Reviews for Michael Jakobson
Average Rating:| TerpGuy Course: MATH246 Grade Expected: B+ January 15, 2012, 6:22 am | The review for Jakobson was misleading. He is portrayed as a really horrible professor but in retrospective, he was not bad mostly because his exams and quizzes were straightforward. Although some matlab homeworks were pain, they were doable since we were allowed to work in a group of 3. We only had about 5 matlab projects. Also, he gave out 5 extra credit points for each matlab projects if the presentation of the assignment was pretty. However, his lecture notes are very messy and I had to mostly self teach myself or rely on my TAs. Speaking of TAs, I got cheated out of an A because my TA never revealed to us that we could get extra credit points for matlab assignments until around the time before 3rd assignment was due. If you do the suggested book problems, you should do well on his exams. I would recommend taking him if you do not wanna be bothered by huge amounts of matlab assignments and terribly difficult exams. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH246 Grade Expected: A December 27, 2011, 9:30 am | Because of all the low reviews here, I didn't have very high expectations for Jakobson going in. As it turned out, Jakobson was much better than his reviews give him credit for. He usually teaches much better than the book does and always says what exactly is expected of you for each type of problem on a test. The book is good for the easier topics (integrating factors, exact equations) but becomes pretty useless later on in the course. At this point, you definitely want to go to lecture and he will make things pretty simple. He doesn't really try to trick you on tests or quizzes. If you can do the majority of the problems in the suggested homework, the tests are simple. He never really gave any integrals that were too tricky to evaluate. He ended up dropping our lowest quiz grade, and our lowest test was only weighted as half of a test. Gives pretty good partial credit, and is very organized. Homework problems are suggested and not graded. Matlab can be very time-consuming and annoying because you have to work in a group of 3, so I would recommend joining a discussion section with a few friends who you know are reliable, because it is a real hassle if you get stuck with random people who don't know what they're doing. Overall, I would definitely recommend Dr. Jakobson. |
| TinyOne Course: MATH246 Grade Expected: C December 21, 2011, 7:26 am | It's not very hard to do well with this professor if you stay on top of your homework. I barely did homework and I got a C in the class. If you go to the lecture and discussion right before an exam, hints are dropped like bombs about the problems that will be on it. Even without the hints you get, the problems are pretty straightforward. The final was made up of easy problems, it was just long. Also, this professor dropped half of the the score of the worst exam and he gave extra credit on the Matlab projects. And while he wasn't the best lecturer, he certainly wasn't the worst. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH246 Grade Expected: December 15, 2011, 7:36 pm | He is not the teacher to teach the materials however he is not a harsh professor. He makes adjustments in the class to help students. His exams are not difficult if you do all the home work and he usually tells you before the exam what is on there. However he doesn't make the final. The final is different from what he does in class. The wording of the questions and the style of questions are different. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH246 Grade Expected: C December 13, 2011, 8:57 pm | His lectures are 100% a waste of time. He is very difficult to understand and he barely erases the chalkboard so it's difficult to read his notes. The only time his lectures made sense were when I studied the topic before class, and even then I got lost about 20 minutes along. That being said, his exams and quizzes are generally a lot easier than some of the other instructors. Compared to Balan (the other option this semester) the exams were easy. If you can afford the time, wait to take DiffEQ when there is a decent professor teaching it. The subject is so boring that a terrible teacher makes me lose interest in studying for the class at all. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH246H Grade Expected: August 18, 2011, 5:28 pm | Hands down the worst math professor on campus. He blatantly does not care one bit about the material he is teaching or about his students. He avoids students when they're trying to reach him for help. He makes absolutely no effort to explain anything, his handwriting is terrible and narrated in useless comments that emphasize irrelevant or unimportant aspects while failing to build any sort of understanding. The homework he assigns often doesn't cover what's on the exam. If you have him, switch out immediately. I've had him twice for MATH246 - failed the first time and will likely fail again. He was listed as "Staff" so I didn't know what I was signing up for the second time around - I should have dropped the class the moment I saw him walk through the door. |
| timbade Course: MATH410 Grade Expected: B July 25, 2011, 11:55 am | Jakobson was truly disappointing to learn from. He came to lecture and scribbled down some notes while mumbling in broken english. He did not want any input from the class, nor to talk to any of his students. He clearly had better things to be doing, and it seemed like this class was at the bottom of his priority list. His proof methods are sloppy, and I have a feeling that if he were the grader the grades would have been fine, but that was not the case. Some grad student the class never met did 100% of the grading, and was ultra meticulous. He is a fine guy, but I would avoid his class at all costs. I ended up with my first D ever, completely to my surprise. I am however, looking forward to redeeming myself with a better professor. Just don't take it with him, flat out. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH410 Grade Expected: B December 18, 2010, 3:40 pm | Jakobson was completely useless in lecture. It's hard to understand him and he never was helpful when it came to the homework. HOWEVER, he is pretty generous when it came to grades. He drops 4 homeworks, gives some extra credit, and will round up your final grade. May not be the best teacher, but you are more likely to get a better grade with him than some of the other professors. Teach yourself and do the hw with a friend and you will be fine. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH461 Grade Expected: A- May 18, 2010, 10:30 pm | WORST PROFESSOR. 20 people went to class regularly (armory room is full on test days) because his lectures are that bad. Can't understand him. Can't read his awful handwriting. Tests have many curve-balls and are completely different each time. Very hard to study for. Tests did not represent knowledge of subject. I retook this class because I didn't get transfer credit. Got A+ last time - barely, barely squeezed an A- this time even though the material was the exact same. Stay far away from this professor. |
| frakking_geek Course: MATH461 Grade Expected: May 7, 2010, 6:54 am | The overall material itself was mildly interesting. I wish I could say the same however for Professor Jakobson's lectures. After the first 15 minutes on the first day, I realized that I was never going to learn a single thing from his class and that the semester was going to essentially be an independent study in Linear Algebra. His lectures are dry and boring, assuming one can read his handwriting on the chalkboard or understand his accent. And if you can get past both of them, that's also assuming that you can stay awake after listening to a couple of minutes of his monotone speech. Overall, going to lecture was a waste if you try to pay attention and learn from him. However, they were very productive as a good study environment if you took the textbook in class and just taught yourself the material from the book as he was lecturing on it. I can guarantee that most of the other people in that lecture would agree with me in how only a handful of us would show up to lecture each time. Even then, the number of students in lecture would exponentially decay as time went on, starting from the first couple of minutes of class, with students leaving as though they came to lecture with the hope that it would be somewhat effective in learning the material, forgetting just how bad Jakobson’s lectures are and then being hit with the same revelation each time that it really was pointless to show up to class. Again, I was probably one of the few that regularly came to class and that was due solely to the fact that I realized that if I was able to tune out the lecture, I was able to teach myself the material from the book and understand it on a much deeper level than I could ever hope to gain from listening to Jakobson’s lectures. I can confidently say that this class has by far been the one with the least effective professor I’ve ever had in my entire time I have been in school, going as far back as pre-k. |
| fiddlerkrt Course: MATH246H Grade Expected: A January 21, 2009, 11:35 pm | Tests and quizzes aren't very difficult as long as you know what you are doing. Lectures are extremely boring and the matlab assignments are pretty time consuming. The class overall is not too bad. You should have no trouble getting an A or a B. |