Reviews for Melissa Macasieb
Average Rating:| GoTestudo! Course: MATH241 Grade Expected: A April 30, 2012, 8:06 pm | Dr. Macasieb was great. Her tests were super easy and straightforward, thanks to open notes policy that went into effect for Calc III students this semester (Spring 2012). Either way, she made the class less intimidating than I thought it would be. Overall, she does a great job at teaching the material. I often found myself going to class because it was easier than learning from the book. She teaches what you ought to know without going too much into theory and all that jazz. Excellent teacher, I would definitely recommend her. |
| nmendels Course: MATH406 Grade Expected: April 5, 2012, 9:29 pm | She obviously knows number theory really well but her lectures were devoted more to proofing theorems which really weren't tested at all. Also all of the proofs were in the book anyway so she could have just said "for details on the proof for theorem x consult the book." Also her grader was quite draconian and if you said something like "I lost 8/10 points for an arithmetic error", she would say "if you want I could maybe give you a few points back" and then spend a few minutes continuing to expand on how you were wrong which was quite annoying. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH130 Grade Expected: A January 16, 2012, 8:19 pm | I would definitely recommend Prof. Macasieb. This class is relatively easy if you have taken calculus before. Prof. Macasieb gives a lot of examples in class which is really helpful. Homework is optional which is nice, always go to discussion because that's where most of the points are earned. Tests are moderately hard, but there is a curve on the final grade. Overall good class and good teacher. |
| zaqu413 Course: MATH406 Grade Expected: A+ December 23, 2011, 8:16 pm | Macasieb was a great professor, but that comes with a slight catch. She really only wants to help the students who seem serious and study the material often enough to never fall behind on the small things. She gets rather annoyed during lecture if she needs to explain something that we went over last week. That being said if you are on top of things you will do fine. Homework/Quizzes: Was somewhat difficult, but manageable most of the time. 4 questions were often turned in for grading and all the other questions were possibilities to be seen on a quiz the day the homework was due. The quizzes were just redoing the hw problem w/o the book or notes, which wasn't hard to do. The Book: "Intro to Number Theory" by Dudley or something like that. It was a pretty good book. It was short, but effective. Although I must say that the author starts to get impatient and lazy around section 12, but nothing really to worry about. Tests: 2 Midterms and a final (ALL are cumulative, despite what she might say). Number Theory is one of those classes where if you fall behind you stay behind, because there isn't any concept that you can just say "I just wont bother learning that and I can scrape by with a B" because everything builds on the previous stuff. The Midterms were about 75% computation and 25% proofs The Final was about 60/40 computation to proof. Overall I would say make sure you know all the theorems that took a while to prove during class or that she emphasizes, because those are sure to show up on the tests. FINAL NOTES: -MAKE SURE TO GET MODULAR ARITHMETIC DOWN SUPER FAST OR YOU WILL BE LOST. -FERMAT'S THEOREM IS VERY IMPORTANT, AS IS PRETTY MUCH ANY THEOREM PROVED BY EULER OR EUCLID (THERE ARE MANY) -THE ONLY WAY THAT SHE WILL HELP YOU IS IF IT SEEMS AS THOUGH YOU HAVE PUT A LOT OF EFFORT INTO FIGURING SOMETHING OUT AND HAVE A GOOD UNDERSTANDING OF THE MATERIAL. IF YOU SEEM LOST SHE WILL NOT HELP, SHE EXPECTS YOU TO BE ABLE TO FIGURE "SIMPLE" THINGS OUT BY YOURSELF BY NOW. (Here "simple" means stuff we did last week) Also I managed an A+ because I destroyed the final, I studied for it for pretty much 4 days straight. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH130 Grade Expected: December 1, 2011, 9:07 pm | She actually isn't as bad as the other reviews say. She explains everything very clearly, although sometimes she goes too in depth in proving a concept that it becomes a bit confusing. Good for math majors though. Homework is not collected although the quizzes are based off of hw questions. I already took calc in high school so this class was a bit redundant. I never did hw nor did I even open the book, just studied notes. However, if you did not take calc before, you better do the hw and study for this class! |
| Anonymous Course: MATH241H Grade Expected: A May 17, 2011, 6:54 pm | Good teacher. Gives suggested homework problems that aren't collected, but are extremely similar to quiz questions. Quizzes are weekly, and the lowest two are dropped, but are fair. 4 Matlab assignments which are pretty easy, and she tells you all the commands you need to know to complete them. Tests are straightforward and should be easy if you did the homework and have done well on the quizzes. Gives a worksheet every Wednesday to make the 2 hour block a lot more bearable. She is nice and willing to help if you ask for it. If you need an honors version math, I recommend taking her. |
| AxumArc Course: MATH241H Grade Expected: A May 5, 2011, 6:42 am | Good teacher. Definitely only got poor reviews because the students in the MATH220 class don't have a strong background or don't want to put in the work. Went quickly (because it was an honors class) but covers difficult material well, gives very good notes, and is very accessible for questions. No mandatory homework for 241H but problems are provided, as well as a practice test before each test and a Matlab (fairly simple) every few weeks. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: C+ April 4, 2011, 8:51 am | Terrible teacher, by far the worst math teacher I have ever had, and I've had plenty bad math teachers. She spoke way to fast that it sounded like a pidgin and screwed up on nearly every example, to the point that I could barely understand the material. Granted I do not have a heavy mathematic background (but that does not mean I'm fucking retarded at math) regardless she incapable of teaching me anything in this ELEMENTARY calculus course. Her homeworks were annoyingly tedious and her review guides for the tests were terrible/practically nonexistent, to say the least. And i am saying the least here, personally i wish i could retake the course with anyone else, anyyyyone else. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH241H Grade Expected: A+ February 1, 2011, 5:30 pm | Like some people have said, I don't know why she has gotten so many bad ratings. The only explanation I can fathom for her being a bad teacher is if you have no solid background in math. Sadly, lots of people think they're "good" at math even though they aren't. She is very easy to take notes from and is very nice overall. She does her best to explain things to students, but usually she won't explain things if only one or two students are confused. She expects you to come to her during office hours if you're confused, so take advantage of that if you do get lost. Definitely do the homework -- the quizzes are extremely similar if not the same. |
| MusickVideo Course: MATH406 Grade Expected: A December 21, 2010, 12:10 am | Macasieb is great. She understands number theory in and out, and communicates it very well to her students. Lectures are focused on going through basic proofs of the material, and a sufficient number of examples for you to understand what's going on. If you skip class, you can just read the book; it's essentially the same thing. Grades consist of weekly homework from the book (lowest 1-2 grades dropped), weekly quizzes that are homework problems verbatim (again, lowest few dropped), two midterms, and a cumulative final. Exam questions are either computational (and thus simple) or proof-based (almost always come from problems in the textbook that are recommended but not explicitly assigned). Exam averages suck (we're talking 55-65ish), so she will obviously curve a bit in the end. Advice to do well: keep up with the material (early concepts such as Fermat's theorem and modulo arithmetic definitely impact the later material substantially), do extra practice problems from the book. This class requires a bit of work, but if you put in the effort, you'll be fine. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH241H Grade Expected: December 20, 2010, 9:48 am | She's an adequate professor. She knows the material, but she speaks quickly. You have to listen and take notes really well to catch everything. Do your homework. The quizzes are basically the homework. She's flexible with making appointments which is great. And she's very amiable out of class. And study for the final. You can get an A in the class if you get an A on the final. |
| aralchen Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: A May 19, 2010, 9:22 am | I have no idea why she's rated so lowly. People complain about how bad of a teacher she is, but that's not true. She made math really straight forward. She teaches by example, which is one of the best ways to learn for me (but probably not for others), which is why I did so well in her class. Tests are straight forward and come right of the practice problems in the book. Her ample examples make sure you don't get confused. The weekly discussion quizzes are not easy and I think they do a good job preparing you for the midterms. She's a rather nice lady but don't expect somebody very personable. She does her job and that's about it. |
| toypajme Course: MATH410 Grade Expected: A May 16, 2010, 12:55 pm | What everyone said is mostly true. She makes tons of errors on the board, and at least for 410, she basically wrote the book on the board with little extra explanation. Sometimes she is helpful in office hours and other times she isn't depending on her mood. Just sit on her till she gives you a good enough hint. Overall, she was okay. Test questions came out of no where sometimes and you don't even see a glimpse of the difficulty of the test problems till the class before where she gives a practice exam, and those are never indicative to how the test will be. The first one was hard and the test was okay. The second one was easier and the test was impossible (average dropped 10 points), and the final practice test was ridiculous but the final was very easy. Go figure. It's just a very mixed up class. |
| jaboomday Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: B May 20, 2009, 5:01 am | I feel bad because she's a nice lady and she's really smart but she screws up during lecture so much that you just become extremely lost. And she didn't curve our class either. |
| TheEnilorac Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: A- May 14, 2009, 9:54 am | I'm really not sure why Macasieb gets horrible reviews. I think she teaches well, and the fact that everyone who has left reviews is expecting an A can attest to her capability as a professor. I like her and she's very flexible. Here exams are pretty easy, problems are similar to ones gone over in class. Weekly quizzes and 2-3 webassigns due on Weds. every week. My only complaint is that sometimes she will skip explaining basic algebra like say foiling out something, but if you have basic logic abilities it's easy to figure out what she did. This class is easy, and I'd like to mention that this is my first time taking calculus. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: February 27, 2009, 3:24 pm | I sometimes think about shooting myself in the head after having to take in the amount of crap that comes out this lady's mouth. She does give good notes, but SHE DOESNT EXPLAIN ANYTHING... |
| Anonymous Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: December 15, 2008, 10:27 pm | She is by far the worst math teacher I have ever had. I had never taken Calculus before, and she was almost impossible to follow or to learn from because she would move extremely fast, not respond well to student questions,and I dont think she made it through a problem the entire semester without making a mistake or being corrected by a student at some point or the other. My TA didn't even speak english which didn't help things either. I hear most of the other math220 teachers are a lot better so Try to avoid taking her class if you can |
| Anonymous Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: December 11, 2008, 8:33 pm | Dr. Macasieb has her knowledge of calculus. I understand her making mistakes on lectures because she's a human being as well. But here is the problem. She did not provide her students (or at least me) a proper instruction on the exams that resulted in point deduction. I had the numerical answers correct but because I forgot to put the units of measure, I was deducted of points. I mean...it could've been my stupidity but I was kind of on the run as time ticked away...an exam that could've been an A turned out a B because I did not put units...it really made me think twice about this lady... I hope she realizes that it's NOT O.K. to assume that her students would know things she knows because we sometimes (or most of the time) DON'T unless told. |
| rblood Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: A December 11, 2008, 8:53 am | A background of me, I've always excelled in math, i'm passionate about it, love it, and it comes easy to me. Ms Macasieb is highly knowledgabele on the subject she teaches, there's no question. But as a teacher, she is just terrible. She can't explain really what she does, get's impatient as if we should already know, and she's merely reminding us of the content. I breezed through online homework, and always helped my friends do their homework, and i think it's safe to say that i taught better than she did, for the mere fact of explaining. Just today, i had a question on a webassign homework, that i wasn't able to finish, and she asked if we wanted to see anything. I told her I'd like to see how to do it, and when other students said they did it, she just said you should've been able to as well. How helpful of her. Because of her teaching habits, I failed to maintain an A as I hoped I would. I recommend a different teacher if this is your first calculus course or if you aren't a quick learner. Because she covers so much content, rarely explaining it. Another thing i disliked was that when she would introduce a new topic, she would do example problems out of the book, which didn't help me, because I already look through the book when reviewing the content. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: A December 9, 2008, 1:21 pm | Wow, not much to say. First, I'll say that I am getting an A in the course only because i had a fantastic calculus teacher in High School. Second, if i hadn't taken this course in HS, i would be failing, because this woman, CAN NOT TEACH. She runs through almost 20 full chalkboards a lecture and loses the majority of the class within 5 minutes, she does not encourage students helping other students because she feels that she is smarter than everyone, which i guarentee, is NOT TRUE. Macasieb IS THE WORST TEACHER I HAVE EVER HAD FOR MATHEMATICS. If this is your first time taking calculus, I highly recommend not taking it with her. |
| bkretzer Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: A December 8, 2008, 8:09 pm | Overall, she knows her stuff. But she does not present the material well. She makes a lot of error on the board and is very impatient with the students. I took calc. in high school and this is why I am doing well. If I was learning this info. for the first time, I would be lost. If you are new to calc., find a new teacher. There are quizzes weekly during discussion sections and web assign homework weekly. If you have experience with calc. this is an easy course. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: A December 8, 2008, 12:58 pm | I took a very simple calc in high school and we only went over simple derivatives. If I hadn't had the background, I agree that this class would be hard because she isn't the best, most engaging teacher. But it's not like I learned everything from the course in high school. You just have to take notes and look in your book. It's not that hard if you really try. A quiz in every discussion. WebAssign due every week. 3 Midterms, 1 Final. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: December 3, 2008, 7:36 am | she makes too many errors and glosses over the subject like she were reading it off of a report. there is very little engagement between students and professor. you find a better teacher in your calc textbook. |
| breezy Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: B December 2, 2008, 10:06 am | She was the worst teacher for Calculus. She writes good notes on the board, but she is always impatient and doesn't explain herself. Thank God I took Calc in high school or I would have absolutely no idea what was going on in class. If you already took Calc, she will give you really nice notes, but if you haven't taken Calc already... I suggest another Calc teacher. She posts her homework online, its generally 2-3 assignments due every Friday. 2-3 Midterms and a Final. Midterms are 100 points each, and Final is 200. You must go to the Discussion sections. |