Professor
Maxwell Mansolf
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2020 - Here is a breakdown of this class as of Fall 2020 (subject to change): Homework: 10 points each (4 homeworks); 40% Projects: 12 points each (3 projects); 36% CCLE Quizzes: 5 points each (5 quizzes); 25% SONA Extra Credit: up to 3 points; 3% **Each assignment offers a variable amount of extra credit** Thoughts on graded materials: Homework: 4 total due a week after they're assigned. The difficulty spikes in homeworks 3 and 4 were ridiculous in my opinion, and it reflected in the class as each had to be given multiple extensions. Each offers a variable amount of extra credit. Projects: 3 total (including final project) although only two have do be submitted for some point value in order to complete the course. First project was relatively easy and the second one I barely did only to pass. Each offers a variable amount of extra credit. CCLE Quizzes: Assigned weekly up until quiz 5 (we had to take a 6th because someone cheated). These are open book, open MATLAB and are easy to ace. Each offers 1 point of extra credit. Overall thoughts on the course: So I can assume this professor has a 5.0 overall either because the assignments he gave in earlier quarters were more reasonable or because the people who did well had prior coding experience, making this class a cakewalk for them. If you have prior coding experience, this class should be a breeze for you. However, as someone who had no prior coding experience, I cannot in good conscience give this professor a dazzling review. Mansolf is extremely overrated on Bruinwalk, at least according to what I experienced. To start, this class is high risk/high reward in terms of grading as each point you earn/lose counts towards a percentage of your grade. This wouldn't be so bad is the professor didn't give assignments with difficulty spikes tailored more towards those with prior coding experience. If you're a complete beginner like myself, good luck trying to get help from him and the TA because they won't even look at your individual code. This makes posting on the open forum and emailing extremely frustrating as they give completely useless responses or things you already thought of before. It wouldn't be so bad if the grading was not so high risk, but adding those unnecessary difficulty spikes made things 10x more stressful as one screw-up meant your overall grade going down significantly. On top of that, some assignments clearly required some knowledge of mathematical concepts outside the scope of this course, yet he expected you to know what to do regardless. Also, don't even bother going to lab since it is completely pointless and unhelpful in helping you solve some of the assignments. Overall, this class made me realize I'd be better off learning to code outside of a school setting as professors will give you impractical assignments that will make you tear your hair out. In conclusion, if you already have some coding knowledge, this class is good but if you are a complete beginner, just learn outside of the classroom without risking your GPA.
Fall 2020 - Here is a breakdown of this class as of Fall 2020 (subject to change): Homework: 10 points each (4 homeworks); 40% Projects: 12 points each (3 projects); 36% CCLE Quizzes: 5 points each (5 quizzes); 25% SONA Extra Credit: up to 3 points; 3% **Each assignment offers a variable amount of extra credit** Thoughts on graded materials: Homework: 4 total due a week after they're assigned. The difficulty spikes in homeworks 3 and 4 were ridiculous in my opinion, and it reflected in the class as each had to be given multiple extensions. Each offers a variable amount of extra credit. Projects: 3 total (including final project) although only two have do be submitted for some point value in order to complete the course. First project was relatively easy and the second one I barely did only to pass. Each offers a variable amount of extra credit. CCLE Quizzes: Assigned weekly up until quiz 5 (we had to take a 6th because someone cheated). These are open book, open MATLAB and are easy to ace. Each offers 1 point of extra credit. Overall thoughts on the course: So I can assume this professor has a 5.0 overall either because the assignments he gave in earlier quarters were more reasonable or because the people who did well had prior coding experience, making this class a cakewalk for them. If you have prior coding experience, this class should be a breeze for you. However, as someone who had no prior coding experience, I cannot in good conscience give this professor a dazzling review. Mansolf is extremely overrated on Bruinwalk, at least according to what I experienced. To start, this class is high risk/high reward in terms of grading as each point you earn/lose counts towards a percentage of your grade. This wouldn't be so bad is the professor didn't give assignments with difficulty spikes tailored more towards those with prior coding experience. If you're a complete beginner like myself, good luck trying to get help from him and the TA because they won't even look at your individual code. This makes posting on the open forum and emailing extremely frustrating as they give completely useless responses or things you already thought of before. It wouldn't be so bad if the grading was not so high risk, but adding those unnecessary difficulty spikes made things 10x more stressful as one screw-up meant your overall grade going down significantly. On top of that, some assignments clearly required some knowledge of mathematical concepts outside the scope of this course, yet he expected you to know what to do regardless. Also, don't even bother going to lab since it is completely pointless and unhelpful in helping you solve some of the assignments. Overall, this class made me realize I'd be better off learning to code outside of a school setting as professors will give you impractical assignments that will make you tear your hair out. In conclusion, if you already have some coding knowledge, this class is good but if you are a complete beginner, just learn outside of the classroom without risking your GPA.
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