Reviews for Timothy John Pilachowski
Average Rating:| Anonymous Course: MATH131 Grade Expected: B January 10, 2012, 9:16 am | Math is normally a dreadful subject for me, but Prof. Pilachowski made my Calc II experience as painless as possible. He would often come 10-15 minutes late to class, but he really cares about how well his students do so I wasn't bothered too much by the tardiness. He posts outlines that help the lectures go more smoothly, and sometimes even prints them out for his class. His exams are very fair. The discussion sucked and were mandatory, but there was no way around it. Try to get Yonathan Cwik as a TA if possible. |
| jcp5383 Course: MATH131 Grade Expected: December 21, 2011, 12:35 am | HOLY CRAP. SUCH AN EASY CLASS. The posts below were probably made by RETA***S. ahah honestly this class was easier than my Calc AP class. Pilachowski is amazing. His exams are identical to the ones he posts online. Please just do the exams online, don't complain, because if you do, it probably means you're a dumb A**. He is great! take him. I loved the TA Yonathan and Geeta. So helpful |
| Anonymous Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: A August 23, 2011, 8:50 pm | AWESOME TEACHER- kinda corny but knows his math. Uses a powerpoint and provides print outs on his website to follow along during class. Personally I followed along fine without the powerpoints infront of me, but a lot of people benefited from them. Easy to understand, sometimes go through slides quickly dependent on the time, but makes sure everyone comprehends the material and will stop to answer questions. Provides optional homework but you MUST DO THE WEBASSIGN! not only does it help understanding the material and review for the tests, it is an easy 10 points The class prior to a test is a review session- he allows the students to bring in questions to go over that will be on the test. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: A May 19, 2011, 4:44 pm | Tim's a weird teacher. He uses powerpoints to teach class which is pretty unconventional for math if you ask me, but it seems to work. He does kinda rush through the material, and that sometimes meant that I was woefully underprepared for the WebAssigns. There are quizzes in discussion which are actually pretty helpful, and while Tim has a bit of a temper he's overall a reasonable professor and I have learned quite a bit. Just note that the final exam is not written by him, it's a fair bit harder than his exams. |
| Jenae Ramos Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: A May 18, 2011, 4:49 pm | Course taken: Fall 2010 semester. For those of you who took AP Calculus in high school and despised calculus WITH A PASSION, congratulations! The class was an easy A. Looking down on recent reviews, I don't understand why people give him bad ratings, especially since...THE PAST EXAMS AND SOLUTIONS ARE ONLINE. Pilachowski is the ONLY MATH220 PROFESSOR who posts past exams AND the answer keys. #1 Tip: USE THE TEST BANK, PEOPLE. When I took the class, Pilachowski said that he had to make the tests harder because (surprise!) people were doing TOO WELL on the exams. Exam 3 came around, and the questions didn't get harder. Listen to my advice please. The class is doable, and the teacher knows how to teach the material well. The homework felt harder than the exams that weren't so bad because of the Test Bank online. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: March 16, 2011, 1:12 pm | This guy subbed for my calc 220 class, and boy am I glad I didn't take him. He really rushes through the material and doesn't stop to explain things. Seems like a nice guy, but spends so much time with his stupid jokes and referring to his office hours that he could probably just explain the problems better. In the corresponding webassigns for the classes he subbed, I struggled to get B's. Every other ones I get 100's or at least high 90's. Can't imagine him for a whole semester. |
| Jacob Harrer Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: A January 17, 2011, 9:22 am | His lectures were easy to follow, and he communicates very directly about what you need to know and what you don't. As a result, you go into tests well aware of what is expected. The tests follow the quizzes and homework assignments, so if you understand those then you will be fine. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: December 28, 2010, 3:39 pm | WORSE TEACHER TRY TO AVOID. DOES NOT HELP ANY STUDENTS AND TEST ARE HARDER THAN ALL OTHER MATH 220 CLASSES. HARD TO UNDERSTAND HIS TEACHING. |
| Itzahckret Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: F December 1, 2010, 6:44 pm | I hated this class. I had to drop it. I just could not learn from Tim's stupid powerpoints, and he went through them really fast without taking time to explain how he got the right answers. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: November 16, 2010, 10:43 pm | Makes the same jokes every day. I haven't seen a single thing that we have learned in class actually show up on webassign, and he has no problem referring students to office hours rather than actually teaching the information during class. Never shows up on time. |
| rose11 Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: B January 8, 2010, 12:47 pm | Very enthusiastic and funny professor. He incorporates humor into his lectures which helped to ease the stress of the course material. He teaches from powerpoints and posts lecture outlines on his website which you can print off. There are several homework assignments each week on WebAssign, an online program (you have to pay about $15 to use). There are three tests before the final. The problems Pilachowski uses in his lectures are much simpler than the ones on WebAssign and on tests, but there are many opportunities for you to get help. You must complete a worksheet in discussion each week, worth ten points. But you are allowed to work in groups and help each other. Good professor, I enjoyed having him. |
| aralchen Course: MATH221 Grade Expected: A December 20, 2009, 10:37 pm | I have no idea why people rate him this low; he's at least a 4/5 teacher. As you probably know, Math 220/221 has the reputation of being the calculus for dummies. While that's generally true, it is less so in Pilachowski's class. He doesn't dumb down his teaching just because it's supposed to be an easy class. That said, he's definitely the hardest teacher for the subject. However, if you take him you'll be counting your blessings when taking the final exam, which is the product of a colaborative departmental effort. His class makes an otherwise frustrating final a fairly easy task. His exams aren't as easy as you'd come to expect from a 220/221 class. They actually require knowledge of the subject. He offers 4 extra credit points on his exams, which can really mean a difference between an A and a B. To do well in the class COME TO LECTURES! He uses powerpoint slides that he DOES NOT POST ONLINE. The only way to make up the information is by asking a friend for notes or reading the book. Absolutely do old practice exams from previous years (available on test bank). They're all in the same format and the questions tend to be very similar to one another. Answers are also available. Some people mentioned that he appears to be condescending to students. He really isn't. There's a fine line between a condescending attitude and a person's quirks. In Pilachowski's case, he's just really quirky, something these commenters failed to realize. Just keep an open mind and you won't even notice his oddities after a while. On the bad side, he is, like many mentioned, always late to class. This means he covers material somewhat superficially (not always) and goes over the 50 minutes alloted for class (always). He tends to make numerous mistakes, but they're rather minor arithmatic issues rather than calculus issues. He doesn't curve at all and doesn't allow any calculator use. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: A December 7, 2009, 2:46 pm | Timmy P is a great teacher. Everything is straight forward, and he is extremely organized to the point of OCD-but thats not a bad thing! His exams are completely fair, and even though he doesn't scale, its usually not necessary. The only bad thing is he can be pretty condescending to anyone who asks a question, even in his office hours. But overall I definitely recommend him! He's engaging and even has his funny moments. And its fine if you're late, he always is too! |
| Anonymous Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: August 20, 2009, 8:34 pm | Pretty good professor. Explained things clearly and thoroughly, always well organized (uses powerpoints). I learned a lot, and his exams weren't too difficult. Be aware that at least for MATH 220 he doesn't allow any calculators at all on his exams (even scientific), which other professors usually allow. Be prepared for some good old mental math. |
| lizzine07 Course: MATH221 Grade Expected: B July 7, 2009, 2:43 pm | Dr. Pilachowski was a great professor. I learned so much from him personally, I find calc2 much easier than calc1. Anyways so many people rate him low, and that's because lots of ppl do bad in his class.. the ones that do NOT do the webassign BY THEMSELVES (yes--we know you can do virtually all of the problems in the TI-89) will do poorly because if you are able to do the webassigns and some of the practice book problems, then you WILL GET AN A. I just so happen to not get an A because I did miss a couple of classes... The final exam will be a piece of cake to you, since he is the hardest prof to take for calc, and all the calc profs write the exam together. I had a 95% on the final exam, was happy, and i believe there was a curve on the class... overall... great teacher. avoid him if your a procrastinator, like to wait until 2-3 days before an exam to study, or just plain want everything to be easy... |
| Anonymous Course: MATH141 Grade Expected: B June 17, 2009, 11:30 am | Take Calc II with Denny Gulick. Pilachowski sometimes can't even do the problems he assigns you. |
| matt11 Course: MATH221 Grade Expected: A- June 6, 2009, 9:02 am | He is a pretty good lecturer. One thing I liked about him that some other people did not appreciate was the fact that he uses powerpoints. I found that more useful than a chalkboard because it's easy to copy off of and keeps my notes organized. The discussions are nice because you have group worksheets that are always a guaranteed 100% because the TA goes over the answers at the end. Webassign can be a pain, especially if you have other exams to study for, but they are not that bad. It is important to do the webassign because they will count as an exam grade at the end. Overall, an easy class if you go to lecture and discussion. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: May 21, 2009, 11:11 pm | I don't know why everyone is rating him so low, because I felt like I learned a lot from this class. Maybe everyone just hates powerpoint, but I found it useful because it kept things organized and I could take notes really easily. Even if I didn't really understand what was going on during class, the notes were always easy to read and I could see exactly what he did, and apply that to the webassign problems. It's pretty hard not to do well in this class, since there were plenty of points from the homework and discussion worksheets (which you HAVE to do in groups, so you almost always get 10/10). Tests are fair, though there's always one or two tricky questions. Anyway, I liked Pilachowski, even though he says weird things/tells weird jokes during class. He's a nice guy and a good math teacher. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: C May 19, 2009, 2:09 pm | The worst math teacher ever. While he's funny he is an awful math teacher, not worth going to class. He teaches off of powerpoints which are hard to follow and does not convey the information well. If you can take a different math teacher do it! |
| Anonymous Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: C May 13, 2009, 11:50 am | I did not like this professor. He obviously has a case of dyslexia which is evident when he attempts to do problems on the board. This does not happen often though since he presents lectures on powerpoint. (in my opinion I do not like learning math on powerpoint because I personally like to see the work done but he zips through all of that). His exams are relatively hard without a calculus background. Many friends who even took calculus before still had C's on exams. He tries to have tricky questions. As a professor I also did not appreciate him. He had a very matter-of-fact tone of voice and would make students feel stupid if they asked a question. Oh and if you ask to repeat a slide sometimes he might straight up say no. I would avoid this professor because he is not my ideal teacher. Perhaps he is for some but I heard there are much better professors. Hope this review helps. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH141 Grade Expected: May 11, 2009, 8:51 pm | Average in all aspects...will arrive 5-10 minutes late to every class, often looking quite disheveled. Decent lecturer, but will use corny phrases often. Will help you when asked, but doesn't really go out of his way. Sometimes will go off topic, which can actually be good- he once spent nearly half the class explaining his experience in ballroom dancing, which was hilarious. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: A May 7, 2009, 8:00 pm | Listen, I've been to two lectures. The first one and the second one. Mr. Pilachowski is a standard professor. He isn't engaging, but how can you be, this is calculus. He is sort of rude when we people ask him questions or do something to upset him, but otherwise he is a straightforward person. Discussion quizzes are easy, the tests are always easier than web assign. Pretty much all you need to do is buy the text book and read anything that is in a gold box. Make sure to go to discussion, quizzes are easy but count for alot. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH220 Grade Expected: B April 18, 2009, 12:22 pm | He was very boring and he would make sitting through class the most dreadful thing ever. He uses power point to teach the class and it works well. His tests are very fair. |
| jessgord Course: MATH221 Grade Expected: B November 14, 2008, 8:07 pm | He was occasionally an entertaining guy. Yes he was late sometimes, but that was not a big deal and didn't affect learning. His powerpoint lectures were decent and I thought he did a good job explaining them. They include a lot of repetitive examples to drill the concept into your head. The exams are just 4 questions with multiple parts, and yes, there were tricky questions. The online WebAssign homeworks were a hassle (especially the ones due Sunday mornings that you forget about until the middle of a party Saturday night). ...I was so close to having an A! |
| Anonymous Course: MATH115 Grade Expected: C January 13, 2008, 2:35 pm | Awful professor. 5-10 minutes late to almost every class, and makes terrible excuses for his lateness. As a result of his lateness, he tries to rush through the lecture. He is also very rude. He makes students feel stupid when they ask a question. Most people ask questions because he teaches too fast, BECAUSE OF HIS CONSTANT LATENESS. He also puts tricky problems on the quizzes even though we only get about 5 minutes to do them. As a result, you feel pressured and get text anxiety easily because you feel rushed. Also, he will make a mistake while solving a problem in class, and then he will say, "I was just testing you to see if you would catch me." HAHA! I don't think so. He needs to own up to his own mistakes. I do not recommend him. Look for another professor teaching that class. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH221 Grade Expected: A December 4, 2007, 7:42 pm | His exams are fair, though he is habitually 5-10 minutes late for class and fails to make available lecture outlines sometimes until 10am the morning of class (2pm). However, he demands the (3-times-a-week) web assigns be completed by 8am regardless of your busy weds. schedule-no flexibility, ironic considering his very lax, comedic and entertaining lecturing-a of good-work-ethic hypocrisy. He is saving grace, is, that he is a good professor... organized, and has wonderful clarity. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH221 Grade Expected: A November 3, 2007, 2:55 pm | His exams are are fair but theres always one or two tricky questions. He uses power point so his lectures are very organized. |