Reviews for Matei Machedon
Average Rating:| Anonymous Course: MATH240 Grade Expected: B April 6, 2011, 5:34 am | If you have a TA named Safa, switch out immediately. He grades homework very randomly (takes random points off for not having "neater handwriting", when both he and the professor write in hieroglyphics). The class overall is not too terrible, but there was no curve and I got a B because of the TA's grading based on neatness and quantity of the work you show as opposed to the correctness. If you turn in 10 pages of work, you get a perfect score. If you turn in 2 pages, but get the right answer, you lose points for "not showing enough work" |
| Anonymous Course: MATH240 Grade Expected: December 16, 2010, 2:25 pm | Excellent professor. Lectures are good. He does a lot of examples. And exams are very easy. If you attend all his lectures and do all the hw, there's no reason for you to not get an A. |
| terp315 Course: MATH246 Grade Expected: A July 28, 2010, 10:54 am | The median grades for the 3 exams in my section: 80/100, 94/100, 98/100. Seriously, they were that easy. Professor Machedon was a very efficient lecturer, so as long as you paid attention in class there was little to no reason not to do well. The final was apparently written by the other professor but I didn't find it that difficult at all. Just review the homeworks and you'll be fine. |
| keyoung Course: MATH246 Grade Expected: A+ June 1, 2010, 9:20 am | I found Machedon to be an excellent teacher as well as a great guy. His lectures were clear and very focused. He taught very straight forward, only covering subjects we needed to know and talked about theory only a few times. He was approachable and responded well to students concerns. His hws were helpful and exams were basically hw problems. Try to take a class with him. |
| mikhail Course: MATH246 Grade Expected: B- May 22, 2010, 6:04 pm | Sooooooo... His exams are easy, nevertheless, final exam will bring you back to earth. So just be prepared. Other than that he is a very good math professor. I Recommend! |
| Anonymous Course: MATH246 Grade Expected: A May 18, 2010, 6:30 pm | His tests are a joke. The only thing is if you make one mistake it could cost you. Final was unfortunately not written by him, so that was a bit rough. However, if you have the option, definitely take Machedon. |
| armantheman Course: MATH246 Grade Expected: A May 9, 2010, 5:02 pm | Diffeq is a joke with him, take it with him. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH461 Grade Expected: May 5, 2010, 6:20 pm | Personally, I love Matei. He is very approachable and helpful, but the reason I gave him a 4/5 and not 5/5 is because to be truthful he is not particularly user-friendly at times. This is because he has handwriting that American students aren't used to, i.e. cursive, and he doesn't write all that largely. He does indeed have a Russian accent, but it's not difficult to understand after the first class or so...but then again, I know many non-native speakers and may just be used to it. |
| Fargalas Course: MATH461 Grade Expected: A March 26, 2010, 8:44 pm | I've taken Math461 and currently 246 with Machedon. No joke, as others have said, he is pretty much the nicest guy in the whole CMPS college. He really goes out of his way to explain things outside of class if you want extra help. His exams are fair, homework is generally minimal(in collection, at least), but covers what you really need to know. You will definitely want to do something extra, or review that homework, if you expect to understand the material, though. He does have an accent, but it's not hard to understand, and he really does lecture excellently. I'm really hoping to have more classes with him in the future. |
| talonstriker Course: MATH461 Grade Expected: A December 19, 2009, 5:16 pm | Aliesh pretty much nailed it. The guy is a brilliant professor and an overall nice guy. The 1 homework per week is a bit annoying, only because I hate going to discussions. The exams will be easy if you understand the practice exams and attend the review sessions. In every exam, 70% of the points will be for basic problems that are absolutely pre-requisite. The next 20% is a bit more challenging but not too hard. 10% will be hard as ajkhdajlkshd. He uses this to weed out people who actually understand the material and those two regurgitate formulas well (such as myself). The final was incredibly hard for those who didn't do the practice exams. Those who did the practice exams, found it a cakewalk. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH461 Grade Expected: A December 17, 2009, 12:14 pm | His class was a bit too easy in hindsight, but seeing as this was my last semester here and I was juggling a job, interviews, research and coursework, it's probably a good thing. Machedon knows his audience; if you take him for a general level math or engineering course (200 level and 461 etc) he is NOT really going to challenge you very much. If you take him for a pure math course, however, he will expect a lot more out of you. He assigns homework every week which I essentially copy pasted from the solutions manual (many times without looking twice at it) and there was one laughably easy MATLAB assignment. Aside from being incredibly intelligent, Matei is a really nice guy and it will come across clear as day the moment you are in class with him. He is devoted to the subject and if you put in an effort, it will be rewarded. Not a bad class, but I would have liked a bit more of a challenge. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH246 Grade Expected: November 14, 2009, 9:48 am | I can't believe how many good reviews there are of this professor! He just down right does not know how to teach. You MUST go to lecture to even try to have a shot at a good grade and it is impossible to get an A. Whoever the other professors are take them, cause they have to be better then Machedon! |
| guru Course: MATH461 Grade Expected: October 1, 2009, 5:21 pm | Sometimes lectures are difficult to follow but the fact that he is probably the nicest professor you will ever meet makes up for it. If you ever need extra time on homework or something just talk to him he'll probably allow you to do so. Sometimes he requires you to solve matrix equations using tricks that he teaches in class, so go. FYI his final was also somewhat difficult. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH246 Grade Expected: B December 29, 2008, 1:09 pm | Not the best teacher but the material is not that hard. If you read the book you should have no problem grasping the concepts with the help of your TA's, dont expect much help from the professor. Grading is fair, if you get higher than 50%, you get a C. Then the passing grades are divided up |
| Anonymous Course: MATH461 Grade Expected: December 22, 2008, 1:12 am | The lectures are at times tough to understand, but overall a decent lecturer. There was very little MATLAB for this course and his exams were usually pretty fair. |
| aleish Course: MATH461 Grade Expected: December 19, 2008, 1:49 pm | Professor Machedon definitely knows what he is talking about and while he does have an eastern European accent, his diction and grammar is better than almost any native English speaker that I know. I can understand every word, it is just not as easy on the ears as Sean Connery. In this class, the homework assignments are graded by the TA's and we have two mid-term exams and a final. The material comes across as abstract and without applications, but I realized that he is giving us is the theory and we will apply it in later engineering classes. The material is also very different from previous math courses because a lot of it cannot be visualized, which made it difficult for me at first. But with study and practice it is not impossible to do well on the exams. I am glad that I took this class. Also, the author of the book has video lectures on iTunes U and on the MIT website, where there is also other practice material. This is extremely useful and I would definitely recommend using this resource!! I decided not to take MATH240 because it met almost everyday, whereas 461 only has lecture twice a week. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH461 Grade Expected: A December 17, 2008, 11:42 am | I wasn't a fan of his teaching style but his exams were generally easy. No quizzes and his grade breakdown was fairly simple. The book he uses is horrible. If you could take the other professor Lay, I would. His exams were really straight up but his final was difficult...so conceptual. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH246 Grade Expected: A May 19, 2008, 6:37 pm | Even though he has a thick accent and horrible handwriting, go to class and just see what you're supposed to know. The written homework is not graded, but you should do it because it's the best way to prepare for weekly quizzes. The TAs do really good jobs at explaining stuff from lecture but it's not enough. Exams are fair but MATLAB hw was a bit hard. |
| Anonymous Course: MATH246 Grade Expected: April 22, 2008, 7:36 pm | Very very confusing when he teaches, but you should go to the classes and try to just get the general flow of what is going on because you have to make it click during discussion because there is a quiz almost every week. he often goes ahead in the book right before tests when it would be better if he just reviewed. he is bearable but if you don't understand make sure you go to your ta and the matlabs for this class are horrible |