade Expected: B+ May 23, 2009, 12:41 pm | Honestly, I went to no more than 25% of the lectures. From when I was there, I can say that Forni focused mostly on the theoretical concepts of the class. He showed us the proofs for many concepts in statistics. His lecture was not really organized well and he rarely did example problems. HW is 30% of the grade, which boosts your grade. I learned most of the general concepts by doing the homework and reading the not-so-well-written textbook. I knew the material well enough to do the practice tests that tested a basic understanding of the material. However, HIS TESTS ARE HARD. The problems make you apply the material in ways that you have never seen (not in lecture or in the book). There is a huge curve, because even though I likely got below 50% on both midterms and the final, I still got a B+. Even with the curve, the class is just annoying, because the tests just stress you out and I didn't learn anything that I really couldn't have figured out from AP statistics. I would say AVOID HIM if you can. |
| Anonymous Course: STAT400 Grade Expected: B May 22, 2009, 10:49 am | This man is a genius but a terrible teacher. The exams are open book but insanely difficult. He curves to a B average though which is cool and he is also very approachable and responds to emails fast. Basically, he is terrible teacher but also a fair one. |
| Anonymous Course: STAT400 Grade Expected: May 20, 2009, 9:30 am | Must have to agree with all poster below. All he does in lectures are proofs. I only went to majority of his lecture before exam 1 then i found out nothing in his lecture resembles on his exam. HW was 30% of grade (grade booster), it was straight from the book. All exams resembles NOTHING from HW or lecture. He even told us to do practice exam from other prof in testbank....totally different. He only had 4 problems on exam 1 & 2. He even stated that the last 2 problems he makes it more difficult to see how we do...so he atleast expect a 50 from ppl Exam 1...the average was around 50+ Exam 2...the average was around 30+ With those averages, he gotta curve...but if you hit the average and do really well on the HW....you should be fine...I manget to get a B with good HW scores but a little below average test score... But if you really want to learn...he is not the prof for you... |
| derubermenche Course: STAT400 Grade Expected: April 21, 2009, 9:17 pm | He is a terrible professor, he reads the book and does proofs the entire lecture. He assigns a lot of homework and it's 30% of your grade. The tests look nothing like the homework, nor do they resemble anything else he did during class. The average grade for the first test was a 55 and the average grade for the second wont be higher than a 45. DO NOT TAKE STAT400 WITH HIM. |
| Anonymous Course: STAT400 Grade Expected: B April 21, 2009, 3:59 pm | Forni teaches stat400 in a very unique way. lectures are very confusing, and most people do not attend. the weekly homework from the book was pretty straight forward, but his tests are completely different and there are not any good tools to study for them. however, there is a large curve as a 50% on the 1st test was close to a B. it is not hard to pass the class, but the material is sometimes overwhelming. do not recommend for people who really want to know the material |